Slobs on big noisy hogs

My response to Mr. McKeen's article will appear in Thursdays paper.
It may not be what you expect but it will definately cause you to think.
Here's what he said:

Slobs on big, noisy hogs make life miserable
The Edmonton Journalby Scott McKeenPublished: Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Slobs ride hogs.Slobs ride hogs that rattle windows, awaken children and scorch neighbourhoods with sonic waves of industrial thunder.You blame the motorcycle for that hellacious, thumping roar? I blame the people on them. Narcissistic people. The kind of people who spit on sidewalks, butt into lineups and allow the door to slam in your face. In short, slobs.I can't count the number of times I've been on Whyte Avenue and experienced the two-wheel equivalent of an F-18 flying under the street lamps. I've heard countless complaints from people in downtown highrises about revving, roaring motorcycles.
Frankly, I'm sick of it. There are civic bylaws and provincial laws against excessive noise. But noise is considered a nuisance, not a crime. So the police enforce the laws when time and circumstance allow it -- in other words, almost never.In fairness, noise regulations, as written, are difficult to enforce. And the fines under the Highway Traffic Act, at $115, are not much of a deterrent. 

Maybe it's time to change those laws.According to the Motorcycle and Moped Industry Council, Transport Canada sets noise limits on motorcycle manufacturers at a reasonable 82 decibels.But a University of Florida study tested a random sample of street bikes and found half were capable of 100 decibels. One bike hit 119 decibels. To put that in perspective, the ear-splitting volumes at Rexall Place during the Oilers' playoff run, with nearly 17,000 screaming fans, peaked at about 116 decibels. Motorcycles get even noisier when they're modified with aftermarket exhaust systems. Worse yet are the hack handymen who remove the guts of the stock mufflers, turning their bikes into moving heavy metal concerts.Some guys claim noise makes their motorcycles safer. There's an old saying in the biker community: loud pipes save lives. The adage is just an excuse for selfish stupidity.Flemming Kristensen, the chief motorcycle instructor with the Alberta Safety Council, says there's no advantage to noise. Being visible is important to safety. Being audible? Nope. You don't hear a loud bike coming, you hear it leaving. Too late by then. Motorcycle rider groups are not silent on this issue.

The American Motorcyclist Association, for example, has long opposed excessively noisy motorcycles.The association realizes that if the biker community doesn't voluntarily reduce noise levels, governments will step in. Already, a number of U.S. cities have proposed motorcycle bans because of excessive noise.Hob Murphy, the proprietor of Heritage Harley-Davidson in Edmonton, has been tackling the noise issue for years by talking to staff and clients. His firm does not sell loud aftermarket exhaust systems.Harley-Davidson, the company, is taking a progressive position against noise, too, says Murphy. 
Harleys get blamed for being the noisiest bikes of them all. But the company's earliest advertising, at the turn of the 20th century, used the slogan Silent Grey Fellow.Motorcycle gangs changed the image of Harleys. Riding a hog made you an outlaw. And how do you act like an outlaw now, if you don't wear gang colours? Scrap the mufflers. Go loud.To be fair, Harley-Davidson gets a bad rap. Japanese and European manufacturers make motorcycles with earth-shaking V-twin engines, too. Their riders modify their bikes, too.The key, says Murphy, is in educating motorcyclists on the nuisance factor. Good idea. But I'd go further. We need to tell owners of loud, modified bikes the ugly truth. You, sir, look like a buffoon to us. You are a slob on a hog.For the record, I'm not against motorcycles. Most riders are good people. 

I spent a recent Saturday afternoon cruising on the back of a friend's new motorcycle. Loved it.Some other friends own Vespa scooters, which are just motorcycles for hipsters, lads and metro sexuals. But even some of them modify their exhaust systems. Sigh.For the record, I am no fan of regulating people to death. Freedom is precious. But when people abuse those freedoms, we are forced to consider limits.The world is changing. We pack more and more people into close, urban spaces. 

