American-V Blog

Riding back from Ludlow on Thursday up the A49, approaching Wem, there was a bloke changing a car tyre on a fast blind bend. He was wearing a Hi-Viz vest, and as a result I saw him clearly and was alerted to the potential hazard.

And it made me realise something VERY important: something that I've always known but have never been able to voice coherently.

If every motorcyclist were forced to wear a Hi-Viz jacket, I wouldn't have paid that poor sod as much attention, and nor would the heavy wagons using that route. A flash of Hi-Viz over the hedgerow wouldn't have said 'warning', but would have said motorcyclist, and I might not have been alerted to the danger he was in, or that he represented to me as an obstacle.

The message of 'Hands off our personal freedom' is a good vote winner among motorcyclists, preaching to the converted, but it will cut no ice with a safety lobby who is determined to protect us from ourselves. They couldn't give a toss about us except as accident statistics and would legislate us off the road for their personal convenience if they could, so we need to point out the perils that compulsion would represent to others.

The message we need to get to the debate is that compulsory Hi-Viz jackets on motorcycles compromises the safety of EVERY pedestrian or stranded motorist - in fact it undermines the advantage of Hi-Viz jackets for anyone who is outside their vehicle on the road network (and is increasingly required to wear a hi-viz jacket in EU countries to alert others to the danger they present), because:

"A HI-VIZ JACKET NEEDS TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH A STATIONARY OR SLOW MOVING OBJECT, FOR IT TO FULFIL IT'S DUAL PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF PROTECTING THE WEARER AND ALERTING OTHER ROAD USERS TO THEIR PRESENCE."

and

"AS SOON AS HI-VIZ IS ASSOCIATED WITH MOTORCYCLES TRAVELLING AT THE LEGAL SPEED LIMIT, ANYTHING THAT IS STATIONARY OR SLOW MOVING IS NO LONGER PROTECTED BY THEIR CONSPICUITY AID"

Simple messages that play to the legislators. The downside of taking that course of action will be that cars and motorcycles will need to carry hi-viz jackets for drivers, riders and passengers to wear when they are stationery, but that is an idea that has some merit, and having been at the side of the road with a dead bike in the dark I personally wouldn't object to: such a jacket could be very lightweight because it wouldn't need to be robust enough to stand-up to 70mph winds, so could fit in a tiny compression bag.

It's also worth mentioning that hi-viz jackets flap about, adversely affect fuel economy and can actually represent a threat to the motorcyclist.

More positive, pro-active and constructive that  a dozen or more bloody stupid piecemeal go-slows on the motorway network wearing "Hand Off Bikes" t-shirts, which will say nothing to anyone unless MAG has got something spectacular up their sleeve that will glue them all together in the mind of the public.

Breaking news from Cyril Huze:

I'm up to my neck in deadlines, and the release from Polaris speaks for itself, but I can't see this being anything but good news for both Indian and Victory, and all of us who enjoy American motorcycles.

Both companies will presumably maintain their current course - Indian couldn't build the Vision any more than Victory could build a Chief - and it will force Harley to raise their game, because this is amounts to serious competition, especially if they sell Indians in Victory dealerships and vice versa.

It will be interesting to see what happens to their respective manufacturing bases.

An interesting new exhibition opens at Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry this weekend, showcasing the history of Harley-Davidson motorcycles in 34 carefully selected bikes.

From early, single-cylinder beginnings through war and racing, technologies and lifestyle, to the modern day and a room showcasing the current state of motorcycle customising, the exhibition sets out to give visitors an opportunity to see iconic motorcycles up-close and personal, nicely laid out in an exceptional space within a building that has plenty of heritage of its own, with plenty of space round each bike to really appreciate it, and the journey that Harley-Davidson as a company has made.

Each bike is set in the context of its time, to give an idea of the age it represents, with a few singled out for a full diorama treatment, notably the WLA45 and ELC Knucklehead outfit, and a 1948 Panhead that was one of the bikes taken to the Arctic by W&W Cycles – an epic voyage that is played out in a small video theatre.

