Friday, October 29, 2010

Then Came Bronson

Okay, so if any of you out there are less than spring chicken age you might remember this show. "Then Came Bronson" was about a man named Jim who road around the country on a 1969 Sportster - which was the fastest production bike in the world - after quitting his job as a journalist. The show was based on a real person named Birney Jarvis, and he was a techinical advisor for the show.  A fantastic site with all sorts of information to keep you busy a long time is here  http://www.jimbronson.com/ with a really cool information page from Birney himself. You'll learn that Birney's real life travels were on a 1941 Harley 61 inch stroked out to 80 cubic inches. Not only that but he was a founding member of the San Francisco Hell's Angels.
I remember being glued to the TV back then as were my older brothers to the Bronson series who's charactor was a much milder person then what was going on in the real world those days. These shows prompted me to attach, with clothes pins,  playing cards to my bicycle frame to hit the spokes with and pretend I was Jim on a journey. Ahhh, the imagination of youth before the electronic age of video games sucked the imagination away from todays kids.
Check out the site for all things Bronson and learn about the worlds first super bike...the Harley Davidson Sportster.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Diminution in Value

Here is the first in the series of hopefully useful information for you who are leaning two out there. I know I have caused a stir a few times with this one when I informed someone of this. Heck, one such case involving a friend of mine had his co-workers laughing behind my back telling him I was full of shit. He called his insurance company and they even scoffed at him about it saying they'd never heard of it. His agent had been in the business for fifteen years and brushed him off. At my insistence he kept bugging them and his co-workers kept on telling him I was , ya know..., full of shit. That is until his determination and leg work yielded a $2000 check in addition to getting his vehicle repaired here in North Carolina.

Diminution in Value: The difference in resale value of a vehicle after repairs have been made.  Basically this pertains to the difference of fair market value of your vehicle immediately before an accident and immediately afterwards of the accident. Say your motorcycle was worth $14000 before somebody backed over it in a parking lot, or Grandma turned left in front of you and you t-boned her car, even after repairs have been made to right the damage, your motorcycle is now worth only 75% of what it was pre-accident,or $10,500. So if you decide to later sell the motorcycle you have to tell the potential buyer that it was involved in an accident by law. Even though it was repaired and made close to pre-accident condition, fact is it has lost value from what the value was had it never been damaged. So the insurance company of the person who caused the damage is responsible for providing this difference in value to you.
This is also why it is important for you to document and have receipts for any upgrades you may have done or had done to the motorcycle before the accident that would have raised it's value before an accident occurs. And that you inform your insurance of any of these upgrades that adds value to the motorcycle. Otherwise the insurance companies will base their value on the as manufactured and delivered from the factory value guide.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Leaning Two is On the gO

Here we are folks, this is the spin off blog from Wooleysrant where I post my daily drivel and antics, bitches and gripes in general. This new place "Leaning Two" will be the place for elements related to riding on two wheels. We'll be doing our best to keep up with important issues that are relevant to all motorcyclists, although every ones input and direction to new laws and old established ones will be a great asset.

We would also appreciate information for Rider friendly Motels/Hotels, Camp grounds, places to eat, motorcycle shops, interesting places to visit and pretty much anything to do with life on two wheels.

Thanks for stopping by and come back to see what new information we can drum up.