Welcome to our first issue of the new year. Yes, I know most people think the headline should be Resolution, and I’ll explain that shortly. Rather than recap all the things that happened last year, I’d like to share our thinking about what we can expect here in 2009.

First off, knowing how tight money is getting, we continue to shift our editorial to focus more on affordable options for you to maintain, upgrade, and customize your motorcycles with real-world budgets. Look for fewer big-bucks customs in our pages, but we will feature a few, as they can be a great source for ideas even if we can’t completely duplicate them. I’m amazed at how smart and creative our readers are. So I’d like to invite you to share with us practical and clever ways to enjoy our bikes.

In addition to the custom and classic motorcycles, tech, reviews, and opinions we feature in each issue, this month we share Harley’s 2009 lineup of new Sportsters and V-Rods. For reasons beyond my understanding, the Sportster and V-Rod families of motorcycles are often ignored or put down by many Harley riders. I won’t get on my soapbox about this, but I must say here that these are fast and fun bikes, worth owning and riding. For many years, we’ve been the only national motorcycle magazine to run Sportster editorial in every issue. Now we’re going to start increasing our coverage of the Revolution-powered V-Rod line of motorcycles, and I’m pleased to announce that RJ Rivero has joined our team as our new V-Rod editor. RJ has owned, and been actively involved with, Harley V-Rods for a number of years, and we know he will be welcome here. In addition to coordinating our V-Rod editorial in print, RJ is also our moderator for the V-Rod forum on the online www.AIMag.com bulletin board. You can send questions for RJ’s bimonthly V-Rod tech column, which will start in the March issue, to RodReport@AmericanIronMag.com.

A Tale Of Two Cycles

By the time you read this, the last 2008 ECTA Land Speed Racing (LSR) event, at Maxton, North Carolina, will be in the record books. Depending on our luck and skills, I will have proven myself a hero or a zero on my recently purchased 1931 Harley-Davidson flathead at the standing mile course. Let me backtrack a bit and explain myself. A year or so ago, Chris Maida and I were kicking around what it would be like to try LSR racing. In case you’re not familiar with LSR, in basic terms, it’s going as fast as you can over a long, straight course. And then you turn around and go back to where you started as fast as you can. If you go fast enough, you set a record.

The most famous LSR track has to be the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. But LSR races are also held at the World War II-era Maxton airfield near Rockingham, North Carolina. Chris and I agreed it would be fun to try Maxton, which is closer and easier for us to get to than Bonneville. Chris has been building a massive 155" R&R-powered street sweeper to see if he can go over 200 mph. My plans were humbler. I’d prefer running the Maxton Mile on a classic Harley. So, when my pal Pete Minardi of Precision Custom Cycles in Whippany, New Jersey, found me a good deal on a rusty 1931 Harley V flathead that had sat untouched for at least 20 years, I figured this was to be my Maxton Miler. Thanks, Pete. I’d also like to thank Mike and Alan at Vanson Leathers (www.VansonLeathers.com) for a quick turnaround in getting me some racing leathers, and Dale and Matt Walksler at Wheels Through Time (www.WheelsThroughTime.com) for helping with all the wrenching and spare parts.

I’m writing these words a couple of weeks before the event at Maxton, so I have no idea of the outcome. But I do already know I will be at the Maxton Mile before Chris and his fire-breathing V-twin rocket and, with a little luck, will get into the record book. Even if I only meet my goal of reaching 70 mph on my 77-year-old, low-compression Harley flathead. My plan is to have my experiences documented and available for you to follow at our new online magazine, Classic American Iron, at www.CAIMag.com by the time you read this column. We will also follow the process in more detail in future issues of American Iron Magazine. Wish me luck!

Ride safe, ride smart, have fun.

Buzz Kanter
Publisher / Editor-In-Chief