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.
Bad bump
If you are going to pull a wheelie on the highway, you don’t want to run into the back of a car. Especially a parked car. Especially a parked police car – that would be embarrassing.
The Ultimate Enemy
From the news I’m seeing around the world, motorcycle hoons are finally meeting their match. And no, it’s not a crackdown from The Man, at least, not exactly. While bikesploitation films from the ’60s always pitted one-percenters against law enforcement, it appears today’s anti-motorcycle agenda is being enforced by a far more dangerous group – town councils.
Over in the UK, after all else failed, the yuppie politicos figured out how to stop kids from riding around recklessly: They threatened their parents. No, they didn’t talk about physical violence, or even heavy fines – they got the Dundee town council to warn the parents to settle those clowns down, or they’d lose their tenancy. In other words, park your bike, or hand in your keys.
It’s hard to say whether that’s better or worse than the town council in Casey, in Australia, where the politicians came up with a more to-the-point solution: They’ve been crushing seized motorcycles. The council has crushed 15 unregistered motorcycles that have been seized in the last five years. We’re guessing the local two-wheeled nitwits are looking over their shoulder very carefully before ripping down the street on their dirt bike.
Sources: Herald Sun, Courier
Lunatic leaper
If you’re going to videotape a stunt, ask yourself: Are thousands of people going to laugh at me and call me an idiot, if it fails? If the answer is yes, maybe you should reconsider the move.
Gandolfi rides again
What’s a proper adventure bike? A 1200 cc boxer from Germany, with aluminum boxes to carry your latte maker? How about a 650 cc thumper from Japan, with waterproof duffels strapped on, to display your conservative finances? Octogenarian adventure rider Simon Gandolfi has another approach – he’s ridden all over the Americas on a 125 cc pizza delivery motorcycle, and now he’s on the road again.
Gandolfi’s in India, looking to purchase a motorcycle to ride to England. He’s looking for something small and something cheap. His reason for the trip? “I am 28 years older than my wife; our sons are 22 and 27. I owe them something other than being a scruffy, inefficient and forgetful lawn mower.”
That actually sounds better than any hokey story about lost love. Let’s hope all goes well for Gandolfi.
Source: Guardian
Robbed Russians
Here’s another story of Thai tourism gone wrong. A couple of motorcycling Russian tourists on Pattaya Beach decided to go for a midnight swim in their undies, leaving their clothes on their bike. Alas for them, the allure of an unguarded motorcycle and some free clothes proved too much for some light-fingered locals, who made off with the bike and the garments.
The Russians ended up having to make a police statement about all their ripped-off stuff while standing in their dripping underwear – likely not the way they figured their midnight beach romp would end. At least this time, unlike last week’s story, there was no ladyboy involved. We’re guessing the statement was … brief.
Source: Pattaya Mail
