Monday, June 21st, is Ride To Work Day !!

Motorcycle and scooter riders' 19th annual commuting day is this coming Monday, June 21st. Participation in the yearly demonstration is estimated to triple the number of riders on the road. Motorcycle and scooter groups and organizations actively encourage riders to commute by cycle on this day. On Ride to Work Day, motorcycle and scooter commuters seek improved employer recognition and support for this form of transportation and increased public and government awareness of the positive value of riding.

Adding more commuting motorcycles and scooters makes urban parking easier and traffic flow better, according to Ride to Work, a non-profit advocacy organization. Studies have also shown that across the same distances, riders reach their destinations faster than those using automobiles. Most motorcycles and scooters also consume less resources per mile than automobiles. "Riding to work on this day is fun and highlights the positive value of motorcycling. For many people, riding is a socially responsible form of mobility that saves energy, helps the environment and provides a broad range of other public benefits," stated Andy Goldfine, this year's event organizer.

The Ride to Work website includes:

• Secure credit card or PayPal purchases of Ride to Work merchandise.

• An interactive forum to discuss Ride to Work issues and events.

• A wholesale program of support merchandise available to dealers and retailers.

• A photo gallery to show your Every Day Ride on the website.

As for Torch, EVERY day is ride to work day!

Ride on,
Torch

Fiat Yamaha Fan of the week – Mugello Round

Fiat Yamaha Fan of the week – Mugello Round

I've been picked by Moto Race Reports as this weeks Fiat Yamaha Fan of the week!

Check it out here: http://www.motoracereports.com/4288/fiat-yamaha-fan-of-the-week-mugello-round.html

Ride on,

Torch

I won a ROADRACING WORLD Hat!

Torch's New Hat

I got an email the other day from ROADRACING WORLD stating that I had won a free hat for taking an on-line poll. There were a couple choices so I picked out the one I wanted and it arrived in the mail just the other day. ROADRACING WORLD is one of my favorite sites for motorcycle racing news. The photo of the hat is from their On line Store where you can purchase your own, along with other items of interest. They publish a very nice magazine all about motorcycle racing as well, which I do not presently $ubscribe to. Any way, I just wanted to give ROADRACING WORLD a shout out and say, "Thank you!"

MotoGP racing at Le Mans will be on later today & you can bet I will be watching either live or recording to watch later in case something comes up. I have not been posting as much lately because I've been busy with a new job. It's actually the same job with a different company.

Ride on,
Torch

Can You See Me Now?

Can You See Me Now?

X-treme Design Class 2 High-Visibility Mesh Safety Vest — Lime Review

If you have ridden a motorcycle for any length of time you have had close encounters with the drivers of other vehicles. If you ride year round like me you probably have had lots of them. People pulling out in front of you, turning in front of you, not yielding to you, and changing into your lane all happen too frequently to us traveling on two wheels.

One of the biggest problems of cage drivers is that they just cannot see us. The moment you start riding a motorcycle or scooter you become invisible like you have turned on some Romulan Cloaking Device. On a motorcycle we are a smaller target to see and people just don’t seem to look that well. Another factor is that it would appear we tend to travel a little faster than cages and when they look they don’t look far enough away to see us coming at speed. We can be beside them or in front of them in the second it takes them to look back to start making their planned maneuver.

Then there is the rumor going around that Loud Pipes Don’t Save Lives. I don’t believe it. Speaking from personal experience, from both points if view, seat and saddle, drivers that may not have seen you, might hear you. They may not hear every time, but any time they do it may prevent a mishap. It has kept daydreaming drivers from moving into my lane before I could react and hit the Stebel Nautilus Compact Dual Tone Horn button. I am not condoning irrationally loud pipes but it does help to be loud enough to be noticed. I like my Cobra Longshots.

Since I commute in the traffic of a major metropolitan area, (Dallas / Fort Worth), everyday to and from work, before sunup and after sundown, I have picked up an inexpensive device to help people see me better. I purchased a X-treme Design Class 2 High-Visibility Mesh Safety Vest — Lime from the local Northern Tool + Equipment. I wear it when it is dark or overcast out like on rainy days. I bought it large enough to fit over my other riding gear.