To get along, people must respect the needs of others.If not, communities will rise up. Laws will change. Fines will increase. Motorcycles will be seized.You've been warned, slobs. Silence yourselves. Or you will be silenced.

I HOPE YOU GUYS UP NORTH AREN'T GONNA TAKE THIS

The Red Neck Run

For those who don't already know it - this years Red Neck Run has been cancelled.
It will return next year - bigger and better but this year everyone has been so busy with work that they just couldn't do it.

The Red Neck run has been cancelled!

Tons of New Albums!

In an effort to get organized, I have been cleaning out all the files in my computer.

Man is that a big job! But the good news is I have spent the better part of a day uploading pictures to the photo galleries.

I hope you enjoy all of the pictures from the various events around Western Canada.

Second Annual Christmas in August

The Brad Brain Charitable Foundation in partnership with The Salvation Army

Second Annual Christmas in August Motorcycle Toy Run

PRESS RELEASE
July 5, 2006

The Brad Brain Charitable Foundation is pleased to announce that its second annual motorcycle toy run will be held on Saturday, August 12, 2006. The event will begin at the North Peace Recreation Centre, registration beginning at 9:00 am. All proceeds from this event will go to the Salvation Army’s Family Programs and the Christmas Hamper Program. The Salvation Army has taken over the Christmas Hamper Program, and we hope to give them a great start to the Christmas season.

The Run will leave Fort St John at 10:00. Our first stop is Iron Cycle, 10215 13th St. Dawson Creek, where riders from the South Peace will have an opportunity to join the run. We will then ride through Chetwynd and Hudson’s Hope before returning to Fort St John. We’ll finish up with a barbeque at approximately 5:00 pm at the Fort St John Rec Centre. The cost to participate in the event is $20.00 plus a new, unwrapped toy. The entry fee includes the barbeque.

New to this year’s event will be a Bug Run. For an additional $20 donation to the Salvation Army participants will be given a “bull’s eye” to fix to their bike. Prizes will be given for closest to the bull’s eye, and for the biggest splat.

All proceeds from this event support the Salvation Army and all of the good work they do for the community.

The Brad Brain Charitable Foundation and the Salvation Army would like to express their appreciation to all the supporters of the event.

The Brad Brain Charitable Foundation is a registered society dedicated to supporting charitable causes in Fort St John. Over the past six years the foundation has raised over $50,000 for local causes including the Fort St John Hospital Foundation, The Darren Almond Memorial Travel Foundation, The Child Development Centre and the SPCA.

How You Can Help

Participate – All bikes are welcome. Join us for a day of great riding, food and camaraderie.

Donate – All community –minded people are invited to drop of their cash or toy donations at the Fort St John Rec Centre between 9:00 and 10:00 am..

Sponsor- We are in need of prize donations. No donation is too big or small, all are most gratefully appreciated.

Buy A T-Shirt – Official ride t-shirts will be available for $20 each, all proceeds going to the Salvation Army.

For more information contact:

Brad Brain or Lucie Brain

Brad Brain Charitable Foundation
(250) 785-1655
bradbrain@telus.net or ljanosek@berkshire.ca

Ride Info
Register between 9 and 10 am
Ride departs at 10 am.
Total Distance: approx 332 km.
Estimated Ride Time (including stops): 6 – 7 hours

What is the BDB Club and who belongs?

Have you logged onto the www.beltdrivebetty.com site recently?

If not, I encourage you to. We consistently have 10,000 unique visitors to our web site every month now and are growing!
We have tons of information available on the public portion of the site, but in the BDB club Members area, there is even more for you to do and access.

If you are a subscriber to the paper, on line or in print – you are a BDB Club Member automatically.
If you have never logged in to the members area, please do so and create an account and password.
Once you are set up in the system, there are all kinds of tools available to you there.

