March 2009 Issue 45 Lake Erie Chapter # 3738 Officers

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1 March 2009 Issue 45 Lake Erie Chapter # 3738 Officers Director: John Kikol kiksharley@aol.com Asst. Director: Ron Long Ringo56@windstream.net Secretary: Diane DeLaney Ddelaney_50@hotmail.com Treasurer: Robert Perona robperona@hotmail.com Membership: Donna Augustine Augustine157@msn.com Safety: John Gudin / jgudin@wowway.com Webmaster Ken Unger ken@elyriahog.com Photographer: Ken Unger ken@elyriahog.com Activities: Cindy Koson Debby Baker Ladybug7007@cox.net Bakerd56@oh.rr.com Volunteer: Judy Adamich Judy.adamich@gmail.com Historian: Mike Cotrufo mcotrufo1@aol.com Editor Matt Scheer lehogwash@sbcglobal.net Ladies Of Harley Kim Weigl kimmisue@eriecoast.com Welcome New Members Michelle Brown Sandra Gaskalla Michael Gill A Happy Harley Birthday To You FEBRUARY (belated) Al Wagner Stacy White MARCH Lawrence Bedoya Jerry Cantebury Scott Cole Charles Danser Dennis DeAngelis Phillip Elliott Louis Kettel Miquel Lopez Jr. Rhonda Losh Arlene Morrison Sandra Gaskalla APRIL Robert Adamich Donna Augustine David Barrett John Byrne Mark Fundak Larry Gaskalla Ken Grainer Harold Gray Harry Hamlin Art Kavulla Keith Klimkowicz Rebecca Mines Robert Schneider Alan Shauck Kimberly Weigl Kristina Wertz Kerry Wesp Joe Zemantauski Jr Kiks Stand Last month, I said winter was still with us, well this past week feels like spring is around the corner. Our monthly chapter meetings continue to have an excellent attendance and our after dinner get together have now become a tradition. I hope that you will consider joining us for the March 28 th Casino trip to Wheeling WV that Ron Long has organized, it promises to be a fun trip and for only $35 you have a gambling junket that includes some playing chips and food vouchers. With many events fast approaching, I call your attention to our web site ( for information about upcoming events. Battle of the Bikers is Saturday March 21 st. It is an annual competition between all the Hog Chapters in North East Ohio, so give blood and help us be the top blood donor club. Unfortunately for the blood drive but fortunately for the chapter, six of your officers will be in Milwaukee that weekend for Primary Officer Training. This year four of our newer officers will be attending POT for the first time. It is a three day commitment on the officer s behalf but well worth the time. Thanks to Mike Stevens for his support of the officers attending POT. The weekend after Easter is the 7 th Annual Rally for the Troops (April 19 th) we will have a group departure from the dealership that morning at 9:30 AM. Staging begins at 8:30. The Rally as in past years takes place regardless of the weather; rain, snow, sleet, blizzard or shine. If the weather is bad please still come in your cars, trucks and snow-mobiles as there are many families who will be attendance at the Rally that have lost their loved ones as Fallen Heroes. It s our duty to express our thanks to all our veterans and Fallen Heroes for their service to our country. Your support is always greatly appreciated. As always thanks to all our volunteer officers who commit time and energy in planning our calendar of events and making Lake Erie HOG Chapter a fun riding chapter to belong to as a member. Thanks to our chapter members for your "active" support. Finally, thanks to Mike Stevens and the staff of Lake Erie Harley Davidson for their excellent service and their continuing support of our HOG Chapter. Ride Safe, - John KIKS Kikol, Director This newsletter is available by accessing Page1 of 7

2 From The Assistant Director Ron Long Hello and welcome to March. We have already had a few days when it was possible to get out and ride. Have to be very careful with all the sand, salt and loose gravel on the road. Oh, and the pot holes, don t get me started on the pot holes. I did want to remind everyone at the start of the season that you need to be careful, there is a lot of loose junk out on the road early on and the poor unfortunate folks stuck in the cars with no motorcycle to ride are not used to seeing motorcycles. So, slow down (I don t believe I am saying that) watch out for the other guy and have fun. On another point, the events calendar is starting to fill up, we have a St. Patrick s day event at the dealership on March 14 th, the chapter dinner on March 15 th and, the