On her blog Christina announced that she will be hitting the road, with her daughters no less- from June 26 – July 11th, making her way up the coast from San Francisco to Vancouver. The show will include a video projection show of some of the ladies featured in Chicks On Bikes, she’ll talk about her experience in tracking down and photographing those featured in the book and will include images left out of the book and on the editing table. Best of all it’s free and she will sign your copy of the book with her favorite silver Sharpie (I got mine!).

"Chicks on Bikes" West Coast book tour

She is looking to book events all along the way and is taking bookings right now, particularly looking for venues in Seattle and Vancouver. If you think you have a venue that you’d like her to be at you are her ideal contact if you:

• a. love women and at least suspect that women are indeed smarter than men.
• b. Think motorcycles are the perfect vehicle
• c. are fascinated with the frozen moments and million words embodied in great photography.
• d. own a motorcycle related shop
• e. belong to a motorcycle club, great excuse to gather your buds.

If you think you have the perfect place and want Christina there, email her through her site ChicksOnBikes.us or comment on her blog at Christina Shook photography.

What do you do in January when it’s too wet or chilly to ride your motorcycle? How about heading out for a night of motorcycle related literature and photography? Christina Shook and Ed Milich will be touring motorcycle destinations in San Francisco and northern California beginning January 26 2010 to promote their recently released motorcycle books: Milich’s “Wrenched: Man and Machine” and Shook’s “Chicks on Bikes“. Milich recently completed a 10-day West Coast book tour in December of 2009 with Mark Gardiner (Roadracer X, Classic Bike), author of Riding Man. Shook shared the Werkstatt SF tour stop with Gardiner and Milich, and the idea for January’s “Wrenched Words and Chick Pics” Tour was born.

Christina Shook is a San Francisco East Bay based professional photographer. “Chicks On Bikes“, Shook’s first book, compiles her photographs of and writings on female motorcyclists drawn largely from the San Francisco Bay Area’s diverse population of female riders. The book depicts female racers, commuters, cruisers, and mechanics in their natural environments from San Fransicso’s streets to dirt bike trails, to the racetrack. The hard bound “Chicks On Bikes” is 154 pages and is $24.99 from chicksonbike.us.

Chicks on Bikes by Christina Shook

Wrenched: Man and Machine by Ed Milich

Ed Milich is a Los Angeles based writer and contributor to Motorcyclist Magazine, Café Racer Magazine Sports Car Market Magazine, a national roadracing champion (WSMC, AHRMA), proprietor of motorcycle websites Guzzitech.com, Ducpower.com, and Motobastard.com and a professional Mechanical Engineer. “Wrenched, Man and Machine“, the first book from the Los Angeles based Milich, documents his motorcycle racing, wrenching and riding experiences in largely unrhymed free verse. In March of 2009, Milich debuted “Wrenched” at the Daytona International Speedway Bike Week Vintage Races where he punctuated the book release by winning four out of four races. *Wrenched, Man and Machine* is 142 pages and is $15 postpaid at wrenchedbook.com.

If you live in the N. California area I highly recommend you go see these guys and show them your support!

When you hear the phrase “chicks on a bike” it might conjure up one of two images: a dolled up, half-nekkid girl with butt floss & fake boobs draped across some guys motorcycle -or- a real, independent woman riding her own.

Christina Shook thankfully delves into the diverse world of the latter, using her photography to punctuate the alluring stories of the featured women riders in her book.

Chicks on Bikes by Christina Shook

Chicks on Bikes is the first book to visually chronicle the culture and lifestyle of real women motorcyclists. The photos and stories range from sassy young racer girls, wind-roughened seniors, leather-clad outlaws, chic corporate climbers, grease-covered mechanics to motorcycle fashion designers.

Women love to hear or read stories about female riders, especially if they don’t ride their own (yet). There is a lot of respect and inspiration (and maybe a little bit of envy mixed in) that motivates non-riding women, giving them that “if she can do it, I can do it” attitude.

"These women redefine what is beautiful."

Chicks on Bikes captures an intimacy that a lot of other books tend to miss the mark on. It’s a collection of stories as varied as the women who tell them, daring to dig a little deeper into the subject that most are unwilling to touch. Women riders are people, not just an idea or a great hook for marketing.

I enjoyed reading about all of the women, seeing some familiar faces along with some new ones. I was touched when reading about Samantha Morgan and Melinda Moore, chuckled while reading about Zan Sterling’s tale of outriding a desert thunderstorm and amused by the overall kookiness of Max Mosher’s style.

