Happy Monday, Here’s some cool Video’s

Wow- Monday already and I guess it was a hard start for you lot today as it was for me too, and I think today I shall continue with a few more videos to try and help your workday fly by, or at least give you something different to look at on your lunch break etc.

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Below is a video from back in the day about road safety, always fun to watch as our machines have changed a lot , as well as the traffic speeds too.

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It is from Los Angeles in the 1960’s and boy, to see no traffic in the towns is weird these days, it also makes me laugh when the public service film and the AMA both tell you to. “Dress Neatly” as they want you to give a good impression to your neighbors. ha ha ha

 

And how about this, some rare footage called “Rode Safely” This was filmed back in 1955 in Liverpool, and its some cool footage to watch on a Monday and shows how things were so much different back then, compared to today’s traffic and Laws etc.

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I had to laugh at the “staged crashes” and the Old style of hand signals that have changed in the highway Code back home. This is as funny as hell to watch and I am certain that these 13 minutes will have you cracking up.

Onto part 2 now of “Rode Safely”

16 minutes of awesome footage, and for me this was thoroughly entertaining, showing me what Back home like in 1955, when there was only half a million Motorcycles being ridden on the British roads.

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Enjoy

Be safe out there but you don’t have to dress neatly OK? LOL.

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Kick Back Motorcycle show LONDON

One of the up and coming leaders in the European motorcycle shows these days is the Kick Back show in London, many builders come out to bring their best builds, many built at home in the shed.

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Today, I wanted to share a few photos with you to let you see just a sprinkling of the creations that are around across the pond.

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If you like motorcycles, then you will love this show as many styles and creations jump out at you, this show has a warm and friendly atmosphere and people from across Europe travel to see the bikes that are being displayed.

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Many favorites of course but for me, this should be called Kick Arse!

What an awesome Triton, I’d love to hear this fire up, the Up-sweeps look great and so tightly fitted, great job.

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This show seems to be taking a hold now and I am sure that the venue will just get more and more following in London and am so glad that so many shows have come up back home in the Smoke.

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Cafe Racers, Brats, Bobbers, Choppers, Trackers and Customs are all sprinkled here at KickBack, hopefully one day I can revenuer back home and see them in real time.

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Below, the Old Step through, many people had these back in the day, my brother has one and used it on the dirt roads as thats all we had when we were kids, so great to see these “old memory” Bikes making a come back.

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Check out the Flying S Jap Suzuki- I had an AS 50 when I was 16.

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So many cool builds and styles, something for everyone.

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We have many shows here in the USA too and hope to feature them as and when they come up.

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The choppers are always worth a look as none ever the same and I love the uniqueness of that.

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This has had a lot of work to make it what it is and many just build these at home and as a hobby.

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Above you can see that this FAT ATTACK Trumpy has had major surgery and the Brat/tracker look is really popular now and I would love to take this out.

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I am sure that you will find a favorite here in these machines and I love the way the future of Motorcycle building is going.

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I see many of these styles over here and I cant get enough of them, so continue wrenching everyone its a blast.

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Not many specs that I can give as they didnt give any – But just enjoy the photos and hope that some of these bring a smile to your face today.

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Beemers are very much sought after today and I can see more and more making the transformation from Stock to Custom and its good to see.

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Two differently built machines but look great together, this is so much fun seeing so many cool machines being created.

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Another Double Overhead Cam with old and New technology is something that always grabs my attention where ever I see one.kickback9 Above, I would so easily lose my license running around on this, it cry’s out to be ridden hard!

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When I was 17 years old I had a GT500 and that thing would pull like a steam train, wish I had kept mine.

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Cant stop loving the 70’s Muscles machines, unless you have ridden one of these, you cannot understand something called. “Power Band”.- But Look hard, what’s different about this Motor?

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These Street trackers are popular now and I bet this is so much fun running around.

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Great looking Sportster, I have an old 883 I shall play with later on.

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Thanks for reading my Blog today, if you are in London in April this year, then Kick back is on again, make sure you can find time to check it out, if you do go, send us some photos, love to see it.

 

 

 

Just a few Video’s for your enjoyment today, have a great week.

Here is the 2015 Show Below.

