Twister????

Lady Rides A Lot recently posted about a twister photo that was Photo Shopped, or something. Anyway it was not an original. I said it was cool anyway. I do love twisters. At least I'm fascinated by them. Here is a link to her post. ... Peek A Boo!

I did take some photos this winter that I have not touched, or altered in any way. They are genuine. They are of a cloud formation in the middle of winter, temps below freezing, and look just like a twister. The photos were taken from my neck of the woods.

Here are my pictures....

Old School, Old skool, or should we just say Olds Kool, Fulmer V2 Helmet review-- Crash and Burn Stories-- Marathon Post.

Be prepared to take a few minutes. Unlike my usual style of posting, this one isn't short. If you don't have time for a longer read, come back later. I reveal a lot here. Part of which has been a public secret until now.

This post is about my quest for the perfect helmet, and stories of why this quest has come to be, more than once, and why I find it so difficult.

Minnesota has a Limited helmet law. If you are under your learner's permit, you must wear a helmet. If you are under 18 years of age, you must wear a helmet. If neither apply to you, it is your choice. (Funny because we have a mandatory seatbelt law in a car(cage) with airbags. Go figure.

When I had my motorcycle learner's permit, I had a black full faced helmet. It was a Fulmer.

I hated wearing this thing with a burning passion. I couldn't wait to ditch it. I got my motorcycle endorsement, and of course, ditched the helmet.

I rode most of my riding years without a helmet. Then I got into a car accident. I was going through an intersection. I was in the right hand through lane. There was no turn lane here, and lady made a last minute right hand turn from the left lane into my bike. I was ejected, and was hurled through the air like Superman. She was in a Suburban, and said she didn't see me. Regardless, she made a turn from the wrong lane. I totaled that bike. I was injured pretty bad, and couldn't walk for about a month. I should have sued her ass, but I was too young, too naive, and I'm not the suing type of person. That accident freaked me out bad. I was also too new of a motorcycle rider to realize just how bad the motorcycle riding bug had bit me. I swore, I'd never ride again. I got married after that, and it wasn't too long before I couldn't hear, or watch another motorcycle going down the road without having to turn my head as they passed by to watch them with envy in my gaze. This went on for quite some time. My wife could see it was slowly killing me, and making me not the person she met, or married. We jointly agreed that I could get another motorcycle, but I had to wear a helmet. I agreed. I got another bike, I got another helmet. This time a Bell half shell DOT approved helmet. Since I've never ridden with a windshield, and never will, I refer to these DOT half helmets as (kites, or wind catchers if you will). I also have a small head, and am not a really big guy, so I looked like Marvin the Martian wearing it. Mushroom head is what some people like to call it. I F'n hated that thing so bad, it made me not want to ride if I had to wear it. Gradually, I stopped wearing it, and gradually, my wife begrudgingly accepted that I was going to ride, and I was going to do it without a helmet on my head.

Years passed, and I got in another minor accident. This time it was my fault. Too much speed, not enough time to slow. I slid, then high sided, and was ejected. (Stupid rookie mistake). Guess I should have taken those advanced rider courses. Needless to say, I survived. The bike was fixed, and I continued to ride without a helmet.

Last summer, July 20th, 2008, to be exact was a riding, life changing day for me. I have not spoke of this on my blog until this post. I got in a pretty scary motorcycle accident. Again my fault. (By the way, That you tube Video I just posted of Custom Paint repair techniques was my own bike getting repaired after my crash from last summer. I healed, and had the bike made "ready to ride" so I could ride the rest of the season, then had it fixed for real this last winter. It was in the shop until early- to mid Spring.)

Anyway, back to the crash...

