| Author | Message | ||
     Ferris |
Someday Ferris, I would like to ride with you, buy ya a beer and shake your hand. "Ride to Lean" Brian, not sure what your travel "budget" (time, finances, logistics, etc.) is, but i know that next year i'll be involved in several organized rides (Laguna Seca and Oktoberfast come to mind), and you're sure welcome to call the ThunderDome home should you ever find yourself pointed in the direction of sunny California. and as far as beer, i have a soft spot for Yuengling Lager...  Thank you to all the vets out there, and to the ones still serving. If you enjoy your freedom, thank a veteran! i was lucky enough to get a phone call from my son Wade last night, who is days away from finishing his basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and soon to begin his Military Police training. i am so proud of his sense of honor and duty, and appreciative that there are those who are willing to risk THEIR lives to protect MINE. Brian, my Grandfather that i mentioned in my post above was also named Wade, and he fought in the Army in France in World War I. to all our Veterans, and to all who serve and protect today, "Thank You" doesn't even come close. FB | ||
| Awprior |
Ferris, Brian and I will pack up the bikes and a case of Pa's finest and head out there sometime. I finish school next fall, then I have a lifetime to travel and meet all of the guys here. Alex | ||
| Bomber |
Fort Lost in the Woods? Ferris . . . your son is made of stern stuff . . .that joint is the worst! if he finishes basic there, he's set for life, cuz nothing will be worse than that! tell him thanks for us the next time you get a chance, please! | ||
| Stingaroo |
I heard FLW was anti-pretty. That is where I was supposed to go, but then I got picked to go to Ft. Knox, KY. I only have about 4 1/2yrs in, but basic gave me confidence in myself, and my ablities, and helped me learn to work with other people from all walks of life. He maybe a little cocky, I know I was, and even challenged the old man. Well the Incredible Hulk had me down in less then 10 seconds, I have not messed with him since! Ferris, right now, I am a poor college student, I did not start until I was 21. I have two more years left, and by that time I will have 6 years in the military and will decide if I want to stay in any longer. After all is said and done, I am taking month off and am touring America. Now as for October, maybe I can save up some money and make the long ride out... Alex, it's on, we will have to see if HD has thier shut down over the week of the 4th of July. Other wise I cannot miss a day of work. | ||
| Ferris |
Alex, lemme know when you guys are pointed this way -- we'll have a cooler and a campfire ready Bomber, i'll pass your thanks on to Wade the next time he calls. when he graduates from MP training he's off to South Korea and beyond, and then into the California Highway Patrol when his five years in the Army are up. FBaD  | ||
| Firemanjim |
Ferris,what are your friday plans?A certain SCal boy with an S-2 in tow is headed this way on friday.I am at work today and tomorrow.(707)648-4412. | ||
| Ferris |
FMJ, that particular news is so exciting that my vision is getting all blurry! i'll give you a ring. FB | ||
| Bartimus |
by Dave Karlotski There is cold, and there is cold on a motorcycle. Cold on a motorcycle is like being beaten with cold hammers while being kicked with cold boots, a bone bruising cold. The wind's big hands squeeze the heat out of my body and whisk it away; caught in a cold October rain, the drops don't even feel like water. They feel like shards of bone fallen from the skies of Hell to pock my face. I expect to arrive with my cheeks and forehead streaked with blood, but that's just an illusion, just the misery of nerves not designed for highway speeds. Despite this, it's hard to give up my motorcycle in the fall and I rush to get it on the road again in the spring; lapses of sanity like this are common among motorcyclists. When you let a motorcycle into your life you're changed forever. The letters "MC" are stamped on your driver's license right next to your sex and weight as if "motorcycle" was just another of your physical characteristics, or maybe a mental condition. But when warm weather finally does come around all those cold snaps and rainstorms are paid in full because a motorcycle summer is worth any price. A motorcycle is not just a two-wheeled car; the difference between driving a car and climbing onto a motorcycle is the difference between watching TV and actually living your life. We spend all our time sealed in boxes and cars are just the rolling boxes that shuffle us languidly from home-box to work-box to store-box and back, the whole time, entombed in stale air, temperature regulated, sound insulated, and smelling of carpets. On a motorcycle I know I'm alive. When I ride, even the familiar seems strange and glorious. The air has weight and substance as I push through it and its touch is as intimate as water to a swimmer. I feel the cool wells of air that pool under trees and the warm spokes of sunlight that fall through them. I can see everything in a sweeping 360 degrees, up, down and around, wider than Pana-Vision and higher than IMAX and unrestricted by ceiling or dashboard. Sometimes I even hear music. It's like hearing phantom telephones in the shower or false doorbells when vacuuming; the pattern-loving brain, seeking signals in the noise, raises acoustic ghosts out of the wind's roar. But on a motorcycle I hear whole songs: rock 'n roll, dark orchestras, women’s voices, all hidden in the air and released by speed. At 30 miles per hour and up, smells become uncannily vivid. All the individual tree-smells and flower-smells and grass-smells flit by like chemical notes in a great plant symphony. Sometimes the smells evoke memories so strongly that it's as though the past hangs invisible in the air around me, wanting only the most casual of rumbling time machines to unlock it. A ride on a summer afternoon can border on the rapturous. The sheer volume and variety of stimuli is like a bath for my nervous system, an electrical massage for my brain, a systems check for my soul. It tears smiles out of me: a minute ago I was dour, depressed, apathetic, numb, but now, on