Attn: Squid Hunters

[Steve Carlton]

Familiarize yourself with your prey. Watch Super Bikes! on SPEEDTV starting June 27th.




Continuing R1100S owners: we still have the Travel Channel.

[ExarKunONe]

How long until we have the first annual

Air down your tires, swap out your sprocket for one bigger than your head, bash your gas tank in with a hammer, apply some grip tape, and Wheelie to work day?

[gigantic]

i think I won't be watching that show- not just because I don't own a TV, either. great now we have TV shows with stunnaz to make our sport look bad. what next?

[MrK]

Ahhh still better than American Idol. I will be watching.

[Bill Mundis]

Look at the good side. It isn't another Harley oriented show or chopper build show. Maybe if we support it, we can get a sport touring, or build a roadracer show!

[Trex]

I haven't seen the show but I wonder if they will have an apparel/style element to the program.

Philadelphia has it's own sense of style and it really evolves around the Perched Helmet look. A full face helmet is required and it can show the individual's taste as applied by Pep Boys Du Bois brand of spray paints. I actually prefer the Jackson Pollack flat black drip look myself. What must be adhered to is the Urban Tradition location of the helmet and that is on top of the head - not on or over the head. This adds a regal look to the rider as if he were wearing a crown. This is the sine qua non of riding Philly Style.

Other rider wear will include a tank top (or on a hot summer night no top at all) and baggy blue jean shorts with Nike sneakers (untied, of course). Gloves are not necessary but if you must, the fingerless style provide all the style and function that any serious rider could need.

You are right about the bashed in tanks, however there is a time honored method for providing this scalloped look. Need I say that the indentations are the mirror image of knuckles and correspond precisely with where the handlebars would come in contact with the tank if there was some sort of accident? Tradition has it that this modification is best done on the "First Ride".

Choice of tires is critical only in that the rear tire must be bald. The threads of a rear tire are to be seen as the threads from cut-off blue jeans - they indicate that the rider is keeping it real. Paint schemes for the bike can match the helmet (see above) and easily removed (by choice or not) items such as seats and tanks and fenders and headlights need to look good, although their fit may not be up to the standards of others. Pipes are important only in that they be loud.

Mufflers are optional. Indeed, the muffler is starting to make a come-back and it's very own style is emerging: the painted muffler. Hard to believe, but true, some Sport Wallahs are painting the mufflers to match their bike (and helmet). I first saw this on a Green/Blue/Black Spider Man bike (none of these bikes are distinguisable as a Suzuki or a Honda) with hand drawn graphics and favorite scenes from magazine and big screen muraled on the tank and fenders and exhaust pipe. It had just been done and the owner was justly proud of the work he and his Graphic Artist Cousin had done. I saw the bike two weeks later and the distinctness of fine line and careful coloring found on the muffler had certainly lost its initial snap and appeal and what remained was more of a Jackson Pollack/ Edvard Munch depiction of a sad faced Spider Man with out-stretched hands (squirting the web) stretched even further down off the muffler, now running down onto the pipe itself. The owner declared that it would all be re-done soon with a spray-on Carbon Fiber look. I encouraged the owner by saying that it would improve the look of the bike 100%.

Cred is deed on the wild streets of Philadelphia and it's run what ya brung. Your bike is nothing unless you can whip that ride. There are three states of being on the bike: at the green light, at the red light and bang'n gears in between. This is best witnessed on the major one way streets through West Philadelphia that have timed lights and are three lanes wide. That is to say the lights are timed to have traffic flow at the posted speed limit all the way through West Philly from 30th Street out to 63rd street on Walnut street and then the same coming back in on Chestnut Street (or did I get the streets mixed up?). Odd that so many of the Moto Dudes haven't figured out the timing thing after all these years as they are constantly trying to beat lights that are not beatable.

There is a sand trap on the course, too. Remember I said that there were three lanes on these streets? That does not include the parking on either side of the three traffic lanes. There is such a thing as the West Philly Park which means that should you desire to stop infront of a house along the street, you don't necessarily pull into a parking spot. Just park it in the street if you're not going to be more than an hour or two. In fact, even if there is a proper parking place or two exactly in front of where you want to stop, you don't park your car there, you just leave it in the street, blocking one of the three traffic lanes. It is not uncommon to see multiple parties stopping at the same house and taking up two of the three traffic lanes.