It’s the right balance of words and quality photos, in addition to the passion, attitudes, freedom, misnomers, truths and independence of women riding motorcycles, that keep you wanting to turn the pages and dream of being more like them.

Chicks on Bikes words and pix by Christina Shook

Chicks on Bikes words and pix by Christina Shook, $24.95
Order a signed copy online: chicksonbikes.us/order.html

Learn more at chicksonbikes.us

Read Christina Shook’s blog: cshook.wordpress.com

Follow Christina on Twitter @cshookup

Here’s Christina talking about women motorcyclists and her book Chicks on Bikes. I wish her the all the success in the world with the book, it’s great!

Four.

So that morning, my man and I waffled about whether or not we should go (ok, it was really me that was waffling. He was going to go regardless) and headed on up. The weather was so sucky, that even though we went up rather early in the morning and planned to make a day of it, we had to cut the time in half to avoid riding in too much rain.

About half way there I realized that I forgot my camera (*sigh*), so he was nice enough to let me use some of his.

Laconia 2009 Bike Week pins

I think I need a helmet like this!

me! Perusing all the vendors.

Sadly, I do not have a shirt like this one.

*chuckle*

These seemed very popular this year.

For additional POV’s of Laconia 2009, I highly suggest reading Joker’s blog over at the Harley-Davidson Mystique and for a different perspective (and additional photos), Mr. Forrest Frazier’s recently launched blog at FFPhoto.com.

The Legendary Buffalo Chip Announces Theme of 9th Annual Motorcycles as Art Exhibition presented by Michael Lichter

The theme of Michael Lichter’s 9th annual Motorcycles as Art Exhibition during the Sturgis Rally this year will focus on history and motorcycle icons. The exhibit will be presented at the new Lichter Exhibition Hall on the grounds of The Legendary Buffalo Chip. Although there are many “iconic” symbols that have defined motorcycle culture, this year’s exhibition entitled “Rebel Rousers – Motorcycle Icons that Inspired Us to Ride” will remind Sturgis rally-goers what motorcycle icons may have fueled their passion for ride through a stunning review of world-class motorcycles, art and movie memorabilia.

Rollie Free

While the word “icon” has come to mean “someone or something widely and uncritically admired” and is often used synonymously for “fame,” “renown” or “legend” in our celebrity-driven culture, this exhibition will attempt to recapture some of the original sense of the word “icon” as it refers to symbols and revered images. On display will be motorcycles, from Captain America and Billy bike to Dave Mann’s Ghostrider, and memorable images like Rollie Free flying down the salt, as well as posters and stills from films like The Wild One, On Any Sunday and Easy Rider. All of the objects in the show have in some way become sacred to bikers. They have inspired — and will continue to inspire — the devotion of enthusiasts. In addition to looking back, the exhibit will look at contemporary images and bikes that may be considered iconic to future generations of bikers, such as films from Biker Boyz to The Worlds Fastest Indian, and motorcycles like Jesse James’ “Camel Bike” and Indian Larry’s “Wild Child” BBO bike.

Easy Rider poster

The Legendary Buffalo Chip has built “The Lichter Exhibition Hall” which is a 7,000-square-foot facility designed to showcase art and motorcycle exhibits like this year’s “Rebel Rousers,” as well as future shows by Michael Lichter. The exhibition will be open to the public Saturday, August 1st through Friday, August 7, 2009, and admission is free. To see more about this year’s exhibition and Lichter’s past exhibits, visit www.motorcyclesasart.com

“Rebel Rousers – Motorcycle Icons that Inspired Us to Ride” would not be possible without the generous support of the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa, the Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley, N.C., and many industry and private collectors. Conceptual help came from Professor Steven Alford, Professor Suzanne Ferriss and Dave Nichols. Presenting sponsors for this year’s exhibit include, Interstate Batteries, Metzeler Tires, Progressive Insurance, and Spectro Oil.

Now celebrating its 28th consecutive year as “The Best Party Anywhere,” The Legendary Buffalo Chip is the Sturgis Rally’s best-known hot spot. Since 1982, the Chip has become internationally famous for the performances on its 4 stages, hotbartenders and special events presented “by bikers, for bikers.” The Legendary Buffalo Chip has been featured on one 13-episode television series and five television specials, some of which remain in current broadcast rotation. Its 2009 schedule of events includes its 9-day concert series (free to campers) featuring favorites like Aerosmith, Toby Keith, Cheech and Chong, Hinder, Tesla, George Thorogood and Creedence Clearwater Revisited.

