- Joined
- Apr 4, 2002
- Location
- Menlo Park, Ca.
- Moto(s)
- Keep me rocking life
- Name
- Budman
- BARF perks
- AMA Life Member #203453
Hi Barfers,
I wanted to explain a few things about barf and how I came to run this site and cover some of the bad feelings that some have for it... and my goals for making it survive and evolve into a better place.
First for the sponsors without you this place would not be here.
I hope that all members support these guys..for what they bring to you.. this place called
I took over beginning in January and was handed a ball of invoices that covered up to a year of back payments due. I found many to be bogus and found some upset people who had tried to contact the ownership and the black hole of non response had them justifiable upset. Most of the invoices were reduced or voided and some paid them without any bad feelings.
I apologize to all those that tried in vain to contact the owner and feel that somehow they were getting shafted. That sucks and I certainly don't want that to be considered the way I am doing business. We are still in the process of changing things on the board to get the correct contact info out there and be responsive to the folks that are helping us enjoy the site and the interaction of fellow riders.
Please feel free to call me anytime at 650-400-5777 to discuss any aspect.
The site itself:
We have not taken 100% action to fix the current board as we have been doing work with the new barf site to get it up and going. We are close.. behind schedule and have struggled with determinations on the effort to change a screwed up item vs. working with the new structure, which will automatically fix the quirks. I am not the techy that the previous owner was and I depend on many volunteers to help us along. Perhaps if I threw some $$$$ at the whole program vs. working with barfers to get it done it would have been done by now, but with life and kids and expenses it was not prudent to do so. I had to take care of my family first and my barf family second. Given the hindsight, perhaps the money spent would have been for the best. The Technology folks have poured their hearts into getting the new servers on line and keeping the archaic software we use going. All of you guys rock and from my heart I say thanks. You all did it because of the value you seen in barf and your love of our sport.
....a dinner or two and a shirt or whatever is sure not equitable to your efforts and I know that.
To our members I only can thank you for your donations for the new servers and the dedication to this place. So many have helped with so many different aspects of running the board. From the moderators to the social activities to bringing quality content to the board... barf would not be here if you just sat back and watched. I want to say sorry to those that may have donated before the end of January or ordered stuff that was not received or whatever problems you had before that time when messaging began to flow my way. Seeing Faz's post about contributions and some of the posts in it made me feel sad.. because
1. You did not get the attention or other needs that you may have wanted. That can be as simple as a contributor tag or as convoluted as wanting to take action on something that never even got a response
2. People were not responded to that were having problems with access and may have never had that fixed and simply left for other places to spend their E-Moto time.
I have tried to bring additional good content to the board and make some changes that are in my opinion better for us the readers/users.
* We have a new training section.. that has brought Keith Code to us.
* We have segmented the photo section so you can just look at moto stuff if you choose and have a place for other fun stuff.
* We have opened other forums to specific two wheel activities and taken away some of the dead wood forums that were just taking space.
* We have the Leo Forum where our brothers who where a badge take their time to help you the membership with specific questions about your life on the roads.
* We got Liam!... keep at it my man!!
* We banded together to Face the DJ saying things that could hurt us or our fellow motorcyclist and received support from around the globe.
* We continue to support the racing efforts of all types. I hope to be successful enough to offer sponsorship to other types and have a mini-barf racing team.. and a super moto team and sponsor a race class in the AFM etc. I can only do that if I can make this place successful enough to be able to spend the $$ on those aspects.
* We have brought in other quality individuals to Moderate the boards. Folks that have a passion for a certain aspect of motorcycling and/or have significant contributions to content or have proven to have a level head and a desire to make this place better. They do it for free.. and they are all working as well as barfing. Thanks folks... you make this place live.
* We have a set of admin's that are not afraid to take on the tough tasks of dealing with all sorts of individuals and actions that could easily get us to a point of total havoc and lose what the intent of barf really is.. to share the two wheel life.. to evolve as riders.. to learn.. and move forward in a sport that is not mainstream enough to garner the respect among society that it truly deserves.
* We have a very active connection to the AFM where the racers tell their stories and we can all enjoy their venture into the wild life of road racing.. certainly my passion revolves around this.
* We bring motorcycle issues to the board for your information and action if you feel strongly about them.. I usually do.
And lots more.. and lots more to come.
Quickly for those that do not know who I am or why I do this.
