MNO Blog – Motorcycles, News, Opinions

If you plan on visiting Florida for Bike Week 2007, be sure to work a ride on the Volusia County Loop into your plans. We will be on the loop photographing riders and their motorcycles on the first Saturday, March 3 between the hours of 1 till 3 pm.

We have been taking pictures on the Daytona Loop during Bike Week and Biketoberfest for the past 3 years and enjoy the work and friends we make. You can see our past loop photo galleries by clicking here to visit our Bike Week site.

The Loop is a great motorcycle ride that is enjoyed by the thousands of visitors to the Daytona, Ormond and Flagler Beach area each year during the two big motorcycle events Bike Week and Biketoberfest. The road is two lane paved that has stretches of straight roadway covered with scenic tree canopies provided by some of Florida’s oldest oaks.

As you ride in deeper into the 23 mile trail known as the “loop” you will encounter some sharp turns and  S curves along the low lying wetlands heavily decorated with natural Florida Palm Trees. The ride stretches out from outer Daytona and into Ormond and Flagler Beach.

There are not many places available to stop along the route, so you will want to ride slow to enjoy the view. The few places that allow for bikers to pull over and rest will not be seen until you are right on them, so you will need to keep an eye out for them.

Bikers taking a break during bike week ride on the Daytona Loop.

It can also be very hard for us to find a good spot to take pictures along the loop scenic ride, but we have a few places that we can be found working. One of my favorite places is at what I call the lake curve. The picture above and at the post opening were both taken there. This spot gives me a great camera vantage and angle where I can lay near the road and catch motorcycles as they pass on the curve.

Look for me and my wife as you ride and your picture may be posted in this year’s loop ride photo gallery. Pictures are available for purchase and are shot at a high resolution so that they are suitable for enlarging and framing. See you at Bike Week!

Technorati Tags: bike week, motorcycle news, florida, daytona beach, ormond beach, motorcycle pictures, the loop, biketoberfest, volusia county

This post will be first in a series, as I begin to bring you reviews of my Bike Night visits.

Back about a month ago we took a ride out to Sanford, Florida to check out Jonny Rotton’s Bar Out Back for bike night. Thursday nights in Sanford the normally dark and quiet road that winds along Lake Monroe is lit up as groups of motorcycles roll in for bike night. Located a couple of miles off of I-4 and just behind the St. John’s Bar and Grille lies Jonny Rotton’s Bar Out Back where every Thursday between 7 and 10 they have a party under the stars.

We arrived about 7:30 and even though the temperature was a bit low that night, along with dense patches of fog, the place still draws a large crowd. The Bar Out Back is a perfect place to have a bike night with a large area for motorcycle parking, covered tables, several bars and beer tubs and a burnout pit.

Real Radio 104.1 talk show host Shannon Burke rides his chopper that was recently built by Pit Bull Motorcycles and joins the crowd.

The motorcycle burnout pits were open and smokin for the weekly contest as the crowds cheered in pleasure to watch as bikers burn their rear tire to the rim.

The all Harley drag racing team of Ground Zro had their Harley drag bike on display and are usually on hand during the Thursday night biker event to answer questions.

I found the bike night at Jonny Rotton’s to be a lot of fun with plenty of outdoor space to roam and meet new friends. There are only a few vendors that were set up, so you do not feel like you are at a shopping mall. The combination of the St John’s Bar and Grille with the Bar Out Back works out real well and the drink prices are very reasonable. This is a bike night that I will return to and recommend it to those who are in the Sanford Orlando area.

Remember to drink responsibly, please.

Technorati Tags: bike night, biker bars, florida, motorcycle news, motorcycles, sanford

With the approach of Super Bowl this weekend, I thought I would post some interesting game stats. These stats are not for the football game, rather they are statistics surrounding the super bowl and how it effects the media.

• Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts sports merchandise have seen a dramatic rise in retail sales this year.
• More women are drawn to the Indianapolis Colts
  than the Chicago Bears. Data show that 59% of Indianapolis women are Colts fans,
  vs. 46% of Chicago women who are Bears fans.
• The 2006 Super Bowl was the highest rated TV show
  of the year, attracting more than 90 million U.S. viewers.
• The cost for a 30-second TV advertisement reached
  an all-time high in 2006, while traditional advertiser categories continued to
  dominate the broadcast.
• Super Bowl advertisers in 2006 saw a sharp
  increase in visits to their web sites following the big game.
• Album sales of the Super Bowl halftime performers
  soared in the week following their appearance in the halftime show.
• Box office figures continue to plunge on Super
  Bowl Sunday.
• Sales of soft drinks, beer and chips rise
  significantly before the Super Bowl.

