15/10/2008 by info.

Christoph Madaus (Madaus Design, www.twintrax.de) from Cologne won top honors and 5,000 Euro expenses contribution towards competing at the 2009 Official World Championship of Custom Bike Builing (Sturgis, SD, August 2nd to 5th) at the latest official Affiliate event to be held.

The prestigious INTERMOT Expo draws up to 300,000 visitors, and is acknowledged worldwide as one of the most important motorcycle industry events on the global calendar. As a new feature, this year saw the show become affiliated to the OWC program for the first time with the launch of the Cologne Custom Champoionship, an invitational custom bike event designed to showcase the ‘best-of-the-best’ from the previous two years of the affiliate program and European Championships in Europe.

Called ‘TwinTrax’, Christoph’s bike first shot to attention when it won 2nd place in the Freestyle class and came 2nd Best in Show at the Bigtwin Bike Show in the Netherlands last year. Christoph followed that up with 15th place at the European Championship in Mainz, Germany, in March this year and, having won many admirers for both the design and engineering innovation and execution of his project, the bike will now make its US debut at Sturgis next year as a result of this win.

Featuring two S&S 1340cc 45 degree air-cooled v-twin engines mounted one behind the other, many have commented that not only has Christoph pulled off something that many would have thought impossible (the bike is a “runner” and was seen to be so by the AMD/OWC personnel present at the Big Twin Show last year), but that he has done so to a level of engineering and finish values that are of OE production bike standards.

Second place was taken by Tobias Guckel’s much admired ‘Seppster II’ (TGS Motorcycles, www.tgs-motorcycles.de), which pulled second place in this year’s European Championship and third place in this year’s World Championship.

Third place went to Andreas Bergerforth’s ‘Open Mind’ (Thunderbike, Germany, www.thunderbike.de) which pulled 5th in the World Championship and is the reigning European Championship winning build.

The results reinforced the validity of the plan to develop the Cologne Custom Championship as a biennial invitational for Europe’s top bikes as a celebration of excellence that exposes the engineering quality of the contemporary custom industry to many hundreds of thousands more riders than would normally be exposed to it, and we here at AMD would like to extend the thanks of all those involved in the custom motorcycle industry for their generous support in making such a showcase possible.

The next INTERMOT Expo and Cologne Custom Championship will be staged in the same venue on October 13-17, 2010.

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14/10/2008 by info.

“Here’s someone who should be an inspiration to anyone who calls themselves a biker…….!” Phil 

Age and crashes can’t stop biker

By Keith O’Brien, Globe Staff  |  October 14, 2008

At the scene of her motorcycle crash last week, 80-year-old Margaret “Peggie” Blais, covered in blood, hobbled by broken bones, and laying on her back between two guardrails, made a simple request to the hovering paramedics: Don’t cut off her leather jacket.

It was classic Peggie. The redhead from Danvers, gone a bit gray, has been a rebel on two wheels since the 1950s. She practically raised her nine children in black leather. And from the beginning, Blais was not content to ride on the back of her husband’s bike. She’d have her own.

But there was nothing Blais could say last week to persuade authorities not to cut away her leather jacket; her injuries were too great. In the single-vehicle crash on Route 62 in Danvers last Tuesday afternoon, Blais lost control of her three-wheel bike and was thrown to the ground, smashing her right arm in multiple places, breaking her left leg, and causing severe facial lacerations that initially left her hard to recognize.

Now listed in fair condition at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Blais is talking to family while fellow bikers talk about her. In text messages, e-mails, and phone calls, every biker seems to want to know how the matriarch of Massachusetts motorcycling is doing.

“She embodies the whole spirit of freedom, the ability to take control, to do things your own way,” said Vince Silvia, secretary of the Massachusetts Motorcyclists Survivors Fund. “Not only did she ride with her husband, she wanted to be in control herself. She wanted to ride herself, to step up. ‘I’m woman, hear me roar,’ type of thing. And she did. She roared.”

