BARF Rides Again
If you don't own, or know someone who owns a motorcycle, you may think BARF is something you do at some point during Bay to Breakers. (If you're not familiar with Bay to Breakers, you might think instead, of an all night bender, doing beer bongs and tequilla shots on some midwestern college campus.)
In any case, BARF is the Bay Area Rider's Forum, a local motorcycle online forum that serves to support and promote motorcycling in the San Francisco Bay Area. As well, it connects a community, not only of Bay Area riders, but riders from around the world. The various forums hook riders up, with new and used bikes, bike parts, track days, BBQs, and group rides.
Such was the case on a recent summer night, when Scanfrancisco heard the roar of multiple engines, descending upon a parking lot in the Marina. A check into the forum reveals that this was a regular ride, which takes place on the last Friday night of each month. On this particular Friday, about 60 bikes had pulled up, awaiting details of a city course, set by one of the BARF members. Mostly Asian sportbikes showed up among this crew, though there was one HOT! Ducati in attendance.
Some of the best things about BARF? It offers support to injured riders, and sometimes serves to track down stolen bikes. Word gets around town, and often bike and rider are reunited with little more than a few extra miles on the engine, or a small scratch in the plastics.