Free Republic

Harley-Davidson enthusiasts now have their own stamp of approval, thanks to the United States Postal Service. A 1965 Harley Electra-Glide is featured as one of four new first-class stamps being rolled out in Wisconsin at 11 a.m. Saturday at Capital City Harley-Davidson/Buell, 6200 Millpond Road, on Madison's far east side. The stamp rollout ceremony at kick-starts the third annual motorcycle ride to raise funds for the Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center. The stamps were officially introduced to the public Aug. 7 during the 66th annual Harley rally in Sturgis, S.D., and have been unveiled in local ceremonies throughout America since...

STUTTGART (Reuters) - Riot police detained a group of around 100 rowdy England soccer fans in a square in the center of Stuttgart on Saturday after they had clashed with German fans, throwing bottles and chairs and trading punches. Tens of thousands of English and German fans had gathered in the area, many drinking throughout the day, to watch Germany's 2-0 second-round World Cup win over Sweden on big screen TVs. Trouble broke out shortly after the end of the game. England fans were in the city for their country's second-round match against Ecuador on Sunday. Some 150 fans on...

Today: June 22, 2006 at 9:56:7 PDT Lightning Strike Kills Colo. Motorcyclist ASSOCIATED PRESS WESTMINSTER, Colo. (AP) - A motorcyclist died after he was struck by lightning while riding in rush hour traffic between Denver and Boulder, police said. Witnesses reported seeing a flash of light shortly before the motorcyclist struck the center divider on U.S. 36 Wednesday, police spokesman Tim Read said. Gary Missi, 46, of Longmont was pronounced dead at the scene. A coroner's investigation was under way to determine whether the lightning bolt, the collision or something else caused his death, Read said. The lightning blasted a...

No other capital city would allow its center to be abused for commercial purposes the way Berlin has for the World Cup, argues one newspaper in an editorial that is likely to be drowned out in the World Cup frenzy gripping the country. Plus, the German government shouldn't copy the anti-smoking "hysteria" sweeping the United States. Berlin is abusing its landmarks in its obsession with the World Cup, according to left-wing newspaper Berliner Zeitung in a commentary criticising the city for allowing the Brandenburg Gate to be obscured by a giant soccer ball on one side and a public viewing...

Roethlisberger Involved In Motorcycle Accident http://news.yahoo.com/s/wtae/20060612/lo_wtae/9356067 Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was injured in a motorcycle accident on Monday morning. The Steelers confirmed the accident for Channel 4 Action News. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review said the accident happened on Second Avenue near the 10th Street Bridge. A witness told Channel 4 Action News that Roethlisberger went over the handlebars, hit the windshield of another vehicle and then hit the ground. Roethlisberger was not wearing a helmet, according to the paper.

A council in the Australian city of Sydney is taking radical measures against car-revving youths - the calming tones of singer Barry Manilow. Officials in Rockdale say that local youths have been hanging around in car parks, revving their engines and generally annoying residents. So the council has decided to strike back. From July, Barry Manilow's greatest hits will be piped into one car park in a bid to drive the youths away.

I POSTED THIS IN THE AMERICAN IDOL THREAD, BUT THOUGHT IT DESERVES A WIDER CIRCULATION... BARRY MANILOW DON'T GET NO RESPECT. BUT HE's USEFUL ----------------------------------------------- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5047610.stm Manilow to drive out 'hooligans' A council in the Australian city of Sydney is taking radical measures against car-revving youths - the calming tones of singer Barry Manilow. Officials in Rockdale say that local youths have been hanging around in car parks, revving their engines and generally annoying residents. So the council has decided to strike back. From July, Barry Manilow's greatest hits will be piped into one car park in a bid to...

Pinging the collective wisdom of Free Republic here . . . The Issue Punks are setting off "Bootleg Cracker" fireworks outside my home -slash- my neighbor's homes, beneath city-owned trees that line the sidewalk. These are the evil devices: Now, they may not look like much in this picture, but they're about the size of a can of Pringles potato chips, and inside, they're stuffed with 200-250 firecrackers fused to go off within 2 to 3 seconds. So what you get is one big, elongated explosion, and since the city-owned trees are no more than 10 yards from our homes,...

Ok -- here was a comment by JoeSixPack1 made to me on this thread: Riding is an extremely personal affair and each and every one of us that swings a leg over a saddle has one thing in mind while firing up the 2 wheeler... ::: To survive our passion. But here on FR biker threads, the discussions devolve so quickly into biker bashing, intimidating safety advice, organ donor jokes, life support jokes, and every other aspect of biker lore that it's like being a conservative on a DU thread or a troll posting at FR. When was the last...

IF you make your way over to the Javits Convention Center for the New York International Automobile Show — or if you've gone to any auto show in the last year or so — you'll know that hybrid cars are the hippest automotive fashion statement to come along in years. They've become synonymous with the worthy goal of reducing gasoline consumption and dependence on foreign oil and all that this means for a better environment and more stable geopolitics. And yet like fat-free desserts, which sound healthy but can still make you fat, the hybrid car can make people feel...

