We were just over at BrainBucket and found this article pretty interesting. “We’re Tired of Pictures With Only Birds and Boats” said Dwain Deville, author of The Biker’s Guide to Business. Dwain has created a new line of inspirational business posters with a biker attitude! Each year over 300,000 motorcycles are sold to Senior Business Executives, male and female, making in excess of $100,000 per year. Having to be corporate during the week, these Business Bikers ride to adjust their attitude and enjoy a sense of freedom like no other.

“As an avid rider and business leader for over 30 years I’ve looked for an inspirational business poster to hang on my office wall that reflects the unique way Business Bikers view business and the world looks from the saddle…and I’m not alone.” Said Dwain DeVille, Author of The Biker’s Guide to Business.

Tired of finding only the same old pretty pictures of birds and boats, Dwain teamed up with a couple of fellow riders to design a series of inspirational business posters that better express the way business men and women who ride think.

Together with Rick Morgan, CEO of the design firm Coastline Studios, Dave Simons, CEO of Designers’ Press and Doug Scaletta, an award winning photographer, they’ve produced a series of posters that embody the intensity and passion all riders bring to business.

“These posters are designed to give you that ‘biker’ feel whether you’re behind a desk or in the boardroom. Because like the millions of Business Bikers out there, we’d rather ride our motorcycles and think about business instead of sitting at our desk thinking about riding!!!”

Dwain is author of the upcoming book The Biker’s Guide to Business, to be published by John Wiley and Sons in August 2009. His posters have come out first and can be found on the website bikerbusinessposters.com . Posters sale for $19.97 plus shipping.

Hey, thanks for coming back! Great to see there are a few of you out there that have taste and style! Seriously, thanks for visiting. If you know of stories you think people would be interested in, shoot us a line C'ya!

There is something extremely frustrating about stop lights! Especially if your on a motorcycle! Let me explain; if your in a car/truck things seem to happen a bit faster when your at the light. You know, that light seems to work through it’s “thought process” and goes from “Red” to “Green” within a normal length of time. Not so if your on a bike. But anyway, i digress. That “thought process” the light goes though is actually the system reading surrounding “electromagnetic fields“. When a car pulls up to a light at most intersections, there are sensors embedded in the road’s surface-using “Inductive loop technology” (i.e. coil wire embedded in the surface) and the coil “senses” the vehicles and tells the light to change. Pretty Simple. However most motorcycles, scooters, bicycles and some small cars don’t have enough conductive material to trigger these loops and change the traffic light. So, want to figure a way to get through that light faster? Use science to trigger that green light! Here is what you’ll need: 1) 2 Neodymium magnets – (need magnets that have a pulling force of over 6lbs each), 2) some heavy duty exterior mounting tape or optional: A waterproof, rust-proof pill holder. Next: Cut off a small strip of tape then tape the magnets together with one side of the tape. Tape the magnets to the underside of your motorcycle with the other side of the tape – perpendicular to the direction of travel. Next pull up to your neighborhood light and see what happens. Man, i think i have an idea for a cool product!

Having spent the better part of my teenage years doing handstands, street skating and 180′s on “fishtail” boards made in our garage and running those cuttin edge “sealed bearing wheels” (yeah, we’re old skool) i have to say i’m a bit jealous (but stoked) when i’m watching this type of physical dexterity and foolery. So, who knows what will come of this. But it’s cool to watch and these guys get props for what they do There are actually two different styles involved here. One being the original french born “parkour” and “Free Running” which involves more flips vs jumps. Enjoy

Custom Chrome has developed a new research and shopping mechanism for consumers to browse the entire Custom Chrome catalog and then place their orders directly through their local dealers using the NEW Custom Chrome e-Store. This valuable tool is available to retail customers at www.customchrome.com.

“We understand that consumers do the majority of their research through magazines and online” said Steve Veltri, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Custom Chrome. “It was for that reason we chose to develop a way in which that research could then be directed back to our valuable dealer network for an immediate transaction rather than leaving our site and trying to find another source for their purchases”.

The Custom Chrome e-Store allows full access to every section of the Custom Chrome catalog, its vendor’s products, and provides a “Suggested Retail Price” for those products fitting the criteria. Pricing will vary depending on local taxes and handling charges depending on the dealer.

There is nothing better than helping others in this life. Some seem to know and embrace that truth more tightly than others. Case in point, Rick Fairless. Rick teamed up and Miller Lite this past Spring with an idea to raise money for Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children (TSRHC). Raffling off a customized Harley-Davidson motorcycle, the two groups succeeded in raising $32,000 for TSRHC in just over 3 months. In conjunction with the Harley-Davidson 105th Anniversary, Strokers Dallas and Miller Lite teamed up to secure a 2007 Harley-Davidson softail motorcycle and turn it into a “Dallas Cowboys” themed ride. The process to get the paint and theme approved by the Dallas Cowboys was not an easy task, but it was well worth the effort.

“We went through several rounds of revisions with the Dallas Cowboys before we all agreed on a paint job that was exactly right,” said Rick Fairless. “But in the end, it was cool because we are one of the very few who can say that their bike is officially endorsed by the Dallas Cowboys and was approved by Jerry Jones himself.”