Battle Of the Bikers Blood Drive on March 21 st. The chapter meeting on the 26 th of March is just a couple of days ahead of the Casino trip to West Virginia. There is still time to get tickets for a day of fun. We Leave from the Parking lot at Lake Erie Harley Davidson at 8 AM and will be back around 8 PM. $35.00 will get you transportation both ways, $10.00 in Casino Coin and $5.00 in food coupons. Tickets are available in February and March at most of the dealer events and, at our chapter meetings (February 26 and March 26). You can also contact me directly (ringo56@windstream.net or by phone ) See you on the road Ringo Ladies Of Harley Kim Wiegl In March, the Ladies will be hosting a Bake Sale during the Battle of the Bikers Blood Drive (March 21 st ). Come on out and support this worthy cause. Your donation of one pint of blood can help save as many as three lives! April will be a busy month. Make sure you bring the kids (and grand kids) out to the dealership on Sat. April 11, for the Easter Egg Hunt! There will be games, prizes, photos with the Easter Bunny, and an Easter Basket Raffle for the kids. Also in April, the Ladies will be sewing patches during the Ride-In Pancake Breakfast (April 25 th ). The cost will be the same as last year - $5 for a small patch and $10 for a large patch. Less expensive than the dry cleaner and no waiting a week or more to get your vest back. Start gathering all the patches you earned last year, and have them sewn on while you eat breakfast! The Ladies of Harley are planning a lot of activities this year. LOH is open to ALL female Chapter Members Full and Associate whether you ride your own bike, ride behind, or not at all. It s FREE to join LOH. Call National HOG to get your FREE LOH PIN and FREE PATCH, and come to a meeting. We meet the first Wed. of every month at 7:00. The March 4 th meeting will be held at Luchita s Restaurant (1134 North Abbe Rd, Elyria, Oh Phone ) and in April we will be meeting at Sorrentos (108 Antioch Dr, Elyria, OH, Phone ). Join us for dinner and socializing. Joining LOH is a great way to get involved and meet more of the Chapter Members. We welcome new members and their ideas. More members = more friends=more fun! Hope to see you at the next meeting! The Road Captains Jerry Ciganko Head Road Captain Their time and hard work help keep us safe on all the chapter rides and many of the casual rides we engage in, The chapter Road Captains not only lead but also follow up to make sure we all get to where we are going. Thank you to all those who volunteer their time to be Road Captains Diane Delaney John Gudin Ken Unger Mary Ann Ciganko Cont Next Page -- This newsletter is available by accessing Page2 of 7

3 Mike Cotrufo Thomas Easterday Dennis Mullen Karen Gilley Mike Flory Jim Augustine Mark Koson Kristin Bedoya Ron Long Membership Update By Donna Augustine, Membership Officer First off just some current statistics. As of the February 26 th Chapter Meeting, membership totaled 165. Of this number, 142 are 2008 members who renewed and 23 are new to our Chapter. Thank you and welcome back to all the returning members and we are glad to have all the new members also. Dave Booth will man the Membership Table at the Dealership during the Saturday, March 14 th, St. Patrick s Day Party. If you have already renewed, please stop by and say hello. If you have friends or family who have not renewed, please encourage them to take advantage of this opportunity. Enjoy the food, deals, and entertainment so generously provided by Lake Erie Harley Davidson and reconnect with old friends from the Chapter. It has been a long, hard winter and we all need a break. I also encourage members to bring their kids, nieces, nephews, or grandkids (if the case may be) to the Second Annual Easter Egg Hunt scheduled for Saturday, April 11 th, at the Lake Erie Harley Davidson. It promises to be bigger and better than last year. In closing, on behalf of the other Officers, and myself, I want to thank you for attending the monthly Chapter Meetings. You turned out, even during the brutal cold and snow of winter. It shows your dedication and it is truly appreciated. Thanks again and until next month Ride Safe (and legally) John Gudin Safety Officer Well I thought that this mouth I would talk a bit about Helmets. We were talking at the chapter meeting about needing your passport to go on the ride around Lake