April 29, 2010

How To: Curb Your Enthusiasm

This post sails solidly through the gates of the macabre and may be disturbing for some readers. To help you decide whether that means you, I'll start by mentioning that the gentleman on the motorcycle below is not alive. The good news—and this is really the only piece of good news—is that he didn't die on a motorcycle.

After 22-year-old David Morales Colón was murdered in his San Juan, Puerto Rico neighborhood last week, his family chose to remember the young man by opting out of the traditional casket-style wake and having the Marin Funeral Home—apparently no stranger to unusual requests—display Colón atop his Repsol Replica Honda F4i. The video below, posted yesterday by The Huffington Post, provides a few different views and close-ups of the arrangement. Depending on your viewpoint, it's either an interesting tribute to the love between man and machine (and to the bizarre skills of morticians) or the kind of taxidermy your Thursday could easily have done without.

April 22, 2010

What Washes Up: Scooter Flotsam

I spend too way much time trolling the world wide web looking at what equates to basically useless websites. I try to justify this procrastination by telling myself there's inspiration in the images, though I typically find that the results only inspire me to run from my laptop. (Based on the some of the emails I receive, it would appear I'm not the only fellow with such an illness, which makes me feel a bit better.) What I'm trying to say is, Here—have some customized Japanese scooters. —Nick McCabe

April 16, 2010

Framed: Picture Painted at Road Atlanta

There are nine framed photos hanging on the walls of Road Atlanta's media center. Eight of them, not surprisingly, are of race cars; the remaining shot is of a certain now-infamous Suzuki GSXR-1000. Who's the pilot? It's practically a rhetorical question. After all, while Suzuki's factory team obviously had more than one famous rider, Mat Mladin scored a record fourteen wins here at the Braselton circuit—Ben Spies logged just one. And that's why ... oh. —LCA

April 16, 2010

More Than Words: CN Editor Fundraising For Emma

I've talked this up on our website and Facebook page several times already, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it here: Cycle News editor Paul Carruthers is flying to Boston tomorrow in preparation for a Monday assault on the Boston Marathon—an event he's turned into a fundraiser for 6-year-old Emma Foley, who's afflicted with a rare, heartbreaking genetic disease that affects about 1 in 10,000 girls. In addition to being a beautiful kid, Emma is the daughter of someone who's worked in the motorcycle industry for many years, becoming a part of many of our lives along the way. Please visit Paul and Emma's fundraising page and consider making a donation, no matter the size. The doctors and scientists working on Rett Syndrome are making real progress, but increased funding and awareness are vital. —LCA

April 14, 2010

Speed Guitar: Erik Buell Releases Classic Rock CD

Welcome to the new RRX Staff Blog—a chatty catch-all for the strange, the awesome, the funny, the interesting, and the esoteric; in short, for news that doesn't fit in our features section but deserves more than a stuffy press release. What better way to kick it off than with news that mold-breaker, scene-shaker Erik Buell and his band, The Thunderbolts, have released a ten-track classic rock album on Rat Pack Records that's now available for pre-order?

Now comes Erik Buell's Anthem ... produced & engineered by long-time friend & noted musician Mike Stone (Speed X / Ex Queensryche guitarist). Anthem can be described as a unique blend of Rock, Blues, and Classic Rock. Showing influences from Hendrix, ZZ Top, AC/DC and more, Erik, (along with his band “The Thunderbolts”), deliver a musical storyboard to the events that have shaped his life. Erik describes this new release as something inspired by both his love of speed and his struggle to excel.

Best of all for Buell fans are Anthem's non-traditional pre-order packages, one of which (#3) includes the CD, a limited-edition Erik Buell Racing t-shirt (with Thunderbolt's Pegasus logo on back), and a personal thank-you phone call from Erik himself!

Visit Rat Pack's website for more details. —LCA

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