And finally 2016 show, enjoy all my friends.

Happy Thursday to you all.

Good to see Carpy and what better shop to see on 360? #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Well Happy Thursday everyone, seems to come around way too fast, so this morning this will not be a huge Blog just as quick hello as people do follow what I do on the website.
Just amazing about technology and how far it has come, as the above is a few seconds that my buddy Zach Siglow recorded when he came to my shop to pick up his Motorcycle.
I am blown away with what technology can do to help in small businesses.

There are so many that can now render a bike on a computer to show a potential customer what their machine may look like, and they can see it right away, as before pen and paper and numerous phone calls and meets would take place.

If I had to design, say a Sportster for a client, with a few key strokes and the help of a 3D image piece of software, anything is possible.

Look how awesome this is for a Honda Twin Cafe Racer design for a customer, just insane eh?

Just check out the design of this Triumph Bonneville, I am so stunned by how cool this looks and am sure the Customer would be amazed too.

Just an infinite amount of ideas and prototypes you could do with out the days of sketching and trying parts to see if they can fit on the real bike.

Just wish I had the time right now to make something up and of course the software but- I think that is the way things are going and to be honest , I love it.

Look at how cool this rendering is of a CB750 in the style that I create.

Simply a joy to look at, so if you have the time, maybe have a go and let me know how you get on?

Its just your time and imagination you need and of course, a bucket load of Gold nuggets for the software. Ha Ha

Have a Great Thursday.

Guy Martin & David Coulthard F1 Special

For those like me, are interested in the antics of infamous Brit racer “Guy mad man Martin” Then this is a cool little show for you to watch where he puts his motorcycle up against David Coulthards F1 Special, A must watch for your day to cheer you up.

A fun bit of entertainment by two very cool people.

This was a great show and wanted to share it with you lot today, hope that you enjoyed this?

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE !

Well, as it is now that festive time of year, I thought that it was only fitting on this nice crisp Christmas morning, that it was time for some merriment and put a few things of that nature on the Blog today, I didn’t want to celebrate the season too early, seems like people start way to early these days, but now is the right time to get you lot into the Christmas spirit.

Have a great day today and hope that world flies by faster than Santa with a Rocket powered sleigh!

A bit of JD Mc Pherson now.

A rare bit of footage from the Collins brothers “The jets”
Jeez I feel old seeing these. Ha Ha.

Irelands Imelda may knocking this one out of the park.

This is for those who run out of time and of course idea’s for that certain someone at christmas and not sure what to buy for them.

So, let me take this opportunity to wish you ALL a very Merry Christmas, thank you for all your orders, inquiries and phone calls.

Hoping 2016 find you good health, great wealth and of course happiness.

Peace and Grease Everyone.

CARPY

The Rice Boiler CB750 SOHC

Well, here was a bike that came together just because of my Grumpy Old man when I was a Teenager, and thought that I would share this creation with you all.

My Dad is an Old School sort and, if it wasn’t British, then it wasn’t good enough, and as a kid I had never been able to afford new bikes, my first bought bike was a 1955 Francis Barnet which I turned into a dirt bike, but all I ever heard from my old man if he saw a Japanese Motorcycle was. ” That bloody thing is a “Rice Boiler” And it stuck in my head for all this time.

I don’t really get on with my old man, too strict and a terrible aggressive temper to boot, it was his way or the highway and a boot up the arse for good measure.  I had plenty of parts about and I wanted to really make this creation something that would indeed get plenty of attention and what better title than “The Rice Boiler”

If this was going to get built, then I am going to go all out and both guns frigging blazing, I wanted this 1974 CB750K to really turn some heads where ever it stood and I think I pulled it off?

I had these Alloy Star rims for over 20 years that were simply stuck in the hangers of the garage loft and thought that these would fit the bill, they needed cleaning up, new bearings and then paint and polish, but they are period rims and this was the perfect Motorcycle to fit these too, I also shod them with my favorite Bridgestone Spitfire Tires and like many of my machines, I drill the brake rotors and polish all the Aluminum that I can.

I totally stripped the front and rear Brake calipers, removed the paint and stripped to bare aluminum, vapor honed them and then polished to a chrome finish, machines stainless Pistons and rebuilt the calipers like they were new, and then made sure to add Aircraft grade Braided Brake lines too.

