October Newsletter 2014

The Palm Beach Knights Newsletter

The Knights Table

Halloween Edition

Monthly Newsletter October 2014

Greetings from your President   Will

Greetings Knights,

Well it's time to rant!!! Last week I somehow got a nail in my rear tire. After calling a friend and checking with Slick I decided to give plugging it a shot. While it seemed ok, it lost about 10lbs over night. Since we had a 300 mile ride I decided to play it safe and get it looked at by a "professional".  So instead of going on the ride I brought the bike to Powersports of Palm Beach. They are a small time bike repair shop in Lake Park off Northlake. While I was there the "mechanic" decided that he should change the plug and fill it with ride on. To which I replied "Duh, OK"  I know real smart! So he pulls the plug that is in the tire and made the hole BIGGER...plugs it and puts a bottle of ride on in it. Then tells me I'm good to go, $15 Thanks! I head home after meeting my wife and daughter. On the way home, the tire goes completely flat and I manage to get to the side of the road. Well after no luck with the insurance roadside "service" I ended up calling a friend with a truck and another friend with a trailer and got myself the 2 miles to my house. 

And now for the rest of the story. I called the  "professionals" at Powersports of Palm Beach and had them order me a tire....one that they recommended. They even offered to pick up the bike. So finally the owner Tony picked it up  Thursday. He tied down my bike like it was a piano!!  When I went to get it on Friday, this is what I found !

1. A $323 bill for a rear tire. ( I checked the tires sells for $180)

2. No neutral light

3. Broken tachometer

4. Grips move down the handlebar ,even though it was GLUED!!!!

5. No back running light.

6.and last, but NOT least they had left my bike out all night in the rain.

I did call Tony the owner who knew little of what was going on and seemed offended that I would think they did something.  

The moral of the story is watch out who you trust your bike and your life to. Please tell everyone NOT TO USE this place. In my opinion they SUCK!!!

Thank you Knights for allowing me to rant....

On a happier note: I called the famous mechanic Jim Parish, who I have spoken about before. Now I should mention that when I was at the "other" place they had a mechanic on the phone from Broward Motorsports and the 2 of them could not figure out what was wrong. I brought it over to Jim...it took him maybe 5 minutes and he had the whole thing fixed!! Oy. Also, I told Jim what a hard time I was having getting my well filter off, so he loaned me a tool and I was able to do that job!  

your brother,

Will

I wanted to take a moment and thank our past Sponsor The Bull. Unfortunately they are no longer in business and we all want to wish them well.

And Please join me in welcoming our new Sponsor 

Force-E Divers

Force-E Dive Centers has the best dive staff in South Florida.  We have staff members ranging from Photo experts to, Blue Heron Bridge masters, to Free Diving experts. 

Please look for more info coming soon about special events for the Knights and others.

Diving can be a wonderful experience, but it takes you out of your element and puts you somewhere that can be very dangerous!! When you go diving or snorkeling always go with someone who knows the rope and you can trust with your life...like Force-E Dive Centers. The best dive center there is.

Skip and Cathy are the owners of the three Force-E Scuba Centers located in Pompano Beach, Boca Raton, and Riviera Beach. Skip started his diving career at the first YMCA Scuba Diving Certification course in Atlanta, GA and later became a Dive Instructor in 1961. In 1975, Skip and Cathy met and Cathy started diving here in Florida. The first Force-E Scuba Center was opened in 1976, and is currently one of the leaders in the dive community in South Florida to offer retail, training, and dive experiences. When Skip and Cathy go diving, their favorite dive site is the ledges in Delray called the Snapper Hole. Cathy loves diving in her new Aqua Lung Lotus i3 BCD and Skip loves to dive in all the equipment he sells at Force-E.

https://www.force-e.com/

Who has the COOLEST VEST ???

Purchasing any item from the Knights helps support our club and makes you look even better!!

We have-small patches and now a  limited 

supply of

 large back Patches available.

SHOW YOUR PRIDE!!

