Go West, Young Man
If you ever come to Tucson, please let us know. We have a fabulous ride we do to Tombstone. We watch the gunfights and have buffalo burgers! It makes for a great ride, and a great day.
Debra
Tucson, AZ
Reporting On Rods
I recently read your article on the Harley V-Rod in the latest issue of American Iron. As an early V-Rod owner of a 2002 model purchased in autumn of 2001, I’m pleased to see this report added as a regular feature in your magazine. I’ve added every option available from Harley, and still get people stopping me to ask what is it and is it new.
I realize the V-Rod is a love/hate thing with dyed-in-the-wool Harley owners. When I first purchased the bike, an old-time Harley rider walked around the bike twice, looked at me, and said, “That’s the %$^#ing beginning of the end.”
It’s a great ride, and I really have no issues or complaints. I’m 70 years old, and look forward to future articles and comments from other owners.
Robert V. Taylor
San Rafael, CA
Getting Boarded
I read the letter from Doney Pena in Sportster Corner about his wife
wanting floorboards on her 2006 Sportster. I have a 2005 883L that I put floorboards on. I had to use the original footpeg brackets to mount them, and altered the brackets to do it. I had to shorten the boards because when I used the full-length board, I hit my leg on it putting down the kickstand. I also had to move the front bracket back to mount them.
William Scott
Loveland, OH
When Hell Freezes Over
It was 39 degrees F on January 7, 2009. The sun was out, the roads were dry, and I got to ride. Here in Canada, anything above freezing is riding weather, and I went out for a two-hour spin on my 2003 bagger.
Bill Banwell
Cobourg, ON, CANADA
Wants Some Flare
Genevieve, in one of your past articles your mentioned that you had changed your stock windshield on your new Street Glide to get the air over you. I can’t remember the name of the company that you bought it from, and I can’t seem to find it in the new magazine. I just traded in my ’04 Heritage Softail on an ’09 Street Glide, and would like to change the windshield to help with the air. Thanks for any help you can give and be safe on your rides!
Pete
Via Internet
Pete, that company is Klock Werks Kustom Cycles and it’s the FLARE windshield.
— Genevieve
Kicking Out The Jams
I have a ’78 Shovel with a Super E carb that I dreaded even trying to kickstart. I tore my knee up so badly last summer that I limped around for five weeks. But after reading your article Kicking Out The Jams, I can now fire it right up. My whole problem was in the idle screw setting, just as you stated. I now have no fear of riding it anywhere or shutting it down when I get there. I thank you, and my knee thanks you; keep up with the great articles!
Jim
Dayton, OH
Tripping
This past fall, I finally made a trip I had promised myself years ago. I met up with my friend Jackson Hatton in Alexander City, Alabama, and headed for Birmingham to meet his son Gerald. Then we made our way to the Barber Motorsports Museum. Here’s the photo of myself (2001 Road King FLH), Jackson (2007 Road King FLHI), and Gerald’s 2007 Heritage Softail Classic — someone had to take the picture. For anyone who hasn’t been to the Barber Museum, it’s worth the trip. By now they should have cleaned our drool off the bikes.
Kevin Barrett
Hartsville, SC
Gauge Glitches
I have an ’03 VERSA with just over 16,000 miles on it, and have had fuel gauge problems. It only happens once in awhile now. What I did was remove the air box and air stacks to get at the engine grounding bolts and wires, cleaned them with sandpaper, and then put them back tightened to specs. There are two of them on top of the engine. I now only have problems about twice a year.
Brian Lottridge
Port Dover, ON, CANADA
Pipe Swap
I was just reading the Hog Helpline in the March issue. Dana Hale was asking about switching his pipes on the ’08 Ultra Glide. I had the same problem on my ’07 Ultra Glide. I live and ride in Arizona, and in the summer, at any stops, I would have to move my leg away from the pipe to avoid getting burned. I switched to Rinehart True Duals, and what a difference it made. My brother also swapped the pipe on his ’08 Street Glide to a Rinehart. Don’t get me wrong, they are still exhaust pipes, but now they’re bearable. Riding two-up is also much more
comfortable for the passenger. Your gal will love you for it.
