Saturday, March 30, 2019

Biker sucker punched at stop light

Indianapolis, IN. USA (March 29, 2019) BSB – James Yacconi, a veteran of four tours of duty in Iraq, is struggling with injuries after a confrontation with another motorist. It happened on South Madison Avenue, where a moment of driver courtesy was followed by brutal road rage, all captured by a Lyft driver’s dash camera “He’s currently on a ventilator and a feeding tube,” said Yacconi’s wife. “Because they haven’t quite wired his mouth shut.“


It happened Wednesday evening, not far from Manual High School. “Great sunny day so I decide to go for a quick, small ride,” Yaconni later recalled in a Facebook post. From his motorcycle,Yacconi noticed a problem with a Lyft driver’s car and helpfully let him know. “You got a break light out on that side,” Yaconni told the driver. “Thank you. Alright," the driver responded.

Yacconi recounts: "The guy behind me was laying into his horn, came close to rear-ending and sideswiping me as he goes around and gets in front of me.“ Then, at the next red light at Madison and Pleasant Run, “I’m still behind him and I asked what his problem is. He stormed out of his car. I get off my bike I ask him what his deal was.


All I was doing was helping another guy out by telling him he had a taillight out. Next thing I know, I get double-punched by him wearing two brass knuckles. Yaconni, a U.S. Army veteran, was left with serious jaw injuries. He's in "a lot of pain" according to family. Yaconni followed the Lyft driver to get his dash cam evidence.

He later posted that the Lyft driver said he “does not know how I am still conscious.” He decribed the road rage vehicle as “junky,” a white car missing the rear bumper. Yaconni is still hospitalized, a long road ahead in healing the broken jaw. Family and friends want justice for the victim. If you have information about the incident, you're asked to call IMPD or Crime Stoppers at (317) 262-TIPS.

SOURCE: WTHR13

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

World Renowned Tattoo Artist Lyle Tuttle Dies

San Francisco, California , USA (March 26, 2019) BSB — Lyle Tuttle was known as the “father of modern tattooing” and a revolutionary protagonist in the history of tattooing has died. He was born in 1931 and grew up in Ukiah, California.


He had been tattooing since 1949. At the age of fourteen he purchased his first tattoo for $3,50. He has been working for Bert Grimm and has been tattooed by him. His first shop was open in San Francisco for 35 years. He has tattooed on all seven continents and has become a legend within the industry.


Mr. Tuttle tattooed Janis Joplin, Cher, Jo Baker, Henry Fonda, Paul Stanley, Joan Baez, the Allman Brothers and many, many other notable musicians, actors, and celebrities. He officially retired in 1990 but he did occasionally tattoo his signature on a friend or acquaintance.


He also opened The Lyle Tuttle Tattoo & Museum in San Francisco. It features his own collection of tattoo memorabilia, in an effort to preserve the tattoo history for future generations. He says that “tattoos are travel marks, stickers on your luggage. Tattoos are special, you have to go off and earn them. You can go into a jewelry store and buy a big diamond and slip it on your finger and walk out. It’s not like that when you go into a tattoo shop and pick a big tattoo and pay for it. Now you got to sit down and take it.”


Lyle Tuttle died March 26, 2019 in Hospice due to complications from throat cancer, he was 87 years old.



A post shared by Lyle Tuttle (@lyletuttlecollection) on

Saturday, March 23, 2019

Arlen Ness Passes – 1939-2019

Arlen Ness, the great designer of American custom parts and motorcycles, passed away on March 22, 2019. The world of custom motorcycles loses one of their great artists. Since 1992 he has been part of the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

Today the world of motorcycles is a little uglier, because Arlen Ness has left us. The great American custom artist, one of the great transformers of Harley Davidson, Indian or the Victory, left us on March 22. His catalog of motorcycles is impressive and his love for motorcycles even more. In the Facebook profile of his company Arlen Ness remind him with a phrase: "for me the bikes have been like a great ride, since I have been working on motorcycles everything has been wonderful ... We have been able to go anywhere in the world and we have always met with friends, with a large family. "


For many Arlen Ness was the king of custom, his designs have gone around the world and having one of his accessories on our bikes was like having a great jewel.

Arlen Ness was born in Moorhead, Minnesota in 1939. He was a self-made man, worked in multiple trades, including furniture transporter, and made some money to acquire a Harley Davidson Knucklehead, which he transformed and achieved the first prize of the San Francisco Show Bike of 1967.


With this recognition he was encouraged to continue transforming motorcycles in the garage of his house in California, until in 1971 he set up his own shop of motorcycles and accessories.

Since 1971, his fame has only grown due to the unique style of his decorations and the development of his catalog of personalized pieces. He installed his headquarters in Dublin, California in facilities that have a small museum with 40 of his most select achievements.


Arlen Ness has several awards as the constructor of the year and is part of the "AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame" since 1992. Today his son Cory Ness is the one in charge of the Arlen Ness company in a 100 percent family business.


In addition to his creativity, Arlen Ness had a good business vision. He was one of the first to standardize a catalog of "unique" pieces that became the object of desire of the lovers of the custom.

