Here’s to wishing everyone a happy New Year and thanks to you guys for hanging with Rippin-Kitten.com this year. It’s been a stellar year for the site and am looking forward to making next year an even better one!
I tend to get sentimental at the end of the year and I like to reflect back to see how things played out. Looking at the top posts for 2009, it’s pretty obvious that a little television show called Sons of Anarchy exploded not only on the biker subculture, but on the mainstream culture as well.
Twitter was another thing that blew up this year. I made a ton of great new friends that I converse with frequently and built up a substantial list of followers. So thank you guys for that. A highlight was getting the notification: Kurt Sutter is now following you on Twitter. Hell yeah!
So let’s take a look back at the most trafficked posts of this year!
I, like the rest of the world, use Twitter quite a bit. So, if you’re one for instant gratification, then follow me to get the latest info and ramblings from! If you’re not familiar with Twitter, well isn’t now as good a time as any to do so?
For a while now I’ve been debating whether or not Rippin-Kitten should have a page on Facebook. I mean, I have a MySpace page, I’m on other biker social networks and even have a Twitter account. So why NOT Facebook, right?
Well, I’m happy to report that I finally joined the year 2009 and Rippin-Kitten now has a page. If you’re also on Facebook be sure to find me and if you’re not on there yet, sign-up and check out my page!
The other day my husband was telling me that he’d heard there was another crazy cat collector featured on the news recently. I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone that I’m an animal lover and I go ballistic when I watch Animal Cops (on Animal Planet). I strongly believe that whatever a person has done to abuse an animal, they should have done to them in turn. But that’s just my opinion.
He sent me a link to the news story where they reportedly pulled 180-200 cats out of this one house. Now, I own a cat myself and I think he’s adorable but I just can’t imagine having 200 of them in my house! Yuckie.
Anyway, the article mentions a group of volunteers called Rescue Ink, “a group of brawny bikers whose Web site promises an ‘in-your-face approach’ to animal welfare” who helped pull out all the cats and are assisting in find homes for all the kittehs. And, of course, my interest was piqued at the idea of a scary bunch of heavily tattooed dudes who have a soft spot for the furries.
I moseyed on over to Rescue Ink’s website and sure ’nuff this organization of “big, scary dudes” will do whatever it takes (within the confines of the law, of course) to save abused animals.
From their site:
“You take a look at us, and maybe your first reaction is to cross to the other side of the street. Just remember to look both ways before you do.
We’re not a gang, vigilantes or a social organization, but we do have that certain “in your face” style when it comes to animal abusers.
You may find us hanging out together at a hot rod show, tattoo parlors, or even hitting up the blacktop together on our bikes for a little road trip, but the main thing that brings us together is our love of animals. We met because we were all doing the same thing on our spare time: rescuing and finding homes for abandoned and abused animals. None of us did it for money; we did it because we cannot stand by while anyone mistreats an animal!“
They have an undeniable devotion to creatures of the 4-legged variety and I think I am now their biggest fan!
In all seriousness, I think these guys are doing some very important work in a very engaging way. If you want to help them with their cause, definitely check out their website, friend them on myspace, send a donation or buy a t-shirt. I’m sure they’ll appreciate any help they can get!
Happy 2009 everyone! I trust everyone has made it through the holidays and if you’re like me, you’re glad to get back to regular life. I have some cool things up my sleeve for the near future and a big road trip planned for this summer. While this may be the year of the Ox according to the Chinese calendar, I’m declaring it Year of the Kitten instead!
So, while I recover from the shock of getting back to the daily grind, I’ll leave you with the top 10 viewed posts of 2008!
Steampunk Motorcycles-even though I wrote this post a year ago, it is the most popular post of my site. The Steampunk movement has gained much popularity since then.
BikerorNot.com: bikers and social networking pt. deux-social networking sites are booming. It seems that every subculture has formed their own social community these days. Since this post was published I have received numerous emails informing me of yet another new biker social community and asking me to join or write about their site. I can only keep track of so many accounts these days and it makes me wonder if more is better.
Bikers and tattoos-Two of my favorite subjects! A brief history of tattoos in America and how they touch my world.
Bring Exile Cycles back to TV-the popularity of this post surprises me a little. Prior to this post I had read a myspace bulletin from Russell putting out the call to fans for some help. This year we’ve seen Russell on VH1’s Rock of Love and of course, that silly Comcast commercial that featured Exile Cycles, with an actor playing the part (instead of “hardcore” heavily-tattooed Russell) that confused so many people. Here’s hoping we see a lot more of him in the future.
Anatomy of the Kawasaki Vulcan-in the summer of 2007, Greg White contacted me and hooked me up with Kawasaki to test ride the Vulcan 900 Custom. I spent a few gleeful weeks riding this bike and this is my dissection of various elements of the bike in detail. Thinking back on the experience makes me remember how much I enjoyed riding this bike. And yes, the skinny front wheel felt safe!
Biker Movie Hell Ride in theaters August 8-this movie was all the buzz for us this summer and it came and went in the blink of an eye. It had a very limited release in theaters and when it finally came out on DVD it would be an understatement to say it is a love/hate kind of movie.
