The GUNNY'S SACK

October 2004 Here it is, for me the best time of the year, time to consider the Turkey we'll be eating soon. I find myself remembering some of the Thanksgivings in my own past. Like my own Thanksgiving in Korea, in the early fifties. I was colder than I've ever been in my life. We got a TURKEY DINNER up on the front lines, and what a treat that was. Thinking back on that, it reminds me how very fortunate we are to live in this country.

We have the freedom to vote and choose those that will lead us and if we don't like the job they do we can vote them out of office and replace them with another choice. We as a people are fortunate indeed. By the time you are reading this, our election will be history.

The worldwide strife that we DON'T have to experience personally is what I think about. I'm just grateful we live in this part of the world. It's a time for us to think and pray (if you do) for our troops in harm's way. Every day is a day to pray for our troops. Yes, I do have family in harm's way. And yes, I pray for their safety, the same as my people prayed for me when I was out there. On the homefront, though, life does go on. We still have issues, and we have the tools to work with. We are charged with the responsibility to use those tools to the best of our ability. Remember, here in America your vote COUNTS.

NEWSBITS 'N' PIECES:

WABASHA, MINN: Can a Honda 1000 travel over 200 miles per hour? This story was on the wire services recently – we carried it in the SACK, too: Minnesota authorities have reported that an airplane pilot and police officer clocked a man on a Honda 1000 traveling 205 miles per hour. What? Sounds like a cop looking for his 15 minutes of fame.

Ask any AMA pit crew member and they will tell you it would cost over $60,000 to build a superbike that could travel that fast. Those kinds of speeds are expensive and most of us don't have money in that quantity. I'm told that 150 MPH is max for most bikes. The cops should take the time to at least do a little research.

The real kicker here is the kid riding the Honda is the son of a deputy sheriff! My oh my! Now, a modified Hyabusa can top 200, but the key word is MODIFIED. I would believe 175, maybe, on a Honda 1000.


ARIZONA: The Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) has imposed restrictions on ABATE of Arizona's Motorcycle Awareness Program (MAP) taught in schools all over the state. During their 53-minute presentation of the MAP, an 8 minute MSF - 'Common Road' tape is shown. MSF claims that they CANNOT SHOW this videotape unless they ALSO recommend the use of certain safety equipment and riding clothes! This includes DOT helmets, wearing long pants, and using eye protection, among other things. The MSF also said that ABATE'S failure to make these recommendations could "undercut the message of the program."

ABATE of Arizona has replied, saying that the message of the MAP is about how motorists can safely share the road with motorcycles, not what to wear or not wear when riding a motorcycle. ABATE of Arizona says because of these restrictions the MSF tape will be dropped from the curriculum. MSF is trying to force their versions of safety training across the country. They want a monopoly, and the biker community has tended to resist that sort of high-handedness.


NASHVILLE, TENN: Got word that the '05 NCOM Convention is gonna be here! A little country-western will do us good. I know my boss SAM is gonna want to ride down the road to MEMPHIS afterwards, to get another bellyful of the Blues, Memphis-style. All that lawyering he does would give ME the blues. If you have a motorcycle-related legal question, you can always pop SAM an email, at SamBikeLaw@aol.com, and he'll sit up to some godawful hours to answer ya! For any SACK questions or follow-ups, your Gunny is online, too, at AIMGunny@aol.com.


LINCOLN, NE: An amendment to this town's noise abatement ordinance would prohibit the use of straight pipes on bikes and it would be a violation to modify any pipes on bikes manufactured prior to 1982.

I just don't see any sense in paying large fines for noise when that money could better be used to buy gasoline for my ride.


MUNICH, GERMANY: At 'INTERMOT' the largest motorcycle show in the world, the new "EVADER" is turning heads all over the place. This electric scooter builder is apparently right on track with their machines. I'm given to understand these things are not only fast but economical as well. I'll keep ya up to date with this critter, when I know some more.


NEW DELHI, INDIA: Two wheeled machines are selling almost as fast as they can be put together here. Sales have risen over 13% during the first five months of this fiscal year. Step-thru's and mopeds are the largest sellers with nearly 75% of all sales. Maybe a scooter business in India might be an idea.


WASHINGTON, DC: Meanwhile, back in this country, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell – our Harley-riding Senator from Colorado – addressed Congress in traditional Cheyenne Chieftain's regalia, to manage an appropriations bill. Ben said it was more for convenience than anything else. He had just come from speaking at the opening of the Native American Heritage Museum and was short of time to change. He had made arrangements ahead of time. I would have loved to been there and seen that.


CHICAGO, IL: This columnist from the The Chicago Sun-Times, Neil Steinberg, has decided motorcyclists should all be organ donors. He thinks this is a good joke to tell his friends. He goes on to comment on the "dumpy middle aged guys racing around." He thinks we are prime candidates to be organ donors because we ride, not just old guys who he thinks "race around." In the same breath he says HE would LIKE TO RIDE, but it's too dangerous. This clown is a fool. What worries me is that people will believe his crap and we will have another issue to deal with. His E-mail address is: nsteinberg@suntimes.com. You can bet he heard from me. You might want to first noodle around the website for his paper, to read the original column.


CELL PHONES IN HELMETS: Ya had to see it comin' around the bend, folks. Cops have long had the ability to use their radios. Gold-Wingers have had helmet communications as long as I can remember. It just seems logical to me that sooner or later bikers would turn into the "Bluetooth" folks with cell phones included in the ear equipment.

Gypsy Rose, an online biker-columnist and news-disseminator, says this about it: "Here's what's on the horizon! A helmet with a cell phone set up in it! I shudder to think! We have enough distractions~ this one is not good! Maybe it will just be another way to thin the herd! Pfffft! Cell phones and driving/riding are my pet peeve!"

The Gunny is uncommitted on this one. I don't like cell phones to begin with, but they have become almost a necessity, at least in the business world. I also talk occasionally on the CB radio when I'm riding.

Motorola and helmet maker Momodesign will release this new gadget very soon to the public and we'll just find out if the idea is a good one. Apparently all the workings are hands off, so maybe it will be OK!


THESE PEARLS OF WISDON are sponsored by our Oregon AIM attorney Sam Hochberg, one of about sixty AIM attorneys around the country whose mission in life is to take care of those of us who find ourselves in a legal jam, whether we are on our bikes or not. These folks are all bikers and they live in our world and experience the same crap we do. They also network so they know how to beat the insurance companies down and make them cough up the money we need to recoup our losses when we are hurt in accidents. There is also a criminal attorney available if we need one. With the PATRIOT Act and other stuff going on any one of us could find ourselves in that nasty spot. Get with the AIM attorney in your neighborhood by calling 1-800-531-2424, or the new one, 1-800-ON-A-BIKE, or go play on the Internet with us, at www.on-a-bike.com, or reach the very same place at www.aimncom.com – all easy to remember!