Yes indeed, the Devil is in the Detail and this was no exception, the Sprocket carrier I stripped and polished and Chromed the safety plate, then to really make sure this is a sturdy ride and accepts a wider rear tire, I made a Boxed swing arm, drilled holes in them and inserted steel tubing and welded smooth, so they swing arm looks drilled but its stronger than when it wasn’t by the tubing inside.  I also made the Chain Guard and Chromed that and set the look off with a Nickel “O” Ring 530 Chain.

I have always drilled my brake hubs, for aeration and to get rid of brake dust too, just looks like the old race bikes back in the day when they did the same thing.

Every Bike that I do create, always has an Alcohol filled oil Pressure Gauge, as it gives true Motor pressure reading and looks pretty darn cool hanging out of the side of the Motorcycle.

 

I had a collection of Original Racecrafter finned speed equipment for a CB750 and thought that it was time they came out of the cupboard draw, got polished and could fit them to the motor, this clutch cover was great and loved eventually using it after being locked away for over 20 years.

This was the old after market Racecrafters finned Points cover with 750 cast in the center, never really see these much, so wanted to fit this to the bike for more eye candy.

Of course, the Stator cover was missing some of that Bling and wanted the finned styling to flow and this original one I had got cleaned up and polished and looks great sat in place on the motor that it was intended for.

Unfortunately nobody made a finned engine mount, so I thought ” feck It” I will design and make my own, and that’s what happened using some 7075 T6 Billet and it came out super cool.

I really wanted to make a statement with this build, so I drilled the front sprocket cover and then polished to a chrome finish to dress that part of the motor up, as many leave that area as its so oily inside.

The Carbs were totally rebuilt and tuned and added a Custom made Dragon Airbox to match the Old Chopper aftermarket versions of the day, we called them bread Boxes and it breathes really well.

Rebuilt engine with Polished Valve cover and even an aftermarket 1974 Finned starter Cover, this Motorcycle looks amazing at any angle that you take a peek at, so many New parts, including stainless Allen head bolts throughout.

I thought to myself, I may as well push the boat out of design etc and made out of solid billet, a Oil Tank Dipstick Finned cap and It came out so nice, glad I went ahead and did that.

The exhaust had to be cool and what better way to get the spent gases out of the cylinder head than by a set of slightly wider Stainless Steel headers and Yoshimura style tail pipe.

For some added Custom touches I cut down a Connecting Rod and use the Big end around the tail pipe as a hanger, then shortened it and triple chromed, it came out great.

Another Custom Touch was I stripped both of the old tired Gauges and gave them a New Lease of Life with my own New faces, these looked sharp as a tach. LOL

The Gas tank was a 1975 CB750F Super Sport Model, I cut the old gas Cap flap out of the top and welded it smooth and then fitted one of my Alloy Monza styled cap, Hammered by hand the knee inserts and smoothed all the body work before getting a buddy to paint it for me with the Rising Sun in the insert.  Many coats of Candy Brandy Root Beer was mixed and applied.

I love using Italian rear sets and these look very cool once I removed the anodizing and polished to a chrome finish, they work so smoothly too, the pegs are folding as well.

This is my hand made seat and I used this cool Custom LED light to keep me safe at night, the License plate frame is an original 1974 After Market one that is the epitome of Café Racers of the day.

I wanted to try something way out of the box, so what I did was used some old used CB750 Connecting rods and chromed them to make wickedly cool wing mirrors and boy, did they turn out swell, many people loved the idea.

I just wanted to really push the proverbial boat out with the Rice Boiler, and I think I did accomplish such a task, it took some time but was worth all the effort to bring something a little different out to the shows.

A serious piece of kit and I had such a Ball creating this bike, all from a pencil drawing inside my skull as a kid and to bring it to fruition was such a fun achievement for me.

I was determined to bring something out of the stable that was all me, all my years of motorcycles and put so many tricks into this that it would be looked at for some time where ever it went.

Where did the headlight come from I hear you ask? Well I wanted to try something different and located an old DeSoto fender light and this turned out to be a winner for me and really suited the bike.