Michael Bart Stall			5-Oct
Jerry Pisciottano			10/6/1965
Steve (slick) Rosenblum			10//26
Kris Kollar			10/26/1967
Eric (medrep) Torrella			10/27/1969
Neal Alvanos			10/27/1946

Knights don't forget to RSVP for our Holiday party. Last year was a great one and this year will be even better. Free gifts 50/50 raffles and more. Of course we will have our Knights White Elephant Gift Exchange!!!!!

12/20/14

A new KNIGHT is BORN

Congratulations  
Marc and  Shrivani 
Grayson Keeran Simmons was born 10/15/2014 at 7:48am. 8lbs,6oz 20 1/2in long.
 Mother and baby doing fine

We have been having some really awesome rides /TIMES:

Lightsey Fish & seafood, and Lake ride

It's Riding weather again!!! Wow, what a great day. This had to be the best ride since the beginning of Summer. The cool temps and the great company made this ride relaxing and stress free. Our route took us down some great roads ( Fox Brown, and others) and we actually made it ALL around the lake. Lightsey was as good as usual.

Their food is a mix of old Florida cracker style with some good everyday favorites. A Special Thank you goes to Kris and Pam who left a Rose for our fallen Knight Shari, it was one of her favorite places. 

Marc Sultan said "Fantastic weather, couldn't be any better. But as Kris said, it was over too quickly. I had a great time with great people."

Of course he did show us all where he keeps his gun!!!!...just sayin.

Ok Corral Gun Club

We all love to shoot and have been wanting to find a new outdoor place. I asked around and was told by some gun guys that the Ok Corral Gun Club was a great place. Well, they weren't lying. A very nice place although a little pricey. Skip and I had  only 1  disappointment which was that they didn't have any .38 ammo. The place is very well kept and part of it made to look like an old western town. We shot at an outdoor area that was the nicest I've seen. The people were very friendly and helpful. They even had a stool and water for the shooters. I walked over to the Cowboy town and watched them for awhile, very interesting and looked like fun. Lauren had just learned to shoot that week. So we gave her what little help we could and she did great. By the end of the day she was hitting pretty much what she was aiming at. 

 I think Skip was our best shot for the day. Greenies finally found out that the POS .22 revolver he found has got to go!!! Lastly I have to say that the food at their restaurant was awesome!! Everyone was happy with their meal. I would definitely go back.

Skip Commagere Said "Best Damn Gun range in Florida. The food was also very good. We got turned around a couple of times But Will got us home by way of Atlanta. Long Ride. LOL Too much fun. Good to see Lauren and Greenie again."

The "welcome home Ricky Shades ride" Arcadia, FL

I wanted very much to welcome back our brother Rick, unfortunately life didn't cooperate. I noticed the night before that my tire was flat. After some inspection I found the culprit...a nail! Well a friend and I plugged it and thought we would be good to go, but the next morning I found that I had lost 10 lbs of air. So I had to cancel. I'm glad that Rick, Slick and Lauren got to take a breakfast ride. The rest of my day was spent dealing with my tire issue. First I went to the tire place where they 

re-patched it and even used some glue. On the way home...the tire went completely flat. The next 3 1/2 hours was spent trying to get me the last 2 miles to my house. With the help of some friends, that was finally accomplished. I now will have to go through the process of getting my bike to the tire place and buy a new one. OY VEY! 

Wild Turkey Tavern, Avon Park

Well the weather gods were very good to us!! We ended up taking the 714 (Martin County hwy) which turned out to be awesome! Everyone had a great time, unfortunately Jerry got ill and had to head back at Okeechobee, but we were glad he came that far. Get well soon Bro! The Wild Turkey Tavern is an old biker hangout with pretty decent food. If it wasn't for the troupe of little kids running around, it would have been perfect. Oh, Lauren did have to make a personal coffee run. Who ever heard of a restaurant not having  coffee. Greenies was very happy that they charge $1.50 to use a debit card....ok maybe not.  

