Past four years of fund raising

The 2011 Bikes & Bugs was another huge success. Vendor booth sales increased. Attendance was up. And, the entertainment was phenomenal. However, the best thing about the 2011 event was the money raise. At $81,000, the 2011 Bikes & Bugs event stands above all past events, $30,ooo more than the 2010 event! That said, each year, the event has had increased sales figures, so the trend for a phenomenal 2012 event is there and everyone is looking forward to supporting it. We will post dates for 2012 here when they become available. Thanks to everyone who participted in the event…you are making a difference in the fight against epilepsy!

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The Los Guys Riding Club is an active AMA and Texas COC American motorcycle club located in the West Houston area with an interests in enjoying the great Texas and U.S. roadways on American motorcycles, camaraderie, rider education, supporting the rights of the motorcycling community, and participating in charitable activities. We value family, fun, friendship, safety and the protection of our rights and freedoms! For more information on The Los Guys Riding Club, visit losguysridingclub.com.

 Los Guys would like to thank the Rip’s B.A.D. Ride committee for their hospitality and allowing the club to participate in an event with such a great cause!

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The Los Guys Riding Club is an active AMA and Texas COC American motorcycle club located in the West Houston area with an interests in enjoying the great Texas and U.S. roadways on American motorcycles, camaraderie, rider education, supporting the rights of the motorcycling community, and participating in charitable activities. We value family, fun, friendship, safety and the protection of our rights and freedoms! For more information on The Los Guys Riding Club, visit losguysridingclub.com

The model legislation offers an objective method for municipal jurisdictions to evaluate motorcycle sound through science-based measurement. It’s based on the Society of Automotive Engineers’ (SAE) new J2825 standard, “Measurement of Exhaust Sound Pressure Levels of Stationary On-Highway Motorcycles.” The AMA produced similar model legislation for off-highway motorcycles several years ago.

“Many cities and other jurisdictions already have excessive sound laws on the books, but when they get citizen complaints about loud motorcycles, they sometimes decide to single out the riding public with unfair or overly restrictive ordinances and laws,” said Imre Szauter, AMA government affairs manager. “We believe that motorcycles shouldn’t be singled out, but should be regulated as part of a comprehensive sound management policy that also addresses cars, trucks, leaf blowers, generators and other sources of excessive sound.”

The J2825 standard, issued by the SAE in May, is based on a comprehensive study of a wide variety of on-highway motorcycles. It establishes instrumentation, test site, test conditions, procedures, measurements and sound level limits.

“Too many times, jurisdictions responding to citizen complaints about excessive motorcycle sound create laws that simply don’t work in the real world,” Szauter said. “They either set an unreasonable decibel limit, leave it up to a police officer to subjectively decide whether a bike is too noisy, or come up with another plan that is arbitrary or unworkable. Our model legislation is objective, workable and fair.”

The model legislation adopts the SAE J2825 standard for stationary on-highway motorcycle sound testing, specifies the type of sound meter to be used, and allows for each city to specify the penalties for violating the law. Szauter stressed, however, that the sound-testing procedures and decibel limits established in the SAE J2825 standard should remain unchanged to ensure that the law remains objective and fair.

Under the SAE J2825 standard, decibel limits range from 92 dBA at idle for all motorcycles, to up to 100 dBA at certain RPMs for various motorcycles, depending on the type of engine.

In 2003, the AMA organized the National Summit on Motorcycle Sound to bring together riders and user organizations, representatives of the motorcycle manufacturers, the aftermarket industry, racing promoters, government agencies, law enforcement and others to develop proposals regarding the increasingly controversial issue of excessive motorcycle sound. The creation of a new on-highway motorcycle sound measurement procedure was a top recommendation of the summit’s Motorcycle Sound Working Group.

“The motorcycling community, local governments and police officers have sought a practical sound field test for streetbikes for many years, and now it exists, thanks to a collaboration between the Motorcycle Industry Council and the SAE,” Szauter said. “The next step is for jurisdictions struggling with motorcycle sound complaints to adopt fair and objective laws, and the AMA is providing the tool for them to do that.”

Szauter encourages motorcyclists and government and law enforcement officials to download the model legislation from the “Rights” section of the AMA website at AmericanMotorcyclist.com.

SB 129 authorizes neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) to be operated on roads with a posted speed limit of 45 miles per hour or less. The bill authorizes driver license holders to operate NEVs without having a motorcycle endorsement, clarifies that drivers and passengers in such vehicles are not required to wear helmets and specifies that enclosed three-wheeled vehicles as described in the bill are authorized to operate in preferential lanes.

Senate Bill 1967 requires that applicants for an original class M license or class A, B or C driver license (including commercial driver licenses and permits) with authorization to operate a motorcycle, provide evidence of completion of an approved motorcycle operator training course. The law also increases the penalty for failure to yield the right-of-way if there is a crash that results in injury to a person other than the motorcycle operator.

The cardiologist was there waiting for the service manager to come and take a look at his bike when the mechanic shouted across the Garage, ‘Hey Doc, want to take a look at this?’

The cardiologist, a bit surprised, walked over to where the mechanic was working on the motorcycle. The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked, ‘So Doc, look at this engine. I open its heart, take the valves out, repair any damage, and then put them back in, and when I finish, it works just like new. So how come I make $39,675 a year and you get the really big bucks ($1,695,759) when you and I are doing basically the same work?’

The cardiologist paused, smiled and leaned over, then whispered to the mechanic…
 
 ’Try doing it with the engine running’.

After listening to the jeers and other derisive remarks from his fellow biker buddies Dave left to go back home to his wife.

When Dave’s friends started arriving to set up camp the next day, who should be there but Dave sitting in front of his bike, tent up, beer in hand, camp oven roast stewing away in a hot bed of coals.

“How did ya talk your wife into letting you go Dave?”

“I didn’t have to” was Dave’s reply.
 
“When I left the meeting I went home and slumped down in my chair with a beer to drown my sorrows. Then my wife snuck up behind me and covered my eyes and said, ‘Surprise’!”
 
When I peeled her hands back she was standing there in a beautiful see-through negligee and she said, “Carry me into the bedroom, tie me to the bed and you can do whatever you want.”

So here I am!