Captain America shot by Lichter

Michael Lichter began photographing custom bikes and the biker lifestyle after merging passions for photography and Harleys in 1977. In the years since, Easyriders Magazine and their sister publications have published over 900-articles with his photography. Michael continues to supply imagery for clients as diverse as Nikon Cameras, Rolling Stone magazine, Indian Motorcycles, S&S Cycle, Baker Drivetrain, Wiley X sunglasses and more than 20-motorcycle magazines internationally. Since 2001 he has exhibited his limited edition archive prints in galleries across America and abroad and is now finishing work on his 10th book.

Elisa Seeger’s Genuine Motorworks is a ground-breaking, artistic lifestyle shop that caters to male motorcycle and hot rod enthusiasts that want to pay tribute to American heritage through their apparel choices. It features hip, rider-focused apparel, motorcycle art, helmets, accessories and more. They feature many admired brands including Indian Larry, Levis, Frye Boots, Salinas Boys, Johnson Motor Company, and Filson, to name a few. She successfully achieved a perfect mixture of the true spirit of motorcycling and an alternative to the standard bike shop. It is an experience, rather than simply a place to shop. “We wanted to invite all our supporters and friends in the media to celebrate our grand opening. We are grateful and excited to say it was a rousing success” says Elisa.

The Genuine Motorworks crew

The new space combines a contemporary feel with classic motorcycle style to create a fun and comfortable environment. The response from the press and attendees was overwhelmingly positive. Drinks and hot dogs were served and the crowd stayed well into the evening, despite the cold weather. The artist’s gallery was thoughtfully planned out and featured the photography of Bobby Seeger Jr. Displayed were shots he has taken of Indian Larry over the years and the Indian Larry “Wild Child” motorcycle. The “Grease Monkey” bike was also on display in the front window and shows passersby that Indian Larry’s inspiration is still alive and well. Genuine Motorworks will continue to feature inspired custom bikes and artwork from artists on a monthly basis.

Indian Larry building the "Wild Child"-photo by Bobby Seeger Jr. (I think)

The Genuine Motorworks store is located at 195 N. 14th Street in Williamsburg area of Brooklyn, N.Y., and is open every day 11 a.m.-7 p.m. For more information about Genuine Motorworks, please visit www.genuinemotorworks.com or call 718-486-6971.

This will be mainly a photographic post. I gathered some of the images that I think represent what autumn feels like in New England.

Salem Common, Salem MA

carved jack-o-lanterns

somewhere off the Kancamangas Highway in New Hampshire

in the mountains in NH

mountain view

colorful corn at the Topsfield Fair

gords

hubster checking out large, prize-winning pumpkins

KISS pumpkins! These RULE.

me freezing my butt off on a charity ride

Hubster & me enjoying a frosty beverage in a toasty Irish bar after a day of riding

We could only spare time for day trip this year (my stinky new job is eating into all my fun “me” time) and it was just a tease. If we plan on spending the whole week (or even just a few days) up in NH we usually take a nice leisurely, back-roads ride up to the Lakes Region. However for day trips we just hit the highway and blast up 93N for 100 miles until we reach the Tilt’n Diner.

Once making it to the diner most people shed their leathers and helmets and prepare themselves for the 13 mile trek to the Weirs Beach. It’s a nice scenic ride that can take up to 3 hours on the busy weekends.

Our first stop was the Belknap Mill. This old mill has a gallery that houses motorcycle exhibits during the rally each year. This year the exhibit was of some sort of acrylic-type paintings with a water color feel by local artist John David O’Shaughnessy. It was like line drawing meets forced impressionist. The show paled in comparison to my friend Art Biker, who had a show a few years back. But I might be slightly biased.

From downtown we headed to the beach, finding parking spots near the very end. We did the typical stroll, down the entire beach up to the drive-in area to peruse all of the vendors. After buying some swag, we were on our way back to our bikes when the skies opened up and we were nailed by the first downpour. Seemed like the perfect time to duck into a local watering hole and wait it out.

As we were hanging out I noticed that there weren’t that many customized motorcycles that knocked my socks off this year, but there was an abundance of photographers. In addition to my favorite motorcycle photographer (again, I might be slightly biased) we saw Michale Lichter and probably 10 other photo crews running around desperately shooting whatever they could find.

