By Lulu

10 years ago, I walked into Mother’s in Flagler Beach and into Kneecap’s world. Bull (the original owner of Thunder Roads Florida) and Kneecap became instant friends. Too many hours were spent on bar stools and quite a few hours were spent on motorcycle seats by those two. So, when Bull decided to start Thunder Roads Florida, Kneecap volunteered to write a monthly article which became Nobodies Opinion.

Sadly, these two characters are gone now, if you believe in heaven maybe despite their sins they are back together riding the clouds. Kneecaps article from the onset has always been the page that garnered the most comments, both negative and positive. Kneecap certainly made us think, reminisce and laugh. He loved to ride. He loved to tell tall tales. He loved to drink. He loved his friends. He loved me. And I miss him.

I am grateful for his friendship, his support during times of great sadness after the loss of Bull and his contribution to Thunder Roads Florida. Kim hosted a memorial party at Annie Oakley’s and a final toast could not have been a more appropriate way to say my goodbyes to my friend. Thank you, Kim, Irv, Annie Oakley’s, to all his friends for coming and to all of you who have sent letters in complimenting his thoughts and “Opinions”.

By Lulu

Tony and Dar played Santa to their bar family, with gifts, dinner and a visit from Santa. Each customer received a gift for sitting on the jolly old man’s lap! Included in my gift was a coffee tumbler, lottery ticket, and a shot of something to warm your insides. They have great beer prices so you need to put this bar on your list of places to visit in 2017. The owners and bartenders are all super nice and really appreciate your business!

By Lulu

Rudy was kind enough to throw a Twisted Tea Party in December at his bar Rudy’s Bar & Grill in Holly Hill to help fill the shelves at Second Harvest Food Bank in Volusia County. We raised a pool table full of food! Plus $100 in cash! Our Twisted Tea girl, Emmy, was busy sampling Tea to the thirsty crowd. Sherry was busy with the raffle tickets. And TJ and I were busy taking photos. Rudy is thrilled to announce he now has a full liquor bar and invites you to join his bike night on Thursdays!

By Lulu

This year tragedy struck a few friends with the loss of beloved young family members on bikes. Isaiah was the grandchild of Kim from the Iron Horse and as you can imagine the family is devastated. The Iron Horse threw a memorial ride to offset some of the unexpected expenses associated with the sudden loss of a young man. More important than the funds raised, the love shown to Kim and her family was very healing. Thank you to BFFAR, First Turn, Boot Hill, Chris Lounge, Iron Horse Saloon and to all of you who spent your day on two wheels to show Isaiah’s family “the love”.

By Ron Cox

When it comes to helping Veterans, the motorcycling family comes together like no other. And so it was when the Southwest Chapter of ABATE sent out its notice for their annual ride on December 18th to the Douglas T. Jacobson State Veterans Home in Port Charlotte. The Home is home to 120 Veterans, 112 men and 8 women including a 98-year-old female Vet who is pictured here.

There were many patches on display, too many to list here, but attendance was guesstimated at 175 riders/passengers.

Sun Sports Cycle and its spacious parking lot served as the marshaling point. Registration was only $5 (to cover the cost of insurance for the event) and there was an all-you-eat pancake breakfast for a modest $5. In addition to monetary donations the riders were encouraged to bring sundry items such as socks, underwear, razors, toothpaste and brushes.

Veterans Home Administrator “Liz” Barton spoke to the riders and thanked them for their continued support. Sad to say the bikers visit will be the only visitors some of these Vets will receive all year.

Ms. Barton, a rider herself, took up a spot in line just behind Santa on a trike. At the appointed time, kickstands went up and an escort from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office led the way. At the Lee/Charlotte county line units from the Punta Gorda PD took over the escort duty.

Many of the ambulatory Vets were seated outside waiting to welcome the riders. Needless to say, many of the riders were Veterans themselves and gave each Vet a heartfelt greeting.

By Lulu

Unfortunately, due to Kneecap’s illness and death this year, I didn’t receive these photos until after his death. So please accept my apologies for not getting these photos in earlier. I also do not have any of his notes of the event, but in the spirit of the intent of the event which is a Rotary charity for Christmas Comes True, I wanted to include these photos and thank those who took their time to ride. The stops included Hijacker’s, Matanzas Inlet, Ice House, Bull Creek, Scarey Mary’s and ended with a lunch provided by Beach Front Grille. Special thanks to Rue & Ziffra law firm and the Blue Knights for their participation in this worthy cause. The Rotary Club of Palm Coast took the sleigh by the bridle and I am sure Christmas Comes True appreciates their hard work.

By Lulu

What a pleasant surprise we found on the St. John’s River on Rt. 44 just outside of Deland. A fabulous bar with a roof top tiki bar right on the river. River Grille has a Wednesday night bike night complete with live music and a bunch of fun folks on 2 and 3 wheels. The view if you get there before dark is beautiful. The food…we had the burger was GREAT.