A fine thoroughbred machine that loves to have its legs stretched, and is pure fun to run around anywhere that you choose to take it, so many things to look at too.

I put a lot of Pride and Joy into this, its my creation and love to look at it, it may not be your cup of Tea but hope you can see the work that went into this build.

I used real leather on the seat, soft as hell too and did Diamond Stitching with snaps on the side for quick removal. I actually hand made the side covers too.

Thanks for reading my build page and hope that you found some of the photos I took, interesting. Its my passion and my life to be honest and continue to create Motorcycles and Custom parts.

I am sure my Old Man would still scoff at it but that’s his opinion, I love it and glad that I took on this challenge and saw it through to the very end.

Until next time I guess, have to see what else that I can come up with as I carry one with these fun inline four Honda Motorcycles. Ton Up Everybody !!!

 

 

 

 

 

THE DGR is Tomorrow! Please help this last bit.

On Sunday September 27th 2015, more than 17,452 smartly-dressed gentlefolk in 406 cities from 79 countries will straddle the saddles of their Café Racers, Bobbers, Scramblers and other marvelous Custom motorcycles to raise awareness and help fund the cure for prostate Cancer.

 

 

Here is where I am, I am so stoked, 7th in the world on donations, I cannot thank you all enough for your genrosity and help and goodwill, it is YOU that has helped me reach this goal and further, this is a tremendous effort by you and I wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am proud to be a part of this historic weekend that is coming up and I look forward to Blogging the event when I get back.

 

 

 

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Well, September 27th is literally just around the next bend, so I wanted to try and promote a little of this on my website, seeing as the 59 Club will be attending this great Annual event and, of course a real cause that happens to be a slight concern for my health as I get older.

1 in 7 guys get this terrible disease and I want to try hard and get as many donations as possible for this ride and lets see if we can find a cure for Prostate Cancer.

 

 

 

My link below will take you to the page to sponsor me no matter how small, EVERY penny counts and I can sure do with some help here, so if you could find just 5 minutes of your time to Donate here, I will be so stoked.

I am going for a Goal of $5000 and am at $5360 so have gone past that and now want to do all i can to get a great total for the ride on Sunday, if you can pass the link around that I have typed below I would really appreciate it.

If you can donate to this worthy cause it will help so many people in a dire position.

http://ww.gentlemansride.com/rider/carpy

I will see your name pop up when you hit the Sponsor me button and I will thank you for helping towards finding a cure for this disease.

 

So Below, here is the route for you to see.

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I am looking forward to this ride, I started off as 525th in sponsoring in the world in funds and right now I am doing well and at 14th place, lets try and get more for this wonderful charity and help those in need.

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This will be a real big event and one you really should not miss for the year! We shall be starting at Del Amo Motorsports in Long Beach.

Del Amo Motorsports of Long Beach
3291 Cherry Ave, Long Beach, CA 90807 and will be there at 7AM sharp!

DGR pre ride

So here are the flyers right now and will add as I get closer to this event.

Del Amo Motorsports of Long Beach
3291 Cherry Ave, Long Beach, CA 90807

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I sure hope you spread the word and get involved, this is a unity ride that I truly believe will be beneficial  to everyone and what a great way to meet many like minded people, have fun and make new friends, as well as support something that really is a serious issue too.

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This is a super opportunity to have a great ride with tons of ton up machines and to hear all them engines will be such a great experience, even for me, I love rides with many cool people and I sure hope you will attend this.

Please come up and say hello, as I love to meet you all, this is a great event and sure look forward to meeting everyone of you all.

Keep the date handy and we shall see you on the Tarmac.

If you can Sponsor me it would be so cool to know that I have a lot of friends that wabt to help in this Charity ride and we are united in trying to find a cure for this disease.

Triumph-Prize_SKYSCRAPER

I would also love to win this Thruxton through your sponership and will then raffle the bike off and donate to the funds to charity.

So, if you can make it, throw on some Dapper gear and I will see you on the road on the 27th of September.

Many thanks for those who have already donated for me I am so stoked.

