Taken from the Daily Telegram (http://www.lenconnect.com/topstories/x1547145496/Cyclist-to-ride-hands-free-for-funds)

Phil Comar watched his father, Robert, struggle for years with Parkinson’s disease. Now, in his father’s memory, Comar will ride his Harley-Davidson motorcycle nonstop and “hands free” from the Mackinac Bridge to the Ohio border Oct. 10 to raise money for Parkinson’s research.

“He was one of the longest-running patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s,” Comar said. “Dad decided early on to fight the disease and stay active. He never quit, right up to the end.”

Comar, 61, has a goal of raising $3,000 for his ride. After doing his own research, Comar chose the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research as the recipient of the funds. Donations can be made and more information found at www.teamfox.org/2010/phil.

He is making the ride as a member of Team Fox. The goal is to help the foundation fund research to find better treatment and a cure for Parkinson’s disease.

“I’m doing this because it is such a good cause and I found that 85 cents out of every dollar (donated to the foundation) goes to research,” Comar said.

Robert Comar died in 2008 from the chronic, degenerative, neurological disorder. According to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, symptoms typically progress from mild tremors to complete physical incapacitation.

There is no known cure for Parkinson’s disease. Current treatments mask symptoms but do not alter or slow the disease progression.

“It was hard watching him sometimes,” Phil Comar said. “I wanted to take over what he was doing and finish it for him. But that would have gone against his will.”

Robert, who co-owned C&D Rental for many years with his wife, Phyllis, was a car buff, according to his son. It was a struggle watching him try to hold wrenches steady while he worked on an engine.

“I learned patience through this. After a while he would finally tell me to take over and I’d finish it,” Comar said. “But he still fought (the disease) every step of the way.”

As for the no-hands ride, Comar, who has been riding motor bikes and motorcycles almost 50 years, said the steering is done with legs and by leaning to allow the wheels to turn. An extra gas tank has been added to the back of his bike that will allow him to make the 300-mile trip without stopping.

He has been practicing the skill for about 20 years. The latest came a couple of weeks ago when Comar rode to his brother’s birthday in Midland. Coming back, he rode a couple of segments no-handed, including the rather tricky section where U.S. 23 and M-14 intersect north of Ann Arbor.

“That’s got four lanes and a big curve,” he said. “But everything clicked. The bike was running perfectly and the road cooperated. I rode all the way to Dundee.”

Comar handled it with relative ease and remains confident he will be able to make the entire Mackinac-to-Ohio trip without using his hands.

“This is not new for me. I teach motorcycle (riding) for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation,” he said. “This just takes (riding) to another level.”

Comar plans to ride up to the Big Mac bridge on Oct. 9, no-handed at times. He will spend the night recuperating from that ride and head south in the morning. Comar said he does not have a set itinerary and will arrive when he arrives.

The trip will include I-75 and link with U.S. 23 near Flint. From Flint, Comar will ride south to the Ohio state line.

More than 5 million people worldwide are living with Parkinson’s, according to the Team Fox website. In the United States, 60,000 new cases will be diagnosed this year alone.

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What can be done about dealers that don’t seem to give a shit about customers?

I am talking in particular this time about Clearwater Harley Davidson in Johannesburg South Africa.

We ordered a new FLHTK last year and took delivery in January of this year. The bike is stunning and a real step up from the previous FLHTCU, with a much better power band and pull-away from lights and junctions. The 103 motor is a dream for such a big tourer and we both love the bike to bits.

Anyway this is not a road test, it’s a moan at shocking service from those holders of what is (in my opinion) the best franchise in the world.

Back to ordering our Limited; after we ordered her (all bikes are females…not so?), we ordered some accessories including chrome lower fork sliders and a chrome inner primary cover; this was on 11 December 2009. The agreement with the dealer was that the accessories would be fitted prior to delivery or at first service dependent on delivery time from the USA.

We took delivery of the bike in late January 2010 around the 22nd as I recall. The accessories were not fitted but it was promised that they would be fitted at first service. On the same day the dealer was paid for the balance outstanding on the bike together with approximately $6,000 for the accessories we ordered.

I’m not sure about you but I always look forward to the first service, the new exhausts, the re-configuring of the EFI, the increase in power….. I digress again.

This wonderful event happened on 6 March 2010 after we received a call to say our accessories had arrived. A bit of background here….. we live about 200 miles from our nearest dealer and we can only deliver and collect the bike on a Saturday.

The following Saturday we went to collect the bike only to find that there were no chrome front fork sliders and no chrome inner primary cover. On enquiry we were told that the wrong sliders had been delivered and there was a pregnant silence at the mention of an inner primary cover.

The dealer promised to rectify the situation quickly and a series of correspondence ensued.

We went to the Africa bike week in April and we had a chat with Harley Corporate for the EMEA region who promised to have a chat with the dealer and get things moving along. The last e-mail I got from the dealer told me that some more accessories had arrived but not the parts in question, that was on 20 May, some two months ago.

I requested that the dealer provide the list of parts that were paid for and I am still waiting for that information.

So, the dealer has had an order for accessories for some 7 months, he was paid for these parts 6 months ago and now he refuses to answer my calls or respond to my e-mails.

I have felt it necessary to involve the services of a lawyer, but that is wrong on so many levels, why should I have to pay for legal services? Why can’t Harley Corporate do something about it?

Can any employees of Harley explain why this is?

I see that Harley do not have a complaint line or e-mail address to address these issues, so what do we do about it?

Since Harley do not have the facility to listen to complaints and reign in rogue dealers, what I propose is that we boycott such dealers until they either behave professionaly or go out of business.

The problem is to make everyone aware of who these dealers are.

Any ideas?