Black Nail Brigade

http://www.blacknailbrigade.org

If you live in the Chicago land area, you may have heard the tragic story of a Anita Zaffke. On May 2, 2009, she was stopped at a red light on route 12 in Wauconda on her motorcycle. While stopped, she was hit from behind by Lora L. Hunt of Morris, Illinois. Her car struck Zaffke's motorcycle, throwing Zaffke about 200 feet, according to the police report and the Lake County coroner. Lora Hunt admitted to the police that she was painting her nails and didn't see the stopped car until after the collision. The collision resulted in Anita's death.

After the accident, her son Greg Zaffke, 31, stated "My mother was killed by someone else's reckless vanity. We need full prosecution for this offense. We need stricter reckless vehicular homicide legislation. Too many drivers are multi-tasking. Too many are oblivious to their reckless decisions. Too many good people are dying."

According to the Chicago SunTimes, devastated by not only his mother's death but the way she died, Greg painted the fingernails on his right hand black. He wants people to ask about the polish. He wants to tell them about his mother.

Greg is asking to please write or call the Lake County States Attorney, your local & state Representatives & Senators to express your disgust over the current state of affairs.

Sun Sets On Another Season

Sorry from whomever I stole this from.... I love that sunset though!

What the deuce? Have I been sleeping the last couple of month's? What happened to the riding season? What happened to my adventures? Well, my second season on two wheels has come and gone. Needless to say, this season, for lack of better words, sucked!

We went from 50 degree weather to, hey, is that snow? This year was a busy one for us. Even though I resigned from all social activities, I found myself busy as a new assistant coach for my sons baseball team. That was well worth it though. On the flip side, my wife had one dance show after another. When she was not dancing, she was teaching. It's kind of hard to strap down two kids to the back of the bike even though it had crossed my mind.

OK, I am done whining now. Now what? I still need to wash the bike before I put her away for the season. I also need to fill up with gas so I have no surprises in the spring. I am hoping to find a way to keep this site alive in the winter months. Wake it's self up from the boring site that it has become. If you have any ideas, let me know.

See ya at the next pizza meet.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday's, and Festivus for the rest of us.

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Ride Your Bike to Work Day or Baseball Memories?

As most of you may not know, it was national, "Ride Your Motorcycle To Work Day". As I was telling Bandit Brother Matt this evening, "I don't get the day". If its not raining, and severe weather is not in the forecast, I take the motorcycle to work. (I know, "we're happy for yeah")

Unless you have kids to take to the sitter, there is no excuse not to take the bike. You can wear protective gear over your suit and place your laptop in a saddle bag or storage trunk. It can be done. With the high gas prices, I am surprised not to see more bikes on the road but I digress.

Since today is the day with no major sport being played, I figured this video is fitting. It features some of the greats in baseball history including Cal Ripken Jr.

Good luck to all in the second half of the season.

Michigan Goes Helmet Free

Helmets Optional , Next Up for the Senate to Pass is Clothing Optional

The state of Michigan has had a mandatory law stating that you must wear a helmet while operating a motorcycle. This was not an issue when I was "Loopin the Lake" this past summer.

Don't get too excited Michigan riders and visitors. The governor will likely veto the Bill like she did last year. If she does pass it, and if you choose not to wear a helmet, you will have to pay a fee NOT to wear your helmet. Doesn't the government have anything better else to like like investigate steroids in baseball?

Here is the actual story.

Microsoft to buy Garmin?

This story was stolen from gpsmagazine.com

Here is my two cents. For those who don't know, Garmin is the industry leader on GPS units. I for one own the Zumo 450 which was made specifically for motorcycles. They are a bit pricey but worth every penny. If Microsoft buys out Garmin, it is only a matter time before we are riding down the street and our GPS has the Blue Screen of Death. Please reboot. Bill Gates may be rich but stay off of my maps.

Here is the rest of the story....

Take this one with the requisite large grain of salt, but rumors are flying that Microsoft is looking into buying Garmin -- news that sent Garmin's stock up 5.1 percent today. Neither Microsoft nor Garmin are confirming the rumors, but they're not denying them either...

