Born To Ride News

NEW RELEASE- For Immediate Distribution LEHMAN TRIKES, INC. TSXV – LHT

January 15, 2010 – SPEARFISH, South Dakota – Lehman Trikes, Inc. announced today that it will no longer provide components, paint, and conversion services in the manufacture of the Harley-Davidson® Tri Glide® and Street Glide® trikes, effective with the end of production of Harley-Davidson’s 2010 models in Summer 2010. Lehman Trikes has been a strategic supplier for Harley-Davidson trikes since 2008. “Harley-Davidson has advised us they will be moving the trike assembly in-house to their York, Pennsylvania production facilities for the 2011 models,” stated Ken Hines, President and CEO of Lehman Trikes, “Lehman is proud to have been a supplier to Harley-Davidson. They have been a great mentor to the company and our association has led to benefits that will far outlive the contract. We are pleased to have been associated with this program, and while disappointed, we understand their business rationale”. Julie Chichlowski, Director — Trike Platform at Harley-Davidson, stated, “It has been a great pleasure working with Lehman Trikes on this program. They have proven to be a responsive, high quality supplier to Harley- Davidson for trikes, and we would welcome the opportunity to work with them again should we have other needs in the future. Our decision to move trike assembly is based purely on the restructuring of Harley-Davidson’s York operations, which now provides the opportunity for us to build trikes in house and streamline trike assembly and distribution.” Lehman Trikes, based in Spearfish, South Dakota, is a world leader in the manufacture of turnkey trikes, conversion kits and accessories for Harley-Davidson, Victory, Honda, and Suzuki motorcycles. Last summer, Lehman Trikes unveiled their newest trike product, the “CrossBow” for the Victory Vision. “We constantly move forward at Lehman Trikes,” said Ken, “by staying ahead of the growth curve in the trike industry, we continuously lead the industry by improving and developing the highest quality products for our customers.” For more information about Lehman Trikes, contact 1-888-3WHEELS or visit their website at www.lehmantrikes.com.

Lehman Trikes is traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol LHT.

St. Augustine, FL, January 14, 2010 – Many have said that the City of St. Augustine Florida is a beautiful and historic place to visit and live.  Since 1565, over 400 years ago, the city has been extending a welcome hand to all that visit and make this city their home.  In 2005 the city built a parking garage downtown so residents and visitors had an available parking area to safely park their vehicles. 

Unless you were riding a motorcycle that is. Motorcycles were not welcome.  A large, bright, reflective yellow “NO MOTORCYCLES” sign was prominently installed at the entrance.  If you rode into town on any motorcycle or scooter, you were banned from safely parking in this $20 million taxpayer-funded garage. Definitely not a “Welcome” feeling.

The issue at hand, according to St. Augustine’s City Manager, Bill Harriss, is the gates that allow access/egress.  He stated in an interview with The St. Augustine Record that the engineers who designed the garage’s entryways advised against it.  Many options were offered over the years to reverse this decision, but the momentum for the change in policy came when ABATE of Florida’s Vintage Chapter began this fight in earnest back in November 2009. 

After speaking at the St. Augustine December 14, 2009 City Commissioners’ Meeting, ABATE of Florida Vintage Chapter’s Public Relation Trustee, J.D. Long, found that two of the City Commissioners agreed with ABATE of Florida, feeling that the publicly-funded garage should be allowing motorcycles in.  There were two more Commissioners and the Mayor that still needed convincing.   Although Harriss is a motorcyclist himself, his position does not hold a binding vote with the Commission.

Many felt modifying the existing gates were the least expensive and seemed to be the most logical method to correct the discrimination.  The additional revenue from the motorcycles would pay off the modifications in short time, and then help the city by providing new income. 

The problem at hand was accurately summed up by Long; “If they can’t use common sense, then we have to use the law”.  ABATE of Florida, Inc.’s Legal Council, Larry Crow of Tampa, was already preparing a case should the City Commissioners vote to continue the ban.

On January 11, 2010, members from ABATE of Florida’s Vintage, Duval County, Black Creek & Putnam County Chapters, as well as members of other motorcycle organizations, filled the St. Augustine City Commissioner’s meeting chamber to show their discontent with the four-year-old discriminatory ban on motorcycles. 

