Motorcycle Views Newsletter for 05/10/2015 By Walter F. Kern Motorcycle Views Newsletter Vol. 9, No. 11, May 10, 2015 Mother's Day:
"I don't have any pictures of Mom here with me today but I was able to find one already on Facebook. The picture was taken 56 years ago and appeared in the local newspaper, The Pantagraph, after she won a cooking contest. I talked about my parents in the Acknowledgments to my book, Motorcycle Haiku Poetry. Here is an excerpt that is appropriate today, Mother's Day: 'I would like to thank my mother, Margaret, and my father, Walter. My mom died in 1979 at the age of 70. Dad died in 1992 at the age of 84. I started riding motorcycles for the first time in 1989 at the age of 51. Mom was the gentle encourager in the family. She never smoked a cigarette, never had a drink, never cussed, and never learned how to drive a car. Mom graduated from high school just before the Great Depression. Mom knew I had a desire to ride but only from seeing me at the age of 15 day-dreaming over Mechanix Illustrated magazine issues with ads for Harley-Davidson motorcycles in them. I soon got into cars and forgot about motorcycles for another 35 years. My parents had three children, two sons and a daughter, and two of them graduated from college. Mom and Dad saw us both graduate. Mom knew that I also liked to write but thought nothing about it. They both were of a different generation. They let us do whatever we felt was best for us and knew it would all just work out, and it did. My sister had two girls, and both graduated from college. I had two of my three children graduate from college. So far, six of my parents' descendants have finished college with three of them majoring in engineering—certainly a tribute to my dad. The other three, all female, are much like my mom and a tribute to her. My seven grandchildren and my sister's two grandchildren are all on the road to getting college educations. Mom and Dad were a mixture of technical and liberal arts, and that is pretty much what I have become. They never lived long enough to see my first book on motorcycling come out in 2011, 32 years after Mom died, and 19 years after Dad died. This book is my third book. Hopefully, they are both looking down as I continue living a life they started, but probably never imagined how it would play out. All I can say is that I am grateful they were my parents and provided their children with all the basics needed to energize their lives to achieve their individual potentials.' Happy Mother's Day to my Mom." Articles of Interest on Motorcycle Views: Today's Motorcycle Views Poll: I am running one new Motorcycle Views Poll in the newsletter for each issue. Here's Poll No. 13: What's the best high-tech gadget/feature on your motorcycle? The latest Motorcycle Views Poll is now also appearing on the front page of my website. Today's How-To: I will be featuring one of my How-Tos for each issue. How to Ride a Motorcycle Trike Recent Additions to the Motorcycle Views Website:
Reflections: Women in Motorcycling
Women have been riding motorcycles for a very long time. For this short article it is not possible to give an adequate description of the important contributions of women to this great sport and passion. For the time being it is important to set the stage by telling you what is going on right now as women are actively involved in translating their passion for motorcycles into concrete examples that are benefiting society. A visit to a typical women's motorcycle club meeting might help to show the reality of women in motorcycling today. I attended a meeting of the Spokes-Women Motorcycle Club in New Jersey USA. This club is an independent club whose members are drawn from the entire state of New Jersey. The club has evolved over the past 23 years into an active riding club whose members have interests spanning all aspects of motorcycling from dirt biking to simple cruising to road racing. The club was an early pioneer in the Internet explosion having had its own Web site since 1995. (I created their first site.) Many of its members first heard of the Spokes-Women from the Internet. The club is sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and its Web site is linked from the AMA Web site. Nearly all members of the Spokes-Women are active users of the Internet and have email addresses.
Motorcycle Picture of the Month: Motorcycle Picture of the Month - May, 2015 - Pre-1953 Cushman Motor Scooter: My Book, 50 Wild Motorcycle Tales, Now Has an Audiobook (Audible) Edition on Amazon, iTunes, and Audible:
If you click the book cover (or click here), you can listen to a 5-minute sample of the audiobook and hear all three narrators, including me. Should you decide to buy and download the audiobook, I'd welcome any Amazon online reviews you might want to write after you have listened to the audiobook. Remember, this new audiobook edition is also available for download on iTunes. That means you can access it on all your Apple devices including your iPhone and iPad. Here are the Most Popular articles on the Motorcycle Views Site. Take a look:
My Motorcycle Books:
My first book, Getting Started Riding a Motorcycle, was first published in 2011 but only as a Kindle edition. It was revised in 2014 and also made available in a paperback edition. Click the book cover to learn more about the book and how to buy it on Amazon.com.