When the skies cleared we took the opportunity to jump on the bikes and rode the loop up the the Antler, back down past the Fun Spot and finding our way to the highway. While we were gassing up we got caught in a tremendous downpour and, along with hundreds of our closest friends, decided to hang out and wait for it to pass. Forethought told me to bring my rain gear, but I wanted to travel light (because my rain gear weighs so much?) so I left it at home on the table (perfect place for it, huh?). An hour later it finally stopped and was a bright sunny day again.

:Steampunk:
Definition: a genre of science fiction set in Victorian times when steam was the main source of machine power. (You can learn more at wikipedia.)

Artists have been experimenting with steampunk art for a while and it’s gaining in popularity. It incorporates a lot of brass, copper and the use of gears and cogs and has a high-tech, yet vintage look. One of the most recent creations that has spread online is the steampunk LCD monitor and keyboard modification (which can be found at the Steampunk Workshop if you’re interested in modifying your own set up).

steampunk laptop

I began to wonder if anyone had created steampunk-style motorcycles and with the help of Google, a blog called Dark Roasted Blend and The Kneeslider (both sites posted about steampunk style motorcycles back in July, you can read them by following the appropriate links) I found some examples.

While these motorcycles might not have specifically been created to reflect the steampunk sensibility, they come pretty close and I think they’re really fantastic.

This is the Bobster trike from Zeel Design.

This bike was initially created for a motorcycle comic and the artist’s brother decided to make it real.
You can see more images of this bike on this German site.

Now this bike, the Hubbard Steamcycle actually has a steam-powered engine. Read more about it.

This is the B120 Wraith which was made by the Confederate Motor Company.

And lastly is this beast: the Aero Bike by none other than Mr. Jesse James.
Cycle World has an article about Jesse and this bike.

There’s no doubt that these motorcycle are really fricking amazing, but I hope one day someone builds one with steampunk specifically in mind.

From the Exile website:

“As many of you may know I love doing the bike shows and it seems I’m at a different one in a different State every weekend. I get so many people asking me when I’m shooting the next Build or Bust series and sadly I don’t know whether we will because we don’t actually have control over that. That set me thinking recently as we have so many good ideas for our own TV show. So here’s where you guys can help me out. I’m pitching some great new ideas to the networks right now and would really appreciate the Exile fans out there helping me out. Your comments about how you wanna see the Exile crew back on TV causing trouble would show the massive support we receive from you all. So why don’t you write a quick e mail to say just that and send it to media@exilecycles.com and with any luck you’ll see me and the crew back on TV, hopefully with our own show.
Cheers.
Russ”

It definitely seems that motorcycle programming has been phased out to almost extinction and the new trend is tattoo shows like LA Ink, Miami Ink and Tattoo Wars. With Jesse James without a show and Billy Lane trying to dig out of heaps of legal problems, Russell does seem like the next in the natural selection.

Whatever my feelings are about Harley-Davidson (they’re sweet, but too expensive and breeds snobby riders) their advertising is always incredible, whether serious or humorous. This one is the latter.

click image to view larger if you’d like

So here it is:
My best friend (who is now my husband) almost died in a motorcycle accident on October 15, 2003. It was raining heavily that night and instead of riding his motorcycle on the highway, he decided to ride back roads home instead. He didn’t give it a second thought. He had his rain gear and was used to riding in all kinds of weather. He had been in worse storms than this particular one.

The accident itself is hard to determine, but what we think happened is that he got to a rotary area and was forced into the guardrail by a cab. He was thrown from the bike and the cab never stopped (and no one ever came forward). Luckily there was a gas station across the street and the guys there called an ambulance.

I got a call on my cell phone around 4:45 am. When I saw his number calling I thought it was a case of him drunk dialing until I heard a woman’s voice on the line and she told me she was calling from Boston Medical Center and the only words I really focussed on was motorcycle accident.

My apartment at the time had a skylight and the rain was just pounding on it. I remember for a split-second wondering why was he out riding in this weather? and why didn’t he catch a ride with someone else? But that thought was replaced by the urgent need to get to the hospital. I threw on whatever clothes were close by and was at the hospital ten minutes later.

While I waited I called some of our friends and his sister, since his parents were out of the country on vacation. A bunch of people came to the hospital and kept vigil with me.