The band that night was High Cotton, and we were treated to a gent who joined in to play a mean harmonica. They played a nice selection of music and had us up dancing. This is a great ride from the Daytona, Eustis, Ocala and Leesburg areas. Put it on your list of hot spots to ride to! Wednesday nights are Bike Night but they would love to see you ride in anytime you’re out riding. Oh, and don’t forget their campground if you are looking for an RV spot during the rallies!

By Danny Martin (American Cycle Auto & Truck)

Hello let me introduce myself. I am AMCAT from American Cycle Auto & Truck. Welcome to my cat box. In the upcoming issues, I’m gonna try to show you how to save some money by doing things yourself. I will try to give you tips and advice on things I feel you should be able to do in your garage at home. Well how cool is this? A free magazine giving you free advice to save you money. I will include some of my part numbers so if you go to your local dealer you know just what to ask for. Some things might be different, but I will do my best. So, you better get this magazine monthly so you can read and follow along! I’ll even put in some pictures to give you something cool to look at. Lastly and I don’t feel this really needs to be said but I’m going to anyway, if there is a specific thing that you would like to see us cover, or attempt to do for you on your bike or model feel free to write to the magazine’s email and I will do my best to make your request an article. All that being said, here we go…

Now I know your bike’s been sitting in the garage since Biketoberfest and the battery is probably stoned dead. So today we are going to install a YTX30 Series battery in a touring Harley-Davidson. Most of these FL bikes have the same battery from somewhere back in the 1990s through today. They retail somewhere around about $130. We are going to install a drag specialties 2113-0107 ($127.95 list) just for an example. If you’ve got a cool guy that runs your local shop it should be about $100 bucks out the door. It comes as a kit so to speak with its own acid pack and a sweet handle to install it; because you’re going to find out it’s kind of hard to get that factory one out of there with no handle. That’s why I picked these. Now if you’re like me and it is last minute and you really need the battery today, cuz you got to get on a poker run this is a common number. They should have it in stock everywhere. I’m sure when you get it home you’re going to be in a big hurry. First thing you want to do is take the battery out of its box, peel back the little red aluminum foil cover on the top of the battery, take the black seal off the acid pack, turn it over and put it on the battery slightly tamping down the acid pack so as not to break anything or spill or squirt it. I say to do this first because it gives your battery some time to fill, some time to self-charge and it allows the glass mat plates inside to expand before you put the black seal on the lid and cover your battery permanently.

Now comes the fun part. Grab that Phillips screwdriver, undo the screw from the back of your seat…some bikes will have bolts on the side but with this Road King we are doing today it’s just a screw. Once the seat is removed you will see the battery, take your 45 Torx and remove the hold down clamp, then take your 10 millimeters or 3/8 and remove the positive cable, then the negative. Try to get your hands in there and get that old battery out of the way. To install simply grab the handle and place your new battery in there. From the nut and bolt packet use a longer bolt with the spacer to keep cables spaced from the battery giving you a little bit of room to work. First install the positive cable, then install the negative. By now your battery should be sufficiently charged enough to start the bike, although a good 2amp overnight charge is always recommended. If you did everything right your bike should fire up. Put your seat back on and get out there in the wind and have a beer for me. Hope to see you soon. Thanks for stopping by and playing in the cat box…

By Jeani G

The largest biker bash in Glenwood was hosted by Phil, Ken and Jeani on Saturday, December 3rd.   Sponsored by Guber Ride Sharn’ and The Groggery, this year’s event was the biggest ever with over 200 in attendance and 76 “athletes” competing at Corn Hole, Dangle Balls, Hillbilly Horseshoes and Redneck Toilet Toss.  Playoffs of Giant Jenga determined the gold, silver and bronze medalists.
Plenty of food, fun and sunshine was experienced by all with incredible live music by Gun Shy and Crowbar.  Awesome vittles were catered by grill masters Mark and Michelle of MCW Backyard Grilling. If anyone went home hungry, it was your own fault.  Hope to see y’all next year – always the first Saturday of December!

By Lulu

Howlin’ at the moon is called for on a night like Friday the 13th and the girls (Ramona & Tasha) know how to get a crowd together for a party. George’s Tavern in Sanford on French Avenue has opened a new part of the bar, an old body shop, for a monthly bike night, complete with a DJ for dancing, beer tubs, full liquor lounge, HOT girls and plenty of bike parking. Folks were there from Seminole Harley-Davidson and Deviant Customs. Vendors and food were onsite. And the lot was still crowded at midnight. No ugly fest here gentlemen, plenty of eye candy!