I am 48 years old.. riding since 8..spending summers in dirt in the Palo Alto Baylands riding my ass off. I was the President of a Jr. High Motorcycle and mini bike club and spoke in front of the City Council as a young advocate to build a track in the Baylands (We lost). I started riding the street at the age of 15-1/2 and was a stunter, when only Evil was a recognized motorcycle nut. I ran from the law.. hit horse trailers.. and generally was a hooligan on the road. I lived thru those formative years because of luck and probably a lack of the superior equipment available in today's world. I want to share that with today's young high school kids and I am very disappointed that no local high schools have taken up my offer to bring a safety seminar backed by the MSF to their students.. but I am use to the "motorcycles are dangerous" attitude by those that don't ride and their wish to sweep it under the rug rather than step up and take actions that may be prudent for the folks that ride them.
I raced motocross locally in the early 80's spending Thursday nights at Baylands and weekends at Watsonville, Sand Hill, and many other tracks...had the pleasure of attending the Suzuki school of Motocross at Carlsbad.. Jimmy Weinart school of Motocross.. and more..an AMA member since those days.
I road raced with the AFM and WERA spending a lot of time traveling the west coast with my sons sharing my passion for the sport. I had my first track experience with Keith Code's California Superbike school, ultimately attending his advanced schools and learning so much of my skill from his knowledge. I was lucky enough to work a deal with a local shop and KSJO Radio to get equipment and run the Suzuki Cup with some damn fast guys that were in the AFM. I qualified for Suzuki Cup Nationals and won a 24 Hour Endurance race at Willow Springs as my last effort at sanctioned competition. I had the joy of racing in the AMA Nationals a few times both in their Endurance races and in the Supersport classes. What a feeling to be on the grid with Doug Chandler, Scott Russell, Jason Pridmore and more..wow.. cool memories.
I became a supporter to my friend and made the KSJO thing work for him.. arranging events and outings building on the skills that help market the sponsors that help me. I did a little AFM announcing along the way as well.
I retired from racing and spent 5 years doing the Harley thing.. clubing on two wheels.. long rides... going slow and enjoying a different aspects of riding. I still have the bike and throw a leg over it once in a while, but nothing ever compared to the sport bike for me... I have a strong respect for the fun that a cruiser can bring to your life.
I found barf about 3 months after it went live.. and got the racers corner lit up via the founder (TheSteveco) and became a moderator. I approached him about partnering together to make this place better and had a vision of what barf could be ultimately. I organized the first barf charity ride.. "The Ride for Life".
I started the barf racing team and went back to the AFM with some good guys..Calvin..Mikey.. and then Felipe joined last year to have some fun. I got involved with Vision Wells, wrote a movie and ended up narrating it and I am very proud of our efforts with that and the 50th year of AFM racing will live longer than I via the film. I wrote articles about the AFM racing just because no one else was.. and I remembered every week going to my mail box to grab my cycle news to see if my name or picture was in it.. and the AFM racers deserve to be recognized IMO.
Last year I took over running the board without having control of it.. no contacts or notifications to me so I could only react to what I knew.. and what I saw before that was barf falling into a hole and knew if it was to survive I would have to take real control. That is now the place where I sit. TheSteveco started a really good thing and I plan to make it better in the days ahead.
Bottom line here is I am a lifer.. I love this sport to death. The injuries, the pain and expense pales in comparison to the good times and great people I have met. My best friends are mostly motorcyclist. Sharing this life is why I wanted to keep barf going. I see a lot of value in that, both for safety, fun and sharing reasons. I wish I had time to be more active in social events and share a lot of the fun I see in the photo's, but as with any human my bandwidth and life situations give me limitations I just have to deal with.
All I ask is for a little patience.. with me.. with your fellow members..and with the course that barf is on. I am damned determined to right the ship.
To make it better.. to continue the sharing of the two wheel life.
I have been meaning to write this for a while.. and never felt it was the right time or I had enough of the control to say things I wanted to say. I still don't, but I felt that you needed to know.. who I am.. and what I am trying to accomplish.
Please if you have never been to a road race.. get to Infineon this weekend to see the best in the country going head to head in my favorite sport on earth. To see "our forum's" guys on the race track living that life. Bobby and Andy.. good luck guys..!
You have the best I can offer and I enjoy being a part of your dreams.... and a big thanks to the Teams sponsors listed below and the volunteer crew from this year and past years for helping me to do that.
Hoping that I can deliver.. Hoping barf gets better every year.. hoping you ride safe and enjoy the life I love.