Erie (you can visit a post office for the passport application or go to travel.state.gov/passport/get/first/first_832.html). Well, you will need your helmet also. You need to have a helmet in Michigan, Canada, New York, and Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania a helmet is not required over 21 with 2 years experience. In New York the law says you need 4 square inches of reflective material on your helmet. So you need to check on laws before you go on a trip. A good place to check is the H.O.G Touring Handbook but you may want to check with the State you are going to before your trip. The law may have changed from the time the handbook was printed. Just one more thing, before going into Canada, you should have a Canada Non Resident Inter Province Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance Card. Your insurance agent should be able to provide this to you at no charge. It is not required to enter the country. It is required in the event you are involved in a traffic accident. So, check the laws, and plan your trip so you will have no (bad) surprises. Then you can have a safe and fun trip APL Party With The Animals!! Reverse Raffle Recap Karen Gilley This year was the 10 th Anniversary of the APL Reverse Bike Raffle and even Mother Nature cooperated in holding back the incessant snow, like we ve had all winter, to allow the largest quantity of people that I ve seen to party the night away at Tom s Country Place on Saturday, February 21 st. Webb, from the APL, was in his element, orchestrating all of his crew into an effective force to prepare for what we all knew would be a big night. At 5:30, sharp, the doors opened and people This newsletter is available by accessing Page3 of 7

4 came from all over for a chance to win not only the beautiful new, gloss-black, Street Glide, but all of the other prizes as well. People sold tickets to a neat little Harley popcorn machine, his & her Harley jackets and, a $500 gift certificate to Lake Erie Harley Davidson (which was won by none other than our own Dennis Mullen.do I hear new pipes in the future, there, Denny????), as well as peel-off tickets, side boards, and The Big Dog Raffle, where money was the primary prize. After Roadhouse played a set, dinner was served by the excellent staff of Tom s Country Place and the festivities began. All tickets were sold to all of the money raffles and there were many cheers and moans as the ticket numbers clicked away. They provided gifts to every 25 th ticket holder until it got down to the last 4, for the bike and the sideboards. All three sideboard sets of winners chose to split the winnings, paying the $2.00 board winners $100 each, the $5.00 board winners $250 each (Congrats to Donna and Joe Suerth who took the $2 & $5 prizes!!!) and the $10.00 board winners $500 each. The winner of the Big Dog raffle hopped and skipped up to the stage to collect his $2500, amongst the cheers and whistles of the crowd. Then it was down to the four final bike tickets. Suspense reigned as the four stood in front of the crowd and hoped that they each would win. At the end, Vinnie, from Vinnie s Customs, and his wife were the ones who took the shiny black steed, surrounded by well-wishers and friends! It was wonderful to finally have the actual winners in attendance and to watch the pure happiness and excitement that flows from winning something that cool. Oh, and he swears he s gonna leave it as it not jazz it up as his company does so well!!! Roadhouse continued to play into the evening as people mingled and danced until the crowd began to disperse. All in all, it was one of the best evenings I ve had there, even though I ve come to realize that anything I take a chance at should, from the beginning, be considered a donation but, that doesn t really matter, since the cause is so very much more important than winning! And surely, like all the others, I ll be there again next year to see if my luck might possibly change? Why Not Buell? Ed Desimone Every time you pass through Lake Erie HarleyDavidons foyer, like ghostly beings inhabiting the corner of your eyes, you walk right by them like they are not even there. Of course, I am talking about Buells; you know, those funny looking bikes other people ride. I get it: we are Harley dudes and dudettes, we like chrome, leather, and engines that go vroom-vroom. We enjoy kicking our feet out, leaning