Black Bikers Experience

A Harley-Davidson buff who was turned down when he tried to join a motorcycle club in the late 1960s, Frank “Claim-Jumper” Rios started the Hell’s Lovers, one of the first integrated biker organizations in Chicago.

“He got to know people across the United States, and he knew the different clubs,” said his son, Demetrius Guyton. “He enjoyed the wide-open road. The fun part of the road trips was hanging with his bros, even with the breakdowns.”

Mr. Rios, 62, died of cardiac arrest attributed to complications from diabetes Monday, Dec. 28, at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee, his son said. Mr. Rios had moved from Chicago’s West Side to Milwaukee in 1997.

A Mexican-American from the West Side, Mr. Rios was an outsider among existing motorcycle clubs when he started the Hell’s Lovers in 1967.

“He put the name on his back, and it took off,” his son said. “He hooked up with a childhood friend, and they formed a nation.”

Overseeing his own club allowed him to meet others who danced to their own rhythm, his longtime friend, Andrew “Poolie” Poole said.

“When people liked the way we lived, they jumped onboard with us,” said Poole, also a founding member of the Hell’s Lovers. “We believed in each other.”

The Hell’s Lovers have about 50 members in Chicago and claim more than 1,500 members across the country in states like Tennessee, Colorado, Texas, Georgia and Maryland, Guyton said.

“When you’d see us coming, you’d wonder, ‘How’d they all get together?’ ” said Ralph Collier, who joined in 1972. “We’d freak people out because we had all kinds of people: black, white, Mexican.”

Many motorcycle clubs have an outlaw reputation, and members of the Hell’s Lovers had occasional scrapes with the law over the years. But Mr. Rios managed to stay out of serious trouble.

“It got to be wild and crazy at times,” Collier said. “Half our stories can’t be put in print. There were times when tears had to be shed. But you lived to see what would happen the next five minutes.”

Mr. Rios, a boxing and martial arts instructor, rode his Harley regularly until four years ago, when he started suffering complications from diabetes.

Mr. Rios is also survived by a sister, Loretta Bernard, and four grandchildren.

Services were held.

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Well yesterday at our club meeting my Vice Prez was a little flustered because I am a die hard cruiser gal. He rides a Suzuki and didn’t want to go on the ride to Cali because it was Harley based.

So I want to let him know that Suzuki doesn’t have an all out campaign interest in black bikers or latino bikers, well to sum it up in marketing terms, urban bikers.

The last consorted effort Suzuki made to attract urban bikers was in 2008 and the website was called Busa Beats.

Suzuki relied previously on enthusiast magazines to do their marketing and because of extreme competition in the sport bike market they had to make a change in how they acquired more urban bikers to purchase their bikes. They had to become more aggressive in marketing by pushing into core markets, which in essence is the Urban Biker Market, at that time it accounted for nearly one-third of its sales.

In particular, the effort strived to reach African Americans and Latinos, which account for about 40 percent of Hayabusa buyers, according to Robert Elliott, advertising manager at Suzuki.

While African-American and Hispanic consumers tend to use the Web less overall, Elliott said it didn’t apply in making media choices for this campaign, which will spend half of its undisclosed budget on digital initiatives.

The misconception was African -American and Hispanic consumers don’t use the internet as much as white consumers. That truly isn’t the case . You have to reach them on sites of interest to them.

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James Stewart pursuit of his third Monster Supercross championship was last Saturday at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. Like Tiger Woods and Venus and Serena Williams, Stewart didn’t set out to break down barriers by becoming one of our best black athletes in a particular sport. He was pursuing his dream and made it to the top, becoming arguably the most successful of his race in American motor racing history.

Stewart said , “I’m the first black athlete in my favorite sport who also is No. 1 in the sport.”

Stewart was guided into motocross, the outdoor, natural terrain version of stadium-series Supercross, by his father, James Sr., who had him on a motorcycle at age three. His race was never a topic of discussion.

“My dad raised me right,” Stewart said. “He did the right things, never cared about race. I was out to win, to finish ahead of everybody.”

Stewart won a record 11 American Motorcyclist Association amateur titles before making his pro debut in 2002 at age 16. By 2004, he had moved into the premier Supercross series, which fills stadiums with fans, attracts major sponsorships and rewards top riders with multi-million dollar salaries and endorsement deals. Stewart, for example, has a deal with Nike on top of his factory contract with Yamaha.

Stewart took his first Supercross championship in 2007, but a knee injury forced him to withdraw from the series early in 2008. After surgery and rehabilitation, he returned four months later to have a perfect season in AMA Motocross, winning all 24 races. Stewart and Ricky Carmichael are the only riders with that accomplishment.

It’s possible Stewart could follow Carmichael into NASCAR, but don’t expect it for several more seasons. Supercross/motocross riders rarely race past the age of 30 because of the physical pounding from riding over bumps and landing hard from jumps on the rough terrain. Stewart is only 24 and in no hurry to leave.

He is asked often about going to NASCAR, which covets a black driver in the same way it wants Danica Patrick to succeed and make the switch to full time in Sprint Cup. He admits interest, but answers questions with a sense of humor.

Goldie~ Regulator for Life!

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This story is on Current:

There’s no tactful way to relate this story, so here it is: A UK man got his penis so horribly stuck inside of a steel pipe Tuesday that it took seven firefighters and a metal grinder to get it out. The man had initially been rushed to a hospital, but doctors were unable to remove the pipe because restricted blood flow had caused the penis to become too aroused, the Sun reports.

It took firefighters 30 minutes to cut the pipe off, leaving the penis within bruised and swollen, but otherwise unharmed. “It was a very delicate operation that required a very steady hand,” said one fireman. “It’s certainly an unusual call-out and I’m sure the man won’t be getting into that situation again.” The 40-year-old wouldn’t say how he’d gotten into the situation in the first place. In related news, Newser now has a “Less Gossip” button, and yes, using it would have spared you this.

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Okay family we have a week before we celebrate the Martin Luther King’s Day of Service.
I captured the information from World of Soul Motorcycle Community. What I captured your can read below:

In 1994, Congress designated the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday as a national day of service and charged the Corporation for National and Community Service with leading this effort. Taking place each year on the third Monday in January, the King Day of Service is the only federal holiday observed as a national day of service – a “day on, not a day off.” The King Day of Service empowers individuals, strengthens communities, bridges barriers, addresses social problems, and moves us closer to Dr. King’s vision of a “Beloved Community.”

Are you or your organization involved in a community service project on this day?

Goldie~Regulator for Life!

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