I wanted to explain a few things about barf and how I came to run this site and cover some of the bad feelings that some have for it... and my goals for making it survive and evolve into a better place.
First for the sponsors without you this place would not be here.
I hope that all members support these guys..for what they bring to you.. this place called
I took over beginning in January and was handed a ball of invoices that covered up to a year of back payments due. I found many to be bogus and found some upset people who had tried to contact the ownership and the black hole of non response had them justifiable upset. Most of the invoices were reduced or voided and some paid them without any bad feelings.
I apologize to all those that tried in vain to contact the owner and feel that somehow they were getting shafted. That sucks and I certainly don't want that to be considered the way I am doing business. We are still in the process of changing things on the board to get the correct contact info out there and be responsive to the folks that are helping us enjoy the site and the interaction of fellow riders.
Please feel free to call me anytime at 650-400-5777 to discuss any aspect.
The site itself:
We have not taken 100% action to fix the current board as we have been doing work with the new barf site to get it up and going. We are close.. behind schedule and have struggled with determinations on the effort to change a screwed up item vs. working with the new structure, which will automatically fix the quirks. I am not the techy that the previous owner was and I depend on many volunteers to help us along. Perhaps if I threw some $$$$ at the whole program vs. working with barfers to get it done it would have been done by now, but with life and kids and expenses it was not prudent to do so. I had to take care of my family first and my barf family second. Given the hindsight, perhaps the money spent would have been for the best. The Technology folks have poured their hearts into getting the new servers on line and keeping the archaic software we use going. All of you guys rock and from my heart I say thanks. You all did it because of the value you seen in barf and your love of our sport.
....a dinner or two and a shirt or whatever is sure not equitable to your efforts and I know that.
To our members I only can thank you for your donations for the new servers and the dedication to this place. So many have helped with so many different aspects of running the board. From the moderators to the social activities to bringing quality content to the board... barf would not be here if you just sat back and watched. I want to say sorry to those that may have donated before the end of January or ordered stuff that was not received or whatever problems you had before that time when messaging began to flow my way. Seeing Faz's post about contributions and some of the posts in it made me feel sad.. because
1. You did not get the attention or other needs that you may have wanted. That can be as simple as a contributor tag or as convoluted as wanting to take action on something that never even got a response
2. People were not responded to that were having problems with access and may have never had that fixed and simply left for other places to spend their E-Moto time.
I have tried to bring additional good content to the board and make some changes that are in my opinion better for us the readers/users.
* We have a new training section.. that has brought Keith Code to us.
* We have segmented the photo section so you can just look at moto stuff if you choose and have a place for other fun stuff.
* We have opened other forums to specific two wheel activities and taken away some of the dead wood forums that were just taking space.
* We have the Leo Forum where our brothers who where a badge take their time to help you the membership with specific questions about your life on the roads.
* We got Liam!... keep at it my man!!
* We banded together to Face the DJ saying things that could hurt us or our fellow motorcyclist and received support from around the globe.
* We continue to support the racing efforts of all types. I hope to be successful enough to offer sponsorship to other types and have a mini-barf racing team.. and a super moto team and sponsor a race class in the AFM etc. I can only do that if I can make this place successful enough to be able to spend the $$ on those aspects.
* We have brought in other quality individuals to Moderate the boards. Folks that have a passion for a certain aspect of motorcycling and/or have significant contributions to content or have proven to have a level head and a desire to make this place better. They do it for free.. and they are all working as well as barfing. Thanks folks... you make this place live.
* We have a set of admin's that are not afraid to take on the tough tasks of dealing with all sorts of individuals and actions that could easily get us to a point of total havoc and lose what the intent of barf really is.. to share the two wheel life.. to evolve as riders.. to learn.. and move forward in a sport that is not mainstream enough to garner the respect among society that it truly deserves.
* We have a very active connection to the AFM where the racers tell their stories and we can all enjoy their venture into the wild life of road racing.. certainly my passion revolves around this.
* We bring motorcycle issues to the board for your information and action if you feel strongly about them.. I usually do.
And lots more.. and lots more to come.
Quickly for those that do not know who I am or why I do this.
