Members Are Everywhere

You meet the nicest people—in a Food Lion?

When I run local errands picking up things that don’t require a lot of space, I usually take one of the bikes. It’s a lot more fun and a heck of a lot cheaper than firing up the Dodge Ram.

It was on one of those trips that I stopped by a local Food Lion to pick up a couple of items before heading home. I’m totally ATGATT (All The Gear All The Time), and with my Shoei Neotec chin bar flipped up to stay legal, out of the blue a fella in front of me in the checkout line whips out his wallet and flashes me his AMA card, asking if I had one.

Being the smart-aleck that I am, I said, “No.” Mine says, “Life Member.”

We share a laugh, and he says he’s only been a member for five or so years, but hopes to gain that status one day.

The conversation continues out into the parking lot. He scrutinizes my KLR, and is amazed that I’d been to Montana twice on it. We eventually end our chat, jump in/on our respective vehicles, and go our separate ways. We didn’t share any connection information, but I’m sure we’ll run into each other again one day—probably at the same Food Lion.

Guy Young | North Chesterfield, Va.

Remembering The King

I couldn’t help but smile after reading the piece on AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Doug Domokos (“10 Facts About ‘The Wheelie King,’” June issue).

I met him when I worked at a bike dealer in 1984. The dealer brought him in for an event at the dealership. He was a super nice guy, and was accessible to all who wanted to meet and talk to him.

We were a Honda and Yamaha dealer, so we had lots of product to sample and he did stunts and could wheelie anything we had him try. I’ll never forget him doing wheelies on a Honda CB900 Custom with bags and a Vetter fairing on it. We had a junk ’70s-era Pontiac Bonneville with a 2×12 nailed to the trunk for a ramp and he used his bike to do wheelies over it.

We had a great crowd for that event and he put on a super show. He did wheelies on bikes and ATVs and was amazing, especially for the times. I still have a copy of his book, The Wheelie King.

Thanks for the great article.

Tim Stubbs
AMA Charter Life Member

Riding On

Thanks so much for your wonderful article from Wayne Carpenter, “Why I Love Riding” (May issue). My husband, age 82, and myself, age 65, have both been riding our entire lives.

We continue to ride, including yearly long trips.  We have ridden every state numerous times, all over Canada, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

We will continue until our bodies refuse to allow us to be on two wheels safely. It keeps us young. Here’s to older age and the time to enjoy it!

Lynn Ridley | Sebastian, Fla.

World Rider

I greatly enjoyed Peter Starr’s article detailing his ride through Israel (“Riding Israel: Redefining Expectations,” July issue).

It’s definitely been on my bucket list for years and I’m grateful for Peter’s article opening my eyes to the idea of touring by motorcycle.

Peter’s description of the smiling young IDF soldier’s M4 as “ready to use” may be a bit optimistic; the orange chamber flag protruding from the ejection port of her M4 indicates otherwise.

Would love to see more articles like this, maybe tours of former Eastern Bloc countries. Thanks for a great read.

Stu Chapman | Lynden, Wash

Helmets Matter

I thoroughly enjoyed your “Preparing for the Worst” article in the June 2018 issue. As a former emergency medical technician, I am a strong advocate for increased helmet use. I would like to see a new monthly feature called “Helmet of the Month” with a picture of a crash victim’s helmet. They say a picture speaks a thousand words. Something like this might do a lot to promote helmet use.

Ed Taft | Williamsville, Ill.

Thanks for the suggestion, Ed. That’s an idea shared by other organizations. One is Motorcycle Ohio, which has its Saved by the Helmet Club. Learn more at www.motorcycle.ohio.gov.

Loving Vintage

AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days did it again. It topped last year, as well as the year before (which until this year was my favorite event ever with two-time AMA Superbike champion Wes Cooley as the grand marshal).

This event is really growing, and I have to say, evolving in a way that I wouldn’t have seen coming. Back in the early days, it was still an awesome event, but it definitely had more of a classic or historic bike show feel to it. It was quieter, calmer, the 

racing was more “proper” and honestly a little stilted. It seemed more like a place where old guys like me played with our show bikes in the real world—but not too much.

All that is still there now, but AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days has become something more, and that thing it has become is young!

There are kids, teenagers and 20-somethings out riding old bikes, and they are really riding them. They are enjoying these old machines, even thrashing them, just like we all did back in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. There’s live music, a beer garden and a general feeling of fun everywhere—American flags, two-stroke smoke, hooting and hollering and the constant drone of internal combustion echoing across the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course grounds.

Keep up the good work, fellas. And no matter how much old guys like me complain about it, don’t run off the kids or dial back the fun. That’s the future—and what will keep the old bikes interesting and the new bikes rolling off showroom floors.

Mike Carnes | Chicago, Ill.