Comparing last year’s Super Bowl food preferences in the two markets that are
home to this year’s teams – Chicago and Indianapolis – there are some noteworthy
similarities and difference between the two cities. Looking at the largest
overall percentage of sales increases, both markets showed strong sales growth
in cocktail franks and processed cheese loaves. However, Chicago area
supermarkets showed strong growth in sales of frozen unbreaded crab,
refrigerated fruit, dip mixes, and dairy dips; while Indianapolis area
supermarkets experienced bumps in the sales of ‘Miracle Whip’ type salad
dressing, frozen hors d’ oeuvres & snacks, brownie mixes, and bratwurst
& knockwurst.

Product Categories — Super Bowl Weeks*
Largest Overall Sales Increase

– Tortilla Chips — $10.2 million
– Light Beer — $9.2 million
– Regular Beer — $8.7 million
– Potato Chips — $7.8 million
– Regular Cola — $7.7 million
– Frozen Pizza — $7.3 million
– All remaining Carb Bev — $5.5 million
– Frzn Poultry 1-Food Entree’s — $5.4 million
– Mexican Sauce — $5.3 million
– Ice Cream — $4.7 million

Product Categories — Super Bowl Weeks*
Largest Overall Percentage Sales Increase

– Cocktail Franks — 118.1%
– Beef Steak-Frozen — 58.4%
– Pork-Frozen — 48.8%
– Dip Mixes — 37.0%
– Processed Cheese Loaves — 36.3%
– Dairy Dip — 36.1%
– Bread Mushrooms-Frozen — 35.6%
– Tabasco/Pepper Sauce — 34.8%
– Canned Dip — 32.2%
– Barbecue Sauces — 31.7%

* Two-weeks ending February 11, 2006
Source ACNielsen; Supermarket sales

A consumer segmentation analysis from the marketing company Spectra revealed
some of the unique characteristics of Super Bowl viewers from Miami,
Indianapolis, and Chicago compared with national professional football fans.
Utilizing Spectra’s BehaviorScape framework, viewer characteristics can be
determined based upon BehaviorStages (which bring to life key household factors
that impact consumer purchasing behavior), and LifeStyles, (which further
differentiate consumers by highlighting affluence and the neighborhood type in
which they live).
For instance, most viewers of professional football across the U.S. typically
watch on the weekend one or more times per month, and tend to come from affluent
neighborhoods from a variety of household types. They span across all
neighborhood types and tend to skew toward couples 35+ without children in the
household as well as singles under 35 with no children. Popular Super Bowl
snacks that skew highly across the average US viewer are bags of nuts, brats,
popcorn, and frozen poultry.
Super Bowl viewers in the host city of Miami watch the game on TV live in
both urban and affluent suburban households across household types.
Indianapolis residents who watched the Super Bowl last year generally come
from rural and downscale suburban neighborhoods. Additionally:
– Indianapolis viewers purchase above average amounts of sausage, buns,
and brats than the average viewer.– Indianapolis viewers are likely to do their grocery shopping (possibly
for Super Bowl snacks) at Wal-Mart, Aldi, or Kroger.

– There is also a very high concentration of Super Bowl viewers who are
likely to shop in smaller accounts such as IGA and Buehler’s Buy Low.

Chicago residents who watched the Super Bowl last year likely live in urban
and affluent suburban households across household types. Additionally:

– Viewers in Chicago tend to purchase more bagged nuts, beer, frozen
poultry and meat than the average viewer.

– Chicago viewers are likely to do their grocery shopping (possibly for
Super Bowl snacks) in Dominick’s, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods.

There is also a very high concentration of Super Bowl viewers who are likely
to shop in smaller accounts such as Wild Oats and Sunset Food Marts.

So by the numbers, it looks like on Super Bowl Sunday Americans prefer to eat tortilla chips, drink light beer but regular soda throw some frozen steaks and chicken on the grill while munching on cocktail franks. It appears that there is a toss up in dipping your tortilla chips on eating prepared nachos. Either way we seemed to have consumed over 10 million dollars in tortilla chips and drink over 17 million dollars worth of beer washing them down.

These facts and statistics were compiled by and found at Nielsen Media Research, please visit their site for complete details.

Source:

http://www.nielsenmedia.com

Technorati Tags: facts, football, media research, news, stats, super bowl, superbowl

There are a lot of things going on in Congress and the Internet blogosphere right now that you need to know about. The Bill of Rights and Constitution of the United States are under attack! There are members of congress that want to amend laws that were put in place to govern and protect the rights of the people of the United States.

