All about Harley...Davidson that is..

Monday night and couldn't get out over the entire weekend to hit the roads, which is a real shame especially as I read about the more northern of our biking brothers making plans to house their bikes for the winter.

Maybe it's time to do some more bike nights.

There used to an amazing bike night at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino on Tuesday night. Everyone would turn up, from the Goldwings to Sports Bikes and the Cruisers, leaving one-percenters rubbing shoulders with Grandpa and Grandma tourer at the Hooters bar. There would be hundreds of motorcycles in the exclusive parking lot and dozens of custom choppers displayed around the walkways of the restaurants and stores, wrapping around the majestic fountain in the center of the complex.

With so many bikers the wait for a table was at least an hour and we're talking about a plcae that serves wings for heavens sake. It was a fun night, not just for the bikes but to hang out with riders you wouldn't normally get to have a beer with.

Like all edens, someone had to take a bite of the poisoned apple. Legends, a venue that features sound-a-likes of Elvis, Prince, Bruce Springsteen and whichever star happens to be hot wasn't too keen to have these 'bikers' roaming around the complex scaring visiting tourists who obviously never seen a motorcycle before.

Every week the complaints were made but one of the other Seminoles Hard Rock's tenants, Hooters was quite happy with the bike night (and all the of money was rolling in from it) and an unofficial stalemate kept the bike night alive and well.

That is until one of the choppers accidently hit one of the tourists as he rode away from displaying his bike at the fountain during the event. It wasn't really his fault since you had to ride along the sidewalks to get out of the complex, and who's to say the tourist wasn't pushed. Either way it was all the Hard Rock needed to stop the bike nights.

Legends never really did take off and the Hard Rock heard from other vendors that Tuesday nights weren't as good as they used to be when the bikers came and hung out. They tried to bring it back but it seems these bikers can be fickle sorts. The last one I went too my Deuce was the second motorcycle parked and there were only six total when I decided to leave not even two hours later.

I'm sure theres a lesson here somewhere and maybe even a snappy, funny line to be thrown out, but for the life of my, I can't see it!

Still it might be worth a ride tomorrow night, just to check it out.


Don't mock the great HD
So I dared to type tongue in cheek last week about an award Harley Davidson won from the National Investors Relations Institute for how well prepared their annual reports were.

Well, it's Harley that'll be smiling at the 2005 Florence Biennale, a celebration of contemporary art, design and culture, where they'll be awarded with the "Lorenzo il Magnifico". In particular, the award highlights the contribution of Willie G. Davidson and his styling team who have created many of the company's most iconic machines with their unique approach to styling and design.

The event will be taking place between December 3rd and 11th with Harley-Davidson's latest motorcycles will be on display in Florence and a range of riding events across the city are being planned to coincide with the Florence Biennale.

I will never jest again.

I think.


Who needs the bikes anyway?
Bruce Rossmeyer who owns 10 Harley-Davidson dealerships (one of which includes the world's largest dealership in Daytona Beach) has decided that the motorcycles just get in the way of what really matters. The clothes.

The boutique, in Boca Raton, Florida (my neck of the woods) recently opened its doors as a boutique offering a variety of "Motorclothes," footwear and collectibles inspired by the famed motorcycle company.

Besides the merchandise on display, a unique element of the store is the addition of two Internet stations, attached to 42-foot screens mounted on the wall. The monitors enable customers to view the motorcycle inventory found at all dealership locations.

There's a grand opening party on the 17th of November and another boutique planned in Sunrise, a city about fifteen miles away.

Read the story in the Boca Raton News.


What the heck! Let's make it an all Harley Blog!
Can you imagine the Chinese leader, Chinese Chairman Hu Jingtao on a Fatboy?

It might just happen if Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has his way. He's urging George Bush try to help the american legend break into that market.

Harley's inability to crack through China's tangle of motorcycle license restrictions and urban rider bans, which have prevented the Milwaukee motorcycle maker from opening a single dealership in the world's most populous nation, has elevated Harley into a high-profile test case in the combustible politics of China-U.S. trade.

This isn't going to be an easy sell by the American President either.

The U.S. Commerce Department's trade diplomats in Beijing and Shanghai have been working on Harley's behalf for nearly two years, but Barrett wants to push the issue to the highest level. Bush will meet Chinese President Hu Jintao during his visit to Beijing Nov. 19-21 as part of a four-nation trip to Asia.

China is one of only a few international markets that stymies Harley, which exports to more than 60 nations and outsells its Japanese rivals on their own turf.

Maybe Harley could help balance the trade deficit. If they did, the arguments between rival bike type riders would never be the same!

Check out all the details at MPH Magazine.