On the style of Arlen Ness, it should be noted that he was very inspired by the world of the Dragsters, with very long bikes and impressively elongated backward handlebars. In the words of Arlen Ness: "I love the style of the 'dragbikes', narrow, elongated and very low." Some of their most famous bikes were the Ferrari Bike or the Toobad that contained two engines of a Harley Davidson Sportster. All his works were works of art. Rest in peace, American friend.

SOURCE: Moto1Pro

Friday, March 22, 2019

Bomb threat reported at Harley plant

York, Pennsylvania, USA (March 21, 2019) BSB — The Harley-Davidson plant just off Route 30 in Springettsbury Township was evacuated Wednesday afternoon because of a bomb threat. Workers were sent home for the day, according to a company spokeswoman. Springettsbury Township Police were called to the 1425 Eden Road plant about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 20.


The building was evacuated while police searched it, officials said. The incident did not affect Route 30 traffic, according to a 911 supervisor. On Wednesday afternoon, Harley-Davidson spokeswoman Patricia Sweeney sent an email to media confirming there was a bomb threat. "In the interest of employee safety — which is always our highest priority — we have evacuated all employees from the York facility and asked employees to leave for the day," Sweeney wrote.

She said the plant is working with local police investigating the threat and will release updates "when we have more information." An hour later, Sweeney announced that the building and property were searched, "and no threat was found." She said employees have been contacted to return to work.

SOURCE: York Daily Record

Friday, March 1, 2019

Mongols Motorcycle Club keep trademarked logo

Santa Ana, California, USA (March 1, 2019) BSB — A federal judge has rejected the U.S. government’s unprecedented efforts to gain control of the prized patches that adorn the vests worn by the Mongols motorcycle club, ruling that prosecutors attempts to seize the organization’s trademarks are unconstitutional.

The written ruling, released Thursday morning by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, marks a setback for federal prosecutors who two months ago persuaded a Santa Ana jury to find the Southern California-based club guilty of racketeering. Attorneys for the Mongols described the ruling as a victory for all motorcycle clubs.

A Mongols Motorcycle Club vest displaying their trademarked logo 

At the center of the legal battle was control of the patches that depict the club’s name and an illustration of a ponytailed, Ghengis Khan-type motorcycle rider wearing sunglasses. “The Mongols motorcycle club was able to defend the First Amendment for themselves and all motorcycle clubs,” said Stephen Stubbs, an attorney for the Mongols.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not immediately comment on the ruling. Carter’s ruling is unlikely to stand as the final word in a case that has drawn national attention. The first-of-its-kind effort to convict the Mongols organization, rather than specific members, of racketeering in order to strip members of their well-known insignia is almost certain to make its way before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and possibly to the U.S. Supreme Court. Carter upheld the racketeering conviction and tentatively agreed that the government can keep seized guns and ammunition from the Mongols.

But he ruled that efforts to take control of the Mongols’ insignia and patches violates the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and association protections and the Eighth Amendment’s protection against excessive fines. “Not everything repugnant is unconstitutional,” Carter said. “And what does the government plan to do with the tattoos of the (Mongols’ insignia and patch) on members’ backs, arms and other body parts? …

That certain individual members of the Mongol Nation displayed the symbols while committing violent crimes or were rewarded with other patches for the commission of crimes does not justify the government’s attempts to bootstrap a conviction of the motorcycle club into censorship of uncharged members or supporters.”

Attorneys for the Mongols have described the patches that adorn members’ leather “cuts” as the organization’s “Holy Grail,” and they have said that the government taking control of them would mark a “death penalty” for the group. “I’m happy that this is not a death sentence here,” said Attorney Joseph Yanny, who represented the Mongols in the racketeering trial. “But I don’t like the fact the club has been labeled a criminal organization.”

Prosecutors have argued that taking the Mongols’ trademark is the only way to stop the “cycle of crime” committed by club members. The Mongols have countered that the crimes were committed by “bad apples” who are no longer involved in the club. In December, jurors agreed that the Mongols organization engaged in drug trafficking, vicious assaults and murder.

Much of the violence – which included attacks, some fatal, in bars and restaurants in Hollywood, Pasadena, Merced, La Mirada, Wilmington and Riverside – was tied to a decades-long rivalry between the Mongols and the Hells Angels motorcycle club. Carter noted that the government has spent more than a decade attempting to take control of the Mongols’ trademark, at one point claiming it wanted to be able to stop members of the club and literally take their jackets off of their backs. “The government is not merely seeking a forfeiture of the ship’s sails,” Carter wrote. “In this prosecution, the United States is attempting to use (racketeering laws) to change the meaning of the ship’s flag.”

The Mongols, one of the nation’s largest motorcycle clubs, was formed in Montebello in the 1970s, and is now based in West Covina. Among those who testified on behalf of the club during the recent racketeering trial was Jesse Ventura, a former Minnesota governor and retired pro wrestler who joined the group in 1973 while still on active duty in the U.S. Navy.

The case stemmed from Operation Black Rain, a multi-agency investigation that involved several law enforcement agents infiltrating the Mongols. A separate, earlier case against specific Mongols members resulted in 77 people pleading guilty to racketeering-related charges.