I am 48 years old.. riding since 8..spending summers in dirt in the Palo Alto Baylands riding my ass off. I was the President of a Jr. High Motorcycle and mini bike club and spoke in front of the City Council as a young advocate to build a track in the Baylands (We lost). I started riding the street at the age of 15-1/2 and was a stunter, when only Evil was a recognized motorcycle nut. I ran from the law.. hit horse trailers.. and generally was a hooligan on the road. I lived thru those formative years because of luck and probably a lack of the superior equipment available in today's world. I want to share that with today's young high school kids and I am very disappointed that no local high schools have taken up my offer to bring a safety seminar backed by the MSF to their students.. but I am use to the "motorcycles are dangerous" attitude by those that don't ride and their wish to sweep it under the rug rather than step up and take actions that may be prudent for the folks that ride them.
I raced motocross locally in the early 80's spending Thursday nights at Baylands and weekends at Watsonville, Sand Hill, and many other tracks...had the pleasure of attending the Suzuki school of Motocross at Carlsbad.. Jimmy Weinart school of Motocross.. and more..an AMA member since those days.
I road raced with the AFM and WERA spending a lot of time traveling the west coast with my sons sharing my passion for the sport. I had my first track experience with Keith Code's California Superbike school, ultimately attending his advanced schools and learning so much of my skill from his knowledge. I was lucky enough to work a deal with a local shop and KSJO Radio to get equipment and run the Suzuki Cup with some damn fast guys that were in the AFM. I qualified for Suzuki Cup Nationals and won a 24 Hour Endurance race at Willow Springs as my last effort at sanctioned competition. I had the joy of racing in the AMA Nationals a few times both in their Endurance races and in the Supersport classes. What a feeling to be on the grid with Doug Chandler, Scott Russell, Jason Pridmore and more..wow.. cool memories.
I became a supporter to my friend and made the KSJO thing work for him.. arranging events and outings building on the skills that help market the sponsors that help me. I did a little AFM announcing along the way as well.
I retired from racing and spent 5 years doing the Harley thing.. clubing on two wheels.. long rides... going slow and enjoying a different aspects of riding. I still have the bike and throw a leg over it once in a while, but nothing ever compared to the sport bike for me... I have a strong respect for the fun that a cruiser can bring to your life.
I found barf about 3 months after it went live.. and got the racers corner lit up via the founder (TheSteveco) and became a moderator. I approached him about partnering together to make this place better and had a vision of what barf could be ultimately. I organized the first barf charity ride.. "The Ride for Life".
I started the barf racing team and went back to the AFM with some good guys..Calvin..Mikey.. and then Felipe joined last year to have some fun. I got involved with Vision Wells, wrote a movie and ended up narrating it and I am very proud of our efforts with that and the 50th year of AFM racing will live longer than I via the film. I wrote articles about the AFM racing just because no one else was.. and I remembered every week going to my mail box to grab my cycle news to see if my name or picture was in it.. and the AFM racers deserve to be recognized IMO.
Last year I took over running the board without having control of it.. no contacts or notifications to me so I could only react to what I knew.. and what I saw before that was barf falling into a hole and knew if it was to survive I would have to take real control. That is now the place where I sit. TheSteveco started a really good thing and I plan to make it better in the days ahead.
Bottom line here is I am a lifer.. I love this sport to death. The injuries, the pain and expense pales in comparison to the good times and great people I have met. My best friends are mostly motorcyclist. Sharing this life is why I wanted to keep barf going. I see a lot of value in that, both for safety, fun and sharing reasons. I wish I had time to be more active in social events and share a lot of the fun I see in the photo's, but as with any human my bandwidth and life situations give me limitations I just have to deal with.
All I ask is for a little patience.. with me.. with your fellow members..and with the course that barf is on. I am damned determined to right the ship.
To make it better.. to continue the sharing of the two wheel life.
I have been meaning to write this for a while.. and never felt it was the right time or I had enough of the control to say things I wanted to say. I still don't, but I felt that you needed to know.. who I am.. and what I am trying to accomplish.
Please if you have never been to a road race.. get to Infineon this weekend to see the best in the country going head to head in my favorite sport on earth. To see "our forum's" guys on the race track living that life. Bobby and Andy.. good luck guys..!
You have the best I can offer and I enjoy being a part of your dreams.... and a big thanks to the Teams sponsors listed below and the volunteer crew from this year and past years for helping me to do that.
Hoping that I can deliver.. Hoping barf gets better every year.. hoping you ride safe and enjoy the life I love.
but yeahh....thats something i think can help barf financially...and thanks for doing a good job budman =] 
to 
Newbie Budman!!!