Here is my link to Sponsor me.

http://www.gentlemansride.com/rider/carpy

Once again I thank you all, PLEASE pass the word as this is something I am really trying to help with.

dgr carpy

Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride 2015

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27th September 2015 – A global classic styled motorcycle event that raises money for prostate cancer medical research. To raise awareness and support research into Men’s Health by bringing together dapper riders of classic machines, Cafe Racers, Bobbers, Custom motorcycles, Trackers and undefinable two-wheeled creations.

info@gentlemansride.com  www.gentlemansride.com

27th September 2015 – A global classic styled motorcycle event that raises money for prostate cancer medical research.

OK, here we go, the clock is ticking and, this year I am looking forward to attend this ride and hope that you too grab your Dapper clothing, stick on your old style Skid lid and sling your leg over your Cafe, Bobber, Brat, Tracker, Classic Motorcycle and meet up with us for this fun and epic adventure that is sure to make even the Mona Lisa Smile. plus, anything to do with prostate Cancer research is always something I would support, this ride begins the same day , All over the world, so be part of a Historic ride and just have fun!

This will be a really good fun ride and a chance to meet other like minded folk who ride two wheels like us.

I have no idea what I am going to wear but will give it a go and am sure i will have a laugh doing this.

It is great to be able to have an event where you can just enjoy the day with no hang ups and also that many other people will be there dressed just as crazy as you.

 

So remember the date and come out on this fun day with your Motorcycle, I know that you will love it.

Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride 2015 will take place on September 27 th all over the world.

As soon as I am given the details where to meet up, i shall post them on this blog, so keep checking back and support a great Cause!

59 Club Ride to Vintage Motorcycle meet up in Huntington Beach!

I just want to THANK YOU all for coming out and having fun with us, it is always great to meet old and new friends, If you want to come out and join us just check out www.meetup.com and in the search put carpys cafe racer meetups and we will pop up with our schedule of rides etc.

And if you would like to be a part of the 59 Club and want to know more about it, check it out here.

 

59 Club History

 

What a great day we had on Sunday, Blue skies albeit the Sun was Baking in Anaheim, but- once we saddled up at Alea’s cafe, we headed towards the sea and I tell you, it was a welcome feeling of the cooler temperature and sea breeze as we approached Pete’s Grill on Brookhurst.

We had a nice little turn out today, about 12 came to the Cafe to meet up and it sure was nice to hear all them exhausts hitting different tones as they wound the loud button up and we headed for the freeway.

 

The ride was at a nice pace as we had some new people attend and great to meet them too, we stayed in formation and headed up the 91 to the 57 past Anaheim Angels Baseball Stadium , I moved up and down the group and so awesome to see and hear all these cool Motorcycles as we wind our way towards the beach town of Huntington.

 

 

We stopped off just down the road to get gas and bloody hell its already gone up 75 cents a gallon since yesterday, sneaky buggers!

We tend to fill up here as the freeway is about 500 yards ahead of us and easy to get to places from here when we go on a ride.

The other side is Arco but they tend to serve laquer thinner most of the time.

We all gassed up and seeing as the price of petrol is sky rocketing in So Cal, glad we were on Motorcycles.

I think Bryan below was texting the Government to say they are gouging us!

Below, I have a quick Chin wag as to where we are going, whilst everyone fuels up on this hot July day.

 

Blue Skies on this Sunday on July 12th a nice Breeze from the sea was already on its way and appreciated.

Great fun to have cool people with Mike and His Mrs leading the way.

More bikes here than KFC had nuggets.

 

I was suprised at how many bikes turned up, this is a great little meet up of which we shall attend again at some point.

Plenty of ringa Dinga Two Stokes here as well.

Something for everyone here at Huntington and sure enjoyed looking around.

 

Plenty of Triumphs about too as we take in all the fun atmosphere.

love seeing Beeza’s.

This Bonnie was clean and really nicely done.

 

Here was an Early Curtiss Arrow that would shake your fillings out!

Plenty of Brit iron here and I loved everything that was on display.

Not sure who the owner was as i wanted to ask what Chapter of the 59 Club he was in.

Now this is how I would like to find a trumpy to restore.

Triple trumpies parked together.

How many people learned to Wheelie on these?

An Almagamation of Honda’s too, there is the GCR or gerards I built a few years ago. now has over 50,000 miles on it.