After 5 hours of waiting with zero information, the vascular surgeon finally came out and told us the extent of his injuries: his spleen had been punctured and removed, seven ribs broken and a collapsed lung, a large gash on his leg, 3 broken metacarpals and oh yeah, his left arm was almost severed: his humorous was shattered and the major nerve, veins and arteries were also severed. They had to transplant a large artery from his right leg into his left arm, which seemed to work because there was blood circulation going to his hand.

in the SICU the day after the accident

His spent the first three days in the SICU (surgical intensive care unit) unconscious and intubated and an additional two days there after he woke up. He had another surgery to fix his shattered bone by inserting a titanium rod and reconnect the nerve. Then he spent an additional week in the rehab ward. The doctors took photos of the entire surgery, but I’ll spare you guys those gory details!

The day after the accident, the left image is the temporary “erector set” to keep the broken bones in place, the right image is a picture of his broken hand with the pins still in place.

The aftermath of having his spleen removed and his right leg where they had to take a vein to put into his arm.

The day the stitches were removed.

A year of pain, physical therapy and lots of determination helped him regain almost full dexterity in his hand, although his ring finger and pinkie finger remain numb due to nerve damage and he’s lost almost all of the muscle mass in his hand. To this day he cannot use his bicep muscle in his left arm (meaning he cannot bend his arm using the muscle) but he’s good at compensating for it in different ways. People don’t even realize there’s something wrong with his arm unless they see the scars or we tell them about the accident.

This experience has not deterred our enjoyment of motorcycles. A month after the accident my husband was daydreaming of riding again. Less than six months later he was back up and riding. And that summer I got my motorcycle license (although I did waffle on the decision beforehand). I’m sure everyone thinks we’re nuts but it’s a big part of our lives that we enjoy.

Maybe it’s a bit corny but the course of our lives changed that night. We each got a huge wake up call and a new outlook on life. It made us realize that life doesn’t wait for you to get your shit together, so get out there and try to accomplish all of the things you dream of. We are thankful to have each other every day. When this time of year rolls around we can’t help but to be grateful that the result of that accident didn’t go another way. And while it’s a day I don’t always want to remember, it’s a day I won’t ever forget.

From Salem to Provincetown, according to Google, is 141 miles. Taking some backroads instead of highway the entire way, the trip was more like 155 miles.

This was the first time I had to pack any gear on the Vulcan and if you have seen the bike, you know it’s not set up to be a pack mule. I put my stuff into a dufflebag, which ended up sitting on the passenger seat. As I was going to bungee the bag down, I realized that the fender rails had no holes on the bottom side (like so many other bikes do) for the bungees to hold on to. The best thing I could do was hook one around the foot pegs and another under the fender itself. Note to Kawasaki engineers: give users a place to put bungee cords.

We left Salem and hit the highway around 10:30 am. This was the first time I got the Vulcan onto the highway and paid close attention to how it handled. I noticed a lot of vibration as I hit the speed limit and got a lot of hand-stinging bike vibration at 70 mph (um, Kawasaki peeps…not that I was speeding while riding this borrowed bike or anything! ‘k, thanks.). I don’t know if I eventually got used to the vibration or if the bike itself mellowed out but after ten minutes I barely noticed anymore.

On my Volusia I have highway bars with pegs, which is helpful to stretch my legs out on longer rides. The nice thing about the placement of the foot pegs on the Vulcan is that I didn’t have a problem stretching my legs out on them, they’re nicely placed for riding comfort.

We blasted down 95 and 93 south, through Boston and picked up Rt. 3A in Quincy-my hometown and home to a couple of dead presidents. We rode some twisty backroads through some of the more affluent Boston suburbs, then into more rural areas. Then we hopped on to Rt 3 to take us to the Sagamore Bridge, which for the first time in my life, was a pleasure. (For the past 3 years they have been doing construction in order to eliminate a rotary (a roundabout for all my UK peeps) which usually blocked traffic for miles). Up and over the bridge and we were finally on the Cape of Cod. Rt 6 and 6A took us down to the house where our surfer friends were staying in Welfleet.

After we unloaded the bikes we headed down to Provincetown (P-Town to us locals) to the absolute furthest point on the Cape, while the boys went surfing over at the beach.

Live webcam shot with real time photo of Cahoon Hollow Beach and the Atlantic Ocean from the Beachcomber.

