Welcome to Friday Fudge, where we bring you all the best motorcycle content of the Internet. Well, not actually the best, more the weirdest, and some of it is definitely the worst. You decide.
Their vest behaviour
For the past few months, we’ve occasionally discussed the way the US justice system is battling the Mongols, a notorious outlaw motorcycle club from southern California. The Feds aren’t just content with throwing a few bikers in jail and harassing the others as they ride. Nope, they’re trying to seize the copyright to the Mongols logo, to prevent them from wearing their colours as they ride around performing good deeds and helping sick children and doing all the other kind things outlaw bikers do.
Well, the notoriously fickle US justice system has done a U-turn on this one, with District Judge David O. Carter now declining to take the Mongol’s rights to their logo. His reasoning is that it would infringe on their freedom of speech, and we certainly wouldn’t want that, would we? No, it’s better to just keep throwing them in jail.
What’s the next page in the federal battle against the Mongols? What about a propaganda campaign, where they’re constantly ridiculed for being the inspiration for an incredibly lame TV show?
Prince of Pot(holes)
Here in Canada, we always gripe about the crappy, beat-up pavement each spring, but nobody really does much about it.
Nobody, that is, except for this bold folk hero from Stellarton, Nova Scotia. Last month, CBC carried the story of John McCue, who in his time between jobs, decided to tackle local potholes after a particularly bumpy drive with his mother. He went to the roadside with a shovel, moving gravel from the shoulder into nearby potholes, and carrying a sign saying that since he’d filled the potholes, motorists should pay him, instead of paying taxes.
We’re pretty sure he was joking, but passing motorists have indeed been paying him off, with tips ranging from cash to coffee to marijuana.
Of course, transportation officials have decried his activity as dangerous, and local RCMP have warned McCue about his activities, but he says he isn’t bothering traffic. At this point, the Queen’s Cowboys haven’t shut down his freelance roadwork operation. Our suggestion is that we start shipping this guy from province to province, because if he ever manages to fill all the potholes in Stellarton, we can find plenty for him in the next town down the road.
Free ride
It can be tough finding the money to buy a bike when you’ve got a young family, and that’s the story for Justin Doiron, of Summerside, PEI. Doiron wanted to get a motorcycle to ride this summer, but with cash tight, he ended up posting an online ad asking for a low-priced motorcycle that he could afford, no more than $500. The reply he got surprised him. Robert Durber, from New Minas, Nova Scotia, sent him a note saying he had a 2007 Honda Shadow Spirit 750 with low mileage that he’d part with for a very low price. Durber was demanding … a kitty litter box.
Why the unusual swap? Durber was downsizing, and wanted his much-loved bike to go on to someone else who would take good care of it. He’d seen Doiron’s ad, did some digging, and decided he was the kind of good guy who deserved the motorcycle, as Doiron had previously had a litter box for sale online. He thought his rescue cat had died, and he no longer needed it. Durber saw this ad. Turned out the rescue cat decided to return to Doiron, and he ended up with two other rescues as well, and this all further convinced Durber that Doiron was the kind of rider he wanted to give his bike to.
Durber told the Journal-Pioneer that “I wanted to make sure he was the right person – a family man – that puts others above himself.” Does that mean Doiron is now going to have to ride around all summer doing good deeds on the bike, like the star of Along Came Bronson? We’ll keep an eye on the headlines, and let you know. Maybe he could team up with Stellarton’s pothole hero, and they could travel from town to town fixing roads.
Fast fisticuffs
Now that the old tough-guy days of the NHL are gone, replaced by half-hearted posturing and tickle fights after the whistle, hard-nosed Canadian sports fans will have to get their share of hot-blooded fighting elsewhere. But what sport to turn to, in search of epic beatdowns? Surely not MMA, as that’s mostly about sweaty dudes humping each other around the octagon. Nope, what they REALLY need to watch is roadracing, specifically from the country of Costa Rica. See the video below for proof:
Tough landing
Ever examine your frame welds on your pre-ride checkup? Maybe you should, at least if you’re racing MX.