back, and letting our hair (if we have any) flow behind us in the breeze. Why, therefore, do we want to ride a cafe racer kind of bike we are Americans, not goofy full-faced designer leather suited Europeans! Well, the answer is to think of Buells as not the anti-harley, but rather, a complement to the Harley lifestyle. For instance, I own an Electra Glide and a Buell Ulysses, and love both of them. The Geezer Glide is great on sunny days riding with the HOGs and friends on leisurely jaunts. But let's face it, if it looks like it is going to rain, I am hesitant to ride because I don't feel like spending a lot of time cleaning chrome. On nasty days, the Uly gets the nod: no chrome, no clean up. Because of this, the Buell is a great bike to commute to work on; it looks great dirty or clean so you do not have to become a weatherman. Another great benefit of owning a Buell is they are ready to ride right out of the show room. We know that when you buy a Harley, you automatically have to trash the mufflers and air cleaners to get rid of the EPA crap and let it run the way God intended it to. My Ulysses needed nothing, it put out over one hundred pony s right out of the gate. No tweaking or tuning here, baby. Wow, do they handle or what! The first corner I took, it felt like someone was holding a rope to my bike, like when as a kid we would tie a bucket to a rope and swing it around ourselves. Buell's motto is we own the corners, and they mean it. Let's not forget how unbelievably comfortable they are. I rode my Uly to Sturgis with my fourteen year-old son on back in total comfort. We did over 3000 miles in one week with no pain. This newsletter is available by accessing Page4 of 7

5 So, I guess the bottom line is, if you are looking for a second bike or a commuter, check out the Buell line. They are very inexpensive and feature the latest innovations, not to mention darn fun to ride. There Is Going To Be A PARTY!! CLEAR YOUR SCHEDULE! MARK YOUR CALANDAR! On Saturday, April 4 th from 10 AM to 5 PM, come join all your friends at Lake Erie Harley Davidson to celebrate our 70 th Anniversary!!!. Come enjoy all you have come to expect from the Stevens family as we celebrate this great event. There will be music starting at 11:00 AM from Yellow Delicious a 70 s/80 s rock band. Monica Robins and the Whiskey Kings will provide the classic rock and blues. Roadhouse Band brings the sweet sounds of southern rock, and country. Colin Dussault will be there too with the blues, and rock music for the soul. And oh yes, there will be prizes, you can win All ACCESS PASSES for the 2009 Ohio Bike week, a shopping spree and other great giveaways. So come on out and spend the day in celebration with us On The Road Diane Delaney Today I rode to Mitchell Caverns in California with MotherRoad H.O.G Chapter 1061 out of Kingman, Arizona. I met up with the rest of the riders who came from Kingman, Bullhead City and Lake Havasu at the Wagon Wheel Restaurant in Needles, California at 10:00am Arizona Time. From my home, I rode to Needles on Highway 95, heading south, I was surrounded by the mountains and the rich farmland owned and farmed by the Mohave Indians. The tumbleweed grows large and full, just slightly off the road as I rumble by. Palm trees grace the landscape and the sun brightens the California Mountains to the west painting them with tones of white and pink. Every once and awhile, I could glance and slightly see the turquoise blue of the Colorado River as it snakes its way north and south. To the east, the Arizona Mountains stand rigid and black as the sun comes up behind them. We had about 60 riders waiting at the Wagon Wheel. We listen to the preliminary ride instructions and mount our bikes and head toward Route 66 which will take us to Essex. The ride will be long with one stop to gas up. The Burlington Northern/Santa Fe trains bellowed out their whistles as we rode alongside the tracks on RT 66. The road has dips and frequent sand piles that cross in front of us. Ahead of us are mountain ranges that seem to go on forever. There are signs that warn of us blowing dust, steer crossing, flood area next 10 miles, (I can t imagine that it ever rained here, ever.) In the desert, the Joshua s stand, like centurions, bowing to us as we ride by. The cacti are strewn all around and boulders are laden in between. We turn north now and head for the caverns. The