Four-Tee-Five not a Typical Motorcycle
Friday, August 29, 2008
The lanky vehicle isn't a run-of-the-mill motorcycle: Five seats and bars atop a quartet of vintage 1950s Harley-Davidson 45-cubic-inch motorcycle engines.
But for one Shawano County business owner, the unique motorcycle is not only a product of a desire to take on challenging projects, but it's also a tribute to the 105-year history of Harley-Davidson Motorcycles.
"I didn't even know I was going to build this four-engine motorcycle," said Stephen "Doc" Hopkins, owner of Doc's Harley-Davidson, near Bonduel. "I knew I wanted to build something out of old flathead motors — something told me to do that. Then one night it struck me to put four of them in a row."
He considered putting eight people on the motorcycle, but decided that would make the bike cumbersome.
"I started with a pile of iron … and just started cutting and bending, welding and making the frame," Hopkins said earlier this week, standing in the dealership's shop with the motorcycle in front of him. "I had a pile of old motors I'd bought at a swap meet in … Pennsylvania, and I started tearing those apart and rebuilding them."
The motorcycle was built in about 17 days. Hopkins said he wanted to get it done in time for the 105th anniversary parade in Milwaukee.
"I gave Willie G. Davidson, the grandson of the original Davidsons, not really a promise, but my best shot that I was going to get this thing ready for his parade," he said. "I did it, and that's what drove me to do a lot of it."
The motorcycle is heading for Milwaukee today and will be part of the anniversary parade. Hopkins said the bike will be displayed at the dealership afterward.
Plans for the Four-Tee-Five, as the motorcycle is named, were sketched out on a pair of white pieces of paper with pen. Hopkins opens the folded pages showing a design that looks like the finished product.
Written on one of the plans are the words: "Yes … We can do it!"
Hopkins said that phrase was written before building got under way.
"I just enjoy building things, and people like to stop in here to see what's next," the Algoma native said. "I like the challenge. I didn't do this to become famous or anything, I just did it because I enjoy the challenge."
Hopkins added a reserve fuel tank, a small Hamm's tapper keg, to augment the three gallons of fuel stored in the frame.
Harley-Davidson is putting on a four-day 105th anniversary celebration this weekend, and expects more than 100,000 people to show up and rumble the city where the storied company is based.
The celebration, which starts today, coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Harley Owners Group, or HOG. Last year, it surpassed the 1 million-member mark and has 1,400 chapters in 135 countries.
"Just riding on two wheels is really not the point; it's really more about an emotional experience, and an experience of self-definition as well," said Mark-Hans Richer, the company's chief marketing officer.
"Harley has been around for 105 years, and we have a unique credibility and authenticity that none of our competitors can match even though they desperately try to copy us."
Hopkins, who has also raced top-fuel Harleys, has been a dealer for almost three decades.
He's seen the ups and downs of Harley — including a time in the mid-1980s when he said the company was within 20 minutes of going into receivership — and has seen his own business continue to flourish over the decades, to the point where it does $7 million to $8 million a year in sales.
Hopkins, who bought his dealership for $30,000, attributes much of the business growth to an old-school approach to customer service.
"I don't care if you're a doctor, lawyer or some Joe working in a factory; it doesn't matter who you are or what you do we treat you all the same," said Hopkins, who pointed out he is more concerned about keeping customers happy and employees working than growing the bottom line. "We bend over backward to help each person as much as we possibly can."
Aside from motorcycles sales and service and a riding school, the dealership on Wisconsin 29 also houses a classic car and motorcycle museum, a zoo, Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast and pirate ship — which Hopkins also built.
"We have to give people a reason to come to farm country," he said with a laugh. "It's a draw. It's a destination. … We want to keep this place interesting for people to come see."
Harley says it has organized 105 starting points around the nation, which feed into 25 major routes bound for Milwaukee. Thousands were expected to arrive Wednesday, a day before the celebration starts.
"Now that's a ride home," said Bill Davidson, director of motorcycle product development, on a video posted on the company's Web site.
via greenbaypressgazette — The Associated Press also contributed to this story.
Increase reported in drunk driving crashes involving motorcycles
August 28, 2008 02:37 PM
By Globe Staff
The total number of deaths in drunk driving accidents in Massachusetts edged upward in 2007, according to new federal data. And there was a worrisome footnote: The number of motorcyclists killed in such accidents, while small, rose sharply.
Total drunk driving fatalities rose from 144 in 2006 to 146 in 2007, or about 1.4 percent, according to data released by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. The number of motorcyclists killed increased from 14 to 23, a 64.3 percent jump.