I was planning on heading down to our family cabin, which is about an hour and a half south of my house. It was going to be a beautiful ride, and when I got there I was going to mow the lawn, and maybe wet a line and see if some fish were biting, then visit my folks on the way home. I only made it about 15 minutes south of my house before the possibly near fatal moment happened. I was traveling Southbound on Interstate 35W, and getting ready to exit onto State Highway 10. The exit ramp off the freeway- entrance ramp onto 10 basically just takes up the shoulder. There is no other room for this ramp. Thusly, within inches of the outside white line alongside the ramp is a guard rail. I was traveling the speed limit on the freeway at 70 MPH, and slowing just slightly for the exit, so going approximately 65 MPH, hugging the right side of the lane by the guard rail. I must have ran over something metal, because I heard a metal clanging sound, and I looked down and to my left to see what it was. I counter-steered just enough to scrape the guard rail, then bounce off of it, and down I went at about 65 MPH. I had no helmet, and was wearing only jeans, T-shirt, and boots. I slid across the pavement on my back , my side, and my right arm. Luckily I had a Grab-it Pack on, and It took the brunt of the slide on my side. I got nasty road rash on my back and my right arm. The arm by the elbow was ground almost to the bone and the knuckles on my right hand WERE down to the bone. As I slid down the road, I remember consciously thinking to myself as I was scraping the guard rail, that this can't be happening. This is like a F'n nightmare! And then I thought (excuse my French), "OH FUCK, I'M GOING TO DIE!" Then came the pavement, and the slide. My next two thoughts were "keep the head up. & Please God don't let my head hit the pavement." I stopped, and couldn't believe I was alive. I could not believe what had just happened. I could not believe no one ran over me. I couldn't believe what my arm and my hand looked like. It took a while for the pain to kick in due to the adrenaline, and partial shock. After a while it was pretty extreme, but I knew I'd have to deal with it. I had no choice. Moment's later people came to help get the bike out of the road, and make sure I was O.K. I thanked them all for stopping. I was lucky in a sense that this was a busy road, because what had happened to me did not go

unnoticed. I tried to use my cell phone to make a call to my wife, and tow truck, but my cell phone was in the Grab-it Pack, and was crushed from the impact. A short while later a State Trooper arrived on the scene to help me. He was a great guy, and rides motorcycles himself. He was compassionate, helpful, kind, and caring. I used to have a grudge against most cops in general, till this moment. I realized that they aren't all out there to "nab" us and give us tickets, but that they can, and will also help in a time of need. (By the way. I have a quote that says..." May all your encounters with the law start with the words, "Nice Harley!") Yeah, he said it.

The tow truck came, I actually helped him load my bike on the flat bed, and rode home with him to my house, and dropped off the bike there. It was a day the bike shop was closed. My wife was home when the tow truck backed up the drive. She saw me, and thought at first that my bike just broke down or something until I hopped out the cab of the tow truck and she saw all the road rash. I said at that point, "Yeah, I'll wear a helmet now. " She never even asked me to stop riding, ever. Bless her heart. The one time I declared I would stop riding, I said it on my own free will. Stupid me. What was I thinking. While recovering, people would ask me, "Are you going to stop riding?", That's like asking someone who doesn't ride, who has had an asthma attack, are you going to stop breathing? My response... "I'll stop riding when they bury me." Motorcycle accidents suck. Don't get me wrong. For those of you who have never had one, I hope you never do. For those of you who have, and continue to ride. You know what I'm saying. For those of you who have crashed, and gave it up. Well I guess the riding bug never bit you as hard as it bit me. I've ridden more years than not. It's not just something I do, It is part of who I am.

Needless to say, I did say I'd wear a helmet now, so this brings me to my quest again for the perfect helmet. Mind you, riding without a windshield makes a huge difference on what you can and can't wear comfortably without feeling like you head is going to be torn off at anything over 55 MPH.

I hate full face, so that was out. I hate mushroom head, so that limited my choices. I bought two different Novelty style half helmets, and thy didn't fit very well, and were made poorly so all they did was shift, and catch wind. These suck! IMO. Add them to the collection of worthless helmets. So let the quest continue.

This spring I was at the annual Spring Flood Run and took some pictures. Remember that Old Skool chopper? It had an old skool helmet hanging off the handle bars. I thought to myself "That ain't so bad. I might be able to wear one of those." It looked pretty cool, and might just be the ticket. So I did some research on line. I found a Fulmer 3/4 open face Old skool bobber style helmet that IS DOT approved! It is low profile, fits nicely, looks cool, no mushroom head, and is I believe the ticket for me. It is very hard to find a perfect helmet if you can't test ride with them, so I believe many of you also have a collection of helmets you don't use. I did a lot of research before going out and buying one of these. It does fit snugly, does vent-breathe, is extremely lightweight,, and has very little drag, (even at 80 MPH!) and comes with a snap on visor, and you can purchase optional bubble facemask. You won't find them in most stores. You have to go to a dealer that sells Fulmer helmets, have your head measured, and special order it. I've had mine for a few weeks now, and I love it. I had to buy riding goggles though because the helmet changes the course of wind flow by your eyes, so shades don't work so well, unless you don't mind dry watery eyes. The color selections are fabulous! Since it's 3/4, it can be warm. This can be good and bad. I guess it depends on the weather. If you are into old skool, this might just be the ticket for you!