Thanks to the dedication of the ABATE of Florida members for calling this problem to light, and then following through by standing up and fighting to stop the discrimination against bikers. The St. Augustine City Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of removing the ban and establishing a dedicated entrance to the garage and a shortened gate at the existing manned exit so that motorcyclists may now park their bikes safely in downtown St. Augustine.    Chief Operations Officer John Regan suggested in The St. Augustine Report that the city’s advertising should now begin promoting St. Augustine as being a motorcycle-friendly city.

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With almost 8,000 members, ABATE of Florida, Inc. is Florida’s largest Motorcyclists’ Rights Organization, and the fourth largest nationwide.  Our missions include educating the public about motorcycle awareness and continuing to fight in Tallahassee for the rights of every motorcyclist and the public in general.  To aid in these ends, we have a lobbyist on staff and have founded the Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Program, both with the intentions to help make the roads safer for everyone.   ABATE of Florida members vote in every election, and strive to teach the public to be conscious of other drivers & riders while operating motor vehicles in the sunshine state.

Contact:

David “Lockdown” Rich

Public Relations Trustee, ABATE of Florida, Inc.

(386) 490-4821

statepr@abateflorida.com

http://www.abateflorida.com/

Almost Alice: New Illustrations of Wonderland by Maggie Taylor opens Saturday, February 20, 2010 at the Florida Museum for Women Artists.

A provocative new interpretation of a classic tale will be presented at the Florida Museum for Women Artists when “Almost Alice: New Illustrations of Wonderland by Maggie Taylor” opens Saturday, February 20, 2010. The exhibition will feature 45 digital inkjet prints illustrating Lewis Carroll’s famous work “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

The prints on display are innovative in both content and technique. They are composite images that usually begin with an original photographic portrait—often a daguerreotype or tintype from the mid-19th century. The artist then uses 21st century digital processes and Photoshop montage techniques to layer multiple images to create the final prints, which are simultaneously historic and contemporary. Taylor’s radical manipulation of her source images but retention of photographic realism results in an ironic visual surrealism that perfectly complements the verbal wit and irony of Carroll’s writing.

Maggie Taylor lives in Gainesville and has a MFA in photography from the University of Florida. She is one of the most innovative and respected artists working in digital imagery. Her work is in the collections of numerous museums including The Art Museum, Princeton University; The Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University; Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California; and The Museum of Photography, Seoul.

“Taylor’s surreal vision is ideally suited to depicting the fantasy world created by Carroll and is sure to challenge, delight and sometimes even disturb viewers both young and old who might have thought they knew Carroll’s classic story,” said Tom Southall, curator of photography at the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida.

Almost Alice: New Illustrations of Wonderland by Maggie Taylor will be on display until May 2, 2010. A new edition of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” featuring Taylor’s illustrations has been released by Modern Books on the occasion of the exhibition.

A free Public Exhibition Opening of “Almost Alice: New Illustrations of Wonderland by Maggie Taylor” will take place on Saturday, February 20th from 11am -7pm.  A Florida Museum for Women Artists Membership Preview Reception will take place on Friday, February 19, 2010.  For more information please call the museum at (386) 873-2976.

Almost Alice: New Illustrations of Wonderland by Maggie Taylor is organized by Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, and toured by Curatorial Assistance, Pasadena, California.

The Florida Museum for Women Artists is a 501(c)(3) organization. The mission of the Florida Museum for Women Artist is to identify and promote women artists and educate the public about women in the arts.

The Florida Museum of Women Artists is located at 100 N. Woodland Blvd in DeLand Florida.  Gallery, Museum Shop and Café hours: Tue-Thursday: 11am to 6pm, Fri-Sat: 11am to 7pm, Sundays: 1pm-5pm Closed: Mondays and major holidays.  Travel time is approximately 1 hour from Orlando, 1.5 hours from Jacksonville, 4 hours from Tallahassee, and 3 hours from south Florida areas.

Featured Above:  Birds of a feather, 2008, archival pigment inkjet print, 15 x 15 inches by Maggie Taylor