The High-Visibility Mesh Safety Vest is made from a bright green color that catches your eye in traffic. It has two 2” wide vertical and one horizontal 3M Scotchlite reflective stripes. This safety vest comes with a zipper closure and an inside pocket. The X-treme Design vest meets ANSI/ISEA 107-2004 Class 2 specifications. They also make other models with different features and a high visibility orange color.

Yes, I look like the dorkiest motorcycle rider in the Mid-Cities but at least you can see me. For any of you naysayers out there let me show you the evidence. Here is a photo of me at dusk with just my OSi Cool Mesh Jacket on. Click on any photo for larger view.
 
 

Now here is a photo of me with the X-treme Design Class 2 High-Visibility Mesh Safety Vest — Lime on.

Those were both taken without a flash. Here is a shot with the High-Visibility Vest on and the cameras flash on to simulate headlamps.

Now you can see for yourself with your own eyes what a difference that vest makes. I have been using the vest now for around six months and have not had any issues with it. It has withstood my fumbling fingers not zipping it up correctly and countless rain storms and has held up fine. Torch gives the X-treme Design Class 2 High-Visibility Mesh Safety Vest a M.M.M. rating of 9.5 out of 10.

Ride on,

Torch

 

Torch's Motorcycle Racing Links / Directory

Torch's Motorcycle Racing Links

II VI II
All Harley Drag Racing Association
AMA Dragbike
AMA National Gaurd Racing
AMA Pro Racing
American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association
American Sportbike Racing Association
Aussie Dave Racing
Ben Spies
Bike Channel
Brandon Cretu Racing
Carlos Checa
Central Motorcycle Racing Association
Championship Cup Series
Chase McFarland Racing
Cody Wyman
Daniel-Eric Ouimet
Dark Horse Racing
Dom-N-Ator Racing
FIM
Go-Scooter-Go
Hudson Kennaugh
Hunter Morgan
Isle of Man TT
Leon Camier
Leon Haslam
Less Flower More Power
M2TX
Marco Melandri
Mario Alvarez II
Max Biaggi
Max Neukirchner
MCE British Superbikes
Melissa Paris
Mike Edwards
Mike Wells Racing
Monster Yamaha Tech3
Motorcycle Drag Racing Association
Moto Cafe
Moto GP
MotoGPod
MotoGP World
Moto Race Reports
Moto Sponsor
Nicky Hayden
On The Throttle
Parts Canada Superbike
Peter Lenz
Race Fans TV
RMP Racing
Road Kill Racers
Road Racing World
Robert Buroker
Rubber Side Down
Serpent Racing
Shakey
Speed TV Moto Racing
SS&D Racing
Superbike Planet
Supermoto
Suziperry
Texas Scooter Times
Tony Elias
Troy Bayliss
World Superbike USA
US Grand Prix Racers Union
WERA Motorcycle Roadracing Association
World SBK
World Sperbikes


Send me your racing links to add; Torch

Ohio Riders Forum Review

Ohio Riders Forum Review

There are a lot of good motorcycle forums out there. You can find forums based on the brand or model of bike you ride, the style or type of riding that you do, or ones based on the location or area that you ride in. Most are friendly and helpful and are a great place to find information, meet new people and just pass the time when you cannot ride. One of the better forums out there is the Ohio Riders forum. If you live and ride in Ohio, are just going to be passing through or are stopping in for a visit, be sure and stop by the Ohio Riders forum to glean great information about motorcycling in The Buckeye State.


Ben Stillman asked me to stop in for a visit and give them a review. I have been perusing their forum now for a couple of weeks and have found it quite informative and entertaining. Since they are a location based forum they do not care what type or brand of bike that you ride whether it be a Yamasaki or a Honda-Davidson. The Ohio Riders forum is an active forum with stats of; Threads: 54,014, Posts: 443,123, Members: 3,932 as of March 30th. It seems there is someone online almost all the time.

They break the forum down into six catagories including;

The lounge; which includes sections covering, Introductions, Tech Tips, Riding Tips and more.

Riding Styles: where you will find sections on Street Fun, Track Days, Adventure / Sport Touring, Stunting, and more.

Rides and Events; which has the Calendar Events and breaks them all down by the different areas of Ohio.

Time Wasters; where you will find the subjects of Ranting and Raving, Off-Topic, Pics and Vids, and more.

Market Place; where you will find the Bike Shop, Parts Shop, Gear Shop and more for sale.