Blais, the daughter of an electrician and part-time waitress in Marblehead, was not amused when her husband, Robert Blais (pronounced like “blaze”), first brought home a motorcycle in 1949. Women simply didn’t ride motorcycles back then, recalled her oldest son, Larry Blais, now 61. And it wasn’t like the Blais family had money to throw around. Peggie Blais cleaned houses and did others’ laundry to help make ends meet.

But she soon changed her mind about biking. In an interview last year with the Salem News, Peggie Blais said she came to like the feeling of the wind in her hair. Motorcycling became a family hobby. The children were often dressed in matching pink and black outfits and helmets. The youngsters rode in side cars while Peggie Blais cut a striking figure straddling a bike of her own. It was pink and black, too, and adorned with a donkey. The joke was that Blais was as stubborn as a mule.

“She had screaming red hair and she liked to dress us up and parade us around,” said Larry Blais.
“Sometimes, us kids would get bored with it. But I don’t know how many people would stop us and compliment us.”

By the late 1950s, the family was well known at motorcycle rallies, including Laconia Motorcycle Week in New Hampshire, where family members won awards for their matching get-ups. But life soon intervened. Peggie and Robert got divorced. With nine children to raise, Peggie Blais had less and less time for riding. And even though the children kept up the family tradition - each one of them learned how to ride - Peggie essentially stopped.

She grew old, and had a heart attack and two knee-replacement surgeries. Friends died and so did her former husband, in 2006. By then, Landon Blais, Peggie’s youngest son, said his mother seemed ready “to sit around the house and be old.” And that’s when Landon made a decision that not all his siblings agreed with: He gave her a new bike, adding a third wheel to make it safer.

“Some people think I’m crazy for letting my 80-year-old mother ride,” he said. “But you know something? It made her feel 60 again.”

It was pink and black and adorned with a donkey, like her original. It said “Mom” on the side, and Peggie Blais loved it. She rode it around Danvers, in her signature pink and black helmet, and began to recapture a slice of the fame she had known long ago.

In August, she was named marshal of Nelson’s Ride, a motorcycle run to benefit the Massachusetts Motorcyclists Survivors Fund. She led 1,200 riders out of Salisbury Beach, all smiles in a leather vest, and returned to Laconia this year, riding with her children again.

“She’s just a doll,” said Charlie St. Clair, executive director of the Laconia Motorcycle Week Association.

“Just a really, really down-to-earth, nice person. And she’s obviously, like any mother, just thrilled to be with her kids.”

Now her children are trying to determine what happened to her on the road last Tuesday as she drove to a local clinic for a regular check-up. State Police are investigating. But Landon Blais, and some of her other children, say they have no regrets about letting their mother ride again, and they believe she’ll be back on her motorcycle soon.

“She’s a tough old girl,” said Larry Blais.

And, according to family members, she has her priorities in order. In her first conversation with her children after the crash last week, Peggie Blais said she was worried about one thing.

Her bike.

Keith O’Brien can be reached at kobrien@globe.com.

© Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

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10/10/2008 by info.

Harley Davidson press release:

To emphasize the non-traditional pairing of sophisticated style and brute strength, Harley-Davidson chose to launch the new 2009 V-Rod Muscle in a distinctly non-traditional way—by teaming up with American Supermodel Marisa Miller in an innovative marketing campaign to introduce the latest addition to Harley-Davidson’s high-performance line of V-Rod motorcycles.

The new V-Rod Muscle features a powerfully sculpted new physique that exudes a contemporary and urban sense of style. The Muscle’s long, low profile and super wide rear tire are inspired by the drag strip, while the free-revving performance of the liquid-cooled Revolution V-Twin engine co-developed with Porsche give it an unmatched combination of power and sophistication.

More photos below:

“The V-Rod Muscle stands out in a crowd of copies and generic motorcycle profiles,” said Mark-Hans Richer, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Harley-Davidson. “It stretches the very definition of what it means to be a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.”

