PITTSFIELD -- You can’t miss them.

There are two teenagers -- one on the north end and one on the south end of Wahconah Street, looking out into the neighborhood.

The one teenage boy looking over his right shoulder wearing a black and red checked backpack is by the bridge outside of Pittsfield Cemetery. this image plastered to a billboard has multicolored lettering on it that states: "Totally Punk, Totally Free."

Down the road, looking out over Ronnie’s Harley-Davidson shop and Wahconah Package & Variety on Wilson Street is another young man in a striped shirt with a message next to him: "Totally cool, Totally Free."

The billboard signs are part of a public service announcement campaign called "Totally Free Berkshires: no Drinking, no Drugs, no way," which was launched by the Pittsfield Prevention Partnership in may 2009.

Created by Fairbrother & Company, a marketing agency from Chatham, N.Y., the signs feature images of local teens who are portrayed as choosing to remain "totally free" of substances and at the same time are totally comfortable with who they are.

This week, the partnership has launched two online surveys -- one for students and one for community members and parents -- at Totally FreeBerkshires.org to evaluate the campaign to understand how the campaign is perceived in the community.

On Tyler Street, a teenage girl with a "Totally Chill"

slogan next to her head sits above a plaza that’s home to Hot Tomatoes Pizza and Mimi’s Closet, a consignment shop. Nicole Elser, an employee at Mimi’s, said she’s definitely noticed the billboard.

Though she’s not sure if it’s effective, she said it’s in a good location.

"Everyone stops at the traffic light out there and looks around, and there’s a lot of neighborhood kids that walk by here," she said.

Karen Cole, coordinator of the PPP, said the survey results will determine whether the group will continue to market this campaign. she said the more input, the better.

"It will help us see whether we want to build on that theme or whether it missed the mark," she said.

To take the survey: Visit www.totallyfreeberkshires.org. those who complete the survey will have the opportunity to register in a drawing for a Target store gift card.

Survey to ask if billboards are working

How much does it cost to rebuild a Harley Davidson Motorcycle?

Constance Dixon was the driver of a car which knocked a motorcycle rider off his Harley-Davidson resulting in his left leg being amputated below the knee.

JOHN Baskett had his left leg amputated below the knee after he was knocked off his Harley-Davidson motorcycle on Glenella Road.

He spent one month in hospital and had to undergo nine months of rehabilitation and physiotherapy.

The loss of the limb has forced the 56-year-old to give up his passion for motorcycling.

With an artificial limb, he cannot control the foot pedals and safely handle the motorcycle.

He’s had to buy an automatic car so he can drive with one foot.

And although the crash happened in July last year, he still feels pain in his leg and can only use his artificial limb for about four hours before he has to rest.

A boilermaker at Farleigh Mill, he has been unable to work for the last 10 months and has not been receiving any welfare benefits, preferring to live on his personal savings.

Mr Baskett was driving south along the road at 4.45pm last July 2, doing about 50 to 60kmh, when Constance Dixon drove out from the driveway of a business.

The front bumper bar of her vehicle was ripped off. The motorcycle ended up about 30 metres down the road, leaving gouge and scratch marks in the bitumen.

When police arrived Ms Dixon was still seated in her car, in shock, and she told officers: “I just didn’t see him.”

There was moderate to heavy traffic flow on the road at the time.

Both the motorcycle and car were seized for mechanical inspection and both were cleared of any defects.

Ms Dixon, 49, pleaded guilty in the Mackay Magistrate’s Court yesterday to driving without due care and attention.

Exhibits included 20 photos of the crash scene, a diagram of the area and aerial photos of the scene.

Sentencing was adjourned to a date in April to allow Ms Dixon to do a defensive-driving course.

Man loses leg in crash

Belt Drives Ltd.

A top priority is checking your battery.

"After sitting all winter, if they haven't had a trickle charge, a lot of the time, they're batteries are down. they may need to slow charge them and sometimes they have to replace those, " says Fink Harley Davidson co-owner, Julie Brown.

It's also a good idea to monitor your tire pressure, oil, and fluid levels, and Brown says you should probably take it easy while driving on the roads too.

"There's still a lot of cinders out on the roads. There's still a lot of salt. There's a lot of grim on the road. be really careful in the corners and things with the cinders. It gets easy to lose control, " says Brown.

That salt could also ruin the chrome on your motorcycle, so Brown suggests washing it more frequently during the first couple months of spring.

Nice Weather Bringing out Motorcycles

Anyway, back to my story. I remember one biker in particular that was easy to match up to his bike. He was an older buy who looked like a mountain man with a huge long beard and everything he had on had fringe on it. Guess what? so did his bike!

There are many accessories that you can get to customize your motorcycle and make it more unique and original so that it doesn’t have that straight off the showroom clinical look to it. I don’t know about you, but the whole reason to own a Harley is to stand out from everyone else on the little rice rockets! You may have other reasons. You may want to add an accessory to your bike because it fits with you and your taste or for practical or functional needs like a luggage rack or a windshield.

