Harley-Davidson News Vine - February 22 Edition

NOTE:  Before jumping into the News Vine, I wanted to give a heads up to those of you that subscribed to my column when I was the "Dallas Motorcycle Examiner".  Strange but true, I am back handling the Dallas motorcycle scene; however, that column has been assigned a new URL so please subscribe to the new link to stay current with the Dallas motorcycle scene news:  http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-38325-Dallas-Motorcycle-Examiner.

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Harley-Davidson News Vine

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Kudos to the California Highway Patrol for recently having a week-long motorcycle safety and education effort and bikers in and around the Inland Empire area of the state are hoping this initiative will be held more often. 

Lester Viek is GM of Skip fordyce Harley-Davidson in Riverside and commented, "...Anything that can make things safer for us and our customers is great."   He became aware of the campaign while he rode his motorcycle along Highway 91 in Riverside last week. He saw an electronic sign displaying the words: "LOOK TWICE. SHARE THE ROAD WITH MOTORCYCLES."

The message was posted statewide on what are commonly called "Amber Alert signs."

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MAD Maps has joined forces with Abalta Technologies to launch an iPhone application designed specifically for Harley-Davidson riders.  The app allows you to download electronic versions of scenic loops right to your iPhone. Users can purchase their rides from a library of more than 1000 routes in the continental U.S. Rides are searchable by current location, city or state.

Being able to do all this from an iPhone is a convenience to riders because they can download a map at a moment's notice, without having to plan ahead. In addition, downloading maps on an iPhone is an ideal alternative to the traditional paper map and cost an insanely affordable $0.99 each.  Also, you can easily find the nearest Harley-Davidson dealership in case they want to make a stop to pick up a dealer t-shirt.

Another sweet perk is that the app shows you the nearest Best Western location and provides you with a special 10% discount when you book the Harley-Davidson rate. Riders can also receive more rewards and incentives when you sign up for Ride Rewards, Best Western's free rewards program for Harley-Davidson riders.

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Harley-Davidson, Inc. has announced that its Board of Directors approved a cash dividend of $0.10 per share for the first quarter of 2010. The dividend is payable March 5, 2010 to the holders of record of the Company's common stock on Feb. 23, 2010.  (NYSE:  HOG)

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Wisconsin politicians appear to be riding towards passing a bill to make Harley-Davidson the official motorcycle of the state and the momentum leaves a web-based complaint group who have lobbied to kill the bill because they think motorcycles are too loud seemingly drowned out by the legislative enthusiasm for Harley-Davidson.

When the twenty Wisconsin politicians sponsored bill 596 in December requiring the Wisconsin Blue Book to list Harley-Davidson as the state's honorary bike, they most-likely thought it would be a feel-good nod to a iconic motorcycle manufacturer battered by the struggling economy.

But an anti-noise advocacy group had their own opinion of the bill and the people who ride motorcycles. In fact, the self-appointed noise police list motorcycles as the fourth item on their list of sound polluting offenders.

'Noise Free America is dedicated to fighting noise pollution, especially from boom cars, car alarms, leaf blowers, and motorcycles' the groups website states.

The organization were so upset by the Wisconsin's legislature's effort to recognize the Milwaukee motorcycle manufacturer, it awarded them a "Noisy Dozen" award on December 1st. Given to major noise polluters, recent recipients have been the National Rifle Association, loud TV commercials, leaf-blowers and the Assemblies of God, Appalachian District, in Ghent 'for cranking out amplified music for hours on end'.

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