base of the Providence Mountains seem miles and miles away and the road starts to narrow from two lanes to sometimes only ¾ of lane, depending on how much of the road is left. The road is now layered with mostly pulverized stones over the asphalt. We ride single file very slowly for fifteen miles until we have reached the parking area. The scenery was breathtaking and the ride was priceless. IX Winter Amusement Karen Gilley The weekend of January 30 th to February 1 st has traditionally been the time when each and every motorcycle vendor in the country converges on the City of Cleveland to make us all pant for sun, warmer weather, and the roar of our bike s. By that time, we sure do need the reminder and the dream! This year s show was no exception, being larger and more crowded than in year s past. Strolling around, you could see, touch, and sit on everything between scooters to some of the neatest Bob s you ve ever seen. From customs with bondo-raised relief paint jobs to trikes to trendy new custom s, wandering around made most people weak with the need to ride. More vendors than last year had everything from the ShamWow to trendy shirts that made you chuckle. Progressive Insurance provided the nice, carry-all sacks that people opened, similar to Trick- This newsletter is available by accessing Page5 of 7

6 or-treat bags, to receive pamphlets, papers, instructions and advertising to ponder till spring. It was the place to be if you wanted to promote anything having to do with motorcycling. Our Lake Erie Dealership booth was strategically placed directly to the right of the huge Harley Davidson booth, a position that afforded us a tremendous quantity of traffic on Saturday, where huge crowds sought an escape from the horribly cold, icy, snowy weather that doesn t seem to want to quit. Our booth sported several snazzy matblack customs that drew many admiring looks and smiles. We also had a Rocky River Police motorcycle, complete with the new LED red, white, and blue lights that just amazed the crowd and excited every child who stopped by. The policemen that volunteered to man the booth and keep an eye on the bike were absolutely wonderful with the kids, allowing them to sit on the bike while family members took cute photographs. The display was all we needed to hand out flyers to promote the First Annual Cops Ride that will run from Downtown Cleveland, past five police departments, and back to Lake Erie Harley on June 14 th.pretty much guaranteeing an excellent crowd, all praying for superb weather and a great ride! It was a fun, exciting and tiring weekend, meeting and talking to people from all walks of life who love being on two wheels (or, three, in some cases!!!) Besides, where else would you be able to pay $3.50 for a bottle of water and $27.00 for a medium pizza!!! Regardless of the sagging economy, this is still one place where dreams become real and people come together with like minds.fun, friends, food and goodies a reminder of what s to come in just a few short months. Hope all of you had the chance to visit, and if not.well, there s always next year! 4 Chapter Picnic Update Debbie Baker Activities Plans are under way, Debbie Baker and Cindy Koson are going to attend a planning meeting for the Four Chapter Picnic. We will get details published on the date, time, and location as soon as we get them. Walk, Swap & Trade Karen Gilley For the first time, Lake Erie Harley Davidson hosted a huge swap meet on a snowy, cold day in January. With nothing much else to do, people came in droves to see the wares set up throughout the dealership. I ve never seen so much stuff in one place and marveled at the guys walking out with just what they wanted.which certainly must be a male thing since I couldn t tell one part from another! I imagine if you have a mechanical mind and you know what you re looking for this was exactly the place you needed to be. At one time, we welcomed people who told us that they had to drive around both the front and back lots several times to even find a place to park! It was an amazing crowd. Ronnie Long and I set ourselves up to dole out the hot dogs and chile (lot s of compliments on that Mr. Mahon!) and assisted the APL people in pouring beverages for legions of hungry, cold bikers all day long, leaving the LEHD employees time to keep the swap meet running as smoothly as it did. One of the most interesting