A world-renowned motorcycle safety expert from Squirrel Hill was killed over the weekend in a motorcycle accident in Texas. Larry Grodsky, 55, owner of Stayin' Safe Motorcycle Training, died after a deer ran in front of his motorcycle Saturday night in Fort Stockton, Texas. Grodsky, a Gateway High School graduate, had a decades-long love affair with motorcycles and trained celebrities including Ted Koppel and Mike Tyson on safe-driving techniques. He was the nephew of Myron Cope, the longtime Pittsburgh Steelers announcer who retired last year. His mother, Violet Grodsky, also 85, said her son began riding motorcycles while attending Ohio...

SHEDDEN, ONT. and TORONTO — A long-simmering rivalry between criminal biker gangs appears to have exploded in the largest gangland slaying in Ontario history. Three members of the Bandidos motorcycle club, long-time rivals of the Hells Angels, were reported missing Friday and may be among the eight bodies discovered Saturday morning. One of the missing men is believed to be associated with Superior Towing, the Toronto-based company whose truck was found abandoned on a side road south of London, Ont., not far from the home of a well-known biker-gang leader.

PARISLast Saturday morning, needing help to move several heavy cartons of books from my apartment in central Paris to a storage room, I hired two movers and a van from the want ads. Students were in the streets protesting the Contrat de Premier Embauche (CPE) -- a law proposed to combat unemployment by giving employers more flexibility to fire young employees -- and the barricades and traffic diversions made our four-block drive into a half-hour ordeal. As we turned down one obstructed street after another, the movers -- both Arab immigrants -- became more and more incensed."They're idiots," said the...

Cross a motorcycle with a small car, and you get a new kind of hybrid -- the three-wheeler Auto makers -- even some big ones, like Daimler-Chrysler's (DCX ) Mercedes-Benz -- have been developing car-motorcycle hybrids and other three-wheeled vehicles for years. But what's different now is that some of these concepts, such as the Volkswagen GX3 unveiled this month at the Los Angeles Auto Show, could actually make it to the marketplace (see BW Online, 1/12/06, "Concept Cars Are Getting Real"). And the GX3, backed by VW's global distribution capability, would stand a chance to develop a niche market....

Easy riders, free loaders The Stockholm chapter of the Hell's Angels biker gang is under investigation for benefit fraud after police noticed that 70 per cent of its members were claiming state disability payments after being certified as depressed by the same doctor. Christer Nilsson, deputy head of Stockholm police's criminal investigation department said: "It seems to be depressing being a member of this club." The Hell's Angels have a violent reputation in Scandinavia, allegedly participating in frequent shootouts and bomb attacks. However, in recent years they are believed to have branched out into benefit and tax frauds, police said.

LAHORE, Pakistan Feb 13, 2006 (AP)— Gunmen on a motorcycle Monday killed a Pakistani doctor who spent six months in jail on suspicions of harboring al-Qaida suspects and possessing illegal weapons. Some in this eastern city blamed the United States for the shooting of Ahmad Javed Khawaja, who had spent much of his life in the United States. A protest of about 500 people erupted shortly after the killing, with many shouting "Death to America!" as they blocked a street and set tires on fire. Khawaja, 72, was attacked while walking to his clinic after morning prayers at a mosque,...

MOTORCYCLE DESIGN TROPHY 2005 10 February 2006 The overall winner of the 2005 Motorcycle Design of the Year has been announced; The winner was the Ducati Hypermotard concept bike, with the runner-up bike being the Yamaha MT-OS. Other bikes which were highly rated by a panel of motorcycle designers included the Yamaha R6, MotoCzysz C1, Aprilia RS125 and the Victory Vision. Presentation of the awards will take place later in the year - full details will be announced on the MDA website.

Fawlty powers ... two weeks in jail if fans goose-step like Basil GERMAN cops will use sweeping powers to collar England fans doing Basil Fawlty-style Hitler impressions at the World Cup. Yobs will be instantly banged up for TWO WEEKS if they goose-step like John Cleese in his most famous Fawlty Towers scene. And hard core louts who give Nazi salutes — like the one jokingly made by Michael Barrymore in Celebrity Big Brother — could be hauled before a judge within 24 hours. If convicted of inciting hatred they will face jail terms of up to THREE YEARS....

Redesigned for 2006, the flagship CBR1000RR hits all the marks, trimming pounds but improving performance and looks Whether on the track or on the street, Honda proposes the question: Was its new 2006 CBR1000RR redesigned to be the fastest bike for the ultimate rider or as a fast bike for the widest range of riders -- including those with a little less experience who are curious to get a glimpse of life in the fast lane? Honda (HMC ) claims to have done both with its new model. I was invited along with a few other motojournalists for a firsthand...

Karl Logan, lead guitarist of heavy metal powerhouse Manowar, was injured on Tuesday, January 24th 2006 in a motorcycle accident. Logan sustained severe injuries to his left arm, which will prevent him from performing for an as-yet-unknown period of time. "Manowar will have to reconsider all of our plans, but the good news is that Karl is ok and he'll be back stronger than ever," says Manowar bassist Joey DeMaio. Logan was preparing to record his lead guitar parts for the upcoming, yet to be named, Manowar album, the release of which will now be delayed. Touring plans are also...