The ride home was perfect and it was a memorable day. 

Lauren Said" What a great day for a ride, no humidity, the usual PBK bandits, and MJ showed up at the restaurant which was terrific."

     

 MEMBER OF THE MONTH GOES TO 

Skip Commagere

And a big Thank you for becoming a club sponsor!!

September 2014 newsletter

The Palm Beach Knights Newsletter

The Knights Table

Monthly Newsletter September 2014

Greetings from your President   Will

Knight Riding Vision - Fight the Night

By Will

In a few weeks, most of the country will have made the switch to Daylight Saving Time. Please don't ask me why, I'm still trying to figure it out.  Since I leave for work at 5:45am, I'm delighted to have that extra hour of light in the morning, but I'll still face the occasional post-sunset commute home. Sad to say night riding just isn't the delight it used to be when I was a young buck. Generally speaking, your ability to see at night deteriorates with age, (same to you bro) and a twilight spin in my mid-40s(ok 50’s) demands way more preparation to keep the excitement meter from going off the dial. You've probably heard the sobering stats: A disproportionately high rate of accidents occur between dusk and dawn.

(Probably due to the increase of zombie activity)

The most basic issue (get ready now) is lack of visibility. No @#$% Sherlock! Nighttime riding disadvantages are compounded by the quirks of getting older. At the back of my mind I keep hearing "The eyes are the first things to go." For some Knights it’s the second!!!

The other night on the ride home from the “lead out the Team” ride I was reminded of some of the challenges. When you live in the country (the Acreage) like I do, you can add dirt roads with no overhead lighting. That and my sensitivity to light (headlights), the morons who has his high beams on and add compromised vision of being an aging rider and it's easy to see why it’s a battlefield out there at night. And if you think it's a stretch for drivers to spot motorcyclists in the full light of day, our single headlight is essentially invisible to the cagers at and after sundown. Apart from watching out for tired, oblivious drivers, there's also Bambi to consider; wild animals tend to be more active after dusk especially in the Acreage. I’m telling you those  %$#@ squirrels are just waiting for me!! I once even had a whole family of Raccoons run in front of me on a dirt road.

That's a handful, so I did a little research for some, uh, clarity. I look into light / night blindness. Eye Dr.’s say the retinas are mostly designed for light situations. Barely15 percent of their receptors are made for the dark. Darkness makes the eye's pupil expand [dilate], and the headlights of an oncoming car basically set off all the receptors in your eye, giving you only a white flash in your vision. Which can make your vision more likely to blur and can contribute to eyestrain.

Before you get all gloomy, know there are ways to prepare for your ride once the sun goes down. (Get it gloomy….man I crack myself up)

A simple way to prepare yourself against the evening is to prep your ride. That means making everything nice and shiny (yes, even you Gunner) before you hit the street. Headlights, taillights, signal lights, windshields and helmet visors should be cleaned at least twice a week…..once a week?

I ride with a full-face helmet, so I try to make sure the shield is scratch free. A scratch can create light refraction and make two headlights seem like four; you won't know what's coming from where. Fog is another issue. When I used to dive, we used to spit on the inside of our face mask. This works for visors too. Wipe your slobber off with a clean rag,(or use a friends shirt…not a club shirt!) and bam!-antifog.  OK, this may not work for motorcycle helmets.

Since night riding diminishes both the distance and quality of what you see, you might want to keep a daintier touch on the throttle-especially if you're in the boonies like me. It’s also tougher to determine surface situation as well as the road's general direction at night, key points on unlit Acreage roads. That aforementioned other night, was very nerve jarring when I had to go down my own dirt road which changes every time it rains. I couldn’t see pot hole, or the big rutes left by all the trucks on my road.  

Don't settle in behind a large truck or any vehicle's blind spot-get your motorcycle where it can be seen. This is true even during the daylight hours.  

