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Showing posts from April, 2010

Thunderbird Nights

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Moto 400 (Dawsonville) and Triumph held Bike Night at Firkin and Crown British Pub tonight to showcase the Triumph Thunderbirds and to unveil the Triumph Thunderbird 1700. The Thunderbird line is obviously aimed at the cruiser market with upright seating positioning, wide rear tires, and the looks of the traditional cruiser. Tip of the helmet to Triumph for abandoning the square automotive radiator that sticks out both sides of the bike and looks horrendous and instead tucking the radiator between the exhaust pipes and not letting is stick out past the forks. This detail makes the Thunderbird line of bikes more appealing that some of Triumph's other cruiser lines. Triumph Thunderbird 1700 photo source: triumph.co.uk The 1700 boasts 97 hp and 115 ft lbs of torque from the huge parallel twin cylinder engine which is impressive in its own right, but I have to admit that they are gorgeous cruisers. I would wager that Triumph sells many over the next few months. Of course Moto 400 and

"The Champ"

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I learned early on that there was two things I could not do while living in my parents' house while I was growing up: play football or have a motorcycle. My parents made the point real cleat early on, and it was a non-negotiable. (picture source: www.bestcars.com) Around the time I turned 16-years-old and obtained my driver's license, my Mom acquired a 50cc Yamaha Champ which she quickly adorned with a white wicker basket on the handlebars that was complete with artificial flowers. (picture source: kidscycle.blogspot.com) After weeks of asking, she finally let me ride the scooter one afternoon but with one caveat, I could not take it on the street in front of our house. I could only ride it on the grass of our front yard. So, I started riding a long circle around our front yard and picking up a little more speed every lap. After about 5 laps, I turned a little too hot on pine straw in our yard and the little scooter dumped me. Sliding across the pine straw did no damage to me,

heartbreak & triumph

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When I was in high school, I developed a friendship with Jack. We both enjoyed hunting and fishing, country music, chewing tobacco and Georgia Championship Wrestling on Turner Broadcasting (TBS). (photo: worldclasswrestling.info) My Saturdays developed a pattern. I washed my Mom's Buick Electra 225 (deuce and quarter as we called it), washed my Chevrolet El Camino, mowed my parent's front yard, and headed to Jack's house to watch wrestling. It was the days of the American Dream Dusty Rhodes, Tommy Rich, Ole and Gene Anderson, The Assassins, Mr. Wrestling II, Ivan Koloff, George "The Animal" Steele, "The Nature Boy" Rick Flair, and Rodney "Roddy" Piper. Piper originally came into the GCW(which was renamed "World Championship Wrestling") as Rondey Piper and on one of those Saturday sitting in Jack's parents' den, Piper told Gordon Solie that he wanted to be known as "Roddy". While making his case for the name change a