Thank God that everyone has different tastes in choosing ways to customize their Harley. if not they would still all look the same and not only would it be self defeating but a waste of money as well.
Some people opt for minimal customization on their bike and others go all out. there really is no right or wrong, you just do what is right for you. after all it is your bike and your personality. Heck, I just saw one the other night that had blue neon lights all in the motor, it looked cool but I don’t know that I would do it.

When it comes to deciding on how to choose accessories for your Harley, I would suggest that you decide on what you want out of your bike. Sit back and have a look at yourself. what kind of biker are you anyway?

If you are the speed demon show off type that wants everyone to see how fast his bike is you may want to look at getting your engine rebuilt for increased horsepower. You can never go wrong with a lot of Harley chrome either, that just says Harley and right when you think you have enough of chrome, you find some more in that motorcycle accessory catalog.

Almost every Harley Davidson motorcycle owner at some time or another has thought about adding an accessory to their bike. it isn’t very often you see a stock Harley Davidson! Don’t let yours be one.

Gregg Hall is a consultant for online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida. get reviews on motorcycle gear and accessories at http://www.motorcyclegearandaccessories.com

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Some Ways To Make Your Harley Match Your Personality

For Sale:
The Sparkster - 1979 Harley Davidson Sportster Custom Conversion

This Sportster has been custom converted to a totally battery-electric vehicle, using an energy rate of 100 watt-hours per mile. That's roughly the energy equivalent of 300 miles per gallon! Clean, quiet, and powerful! about a penny a mile to operate. Electric motors feature an amazing torque curve!

• Briggs and Stratton Permanent Magnet DC Motor Etec 24-72V -
• Alltrax 7234 programmable motor controller
• 5 Sealed, (spill-proof) lead acid, 12.00 Volt, 55 AH batteries
• 60 volt system
• Transmission-less chain drive
• Charger included - plugs into standard outlet
• 35 MPH top speed - great for in-town use
• 25 mile range per charge
• Acceleration similar to original gasoline design

Custom conversion was completed in may 2009, and about 350 miles were put on the bike since then. Motor and controller both support a 72 volt system, so cycle speed and range could be increased by adding one additional 12V battery.

Total invested in conversion project was $3500. only asking $2500, obo.
Specs on this cycle can also be seen at:
Mike Mangan's 1979 Harley Davidson Sportster

Please contact Mike Mangan at ebikemike@yahoo.com
with any questions. Please let him know where you heard about the cycle from.

Here are a few photos:
MobileMe Gallery


Please note that when the photos were taken, the seat was removed to bette show off the electric motor. Also the cycle got a paint jub since the early photos.
Here are some more recent photos at another vehicle show.



A few more photos are also available on Flickr.

For Sale: Electric Harley-Davidson Sportster - Fuel Economy ...

where to buy harley davidson wedding picture frames?

A few miles away, down the road, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper sees him from an overpass and gives chase. once the rider glimpses the trooper, he maxes out at a stupefying 186 m.p.h., before exiting I-95, taking a spill and getting caught. "Do you need fire-rescue before you go to jail?" Trooper Y. Segui asks him. "No, no I'm fine," the rider says.

That extraordinary scene, captured last year by the rider's own helmet-mounted camera - the video was confiscated as evidence and made public by authorities - is even more extraordinary because it actually ended with an arrest. Usually, the police are no match for the racing bikes - known on the street as "crotch rockets."

As if rules-averse Florida didn't already have some of the nation's most dangerous drivers - more pedestrians are killed there each year than in any other state - now it's dealing with the rising popularity of Mad Max–like high-speed motorcycles. The rogue bikes are a particular bane in South Florida, where the weather is warm year-round and many of the roads are so flat and straightaway that they can easily be turned into a racetrack. Florida motorcycle crashes have been up in recent years - from 8,990 in 2006 to 9,618 in 2008, when state legislators responded with a tough new anti-speeding law - and law-enforcement officials say crotch rockets are a prime contributor. they worry the problem will get worse in the bad economy, since motorcycles (which most riders buy new but end up tinkering with to generate more power) are a lot cheaper than cars. (See pictures of the evolution of Harley-Davidson.)

But the trend is also fueled - as the video confiscated by the highway patrol suggests - by an apparent competition among riders to post the wildest speed and stunt videos on YouTube. And if it involves successfully eluding the police, all the better. "The more cops that are on you, the better rider you have to be to get away," Segui says. "If you get caught, you're not a great rider." in the case of the arrest that Segui made, even getting thrown in jail didn't seem to matter to the 19-year-old rider, who did not have a driver's license, let alone a motorcycle license. "He said, 'The risk, it's worth it,' " Segui recalls. "He said that out of 30 times, if he gets caught once, that's not bad odds."

