2Wheeltips

When I have good experiences with vendors and products, I would like to share them. There is a gentleman by the name of Jim Davis and his Company is called Eastern Beaver and is located in Japan. www.easternbeaver.com The Eastern Beaver Company makes its own unique Motorcycle Fuse Panels, Headlight Relay Kits, Horn Relay Kits, Auxiliary Lights Relay Kits, Accessory Relay Kits, and many other Motorcycle Wiring Kits. The Eastern Beaver Company also sells motorcycle electric products and accessories, including Fuse Panels, Sockets, Plugs, Terminals, Connectors, Shrinktube, and much more. The Eastern Beaver Company sells Powerlet and Posi-Lock Products. Jim uses very high quality components and makes various wiring harnesses and connectors specifically designed for motorcycles. His workmanship is "first class"!! I just bought my 2nd item from him, a fused 3 terminal harness for hooking up 3 auxillary items all on a relay so they turn off when the ignition is turned off. Pricing is competitive but no one else sells anything like this so hard to compare. Shipping cost is not unreasonable, $9.19 for this item, coming from Japan. If you are doing electrical work on your bike, need a relay or wiring connectors for just about any motorcycle application, check-out Jim's web site.

Here is something many riders don't know about. The age of your motorcycle tires is just as important as the depth of the tread.

Why? Because motorcycle tire rubber is soft....much softer than the rubber in your car tires. And it has to be....soft rubber grips the road very well and lets you ride those twisty roads with confidence. It is also why motorcycle tires wear much faster than car tires.

Because they are softer, they will dry out and crack as they get old. Once this happens it doesn't matter if it is a brand new tire or one with a few hundred miles, it is dangerous to use because old motorcycle tires are slippery. They have less grip and increased braking distance which could get you into a crash.




If you ride 2000 miles a year (the estimated average for bikers in the U.S.) or more, you will wear your tires out before they "age" out. If all you do is ride to the local bike night and back a few times a month, you will have hard cracked tires with plenty of tread.

How do you tell the age of the tire? That's simple. It is right on the sidewall....but it is encoded.

The first 2 numbers are the week of the year the tire was made and the last 2 numbers are the year.  So this tire was made the 13th week of 2004.....sometime around the 1st week of April 2004.

Knowing the tire age has a few uses:

Buying used bikes
When buying a used bike, you definitely want to check the tire age. If the tires are over 5 years old, use the tire age to negotiate a better price. You will need to replace those tires soon.

Dealers with leftover bikes
Due to the economy, many motorcycle dealers have brand new 2007 - 2009 bikes.......with old tires. Even brand new bikes have tires that are at least 1 year old on them. So a "new" 2007 bike could have tires made in 2005. Here is a chance for you to ask for a price break or have the dealer put newer tires on the bike as part of the deal.

Websites that sell discount tires
Why do you think some websites (I won't name any here) sell motorcycle tires for 65% - 75% off? Because they are old. Some of them have been sitting around in storage for 6 or 7 years. If you order from a discount tire website, let them know up front you will not accept any tires that are over 18 months old. If they ship them anyway, refuse the order.

I hope this helps.

I will probably get in trouble for writing this but it is something that has been on my mind for a while.....long distance endurance motorcycle riding. I'm not talking about an all day  400 - 500 mile ride with plenty of stops. I'm talking about extreme rides of 1000 miles or more everyday for a week!!

One guy I run into occasionally is a big endurance motorcyclist and even holds the world record for crossing North America. He rode from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Key West, Florida in 86 hours!!

The first question that comes to my mind is why would anyone want to do that? I wouldn't drive that many miles in my car let alone on a motorcycle. My ass is sore and I'm tired after a 250+ mile day of winding roads, so there is no way I'd enjoy riding that many miles in 3 1/2 days. The second question that comes to mind is how safe can this be?

We all know that riding a bike takes a lot out of you physically. In addition to operating the controls, you have to watch the road, stay out of the way of cars and look out for animals. After an hour or so of riding, your brain gets fuzzy and it's time to take a break.

To finish any of the endurance rides, you need to ride fast for many hours while you are tired. And this is where I think a rider can make a mistake and end up crashing or worse.....

I finished watching the video sent to my by a friend (see "Safety, Safety, Safety (part 1)" and I must say the conclusion was very interesting. The man in the video had a few very powerful comments that I want to point out here:

Your attitude towards safety is what matters
It doesn't matter the occupation or activity. The same people riding around ill-dressed are probably the same people who do not wear seat belts, do not use safety glasses around power tools and probably are the ones who use a gas grill indoors.

Others are affected too...
What happens to those who are close to you if you get seriously injured in an accident?  Children, spouse, parents. Who will take care of them?

Recovering from an accident is painful...
It will take months to heal and some injuries are permanent, such as seizures, scars, missing and disfigured fingers and limbs. Also, who will pay for all of your medical bills and your regular bills if you are unable to return to work.

The video helped me see motorcycle gear in a different light. Let's be honest, on a hot day it gets uncomfortable inside a helmet. And a pair of shorts and sandals would feel feel much better than hot boots and jeans. What would feel more uncomfortable would be getting skin grafts or learning to operate a wheelchair with my chin. Looking at it that way, I think I'd rather be hot or not ride at all than to risk going through what the guy in the video when through.

A 2wheeltips.com friend of mine sent me a DVD on industrial safety. He figured it was something I'd like since one of the goals of 2wheeltips.com is to help riders understand  that shorts, t-shirts and fake helmets will not help you if you fall off your bike. It is not an easy message to tell......because you do want to look good on your bike and A LOT of motorcycle gear is ugly and expensive. I'll be the first to admit, you will not catch me dead in a lime green helmet or one of those ugly green/yellow riding jackets that look like something a crossing guard would wear.