Partnering with American supermodel Marisa Miller is a perfect match. The V-Rod Muscle’s sculpted body and commanding physique complement Miller, who not only represents classic American beauty, but also strength and athleticism. Miller is best known for gracing the cover of many prominent publications, but she also represents the return of the great American Supermodel. Miller grew up around motorcycles in California and has a strong appreciation for Harley-Davidson.

“To represent such an iconic American brand is incredible,” said Miller. “I have grown up watching my dad and uncle ride Harleys. It’s amazing to circle back at this point in my career, and work with a brand I have so much respect for.”

Like the bike itself, Harley-Davidson chose a distinctly non-traditional marketing campaign for the V-Rod Muscle. Starting Oct. 13, an ad campaign launches that shows Miller stretched atop a sleek, black V-Rod Muscle. The black background and distinct lighting capture the aggressive styling of the bike, contrasted by Miller, which brings the idea of American Supermodel to life. In lifestyle magazines such as GQ, Esquire, Complex, Road & Track and Trader, ads will make use of a new technology called SnapTell, which provides access to exclusive content upon photographing the ad with a mobile phone camera.

Link: Harley Davidson
Link: Harley Davidson YouTube channel

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10/10/2008 by info.

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04/10/2008 by info.

S&S Cycle President and company founder’s grandson Brett Smith is resigning from his post with the Wisconsin-based engines and performance parts manufacturer effective December 1st.

In an exclusive interview with AMD Magazine, Brett’s father George Smith said that “accepting Brett’s decision has been the toughest business decision of my life, and not something that I welcome or have sought”.

He went on to say “I’d like to pay tribute to the job that Brett has done for S&S Cycle. He took up the challenge some six years ago and under his watch the company has faced the most difficult period in its history. Recent times have been challenging for any company in our position and whoever had been in the hot-seat would have had the most difficult series of issues to address”.

“However he has done an outstanding job in dealing with those issues, and I and the board of directors at S&S Cycle are grateful to him for the determination and creativity that have characterized his stewardship of the business”.

“I and the board are one hundred percent supportive of the initiatives he has set in motion to help prepare the business for its next fifty years of market leadership, such as the internet re-seller policy, authorized dealer and distributor training and qualification programs, the successful creation of our world-class Customer Service Center at La Crosse, the way he has provided market leadership in the development of the Certified Engine Program, the successful launch of the X-Wedge engine and more”.

“The list of Brett’s successes is long and impressive. In a short time he has made an outstanding contribution to the future of our company, and I genuinely believe that he has also done the interests of the wider market, of which we are a part, a vital service through the vision and leadership he has shown in relation to regulatory matters”.

George Smith will now operate S&S Cycle as Executive Chairman and CEO, with Brett Smith’s tenure as President ending on December 1st.

Commenting on his decision, Brett Smith told AMD Magazine that “Those who know me well know that I have been considering stepping aside for some time, but wanted to see the plans that we had laid for celebration of our 50th anniversary through to their conclusion, and to supervise the first stage of the reshaping of our costs that is inevitably necessary to ensure the company is able to maintain its position of market leadership for years to come”.

“I have enjoyed my time as company President even though it has been a tough period for us; indeed for the market as a whole. I think I have achieved a lot, and have reached a point where much of what the company needed to do to shape itself for the future has been set in motion. So I sense that now is the right time to step down and take a break before setting myself some new challenges”.

“I’d like to thank my family for the opportunity they gave me, and to thank our fantastic workforce and dealer network for the wonderful support they continue to give to S&S Cycle. I firmly believe ours is a business that can now face the future with confidence, and that generations of riders to come will be able to enjoy the benefits of a product line that combines the greatest aspects of the market’s past with a genuinely future-facing performance opportunity”.

S&S CYCLE
La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
Tel: 608 627 1497/0253
Fax: 608 627 1488/0771
E-mail: sscust@sscycle.com
www.sscycle.com

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