If you want to see pictures of them, read other reviews, etc., just Google "Fulmer V2 helmet".

This will bring up lots more information. By the time I was done researching, reading great reviews, etc., I was 99% sold on this helmet. All that was left was to see someone with it on. Since I couldn't find one at a store, I couldn't find out what they looked like on my head. I had to rely on the internet for this. So I searched for images of it. I did have a problem finding pictures of people actually wearing the helmet. Everyone showed pictures of the helmets, but I wanted to see for myself if the claim of "No mushroom head" held any merit. I was only able to find one YouTube video of a guy wearing it while riding that sold me on it. I figured for anyone interested, here is a couple of pics of me with it on my noggin.

LOOK MA, NO MUSHROOM HEAD!

Leaf spring chopper sculpture

While working, and at one of my companies client's house, my co-worker and I got to take a peek at our client's workshop in the back yard where he makes fanciful things like custom made pens, wine bottle stoppers, and Oh yeah, a leaf spring chopper. How cool is this thing!

I love the Diamond plate for the headlight.

Yeah, I know I look like a dork sitting on it, but I couldn't resist!

I asked him if he ever thought about making them and selling them at bike shows, and he said yes, but that would be work. He's retired, and just likes to do things once, and sit back and enjoy them.

I envy this guy!

Biker Wannabe Cartoon

Breaking into a formation

I recently was asked my opinion on what I thought about breaking into the line of a biker formation with a car. Meaning when a group of motorcyclists is riding in staggered formation, clearly riding together as a group, has a car merge into the formation. The person who asked me used to ride, so he does have a clue, and does respect bikers. He said he was following about 15 bikers riding staggered formation, on a long winding hilly road. The group of riders was going about 5 M.P.H. under the speed limit for a very long time, and were holding up quite a line of traffic behind them. It was a difficult road to pass, with little opportunities to do so. He said there were four other cars in front of him, and the opportunity came to pass, and as a group of 5 cars, they all went to pass the biker group. He said just as the other four cars made it, a vehicle was coming around the next curve, and he realized he was not going to make it. He said he could not merge back into traffic behind the group, because he was so close to the front already, and would hit the oncoming car head on if he waited that long to fall back. He said he had no choice but to turn on his right turn signal, and pray that the group of bikers would let him merge into their formation. They did, and he did. He said not so much by either of their choice, but it had to be done. He felt they would understand, and give him a break, and as first opportunity would come, he would let them resume without him in their line up. The lead biker (Lets say Road Captain) Freaked the Fuck out. (He could not confirm if this was a HOG organization, or MC, or just casual group of friends riding together. He said he thought the latter, as no one had on any colors. Anyway, the leader would not let him pass. Would not let him do anything. Every time he went to get out of there the biker sped up, and got in front of him and slowed way down to like 30 in a 55 M.P.H, zone, furthering the traffic delay they were creating in the first place. He said this went on for about 15 miles or so, before he finally turned off. I said etiquette wise, probably not wise to break biker formation. Consider it one unit, like a really long truck. Watch as most times at an intersection if a group is riding in formation, they will proceed through an intersection as if they were one vehicle. I did mention that the lead biker sounds like he had his undies in a bunch though. I would have given the guy a break.

What do you think?

Biker joke - The crusty old biker

A crusty old biker out on a long summer ride in the country pulls up to a tavern in the middle of nowhere,
parks his bike and walks inside.



As he passes through the swinging doors, he sees a sign hanging over the bar that reads:



COLD BEER: $2.00



HAMBURGER: $2.25



CHEESEBURGER: $2.50



CHICKEN SANDWICH: $3.50



HAND JOB: $50.00



Checking his wallet to be sure he has the necessary payment, the ole' biker walks up to the bar and beckons to the exceptionally attractive female bartender who is serving drinks to a couple of
sun-wrinkled farmers.



She glides down behind the bar to the ole biker.



"Yes?" she inquires with a wide, knowing smile, "may I help you?"



The ole biker leans over the bar, "I was wondering young lady," he whispers, "are you the one who gives the hand-jobs?"



She looks into his eyes with that wide smile and purrs "Why yes, yes, I sure am".



The ole' biker leans closer and into her left ear whispers softly, "Well, wash your hands real good,

‘cause I want a cheeseburger".

