I was in the confidence during Daytona Bike week. One of the bikes riding around the city and on the I95 was test-equipped with a prototype 7-speed transmission. The Baker DD7 is being developed as a direct replacement of the Cruise Drive Harley-Davidson factory 6-speed to improve it in many ways. 1- Factory 1st gear ratio is too tall (numerically too small). The DD7 has a shorter (numerically larger) 1st gear for easier launches. 2- Shift clunk. In transmission design, be it automotive or motorcycle, low mainshaft weight is always desirable for smooth and quiet shifts. Audible shift clunk in the factory 6-speed is caused by the heavy weight and resultant high inertia of the 1-piece forged mainshaft. That mainshaft is a one-piece design that includes1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gears. The DD7 mainshaft is light weight and only includes the small 1st gear as an integral part. 3- Shift smoothness. Shift smoothness in the factory 6-speed is a definite improvement over the 5-speed. The DD7 is a big improvement over the factory 6-speed because it incorporates a new linear roller ball detent as part of the supplied Billet Top Cover. This linear roller ball detent is similar to the type first used in Baker TorqueBox transmissions. 4- Gear noise. The factory 6-speed has straight cut 1st and 5th gears. This yields gear noise in 1st and 5th.The Baker DD7 has a full set of helical gears for quiet operation in every gear.
The Harley-Davidson factory 6-speed ratios are: 1st (3.34), 2nd (2.30), 3rd (1.71), 4th (1.41), 5th (1.18), 6th (1.00). The Baker DD7 transmission will have the following ratios : 1st (3.76), 2nd (2.75), 3rd (2.06), 4th (1.55), 5th (1.27), 6th (1.10), 7th (1.00).
In this new Baker DD7, Shift Drum is designed to help the rider find Neutral every time, like with all other Baker Transmissions. Testers tell me that the bike felt like motor work has been done to it and that it shifts like a dream. Baker Drivetrain.
Posted on Tue, Mar. 11, 2008
JOSEPH KACZMAREK / Daily News
Hells Angels gather at West Philly headquarters in 2005 to raise money for the family of slain president Thomas "Thinker" Woods.
Three Hells Angels want their guns back. In fact, the Angels also want their framed poems, black leather vests, gun permits, drivers' licenses, personal papers and biker memorabilia.
In a federal civil-rights lawsuit, Alan "Big Al" Wolf, of Denver, Pa., Peter Miller, of Pennsburg, Pa., and Gregory "George" Suny, of Upper Darby, say the Philly cops won't give back the items seized during a 2005 raid in West Philadelphia.
So, they're demanding more than $50,000 in compensatory and punitive damages from the city, court records show. A source close to settlement discussions claims the Angels have turned down an offer from the city that they consider too low.
Today, U.S. District Magistrate Judge Arnold C. Rapoport takes over the case and is expected to schedule a settlement conference.
The lawsuit, however, leaves out key details of the Angels' short, colorful history, such as the failed bombing of its headquarters that immediately preceded the raid.
It also fails to mention the Angels' bloody battle with the Pagans Outlaw Motorcycle Club, a war that included murder, drive-by shootings, turncoats and beatings to drive the Angels out of Philadelphia.
Attorney Michael Caudo filed the lawsuit last July in Common Pleas Court and it was later transferred to Federal Court last October.
Caudo said he didn't mention the outlaw motorcycle club by name because: "I don't represent the Hells Angels. [The club] has counsel.
"What I was seeking was the return of property - drivers' licenses, permits to carry firearms and firearms," he added.
Wolf, Miller and Suny "were never arrested. They were taken in for questioning," he added. "They didn't do anything illegal."
Law enforcement officers "could have looked at their [drivers' licenses and gun permits], copied them and given them back," he added.
Four months before the raid, Angels chapter president Thomas "Thinker" Woods was fatally shot on the Schuylkill Expressway in what was widely speculated to be the latest incident of an ongoing war between the Angels and Pagans.
Then, on May 18, 2005, authorities learned that a homemade bomb had been thrown overnight at the Angels' headquarters.
The bomb, believed to be a grenade attached to a container of gasoline, did not explode. But police and FBI investigators found "bits and pieces" left by the explosive device, although not the device, in the Angels' front yard.
Later that night, about a dozen Angels were meeting inside when investigators outside the club asked Steve DeMarco, then chapter vice president, to tell where the bomb was "or they would take further action," according to a source close to the probe.
Investigators wanted to disarm the device, so it would not harm anyone, especially children, the source said.
So, DeMarco asked the Angels if they wanted to disclose the bomb's whereabouts. They responded with a resounding "NO!," according to a biker source. So DeMarco, in turn, told authorities: "You gotta do what you gotta do."
The next day, the biker source claimed, DeMarco allowed authorities to enter and search the club, before Detective James Kearney obtained a search warrant. DeMarco could not be reached for comment.
During the search, police and FBI agents seized the Angels' guns and belongings. The lawsuit claimed the search was illegal.
"Some of that evidence may be in federal custody and they are suing the wrong [agency]," a law enforcement source said.