One of my yearly traditions when I’m down the Cape is to get some fried clams and a root beer for lunch. I also pick up some dessert-type goodies for everyone from one of Provincetown’s many candy stores. If you have never been to P-Town before here is the low down: lots of motorcycles end up there and lots of gays-as it is a huge vacation destination for them. The main strip is arranged like this: art gallery, bar, candy store, restaurant, adult toy store, t-shirt shop…repeat for the next 3 miles.

Entering P-town, parking the Vulcan and a plate of delicious fried clams

Inside one of P-town’s many candy shops.

We had a large dinner with our friends, had some dessert (I ended up getting some fudge for everyone) and all the boys commenced with their monthly stogie night-sipping scotch and smoking cigars. Even though I was tired from the day’s ride, we stayed up to the wee hours of the morning.

Unfortunate for us, the next morning was overcast and cold. It was much cooler than the previous day-30 degrees cooler and 90% humidity. Luckily we packed our leathers and some warmer clothes, but it was still a miserable ride home (especially while hungover!). Our intention was to stop off at the last day of the Boston Tattoo Convention, but we were so cold, damp and tired that we headed straight home narrowly missing a parade blocking off the only road in and out of the cape.

Round trip we topped a little over 300 miles, not too shabby for a little weekend ride.

Thursday night I got all dolled up and attended the kick-off party for the Boston Tattoo Convention. We schmoozed with lots of tattooed people, got tipsy from drinking Dewars, looked at art work, played Guitar Hero and oogled strippers (because nothing classes up a formal party than strippers!) all night long.

Left to right: me in the car on the way there, the BTC logo and the Dewars bar

Left to right: some of the art on display, the fabulous Miss Jessica Lee & Mr. Forrest Frazier, crazy moustache

playing photographer, tattoos!

The evening’s entertainment, Jess, Natan & me and my fabulous outfit

Special thanks to Natan for the invite!

On Friday I barely made it through a harrowing day of work and promptly came home to prepare for what I was looking forward to all week and the topic of my next post: Saturday’s trip down to Cape Cod!

Since the Custom has such good throttle response, I did find myself getting a little daring with it. At stop lights I would pull up in the right hand lane next to other cars waiting at the light and just blow past them when the light turned green. I generally don’t do this on my Volusia because it just doesn’t have that kind of throttle response. I also noticed that more people tend to watch me ride down the street on this motorcycle and I think it’s because of the eye-catching paint color.

A kind of funny observation I had about the Custom is that the engine makes a whirring sound on acceleration that reminds me of a hovercraft from Star Wars. Which made me think of Star Trek and the obvious “Vulcan” reference. And the candy red color of the bike made me think of a lyric from Prince’s song “Little Red Corvette“-which made me giggle when I thought of Mr. Spock actually saying that line from the song:

“I’m gonna try to tame your little red love machine.“

Stream of consciousness while riding a motorcycle can be a funny thing sometimes!

This is Harold, who made a special trip fro NJ to MA to drop off this pretty machine.

And to give me paperwork to fill out and sign. There it is. The 2007 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Custom. Ain’t it purdy?

Before I took it out for a spin…

And here’s the video shot shortly thereafter:
I also want to thank Mr. Forrest Frazier for all of the support, photo and video work that he has done for this site!

The left photo is the story of my poor husband’s life: forever waiting for me while I get ready. Right: getting ready to take off. Behind me you can see the historical actors setting up for their witch trial re-enactments.

Like I mentioned before, we planned on avoiding highways and took a leisurely ride north up Rte. 1A. That took us all along the eastern coast and it was really gorgeous.

We got stuck at a bridge somewhere in Newburyport and took a moment to take photos of the boats. About a mile after that, one of my tail lights decided it wanted to fall off. So, I took the opportunity to take some goofy pics of myself while it was being put back on.

It was difficult to take pictures along the way because we got so caught up in the ride. We’d go past a picture-perfect farm with a tractor parked on a hill and horsies outside grazing and I’d think: wow, that’s awesome. I really should take a picture of that…oh, I’ll get it on the way back.

From left to right: stopping in front of “Kittens” gentlemen’s club in Salisbury. (Get it, “kittens/Rippin-Kitten”…yeah, it’s a stretch.) A quick shot while riding down the strip. And lastly, stopping off on the boardwalk at Salisbury Beach.