Bryan’s CB650 sat in the sun and looked awesome.

Wanted to chat to this fella with his Norton but he had to dash.

 

A mixture of all brands and styles and that makes a good bike event.

See if some of you can make this Monthly meet as its sure fun to go to.

Early RD bought back great memories for me.

KH kawasaki 500 were so popular back home but been 30 years since I have seen one.

Plenty of them here and loved it all.

 

You could smell the Castrol R.

Velocette was such a great time capsule here- loved to of owned this.

Love the Fishtail exhaust.

All sorts to see with many coming in and out all day.

litle harley Sprint was a rare sight to clap your eyes on.

 

Another Velocette to look at, getting hard to find these days.

Always loved their logo..

 

I wanted to buy this 305 for Jennifer.

Mach III would pull your arms off.

memory lane here, such a rare find.

Another hard to locate bike is this 400-4 Super Sport and what a great example this was.

69 trumpy was simply lovely.

Little HD was catching plenty of attention.

This guy was 75 years too late and batting for the wrong team!

Pair of Matching Triumphs come rolling in.

A motorcycle delight and so much to see and chat too.

Honda Street tacker looked fun.

Super-hawk cafe, the owner works for HONDA.

This 750 Commando was clean as hell and I would of loved to have ridden it home.

Another rare sight, the good old GT550 Suzuki.

There was a nice turn out and people were all friendly and generally took an interest in what you were riding.

Unusual Green Beemer cafe but it was Nice.

Loved this GMC Swat team special and we need one for the club, anyone got one of these we can buy?

Old customer of mine, I remember repairing the exhaust and adding tail light and signals 5 years back, great to see him still riding the SS.

All sorts of bikes were here and thats what makes it Unique and fun, plus bikes came in and out all the time.

I loved this Little Trumpy Bobber.

Heading out as the infamous Gerard on his GCR Cafe Racer rode down from Palmdale!

Always a cool collection of bikes and people and there were a few Guzzies too!

You never get to see too many CB650 Honda’s but Bryan is a Customer of mine and this bike I redid for him sounds so cool on the pipe!

 

 

So we decided to head back but via PCH seeing as there was a cool Breeze and it was great fun.

 

PCH is always busy in the Summer, especially on a weekend but nice to slow down and check the beach and sights out.

 

 

Classic shot of PCH and what a fantastic day we had with no issues.

A few pics Below Steve Fellon in our 59 Club added.

 

 

 

Nice little bit below that they blogged.

Lane Splitting in California .

 

Motorcycle lane-splitting — the rush-hour time saver for bikers that enrages many drivers — may be poised for formal legalization.

California would be the first state to sanction the traffic-evading tactic, already widespread on traffic-choked freeways of Los Angeles.

The state Assembly is expected to approve the legislation as soon as Thursday, and supporters believe it will clear the Senate as well.

The measure would allow motorcycles to travel between cars at speeds up to 15 mph faster than the flow of traffic, up to a speed of 50 mph.
Motorcycle sales up, motorcycle fatalities high
Motorcycle sales up, motorcycle fatalities high

The bill’s legislative backers cite studies showing the practice is safer than trapping bikers behind cars, which leaves them vulnerable to more serious rear-end collisions. But their proposal has riled both detractors and supporters.

“Lane-splitting is inherently dangerous,” said Thomas Freeman, a passionate opponent of the practice who said his opposition movement, hosted online at stoplanesplitting.com, has more than 1,000 members.

While some motorcyclists applauded the action, the American Motorcyclist Assn. called for even less restrictive rules.

 

 

 

“We don’t like this bill,” said Nicolas Haris, the association’s western states representative. “It goes a long way in the right direction, but it falls short.”
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8

Lane-splitting — a common practice in European nations — has been a fuzzy topic in California. The state has never expressly forbidden or allowed it.

Technically neither legal nor illegal, the practice has had the tacit approval of the California Highway Patrol and the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Motorcycle industry veteran Bruce Steever — who commutes on the 405 Freeway and invariably lane-splits during rush hour — applauded the proposed legislation, restrictions and all.

