Twin City Custom Cycles

We all have our favorite bikes, no matter how quirky or strange they might be. Some might say that the 2016 Yamaha is the best on the market, simply because it’s powerful and so new. Me, though, I have a real soft spot for the 1983 Honda CR480R. What is this bike and why do I like it so much?

Well, the 1983 Honda 480 (I’m not typing CR480R constantly here!) was a bit one-of-a-kind. It existed in a brief period when bikes were transitioning to a different, less powerful, approach to the Open-class two-stroke. Bikes were getting more and more powerful, to the point where they were almost impossible to control. As a result, designers had to cut down the power, leading to many complaints and the end of Honda’s Open-class.

However, the 1983 Honda 480 came out just before that switch, meaning it is one of the most powerful two-strokes to come out of Japan. It could dominate just about all of its competition and it looked great to boot.

Even better, it had the kind of reliability that collectors love. I’ve heard of people ditching their 1983 Honda 480 just before it flips and takes a nasty spin through the dirt. The biker, beyond a few bruises, was able to pick up the bike and get back on without any trouble from the bike.

Sadly, Honda dropped this approach after this model, and the Open-class slowly, but surely, became irrelevant. They don’t even make them any more! What if Honda had stuck to the philosophies that drove the 1983 Honda 480?

I personally think this class of bike woul still be around. And you know what? I think I would work as hard as I could to own them all. There’s just something about this particular model that I love oh so much.

But I’m no expert…just a huge fan. I could be totally wrong on this. What do you think? Please let me know! I love hearing from you all.

Not all of us can become major motorsport racing champions…and while I’d love to build my own team one day, right now I’m just enjoying not working for awhile. I’m too young to completely give up any kind of activity, but I worked so hard for so long that this little retirement is very, very nice…

Anyway, beyond investing millions of dollars in a motorcross team, the best I can do is “Motorsport Manager.” What is this? It’s a computer game simulation that let’s you take control of your own motorcross team, including hiring drivers, building cars, and even racing along the tracks of the top motorcross raceways in the world.

I know, I know…this kind of game doesn’t seem like it fits my personality. It might seem a little too “nerdy” for good old Luigi, but…there is something nerdy about any kind of sport. Especially when it comes to one you love. It actually pulls me into the game and makes me even more excited to watch my favorite events in real life.

And it’s not like I play the game for more than a few hours every day…for me, it’s something that I do when I wake up (tweaking a few things on the roster), around noon, when I’ve gotten some work done (simulating some races), and just before bed, as a way to clear my mind (setting up the next day’s events).

The excitement of watching racers win is even higher in “Motorsport Manager” than it is in the real world, because they are YOUR racer and they are making YOU money (even if it’s only digital currency). I think it has helped me better understand the way that teams operate, including trading racers and all of that.

Do any of you play this game or have interest in learning more about it? Please comment below! I’ll answer any questions you might have…

Talking about designing games the other day got me all riled up to talk about my favorite casino games. I wouldn’t say I’m a big time gambler…but I do like to hit the casinos from time to time. While I do online gaming at least once a week, I prefer in-person casinos because they’re more impressive. That doesn’t mean that online gaming isn’t worth it (as I said, I still go to a site at least once a week, sometimes more), but I like hearing the cards slapping the tables and feeling them in my hands.

So what are my favorite casino games? Well, first of all, I love poker almost as much as I love racing. Yes, there is a huge element of randomness and luck in the game I don’t like. But the ability to bet, raise bets, fold, and bluff make it a hard game to beat.

Typically, I try to avoid games that are hard to win or which require pure luck, but Roulette…there’s just something about it. Maybe I’ve seen too many James Bond movies, but there’s something exciting about waiting for the ball to land and praying it pays off…don’t spend too much timeat the table, but I always make a stop.

Blackjack…now that’s a game for a mind that can keep track of cards and manage luck and percentages. The game is pretty stacked to the dealer…but if you know when to hold em and when to fold em (wait, that’s poker…) then you can have a lot of fun with this game.

Craps certainly doesn’t deserve such a crappy name…it’s another fun one. For me, the fun of casino games is the excitement of waiting for luck to strike. And there are fewer games with moments more exciting than craps, especially when you see a big beautiful “seven” laying there for you…

What casino games do you like? Are you a slot machine maniac or do you like to hit the more complex games? Let me know!

I’m going to go a slightly different route today and talk about online casinos. Honestly, I could talk your ear off about both racing and online casinos for days, so it’s time I stretched my knowledge and discussed some of the most important parts of gaming design. For me, I’ve found, that graphics and great animations are probably the most important part of an online casino and online games.

Let me tell my story a bit more to get you an idea…When I first started, I was doing the graphics myself and, as a graphic designer, I’m basically serviceable. I can do some simple graphics, but nothing fantastic. As a result, the first six months to a year with my casino Slots and Stripes and Nederlandse Gokkasten were a real struggle. I could barely pay my domain fees, let alone make any money to support myself. I was working a side job selling cars just to make ends meet…

The grapes of my dream were withering on the vine and I couldn’t take it…so I decided to take a look at some of the most successful casinos online and see what separated them from me. We had the same games, the same approach, offered multiple conversion rates, and were nearly identical except for one thing…the graphics. Theirs were incredible: mine were bland.

So I took out a loan and hired a graphic designer to create fun and engaging graphics and animation for my site. Once they were uploaded, I was shocked by my traffic numbers…they jumped almost four hundred percent in a single month. Soon I was actually making money and could pay off my loan in just three months.

You see, graphics and animations are necessary for entertaining your guests. They like seeing the flashing colors and the beautiful designs because it reminds them of being in a real casino. So learn from my mistake and start by making great graphics for your casino from the very beginning!