It took us about an hour to hit the New Hampshire border, where we promptly ditched our helmets (don’t tell my mom!). I know it’s not safe to ride without a helmet, but it’s so completely liberating to ride without one. We made a pit stop on the Hampton Beach boardwalk to grab a bottle of water and I jealously eyed everyone that was playing on the beach, wishing that I could lounge there among them.

Onward, we pushed up the coast through Rye where the beach wind coming off of the water was refreshing, to say the least. Two hours into the ride we hit Portsmouth center, which is one of my favorite little towns, and shortly after that entered Kittery, Maine-home of many retail outlets (a shopper’s dream!).

Once in Maine, we rode through York and Cape Neddick (home of Nubble Light). One of the most distinctive things about riding through any NE beach community in the summer is the smell of fried clams in the air. It’s probably one of the most artery clogging things any person can eat, but they’re so unbelievably good! I haven’t treated myself to them yet this summer, but I will soon.

The rest of the road up to Ogunquit was through wooded, hilly and twisty roads with little pieces of settled areas sprinkled through out. We finally hit Ogunquit center, which was buzzing with tourists, about three hours after we left. We were hot, thirsty and well ready for some lunch. And we were almost at our destination.

So, why the day trip to Ogunquit?

To visit these two little munchkins who were vacationing there!

These little heartbreakers are my niece, Gianna and my nephew, Domenic (who was making motorcycle noises when we took this picture). We drove all the way to Maine just to have some lunch with them. And of course, all they wanted to do was climb all over our motorcycles! And in my opinion, definitely worth the trip.

As I have mentioned before, I have never had the pleasure of attending the Sturgis bike rally. I’ve talked about it a whole bunch of times but the plans just never came to fruition. Well, I guess if I can’t go to Sturgis, I can bring Sturgis to me with the interactive Sturgis street, sidewalk and Main St. webcams, which appear to be on a 30 seconds refresh rate. It’s almost like being there, except that I can hear, feel or smell what’s happening there.

*sigh*

(music: “Push Push (Lady Lightning)” by Bang Camaro)

If you want to check out the actual photos in addition to the video, check out the Laconia photo set on my Flickr page!

I have a lot of photos to download from my camera and I’ll try to get those online sometime this evening.

Until then, here’s a little tease. This was taken last Thursday on my way up Mt. Washington!

My bike comes stock with a HUGE air cleaner, lovingly referred to as “the football” and a “pair valve” (California emissions control device). The plan was to rip off the pair valve, replace the football with a hidden K&N air filter, re-jet and debaffle the exhaust pipes (since I have not made a decision on what style of new pipes I want). I realize this was ambitious, but I started over a month ago and figured I’d be done by now. The problem is that I still don’t have all the parts that I ordered! The one big thing I’m missing is the jet kit. But I couldn’t wait, so I started anyway!

Getting half-naked.

When you remove the pair valve and the football on the Volusia, it allows you an unobstructed view of the V-twin cylinders (or “jugs”) so some smarty-pants refers to them as having “Naked Jugs“. I began to set my jugs free today by removing the pair valve. Things went fairly smooth except for the front air breather, that’s a bitch.

Once that was done I figured since I can’t re-jet yet that there was no reason to replace the football. My bike runs lean anyway so the last thing I want to do is give it more air.

The top row of pictures is the pair value before and after I removed the casing. The second row is me tackling the “football.”

Voila! Naked jugs!

So now the bike is half-nekkid. I’m going to have to wait until I get back from bike week to re-jet and go au naturale.

Baffled that I haven’t debaffled before now.

I decided to do a partial debaffle of the exhaust pipes. There are 3 separate baffles in the Volusia. My goal was to remove the first one.

We picked up 2 hole saws to cut through the plates in the massive pipes. You cut out a doughnut and the baffle becomes unrestricted. Then put a dowel in the baffle and wiggle it around until the metal fatigues and breaks off.

Pull the baffle out: lather, rinse and repeat on the other pipe.

What a difference! The sound coming out of those pipes now is unbelievable!

So, as I mentioned before I will be at bike week from Wednesday to Sunday and will try to post updates while I’m there. I’ve been working on a special feature that uses a GPS that I put on the bike and Google maps so you can see me riding in real time. Look for the “Where am I” link under pages in the right hand column. When it’s there, that means I’m on the road! Check back soon and check often…

Nope.

While it is going to warm up we’re expecting thundershowers this afternoon, continuing on for the entire weekend. Crap. I will have to live vicariously through other people for the next few days.