"We're not in the business of putting guns back on the street," the source continued. "They already demonstrated what they want to do with them. They're not using them for hunting. They're using those guns to hunt down Pagans."
But Caudo insisted: "You can't just go rounding people up and taking their property."
As for three black leather vests - the ones emblazoned with the Angels' death-head logo, known as their "colors," the source said, "Only one set of 'colors' were taken that night, and they were returned when the owner requested them.
"They're lying in the filings" if they say three leather vests were seized in the lawsuit, the source added. "None of those people [Wolf, Miller and Suny] came forward to claim their property."
After Caudo filed the lawsuit, he learned that only one vest was taken, and returned a week later.
While investigators questioned the Angels, they were in "reasonable fear of imminent bodily harm" and were "unlawfully and improperly assaulted and battered against their will," according to the lawsuit.
Meantime, investigators found the grenade on the railroad tracks under a bridge at 41st and Poplar Streets, about seven blocks from the Angels' headquarters.
"They're all lucky we didn't charge them with hindering an investigation and risking a catastrophe," the law enforcement source said. "They got off easy that night."
But that may not be for long.
There's an ongoing federal-local probe of the recent war between the Angels and Pagans, including the missing bomb, Woods' murder and "a whole series of things," the law enforcement source said.
Craig Straw, chief deputy of the civil rights division of the city Law Department, declined to comment.
Since the Angels' chapter was closed, some members opened a statewide chapter of Nomads, an elite outlaw biker club associated with the Hells Angels. *
Daytona Black Bike Week is getting bigger and bigger. Maybe you didn’t notice because the event is centered on Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard. But Harley-Davidson did. For the first time, the company had parked at proximity one of its big-rig trailers. The black biker scene has been congregating in Daytona since the 1970s, According to a recent survey, 7.9 percent of those who buy new Harleys are minorities and that percentage has been inching up slowly during the past several years. A recent convert to motorcycles, hip-hop artist DMC aka Darryl McDaniels, just learned how to ride last year. He is now the owner of a Fat Boy, loves the motorcycle scene and participated for the 1st time to Daytona Black Bike Week. The scene looks much like Bike Week on Main Street, with rows of Harleys, Gold Wings and Ninjas. The standard code is the same: bandannas, leather vests, and denim jeans. Black biker rallies such as California’s West Coast Roundup or the Myrtle Beach Black Bike Week in South Carolina have been booming too. Black bikers are spending a lot of money on their bikes and all motorcycle and part manufacturers are paying attention.
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Meridian motorcycle officer released from hospital following crash
BETHANN STEWART -
Edition Date: 03/07/08
A Meridian motorcycle officer was hit by a vehicle on southbound Eagle Road south of Ustick Road about 8 p.m. Thursday.
Sgt. Jeff Brown of the Meridian police department said Officer Will Stoy has been released from the hospital and is at home.Stoy, a Meridian motorcycle officer, was hit by a four-door sedan on southbound Eagle Road south of Ustick Road about 8 p.m. Thursday while helping escort a disabled vehicle off the road, Meridian police said.
Stoy has been with Meridian police for about five years and a motorcycle officer for about three years. He was on his motorcycle with the emergency lights flashing, riding behind a police cruiser, which was pushing the disabled vehicle off the road when it was hit by the car, police Sgt. Jamie Leslie said.
After the crash, the motorcycle was on its side, and pieces of it and the sedan were strewn across Eagle Road.
"It was a pretty substantial impact," Leslie said, who added that this was the first crash of such magnitude involving a Meridian motorcycle officer.
Dealing with traffic is a daily concern for officers, Leslie said.
"Whenever you are driving with the amount of traffic you are dealing with out there, especially on Eagle Road, you really are at high risk," Leslie said. "There is a greater risk of being run over as an officer than there is getting shot or getting stabbed or getting attacked by someone."
As in many states, Idaho has a "move over law" that requires motorists to exercise great caution by moving to another lane if possible or slowing down if police vehicles have their emergency lights operating.
"There was a fully marked police car with all its emergency lights on and very bright LED lights. Very bright," Leslie said.
"And the motorcycle had its lights on. They could clearly be seen."
Because Eagle Road is a state highway, Idaho State Police are investigating the crash, but they did not issue a preliminary report late Thursday.
The name of the driver of the sedan has not been released.
In an unrelated incident, a Canyon County Sheriff’s Office deputy was involved in a crash just after 7 p.m. Thursday at Homedale Road and South Indiana Avenue, according to Canyon County officials. The driver of the pickup was given a citation for inattentive driving.
The deputy and the woman driver were treated and released from West Valley Hospital in Caldwell. Their names were not released.
In a vain attempt to draw attention back away from the whole Motorcyclist debacle, here's my current trip packing list for the summer fun.
This is a compilation of years of touring as well as day riding. I use specific brand names where I've consciously chosen that particular product -- usually that means I've done trips with it before and I would recommend it to anyone doing motorcycle touring.
Let me know if you have a "must have" that isn't on the list. :)