Wayne Petit
Via Internet
How Time Flies
I can’t believe it’s been 20 years since I received that first issue of
AIM stapled to the center of my HOG Tales. I still have that issue, along with every one since, with the exception of one in the early 90s, that I have several of. It had a picture of my daughter in the Snaps section on her restored Ruttman Grasshopper minibike. Keep up the good work for at least the next 20!
Keith Whitt
Phyllis, KY
The CPSIA Mess
The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) is based on the false premise that our lead regulations were too lax, causing dangerous imported toys to make it to the shelves. This is patently false. We just weren’t enforcing the rules. Rather than improve enforcement, CPSIA now requires every manufacturer to produce documentation proving it’s complying with the new lead limits. This includes millions of businesses that have never had any problem with lead. Instead of having 100 inspectors looking through 1,000 documents each, they now each have to look through 1 million documents. It makes the odds of catching violators go down, making kids less safe.
All told there’s around 40,000 cases of lead poisoning in children in the US each year. The majority of these are mild cases. Lead has to be ingested or inhaled to be absorbed by the body. If your 12-year-old is working on his bike, the last thing he’s going to do is put his hand in his mouth. Less than 20 people a year (including adults) die from it. Around 40,000 people die each year from motor vehicle accidents and 4 million are injured. The odds of a kid being injured operating his dirt bike unsafely are way higher than him getting lead poisoning from it. Yet CPSIA takes it away from him based on the extremely remote chance that he might lick the engine!
CPSIA also applies to safety gear. All that gear has to be tested for lead.
This will increase the cost of all gear, from gloves, to pads, to helmets. Manufacturers may drop out of the market entirely, so you may not be able to find safety gear in child’s sizes. Making safety gear more expensive or just plain unavailable benefits no one, and actually makes kids less safe.
I’ve focused on how this related to motorcycles specifically, but don’t forget this affects all goods intended for those 12 and under. Manufacturers need to test everything, and a retailer/distributor needs to have a copy of the certificate on hand for inspection. “Distributor” regs also affect nonprofit organizations. If your motorcycle organization holds a toy drive around Christmas time, as “distributors” you’re expected to have a lead-testing certificate in hand for every single donated item before you may give it away.
This also affects your local school, as everything used by the kids needs to be tested, even the paper! Even if you don’t have children, this will directly increase school budgets, thus driving up your property and motor vehicle taxes.
Overregulation like this takes away people’s ability to make choices in what they purchase. Kids will always be exposed to some risks. They need to learn how to assess risks as adults. If kept completely isolated, they won’t be able to accurately assess real threats versus hysteria. Lead poisoning from ATVs, youth motorcycles, and safety gear falls firmly in the category of hysteria and the sooner parents and their kids learn that, the sooner they can address real safety issues.
Honorah O’Neill
Bethel, CT
Across The Pond
I am a regular reader of
American Iron Magazine. I travel to the US at least three times annually to visit family and purchase any motorcycle goods that take my fancy. I have a major gripe with most of your advertisers: would they please note “overseas” means just that? I do not deem that to mean Mexico and Canada. If that is what they mean please state it in their ads. Recently one of your advertisers kept me waiting for goods for four months. I initially rang the company, rather then e-mail, to confirm that it would ship to Ireland for me. No problem, the rep replied. He was later shocked when I walked into the outlet to see where my parts were after they didn’t show up. Then he denied taking my order in the first place. I purchased my motorcycle in the US, and I like to purchase all my motorcycle products in the US. This is strictly my choice. The range of products is superb, as are the prices. I will continue to visit the US and I will keep purchasing US products, but, please, a little more clarity with advertisements would be helpful to those readers across the pond. Love the mag by the way, even my wife checks out the tours. Hope to see you in Europe someday.
Tom Blaney
Galway, Ireland
Lever Travel Tricks
I just received my April issue and read Al Rossi’s question with relation to his 2003 FLHR front brake lever travel. In December ’06 I purchased a ’01 FLHR which also had the same problem. When rebuilding the master cylinder did not correct the problem, I purchased caliper rebuild kits and went to work on the calipers. I found that both calipers had sticking pistons. After the rebuild, the brakes worked like new with minimal lever travel.
