April 2000 Column	www.virtualindian.org
		Home / Features / Editorial

    To The Point!
   By Moen
 

I'll keep this brief (new experience for me..), not least because this is the last page to be done before the magazine can be uploaded -and I quite look forward to your reactions on a few of the pieces in it.     The VI Buyers' Club may not look like all that much, when you just look at the list of new parts being thrown to the wind, but I'd like you to consider where it could lead. Not only could we, as 'consumers', have a more direct say in which new parts get made, but the next step could be ganging up on established manufacturers/dealers and asking them for a special deal... I could also imagine that the BC could be used as a 'centralized' outlet for all the one-man-band parts makers and projecteers. I mentioned an online shop for this purpose, and that isn't really out of the question. So if you have any thoughts on this at all, please get in touch.     The VI Exchange is kinda linked to the BC in some ways. If we could give the little-guy projecteers an outlet for their goods (the BC online shop) AND make sure they have an easy way of getting what they need in the way of services and/or partners for their projects, that can only lead to a whole lot of new parts for all of us. Right?     And those engine cases of Lyle's..... I can't be the only one (I know I'm not, as Lyle, me and a few other people have discussed it) seeing this as the beginning of a brand new aspect of Indian'ing; The Peoples' Motorcycle.     There's so many neat aspects of this, that I'll save most of them for another time, but one of them is: Indians have become high-$$ bikes, but if the parts are made by 'ourselves' (that is, our small band of projecteers), and these parts are made available against all sorts of trades on the Exchange page, it really doesn't have to cost a lot of money. There's also the good feeling of knowing the folks who made the parts for your bike.     Finally, I have gone commercial! -Well, as I was making the pages for Jerry Hatfield's book updates and looking at my phone bill out of the other eye, I figured it wouldn't hurt anyone's feelings if I signed the VI up as an Amazon.com 'associate'. That means I get paid (5% of the book price, I think) if you click on the "Buy" link and buy the book. I won't bore you with what I pay each month in phone (we pay phone rates for internet access here) and hosting to keep the VI running, let's just say it would take a serious amount of books to cover it! :-)     Of course that isn't the point, either, but I am spending a lot of time on this (not taking care of business as I should), and I do have a few Indian projects to pay for, too...  Anyway, if you want to, you can click on the link below to go to Amazon for your books (and the link on Jerry's page for that specific book) and support the VI. -But please don't let this distract you from the main issues: Getting some good things going (as per above) and having fun with your Indian!

Your humble VI editor,    or coordinator or whatever;   executive janitor?