At the end of Oregon’s failure to pass a lane-sharing law, we asked those behind the effort to share their tips and commentary about the matter, so that those in other states could benefit from their successes, and learn from their failures. -JB
Episode 65 of the Brap Talk motorcycle podcast is out with another “weekly” episode, for your two-wheeled listening pleasure.
In this episode, we start things off with some talk about what it’s like to ride the new Suzuki Hayabusa, both on the street and on the track. Short version, it’s a good bike – but not what we were looking from the Japanese brand.
After the Oregon Legislative Assembly passed Oregon Senate Bill 574 by a healthy margin, Oregon Governor Kate Brown dashed the hopes of motorcyclists in the Beaver State by vetoing the bill.
Citing her concern over safety and enforcement for non-compliance with the law’s provisions, Brown sent the law back to the legislative branch unsigned and denied.
Episode 64 of the Brap Talk motorcycle podcast is out with another “weekly” episode, for your two-wheeled listening pleasure.
In this episode, we talk about how the Oregon legislature just just passed a lane-sharing law in the Beaver State, though we are sad to hear that the bill has just today been vetoed by Oregon Governor Kate Brown.
This will surely be a topic of discussion when we record Episode 65 of the Brap Talk motorcycle podcast.
Today was a big day for motorcyclists traveling in Oregon, as the Oregon Legislative Assembly has now passed Oregon Senate Bill 574, which allows lane-sharing under certain conditions on Oregonian highways.
On May 5th, the lane-sharing bill passed the Oregon Senate by a vote of 18 to 6; and now today (May 17th), the Oregon House of Representatives approved the bill with a vote of 42 to 14.
The lane-sharing bill now goes to Governor Kate Brown for signing, and if signed, it will go into effect later this year.
The State of Oregon has gotten one step closer to passing its lane-sharing bill, Oregon Senate Bill 574.
We say this because SB 574 passed a vote in the Joint Transportation Committee on April 1st (7 to 4), and now is ready for a vote on the Senate floor.
For those who don’t remember, SB 574 proposes legalizing lane sharing for motorcycles in Oregon when they are riding on a highway with a speed limit of 50 mph or higher; the flow of traffic is 10 mph or slower; and so long as the motorcyclist does not go faster than 10 mph than the traffic around them.
The Beaver State is set to consider a law on lane sharing in 2021, as Oregon Senate Bill 574 aims to legalize the practice, with a number of caveats coming from the proposed law.
Have you ever wanted to own your own race track? Do you have $10 million burning a hold in your pocket? Then we have a deal for you, as the Oregon Raceway Park (ORP) in Grass Valley, Oregon is for sale.
The 2.34-mile road course has multiple configurations and can be run in either direction. Sitting on a 434-acre plot of land (100 acres are still undeveloped), there is plenty of room for growth, which might be a good idea considering the lack of facilities present at the circuit and its remote location.
Every new model year, I sit down and write a short list with the bikes I simply have to swing a leg over before the year is out.
The list is governed mostly by what catches my personal interest, but also includes important machines across the different segments of the industry, with the idea that I want to be able to speak intelligently about them and what’s going on in our two-wheeled world.
For the 2020 model year, at the top of my list was the Ducati Streetfighter V4 S. The bike not only appeals to my sport bike loving temperament, but it also marks the return of Ducati back to one of its more core elements – the sport bike category.
In what has to be the shortest commute for an international press launch, our hometown of Portland, Oregon is playing host to the first riding of the Harley-Davidson Livewire.
This is our first press launch with the Bar & Shield brand, and it is a big one at that. The Livewire is a mammoth shift for the motorcycle industry, as Harley-Davidson becomes the first major manufacturer to debut a full-sized electric motorcycle for the street.
The Livewire is a big deal for the American brand as well, as Harley-Davidson is pivoting its business model towards new horizons, new markets, new riders, and most importantly for today’s purpose: new drivetrains.
The Harley-Davidson Livewire is a halo product from Milwaukee, but it shows how far the marque is willing to go in order to ensure its future. The question before us now though, is the bike any good?
I had to hit the archives to find the photo above, because it is a photo from one of my first track days roughly 11 years ago – just before the idea of Asphalt & Rubber started to crossed my mind.
I was just a track day junky back then. Motorcycles were an escape from the endless studies that come with a legal education, and going to school in Pennsylvania meant really only being able to ride on the track, since street riding came with too narrow of a window with the weather for my California-spoiled tastes.
I caught the bug hard though, and through school I probably did a dozen track days a season. I’m not saying some of my massive student loan debt went to fueling my on-track pursuits…but yeah, it did.
In a way, I guess that worked out, as it was a year after graduation that I started doing A&R full-time, and the rest they say is history.
With all that time doing track days though, it is hard to believe that I haven’t done any sort of racing, but there are several reasons for that, and why now is a time I’ve chosen to bite the bullet.