It is always a pleasure to start the newsletter off with saying thank you for your support. January was by far our biggest month with more than 80,000 unique visitors looking at more than a million pages.
Unfortunately, when a website does well, it brings out the spammers trying to prey on all the decent people using the site.
The social software on MotoZania is designed to protect you. Nobody can see your real email address. If anybody sends you a note asking you to contact them directly through their email, be wary. In a lot of cases they are Phishing for your information.
The Senegal phishers are at it again. We have killed five of these in the past week. We have blocked hundreds of thousands of IP address from Senegal, but they join one at a time like regular members (not automated like the Russians).
The ruse is to lure you into a relationship. Then, some awful tragedy strikes and only you and your money can help them through it.
Not only from MotoZania, but any type of email you get - Never, Ever, respond if 1) your name isn't even on it 2) somebody you don't know generously gives you their email address 3) it has lots of grammar errors and misspelled words
We have contacted the FTC, FBI, and Interpol about these cons, Unfortunately, there is nothing they can do for MotoZania because technically, they have not broken the law (yet).
We always appreciate it when members let us know when something "seems strange". If you get communications that just don't look right, FLAG them. We will see the flags and look into it right away. Also, there is a failsafe built in that if enough of you flag something, the software will remove it. We are here to look out for you and make sure you have a good (and safe) time using the site.
Member Spotlights
From the US Northeast, to Mexico, to Canada and Alaska, Hanzo has ridden there on his Harley. Click Here to see all his great photos.
Bike of the Month belongs is this 1899 De Dion Bouton Peugort.
This is THE ancestor, the motorcycle equivalent of Lucy on the African plains. 95% of all motorcycles ever built are powered by direct descendants of the powerplant of this turn of the century antique from France.
Count De Dion financed engineers Bouton and Trépardoux, who developed three and four wheeled vehicles propelled by an internal combustion engine. The De Dion was the first reliable gas powered motor on the market, and its popularity made the De Dion Company the largest automobile manufacturer in the world at the dawn of the Twentieth Century.
The De Dion-Bouton Company also sold air cooled internal combustion engines to people who wanted to build their own vehicles, and these motors were quickly adapted for motorcycles. Imported to the United States as early as 1896, they were closely studied by the gear heads of the day. Both the first Indian motor and the first Harley-Davidson motor, while not exact copies of this engine, were built using the same general design and engineering principles. De Dion-Bouton also developed a carburetor that was a vast improvement over the makeshift mixers of the day.
This complete and documented 1899 model was brought to the United States in the 1920's by Vincent Bendix, who was interested in studying its innovative front brake. Bendix developed the modern automobile brake from study of this little trike, making it not only the Lucy of the motorcycle world, but the missing link of automobile brake development.
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