I suppose I could have taken the chance by riding in to work today. I do have a rain suit for such weather, but I definitely don’t have a flavor for riding in it.

Kittens don’t like to get wet.

Here’s some other interesting facts:

• it’s usually held in June and typically ends Father’s Day weekend (except in 2008, when it’ll actually start on that weekend)
• motorcyclists began converging on Weirs Beach, NH in 1916
• it began as a weekend event for races, shows and hill climbs
• the popularity of the “biker” image caused a surge in attendance which extended it to “bike week”
• in the 60′s, Laconia saw troubled times when riots between bikers and the police broke out, causing a decline in attendance. The week-long eventually downgraded to only 3 days.
• in the 90′s local businesses, hoping to boost tourism, looked back to the bikers and reviving the week-long event, which is now run by the A.M.A
• 7 years ago, motorcycle week turned into a 9-day event and attracts 100,000 to 400,000 people
• I have been going for about the past 15 years

I am having some minor issues with the bike lately, so I didn’t get as much riding in as I would have liked to. However, I did order some things for minor improvements, including some foot pegs and clamps to add to my highway bars, a Uni filter to help with the airflow issues I’ve been having and a jet kit.

I did accomplish a simple but cool modification: I lowered the bike 2.5 inches. It’s a a popular mod that a lot of people with Volusias/Boulevards do that’s really easy and effective. Two and a half inches doesn’t sound like a lot, but essentially it lowers your center of gravity for better control while riding. At first I barely noticed a difference, but riding next to other motorcycles I feel like they tower over me.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a whole lot of pictures while doing the work because one of the bolts was really difficult to remove and I was getting super pissy…ha!

So, here’s one of me starting the work and another of me after it’s all over and done with.

OK, well I’m off to spend some time kibbitzing with other bloggers and to market, market, market to build up more traffic to this site! Nitey-nite!

I scoured my motorcycle message board, VolusiaRiders.com to see if anyone else had a similar problem. After searching through multiple of threads I found out that when stock, my type of bike runs a bit lean and that I could adjust the carburetor mixture screw. But I had to drill out a piece in the carburetor to get to it.

I found a tutorial at The Rusks, grabbed the toolbox and my husband (because there was NO way I was going to do this alone) and headed outside!

I get really nervous at the idea of pulling everything apart because I never think I can get it all back together again.

First step: gotta take off the seat.

Then take off the speedo.

Starting on the tank.

Then lifting off the gas tank (my hubby helped me unhook all of the lines). I don’t know why I expected it to be really heavy but it wasn’t.

Drilling out the carb.

Here’s the piece drilled out.

And there’s the screw.

Stretching my legs before reassembly.

Putting the tank back on so that I can start the bike up and adjust the mixture (while my man holds the tank up for me to get the the screw).

Done!

We adjusted the mixture so that the bike runs a little richer and I’m ready to take it out for a spin. The adjustment helped a lot, but unfortunately it’s still not 100%. I think I’m going to have to replace the air filter (perhaps a UNI filter?) and my husband thinks that I should bite the bullet, get new exhaust pipes and rejet. I know that he’s probably right, but I’m procrastinating!

Here’s my fine-looking machine just out of the garage, although it’s not really looking so fine…I had a lot of cleaning ahead of me.

I’m all geared up for the ride back home. (How’s my new leather jacket look on me?)

A detailed shot of my handlebars. What a mess.

And now it’s gleaming.

Without the PowerBall Mini and the Nano polish this would have required a ton of elbow grease and a lot of time that I don’t have. (look at how filthy the spongy ball is!)

Before

After (so much better!)

Well, it’s not going to win any contests but this bike is on it’s way to looking buff and beautiful for the summer!

I wanted to be able to take some pictures to share the lovely commute to work I have everyday. And the only way to do that is to be on the back.

Here I am, ready to go!

This is the old Salem jail, now haunted and waiting to be condos!

Dave Frank’s is the local motorcycle and gun & ammo shop. I firmly believe that they have a gimp in the basement.

This is the view from the Salem to Beverly bridge that I go over everyday. It’s nice to finally see boats in the marina.

Passing by Montserrat College

Look you can see me in the mirror!

This is the entrance to Long Hill

Here’s a wild turkey

And this is the long, winding driveway to go to work!

There are some benefits to working up in the sticks! It only gets more lovely as the warmer weather gets here.