Archive for the ‘News’ Category

2019 David Mann Chopperfest – Ventura, CA

Posted by bryan wood

The weather report going into the weekend of Chopperfest was bad (bad for Southern California anyway), but scattered showers on Saturday only served to bring brighter blue skies for Sunday’s show. The staff from Clymer/Haynes went to the Ventura Fairgrounds December 8th to talk to our customers, as well as check out bikes, music, BBQ, and beer. Not only were there plenty of Harley-Davidsons of every type, there were Japanese and British bikes, and custom vans too.

We here at Clymer/Haynes love all kinds of motorcycles, from full dress touring rigs and plastic clad sport bikes, to motocross and mini bikes, but from our founding big American v-twins have been at the top of our list.… Read the rest

Floyd Clymer History Discovery

Posted by bryan wood

We recently got an email all the way from Australia with a surprise Christmas gift – a rare treasure trove of early Clymer information and pictures! Floyd Clymer and the things he did are well documented, as he was always out looking for publicity, but much history was lost when he suddenly died in 1970 and the company was sold by his widow.

The email we just received was from the family of a man who worked with Floyd from the 1950s. One project was the 1957 Volkswagen Complete Owner’s Handbook of Repair and Maintenance, one of the earliest Clymer repair manuals.… Read the rest

Don’t Believe the Hype – Young People Do Want To Ride!

Posted by bryan wood

It seems you can’t look at a news source or social media without hearing about some new thing the young people are ruining because they spend too much time with their phones. Harley-Davidson new bike sales seem to be off by another 10% every year, and nearly every motorcycle expert says riders are aging out of bikes, and new riders are hard to find. Flying in the face of that doom and gloom though is a new survey from the people behind the Progressive International Motorcycle Shows and their Discover The Ride initiative.

This year, at motorcycle shows in seven major cities as well as the Dallas-Fort Worth Auto Show, Discover the ride introduced a large number of people who have never ridden to the fun of motorcycles.… Read the rest

Progressive International Motorcycle Show – Long Beach, CA 2018

Posted by bryan wood

For decades now the International Motorcycle Shows have toured America (and sometimes Canada) giving riders a chance to see, sit on, and sometimes even ride the latest bikes, before they hit their local dealers. For riders in Long Beach, CA it is nice to see all the new bikes in one place, but not particularly special, since it is 70 degrees and sunny outside and most ride to the show. But when the show stops in New York City, Chicago, or Minneapolis it is always a treat, because if there isn’t snow yet, at the very least it is too cold to ride.… Read the rest

Clymer and Haynes at the AIMExpo in Las Vegas – Oct 11-14, 2018

Posted by bryan wood

As the people who make the manuals at Haynes (our parent company) and Clymer we are naturally enthusiastic about powersports, so we love to get out and talk to other gearheads; the folks who buy our products. In October, during the the premier West Coast motorcycle rally, Las Vegas BikeFest, the American International Motorcycle Expo is taking place at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center from the 11th to the 14th, and we are excited to be there.

AIMExpo, as it is often called, is the biggest powersports industry get together in the USA, featuring the newest product from manufacturers of cruisers, scooters, sport bikes, dirt bikes, ATVs, accessories, gear and more.… Read the rest

Travis Pastrana Aims to Recreate Evel Knievel’s Jumps

Posted by Jessie Gentry

As I type this, the great Travis Pastrana and his Nitro Circus crew are at an undisclosed location in Southern California. They are running practice drills and jumps for his live three hour TV special coming up on July 8th from Vegas called “Evel Live“. Pastrana will recreate three of the iconic jumps that Evel Knievel did in his prime, including one that nearly killed him. A few of these stunts have been recreated before, but never on a heavy flat track bike like the one Evel originally rode.

 

 

 

Pastrana has just the bike, The Indian Scout based FTR750 which is similar in many respects to the Harley-Davidson Sportster based XR750 that Knievel did most of his jumps on, including weight and (limited) suspension travel.… Read the rest

Floyd Clymer – Motorcycle Pioneer and Our Founder

Posted by bryan wood

The wider world first heard of Floyd Clymer in 1910 when he and his younger brother attempted to set a record by driving from Denver, CO to Spokane, WA – when he was just 14 years old. While that may seem like a young age to be engaging in such daredevil pursuits, he had already been driving a car for seven years and selling them for four.

 

The two of them did not make it all the way to their destination in Washington (due to lack of driveable roads, and a car that needed constant repair), but he never stopped being a fan and booster of motorized transport.… Read the rest