Custom paint repairs

Another recent project that I worked on was a repair to a gas tank, and a cracked fender weld. Blending into existing custom paint.

Click on the image below to watch my video with step by step photos.

2009 Spring Flood Run

Couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather. It was an awesome ride with some beautiful scenery.

Here's a few Pics.

Warming up my bike in the morning getting ready to roll.

The starting point at the Beach Bar, The Bikes rolling in.

Retired St. Paul, MN Police Chief Finny's Indian Chief Motorcycle.

A nice Old Skool

A Gene Simmons KISS Bike!

A dog or a log?? Maybe a log dog.

Beautiful Lake Pepin.

One of my latest projects.

I know I've been absent as of late, and to those who might actually enjoy my ramblings, jokes, pictures, etc. I apologize. I've been swamped with the usual everyday life things, and then trying to accomplish three projects simultaneously. Here is one of the three. The rest will follow when completed, and I find time to breathe and post them.

This was a bike that the owner bought a custom racing kit for, and then bought a used gas tank and wanted the graphics custom painted to seamlessly tie in with the existing. I had some pretty shoddy photos of the original racing bike to work with, but It turned out just like the original.

Here she is. Click on the photo below to watch video of start to finish.

really cool murals, and bathrooms

These are not motorcycle related, but I could not pass up sharing these with you!

YOU GOTTA LOVE THIS ONE.
THIS IS A CEILING MURAL IN A SMOKER'S LOUNGE.

BATHROOM PAINTED FLOOR
IMAGINE YOU ARE AT A PARTY.....
On the tenth floor of a hi-rise building.....
AND....
THEN YOU HAVE TO VISIT THE BATHROOM...
You open the door...

Would this mess up your mind? Would you be able to walk in to this bathroom? Or do anything else?

Another Awesome Toilet

THE LADY IS GETTING READY TO ENTER!!
This is a picture of a public toilet in Houston :

Now that you've seen the outside view, take a look at the inside view...

It's made entirely of one-way glass!
No one can see you from the outside, but when
you are inside it's like sitting in a clear glass box!
Now would you... COULD YOU....?

2009 Donnie Smith Bike show

In my opinion, these were the best bikes there. I'm a bit of a bobber fan.

I didn't even bother taking pics of all of the extreme bikes.

Some of the choppers now days are getting so long, so low, so covered up in plastic, fiberglass, sheet metal, what have you, and then being over done in themes that they don't hardly even resemble bikes anymore.

They make me sick. I wanted to vomit at the site of most of them. Thus not even worthy of photographing in my opinion.

I really like the bobber, because it brings you back to the basics of what I think a bike is.

This first red one here The "Retro Rocket" was built by Kings Of Custom Mid-States Power Sports.

It was truly a work of art, and the paint is nonetheless satisfying to look at.

The next four bikes are all Sucker Punch Sally's

And the last one "Green With Envy" A wicked old school, I forgot to get the builder, Sorry.

Click Here to go to my YouTube video and see them. Enjoy the eye candy!

How many things can you spot in this picture that are just Plain wrong?

I'll give you some hints.

1) There is a red arrow in the photo. That doesn't belong there.

2) They are wearing sandals and flip flops. They might get wind burn on their toes if they ride too fast.

3) Her purse is not black leather, which is almost a must if you are going to carry one on a motorcycle!

4) Their helmets don't match the bike.

Uh, I could go on and on!

But seriously folks, Can you believe this! What a bunch of Mucking Forons!

This photo puts a spin on an old term, "Rocket Launcher".

Ooohh Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit!

I'm back in town.

Hey all, I'm home, and hopefully will be able to stay here for a while. Relief was sent in from our company with fresh adjusters. If the dikes don't do their job, I will likely be going back. I checked my Google reader, and I have nearly 300 unread posts. I must apologize, and inform you there is no way I will ever get caught up. I will likely have to mark all as read and start fresh. Now I am about a weeks worth of "work" behind. I must get caught up on that first. In the mean time, Take care all.

Moorhead, MN, and North Dakota floods 2009 slideshow

Click on the title below to watch the YouTube slideshow.

"If it keeps on raining,snowing the levee's going to break."

