Topic: World Tour 2012

[Retro Rocket]

Cabot Trail Motorcycle Ride , July 3, 2011

Check the v-storm out this guy misses the corner on the base of a cape smokey.

That guy is an absolutely hopeless rider, no idea of how to pick a line and his mid corner gear changes were crap..... Scary #$%*....

[madmtnmotors]

2012...............I wanna do it exactly the same only waaaaayy different

I've been kicking an idea around lately... what about a split relay? A shotgun start from both the East and West coast, each baton would only have to cover half as much territory and could spend twice as long in each place. 24 states apiece (and a few Canandian provinces) would allow for approx one full week per state/province and still wrap up in six months with a more relaxed pace. World Tour 2011 only provided 3-1/2 days per state since we were having to hit-em-all with just one baton and still trying to keep a six month schedule for fair weather. Not all states would require a full week, making for extended stays in some areas, culminating in a common finish line (Barbers? Sturgis? Going to the Sun highway? AMA Vintage Fest?). Might require two coordinators, a "West" coordinator and an "East" coordinator along with regional coordinators. Get out your thinking caps!

[mrbreeze]

Interesting idea...........we have plenty of time to iron out the plan.

[Stev-o]

Very cool idea! Maybe we should start a poll and see if the majority of us likes it?

[BobbyR]

I think before we start anything we should kick either Honda USA or Japan in the ass and get some support from them. What other brand of 30+ year old bikes have been able to pull off something like this?

[FuZZie]

I think before we start anything we should kick either Honda USA or Japan in the ass and get some support from them. What other brand of 30+ year old bikes have been able to pull off something like this?

If we want help from Honda we'd need to repeat this and this time do what Hush did and get PR.

some would be simple like:
GZ would need to be come our mascot much like a product name, trade mark or company logo. That has to equal us and grow each year.
Get GZ into a Honda/SOHC  T-shirt so he's tied to us and honda in all his pictures (spread said pictures around the web).
Call a few Honda dealers get permission to use them as picture back drops every time GZ is passed on (start identifying the old bikes to people with local dealerships).

Thing is if we want something from them we need to be of value to them.

[madmtnmotors]

GZ would need to be come our mascot much like a product name, trade mark or company logo. That has to equal us and grow each year.
Get GZ into a Honda/SOHC  T-shirt so he's tied to us and honda in all his pictures (spread said pictures around the web).

GZ is already it's own trademark and likely carries some copyright protections too, so branding would have to be done carefully. I hear GZ's lawyers are even more fierce than GZ himself! Google brings up plenty of hits, some including this:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/11/godzilla-terror/

That reports:

"The U.S. division of Honda Motor suffered a similar fate for displaying a Godzilla float in the Rose Parade, and paid an undisclosed amount to settle a 1991 lawsuit."

Sooo.... we may consider a shift to a more generic T-Rex rather than promoting a Honda-bashing mutant, no matter how fond I am of the lizard. At the very least we might consider asking permission before jumping in too deep.

NEWS FLASH: GZ was spotted on the beaches of New Zealand eating seal poo... he had just eaten a couple of lawyers and was trying to get the taste out of his mouth!

[FuZZie]

Sooo.... we may consider a shift to a more generic T-Rex rather than promoting a Honda-bashing mutant, no matter how fond I am of the lizard. At the very least we might consider asking permission before jumping in too deep.

Good stuff I agree, I never even thought about copyright issues. 

[BobbyR]

If we do not use Godzilla as a logo we have no problem.  I imagine the Mascot is a licensed toy, so no problem there. To put a fine point on it, do we have permission to use the Honda logo here or on anywhere. The idea of getting Honda on board is to maybe get some dealers to hold events and get licensed T Shirts or other things.

If they were smart they would leverage the fact these machines have lasted so long and can be ridden 100s of miles.

[madmtnmotors]

BobbyR is right, as long as GZ is not used to promote or sell another product, we could still press the licensed product into service as the baton. The use of it's likeness or name in the promotion of another product or service is where the legal eagles start circling. Just something to be aware of when trying to drum up support or promotional materials. We want the spotlight on the machines anyway!

[Trav-i]

I'm kinda liking the whole idea of spending a little more time in each state.  We have had a lot of people turn up here in NEGA in the last year, and I haven't much of a chance to meet any of them.  There is also a lot of members in mid and south GA too, so the NEGA group wouldn't have to go near as far this time.  Plus the idea of a east/west start to meet in the middle set up sounds good too.  It would def make life a bit easier.