Once the bike was re-built and customized by the team at Strokers Dallas, it was used in a fundraiser for TSRHC. Strokers Dallas sold tickets online to win the motorcycle, at road shows and motorcycle rallies, and in their dealership for as little as $10 each. The bike was revealed at the beginning of July and was awarded at the Strokers Dallas Anniversary Party on October 12. The lucky winner was Steve Stanfield of Henderson, Texas, who bought his 5 tickets online. Strokers Dallas recently presented TSRHC with a check for the $32,000 raised by the fundraiser.

Stephanie Brigger, VP of Development at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children said of the donation, “Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children patients, families and staff are so grateful to Strokers Dallas for their generous donation to the hospital. We really appreciate our relationship with Rick and Susan. Strokers Dallas is such a giving company that understands the hospital’s mission of providing the highest quality medical care to Texas children, from birth to age 18, at no charge to patient families.”

“It was a great honor to raise that much money for the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children,” Fairless noted. “I have been supporting them since I opened 13 years ago and I don’t think there is a better cause here in Dallas. I look forward to many more years of raising money for TSRHC.”

Visit Rick Fairless’ Strokers online at www.strokersdallas.com. Hey Rick, your so good at raising monies for charities, how about helping out with the economy a bit and knocking down that crazy deficit hanging over our heads?! Great job Rick!

Here’s a great Christmas present. Get your bike featured in Easyrider Magazine! That’s what happened to the Guilty Customs Gang! The bike “Errant” is featured on the cover and centerfold of Easyrider’s Dec. 08 issue. If you can look past the beauty straddling the bike (named Sandy Beach) you’ll see one very rideable bike. So kudo’s to Mike Drum for his work as well as others on this build. The bike is currently up on eBay for auction as the guys need to make room in the garage for some more builds! Oh yeah, unfortunately Sandy doesn’t come with the bike.

Custom Chrome announces permanent price reductions on RevTech driveline products. The company emphasizes this “is not a sale, but a permanent price reduction”. The company has announced lower dealer pricing across the board on the RevTech engines and driveline products produced exclusively for them by parent company DAE-IL Corporation. The lower pricing program was announced on November 7th and was “effective immediately” on its full range of RevTech engines and transmissions, including its Euro 3 and EPA certified products. As stated in their news release “this reduction is designed to achieve maximum value for the product line without compromising its margin value to the selling dealer.” Steve Veltri, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, is quoted as saying “this is a worldwide effort and will be put into effect by both Custom Chrome and Custom Chrome Europe.”
As an observer i do have to ask, “when have we ever seen any prices, “permanent”?” NEVER. Once the economy clicks back up, you’ll see CC (as well as others), cranking the dial back up as well to take advantage of the loose change starting to float about in the economy…it’s called supple side economics. Granted it may be a few years before we see that upswing, so “if ya got it, grab’m while ya can…..”

S&S Cycle announces that Communications and Marketing Manager Howard Kelly is resigning effective 12/12/2008 to fulfill his long-time plan of leaving the motorcycle industry. Kelly will be staying in the La Crosse area, assuming a new Director’s role at Multistack Inc, In Sparta, Wisconsin. Kelly came to S&S in 2004 to create a communications and marketing department that was the quality level to be expected from an industry leader like S&S. This past summer the S&S 50th Anniversary was the crowning achievement to that goal and the team that works with Kelly is trained and ready to serve the needs of print, television and film media properly.

“When I first arrived at S&S the plan was for me to create the service manuals, update the instruction sheet process and then start getting involved in communications and marketing. As they say, things change and the communications and marketing issues became as important as everything else. Having been a magazine editor in the past, it was second nature to understand the needs of media people and how to make their jobs easier when they deal with S&S. I am very lucky to have worked with such quality people as Bruce Tessmer, Angee Williams, Chad Baker, Kevin Sather, Carla Langyel and Shay Rihn. This is the team that will work with my replacement to continue on with the great work we did through the 50th.” said Howard Kelly.

Smith has an agreement with Kelly to support S&S in a consulting role to assure fluidity for media needs and communications regarding S&S and Kelly will retain his contact information at S&S for easier media access.

Our friend Dawn Glencer (yes THAT Dawn….of TV and print fame-check out her new Dragonfly ad on this months issue of Barnette’s). Now back to the point. Dawn does some website design and consulting on the side and recently she emailed us about her newest project which strikes home for us as we too like to run as well as the taste of beer. But never thought of doing it together. Dawn quotes:

Ok – now I’ve been asked to work on alot of unusual websites but I will say that this is probably the most bizarre one I’ve ever done. In Jacksonville, FL they host what is known as the Jax Beerlympics. Guess a group of guys got together who often run 5Ks together but also party together quite a bit – after many beers, they decided to try to combine their two favorite pasttimes and the Beerlympics was born. Now this ain’t no silly beer games in a bar – this is actual running & drinking. And it’s not IF you puke…it’s when & how often. (Trust me, the videos are funny as heck!)

You can check these guys out HERE.

Chains and Belts. They go together like, well, chains and belts. Or should that be leather and beer?! Either way, they are cool. And when you combine chains on a motorcycle other than the drive chain, you’ve got something even cooler in our opinion. Such is the case with this beauty. Originally designed and developed with Paul Cox (for 4 speed trannys), this Open Chain Primary from Tech Cycle is now available for use on Evo-Softail. Sweet. Whether you go with an electric or kick-only version the primary utilizes a single row, chrome plated, 530 O-Ring chain. For more info contact Tech Cycle at 215-702-8324. Would love to try this on one of our next builds!