 Welcome to Friday Fudge – a weekly round up of the more ‘unusual’ motorcycle related stories that are just too silly to post on their own, but raise a much bigger chortle when you slap them all together and take the piss.
Up, up, and away!
What would you do if you had eight unused motorcycle engines lying around? Most of us would put them in the garage or basement until the wife/girlfriend complained enough, and then they’d hit Kijiji or the scrapyard.
Chinese farmer Shu Mansheng had other ideas. He worked eight motorcycle engines into the awesome flying machine in this picture. Apparently it cost about $3,000, and it’s his fifth project in this vein. He’s actually been able to to hover for about ten seconds, three feet off the ground with this craft.
More impressively, Mansheng built this contraption with only a junior middle school education, which goes to prove our suspicions that for some people, the only reason worth going to high school is to meet girls, girls, girls.
Story source: Boeing Boeing
Taking a fall
The motorcycle entrance: It’s used by macho icons like professional wrestlers or rock stars. After all, nothing gives that bad-boy vibe more than a tough-looking bike rolling around the ring or on to the stage.
Unless, of course, you fall off it, like Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford did at a recent concert in Brazil. Riding on to the stage before the band’s last song, Halford fell off while trying to put the kickstand down. Apparently it wasn’t that big of a deal, but he did end up looking like a chump. Not as much of a chump, though, as the time he pulled the same stunt – and failed – in Toronto, in an infamous 1991 show, breaking his nose.
Check out the video of the Brazil concert below.
Story source: Henne Music
A reel surprise
Carlsberg has put together a pretty amusing commercial for their brew. The setup works like this: Couples are shown buying tickets to watch Planet of the Apes, but when they enter the theatre, they’re confronted instead with Planet of the Ape Hangers – the theatre is filled to the brim with tattooed, hairy biker dudes with only two seats left.
Most couples chicken out and leave, but a few braver ones stick it out, and are rewarded with a cold one. Check it out!
Taking it slowly causes trouble
Remember that go-slow protest we told you about last week in Friday Fudge? U.K. riders were running  this event and others to complain about coming E.U. motorcycle regulations against customization. Well, it turns out police realized there’s no easier target than someone determined to take it slow, so they pulled 45 of them over in Northumberland. The charge? The fuzz slapped them all with warnings for riding in an anti-social manner. Get this: If they get charged with anti-socialism (like that? We made it up) again in the next 12 months, their bikes could be seized. John Birch Society and Tea Party members beware!
A couple of observations: One, if driving slowly is a crime, we wish the coppers would go jail all those blue-haired grannies in four-door Detroit crapboxes that are clogging up highways across the country. Two, if riding slowly doesn’t work, motorcyclists will have to find another way to protest. Let’s hope The Man’s hassling doesn’t make them start taking cues from bikesploitation.
Story source: Motorcycle News
A man without a plan
Famous stunt riders like Evel Knievel always planned their stunts well in advance – a slight miscalculation could result in death.
The scooter rider in this clip failed in the planning process – his landing ramp is just a little too close to pull off his mad exploit. You can tell he did it on a budget – he saved money on a foam pit by instead aiming his two-wheeler for a wall.
Shine a light
Don’t you hate breaking down in the dark? There’s nothing worse than having to hold a flashlight in your teeth while you try to repair your bike.
Thankfully, the latest invention to grace the desk of Friday Fudge is an answer to that age-old problem. Somebody has put their brain to work and come up with the idea of rechargeable illuminating wrenches – now you can see what you’re working on after dark. You’ll probably be begging for a breakdown on your next moonlight excursion!
Story source: Bikes in the Fast Lane