Just my .02

Travis

[Hush]

Re the video, (1) If he was on the right side of the road like us Kiwi's he wouldn't have #$%*e himself over that long drop to his right (2) Did not all those skid marks on the road give him some sort of warning that a bad corner was coming up?  (3) Obvious death wish with his cornering, just begging to go head on with a camper van.

Anyhow back to the World Tour, maybe we could just call it "The Lizard Honda Tour" as I'm pretty sure that T-Rex is still a copy righted name for that 70's rock band.
The local Honda dealers were keen to have GZ tour to their shops here in NZ I just didn't have the time to work on that angle more, everyone has to agree that our 30+ year old bikes are the best advert for Honda reliability bar none!
Imagine buying the latest Honda today and planning to still be riding it 30 years later.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Re: HONDA

American Honda got in the game late but too late. They were in contact. They liked the idea! We could even submit something to Honda's Red Rider magazine IF we could find an aspiring journalist that would be willing to take it on! Not likely that at this late minute it would benefit what ever endeavor we take on for 2012 however. Someone mentioned we have time. Trust me - NOT REALLY!! 2011 planning started in 12/10. Wilbur was to have met with them as the kick off event at the Daytona 200. BUT, that damn Japanese disaster kinda got in the way and Wilbur was unable to meet up with the reps at their tent. Kinda last minute and loosely organized but nevertheless it was supposed to happen. I explained the concept and told them that we were seeking legitimacy and not sponsorship yet as I knew we would just seem to be a bunch of fanatics that'd be hard pressed to make this happen. Honda Canada blew me off. Never heard a word from my coorespondence. IMO we need to get the Motorcycle Classics article completed to add legitimacy to this then do a Red Rider article. Steve Shanesy was doing one hell of a job but life got in his way (with work) just as it has with mine (divorce that'll be done in early January if the starts are aligned). I truely think we can bring Honda on board if only as an interested party with a little PR for themselves. I did beg them to start making our parts again  I just don't know how much I can commit to currently as you know I've been much more absent lately. My focus has had to be directly away from GZ.

[FuZZie]

I like hush but needs one word.
"The Lizard Classic Honda Tour"

[mrbreeze]

We're all with ya Jerry. It would be great to have Honda onboard with us but if not...........we will still rock on and do it all over again. Even if we do things differently than 2011.......we will still have a fokin' blast !!!!! Mucho thanks to you for coming up with the idea in the first place!!!!!!

[ofreen]

Someone mentioned we have time. Trust me - NOT REALLY!!

This is a true statement.  Now is the time to start if something is going to come together for 2012.

[BobbyR]

I remember that at least in Mid Atlantic we only made it through because of one rider stretching himself a bit too far. We had a lot of route debate and some of those guys crapped out.

We had heroes.

[scottly]

Someone mentioned we have time. Trust me - NOT REALLY!!

This is a true statement.  Now is the time to start if something is going to come together for 2012.

1+ I thought I had plenty of time last year, but as it turned out I was still tweaking on my bike one hour before I hit the road...

[Stev-o]

scottly - you did a great job as the regional guy this year.
Since Jerry cannot commit, what do you think about taking over the reins for 2012?

[scottly]

We had heroes.

We sure did have some real heroes. Without them, the relay would never have happened.

[scottly]

scottly - you did a great job as the regional guy this year.
Since Jerry cannot commit, what do you think about taking over the reins for 2012?

Thanks, but I kind of feel like I let you guys in TX down, as well as coke and radam. Not sure if I'm up to 10x the responsibility...

[Stev-o]

You didn't let us down, don't say that.

Maybe two guys then, east and west?

[scottly]

Are you volunteering to be the new TX/OK coordinator? (The old regions were put together in haste.)

[Stev-o]

Are you volunteering to be the new TX/OK coordinator? (The old regions were put together in haste.)

No, not volunteering but may consider it if nobody else volunteers.

[scottly]

Are you volunteering to be the new TX/OK coordinator? (The old regions were put together in haste.)

No, not volunteering but may consider it if nobody else volunteers.

Tag, you're it! I was "volunteered" somewhat the same way.
As Pink put it, "Let's get this party started". Who's next??