A Microsoft buyout might make a lot of sense for Garmin, who could be staring down the barrel of a bleak future if Nokia decides to deny them access to NAVTEQ's maps.

The Microsoft-Garmin acquisition rumor comes just days after Nokia agreed to purchase U.S. mapping provider NAVTEQ for $8.1 billion. Tele Atlas, the only real competition to NAVTEQ, is currently in the process of being acquired by Dutch-based GPS maker TomTom.

Garmin uses NAVTEQ's mapping data on almost all of its GPS units, including the popular nuvi line. With NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas representing almost 100% of available digital mapping content, Garmin could be in real trouble if TomTom (Tele Atlas) and Nokia (NAVTEQ) play hardball and keep the mapping data for themselves. A Microsoft buyout would virtually guarantee Garmin continued access to NAVTEQ's mapping data, and could give Microsoft's handheld platform the location based kick in the pants its been looking for.

Some analysts have speculated that Garmin missed the boat by not buying NAVTEQ months ago. Still, Garmin is expected to report strong 3Q earnings at the end of October.

Batman's New Ride

From the Kneeslider.com

Add Chris Corbould to your list of motorcycle builders because he is the person behind the new Batpod, the high tech motorcycle you’ll see Bruce Wayne riding in the next Batman movie, The Dark Knight. The photos released are intentionally unclear, they want you to see the movie, naturally, but from what you can make out, I can guess we won’t see this at your local dealer any time soon.

If you think a 360 is a wide tire, this bad boy sports a pair of 508s! Machine guns are mounted up front, Batman actually lays down on the tank, which moves up and down and his arms fit into shields which somehow rotate around the frame to do the actual steering. There are engines in the hubs of each wheel. The footpegs are 3 1/2 feet apart on either side of the tank.

Jean-Pierre Goy is the stunt rider who is the only person to have actually ridden this so far which he has been doing for the past few months somewhere in England.

Hey, you wouldn’t expect Batman to ride a Gold Wing would you?

Ducati Considering Harley Davidson Merger?

Say it ain't so. I have not given this much thought but I am not sure I like the two companies joining together. In our area especially, you see Harleys everywhere. Ducati, an Italian bike, is slowly starting to pop up. You add Harley to the mix and Ducati will lose that sexy appeal of being a rare bike.

Imagine if GM bought Ferrari. Ferrari's would be just another car on the road. It is no secret that if I had the money, I would buy a "Cat" but since they are about the same price as my SUV that I just purchased, I will not be buying one anytime soon. Maybe it's time to start looking at the other Italian bike maker, Moto Guzzi.

Here is the rest of the story from theKneeslider.com:
http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2007/06/14/ducati-considering-harley-davidson-merger/

Sometimes you don’t know what to believe but this story has popped up almost everywhere in the past few days, which means very little on the Internet, of course, but according to the reports, “Ducati Motor Holding … would consider a merger with US-based Harley-Davidson “anytime”, said Enrico D’Onofrio, CFO.”

If you read the reports carefully, you see this potential merger was one of many scenarios discussed but the Harley merger was considered the best of the possible combinations.

A merger with Harley-Davidson would be “totally complementary”, he said, responding to speculation in the market that the two firms had been in talks. And while he declined to comment on the speculation, he did say that the two companies are similar in that they create recreational bikes that consumers fantasize about. “People want to buy a dream.” Harley-Davidson has an older consumer profile, with an average age of 55, while Ducati owners are about 35, on average. Half of all Ducati owners in the US also own a Harley, D’Onofrio added.(emphasis added)

The cross ownership statistic is interesting and may bring a few Harley Davidson critics down to earth. I guess the Ducatisti must change dramatically when they fire up the Harley, either that, or Harleys fill a spot in the market for people that ride all kinds of bikes, and if they feel like corner carving one day they throw a leg over the Ducati but when they want to cruise around with a few friends they light up the Hog.

Will this merger take place sometime in the future? Only company insiders would know for sure and at this point, it’s way too early for even for them to know. The motorcycle market is definitely changing and we’ll probably see many interesting company combinations proposed. Ducati and Harley Davidson, … Hmm, …