Russ Newell
Silverton, OR
Get Bent Bars
Just got my April ’09
AIM, and really like the Bendee Barz review! Why, you could apply that to all kinds of things and make a fortune. But since stainless steel does not soften at 225 degrees F, you may want to use plastic instead!
Oh, I get it. This is the April Fools’ joke!
Bob Edmons
Via Internet
Uplifted
First, a personal request: no longer write “snail mail” when distinguishing it from e-mail. [p.154 April ’09] On behalf of the thousands who have
provided the service, how about just “mail” and “e-mail”?
Second, thanks for Fallen But Can’t Get Up? [May ’09]. I’ve been fortunate to have assistance, and I hope I’ll never again be in the situation, but now I know I can right the Harley myself.
Leah MacLeod
Via Internet
Go, Rose
I’m just small town girl doing it big time during Bike Week 2009; I rode down with my husband and friends. I was just sitting on my bike when my husband snapped this picture. My bike is a 883 Low that he tricked out with Rush pipes, Screamin’ Eagle Stage I kit, Küryakyn grips and footpegs, shortened shocks, Mustang vintage solo with backrest, Harley six-pack rack, and windshield, with a Saddlemen day bag.
Rose Abbott
New Martinsville, WV
Women Only?
Genevieve, as a proud daughter of two Harley-Davidson enthusiasts, I find that your articles don’t cater to many women Harley riders. I for one, enjoy riding on the back of my father’s Harley as we ride around town and share a bonding experience that can only be found between two people and the open road. I know that my mother feels the exact same way when she and my father take cross-country trips annually on the Harley.
I was brought up in a traditional motorcycling family. Having two Marine Corps parents, the Harley-Davidson seems to come into play more often than not. I was brought up to think that women belong on the back of the bike, holding on to their man for dear life, and enjoying all that his bike had to offer. When I read your pieces, I’m incredibly frustrated with how you seem to portray every woman rider.
First of all, your most current article talks about an all-American, woman-only motorcycle rally. That defeats the whole purpose of how women started riding motorcycles in the first place: with their men. A rally without men isn’t a motorcycle rally. It’s a bunch of women on bikes wondering why the wind messed up their hair, and if they have time to change out of that incredibly warm leather outfit because it’s just making them parched. Forget that. Motorcycles are meant to be enjoyed in the dirtiest way possible. They are meant to be enjoyed by feeling that vibration. They are meant to get oil and dirt on your arms and legs, bugs in your hair, and sweat on your face. Motorcycles are meant to be enjoyed equally, in partnership, like a marriage.
Also, I don’t see motorcycle rallies purely for men. I would understand if there were, but any type of motorcycle gathering is pretty happy to have any type of woman show her support by riding up on her man’s hog. If you want to send us back into a segregated, antifeminist world, by all means, do it. But everything does not have to be “women-only” to get equal rights, and in the motorcycle world, it all seems pretty fair to me. If you don’t like the stereotypes of past motorcyclists, maybe you should go back to your kitchen and get off the road.
Heidi M. Castellanos
Via Internet
Heidi, you’re the first woman to tell me my articles don’t cater to female Harley riders. That’s odd. Last time I looked, I’m a woman and I ride a Harley. Let me address your points:
1. You probably don’t relate to my columns because you think “women belong on the back of the bike, holding on to their man for dear life.”
I don’t. I’m a rider who doesn’t care where a woman sits on the bike, front or back, so long as she’s out enjoying the ride.
2. You need to check the history books or spend some time in a motorcycle museum. You’ll find that women did not start riding motorcycles because of “their men.” They rode because they could.
3. Who said anything about a women-only rally? I clearly stated that men are invited to the AMA Women & Motorcycling Conference. How stereotypical of you to think the topic of conversation at the event would be helmet hair and hot leathers. Now look who’s calling the kettle black.
— Genevieve AIM
July 2009 Letters 
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