Slayer launches a line of helmets-*RAWK!* Rockhard helmets launched a line of motorcycle helmets emblazened with graphics of our favorite thrash metal band. They’ve since increased their lineup of bands that include: Lynard Skynard, KISS, Slip Knot, Motorhead (yes!), AC/DC and The King. These suckers ain’t cheap but if you’re a fan I’m sure they’re well worth the cash!
Garage Girls: a new site for women, or is it?-this was my initial review of Sara Liberte’s new online venture. I was as honest as I could be while reading through the site (maybe too honest?). So much so that I actually received an email and blog comment from Sara letting me and everyone else know that the site was brand-spankin’ new and to cut her some slack. I revisited the site three months later and was pleasantly surprised at the changes that had been made and the fresh content that had been added. Props to Sara.
Video Tuesday: Harley-Davidson Dark Custom-this video accompanied the announcement of HD’s newest and coolest motorcycle. I also went on a bit of a tirade about how out of touch Bruce Rossmeyer is with a younger demographic.
My first motorcycle love-I’m so happy to see this post made it to the top ten! This is a guest post, written by my nearest and dearest, recounting the love of his first motorcycle, the experiences he had while owning it, and then eventually trading it in for a newer Road King. Definitely a good read. Hmm, that reminds me…I think I’ll bug him to guest post more often!
I’m sure you guys have seen this Sturgis widget on multiple motorcycle blogs across the web. I’m happy to post it on mine as well because I think it’s important to stir up excitement for one of the largest motorcycle rallies of the year. If you have a blog or a social network profile out there, feel free to grab the code for the widget and post it on your own profile as well.
One of the more exciting bits of news for Sturgis this year is that mother-f*ing KISS (and Kenny Chesney) will be headlining each of the Rock’n the Rally shows! I’m so, so SAD that I cannot go this year. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t! I will be hosting a contest to giveaway tickets to each show! Stay tuned!
In the meantime: join the legion that is the KISS Army, put on your demon make-up and rock out to one of my favorite songs:
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?
Here’s a clip of another inspiring woman, Sasha Mullins from the 2003 Discovery Channel documentary “Motorcycle Women.” Sasha has been busy writing books and making music with her band Motoroadeo.
A few months ago I wrote a post about Bikerworlds and the growing popularity of social networking with bikers. Well, I just discovered another social networking site for the biker world called BikerorNot.com.
BikerOrNot.com Review
My initial observation is that this is a hybrid born of hotornot.com and MySpace in the sense that you can build profiles and have lots of friends (just like myspace) and you can rate people who have uploaded their images (just like HotorNot). Investigating the site a little more and it also begins to feel like a biker dating site as well. The biker community tends to be brimming with a lot of sexual energy and this site seems to be spilling over with it. Maybe it’s all the sexy pictures!
In reading the two entries on the BikerorNot blog I realize that this is also a fairly new (and totally customized) site to feed the need for online biker communities. It started in September 2006 and by late August 2007 they had upwards to 10,000 members, 4 million page views per month and 5,000 unique visitors per day. Impressive numbers by any standards.
I decided to add a profile on this site as well and if you’re curious to see what it’s all about, you can visit me at bikerornot.com/rippinkitten. Who knows? You may end up joining, too!
**UPDATE** As of May 2009, it appears that Bikerworlds.com is no longer in existence. While I was hoping that maybe they were down due to a server crash, the site has now been down too long for that to be the case. If anyone has any information about what happened to the site, please drop me a line!
In the recent years, I’d be remiss not to mention how important social networking sites have become to the average internet dweller. Sites like: Facebook, Friendster and MySpace are just a few of many and while they have a reputation for being skewed towards a younger demographic, the truth is that these sites are open to everyone of all ages.
When I wondered if there was a “MySpace for bikers” imagine my delight when I found a site called Bikerworlds. Bikerworlds has been up for less than a year and boasts about 10,000 members. It offers a site chock full ‘o forums, groups to join, classifieds, polls, videos, galleries and ridelogs. One of the things they’ve really focused on is to make the community friendly and open to female motorcyclists.I created my profile back in April and I have to say that there’s barely a day that goes by that one of my BW pals doesn’t send me a friendly message.While the basic functionality of Bikerworlds is very similar to MySpace, it is different enough to set itself apart.
“Larry” is a cuddly, bad-ass of a teddy bear and the public face of the site. He has his own profile and when you join the site he is your first friend (and as I write this Larry is up to 5600 friends, give or take a few!). A sense of community is important to a lot of people, especially online and especially with bikers. They are a group often stereotyped, misinterpreted and undervalued. Their seemingly rough exterior actually houses extreme generosity and kind hearts.When I started this blog my intent was (and still is) to foster a sense of community among young women riders. While I enjoy the social networking sites, nothing beats the freedom of your own site to express your own views. There is such a good feeling when your tooling along some back road and you get that little wave from a fellow biker. This is my wave to my fellow online bikers.
