November issue of Roll Easy

Wichita Toy Run

The City of Wichita wants close to $5000 to block and direct traffic for this years toy run.  The question of the day is.....how important is the ride to donating our time, money and toys? 

Will you participate if its a static event?

Same weather...

One year ago,
Oklahoma
Texas
New Mexico
Colorado
Kansas and back to Oklahoma

Five States
Cold
Damp
Good friends
New friends
Good times
Great riding

Be safe this year my friends.

Now you know...

To uncover the history of the Harley Davidson logo you need to know a bit about the company.

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1901 at the age of 21, William S. Harley drew his first blueprint of an engine he wanted to put on a bicycle. William did not start working With his partner Arthur Davidson until two years later.

When William Harley and Arthur Davidson made the first Harley Davidson motorcycle it was the year 1904. This motorcycle was built in a 10 x 15 foot shed with the words Harley Davidson Motor Company hand written on the door.

It was 1904 when Arthur Davidson's Aunt Jane Davidson painted "Harley Davidson Motor Company" on the door with a red stripe.

The famous Bar and shield logo in orange and black was registered with the patent office in the year 1910. There is no record of who designed it or why the bar and shield.

Before the next logo was made a few interesting things happened. During World War 1 almost 20,000 Harley motorcycles were used by the United States army. In 1920, a man named Leslie Parkhurst broke the speed record 23 times. After every win, the team would take a victory lap with their mascot. The mascot was a pig, which is where the name "hog" came from and the first Hog association was formed.

The art deco "eagle" design became the next Harley logo. It was painted on every Harley in 1933 to try and stimulate sales after the depression.

It was after 1930 when motorcycle riders were being thought of as outlaws, and using the skull and crossbones as their emblem. The company needed to change this image. Willie G. Davidson came up with the "skull and wings" logo.

For Harley's 50th anniversary a V logo was made. This logo was put on the fender of every 1954 model bike.

Today dealers around the country are allowed to add to the logo with Harleys' permission. As an example in Colorado dealers add mountains behind the original Harley logo.

You can find just about any item with the logo on it today. From sunglasses and cups to Harley bedding, the logo is everywhere.

it's been forever

six months is entirely too long.
509 miles is not even enough.
one poker run is all.
2 breakfast runs, i should be skinny.
4 tanks of gas.
2 bags painted.
1 radio defunct.

time to get back in the game!

Where's Roll Easy?

Wondering where we've been?

We are taking the winter off from publishing, but not from staying up to date with Motorcycle Events in and around Kansas and working on making the magazine and website even better for you our followers.

What can you expect to see in the coming months?

• Changes to the website that will make it more user friendly
• More "localized" events added to the calendar as they become available
• Day and weekend trip's on the cheap
• Ghost town locations in Kansas
  
• Tips from the Techs
• More safety articles
• New product introductions and reviews
• Reader / Rider submitted articles
• Monthly E-Newsletters to keep you updated on whats going on locally
• More local Motorcycle friendly businesses

Enjoy your winter, ride safe and stay up to date with Roll Easy on Facebook, follow our blog and check back often to see what we’re doing to make this a great site for all of you.

It’s been a great year of riding and meeting you, and thank you for supporting all of us here at Roll Easy.

"OZ"

Change is good?

I'm contemplating change.............

Change to the way Roll Easy is published
Change to the content
Change to the calendar
Change to the frequency

What would you like to see?

I'd love to know your thoughts, how about dropping me a email? kurt@rolleasykansas.com

More to come

Cowley County is having their Toy Run this Saturday. Line up starts at 12 pm at Island Park in the Winfield and leaves at 1 pm.

On Sunday come on out and join us as we remember our Veterans in a 2nd Annual Memorial Flag Parade that starts at Alefs-Harley Davidson and goes to the Veterans Memorial Park on the river. If you would like to carry one of the 50 State flags on your bike contact Milt at Alefs.

Lauren Werhan, the current Miss Kansas, will be at Alefs and will be riding with the group.

Winding down

Bike nights, breakfasts and rally's are winding down for the year. Sometimes that's a good thing, it gives me time to do all the outdoor things (in cooler weather) cutting firewood, picking up all the stuff around the house, cleaning out a couple of the garages and digging out all those left over Harley parts to put them on ebay.

I've often wondered why they end bike nights when it starts to get cooler, do we (us bikers) only like to be out when it's nice and warm? How about starting a "Caged Bike Night"?

3,103 Bikes

That's the official Wichita Toy Run count,

What does that mean?

At the very least, 3,103 kids will have a present for Christmas this year, now if you're like us you had more than 1 toy on your bike, so I'm going to go out on a limb here and guestimate at least 6,000 kids will have a Christmas this year.

3,103 people spent at least $10.00 on a toy, that's a economic gain of at least $31,000 into the Wichita economy, add to that all the breakfasts, drinks, after toy run meals and I'm betting a economic shot in the arm of well over $50,000.00 to Wichita.

Why is that important? It shows just how valuable this event is to the kids and the area businesses, makes it pretty easy to sell it to the City of Wichita next year doesn't it?