Total drunk driving fatalities declined nationally from 13,491 to 12,998, or 3.7 percent. But the subset involving motorcycles increased from 1,299 to 1,431, or 10.2 percent, federal officials said.
Half the states saw increases in the numbers of motorcyclists killed, led by Virginia, which saw motorcyclists' deaths more than triple, rising from 12 to 37.
US Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters said in a statement that the national totals were good news, but the motorcycle numbers were disappointing.
Local Pastor And Ardmore Police Employee Killed In Motorcycle Accident
Updated: Sep 6, 2008 06:42 AM
The Ardmore Police Department is mourning the loss of a training manager and reserve officer, killed Wednesday. 49-year-old Robert Hightower died after his motorcycle collided with a car on 12th Avenue.
He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Hightower served in law enforcement since 1987 and was also a local pastor.
Ardmore Police's, John Randolph, says, "He was a valued member of the police department and a valued member of the City of Ardmore. He was very loyal and dedicated to his community, to his church, to his friends and people he worked with. It is going to be a great loss for The Ardmore Police Department and we send our condolences to his family."
A memorial service for Hightower will be at 2:30 Saturday afternoon at Heritage Hall in downtown Ardmore.
Father of six killed in Wyandanch motorcycle crash
BY ZACHARY R. DOWDY | zachary.dowdy@newsday.com
August 29, 2008
Frank Toney was on the brink of success, just days from opening his own urban clothing store on Wyandanch's commercial artery, when the father of six was killed in a crash on his motorcycle, police said.
Toney, 34, of Wyandanch, died Wednesday within hours of two other serious crashes on Suffolk roads. In one, a woman was killed in Ridge; in the other, a motorcycle-riding couple was thrown through a sport utility vehicle's window in Deer Park.
Suffolk County detectives said Toney was riding his 1990 Suzuki motorcycle on Cumberbach Street in Wyandanch just before 7 p.m. when he ran into a 2000 Dodge Neon driven by Martha Williams, 66, of Wyandanch, who was turning into a church parking lot.
Toney was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip at 8 p.m., police said. They said he may have been riding faster than the posted limit of 30 mph.
Williams suffered minor injuries. She was trying to enter the parking lot of Community Nazarene Church on Cumberbach Street, police said.
Toney's relatives said he was excited about opening a clothing store catering to urban styles. "This was his life dream," said Tracy Toney, one of his sisters. "He's an entrepreneur. He didn't like to work under anybody." Family members said Toney was the life of any party, a man rarely seen without a smile on his face.
"He loved life," said his aunt Rosetta Williams. "He took it one day at a time. You never saw him moping."
Toney grew up in Wyandanch, attending local schools. He had six children, ranging in age from 3 to 14.
Family Clothing Inc. was slated to open tomorrow, relatives said. It was to carry the very clothes that Toney was most comfortable wearing. "He wore them well," said another aunt, Catherine Toney. "He matched them to a T."
In another accident Wednesday, Jessica Macnevin was headed west on Route 25 near Pleasant View Road in Ridge at 10:53 p.m. when her car, a 1989 Jaguar, went off the road into woods and overturned, police said.
Relatives of Macnevin, 20, declined to comment.
A few minutes later, in Deer Park, motorcyclist Matthew Fridman, 21, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and passenger, JaeLene Chow, 20, of Deer Park, struck a sport utility vehicle and were thrown through the rear window, landing on the back seat.
Fridman was riding his 2001 Suzuki motorcycle south on Route 231, hitting a 2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara near Grand Boulevard. The Grand Vitara, driven by Giuseppe Davi, 56, of Deer Park, was making a left from northbound Route 231 onto Grand Boulevard. Davi was treated at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip for non-life-threatening injuries.
Chow was taken to Good Samaritan, where she was listed in critical condition yesterday. Fridman was airlifted to Stony Brook University Medical Center, where he was in serious condition yesterday, said hospital officials.
Motorcycle Collides With School Bus
Posted: Aug 29, 2008 05:08 PM
Updated: Sep 4, 2008 04:54 PM
A motorcyclist was seriously injured when his bike collided with a Scott County school bus.
The accident happened Thursday at Newtown and Johnson Mill Road.
A witness told LEX 18 he was waiting for the bus to turn left, but as that bus crossed the road, he heard a loud crash.
"I saw the guy come rolling across the road and land in the ditch here. I called 911 and jumped out here and did the best I could with him. He couldn't breath or anything so I had to take his helmet off, and by that time a few minutes later the ambulance got here," said witness Stanley Halcomb.
Police say the motorcyclist appeared to have serious injuries, but is expected to survive. There was one child on the bus but neither the child nor the bus driver was injured.