By Lulu

[autoviewer id=”509″ width=”600″ height=”600″ ]

Thunder Beach Fall Rally this year was perfect! The weather was awesome, not too hot, not too rainy. The traffic didn’t seem as bad, maybe the weather had something to do with that in that you didn’t mind the ribbon of bikes if you aren’t being rained on! The vendors scattered throughout the town including the Panama City Beach Harley dealer and Pier Park seemed to be drawing large crowds. We saw bikini contests, bike runs and tattoo contests. The usual bars: Miss Newby’s, Wicked Wheel, Sharkey’s, Coyote Ugly and Hammerhead Fred’s were packed. We ventured to a few new spots to us including the Outpost, Whiskey’s Saloon, and Sand Bar for a bit of fun. The bands for the fall rally included Marshall Tucker, ARS, Outlaws, Geneva, my favorite girl Jasmine Cain and Michael Allman Band. The spring dates are May 3rd through May 7th to book a hotel check out thunderbeachproductions.com.

By Lulu

[autoviewer id=”510″ width=”600″ height=”600″ ]

The staff of Stormy Hill really put on a nice tribute ride complete with lunch, live music and some patriotism! The ride started at Gator Harley-Davidson with pancakes served by CMA. There was a Blessing of the Bikes. Then the Lake County Sheriff’s Department led the procession to Stormy Hill where the flapping American flags greeted them. The Boy Scouts put on a flag raising ceremony and inside was a table set in memory of MIAs. It always makes me stop in my tracks to think of those who never made it home to their families. The music was awesome and a special thank you to Stormy Hill and Gator Harley-Davidson for 10 years of honoring our veterans. Proceeds from the day’s event went to DAV. Thanks to all who rode and contributed to this important event.

By Donnie Reese

[autoviewer id=”508″ width=”600″ height=”600″ ]

The 19th Street Charities hosted a poker run on November 19th at the Fleet Reserve Association (FRA) Branch 290. The event was promoted by the Son’s of the Beaches (SOB’s). There were over 100 bikes in attendance even though the morning started out a little on the cool side. After having a nice breakfast, the riders headed out for their 4-stop journey. The riders then returned to the FRA where Highway Jones provided live music and Richard O’Reilly dished out a fine BBQ dinner. There were several raffles and a silent auction as well.

The 5th Annual 19th Street Charities Toys for Tots escort ride was held on Dec. 3 The ride was escorted by the Florida State Police, Jacksonville Sheriffs Office and the Jacksonville Beach Police. A total of 191 bikes participated in the ride that escorted members of the USMC Bravo Company 4 to the Jacksonville Beach Pavilion to pick up toys donated by the 501c non-profit organization. The Marines had to make 2 trips to pick up all the donations. Riders included The Son’s of the Beaches, American Legion Riders from several chapters, Veteran Enforcers Motorcycle Association and many other big hearted bikers. This year’s donation, valued at over $22,000 will provide assistance to over 200 families with gifts for children. Last year the 19th Street Charities donation was the second largest in this area to Toys 4 Tots, the Jacksonville Jaguars were the largest.

By Lulu

Our second year to party on the greens for charity! Black Bear Golf Club in Eustis was the course that permitted scantily clothed women, Harley clad men and riding boots to parade around hitting little white balls for fun and a good cause. Even Bobby Friss came back a second year…I know he is a great musician, but I heard he is quite good at golf too, I figure he was here for Jack Daniels and hot pants! At the end of the day all had a great day. We had to leave before any awards were given to make it to Thunder Beach in Panama City for the fall rally but we want to thank Gator Harley, Black Bear Golf Club and everyone who played to help the breast cancer charities that benefitted from the day of golf!

By Nikki Linn

On Friday November 18th Grandview Live threw a Thanksgiving fundraiser for the Arni Foundation called “Be Thankful for the Puppies”.  The fundraiser was held at Grandview Live and they helped collect food for all the shelter animals, toys, treats and more.  We filled a huge pickup bed!!! All the critters at Arni were VERY happy!!!  The club also raised more than $2,200.00 from a silent auction and donations!!! Thank you to Jimbo and Joe V for all their help and all the people who came out!!!

The Arni Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit animal shelter here in Daytona Beach.  We rescue dogs and cats from area kill shelters on the day they are going to be euthanized.  We then fix all the animals, do shots, microchipping, worming, etc… and find them forever homes!!! We rely entirely on donations to operate and our only paid employees are vet-techs!!!  Check out our adoptable animals at Arni Foundation Facebook page or www.arnifoundation.org.

We are always looking for volunteers to walk dogs, play with critters or clean!!!   We also always need: canned dog and cat food, toys, treats, cleaning supplies, old towels and blankets, collars and leashes!!!! And, of course, $$$ for vet bills!

Come on in and visit. We are located at 600 Mason Ave in Daytona Beach!  Open 8-5 every day except Sunday.   386-257-3030

Thank you!!!!