You can have your own photo album, post free on line classified ads, add event information to our calendar and have your own calendar to keep your appointments and events organized, chat with other riders, find out where the biker parties, ride nights and other motorcycle events are. Here you will also find information on ride groups and when they meet, as you use the site we encourage you to send in your feed back. We want this site to contain the information you want! Submit a story, get your riding club information listed, and tell other riders where the good food and services are!

The www.beltdrivebetty.com web site is evolving and changing daily. With over 2,000 pages of information it is becoming the resource for motorcycle enthusiasts who surf the web looking for information on the Canadian motorcycle scene! But check in often, because coding the intricate information into the pages takes time and we have pages being added daily!

Coming in the future – 2 to 4 months down the road, there will be surveys that you can take from businesses that want to know more about the goods, services and products you want. And, there will be rewards for filling out those surveys!

Another feature that is in the works and will be ready to launch soon: The dealer retailer locator service. This will be a great tool for riders as we will be able to find the goods and services we are looking for in a very easy manner.
The locator service is just one in many steps toward creating our very own Bikers Phone book which we hope to release in
18 – 24 months.

Suzie has been working her little fingers off to create a warm and inviting web site and over the coming months there will be many more services installed into the web site for you, the rider to use. So come and visit www.beltdrivebetty.com
If you have any special requests of our web mistress Suzie of Alig8r Web Design, please don’t hesitate to contact her at alig8r@shaw.ca Between her and me, we will do our best to seek out the tools you’d like to have available to you on the site.

Share your story, your rant, information about your community, riding club and its events! And remember to use your Bikers Discount Buying Club Card often, it saves you money and proves to our advertisers that you read the Knuckle.
Oh, and don’t forget to visit the Cougar Cave and enter your most original sticker saying – You could win a Caribbean Cruise for 2 on Hogs on the High Seas Rally in 2007 or $3,000 cash!

The Bikers Discount Buying Club - saves you money! Belt Drive Betty & The Busted Knuckle Chronicles, working hard to keep you informed and connected.

Belt Drive Betty
The Busted Knuckle Chronicles
www.beltdrivebetty.com
10908-102 S.
Grande Prairie, AB T8V 2X3
780-402-8892 – phone/fax
bdbetty@telus.net

Freecycle

This was submitted by Classy Rider - a few of us have checked it out and it seems pretty cool!

Here's what she sent:

We have newly discovered a GREAT internet website that enables you to get things for free and get rid of the clutter in your home. This site is called FREECYCLE! (www.freecycle.ca) When you go to the site, you simply click on your country, and find the group closest to you! All you need is a yahooID (which is free to get) and then you are in! I set up my account to not send me any email as I check the site when I have time and this way my junk mail box doesn't get filled up with all the notices. In the last week, we have gotten a swing for on the deck of our new home, TONS of kids toys, found out about free stuff at garage sales, a high chair and coupons! People are giving away almost anything you can think of.The purpose of the site is to eliminate people throwing things in the garbage that could be reused....you are not allowed to ask for money for your items and no one asks you for money. 

Most of the communication is done by email. Most times, people leave the items on their porch and you just go and get it!

Classy Rider

It's all coming together!

The show is shaping up beautifully.
I have a new office administrator, hopefully no one offers her more money and I can keep her a while!
Glad to see that WyzWmn is back on line! I don't know about the rest of you but I sure enjoy her wit!

No one has donated any airmiles to us, but we are bringing the kids from the Bike Club to Wembley and taking them on a tour of the NAIT Fairview M/C training facilities.
It's been rough but the kids raised enough money to get 5 of them here and I had enough aeroplan miles to get 2 of them here. Mr. Mazzy's ticket was purchased by Toys for Big Boys in Moncton so - they are coming!

Peter Jonsson of MCM and Kopteri Magazines in Sweden & Finland is confirmed as is TBear of American Iron and The Horse Magazines!

Our Canadian press is set to come so Builders - we are providing you with your opportunity to wow the cameras!