News Feeds; which includes news feeds from AMA, MotoGP, MCN, and SpeedTV, a very good selection in my humble opinion. This makes their site a great one stop motorcycling news source.

Ohio Riders forum is laid out aesthetically and is very organized making it intuitive to navigate. There are a few well placed ads that are neither distracting nor overbearing. The atmosphere is friendly and there is the usual ribbing, banter and forum humor you will find on most forums. Ohio Riders has been helping motorcycle riders since 2006 with no end in sight. Even if you don’t live or ride in Ohio you can find useful or entertaining information browsing their forum. Stop in and say ‘hi’ and tell them Torch sent ya.

Ride on,
Torch

Chuck Norris 03 Kawasaki 636 ZX6-R?

Chuck Norris 03 Kawasaki 636 ZX6-R?

My son ran across this add on Craigslist & I really enjoyed reading it. So, I have reprinted here, unedited except for the #'s etc.  for your reading pleasure:

Chuck Norris 03 Kawasaki 636 ZX6-R - $4800 (dallas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2010-03-15, 4:58PM CDT
Reply to: sale-y49mk-XXXXX@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


OK, let me start off by saying this Kawasaki ZX6-R is only available for purchase by the manliest of men (or women). My friend, if it was possible for a bike to sprout chest hair and a five o'clock shadow, this Kawi would look like Tom Selleck. It is just that sexy.

It was never intended to drive to the Galleria mall so you can pick up that adorable shirt at Abercrombie & Fitch that you had your eye on. It wasn't meant to transport you to yoga class or Bath & Body Works. No, that's what your vespa is for. If that's the kind of “bike” you're looking for, then just do us all a favor and stop reading right now. I mean it. Just stop.

This sex-machine was engineered by 3rd degree ninja super-warriors in the highest mountains of Japan to serve the needs of the man that cheats death on a daily basis. They didn't even consider superfluous, nancy-boy amenities like navigation systems (real men don't get lost), heated leather seats (a realman doesn't let anything warm his butt), or On Star (real men don't even know what the hell On Star is).

No, this brute comes with the things us testosterone-fueled super action junkies need. It has a 636cc engine to outrun the cops. It's got specialblood/gore resistant upholstery. It even has a first-aid kit in the back. You know what the first aid kit has in it? A pint of whiskey, a stitch-your-own-wound kit, and a hunk of leather to bite down on when you're operating on yourself. The Kawi also has 5 gears so if you're being chased by Taliban-terrorists, you can outrun them with a gun strapped to your back and shoot them at high-speed intervals. It's saved my bacon more than once.

It has room for you and the hottie you picked up on the way to the gym to blast your pecs and hammer your glutes. I also just put in a brand new stator to replace the malfunctioning one from The Man(ufacturers) that sucked.


My price on this bad boy is an incredibly low $4,800 but I'll entertain reasonable offers. And by reasonable, I mean don't walk up and tell me


you'll give me $2,000 for it. That's liable to earn you a Burmese-roundhouse-sphincter-kick with a follow up three fingered eye-jab. Would it hurt?


Hell yeah. Let's just say you won't be the prettiest guy at the Coldplay concert anymore.

There's only 17,000 miles on this two-wheeled hellcat from Planet Kickass. It is in pristine condition, not a scratch on this monster. Trust me, it will outlive you and the offspring that will carry yourname. It will live on as a monument to your machismo.

Now, go look in the mirror and tell me what you see. If it's a rugged, no holds barred, super brute he-man macho Chuck Norris stunt double, then contact me. I might be out hang-gliding or BASE jumping or just chilling with my homes, but I'll get back to you. And when I do, we'll talk about a


price over a nice glass of Schmidt while we listen to Led Zeppelin.

To sweeten the deal a little, I'm throwing in this pair of MC Hammer pants for the man with rippling quads that can't fit into regular pants. Yeah,


you heard me. FREE MC Hammer pants.

Rock on.

shoot me a text if you fit the description of someone who can handle sex on wheels,


214 772 XXXX


ace

•Location: dallas


•it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
 
 
 
Here is the link: http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/mcy/1645662880.html
 
I emailed ace and he never replied. I got several laughs while reading this and Twittered the link but I thought I would repost it here for your reading pleasure.
 
Ride on,
Torch