two wheels, big, ragged, windy smiles flap against the side of my face, billowing out of me like air from a decompressing plane. Transportation is only a secondary function. A motorcycle is a joy machine. It's a machine of wonders, a metal bird, a motorized prosthetic. It's light and dark and shiny and dirty and warm and cold lapping over each other; it's a conduit of grace, it's a catalyst for bonding the gritty and the holy. I still think of myself as a motorcycle amateur, but by now I've had a handful of bikes over half a dozen years and slept under my share of bridges. I wouldn't trade one second of either the good times or the misery. Learning to ride was one of the best things I've done. Cars lie to us and tell us we're safe, powerful, and in control. The air-conditioning fans murmur empty assurances and whisper, "Sleep, sleep." motorcycles tell us a more useful truth: we are small and exposed, and probably moving too fast for our own good, but that's no reason not to enjoy every minute of the ride. | ||
| Bigdaddy |
Bartimus, That's good, really good. I've never seen it before but in my case is surely does apply. Thanks for the post. Greg | ||
| Glitch |
Bartimus: says it all. | ||
| Road_thing |
Excellent! | ||
| Cj_xb |
Awesome !!!! CJ  | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Bartimus, I'm stealing that one! It's on the way to a number of friends already. Thanks! | ||
| Bomber |
Bart . . .great post . . .. now I know why the folks I work with all cheer when I start rinding again after a long winter! | ||
| Whatever |
Bartimus, Fine writing! That reminds me of our BRAG ride this last August. We had a mixed crowd as we were headed out to follow a poker route for an upcoming event. My man and I split up from the crowd at the southernmost part of the route, tired of sitting around and chatting... we wanted to ride... As we left the bar we both quickly noticed half the sky was a dense grey... the kind of grey that looks like tornado weather in our parts. The air was thick and still. We took off, I on my Cyclone, Bob on his souped up Softail. By the time we were a mile or so from the storm I was sure we could outrace it... flying down the rolling corn filled hills at 90 mph. Needless to say we got soaked to the bone... a complete downpour... with a very wet hour ride to home. It rained so hard we had to stop three times because there was no way to see. I had jeans and touring jacket and a helmet. A t-shirt and jeans was all he had, and a trash bag someone gave him. But ahhhh to become one with the storm was an inspiring and amazing thing. Once we both put on warm sweats and got under a blanket at his house, we both laughed so hard we were crying. Charlotte edited by Whatever on November 12, 2003 | ||
| Awprior |
A few pics from American Buell in Ann Arbor last Friday. Just guess who this guy is?  You have to love the Buell P&A goggles.  Spidey, sorry it took me so long to post these... Do they still have any of that stuff on sale? I'm especially interested in a set of that blue or white bodywork... | ||
| Aesquire |
Bartimus, Truth is often profound. | ||
| Glitch |
http://www.turboforce3d.com/annoying/index.htm | ||
| Road_thing |
Hey! Who're you calling annoying?? My voice is much deeper than that! r-t | ||
| Nevco1 |
My folks lied...They said I was the only one that lived!!!  | ||
| Pdxs3t |
Ferris, The next time you speak with Wade, give him our best wishes! Dang, I can remember when he was just a youngin! Amazing how quick they grow! Jim | ||
| Bartimus |
I have lived all my live upon the back of a motorcycle of one brand or another. I'm from Canada, so I know what the cold is all about. I don't miss the winter, just the snow, (now and then). I have ridden in all kinds of weather, on all kinds of bikes, and the one thing still remains... I do it because I love it. It's raining? who cares! Darn it, I want to ride!!! Snow? Roll the dirt bike out, and bolt a plate on the back fender. And so it goes. People call us crazy. So... To know us is to love us. We are all the same, you and I. Our love for motorcycles and the joy they can bring make us make us all brothers and sisters. I did not write that article I posted earlier, but copied it from the motorcycle bible I've created. Glad everyone enjoyed it, and felt a description of themselves along the way. Ride hard, ride free, If it wasn't for us, the fast lane would rust!!! | ||
| Stringbean |
Any other Buell riders out there in the SF Bay Area??? (preferably on the Peninsula). I ride in the Santa Cruz mountain mostly, sometimes Marin, and almost never see any other Bullers. WHERE IS EVERYBODY?!?!?! -SB | ||
| Werewulf |
re: buell lawsuit goes to court. i was reading in the daytona newspaper this morning about the suit underway against buell, brought by the widow of a rider killed on a test ride at bike week. the rider was in his fortys and a seasoned rider. it is claimed that the throttle stuck on his x-1 he was riding. this should do wonders for the companies finances if the suit prevails. | ||
| Glitch |
re: buell lawsuit goes to court. So, the papers you sign to get a test ride mean nothing? Can they have to prove neglegent behavior? Is this article online? | ||
| Ferris |
Ferris, The next time you speak with Wade, give him our best wishes! roger that! how's YOUR family doing? FBaD | ||
| Ara |
The documents you sign before a test ride are not usually legally constraining. They function more as deterrents than as preventives. | ||
| Ferris |
Any other Buell riders out there in the SF Bay Area??? SB, you are located smack dab in the middle of one of the real hotbeds of Buell enthusiasm and passion here in the good ol' USA. ping Rex at BuellV@aol.com and he'll get you hooked up, and will most certainly invite you to American Sportbike Night's Fifth Aniversary Party, December 1st at the Straw Hat Pizza Parlor, 14680 Washington Avenue, in San Leandro. FB | ||
| Pdxs3t |
Ferris, Family is good up here in the NW, all together! Jim | ||
| Ferris |
Ferris, Family is good up here in the NW, all together! that's VERY good!!! hey, you know what i'd like for Christmas from you and Shel? a little ol' photo album full of Buell memories (you know the one i'm talking about...  ), and perhaps a CD of pix to go along with it. possible? FB |