A surprising number of visitors to my site quickly caught on and enjoyed haiku poetry that had been submitted to me over the years from motorcyclists. Haiku is a simple poem of three lines with five syllables in the first and last lines and seven in the second line. Here's a sample haiku: Staying Upright They are easy to write, and most riders like to read them. I coupled each haiku poem with a motorcycle picture and description that tied into the poem itself. I wrote seven of the haiku poems. Click the book cover to learn more about the book and how to buy it on Amazon.com. I have reduced the price of my three Kindle editions to $0.0 (FREE) IF you also first purchase the corresponding paperback edition. That way you can always have the book with you if you have a tablet or smartphone with you. None of the paperbacks has color pictures in them owing to the high price of producing a book with color. However, every Kindle edition has color pictures, so the Getting Started Riding a Motorcycle and Motorcycle Haiku Poetry Kindle books are in full color. Help Grow Motorcycle Views: The Motorcycle Views Website is here for you. We encourage you to submit a story, picture, poem, salvage yard recommendation, user review of your own bike, tattoo, YouTube video you made of your bike, motorcycle tip, etc. These will be evaluated for inclusion into one of our major features. Send us a submission today and share part of your motorcycling experience with our many readers. Read how to make a submission. Send In Your Pictures: We love pictures of your motorcycles. Even better is a picture of you with your bike. We also like descriptions of bikes so tell us all about your bike. What accessories do you have? What special paint job do you have? How long have you been riding? Tell us more. Women riders are especially requested to send their pictures in. Submit a Picture. Social Media: See me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and YouTube. My Website: My website, forum, and blog are all available on your PC or MAC and your smartphone or tablet (in a new format). Be sure to check out the Home Page on Motorcycle Views. It keeps changing daily, now containing links to hundreds of my original articles and features including Makes and Models, Picture Galleries, Motorcycle FAQ, Motorcycle Tips, Motorcycle How-Tos, Rallies, Videos and Movies, and User Reviews.
For New Subscribers: Expect newsletters on Sunday afternoon every other week. Please understand that the Motorcycle Views Newsletter is NOT the Motorcycle Views website. The newsletter provides a few links to content on the Motorcycle Views website. Once you click a link in the newsletter, you'll be getting access to content on the Motorcycle Views site. If you'd like to view some recent newsletters, just go to the newsletter sign-up page and look below where my three motorcycle books are described for links. Thanks for signing up for the Motorcycle Views Newsletter. Using this Newsletter, I'll keep you up-to-date with what's going on in the Motorcycle Views Blog, the Motorcycle Views Website, and the Motorcycle Views Forum. The forum has a new look as of February 13, 2015. Take a look. Not sure what a blog is? It's like a daily readout of what I'm thinking about, similar to a diary at times. Most often, I'm using mine right now to tell my visitors what has been added to the Motorcycle Views site. See me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and YouTube. My website, forum, and blog are all available on your PC or MAC and your smartphone or tablet (in a new format). END OF NEWSLETTER All Previous Newsletters:
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© 2016 Walter F. Kern. All rights reserved.
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I've been seeing lots of beautiful tributes to moms today, especially on Facebook. I thought I would do the same for my own Mom here in the Newsletter. My mom died in 1979 so I can't talk to her anymore. But, if your mom is still around, don't forget her today. Call her. The following is what I just posted on Facebook.
When I became the Guide (now called Expert) for Motorcycles at About.com, I created a topic on the site called Women in Motorcycling. It was there the first day that the site became part of About.com. Now on the Motorcycle Views site, I also have a Women Riders topic.
The club is so committed to safe operation of motorcycles that they require all their new members to take one of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) classes within the first year of membership. Members vary in age from young singles to grandmothers and have jobs such as media professionals, lawyers, librarians, computer professionals, and MSF riding instructors. They are articulate and knowledgeable about motorcycles. The group makes and sells chocolate every year to support several charities. They have an active riding schedule during the riding season. Some members also ride during the winter on the Polar Bear Grand Tour.
