Friday Fudge

Welcome to Friday Fudge. If it’s weird, funny, or strange motorcycle news, or it just plain won’t fit anywhere else on the site – you’ll find it here.

Chopper down

If we were going to stereotype, we’d say a 40-year-old Scotsman would normally be a very conservative rider. Take the experience of age, add in a bit of that legendary Scotch frugality (which also applies to those from northern England, as Editor ‘Arris’s employees know well), and you’ve got a recipe for someone who shouldn’t be taking any chances.

But, here’s proof that stereotypes aren’t always true, thanks to film-friendly rider Ewan McGregor. The Hollywood star is also well-known for tooling around on motorcycles, often with longtime buddy Charley Boorman. He made headlines recently for crashing one of his two-wheelers. But, he didn’t launch a BMW off a sand dune while filming another desert riding documentary. He didn’t even injure himself while training.

No, McGregor said the accident came because he was trying to look cool, dragging his chopper’s sidestand and sending up a shower of sparks. Alas, the stand dug in a little far, sending him skyward, and then earthward.

This story has many lessons about showing off, riding like a hoon and the practicality of choppers. We’ll end it here, so you can think about them.

Story source: Hollywood.com

The one that got away

Many of us have fond memories of the one that got away – a motorcycle we once owned that we wish we had back.

Dean Allie of Minnesota had a bike like that. But, he managed to hook up with his bike again, after a local commercial fisherman found it.

See, Allie lost the bike (some sort of German model from 1938) when he was screwing around with it on lake ice, right after his father had bought it for him in December of 1956. He narrowly avoided drowning, but nobody was able to find the bike in the spring. He thought it was gone forever.

Until, that is, this November, when a carp fisherman dragged it up in his nets, apparently bringing Allie to tears. Either he really loved that bike, or he was not looking forward to months of restoration.

Story source: Mankato Free Press

Road rage

Here is an example of why it’s a bad idea to commit crimes on a motorcycle.

Restrictive ruling

Here in Canada, women can go out and buy a motorcycle and ride it however they want.

Such is not the case in Lhokseumawe, in Indonesia, where female passengers have been banned from straddling motorcycles – apparently they must all ride side-saddle.

While this sounds like a clever (but sexist) way to boost step-through scooter sales, that’s not the reasoning. The mayor instead explained his line of thought like this: “We’ve seen that people’s behaviors and morals are getting far from Aceh’s Islamic cultural values. Therefore we will issue a regulation that will ban women from straddling while sitting on the passenger’s seat of motorcycles … We want to save women from things that will cause them to violate Shariah law. We wish to honor women with this ban, because they are delicate creatures.”

You just can’t make stuff like that up.

Story source: Jakarta Globe