displays was a gentleman who makes model motorcycles (and planes and boats) from any can you can find for him! This hobby of his has taken hold and he displayed many models from Diet Pepsi Road Kings to Budwieser Ultra s! And, I was told that if you send him a picture of your bike and let him know what your favorite beverage is (assuming it comes in a can!!) he will custom make your bike with that can! What an wonderful display he put out and what an informative speaker he was, as well, letting us know that he creates the v-twin engine look by stacking up pop tabs!!!! The individual items he had there were certainly a sight to see. At the end of the day, about 35 tired, but satisfied, vendorsfor-a-day packed up the stuff they hadn t sold and trudged back out into the weather to start their trek home with many commenting on how well this meet was run and said that they were certainly hoping that this would become an annual event! This newsletter is available by accessing Page6 of 7

7 Hope the dealership feels the same! After all, what else is there to do in the winter we ve had!!! See ya later From the Editor Matt Scheer Thanks for all the words of welcome at the February chapter meeting. I am looking forward to helping out with the newsletter. First off, I must apologize to a couple of wonderful ladies, Kim Wiegl and Karen Gilley. To Kim, I cut the Ladies Of Harley article off at a paragraph space inadvertently and to Karen, I missed moving a couple of her submissions (the ones included this month on the Swap Meet and the IX Center Amusement) from one system to the other in the process of starting up. SORRY LADIES!! Please keep sending the wonderful articles my way. Secondly, yes, it was me who ed the newsletter to the wrong address and did not get it to Ken Unger for publication on the web as I had planned. Sorry Ken, you know I just don t spend quite enough time with those computers. Ron Long reviewed all the activities for March and April has more fun coming. Don t miss the 70 th Anniversary Celebration at Lake Erie Harley Davidson on the 4 th of April. Should be quite an event. April also sees the start of the Mileage Award event. Too bad we cannot call it the Iron Butt, much more fun but what can you do. April also brings the Ladies of Harley Easter Egg Hunt on the 11 th, the Rally for the Troops on the 19 th and the Ride In Pancake Breakfast on the 25 th (Where the Ladies Of Harley will be offering the patch sewing again). Oh and don t forget the chapter meeting on the 30 th of April. Take care out there. Cleveland Movie Premier of "Brothers at War" John Kikol on March 11th and 12th offering FREE TICKETS to all veterans and active military FREE TICKET OFFER - "Equal Honor for All" is privileged to offer FREE TICKETS to all veterans and active service women and men. All others interested in viewing the Premier Showing of BROTHERS at WAR, are asked to express their support for our veterans and military with a tax deductible donation of $10.00 per person when purchasing tickets at the ticket distribution locations. It is strongly recommended, due to the limited number of available tickets for all locations, that all veterans interested in viewing the movie pick up their FREE TICKETS in advance from any of the ticket distribution outlets. Any remaining tickets will be available at the door the evenings of the showing. The movie Premier will be first shown at 7:30 PM on Wednesday March 11th at Cleveland State University Main Auditorium and the 100th Bomb Group Restaurant on Brookpark Road. Advance tickets are available at Harley Davidson Sales Company of Cleveland, South East Harley Davidson of Bedford Heights, Quaker Steak and Lube in Valley View and the Galleria at Erieview (during lunch hours). The second showing will occur at 7:30 PM on Thursday March 12th at Lakeland Community College in Mentor and Lorain County Community College, Stocker Arts Center, in Lorain. Advance tickets for the Lakeland Community College showing are available at Western Reserve Harley Davidson in Mentor. Advanced tickets for the Lorain Community College showing are available at Lake Erie Harley Davidson in Avon and Quaker Steak and Lube in Sheffield. Proceeds from the movie will benefit EQUAL HONOR FOR ALL a 501-C-3 charity. For more information about "Equal Honor for All" contact Ray Saikus at or This newsletter is available by accessing Page7 of 7