Motorcycle Views

I've had a popular Motorcycle Seat Heights feature for quite a few years. I have just begun to update this feature with the seat heights for all major motorcycle makes for 2016 including electric models by Zero.

I have completed the 2016 seat heights for Harley-Davidson, Honda, and Zero. Note that these data don't change much from year to year for the same model. However, there are some differences for 2016. Watch future newsletters for other motorcycle makes.

2016 Motorcycle Seat Heights for Harley-Davidson

2016 Motorcycle Seat Heights for Honda

2016 Motorcycle Seat Heights for Zero

Sunday, May 29, 2016, the 29th annual Rolling Thunder® Rally in Washington, D.C. takes place. It brings the image of the biker to the forefront in supporting both our troops and trying to keep a strong public focus on the need to account for our Prisoners of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA).

Television screens and cellphone smartphones and tablets are filled with new images of men and women on motorcycles riding cross-country to converge on Washington, D. C. in support of the POW/MIA cause. This is a good image in contrast to the image of the evil biker gang often being portrayed in the press.

My wife and I rode in Rolling Thunder® 11 years ago and found the same kinds of good people who ride motorcycles that we have known over the years in various motorcycling groups. Here is the story of our adventures riding in Rolling Thunder®. It was our first (and last) time going:

Rolling Thunder® is listed in my Motorcycle Rallies article but I had never had the chance to attend. My wife had cornered a forum member, Spanky, at the 2004 BuRP Forum rally. He's a former Marine pilot who has been part of Rolling Thunder® for a few years. He invited us to come on down and be part of Rolling Thunder® XVIII.

I also don't venture out on the road much during heavy holiday traffic but decided to take a chance to find out firsthand why others had spoken so strongly that it was an event not to be missed.

Rolling Thunder® was started in 1987 by two Vietnam vets, Artie Muller and Ray Manzo, who wanted a way to draw attention to the plight of our country's Prisoners of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA). They decided that a gathering of motorcycle riders would have the biggest impact.

In 1988, the first Rolling Thunder® "Ride for Freedom" was held in Washington, D.C. over the Memorial Day weekend with 2500 motorcycles and 5000 marchers. The marching portion of the event was dropped after the first few events but the number of motorcycles steadily increased over the years with recent numbers around 250,000.

My wife and I rode our Honda Gold Wing trikes down from New Jersey to Spanky's house in Virginia arriving Saturday. Spanky was hosting a cookout for the Southern Cruisers Riding Club (SCRC). We would be part of the SCRC group riding to the north parking lot of the Pentagon on Sunday to line up for Rolling Thunder® XVIII.

The riding pictures in this article are courtesy of Spanky's wife, Darlene.

Here's a picture of us and our trikes.

North Parking Lot at the Pentagon

We met up with the SCRC for breakfast at a local restaurant. The group was too large to ride together so it was split into two groups.

We rode up I95 and soon entered the center HOV lanes. We arrived at the Pentagon and weaved our way around the building to the north parking lot. This is the parking lot on the opposite side of the building from where the damage occurred during the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks.

There were numerous volunteers trying to direct us to our final positions in the parking lot. We were trying desperately to at least stay together with Spanky so we tried to ignore most of the frantic hand waving by the volunteers and kept our attention on Spanky's bike.

Bikes were packed together tightly in long columns and completely filled the lot within a few hours. We were at the head of a column looking directly at the Pentagon.

A grassy slope was way off to our right where many sat sunning themselves, waiting.

We arrived by 9 a.m. but the ride was not expected to begin until at least noon. There was no shade and the sun was hot. Many wouldn't get out until after 4 p.m.

Someone in the crowd had borrowed a ladder and climbed it to get a better picture of the crowd. That started a line of people wanting to use the ladder for their pictures too. Finally, someone stepped in and cut off the line so the poor guy could return the ladder. Here's a picture my wife got on top of that ladder.

Read more: The Parking Lot - a Gathering Place

I was able to find a better picture of my 1981 Honda CM400T than I showed in the last newsletter. In case you missed my Purple Rain (starring Prince) movie review, here it is again with the new picture.

I was watching something on TV about Prince's life. They said that Prince wrote and acted in the movie, Purple Rain. Of course I knew that. What I didn't know was that he liked motorcycles and owned a few. In fact he rode a motorcycle in Purple Rain, a 1981 Honda CM400 Hondamatic. I heard the words and then it registered: 1981 Honda CM400.

My first motorcycle was a 1981 Honda CM400T. The T meant that it had a Tachometer whereas the Hondamatic (CM400A) was an Automatic. That made me want to take a look at the Purple Rain movie to see the Honda and compare it to mine. So, last night I watched the movie On Demand. I then wrote a review of the movie.

I also looked for motorcycle movie reviews that already existed on my site and found three others that I had written in the past: Ghost Rider, Wild Hogs, and The World's Fastest Indian. These reviews were strangely unconnected to any index of movie reviews so I wrote an index page and listed the three old reviews. I then added the following Purple Rain review. I hope you enjoy my new motorcycle movie review and the past reviews that are now nicely connected together for the use of my future visitors.

Maybe I'll do more movie reviews now.

Check out my Purple Rain - Movie Review.

All Motorcycle Movie Reviews

I have just created a Motorcycle Views Newsletter Archive to store all my newsletters. The archive gives the year, month, day, and subject for each newsletter. Each newsletter contains many links to the Motorcycle Views website. A link to the archive will also be included on the Home page of the site and on the page where users can join the newsletter list.