See the full story in American-V 46.

The exhibition will run for six months, with some bikes - all loaned by private owners - being switched after three months, and will make an excellent destination over the summer, but make sure you allow a full day for the visit, because it's at the heart of a museum that covers all aspects of technical history from full sized steam engines down to the minutiae of the things that have shaped social and industrial history.

While down at the California Dreamin' pre-event party, we got the chance to swing a leg across Battistini's 'production bobber' - the Venti - and it would have rude not to.

Read all about it in AmV46, out in early May 2011.

Sorry, was in Stratford-on-Avon recently and some of it must've rubbed off ... though not much, obviously.

Where is American-V 42?

Sitting in my out-tray, while the one of the biggest news stories of our own history takes shape.

Simply put, we've gone about as far as we can as a bi-monthly publication and we're looking very seriously into the viability of going monthly, because of impending and imminent changes to the distribution channel, and I needed to get my head round that without requiring the services of men with long sleeved jackets.

You're all bright people and there's merit in explaining the thought process in exactly the same way as we approach a motorcycle, so if you're sitting comfortably?

Why now? 
Because WH Smiths – the country's leading newsagents – are changing a few ground rules and we need to make sure we can accommodate them. It will cost us money to stay in WH Smiths, in the form of a promotion across a number of issues, and we need to make sure we can cover that with increased sales.

We've had high level discussions with our distributors and we know that we can – we've actually increased our year-on-year sales through WH Smiths, which is very encouraging – and have put things in place to increase availability across the independent sector too, but the thing that keeps coming up is frequency.

The cynical among us – and I have been that cynic in the past – might construe that we are trying to squeeze more money out of our existing and loyal readers but the reality is actually simpler: too many potential readers have no idea that the magazine exists, or just don't see it on the shelves of their newsagents. They are the people whose attention we need to grab: we don't so much want to sell more magazines as much as sell magazines to more people.

Why monthly?

To be more visible on the newsagents shelves. So that on the first Thursday of the month, every month, you will be sure of a new issue of American-V being on the shelf: no wondering whether one is due this month or the next. And equally importantly, so that on the previous day there will have been the old issue keeping its place warm – unless they've all been sold – as opposed to bi-monthlies which are typically removed from the shelves after six weeks.

We've looked at eight and ten issues a year, but frankly that just gets messy because it's almost impossible to let people know when to expect it to hit the shelves, and confusion is the last thing we need – quite apart from the havoc it'd wreak on subscriptions.

It will make events coverage more timely, and it will reduce the percentage of events coverage in any single issue because while we will cover more events: more events in total, but fewer pages per issue.

It will give us twice as many editorial pages per year, because we're not looking at reducing the number of pages in each issue. We will lose the perfect binding – the spine – in favour of staples for a couple of reasons, notably centre spreads and cover-mount opportunities.

We will also be able to consider putting American-V into supermarkets, because it's almost impossible – rather than just bloody expensive – to put a bi-monthly on their shelves.

How will we manage it?

Not alone. I considered cloning myself, but one of me is more than enough to inflict on the world. There will need to be other people involved to cope with the increased workload, and with different disciplines. We're talking to freelancers and to potential partners with complimentary skill-sets.

There will be no question of compromising editorial depth, photography or print quality. The advantage we've got compared to when we started is that we can show potential investors/partners what American-V actually is, rather than a vague business plan of what we hope it might become. And don't worry about what we'll fill it with because there's so much out there queueing to get in that we've got assured quality feature material for the foreseeable future: it will be great to finally get the space to commit it to paper.

It means we'll have more space for tech, for classics, for roadtests and for customs; we'll have space for dealer features, could even bring back classified ads – which work a lot better on monthlies – iof there's demand.

Is there a choice?

Yes, we could stay bi-monthly, but we'd still need to think about investment, and the return would be slower, so the deal would be less attractive.

