Re: Things I Hate About Riding My MB
Recently FaceBook revamped it's look and it would be a good place for each of us to have that MotorBicycling web site showcasing our own personal interest in motor bikes. What it could do when we hand others that biz card with our screen name and URL to our FaceBook sites is to serve in the public education process and raise awareness of the public regarding people who harass motorcyclist, motor-bicyclist, or adults & kids on bicycles in general.
FaceBook has hoards of younger people active in it and many of them are economically predisposed to motorize a bicycle and ride it to class or work.
I've noticed the way Harley Davidson has over the years organized it's owners as a "family of nice people". (to form a much more moderate & cleaned up image of the brand name than what the "Chopper Gangs" built for it. It attracts a market of those with the money to afford a new factory fresh machine and present a public image for them that isn't so "outlaw".
But for now, we can be our own best, "nicest people on a motor-bicycle" showing the public that 200 mpg is possible and we'll even show them how. (just follow the link to motobicycling com in our individual web sites) We can link to Utube where many videos already exist for them to watch. (much of the work is already done)
I recently purchased a small cam corder (think Flip cam) that plugs into the USB2 port to upload the video to Utube. I've seen so many Utub videos of motorized bikes where the rider litteraly took the viewer along to show what it was like. You can see the road, instruments, and hear the rider's narritive. Of course if I see harassment coming up behing me I'll simply click the cam on and get a photo of the driver as he crowds me and as he passes get the shot of the rear of his license number. I'm fixing to mount a piece of white vinyl siding I cut out of scrap behind my license plate to have a 1 inch white boarder around the plate to draw attention to the license. (such that motorist will realize it is a licensed motorized vehicle)
If we can begin to position ourselves in the public view as icons of hope in dealing with high fuel cost we could begin to get the public sentiment behind us. The other day I told a curious person that I had hoped to save enough money riding the motor-bike each year to either pay for or greatly offset my winter heating fuel cost. It made a believer of him instantly. When he inquired of the cost of the bike, I explained that in a couple weeks of normal driving (as I would the
car) that I'd save enough to pay for the motor-bike. He suggested I just build bikes like mine and offer them for sale so folks could purchase them from me who weren't "smart enough" to build them could just buy one, lean to operate it, and get in on the savings. I told him that in the past that I've had a bike engine supplier offer me large lots of engine kits to sell but I didn't know if there would be people wanting them..... gas was just over a buck a gallon back then,
but since the fires of $4 a gallon motorizing a bike started to really make sense.
