Motorcycle Coasters® Newsletter

Welcome to the MotorcycleCoaster.com Newsletter!

Motorcycle Coasters®

In this edition:

What’s your “thing?” Promote it with the Motorcycle Coaster®.

Do you qualify for one of our discounts?

The Motorcycle Coasters® price challenge

Motorcycling History: The first production motorcycle

Back issues of the Motorcycle Coasters® newsletter

Jack the Coaster Guy on the road

* Motorcycle Coasters® Newsletter Vol. 2, No. 2 *

What’s your “thing?” Promote it with the Motorcycle Coaster®.

No matter what your “thing” is, you can promote it with the Motorcycle Coaster® -- the original custom imprinted motorcycle kickstand support. To give you an idea of the different types of businesses and organizations that have purchased Motorcycle Coasters®, here's a partial list:

Lawyers
Chiropractors
Motorcycle Clubs
Racing Events and Other Events
Restaurants
Taverns/Bars
Motorcycle Rider Training Programs
Government Agencies
Military Offices
Insurance Companies (and their agents)
Sports Teams
Motorcycle Service Centers
Automotive Service Centers
Real Estate Agents

And that’s just a partial list!

Check out almost 200 samples of Custom Imprinted Motorcycle Coasters® here:
Motorcycle Coasters® Custom Imprint Photo Gallery.

Have a look at our gallery of Full Color Digital Print Motorcycle Coasters®:
Motorcycle Coasters® Full Color Digital Print Photo Gallery.

No matter what your “thing” is, you can promote it with the Motorcycle Coaster®!

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Do you qualify for one of our discounts?

At Motorcycle Coasters®, we offer discounts in three instances: Military Discount, Motorcycle Safety Training Discount, and Charitable Event Discount.

Our discounts are actual discounts. As a manufacturer direct source, our prices are not inflated for the benefit of a third party. Our discounts come directly off our annual gross sales, substantial as this may be (10% last year). We offer these because we support these members of the motorcycling community.

Military Discount

10% off printed Motorcycle Coasters®.

All branches of the military qualify for this discount. Military-affiliated motorcycle clubs also qualify.

Some of the military-affiliated clubs we know qualify are Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, Purple Heart Riders Motorcycle Club, Combat Veterans International, U.S. Military Vets Motorcycle Club, Leathernecks Motorcycle Club, and Green Knights Motorcycle Club. This is just a partial list. Any military or military-affiliated club qualifies!

The message printed on the face of the Motorcycle Coaster® must include the URL of the military-affiliated motorcycle club, a URL with the .mil extension, or a military message.

Minimum order is 150 pieces; maximum order is 20,000 pieces.

Military Discount may not be combined with other discounts.

Discount does not apply to shipping.

Start here.

Safety Training Discount

10% off printed Motorcycle Coasters®.

The organization must be a Motorcycle Safety Training Provider or Government Safety Office.

Safety training message printed on the face of the Motorcycle Coaster® must include Motorcycle Safety Training Provider's URL or Government Safety Office's URL.

Minimum order is 150 pieces; maximum order is 20,000 pieces.

Safety Training Discount may not be combined with other discounts.

Discount does not apply to shipping.

Start here.

Charitable Event Discount

10% off printed Motorcycle Coasters®.

The beneficiary of the event must be imprinted on the Motorcycle Coaster®.

Charitable organizations are not themselves qualified for the discount, but events held for a specific beneficiary qualify for the discount.

Minimum order is 150 pieces; maximum order is 20,000 pieces.

Charitable Event Discount may not be combined with other discounts.

Discount does not apply to shipping.

Start here.

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The Motorcycle Coasters® price challenge

We will match any openly broadcast or published price for custom imprinted motorcycle side stand supports.

-- Competitor product must be designed for the same purpose as Motorcycle Coasters® (i.e. it will support 1,000 lbs.).

-- Competitor product must be made in the U.S.A.

-- Competitor prices must be available to the public and openly accessible on the Internet, as ours are. No “call for a quote” or “submit your info and we will get back to you” is allowed.

