Throttle Blog

Press Release:

Network Aggregates More than 300 Daily Blogs into Premier Entertainment Network

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., July 31 /PRNewswire/ — 451 Press is now the largest Blog Network with more than 300 daily blogs published on a variety of entertainment and “edutainment” related topics. Unlike social networking or blogging sites, 451 Press provides real-time, on-demand content, written by a team of award-winning professional bloggers.

Congrats!! It’s great to be a part of this great network.

Read the entire release here

Thanks for the heads up in that email, Tom.

From twoheeldrive.com referring to me:

Thing is, one sane guy with a blog speaking to his small audience of folks who agree with his point of view is not going to a) cause any miscreants to straighten up; or b) discourage rangers, cops and other authorities from punishing everybody for the crimes of a few.

Actually, my scribes reach hundreds of new readers each day via the blogs and magazines I write for, without including return readers, and without including the forums I post in that reach thousands more. I don’t just write at Throttle Blog, though it is my newest venture.

My reason for doing this is to try to get to those who are doing this sort of thing without really realizing it. Many don’t. Mostly kids. Of those that DO realize they’re doing it, we can only hope they get their rigs taken away from them.

If you’re suggesting that I simply sit down and shut up about it, you can forget it. I will continue to speak out against those who are destroying some things I enjoy: ATVs and the Outdoors. And not for me, it’s for my kids, who love riding ATVs. I don’t care if you’re a life-long ATVer or a fanatical green terrorist, if you’re in any way destroying my right to ride, your actions are not acceptable and I will be here to tell you about it.

I have reached several people so far who have seen the error in their ways. For example, on a certain ATV Forum, there was a kid who said this:

my neigbor is threatening to call the cops on me for riding on my own lawn he is mad bout his rucking trees that are between my lawn and his lawn, is it ilegal if i’m bearly close to it hes just yelling bout dirt spreading a little. i only posted in yamaha because i am riding yamaha for life

ha ha lol i invited my 4 friends over when he was not home for a little drag racing on his yard he got pissed a big deal he wa slike i’m gonna have them take it away Blah blah blah blah i was like it was not me i don’t remeber doing anything today which got him madder but ohh well hes a dick becuz he won’t get over his wife (divorced) P.S i’m gonna do it agian he has no proof of me doing it anyway hes to retarded to work a camera

Then after I had my way with him*, he changed his tune a bit…

ok Rekd about the state patrol thingy i just solved the problem for the noise and the trees, he asked if i don’t ride when hes home and i stay away from his trees. i decided well heck he is not home often and i don’t really need the part where his trees are and i only used it to leave my trail and ride in the ditch back to my house where my trail is if ur starting to think i’m riding on private property. and he said he ain’t mad at me about where i raced on his property so even if the rangers come he won’t wanna charge me with anything he just wants to let it fly. i just hope we can get along and not have any problems

*Note that it doesn’t always have to come down to exposing someone to get them to quit being a turd, but in this case, it was necessary. Here’s what I said to get him to stop being an ass…

Of all the reasons listed, I don’t see any reason for you to be on his land. If “he had a guy drive his tractor on your dad’s land”, YOU driving on HIS land is NOT legal recourse. Reporting him to the police IS. Since he called the police “10 times already”, there must be at least one police report with the LEOs there in Sobieski, Wisconsin. How hard to you think it would be for the LEOs to trace this thread back to you and charge you and your parents with criminal trespass with intent to do property damage?

Not hard at all. Especially if someone from your area reads this post and saw what you’re doing to destroy ALL of our OHV privileges, (or what few we have left, thanks to people like you), and forwarded this thread to the State Patrol, which is just a couple miles up the 41 from you.

You’ve got a lot to learn about respect AND the law. I have a feeling you will be learning quite a bit about both in very short order if you keep being a turd.

So again, if twoheeldrive is hoping I’ll quit voicing my opinion so they can more easily remove ATVs from the face of the earth, they can forget about it. If they’re trying to get nature saved, and remove the menace created by a small percentage of a very big group, I’m fighting for the same thing they are, whether they like it or not, whether they think it’s working or not.

I know it is.

It’s summer time. That means many things to many people. For those in my circle, summer usually means the end of off road season and the beginning of river and beach season. The reasoning behind this is that there’s no place to ride here in San Diego, so we have to drive to the desert, where it’s too hot during summer.

Anyway, I understand that’s probably not the case for most. So here’s a friendly reminder to get your ride tuned up. Change the oil. Lube the chain. Check the brakes and rubber and cables.

Take care of your ride and it will handle the daily abuse much better.

A friend at a CADCAM forum I moderate saw this and thought of me, so I thought I’d pass it along to you.