Earlier this week a poorly drafted proposal was turned down that would require bloggers that write about political issues to register as a lobbyist if their blog received more than 500 views a day. Section 220, would have required certain people engaged in “grassroots lobbying” to register with the government or face civil and criminal penalties, including up to 10 years in prison.

The S.1 Bill titled A bill to provide greater transparency in the legislative process was approved 96-2 with the amendment that removed section 220 from the bill. Senator Rob Bennett (Utah), the amendment’s sponsor, remarked “Let’s reaffirm that the zenith of the Bill of Rights is free speech, the right to petition your government for redress of your grievances, and the right to peacefully assemble, all of which are involved in grassroots lobbying and none of which should be criminalized,” the senator said in a floor speech introducing his proposal earlier this week.

The bill as it stood was noted as “massive” and section 220 seemed to be cleverly disguised within the large amount of words. However, Mark Fitzgibbons who runs the site http://www.grassrootsfreedom.com/ opposing the legislation that included section 220 of bill S. 1 along with a broad range of groups including the ACLU, the Free Speech Coalition, the Traditional Values Coalition and National Right To Life said it would hurt their own groups’ abilities to influence Congress and place unreasonable restrictions on Internet politicking.

Section 220 of bill S.1 was stripped from the bill and rightfully so. It was not properly drafted and the language of the proposal was unclear and confusing. Our First Amendment rights being threatened in this form is real and needs to be monitored for protection.

Another proposal that is being circulated in an attempt to create a bill would effect the Constitution of the United States in a big way. There are those who would like to amend the constitution to allow foreign-born person to run for president! This should raise concern with all of us.

Article ll Section 1 clause 5 of the United States Constitution bars foreign usurpers form becoming President. The Founders of our country forged Clause 5 of the first Section of Article II of the Constitution to protect America from a foreign-born President holding dual or treacherous alliances with other countries.

By now you are asking, who would want to change the Constitution so that a foreign-born person could be president? Why would they want any person that was not born in the United States to hold the highest position of our government, the President of the United States? But wait there’s more! Who is the person that these people would like to see President? His father was a SS nazi officer. He has publicly stated that he has dreamed of being a dictator and that he admires Hitler. This man is currently in office as Governor!

WHO? Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach; and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., proposed the amendment to the Constitution to allow immigrants to become president after being citizens for 20 years.

WHY? To amend the Constitution of the United States to allow foreign-born persons to become President. The people above would like to see the current Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jennifer Granholm, Governor of Michigan run for president. Both are foreign-born, both already hold an office.

This is not new news, Alex Jones has been talking about this and created a web site called Arnold Exposed, this site not only tells about the proposed amendment, it also shows many things about Schwarzenegger you would have never dreamed of. Alex Jones is a hard hitting investigative journalist that has made people stop and think watching his fact finding documentaries. Alex is probably best know for his 911 conspiracy theory and documentary, but he doesn’t stop there.

Take a look at the information that I have provided for you, please. Make your own decision by what you see, hear and learn in these videos and web pages. I am not trying to point to any particular party or platform in this post. It is my goal simply to inform my readers and let everyone make up their own mind by what they learn.

You have the right to know!

Source:

http://news.com.com/

http://www.grassrootsfreedom.com/

http://thomas.loc.gov/

http://www.senate.gov/

http://www.arnoldexposed.com/

http://www.infowars.com/

http://www.prisonplanet.com/

http://www.prisonplanet.com/

http://www.amendforarnold.com/

Technorati Tags: politics, political news, amendments, conspiracy

Not the speed your are doing in the wind or in your desk chair. I am talking about your internet connection. The speed of your ISP (internet Service Provider) and the performance of your modem.

There are places on the web where you can check your connection speed, I suggest speedtest.net. Speedtest.net will accurately test and record your connection to different parts of the country. Your results can be saved for future reference.

Technorati Tags: speed test, cable modem, internet, connection speed, tweaks

I first featured the art work of David Camp back in January 06 on my bike week site with a great piece of work called “American Still“. David’s work is amazing. I have seen the original picture that this piece of art below was drawn by.

