Thanks for the great site to put out feedback to other bikers. With the array of parts and options available and the books that make building a bike so easy, one should consider a self built bike as it is not rocket science.

Some of the first bikes in mass production were just overpriced and just too bling bling….and today one can buy a finished bike from Sucker Punch Sally’s or an outfit like it and have a good quality bike.

Some of the builders have milked it and with a weekend on the internet and some time doing research one can have a bike up and running for not a whole lot of dollars….build some of the parts yourself…enjoy the process and know every inch of your own bike.

Indian Larry, Jesse James, Ron Simms, Arlen Ness, Billy Lane are all guys that are responsible for having created the chopper environment and are to thank. The loss of a human life due to a bad combo of testosterone and alcohol, from a man that could have paid for a taxi is pretty friggin sad as now we are losing two humans. Being in a Florida Prison is a waste as well as it is a place where people are not condusive to coming up and being healthy. Instead of putting a human in prison, just as bad as putting a man six feet under, it would be more benefit to society to have someone like Billy Lane spend his lifetime sentence working in camps for kids at risk and kids that are on the brink of being hard core criminals. I am not saying that he should get off easy. He chose to drink and drive, he chose to make that pass which was idiotic, he chose to be in a hurry, he chose to drive a truck that was given to him by Chrysler corporation and they chose to let a suicidal maniac drive one of their vehicles, a person who is likely a drunk and frequent drug user. I pray for all the parties and have learned to forgive as living in resentment and hatred is not the gift of life, it is the serum of poison. People spend too much time trying to die and not enough time trying to live. I think it to be prudent and reasonable to post Billy Lane’s place of incareration and so that we can all write to him and tell him how we feel. Man changes when man changes it is that simple. No one owes anyone anything. The prison systems are packed with kids ( deprived kids) trapped in adult bodies. It is everyone elses fault….they were sent to prison on a bum rap, cause they got screwed, cause the cops or system had it in for them and come back out with that same cry baby mentality and end right back up in prison. Partially to blame is the fact that society shuns people who have been to prison. In most civilized countries…when a man has done his time, he is not required to state that he or she has been to prison as upon serving their time, they are even with society..

Thanks

Food for thought.

I grieve for the loss of your brother. One year ago today my best friend and brother from another mother was killed by a drunk driver, a 5 time DUI offender and his sentencing was two days ago and he only got 34 months. I was livid and upset that some low life took my friends life.

I feel for you and your family and pray for mercy as I have had to do this to restore myself to sanity and to practice forgiveness instead of hate and resentment as this will kill us, the living.

As far as Dodge is concerned, take them for every penny you can get from them. They have been parasites and have been so for years living off of the misery of every Dodge owner that has gotten stuck on the side of the road in their low quality automobile and then left stranded due to no support from dealer or the manufacturer themselves. Not a single Dodge is built in America by Americans. Harley Davidson led by Willie G. Davidson does not give a shit about his employees either, he is worried about making his money and pleasing shareholders and just went thru a strike that lasted for a long time due to not wanting to support American labor force. For those who want a Big Twin, buy from an independent frame builder, buy an S and S motor, made in America, and the components as they can all be American made if you choose them carefully and build a bike yourself. The Average mark up on a Harley is over 32% and the builder makes about 20% so a 20 grand bike has a cost of less than 8000 dollars, but the profits go into Willie G. Davidson’s pocket.
I bought a new HD in 1999 had issues that the dealer would not deal with and when I wrote to Willie G. Davidson, he sent me a form letter and an autographed photo, which made a good dart board and looks good with a dagger stuck thru his over inflated head on my shop wall. The American working spirit is alive and well in America, but Americans are gullible and stupid and keep buying garbage and spend their money at Wal Mart, another , if not the evilest of the greed empires and spend money on items that are made by all nations except Americans. When Americans start to vote with their dollars and start to focus on Quality, then the corporations will listen. The new game to lower gas prices is to boycott exxon on month, texaco the next month, and so on and then letting them lower their prices down to what the market will bear…..not what they want to make in profits off of us. Iraq is not the gas problem, but rather that the oil companies have recorded record profits in the last six years….from jacking us all up. Americans need to wake up and be accountable like Billy Lane should be and not hide behind attorneys and play silly legal games….

Ride on and be safe, choose with your cash and make decisions that land food on American made products made with American labor. Wal Mart and HD have had the highest profits of any American company in five years due to that they pay the least of any American company….when we vote with your dollars, then they are forced to listen.

Make Dodge pay you every dime that they made off of the coat tails of Billy Lane as that would be more than adequate as I am sure they have made hundreds of millions off of the using of Billy Lane and other true Americans

Thank you.

A wonderful interview – brother Byron and you helped shed the spotlight exactly where it should be – on Gerry, a loved-one lost.

Perspective where perspective should be.

p.s. Billy Lane is doing what I think my couselor would advise him to do. Try to live your life as normally as possible. He is working, which includes going to bike rallies. I’m sure it’s not easy for him either.

When high profile cases like this come out, at least it keeps a constant reminder in the public eye about the sad results of DUI. There are so many other families out there that this has happened to.

Sad

Norm