Visit the Motorcycle Views Newsletter Archive

I'm running one new Motorcycle Views Poll in each issue of the newsletter. Please participate in each poll so we can all find out what's happening in motorcycling.

Here's Poll No. 39 (It may take a few seconds to load, so please be patient.): If you ride in the winter where it's cold, how do you dress?

The latest Motorcycle Views Poll also appears on the front page of the Motorcycle Views website.

ALL Motorcycle Views Polls

I am featuring five (5) of my Motorcycle Terms in each issue of the newsletter.

• Americade
• Dresser
• Laconia
• Ride to Work Day
• The Wild One
  
  
• All Motorcycle Terms

My latest book, Motorcycle Kick-Starts, is available on Amazon in Kindle, paperback, and NEW! Audible audiobook editions.

This small book provides a condensed view of motorcycling information for new riders and returning riders who have been away from motorcycling for many years. It's based on articles I published while I was the Motorcycles Guide on About.com and also during my current assignment as Editor of Motorcycle Views.

My purpose in writing the book is to whet your appetite for more while sticking to basic motorcycle information and not overpowering you with details.

We start out giving you basic information about motorcycles and showing you how you might proceed to become an active, safe rider.

Then we present ten short motorcycle stories (tales) written by actual motorcyclists. These tales allow you to observe some unusual things that happen to people who ride motorcycles. Without a bike, you would most likely never have these experiences. You will find out that your own rides will be different, but they too will result in unforgettable memories. The first story relates my own journey as a newbie rider when I joined a small group and rode cross-country on a 6,000-mile adventure.

Between stories, some practical advice about motorcycles is given in the form of ten motorcycle How-Tos and ten motorcycle Tips that you will need to know to become a proficient rider.

It's available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and Audible audiobook editions. Click the cover picture for more information about how to purchase the book.

NEW! As of March 10, 2016, the book is also available in an Audible audiobook edition. It can be found on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. Click the square cover to the right to hear a sample from the Audible edition.

Motorcycle Picture of the Month - May 2016 - 2016 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy S:
See the latest Picture of the Month and previous pictures. If you'd like to be considered for Picture of the Month, send me a picture and description of your bike. Submit Picture.

I hope you will take a look at my four motorcycle books, available in paperback and Kindle editions on Amazon.com. These books make great, inexpensive gifts. In fact, you can purchase all four for less than $30 total. I have reduced the price of my four 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.

NEW! My latest book (released December 1, 2015), Motorcycle Kick-Starts, also available on Amazon.com in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook (Audible) editions, contains a condensed view of motorcycling for new and returning riders. It's designed to whet your appetite for more while sticking to basic motorcycle information without overpowering you with details. The book starts out telling you what motorcycles are and showing you how you might learn to become an active, safe rider. Then ten short motorcycle stories, written by actual motorcyclists, are presented. These stories allow you to observe some unusual things that happen to people who ride motorcycles. Between stories, some practical advice about motorcycles is given in the form of ten motorcycle How-Tos and ten motorcycle Tips that you will need to know to become a proficient rider. Click the book cover to learn how to buy it on Amazon.com. NEW! As of March 10, 2016, there is now an Audible audiobook version of Motorcycle Kick-Starts. You can get it on Amazon, Audible, or iTunes.

My book, 50 Wild Motorcycle Tales, contains a collection of stories that originally were only available on my website. Fifty of these stories were selected, intensively edited, and compiled into the book. I wrote five of the stories. The book is available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook (Audible) editions. Click the book cover to learn how to buy it on Amazon.com. The Audible edition is also available for immediate download on iTunes and Audible.

My 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 how to buy it on Amazon.com.

My book, Motorcycle Haiku Poetry, also available on Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle editions, contains haiku poems about motorcycles. Haiku is a simple poem of three lines with five syllables in the first and last lines and seven in the second line. Each of the nearly 60 poems is coupled with a motorcycle picture and description related to the poem. I wrote seven of the haiku poems. Click the book cover to learn how to buy it on Amazon.com.

Here are my best pictures and videos of the 2015-2016 Polar Bear Grand Tour season. The 2016-2017 season will begin in October, 2016.

See the Best Pictures and Videos of the 2015-2016 Polar Bear Grand Tour season.

The Polar Bears consist of 550 riders from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Delaware, who ride each Sunday to a different prescribed destination where they sign-in and receive points. There is, usually, a restaurant at or near the destination. It gets cold, windy, and snowy on these rides. I've been a Polar Bear member for nearly 25 years, and I built and continue to maintain their website.

The picture to the right was taken at the Cape May, NJ VFW.

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.

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.

Are you relying more and more on your cellphone or tablet and less and less on your PC or MAC? Remember that all that great motorcycling information on Motorcycle Views is as near as your cellphone. It's also in a new format designed to fit your portable screen. Check us out anywhere you need motorcycle information.

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.

See me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and YouTube.

Thanks again for coming along for the ride in this edition of the Motorcycle Views Newsletter. -- Walter

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 archives page.

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.

The Motorcycle Views Website is Also on your Smartphone or Tablet:

Are you relying more and more on your cellphone or tablet and less and less on your PC or MAC? Remember that all that great motorcycling information on Motorcycle Views is as near as your cellphone. It's also in a new format designed to fit your portable screen. Check us out anywhere you need motorcycle information.

END OF NEWSLETTER