Brian Green, the individual who modeled for this work, is a TSgt with the USAFR 419 Fighter Wing at Hill AFB in Utah. In this scene, he sits upon his 04 Road King custom in front of an F-16 fighter aircraft that he supports. The title for this piece, “Choose Your Ride”, reflects the idea that Brian would never turn down the chance to fly in the F-16 but he prefers riding his bike through the mountains of the southwest and furthest reaches beyond more than anything else.
He’s a dedicated airman who has served his country well. At his first assignment, he was involved in the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Dahran, Saudia Arabia. He was awarded the commendation for valor medal when he saved the life of another severely wounded airman. As a result of the bombing, Brian himself was wounded and refused medical treatment.
Later, he served in Bahrain, Saudia Arabia, Prince Sultan Air Base and Kuwait Al-Jabbar in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001.
Some rides he’s embarked on include, Salt Lake City, Utah to Las Vegas, San Francisco, Texas and twice to Sturgis. His dedication to his country as well as to his hog is exemplary.
Visit David Camp 419FW web site

Technorati Tags: motorcycle art, biker art, motorcycle news, biker blog, art, motorcycles

There was no big press release in the news papers or on the Internet to tell visitors traveling to the Melbourne, Florida based Choppers Inc of the store closing. On the front door hangs a small printout from the company web site made into a sign. The sign says that Billy Lane’s store, Choppers Inc. will only be open during major motorcycle event and race days and those hours will be announced 30 days prior.

While it was announced that Billy Lane was planning to work hard at his Choppers Inc. location preparing motorcycles for the up coming 2007 bike shows, it seems this announcement was low profile. The only way visitors would know the store was not open for business was to visit the news section of the Choppers Inc web site or, as many, visit the retail store location only to find it closed to the public.

Billy Lane, is probably most famous in the motorcycle industry for his creation of the hubless wheel design and known to the general public as 3 time biker build-off winner, Monster Garage and owner of Choppers Inc. located in Melbourne, Florida. Billy Lane also holds many patents on custom motorcycle parts that he designed.

While Billy Lane and Choppers Inc motorcycles were well known, it was the Choppers Inc. shirts, hats and posters that people would visit the Melbourne retail location to shop for. Those purchases must now be made online only until the store opens during the next motorcycle event.

Source:

http://www.choppersinc.com

Technorati Tags: choppers inc, florida, melbourne, motorcycle news, motorcycles

It should come as no surprise to the fans of the show American Chopper that Paul Jr’s bike won by popular vote in a biker build-off that pitted Senior against Junior.

Orange County Chopper owner Paul Teutul Sr did not seem to mind and why would he? Either way the OCC team wins, his son is following in his foot steps and its just good for business.

Strange thing was that Senior did not seem upset when he uncovered his biker build-off chopper to reveal that the gas taken had been beaten with a hammer. He just shrugged it off and stated that they had another one inside which was promptly mounted as the voting began.

I don’t know, can you see guilt on either of the boys faces? Was it Mikey or did Junior do it? Maybe both? I guess we will have to wait and see the episode on the new American Chopper that has been moved to TLC. The first show of the new season airs January 18th on TLC Turbo channel.

ORANGE COUNTY CHOPPERS

Technorati Tags: motorcycle news, occ south florida, occ, orange county choppers, motorcycles, motorcycle pictures

As I was cruising around today, I passed this motor bike by, it caught my eye. I immediately turned around to see what it was, in quick passing it appeared to be a replica type of a motor bike.

What I found was that it was not a replica motor bike, it was a production motor bike that can be purchased these days called a Whizzer. With all the new styled motor scooters, mopeds and motorbikes that have hit the market lately coupled with all of the pocket bikes and mini choppers, this motor bike is a back to basics concept that can be appreciated. Back in 1901 the concept of the original Harley Davidson motorcycle was put on blueprint with the drawing of a engine to fit a bicycle by William S. Harley. The Whizzer on the other hand was not created until 1939 and was sold as a bicycle motor kit.

While most of today’s scooters and mopeds are sold with a 49 cc engine, the Whizzer has a 138cc or 1.95 h.p. engine that still can be purchased as a kit to build your own or a full production model as seen here.

A belt drive and centrifugal clutch from the motor bike leave the pedals and chain in tact for those times you feel like getting a little exercise. I think that if I was in the market for a motorbike, the Whizzer would be in the running.

Source:

http://www.whizzermotorbike.com

http://www.harley-davidson.com

Technorati Tags: motorcycle news, motor bike, whizzer, motorcycles, bikes, two wheels

As a web designer, like most do, I watch keywords and rankings for all of my sites. Today the latest key word top list was posted at Word Tracker and most of the normal search terms were knocked out by the Saddam execution video.

In fact, the Saddam hanging video replaced keywords and search terms that normally hold the top 10 position. The execution of Saddam Hussein video holds 8 of 10 in results giving way to only sex at number 1 and porn listed at number 3. Sexy celebrity gossip and paparazzi hits Britney Spears and Paris Hilton are usually steady in the top 10, but slid down to take the 11th and 12th position in the key word report.

Along with Paris and Britney in the top, Google is normally listed as well. While many search engines visit this site, the pages have yet to receive any type of page rank….. hint, hint