But at the same time, I don't think my riding jacket should cost more than my Cashmere Hugo Boss coat either (if some company comes along and makes good looking riding gear that doesn't cost an arm, they will make out like bandits).

I watched a few minutes of the DVD and it talks about a guy who worked at a oil refinery. He's your typical rough and tumble guy who had worked there for years, knew his job and could do it in his sleep. Long story short, since he knew his job so well, he cut every safety corner in the book. It finally caught up to him when he caused an explosion (by not following safety procedures) and he was almost burned to death.

Watching the DVD, all I could think about was how many riders do the same thing. They've been riding for many years and they've got the whole motorcycle thing figured out.....so they think. They started out using riding gear but somewhere down the road, the t-shirts replaced the jacket, sneakers replaced boots and shorts replaced the jeans.

And then their turn comes.......and they get into a situation where they wish they had had some of that stuff on.

It doesn't have to be a crash either. It could be a nail kicked up by a car that hits your arm at 65mph. Or rocks falling off a construction truck that smack you on the fingers (I've had that happen before). Or even dropping the bike at intersections because the ground was oily and their sneakers slipped(boots can help here). 

All of this stuff happens every single day and riders can avoid twisted ankles, deep cuts and burnt legs if they would just put some clothes on.

By the way, the picture here is from a motorcycle injury....

 

 

In addition to having an ICE entry in your cell phone, check out this neat little gadget to attach to any helmet - bicycle, motorcycle, etc., for emergency responders to gain quick access to vital information, even before having to remove the helmet. In addition to having this for yourself, put it on your kid's bike helmet. And it's cheap enough for that little bit of extra security.

http://vitalid.ca/store/Scripts/prodView_sport.asp?idproduct=19

hi everyone, im from manila philippines and been driving my bike for almost 5 years now..i got my first honda xrm 2005 but unfortunately after 11 months of use, it got stolen....i got my 2nd bike after a week, same brand too. And as of this time i still have it and been enjoying the ride of my bike and the look of it.
Ive been thinking of writing to set of whats on my mind.....indeed, here in manila, the population of bike users got tremendously high,  because of gas price hike and the worsening traffic condition. But in line of this risening population of bike users is the risening of road accidents....
Ive seen videos of accidents  by bike riders and man, sometimess i cant stand the look of it. Almost everyday when i ride my bike, i meet riders  that ride their bikes as if there is no tomorrow.....and almost everytime they pisses me off...
For me we bike riders have the already the advantage in terms of gasoline usage and time travel and what i cant understand is that some riders use the roads as race tracks, remember we still are prone to accidents because we only have to wheels. And these kinds of attitutude will most likely meet accidents....why not try to use your riding talents and speeding bikes in the proper venue, there are legal race competitions that you can join....in here if you win, you'll be recognize and will be rewarded.....in the streets, you will receive nothing and is prone to accidents......in the proper race venue, if you win you will be put in the magazine coz of recognition, but in the streets.....well, you can also be put in the newspaper, the reason.....ACCIDENT..., well everyone, i hope somehow i have shared whats on my mind.....
safe riding everyone and god bless us all.

There have been a few emails going around the internet lately about a motorcycle air conditioning unit. Some think the idea is completely stupid while others think it may be what's needed on those 95F/35C days.

While it is unusual, we decided to reach out to the manufacturer, Entrosys, to get more information and to see if we can get a unit to test out.  We heard back from them yesterday and we are indeed getting a unit! They are in pre-production now but the units will be ready for shipment once the warmer weather gets here. We will film the installation and test it out. We will keep you posted. Of course, our other 2wheeltips.com product testers (you know who you are) are welcome to try it out once we are done with it.

 

Charlotte, N.C. (November 2009) Wheel JockeyTM, www.wheeljockey.com,  is a new motorcycle tool (patent pending) that offers a compact solution to the bothersome task of rotating motorcycle wheels for cleaning and drive chain maintenance.   Once a motorcycle is easily “walked” onto Wheel Jockey, wheels turn on ball bearing rollers and provide easy access to the entire wheel or chain.   And, Wheel Jockey is small enough to stow under the seat or in any motorcycle luggage! 
 
Says Industry veteran and owner, Bill Kniegge, “I was always looking for a better solution to daily chain maintenance while leading motorcycle tours around the mountains of North Carolina.  www.bluestradatours.com.  I guess ‘necessity really is the mother of invention.’ Wheel Jockey came about as a result of needing a very portable way to accomplish wheel and chain work, and checking air pressures without a helper.”
 
Constructed of sturdy steel and aluminum, Wheel Jockey measures approximately 4” x 4.5” x 1.5” and can accommodate road bikes up to 750 lbs.   Suggested Retail Price is: $54.00 plus Shipping and Handling
 
Contact Information:
Debbie Kniegge
debbiek@wheeljockey.com
704 256 4049

Bungee nets are great products for securing stuff to your bike and work better than regular cords. They come in various shapes and sizes and are good for securing everything from helmets to backpacks and bags.

A quick tip. Make sure you get a net that has removable plastic clips and not plastic-coated metal. The caps on the end of the metal clips come off all the time and they will scratch up your bike. Nets with removable clips let you position them for a very tight and secure fit. Also get a net made from good quality material. Avoid the cheap flimsy nets as they don't tightly secure your gear.