Here is an interesting one from North Dakota. What do you get when you cross a Sportster, an Allis-Chalmers riding lawn mower, and a dirt bike? One cool looking riding lawn mower! 61 year old Duane “Tony” Olson, of Drayton, ND did just that. And it is not the first trike he has built. His original was a Volkswagon powered trike capable of 70 mph, much greater than the estimated 10 mph of this model. And he is working on another, based on a John Deere.
Gives a whole new meaning to “in the wind”, doesn’t it?
Maybe, if I had a lawn mower that looked as much like a motorcycle, I would not have started hiring my lawn work out. The front end comes from a dirt bike, the tank is from a Sportster, and it has a 42″ deck. This original model took Olsen “50 hours of building time and 300 hours of thinking time”, but he has more in store, and the time required will come down.
And, if you want to get your hands on them, it may come soon. Olsen says “I’ve put these together to see if other people are interested in them. If there’s a market for them, I’ll start making them when I retire next year.”
I ran across an article describing the Hawgs of Texas Motorcycle rally and how the mayor of Somerville, TX saved what may have become another casualty. The news story says that Mayor Tommy Thompson, who took office in May 2005, and three other bikers bought the rally in May, 2006, Mayor Tommy was quoted as saying:
We were getting ready to lose this rally. But this community thrives on it. It’s a real moneymaker.
My initial thoughts were “Wow, a town politician that actually admits that the biker community can offer more than they take! Someone realizes the economic benefit of being the host to a motorcycle rally.” But some things did not quite add up.
If this was the third annual Hawgs of Texas motorcycle rally, that means that it held its first in 2005, about the same time that Mayor Tommy took office. The article says that Tommy had been associated with the Dawgs on Hawgs rally for nine years, until a private investor bought the rally rights in 2004. The Dawgs on Hawgs rally continued through 2006, and was only canceled this year because the US Army Corps of Engineers revoked their permit. Could one politician use his influence to drown out the competition?
Was there competition in the first place? The article stated that the mayor had worked with Dawgs on Hawgs for nine years. Then why was this years’ seventh annual rally the one that was canceled? Was there a Hawgs of Texas before the Dawgs on Hawgs, which might explain the difference of two years on the annual for both events?
Questions only, but I would really like answers. Anyone reading this that can enlighten me?
Anyway, glad the rally was saved; I will definitely keep my eye on it.
I came across some news about a biker who was hit from behind after coming to a stop for a traffic light, causing him to be ejected from his motorcycle and presumably be run over by oncoming traffic. This biker was declared dead at the scene. The driver of the van that hit the motorcycle initially fled, but turned himself in about four hours later (perhaps to allow the alcohol to wear off?)
This tragedy could have been the subject of this post, but I have already discussed defensive riding and motorcycle fatalities in previous posts. While This does not mean I will not go into these subjects more, after my long absense, I more felt like discussing something a little more upbeat.
So why did I start this post the way I did? Well, in the article, it mentioned that the biker was riding a “Big Dawg Chopper customized bike”. I was searching for more interesting information about Big Dawg Motorcycles when I came across a Big Dawg commercial on youtube. While I never had an experience quite like the biker in this commercial, I can always dream!
By the way, I guess I should explain my extended absense. Last week has been extremely hectic. It started with my brother-in-law Jack having another seizure, and the resulting doctor visits from that. To top that off, over last weekend we celebrated Jack’s birthday, with two sisters, an uncle, and some friends of his from Charleston coming to our house. And finally, my server crashed, and most of my blog files were lost, taking about two days to recover from. No excuses, but still a lot to be interfering with my free time.
