Cycle Connections

Have a Happy & Safe Memorial Day!      

And Safe Journey’s!!

Cover Design By: Lisa Bonta

In This Issue:

Well I can't believe that it’s been a year since we were handed the reins to the magazine!

Motorcycle Custom Paint Specialist!

Custom Paint That Rocks!

Kansas, City, Mo

(816) 916-4995

   It was an absolutely gorgeous start to this wonderful day as bikes rolled into Rider's Harley-Davidson in Trussville, Alabama before heading out to the 3rd Annual Moody Miracle League Buddy Ride on Saturday, March the 23rd.

  We have happily been a part of 2 different, very worthy events over the past 10 years, both of which we have now had to rescued after they got dropped. The latest rescue was the Burkett Center Ride, which we got back on its feet on Saturday March the 30th, 2019

Presented by: AmFirst

  The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama rolled into the Barber Motorsports Park on April the 5th, and ran thru the 7th, 2019.

  The weekend kicked off as usual, with the Racing For Children's Dinner/Auction Friday night, benefiting Children’s of Alabama Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders. This dinner is a really big deal, people come dressed to the 9's and bringing their checkbook to shell out some serious donations to Children's of Alabama. Barbers lays out a spread of food that was something short of spectacular, with wine and beer for sale to go with it all, it really got everyone in the right mind set to make donations on all of the wonderful donated items at the silent and live auctions.

  "When to Ride" hosted a benefit motorcycle ride on Saturday, March the 16th, 2019, the 2nd annual  "Amelia's Journey Benefit Ride" to benefit Princess Warrior, Amelia Griffin, a Tuscaloosa Alabama native who is 2 years old and has had many disorders since the age of only 4 months and has been diagnosed with Mitochondrial Disease.

  Every year we all kick start the ride season with the Blessing of the Bikes at the Veterans Brotherhood. Jeff "Bama" Rich and the Bond Slaves are the ones who come out to perform the blessings not only on the bikes but over the "presidents" of the different clubs that were there. 

  The 8th Annual Lyla Ride started at the Cedar Grove Baptist Church in Leeds Alabama on Saturday April the 20th, 2019  

PHOENIX, ARIZONA – January 2, 2019 – HawgWilde Cosmetics, LLC’s (HWC)

online late 2018, was a very exciting milestone for Andrea Bates,

CEO/Co-Founder and Shari Weisman, COO/Co-Founder of HawgWilde

Cosmetics,

Fans to Help Select Winning Designs by Voting Now

MILWAUKEE (April 15, 2019) – For the first time, local trade school students partnered with Harley-Davidson® dealers for a unique, real-world training opportunity: helping build the coolest custom motorcycles in the world in the “Battle of the Kings” competition.

Sampey Joins Hines and Krawiec in a Three-Bike Pro Stock Motorcycle Effort

MILWAUKEE (March 11, 2019) – The Harley-Davidson® Screamin’ Eagle®/Vance & Hines drag racing team opens its 17th season of NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle competition at the 50th Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, March 14-17 in Gainesville, Fla. The team will begin pursuit of a 10th Pro Stock Motorcycle championship with a three-rider squad, as Angelle Sampey joins Andrew Hines and Ed Krawiec on Harley-Davidson® Street Rod™ competition motorcycles. The trio of veteran riders have won a combined 12 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle titles.

Factory Team Riders Halbert and Vanderkooi Return for 2019 AFT Twins Series

MILWAUKEE (March 11, 2019) – The Harley-Davidson^® Factory Flat Track Racing Team is preparing to open the 2019 American Flat Track (AFT) Twins season on March 14 at the Daytona TT at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. Factory Team riders Sammy Halbert and Jarod Vanderkooi will contest the 18-race AFT series aboard Harley-Davidson^® XG750R competition motorcycles prepared by Factory Team partner Vance & Hines Motorsports.

Philadelphia, PA – RevZilla.com, the world’s leading eCommerce retailer of motorcycle apparel, parts, and accessories, has released the 2019 edition of their annual Gear Guides. A staple of the spring riding season, the campaign serves as an omnichannel content experience that highlights must-have gear for motorcyclists and ignites rider enthusiasm by providing a curated, educational and aspirational glimpse into the top products for the coming year.

 MILWAUKEE (Mar. 4, 2019) –Powered by the muscular Milwaukee-Eight^™ 107 engine, the new Electra Glide Standard is a “Dressed down Dresser” that provides a raw, fundamental riding experience inspired by Harley-Davidson’s Grand American Touring roots.