Thanks to everyone that came up and thanked me for helping, but remember, it was and is for the kids, it wouldn't have happened without all of your support, and we should all be thanking each other for helping with the Toy Run.

Did we forget?

As we approach Veterans Day this Thursday I'm reminded how many times we take our freedoms for granted.

9/11 came and went in just a few short months, Flags were everywhere, you couldn't find one in the stores to put up at your house, chants of USA were everywhere, we became proud to be Americans,,,,,,,,,,,,today?

Not so much, we wonder why the flag is flying at half-mast, flags have been taken down, no more chants and I'm reminded of a comment someone made to me over 20 years ago..."second best isn't even close"

Yesterday we honored our local Veterans with a parade, and there were more people participating in the parade than there were standing on the sidelines watching......

It's time we remember, thank them and repeat on a daily basis.

JS'n

WHAT TIME IS IT?

TOY RUN TIME!
dont' forget to set your clocks back before you go to be Saturday Night

Line up starts at 10:30 am at Lawrence Dumont, with the ride leaving at 1:00 pm.

Remember this year, they are asking that you not bring, throw, toss candy on the route. Follow the directions that will be give prior to the ride, take extra care when you get to the area of 21st and Broadway, there will be folks there directing you to split the lane (one bike, one lane), if you're in the north bound lane (east lane) be aware there is a huge drop off on the side.....it's a bike catcher!

Go to the web site at www.wichitatoyrun.com and you can check out the route, get updates and see the types of toys they are asking for this year.

If you're looking for someplace to have breakfast before the ride you are invited to VFW Post 3115 (Douglas and Anna) where they will be serving from 7 am - 10 am, cost is $6.00 with the proceeds going to Toys 4 Tots!

Be sure to search out Mayor Brewer while you're at Lawrence Dumont and thank him for all his help and support making this a safe ride once again.

The Wichita Toy Run thoughts and timeline

What a week;

Monday we heard that shutting down the streets and a escort for this years event was not going to happen. Not because of the City of Wichita not wanting to, but more that KDOT would not allow the interchange at Meridian and 235 to be blocked for the amount of time that it takes to get all the bikes through.

A few phone calls, couple of emails and a few facebooks posts got the ball rolling. Mayor Brewer said that he was aware of the problem and would go to work on it to see what "his" office could do to help us, and insure safety for the ride.

Tuesday, the Mayor called and thought he might be close to a solution to the problem. Four hours later that solution fell through when the Highway Patrol said they didn't have the money in their budget to shut down the interchange, but he was still hopeful that we could come up with another solution.

Wednesday the phone rings "Mr Oswald, I have the Mayor on the line, could you please hold"
Kurt I think we're close to having something worked out, (insert our private conversation here) and I will be calling you before 3 pm today.

2:55 pm rolls around and the phone rings, "let me read you the press release, I think you and your friends are going to be happy"

The Wichita Police Department, Sedgwick County Sheriff, Kansas Highway Patrol, Park City Police and KDOT have all joined in to take the run back to Broadway, opening up the bridge just for the bikes, and we're providing escort for the run. That was the best news I've heard in weeks!

It's pretty damn cool when the Biker Community rallies around something as important as helping out the kids for Christmas, it couldn't have been down without all of the support of you the riders, the Mayor, the WPD, SO, KHP, KDOT and the News media.

Special thanks goes out to KSN, the Wichita Eagle and KFDI for all the support and coverage they gave us.

NOW - RIDE SAFE AND WE'LL SEE YOU SUNDAY

It's been a while

It's been a while since the last post and we've been pretty busy riding here at Roll Easy, or maybe we just got lazy.

What's been taking up all our time you ask?

Rides to just about every poker run this year, rides to Strokers Dallas, Grove Oklahoma for a huge poker run, Bikers for Babies and Bikers Against Diabetes Poker Run, lots of bike nights and breakfast rides.

Right now we're heading up a effort to continue being escorted by the Wichita PD, Sheriff and Highway Patrol for the Wichita Toy Run. We've been on the news with other riders, had numerous conversations with Mayor Carl Brewer here in Wichita and are hopeful that we'll get the escort and continue to be safe on this great ride that benefits gift giving to kids that won't have a Christmas this year.

We'll be updating the blog on a somewhat regular basis by sharing ride information, safety issues and at times we might just be rambling.

Let your friends know about the Roll Easy Blog and feel free to comment, share your thoughts, tell us how we can get information out to you, what you'd like to see, hear or read, in closing we're here to add to the biker community.

We're updating our logos

You are going to love Betty

Hank Is Weiser Biker Cakes Breakfast

5 State Poker Run

Spent the weekend in Guymon, Oklahoma for the 5 State Poker Run, over 900 Bikes, with the winning poker hand receiving $3000.00

Met lot's of great people, made some new friends from all over, and rode with some Wichita friends.

Started out in Guymon at 8 am, and rode to Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, thru Kansas and back to Guymon, 300 miles, 5 States in 1 Day.

If you haven't made this ride, be sure to put it on your bucket list for 2011!

How I spent the Weekend

Sweet Ass Bike, Thanks for sending us the pics