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.
Next stop, Bollywood
We’re not quite sure what the rider is doing in this video from Bangladesh – standing on the pegs, and gyrating around wildly for a whole seven minutes. It would appear that he’s doing his morning exercises which seem to be important, as the throttle is locked and he won’t stop for anything, including sitting down and grabbing the bars to navigate. It’s an interesting way to keep the blod flowing but we suspect that some of that may end up on the pavement before too long.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1klHyUC93Q
Rallies gone wild
It sounded like a good idea at first; a 7-year old Idaho boy with cancer wanted to participate in a motorcycle rally, so local bikers got together to make his wish come true.
Amidst the sunshine, roses, and lollipops, though, trouble started to brew. Nearly 400 bikers showed up at the rally, including a bunch of riders from the Idaho Falls-based Brother Speed outlaw motorcycle club, along with riders from the Pocatello’s Empties club. Well, things went downhill when the brothers of Brother Speed started beating on the brothers of Pocatello’s Empties in a rather uncharitable act.
The good news is that the charity function did raise over $6,000, but the aftermath of the fight left a man with serious head and facial injuries and broken bones; another man supposedly broke up the fight by firing a 9mm pistol in the air, and suffered minor injuries as well.
By all accounts the 7-year old got out uninjured but is now a little more careful on what he wishes for.
Story: CBS News
Into the wild blue yonder
Last year, Chip Yates came out of nowhere to dominate the headlines in the world of electric motorcycle racing.
Then, he retired as abruptly as he came on the scene. So what’s he up to now?
As it turns out, Yates has his sights set on greater horizons – he’s left the two-wheeled world to start pioneering electric flight. He’s working on a plan to recreate Charles Lindhberg’s famous non-stop New York-Paris flight in the Spirit of St. Louis, except he’s planning to do it in a battery-powered plane.
Yates won’t be able to replicate Lindbergh’s exact flight plan, due to airfield changes, but he’s not wimping out and flying a shorter route. Oh no, Yates is going to fly a further distance instead. And he’s not going to take advantage of the jet stream either – Lindbergh didn’t use it because he didn’t know about it, and Yates is going to follow his example.
The big question we have is this: If Yates’s flight doesn’t go as planned, will he return to motorcycling? There are plenty of 1920s-era two-wheeled records waiting to be matched there …
Story source: Wired
Daredevil toddler
China may have to consider new learner laws for motorcycles, after a three-year old took his toy motorcycle out for a spin through busy city streets this week.
While most three-year-olds are being told not to play in traffic, this young daredevil escaped his babysitting grandfather’s watchful eye to ride the 1.3 miles across the city in order to visit his mother, at her workplace at KFC. Upon discovering the child missing, grandpa searched the city desperately for him, eventually finding him under the care of a policeman who’d suspected that the rider may not be qualified to be on the streets.
The child didn’t think it was a big deal as he’d already learned how to cross the street.
Ride to live
Usually when you see someone wearing a “Ride to live, live to ride” T-shirt, you can take it with a grain of salt – many of those guys wouldn’t ride if it was raining.
Here’s a video of a guy who actually deserves one of those shirts. He’s found a way to keep riding, even though he’s in a wheelchair.
