It seems to me that women-only motorcycle events are starting to become a big trend in our motorcycle world. I’ve always struggled with women specific events because for me, personally, I don’t think they’re necessary to make me proud of being a female rider. I like to hang with the boys anyways!

I was perusing my news aggregator this morning and Steve over at Biker News Online mentioned the second annual International Female Ride Day on Friday, May 2, 2008, with lots and lots of sarcasm and even raised the question: Why do women riders need a special day to celebrate themselves?

Now, here’s my disclaimer: I’m not attacking or singling out Steve’s post for any detrimental reasons, I’m merely highlighting it because for the first time, someone posted about a women-only event with the question: Who gives a f**k?

That’s what I’m wondering. While the women’s ride to Daytona was kind of a cool thing, I also just read on Women Riders Now about the Diva Custom’s Divas Only bike show that’s happening at the end of May. Are these events a good thing or is this women-only madness spiraling out of control? Is it helping female bikers or is it setting up a precedent for women to segregate themselves from the biker community rather than being a part of it?

And just like Steve at Biker News asks: If a chick can master a motorcycle and hold her own among the biker crowd, does she need empowering?

One of the most popular posts on this site has to be the one that featured steampunk-inspired motorcycles. Not only are the motorcycles art to behold, they’re just really frickin’ cool.

Which brings me to a creation that’s been making the rounds all over the internet: a steam-electric hybrid motorcycle called The Whirlygig Emoto, built by an artist named Tom Sepe. The frame is 1967 Tote-Gote and while it’s steam-powered it actually doesn’t “go” using steam, it’s propelled by propane and batteries. But the steam still gives it a cool effect, even if it sounds like the tea’s done!

If you’d like to read up on this kooky creation, here’s a few links:

Steampunk Workshop

Tom’s Flickr page with lots of photos

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you all know that I’m on the health upswing and getting back to normal. Thanks to everyone for the well-wishes and kind thoughts.

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks for me and I’m glad to be returning to my normal routine. I’m looking forward to writing a regular post for tomorrow. There’s lots of new news and interesting things to catch up on!

Hello all,

I just wanted to let you know that the reason Lizzie hasn’t posted in a few days is that she is in the hospital. She had been sick and was misdiagnosed, this lead to a rush to the ER the other night. Right now she is resting and doing well. We expect her to be coming home this weekend. She misses you all and is looking forward to posting again next week.

I admit this is not the most exciting video in the world, but recent news indicates that American IronHorse is a fast-sinking ship. Reports say that the company is being forced into bankruptcy to pay debts to investors. The company ceased production last month and they pretty much fired all of their employees.

But I guess we can’t write them off just yet. They do plan to sell their assets to new investors and continue with their operations. We shall see.

Whenever there’s a bike week somewhere in the country it seems the accident/death toll always trumps other events that are newsworthy. Daytona 2008 is no different, with the death toll reaching seven as of Friday.

So, here’s some good news for a change, regarding the first ever Harley-Davidson Woman’s Day Ride:

Some 500 women cruised into Daytona Beach, Fla., March 4, as part of the first ever Harley-Davidson Daytona Women’s Day Ride. The event garnered a whopping $60,520.50 in contributions to help send children with neuromuscular diseases to MDA summer camp, the Muscular Dystrophy Association announced today.

Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Company of Milwaukee organized the historic ride, the largest women’s ride in the company’s 105-year history. In addition to providing recognition to women motorcycle riders, the event will enables MDA to send more youngsters to camp, where they’ll enjoy a week of accessible activities such as swimming, horseback riding, fishing and arts and crafts.

Karen Davidson, great-granddaughter of one of Harley-Davidson’s founders, William A. Davidson, led the group, including the six winners of Harley- Davidson’s “Get Down to Daytona” contest. They left Atlanta March 1, and were joined by the rest of the riders for the last 10 miles of the approximately 500-mile trek, which ended at Ocean Center.

Three women received special recognition as the top fundraisers for the event: Joanne Mold of Forest Hill, Md., ($3,055 raised), Dee Roberts of Bernville, Pa., ($2,717) and Lynne Cone of Houston ($2,715). Each received a 105th Anniversary Harley-Davidson women’s jacket, and had lunch with Karen Davidson and the six “Get Down to Daytona” contest winners and MDA ambassadors.

Story source and full article: The Auto Channel

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t need to be involved in women-only events to show my pride in being a female rider, but I think this would have been a cool event to be a part of and for a really great cause. And for that, kudos to all those ladies who participated!

I opened up a pretty big can of worms when I tackled the subject of social networking for bikers. Back in August I wrote a post about Bikerworlds, the first social site I found geared toward the biker community. In October I wrote a follow-up post regarding BikerOrNot.com, which is another very popular social network (and also a very popular post for this site).

For part three of this subject matter I’m going to highlight a few more sites that I’ve found since I last wrote. One thing to keep in mind, not all of these sites are created equally. While a lot of them share the same basic idea and similar buckets of content, some are technically easier to use and more thought out than others. It all depends on what appeals to you in the end.

Motorcycle Syndicate: This site has been around since summer ‘07. I’m not quite sure what their member base is, but according to their site they “strive to be the premier interactive online community for motorcycle enthusiasts worldwide.” They also use other social networking sites to their advantage when trying to get the word out. You can also win a free T-shirt if you’re a registered member and help spread the word.

Hogstr: I got an email about this site a few weeks ago so I thought I’d check it out. Seems this site is a brand-spanking newbie, having only come into existence in the beginning of February. Not a lot of members or content yet and now that I look at it I’m not even sure if it’s officially “launched.” I see lots of profile pics with half-nekkid chicks on bikes, which kind of turns me off. I’m going to file this one under “wait and see.”

Harley Social: I think the title for this one speaks for itself, but this social network is for HD enthusiasts. It looks to have launched early this year and encourages it’s members to upload photos, videos and to post blogs. It’s a visually robust site, almost to the point where I don’t know where to look first, but the emphasis on this site seems to revolve around just having a good time.

Biker Nation: From what I can tell this site has been around since late 2006. Like all of the other sites it has forums, news feeds, blogs, classifieds, events, pictures, videos and music. It also has a “babes” section (if you’re into that sort of thing) and online auctions. For the amount of time this site has been in existence I guess I expected more. Perhaps they’ve been spending more time focusing on their heavily-tattooed, sister site Inked Nation.

If I had all the time in the world I would love to join all of these sites, but I just don’t. You can still find my profiles on Bikerworlds, BikerOrNot and of course, good old myspace.

Do any of you have a favorite social networking site that you use regularly?

I’m going to let you in on one of my deep, dark guilty-pleasure secrets: I love watching Jackass. While I didn’t watch the show faithfully, I did watch both movies which unleashed my inner, giggling 12 year-old boy. The rational side of me knows that I shouldn’t like what they do one bit and that other rational adults absolutely abhor what they do. But I can’t help it. I love ‘em.

Recently, Johnny Knoxville decided that he was going to attempt an Evel Keneval-style stunt by flipping a motorcycle backward in the air. Problem was, he didn’t really know what he was doing, let go of the bike mid-air which promptly landed on him-breaking the handlebar off in his crotch.

So today you guys get a 2-for-1:

Here’s a short and sweet clip of the crash itself (no sound).

Here’s a much longer clip of Johnny on the Jimmy Kimmel show discussing the accident, the actual accident shot from a different angle and imparting the joys of having a catheter.

I know, he’s an idiot.