“Those numbers make me happy,” he said of the speed limits. “There needs to be a codified law.”
On two wheels, it’s all open road
On two wheels, it’s all open road

 

 

 

 

The AMA’s Haris, despite his organization’s complaints with the bill’s specific language and speed limits, said he hoped a new California law would inspire legislators in other states to adopt similar laws.

Legislative bodies in Washington, Oregon, Texas, Nevada and Tennessee have already considered, proposed or voted on lane-splitting laws. To date, none of the proposed legislation has passed.

The California bill, which has broad support, is being spearheaded by Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D-Hayward). He coauthored the measure with Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale), a former California Highway Patrol officer, and Kansen Chu (D-San Jose), who became interested in the topic after a staffer’s nephew was killed while lane-splitting at high speed.

 

 

 

 

The speed limits were determined with the help of the CHP and a safety study by UC Berkeley professor Tom Rice.
cComments

@WhatareyoudoingDave? My fastest speed is 72 mph and I get annoyed by drivers speed to my rear end and flash lights for me to get out of the way. I know this is a tangent but I am interested in drivers thoughts.
MICHAEL REACH
at 10:41 AM May 28, 2015

 

 

 

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138

That study, scheduled for public release soon, investigated 6,000 California motorcycle accidents — 1,000 of them involving lane-splitting — and concluded that legalizing the practice was safer than outlawing it, Quirk said.

 

 

 

 

“The study found that lane-splitting was safer, compared to being stopped in the traffic,” Quirk said. “Oftentimes motorcyclists would get rear-ended. Motorists just don’t see them.”

 

 

 

The bill appears to have momentum. It passed the Assembly Transportation Committee with a vote of 13 to 1 and the Assembly Appropriations Committee by 16 to 1. It now faces a vote in the 80-member Assembly.

If it passes there, it would face a similar review and vote in the Senate.

 

 

 

Until recently, both the Highway Patrol and the DMV published guidelines for safe lane-splitting. But they removed the guidelines from their publications last year after opponents complained that the agencies appeared to endorse a practice that critics argued was not legal.

“The ambiguity gave riders the idea that they had a free ticket,” Lackey said. “These parameters will alert all motorists to the safe practice of lane-splitting.”

 

 

 

 

It has also been a hot-button topic. Motorcyclists view it as a special California legal loophole. But some drivers view it as a dangerous or unfair way to get ahead in traffic.

 

 

 

 

“Motorcyclists know it’s not safe. They just want to get from point A to point B faster than the cars,” Freeman contended. “We have drivers who are talking on their cellphones, who are texting, who are daydreaming. And this other distraction makes it a virtual circus.”

 

 

Former Los Angeles City Council member Dennis Zine had 33 years’ experience in the Los Angeles Police Department, 18 of them as a motorcycle officer. He said he himself splits lanes, at safe speeds, but thinks the principal issue with the proposed new law is ticketing a motorcyclist who is breaking it.

 

“Unless the pursuing officer is on a motorcycle, the officer in a patrol car cannot possibly apprehend the vehicle that is splitting lanes,” Zine said. “The bottom line is there is no law if there’s no law enforcement.”

 

 

 

 

Lane Splitting is Legal in California

Lane Splitting / Lane Sharing - Legal in California - Road Sign

  1. Lane splitting by motorcycles is not illegal in California when done in a safe and prudent manner.
  2. Motorists should not take it upon themselves to discourage motorcyclists from lane splitting.
  3. Intentionally blocking or impeding a motorcyclist in a way that could cause harm to the rider is illegal (CVC 22400).
  4. Opening a vehicle door to impede a motorcycle is illegal (CVC 22517).
  5. Never drive while distracted.
  6. You can help keep motorcyclists and all road users safe by:
    1. Checking mirrors and blind spots, especially before changing lanes or turning
    2. Signaling your intentions before changing lanes or merging with traffic.
    3. Allowing more following distance, three or four seconds, when behind a motorcycle so the motorcyclist has enough time to maneuver or stop in an emergency.

In simple terms – pay attention while you’re driving, don’t be a jerk and keep an eye out for motorcyclists and other vehicles. Oh, and please stop texting while driving before you kill someone.

Check out our lane splitting resources & links page and the latest lane splitting news.

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