It’s a video of a kid in a sand rail at the dunes. He looks to be about 10ish. But he drives like very few adults I’ve seen. I know several people with built rails like this, but only a few that are able to pull wheelies like this kid.

He has talent for sure!

wheelie, dunes, kid, child, drive, sand rail, rail, sand

Suzuki has made the leap. The 2008 RM-Z450 is the first motocross bike that is fuel injected. And it’s probably just in time, considering how often some of these guys spend upside down while in the air.

After some testing, they found that there is much better roll on power and delivery. They also tuned the ports, adjusted the cam timing, increased flywheel inertia, redesigned the combustion chamber and a host of other improvements that should create a new standard for motocross.

I pilfered some specs for you:

• Overall length: 2185mm (86.0 in.)
• Overall width: 830mm (32.7 in.)
• Overall height: 1260mm (50.0 in.)
• Wheelbase: 1480mm (58.3 in.)
• Ground clearance: 350mm (13.8 in.)
• Seat height: 955mm (37.6 in.)
• Dry weight: 101.5kg (224 lbs.)
• Engine type: 4-stroke, liquid-cooled, DOHC
• Bore: 96.0 mm
• Stroke: 62.1 mm
• Displacement: 449 cm3 (cc)
• Compression ratio: 12.8:1
• Fuel system: KEIHIN FI 43mm
• Lubrication system: Suzuki Advanced Sump System
• Clutch: Wet multi-plate type
• Transmission: 5-speed constant mesh
• Primary reduction ratio: 2.625 (63/24)
• Gear ratio Low: 1.800 (27/15), 2nd: 1.471 (25/17), 3rd:
  1.235 (21/17), 4th: 1.050 (21/20), 5th: 0.909 (20/22)
• Final reduction ratio: 3.846 (50/13)
• Front suspension: SHOWA 47mm telescopic forks,
  pneumatic/coil spring, oil damped.
• Rear suspension: Swingarm, link type, SHOWA
  piggyback-reservoir shock
• Caster: 25｡30′
• Trail: 111 mm (4.4 in.)
• Front brake: Disc
• Rear brake: Disc
• Front tire size: 90/ 100-21
• Rear tire size: 120/ 80-19
• Fuel tank capacity: 6.2 L (1.6 US gal.)
• Body color: Champion Yellow No.2 (YU1)

motocross, motorcycle, off road, suzuki, RM-Z450, fuel injection

#86 Josh Baldwin, #22 Johnny Greaves and #7 Scott Douglas flying off the wall at the Quarry

CORRacing June 10, 2007 at Chula Vista International Off Road Raceway saw total domination by Carl Renezeder in the Pro 4 class taking the hat trick in front of a capacity crowd of 13,000 people, bringing Renezeder’s total CORR wins to 52.

#7 Scott Douglas and #17 Carl Renezeder battling towards turn 2

Pole sitter Josh Baldwin’s first lap spin somehow warranted a full restart by the officials in which Baldwin happily got back to the front of the pack. At the restart, Scott Douglas and Carl Renezeder got in behind then in front of Baldwin and fought for positions on the podium.

After some great racing and paint swapping by various drivers, Renezeder took the win at Sunday’s Main Event after a Douglas flat tire slowed him enough to move him down to third place, handing second place to Travis Coyne.

Military Avenue reports that ATV riders at Edwards Air Force Base are often leaving the designated trails, mostly in OHV area 2. The Air Force is threatening to close those areas altogether for everyone.

While I’ll be the first person to jump up in protest of closing more OHV areas, I’ll also be the first to jump up and smack upside the head those who are riding unlawfully and for being the reason for getting even more OHV areas closed.

So if you’re riding in closed areas, especially sections of existing OHV areas which are closed, GTFO!

military, air force, atv, road closed, Edwards AFB

Just an FYI, I reported over at Under My Helmet about an article I found today slamming ATV use for youths.

Read my rant and feel free to pass it on.

I wrote about deadbeat dads and their ATV license renewal at Under My Helmet yesterday, and in the post, I brought up cell phone records of deadbeats being made available. A reader mentioned that he felt it ok to have the records made available because deadbeats need to pay what they owe.

While I agree with him that they must pay, I disagree with the means. As off roaders, I’m sure we can all agree that we’ve had places to ride “chipped away” slowly over the last 2 decades.

So I have to ask, what’s next? In an effort to curb unlawful off-road activity, everyone in the United States with a registered ATV or off road vehicle will be subject to have their cell records looked at.

According to Two Heel Drive, it’s dangerous and unpleasant to try to hike on an ATV trail.