Fargo, ND flood

I must apologize to those of you whose blogs I regularly read and comment on, and apologize for lack of posting. I've been swamped with work as of late, and been working 12-13 hour days away from home. For those of you who don't know, I am an insurance adjuster. I've been away at Fargo, ND, and outlying suburbs handling claims for flooding. The Red River is Fargo's main concern right now, although other rivers, ditches, and just about anything that could flood here has. The Red River is now being estimated to crest at 43 feet. If this happens, and they don't get the dikes built high enough, fast enough, the whole city of Fargo will potentially flood. The dikes were only going to be able to handle 41 feet. Thank God for the fact that Fargo has three colleges around, and almost all of the students pitched in to lend a hand for several days sand bagging, and building up the dikes. There has been help from all over the country helping sand bagging. It is truly amazing what people will do for each other. Regarding sand bags, some trivia for you...From what I'm told, it takes approximately 70 sand bags to raise the dike one foot, and that is only for one foot of width. This is due to the pyramid effect of the sand bag dike construction. That my friends is a lot of friggin sand bags. Right now, I'm dealing with flooded basements, failing sump pumps, and sewage back up claims, not whole flooded houses. Hopefully I won't have to deal with whole flooded houses. I hope it doesn't go there. The flood waters are right up to the road sides in many areas, and fields look like the great lakes. Furthermore to insult to injury, we just had a blizzard two days ago, and it has snowed almost continually since then. Only the main roads are getting any plow service, as they have the city crews concentrating on building and maintaining dikes, not plowing streets. This makes for some awfully slow going, and the roads are slippery with compacted snow turned into ice. If you slide off the road, in many areas, you're going to go right into cold flood waters. I saw a truck in a flooded ditch yesterday. I've seen flooded tractors, and all kinds of things like it here. Then to top it all off, there are closed roads that are under water all over. The detouring you have to do to get around here, on top of the poor road conditions, is making the claims handling process go very slow. There are some areas with claims that we can't even get to until the water recedes. Oh yeah, don't forget about the fact that more snow, means more melt off to help feed the river. It's been really cold, so hopes are it stays this way until the river recedes a bit, and then melts SLOWLY. One problem they are having with the cold though is that frozen sand is not as water tight as wet soft sand. They dikes are leaking in some areas due to this. There was also an ice flow that damaged part of one of the dikes that needed repair. All in all this is just plain NOT GOOD!

I'm getting excited that I get to go home this weekend to see my family. But I am behind on home life in general, so no chance to get caught up on the internet.

I miss all of you, my internet buddies. I look forward to getting caught up, "someday". I'm on call to go back up to Fargo, and handle claims again depending on volume. I pray for the folks here that I don't have to come back to handle a total city flood.

When I get a chance, I'll try to post some pictures. I've got some really cool ones.

TTFN

AN IRISH BLONDE IN A CASINO

Sorry this one is so late on St. Patty's day, but just had my first chance to sit at the computer today at 8:30 P.M. Central.

Anyway, I just got this emailed joke, and thought I would share.

Enjoy!


An attractive blonde from Cork , Ireland arrived at the casino.. She seemed a little intoxicated and bet twenty-thousand Euros on a single roll of the dice.
She said, I hope you don't mind, but I feel much luckier when I'm completely nude.

With that, she stripped from the neck down, rolled the dice and with an Irish brogue yelled, Come on, baby, Mama needs new clothes!
As the dice came to a stop, she jumped up and down and squealed...YES! YES! I WON, I WON!

She hugged each of the dealers and then picked up her winnings and her clothes and quickly departed.

The dealers stared at each other dumbfounded.
Finally, one of them asked, 'What did she roll?
The other answered,
'I don't know - I thought you were watching.

MORAL OF THE STORY -

Not all Irish are drunks,
not all blondes are dumb,
but all men...are men.

Cystic Fibrosis Run

If you are in the Upper East portion of Kansas, or Lower East portion of Nebraska, or Upper West Missouri, then this is the run for you.

Please click on image below to enlarge if you are interested.

Finally after all this time, the puzzle is complete!

Back on April 29th, 2008, I did a post called Motorcycle Puzzle has whole family puzzled.

Motorcycle Scramble Squares not in order


My 13 year old daughter had a friend over this last weekend for a sleep over, and one of the things they accomplished was completing this puzzle that no one has done until now. We've had it for over two years.
I just had to post it for the record.

Motorcycle Scramble Squares in order!

Happy Friday the 13th all! As bikers we should all know about Lucky 13.

It's Friday, so lets talk FAT TUESDAY!


Or at least, Lets take a looksee at a funny Fat Tuesday Photo!