It's not a good idea to ride when you're tired. Long hauls in the evening can easily leave you in autopilot mode.  Any of us who have done long night rides, may have experienced “white line fever”. That occurs when you start starring at the lines in the road. It’s almost hypnotic. Taking regular breaks is the best way to fight fatigue on long nighttime journeys. Also, play little games in your head that helps you to pay attention (how many Blonds, Red heads…you know) Snacks and light food will help ward off tiredness. Stay away from Energy drinks like Red Bull for long trips, when they wear off you can crash…OK bad choice of words.

Make yourself a little larger than life. I installed a lot of white LED light on my bike; people should be able to see me from far away. The biggest thing a following driver sees is your back, so get some reflectivity back there. I put on reflective tape on the back of my helmet.  Make sure you use your turn signals so the zombie, people around you know what you're about to do.

All things considered, it probably isn't as bad as it seems. After all I’m told 47(ok 57) is the new 27(40?), right? Just tell that to my wife-she ordered me a walking cane and already agreed to take me shopping for bifocals and orthopedic boots. I’m just sayin…..

Hey Knights if you haven't had the chance, make sure to go to our sponsor's restaurant!

Enjoy the very best American Greek Restaurant and sports bar in West Palm Beach, Bull Bar and Taverna, ideally located a few minutes away from Downtown West Palm Beach and Palm Beach International Airport. Taste the incredibly delicious Greek food menu as well as the family friendly atmosphere for all to enjoy. If you’re looking for late night entertainment then take part in our live karaoke and no limit live poker action. And of course, we would’t be the best sports bar in West Palm Beach if we didn’t offer you your favorite team’s game on any of our big screen TV’s. So come on in with the whole family and cheer on your team! Don't forget to mention that you are a Palm Beach Knight and you'll get a 20% discount!! Then tell us, and get 50 miles.

Who has the COOLEST VEST ???

Purchasing any item from the Knights helps support our club and makes you look even better!!

We have-small patches and now a  limited 

supply of

 large back Patches available.

SHOW YOUR PRIDE!!

Paul Mana			9/7/1947
Matt Jones			9/7
Steve Seide			9/26/1948
Paul Sachse			9/29/1960

We have been having some really awesome rides /TIMES:

Roland Martins Marina in Clewiston

This ride was questionable due to the typical Florida liquid sunshine. I'm glad we went, the ride  was great and it was good to have David and Jerry ride with us again.

David "DRey" Rey said "Great ride as usual"

2nd Anniversary club (K)night

Thanks to all that came out to help us celebrate our 2nd anniversary.

Was a great night. Our brother Crash went home with an extra $50 from the 50/50. Also, thank you to the Bull for hosting us. We also got to welcome a new Knight and old friend Kris who came with his son. Thank you to our gal Lisa who helped with the 50/50 sales!

We missed having our SAA Echoes with us and send our heartfelt condolences on the lost of his beloved Father....our thoughts are with you .

Kris said" Happy Second Year Anniversary Knights. Again. It was a pleasure celebrating with all of you tonight, I look forward to Riding and sharing many good times together."

Lead the team for home coming!-Boynton Beach HS

A very big thank you for those that came out to show support for the school and give the Knights some good publicity!

The weather was questionable to the last minute , but it ended up being dry and a little cooler. It was a very exciting experience, we even got to throw some gifts into the crowd. I'm sure the school was very happy with our leading the team out and I hope we get invited next year!

Kris Said"I had a great time last night, was a ride to remember leading the football team across the field with our Bikes and to see that everyone knows Will and actually likes him LOL"

Original Tiki Bar & Restaurant, 

Well our original plan was to go to the Treasure coast Rally, but the sort of , kind of got canceled. So we made an alternate ride. While it was a small group, we had a very good time. The pleasure was added to by all of us having a Sena and being able to talk to each other. The route and the weather were both very good to us. The only rain we saw was from our seats in the resaurant. It was dry the rest of the time.

Neal Alvanos Said "Very relaxing & pleasant ride with small congenial group along ICW to Ft. Pierce. Yes, there was a fort."