Gee, ya think?

Ok, sorry, maybe he didn’t deserve that. Or maybe he did.

As a long time hiker and nature lover myself who Tread’s Lightly, I must admit that by the same token it’s almost as hard to ride ATVs on hiking trails, because those pesky “I deserve to be here and you don’t” hypocritical screaming green weenies keep getting stuck in my suspension. My next purchase will have to be a cattle hippy guard to help keep some of that smelly crud from getting on my shiny new paint job.

I wonder if this guy is somehow related to the hippycrite who foolishly portrayed himself as superior to other off roaders because he drives a Volvo…

Show some respect for your neighbors and get a pipe on your ATV if you’re going to ride in your yards. Quit being annoying to your neighbors, they aren’t going to take it for much longer.

If you keep being rude, it will soon be outlawed to ride on your own property! Is that what you want?

That’s not just Kentucky either, folks. It’s happening all over. You really need to be considerate and think about what you’re doing or you won’t be allowed to do it any more.

Mother’s Day this year was spent in the mountains at Lake Morena. We planned on camping there and fishing, then trucking the quads and bikes over to 4 Corners (Corral Canyon OHV).

Seems I might be having some luck planning holidays away from (everyone’s) home. Even Aj had a blast. He gave up on his little elect quad and jumped on mine. As usual. (He turned 2 last month)

I’ve never ridden at Corral Canyon. It’s been closed for several years; since the big San Diego Fire Storm that literally burned almost 1/3 of all of San Diego County. We took a day trip without ATVs a few weeks ago to check it out to see if it would be kid friendly to ride.

We camped and fished. Oh, and drank. But we didn’t get to ride the quads out there. I did, however, get a chance to install my new Handy Throttle: Thumb Throttle Converter. (Converts a thumb throttle to a twist throttle). The install was brilliantly simple. (Read the review I wrote here).

My wife and I will be testing it out over Memorial Weekend. (She prefers twist throttle because she’s used to it)

Here I am, almost 14 days after the big “V” with an aching groin and a sore wrist, (from an ATV accident, silly), and we’re off to the mountains for some trail riding this weekend in Pine Valley. bouncy bouncy

The boys are still a bit a lot tender, they’ve itched for almost 7 days straight (yes, they shaved them), and it still feels like good ol Lefty is hanging down to my knees. Kind of like a bell.

I don’t know how much longer I can take the pressure. I wonder if my wonderful, beautiful wife hubba hubba will notice if I start playing the sympathy card…

Fellow blogger Gunnar Heinrich, over at http://4driversonly.com posted this video on April 26, 2007 of a Hummer getting un-stuck by a Toyota FJ somewhere in the dunes of the near east.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love seeing people get humbled every now and again, especially when they’re humbled by seeming underdogs. Heck, I get humbled all the time. But if you look closely at the video, you’ll probably notice 2 things… 1) the angle at which the TJ is facing vs the H2, and 2) the violence required to free the H2.

Item 1) shows that that TJ didn’t want to be in the same boat as the H2, because it would likely get stuck too. Chalk one up for driver awareness. Not so much for vehicle’s capability.

Item 2) shows the running start needed to dislodge the deeply buried H2. Given the fact that a process like that is almost always a last resort, especially at that angle, and could have been done by just about any 4×4 with a sturdy hitch point. Chalk up one for strong frames. Not so much for vehicle capability.

It sure is funny to look at, though isn’t it? Especially if you’ve seen the movie Cars, where they show a group of 4×4’s learning to 4×4, and the Hummer gets scared and complains that it’s never been off road. Funny as it was in the movie, it’s even funnier in the desert. They just don’t take them off road. I’ve seen only a few Hummers off road, but they were all very capable when I did see them.

I guess they’re just too damn expensive to take the chance on breaking it.

Cars, hummer, h2, stuck, jeep, fj, free

Where’s the outrage? Gas is going up to record prices. Again.

By summer we will be looking at $4.00/gallon or more. Prolly more for me here in San Diego, Ca. where I saw it yesterday for $3.54/gallon for regular. People were lined up to buy it, too. Even though there was another station not more than 2 blocks away that was selling it for $3.30/gallon.

Why aren’t we mad as hell yet? We know it’s coming, yet we do nothing. We don’t drive less, we don’t complain, we don’t shop around… we just shut up and keep pumping money into fat pockets of big oil companies that are making record profits while we face an economic catastrophe of Biblical proportion.

Shop around for your gas. Tune up your car and check the tire pressure. Or park it and start taking the bus or riding your motorcycle or bicycle or horse or whatever. Just start sending the message.

gas, price, gouge, oil, fuel, economy