Beyond the risk to the bikers, drivers sharing the road with the daredevils are also in peril, law-enforcement officials say. Drivers can change lanes having no idea that a racing bike is about to appear - and tragedy can easily strike. At first, the buzzing of an approaching high-speed motorcycle sounds like a gnat near your ear, then it suddenly becomes loud and threatening. Segui remembers a woman who heard that noise and jerked her steering wheel in the opposite direction, jumping a curb and crashing.

Still, it's the bikers who usually face the worst injuries. Crash scenes involving racing bikes usually cover a large area compared with other accidents because helmets, shoes and body parts are thrown everywhere, he said. "I've never seen a crash at speeds higher than 100 that people have walked away from," he said. "I don't even like talking about it. it is graphic, graphic, graphic." it doesn't help that Florida repealed a mandatory helmet law for motorcyclists a decade ago. there were more than 500 Florida motorcyclist deaths in 2008 - compared with 22 in 1999, the year before the law was shelved. (See pictures of the world's most expensive motorcycles.)

Two years ago the Florida legislature imposed a $1,000 fine for anyone caught driving 50 m.p.h. or more above the speed limit. The second violation results in a $2,500 penalty, with the driver's or rider's license revoked for a year; a third means $5,000 and loss of the license for 10 years. State representative Carlos Lopez-Cantera, a Miami Republican who sponsored the bill, can't say yet whether the measure has worked. but he concedes that for many crotch-rocket riders, "there's no law that's going to stop them from lavishly exceeding speed limits.

Highway troopers can only do so much, since chasing crotch rockets on busy roads and highways is often not an option. "The supervisor has to weigh every possible liability that he can before he allows that to continue on," says Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Lieutenant Tim Frith of Palm Beach County. He says the common speed of racing bikes there is 120 to 130 m.p.h. Lieutenant Alex Annunziato of the highway patrol in Miami says they have busted repeat violators by flying helicopters and tracking the bikes until they stop. "The problem is that takes a lot of resources," he says.

Lopez-Cantera believes the problem will continue until the racing-bike industry takes steps to limit who can buy the bikes. A recent effort to force buyers to have a license expressly for motorcycles before purchasing a racing bike, for example, was successfully stifled in large part by industry lobbyists. "I don't see where the industry can control the consumer," says Carrington Lloyd III, who owns Greater Yamaha in West Palm Beach and says he supports the law. "You can feed anybody as much knowledge as you want, but they're going to do what they want to do."

Lloyd used to own racing bikes, and he confesses to hitting speeds of 130 m.p.h. on empty, straight roads. He no longer does it, he says, because he has a family. "I know how I am - I have to go fast, you know, and pop wheelies," he says. "I have family and kids. It's not worth it."

Lloyd still acknowledges the lure of the racing bike. And he says that if he sells 60 of the bikes in a month, he knows that 10 to 15 of those will be involved in a crash, with the owners coming in to his business for repairs - or worse, with new widows or other bereaved family members wanting to sell the ill-fated bikes for parts. "You're buying that bike for that reason - somebody's not coming in and buying a sports bike to go putt around town," he says. but if the bikers won't rein themselves in, Florida lawmakers may eventually be forced to.

See TIME's Florida covers.

See the 50 worst cars of all time.

View this article on Time.com

Florida Crotch Rockets: Racing Motorcycles a New Menace

Instead, the event will take place solely at Thunder Mountain Harley-Davidson, 4250 Byrd Drive, just west of Interstate 25. This announcement comes on the heels of speculation that the holiday event would move to other locations in Northern Colorado.

The sheer volume of attendees for the event prompted discussions between Engaging Loveland, Thunder Mountain and The Ranch staff with the city of Loveland.

However, all parties decided that moving the event to downtown Loveland would not be feasible and have decided that hosting it in one location was in the best interest for the attendees, as well as the vendors. The events Web site, www.thunderintherockies.com says that about 58,000 motorcycle enthusiasts attend the four-day event, which begins the Friday night before Labor Day.

Todd Erdmann, owner of Thunder Mountain Harley-Davidson, said in a statement, We are scheduling all of the events that people have come to expect for Thunder in the Rockies at Thunder Mountain Amphitheatre. We believe keeping all that encapsulates the event within the confines of one venue adds to the experience for patrons.

Bob Herrfeldt, director of The Ranch, said, The efforts of patrons, sponsors, vendors and most importantly the residents of Northern Colorado in putting on Thunder in the Rockies has been tremendous over the past few years. The Ranch staff has enjoyed hosting the event with Thunder Mountain; however, we are now turning our attention towards bringing other regional events to our campus.

The Ranch, Larimer County Fairgrounds and Events Complex, located in Loveland, opened in 2003. it is owned and operated by Larimer County.

Thunder in the Rockies to make a move in 2010