May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days.
Critical Mass is a form of direct action in which people meet at a set location and time and travel as a group through their neighbourhoods on bikes. The idea is for people to group together to make it safe for each other to ride bicycles through their streets, based on the old mantra: there's safety in numbers. A Critical Mass is a traffic jam on bikes – though often cheerier. Where usually motor vehicles have right of way, taking space away from those who want to walk or cycle, during a Critical Mass bikes take the priority and the space back from the motor traffic.
Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines which use only one gear and have no brakes; racing takes place on a flat oval track usually consisting of dirt, loosely packed shale, or crushed rock. Competitors use this surface to slide their machines sideways, powersliding or broadsiding into the bends. On the straight sections of the track the motorcycles reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour (110 km/h).
A motorcycle club is a group of individuals whose primary interest and activities involve motorcycles. A motorcycle group can range as clubbed groups of different bikes or bikers who own same model of vehicle like the Harley Owners Group.
The Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) is a United States national, not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, and sponsored by the U.S. manufacturers and distributors of BMW, BRP, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Piaggio/Vespa, Suzuki, Triumph, Indian Motorcycle and Yamaha motorcycles. MSF maintains rider training curricula used in most states for novice and experienced riders.
Kenneth Leroy Roberts is an American former professional motorcycle racer and racing team owner. In 1978, he became the first American to win a Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championship. He was also a two-time winner of the A.M.A. Grand National Championship. Roberts is one of only four riders in American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) racing history to win the AMA Grand Slam, representing Grand National wins at a mile, half-mile, short-track, TT Steeplechase and road race events.
Motorcycle safety concerns many aspects of vehicle and equipment design as well as operator skill and training that are unique to motorcycle riding.
State motorcyclists' rights organizations (SMROs) exist in about 32 US states, 25 of which call themselves "ABATE of ," the rest going by various other names. SMROs advocate for a point of view in motorcycling that is, in general, opposed to mandatory helmet laws, required motorcycle safety inspections, mandatory rider training and licensing, and other similar regulation. Instead SMROs favor optional or voluntary motorcycle rider safety education, training, and licensing, and greater public awareness of motorcyclist safety issues. They also favor stronger penalties for car driver infractions such as right of way violations, or when drivers are at fault in accidents that harm motorcycle riders. SMRO activities include lobbying legislatures, letter writing campaigns, and paying for public service announcements and political advertisements. To carry out lobbying at the national level, a coalition of SMRO's created the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) to lobby in Washington DC. The SMROs and MRF are often allied with the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) on legislative issues.
Motorcycling is riding a motorcycle. For some people, motorcycling may be the only affordable form of individual motorized transportation, and small-displacement motorcycles are the most common motor vehicle in the most populous countries, including India, China and Indonesia.
Motorcycle training teaches motorcycle riders the skills for riding on public roads. It is the equivalent of driver's education for car drivers. Training beyond basic qualification and licensing is available to those whose duty includes motorcycle riding, such as police, and additional rider courses are offered for street riding refreshers, sport riding, off-road techniques, and developing competitive skills for the motorcycle racetrack.
Bike the Drive or Fifth Third Bike the Drive is a recreational, non-competitive bicycle ride held each year in Chicago. Lake Shore Drive is cleared of motor vehicle traffic and opened exclusively to bicyclists for several hours beginning at dawn. The event benefits bicycling advocacy work in the region by the Active Transportation Alliance, formerly known as the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. Since 2004, Bike the Drive has been held on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. In 2006, an estimated 20,000 riders participated in the event. The event is sponsored by Fifth Third Bank and branded as Fifth Third Bike the Drive; it was previously sponsored by MB Financial Bank from 2010-2018 and prior to 2010, was sponsored by Bank of America.
Aerostich is a company based in Duluth, Minnesota that produces and sells motorcycle safety clothing and other motorcycle related equipment, such as GPS systems, luggage, and hand tools. It was founded in 1983 by Andy Goldfine, who is also the founder of the nonprofit Ride To Work, Inc. and was elected to a third three-year term as an American Motorcyclist Association board member in 2008.
The Hurt Report, officially Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures, was a motorcycle safety study conducted in the United States, initiated in 1976 and published in 1981. The report is named after its primary author, Professor Harry Hurt.
The Association for Safe International Road Travel is a non-profit, humanitarian organization that promotes road travel safety through education and advocacy. Rochelle Sobel, president and founder of ASIRT, created the organization in 1995, in response to her son Aron's death in a bus crash in Turkey. ASIRT helped found the US Congressional Caucus on Global Road Safety, and is an internationally influential and active organization. Working under the premise that road crashes are predictable and preventable, ASIRT serves the global community in a variety of ways to help reduce injuries and deaths and the associated social and economic impacts that result from them.
Sound RIDER! began as a monthly online magazine about motorcycling in the Pacific Northwest. It was founded by publisher Tom Mehren in 1999. The magazine features editorial about people, places and events associated with motorcycling in the Northwest region. In addition it features used motorcycle listings, and a number of databases specific to dealers, services and clubs in the area. The editorial content is archived for viewing past its initial month of publication.
The Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge is a motorcycle endurance challenge. Entry is limited to riders of American-made V-twin-style motorcycles. It is named after a rallying call of the Sioux Indians and is designed to test the participants’ physical, mental and emotional boundaries.
The Congressional Motorcycle Safety Caucus is a bipartisan caucus of the United States House of Representatives.
Motor Maids is a women's motorcycle club in North America with over 1,300 members from the United States and Canada. Established in 1940, Motor Maids was one of the first women's motorcycle groups and has been called the oldest existing women's club in the United States. The first president of Motor Maids was Dot Robinson, who held the position for 25 years.
Andy Goldfine, is an American businessperson, founder of Aerostich, and founder of Ride To Work nonprofit to support motorcycle commuting through its annual Ride To Work Day. In 2013, he was awarded the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Dud Perkins Lifetime Achievement Award for his "generous and tireless support of motorcycling" with his business and nonprofit activities, and contributions as an AMA board member.
San Jose Bike Party is a monthly social bicycle ride event in and around San Jose, California held on the third Friday of every month. Attendance varies with weather and time of year, usually ranging from hundreds in the winter months to low thousands in the summer. Established in 2007, it was the original 'bike party' now replicated in other cities around the world. Its motto is "Building community through cycling".
