Thunder Roads April Issue | Page 32

ANTI-PROFILING BILL bY: bILL bISH, ncom

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CALIFORNIA INTRODUCES

ANTI-PROFILING BILL bY: bILL bISH, ncom

THE AIM / NCOM MOTORCYCLE E-NEWS SERVICE is brought to you by Aid to Injured Motorcyclists( A. I. M.) and the National Coalition of Motorcyclists( NCOM), and is sponsored by the Law Offices of Richard M. Lester. If you’ ve been involved in any kind of accident, call us at 1-( 800) ON-A-BIKE or visit www. ON-A-BIKE. com.
NCOM CONVENTION IN MOBILE INVITES NAMES FOR FALLEN RIDERS TRIBUTE With the 33rd Annual NCOM Convention in Mobile, Alabama just weeks away, the National Coalition of Motorcyclists is requesting that MROs, motorcycle clubs, and riding associations submit the names of those members and supporters who have died since last year’ s Convention, so that we may honor their memories with the traditional“ Ringing of the Bell” tribute to fallen riders during the opening ceremonies.
Dedications should be e-mailed in advance to Bill Bish at NCOMBish @ aol. com, or can be hand-delivered at the Convention to“ Doc” Reichenbach, NCOM Chairman of the Board.
Attendees are also encouraged to bring an item on behalf of their organization for the Freedom Fund Auction, with proceeds benefiting the motorcyclists’ rights movement nationwide through Getting Our People Elected donations, NCOM Speaker Program, lobbying activities and other pro-motorcycling projects as determined by the NCOM Board of Directors.
The 33nd annual NCOM Convention will be held Mother’ s Day weekend, May 10-13, 2018 at the Renaissance / Riverview Plaza Hotel, located at 64 S. Water St., in Mobile, Alabama.
This annual gathering will draw bikers’ rights activists from across the country to discuss topics of concern to all riders, so reserve your room now for the special NCOM rate of $ 114 by calling( 251) 438-4000.
Registration fees for the NCOM Convention are $ 85 including the Silver Spoke Awards Banquet on Saturday night, or $ 50 for the Convention only. All motorcyclists are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Meetings, seminars and group discussions will focus on legislative efforts and litigation techniques to benefit our right to ride and Freedom of the Road.
To pre-register, call the National Coalition of Motorcyclists at( 800) 525-5355 or visit www. ON-A- BIKE. com.
TWIN PEAKS UPDATE On the eve of a Feb 7 hearing at which two Twin Peaks shootout bikers were seeking to disqualify McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna from prosecuting their cases, on a variety of grounds, Reyna instead dismissed one of those cases and recused his office in the other to avoid the disqualification hearing.
Subsequently, Reyna announced on Feb 28 that he’ s seeking the dismissal of cases against 13 more bikers indicted for engaging in organized crime in connection with the deadly melee in Waco nearly three years ago, and dropping charges against 24 others who weren’ t indicted.
Also, in early February, 73 indicted bikers had their cases dismissed, and eight unindicted bikers had their charges dropped.
Only one of the scores of bikers indicted in the shootout has gone on trial; Jacob Carrizal, President of the Dallas Bandidos chapter, whose trial on RICO and murder charges ended with the judge declaring a mistrial in November after a hung jury was unable to reach a verdict.
The May 17, 2015 shootout Ieft nine bikers dead and 20 more injured. Police arrested 177 bikers after the incident, all of whom were charged with engaging in organized crime and all of whom were initially ordered held in lieu of $ 1 million bonds.
DA Reyna has been highly criticized for his handling of the cases, and recently lost his re-election bid.
TRADE WAR COULD IMPACT HARLEY-DAVIDSON President Donald Trump’ s recent announcement of tariffs on steel and aluminum would likely lead to global retaliatory consequences for iconic American industries such as Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Levis jeans and whiskey.
In response to Trump’ s announcement of his intention to impose tariffs of 25 % on imported steel and 10 % on aluminum to reduce an $ 800 billion trade deficit and protect the interests of American workers, European Union leaders threatened to target quintessential American goods such as blue jeans, bourbon and motorcycles.
H-D could suffer from a negative two-pronged effect from the tariffs on steel and aluminum; the costs of production will rise, causing the cost of the bikes
30 Thunder Roads Magazine Louisiana / Mississippi | April 2018 | www. thunderroadslams. com themselves to increase; both of which would be passed along to the consumer.
“ A punitive, retaliatory tariff on Harley-Davidson motorcycles in any market would have a significant impact on our sales, our dealers, their suppliers and our customers in those markets,” say Harley-Davidson officials. Roughly 16 % of Harley-Davidson’ s sales are to Europe, representing more than half of its international sales.
American-made Polaris is not as concerned because 50 % of its sales are made to Canada where, like Mexico, the country would be exempt from the tariffs, so no retaliation is expected.
The U. S. has previously threatened to hike import duties up to 100 % on European motorcycles in response to an EU ban on American bred beef from cattle raised on growth hormones.
HONDA‘ RIDING ASSIST’ SYSTEM COULD ADVANCE MOTORCYCLING New patent images give a glimpse of Honda’ s self-balancing technology that could be seen as a significant step forward for motorcycling. Although unthinkable until recently, the growth of automated systems such as traction control, stability control and anti-lock braking systems could soon lead to a bike that is virtually impossible to crash.
That could be a massive step for motorcycling and its acceptance on a wider scale, as most non-riders would cite the perceived risk as their number one concern.
Honda’ s Riding Assist system, which adds a computercontrolled steering system between the bars and the front wheel, is the next step. Modern bikes can already intervene in your application of the throttle and brakes, but to really save us from ourselves they need to be able to override the stupidest of our steering mistakes as well.“ If a novice could jump on a bike with zero fear of toppling off it, even if they come to a halt without putting a foot down, then it becomes as user-friendly as a car while offering all the congestion-busting and emissions-reducing advantages of a bike,” predicts Visordown. com.
While the new designs patents, just published on the European Union Intellectual Property Office website, shouldn’ t be taken as evidence that the Riding Assist system is going to go into production anytime soon, they provide a fascinating glimpse into one of the most radical projects in motorcycling at the moment.
RIDERS RISK PERMANENT HEARING DAMAGE AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS Motorcyclists are at risk of permanently damaging their hearing after just 15 minutes of riding at 62mph,