It all adds to the fun and challenge. While waiting for the light to turn green it is Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em time (see above re: tires). Needless to say all of this is best done with your buddies. The more the merrier. All of this which is being described is at its best on a Summer Friday night, around midnight, with at least a dozen, perhaps as many as 20 motorcycles. If you arrive late at the red light you push your way to the front of any cars that might be there. With a lot of bikes this causes a logistical problem wherby bikes are spilling out into the intersection. Anyway, when the light turns green it is a drag race. Pure and simple. Tachs are not always connected (nor are all the lights, either) so shifting when the valves float or when power is sapped at high RPM is common. But, the riders have gone too fast for the timed lights and now are confronted with a red light. This means the third state of being on the bike is employed and that is a matter of throwing out the anchor. The favored brake is in the rear and with minimal grip on the rear tire, this adds to the excitement as a horde of bikes fishtail in towards the intersection all eyes fixed on the traffic light anticipating its change of color. Imagine all the thrills of block after block race'n and ride'n. As a bystander,it is mighty to behold: to hear and observe our riding brothers boldly going forth into that good night . You can close your eyes and just hear the action, the reving motors, the shifting and then the squeal of locked up tires, the dance cycle living on block after block, fading away into the stillness. Even more exciting is to hear the coming horde approach.

Once I observed a subset of the above and it is freightening even to describe it. Imagine the above riders and bikes with just one modification. It starts with the notion of beating the lights. Or, shall I say a realization that the lights can't be beaten, but the fun can exponentially be increased. If the lights are timed, why not time the start? Hold the cars back, look down the street as the next light a block down turns green and then the one after that turns green and blast off somewhere between the furtherest light turning green and the light that you are at turns red. This is a brutal high speed game that was witnessed in the wee small hours. Four bikes, all in the same basic condition as described above, launched and for this serious round I noted that all four riders had their helmets firmly on their head. It was unbearable to watch. Philly on a Friday or Saturday night at about the time the bars close is no place to be on four wheels or two wheels. Even pedestrians get run over at that time of night. These nightriders were not bang'n a hand full gears and then slowing down, waiting for a light to change: they banged gears all the way up and the speeds attained on the street were scary.

These brave souls did whatever the spirits drove them to do. I heard no reports the next day of accidents and I imagined those lads making it home safe and sound, resting for another venture. How many of us look back at our own frivolity not with a grin but with a wince?

[Steve Carlton]

[bigscience]

Wow Trex, if not for the Philly references I'd have sworn you were describing the Sunday morning ride here in Maryland to the club at Mattawoman Creek at the end of 210. Or even the ride down Rt. 50 to Annapolis on Saturday nights. What I find most amusing is that on any such occation I've been ticketed for speeding on the BMW while the rest blow by at tripple digits. Why? seems it's easier on the cops. I won't run (probably), I'm not fcuked up on meth or dust (still popular here in DC area), and I don't have a gun. I'll have to see if I can't get some photos next weekend. thanks for the postcard from Philly. car

[wildduc]

Maybe if they are lucky they can have Ben Roethlisberger as a special guest on the show.

[Trex]

Big Sigh: I know that run down to 'Napolis and that can be wicked with a belly full of Nat Bo, a bone for ya head ("hey-Ed")and some lines for your nose. Small tanks only need apply.


As for EveryBody's Fav Steeler Keep'n It Real, the 'Busa would be the perfect Rat Bike. Kinda like how people "distress" furniture, I could see some dude getting one ("Hey, I got it at The Mall") and banging it up with a chain and ripping the seat and painting it with Rust-O-Leum Charcoal Grill Matte Black Hi Temp Paint (Oops, dude, I got some on the headlight) and then butting it up against a wall and banging first gear,dropping the clutch with RPM at about 8,000 to get that rear tire the way you want it.

The 'Busa tank might be too big, though.

[RC51DRAG]

Originally posted by Bill Mundis
Look at the good side. It isn't another Harley oriented show or chopper build show. Maybe if we support it, we can get a sport touring, or build a roadracer show!

Yeah but sadly, I'd rather watch the HD shows.

[jgrm1]

Look at where I was directed when I clicked the "Super Bikes" hyperlink in the first paragraph: http://www.toplowrider.com

Who is the target audience?

-Jeff