You show us a price cheaper than Motorcycle Coasters® currently published prices, and we will match it or sell the competing part to you at its published cost, at our discretion.

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Motorcycling History: The first production motorcycle

We wouldn’t need Motorcycle Coasters® if we didn’t have motorcycles. We’re glad someone invented the motorcycle! Did you ever wonder when the first motorcycle was built?

Although designers had already been working on “motor driven cycles” (bicycles with motors on them), the Hildebrand & Wolfmüller model is considered to be the first real production motorcycle. Heinrich and Wilhelm Hildebrand were steam-engine engineers before they teamed up with Alois Wolfmüller to produce their internal combustion Motorrad in Munich in 1894.

At right: A diagram of 1894 Hildebrand & Wolfmüller motorcycle.

The Hildebrand & Wolfmüller patent of 20 January 1894, No. 78553 describes a 1,489 cc (90.9 cu in) two-cylinder, four-stroke engine, with a bore and stroke of 90 mm × 117 mm (3.5 in × 4.6 in). It produced 2.5 bhp of power (1.9 kW) @ 240 rpm. The motorcycle’s top speed was 45 km/h (28 mph). It only weighed 50 kg (110 lbs.). The fuel-air mixture from the surface carburetor was regulated by a valve operated by controls on the handlebar. It featured pneumatic tires, a 26-inch (66 cm) in the front and a 22-inch (56 cm) in the back.

Photo by Victor Wilfred Pagé - Pagé, Victor Wilfred (originally published 1914, 2004 reprint of 1924 ed.), Early Motorcycles: Construction, Operation and Repair, Dover Publications, p. 24, ISBN 0486436713, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8789206

Some design details were carried over from a steam-powered prototype made by the Hildebrand brothers in 1889, including the water tank shaped to form the rear mudguard and the connecting rods of the engine driving the rear wheel directly. The water tank was repurposed to supply water to the cooling jackets surrounding the cylinders.

Approximately two thousand of these motorcycles were built, but with a high initial purchase price and fierce competition from improving designs (this model was entirely “run and jump,” with neither clutch nor pedals) it is not thought to have been a great commercial success. The Hildebrand & Wolfmüller factory closed in 1919 after the First World War.

A few examples of the Hildebrand & Wolfmüller motorcycle are known to exist today:

· The Deutsches Zweirad- und NSU-Museum in Neckarsulm, Germany

· The Science Museum in London, England

· The Henry Ford in Detroit, Michigan, USA

· The Museum Lalu Lintas in Surabaya, Indonesia

· Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, Alabama, USA

At right: A Hildebrand & Wolfmüller motorcycle. Photo is unattributed.

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Back issues of the Motorcycle Coasters® newsletter

Back issues of our newsletter are available at the Motorcycle Coasters® - Newsletter Archive. They are available to download as PDF files or can be viewed online (no download required).

At the archive page, three links are given for each issue of the newsletter. The first link displays the topics in that particular issue. The second link is a direct download link for that issue. The third link lets you view that issue online. No download is necessary.

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Jack the Coaster Guy on the road

For this edition of "Jack the Coaster Guy on the road," we go back to a long, long time ago, in a distant galaxy far, far away...

Well, OK, maybe not that long ago and not that far away...

In 2016 Jack took a trip to the Barber Motorsports Museum. The museum is a fabulous place with, literally, hundreds of vintage motorcycles. There were a couple that caught Jack's eye that day that had some sentimental value and local flavor: a 1965 Honda C102 Cub and a 1973 Triumph X-75 Hurricane.

1965 Honda C102 Cub

The Honda C102 Cub was The Coaster Guy's first bike. The small scooter was a family bike that all the kids learned to ride. Like the placard says, "More people were introduced to motorcycling through this model than any other."

Though the scooter was actually a 49cc displacement, and its official model name was the C102 Cub, most people referred to the bike as the "Honda 50". See the name plate under the seat on the shot of the left side.

1973 Triumph X-75 Hurricane

The Triumph X-75 Hurricane was a BSA-commissioned, Triumph-powered motorcycle designed by Craig Vetter in Rantoul, Illinois at the Vetter Fairing factory, where one of these once hung from the ceiling.