My $200 Helmet: Gone In 60 Seconds
After the first two weeks with your new motorcycle and your new helmet, the day will come when you start getting tired of carrying your helmet into the grocery store or flopping it down on the restaurant table, announcing to the world that , "Yeah Buddy, that's my bike outside and I am the real deal!" Relax, nobody is noticing you and your helmet is not turning any heads. The helmet thrill is gone and now you want to know what do you do with your helmet when you leave your bike unattended at the cinema, the grocery store or the swap meet. You first solution is to take your new, expensive, shinny helmet with you when you leave your bike. But after lugging your helmet around with you for a couple of hours, you start looking for a more practical solution.
Motorcycle Rider Safety: Focus Radar
I am absolutely, 100% convinced that the key to safe riding is maintaining your focus. The weather, your skill level, your psychological well being and most of all, the traffic that surrounds you is exactly what you need to be focused on to ride safely. Accidents do happen but if you remain totally focused on what you are doing, you can minimize your rise and enjoy your ride.
Lets focus on the traffic around you. No matter if you are on city streets or on the interstate, your safety threat are the cars next to you. You can do a lot more than just watch out for these cars, you can try to anticipate which of these card/drivers are your biggest threat.
How to Stretch Your $4 Gal of Gas
OK, my car gets 22 mpg on an average, that’s not too bad. It’s around 18 mpg in the city and 28 mpg on the highway. I commute 40 miles roundtrip 5 days a week to work, or 200 miles per week. At $4.00 per gallon for gas, it cost me...
200 miles/22 mpg = 9.09 gal per week
$4.00 per gal X 9.09 gal = $36.36 gas cost per week
My motorcycle (HD FXDWG Wide Glide) gets 44 mpg or twice the mileage of my car. It is twice as efficient as my car when it comes to gas consumption. So, using the same commute to work mileage,
Time To Go Ridin’ In The Rain
When it starts raining on your ride, three things happen;
a) Tires will have less traction
b) Vision is impaired
c) You will get wet
All three of these things are going to happen no matter what you do. Your option is to A) either hide out in a coffee shop or under an overpass until it stops raining or B) just deal with it.
Start At The Beginning: Basic Rider Course
There are a lot of different courses available and they vary from state to state. They may be sponsored by different government agencies. The one you will hear about the most is the MSF course. MSF stands for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. When someone starts talking about the “Motorcycle Course” this is usually what they are talking about.
Couldn’t Pour ‘What’ Out Of My Boots?
I see riders wearing tennis shoes everyday and I am always amazed. Penny loafers, slaps and dress shoes just do not have any place in your protective equipment inventory. I have even seen people riding bare foot. I mean, how do you even shift? That must be brutal. So, in my book, what goes on your feet is a pair of boots. It is not a question of “if” it is a question or “what type” of boots.
Are you a Dangerous Motorcycle Rider?
![MPj04006800000[1]](http://www.wordcutter.com/MotorcycleRiderBasics/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/mpj0400680000011.jpg){kind=small}
Motorcycle safety is deadly serious. Imagine going outside, putting on your helmet, leather jacket, boots and gloves and then instead of getting on your motorcycle, run across your front yard and when you reach the curb, leap up into the air and land in the street on your chest. (No, no, you goof, don't actually do it, just imagine doing it.)
Have a seat, have a great seat! Part II
In the first part of this post, I talked about the mechanics of the seat. Now lets take a look at the comfort, which is a pretty important part of the seat discussion (Oh you think, Frank?). Soft is not necessarily comfortable. Its a great looking seat and it feels very soft and comfortable sitting there in the shop. Two hundred miles later, your rear end is talking to you and it's not saying what you want to hear. "Come on Frank, give me a break! This seat is killing me!"
Have a seat, have a great seat! Part I
What's the big deal on a seat? A seat is a seat, sit down and go. This is what I thought and it is what a lot of riders think.
I have found out that the seat can really make a significant difference in your riding enjoyment and in this post I am going to tell you all about your options.
Frank Gates Motorcycle Riding Rules
I fired up the Internet search engine and went looking for motorcycle rules of the road. Wow, there seem to be a bout a zillion “Rules of the Road” and they are always life and death critical. There are rules of the road for staying alive on your motorcycle, about projecting a certain image, riding 2-up (with a passenger), riding in groups, riding in the rain, the heat, rush hour and just about every other situation you might ever encounter in twenty lifetimes. On top of all of this, there are humorous versions that are a lot more fun to read but still are anchored in motorcycle reality.
BUY MY BOOK! TODAY! :o)
Ten years and 100,000 miles ago I bought a Harley and re-entered the world of motorcycles and I have been having a blast ever since! The single best thing I did when I started riding was to go through the MSF Basic Rider course. The next best thing I could have done would have been to buy this book. Categories
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