We could come out of the newstrade completely – get into direct distribution again – but that would be a lot more risky, and I'm not sure we've got enough momentum to be able to make that work: again, the magazines that have worked using that model have been monthlies, because you really need to have built up that momentum to carry your through the transitional phase.

Exciting times, and your comments are very welcome.

It's worth noting that a lot of things we've taken for granted for years have subtly been eroded. we no longer operate to the spirit but to the letter of the law, and that combined with the 'ignorance is no defence' caveat, beloved of the prosecution council, means that you've got to have your wits about you more than ever.

If you think you have got a month's grace to tax your vehicle before you're in trouble, think again: you never did beyond an informal postal delay and now the DVLA will fine you if your vehicle is not currently taxed, even if you can tax it retrospectively to the beginning of the month and thereby ensure continuity of the service, and there would seem to be no right of appeal.

If you've got a bike that is SORN'd, and you are expecting to get a reminder off DVLA to tell you when it's expired, don't hold your breath: they're not obliged to do so, apparently, and of course you threw away the confirmation letter when it landed. Be aware that a failure to keep SORN up to date will lead to a fine equivalent to a year's roadtax, and there would seem to be no right of appeal.

And don't assume that the whizzy new computerised MOT system has your details correct. While you're in checking the status of your vehicles - and I recommend you do it, and do it today - you'd be advised to check the MoT status using the site hooked into the central database used by DVLA and the police. If it's wrong, you will be unable to tax your vehicle on-line so go to your original test station with the certificate, they will resend the data and that will bring it up to date. I daren't imagine what would happen in a roadside check situation - quite apart from giving the police legitimate grounds to stop you - but I suspect it would be messy.

To check everything you need to know, follow the links below:

To check the road tax/SORN status of a vehicle - you'll need reg number and manufacturer.

To check the MoT status and history - you will need your V5 or an MoT certificate

Sadly there isn't access to the existing centralised insurance database to make sure that's held accurately, but by the time we've finished with the buggers there will be.

The patches have arrived, and they look brilliant: a fitting addition to the stunning badge and available now from our e-shop or the next issue of the magazine.

Hey look at this: it's only taken six years, and they'll be followed by patches in a few weeks.

Resplendent in red white and blue, we're really pleased how well they've come out, and their top-hat fixings look like they'll keep them secure. And we're going to have to re-order soon, the rate at which they're going - and that's before we've put them in the mag!

Only £3.50 each including P&P: see www.american-v.co.uk and follow links to e-shop for more details.

Just for a change, I thought I'd start with the cover and work forwards ... okay, so I'm really really pleased with the cover, and had to show someone!

That's the good news. The bad news, is that I'm deferring publication for a week because we're waiting for parts from the US for the long term Fat Bob, and we've not seen the Vision yet, due to technicalities with SVA and the revised lighting rig that will give it amber indicators that are far enough apart to satisfy VOSA's requirements.

But, I can tell you that we've got a couple of Street Bobs - a quickspin on the 2010 model and a heavily reworked former 88-incher - a roadtest on the XL883N Iron, a race report from Oulton Park's inaugural round of the Henderson XR1200 Trophy, an XR1200 Cafe Racer, a classic bitsa Bobber that'll make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, a quick round-up of three of the official dealer-based builders who are pushing the boundaries from within the Harley network, S&S upgrades, a hatful of disparate events and news, reviews, the Righteous Brothers and a host of other stuff.

Oh, and the announcement of sew-on patches and enamel metal pin-badges!

Can't wait?

Sadly you'll have to, but only for an extra week.


PS. The eagle eyed among you might have spotted that the small pics running across the bottom are from AmV39. Well done. What did you expect at this early stage?

Readers' Rides with a difference: you do all the work and we let you.

You've got to be on Facebook - because there aren't many other opportunities to let you post your own pics - but that does mean it'll be a familiar interface to most.

See The American-V Bike Park for more details.