  The World of Wheels Custom Auto Show, produced by, Motorsports Productions, Inc. rolled into Birmingham February the 8th, 2019 for a weekend of fun featuring specialty vehicles including Hot Rods, Race Cars, Custom Imports, Antique and Classic Cars, Special Feature cars, PLUS...some really cool, and the most important part of the show...Motorcycles! 

  One of our favorite things to do is people watch, my husbands would be riding his bike, so it was a perfectly natural fit when we joined up with Cycle Connections as contributing photojournalist, giving us the chance to share with others, our biking adventures, and to have the opportunity to meet new people. 

Milwaukee (February 15^th, 2019) – Turn “Someday I’ll ride a motorcycle,” into “Today” with the latest offer from Harley-Davidson Riding Academy. Available for a limited time, Harley-Davidson is offering customers the opportunity to learn to ride from the experts for 50% off the published price of a Harley-Davidson Riding Academy New Rider Course in their area with promo code RIDE50. Redeemable throughout the calendar year, if your resolution is to ride this year, this is an excellent opportunity to begin your motorcycling journey.

  One of the joys of living in the south is that you get to ride pretty much year round! So that means in January when a lot of folks have their bikes "winterized" we have ours “winter-rides’d"

The sound of bikes fills the San Diego morning air, with riders beginning to gather, as they often do multiple times per week, at the designated staging area. Harleys, Hondas, Indians, Spyders, and the occasional BMW, and other makes and models: an eclectic group of motorcycles for sure. The bikers are coming together at the request of a family, and volunteering their time in a time of grief, to honor the deceased. A solemn and important undertaking, appropriately titled “missions” that these Patriot Guard Riders (PGR) perform selflessly for members of the military who die on active duty and veterans who have drawn their last breaths.

Well it’s been 8 years since I've been on a bike. Way to long. But Dec 29, finally, I was able to get another bike and get back to riding once again.

LAS VEGAS (January 7, 2019) – Harley-Davidson, the company that has defined the motorcycle industry for the past 116 years, today revealed two new concept electric two-wheelers and announced pricing and pre-order availability for LiveWire™, its first electric production motorcycle, at the biggest show in consumer electronics in Las Vegas. The 2020 LiveWire™ motorcycle is now available for US dealer pre-order at h-d.com/LiveWire with deliveries expected this fall and select global markets announced at a later date.

  On Saturday, December the 15th, 2018, Wreaths Across America set out to lay Christmas Wreaths on the graves of our fallen hero's, all across the country, all at the same time and on the same day.

  On Saturday December the 8th, 2018, Cycle Connections teamed up with Chic-Fil-A in Leeds Alabama to bring breakfast with Santa to the "Stars" of the Zoo Run Safari for Children's event from September.

Way back in 1897, Eldridge Baptist Academy was born, by 1948 it became the Eldridge Children's Home in order to provide refuge to children in need of a safe, secure, loving place to live.

  In 2003, Johnny Northington had a vision and with the leadership of Phil Frye, they began an annual benefit for the home that would include motorcycle and antique car enthusiasts who also were interested in supporting this ministry in the form of a "Toy Run" that would take place on the first Saturday of December.

On Saturday, November the 3rd, 2018, the American Legion Post # 107 in Leeds Alabama, along with Cycle Connections, hosted the inaugural "Zoo Run for Children's" Bike Show/ Raffle/ Auction, benefiting Children's of Alabama Center for Childhood Cancer & Blood Disorders.

There are a lot more helmets out there for nearly every riding style, preference and weather condition than there is cash in most people’s pockets to acquire them. The answer is to get a helmet that can offer options to suit a variety of riding conditions, tastes in style and rider preferences.

  For You We Ride is a Poker Run fundraiser for breast cancer assistance charities.

This ride was also an attempt to break a record and get into the Guinness World Book of Records. There were some 80-motorcycle dealerships from around the country that joined into this record-breaking attempt.

  Over 10 years ago, we became involved with a multi-state motorcycle fundraiser event that included a half dozen or so, kids with brain tumors, this quickly became our most treasured event to do each year as we got close to these families, watching these kids grow. When we got in touch with the organizers this year to get information on the 2018 event, I was told that they had decided to pull the Alabama event to combine it with the Georgia event. 

  Thousands of fans came rolling into Alabama from all over the country for the 14th Annual Vintage Festival at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, October the 5th-7th, 2018.