2Wheeltips

First Ride!

The weather was perfect! It was nothing but blue skies overhead and a warm afternoon when my friend pulled into the yard on his Honda Magna. I had my ancient 1980 Honda cm400t all ready to go. Dana had said that as soon as I got my bike on the road we would take a ride together. The thought was exciting but a little frightening as well. At 61, I am a brand new rider where-as Dana at 50 has been riding for 30 year! But I was not about to chicken out from an opportunity like this. For a week now, I had been ‘getting my wheels under me’ just riding the mile and a half down to the post office in the middle of our tiny village of Quechee, Vermont. It was a beautiful ride down the hill and along the Ottoquechee River. The water sparkles in the morning sunlight and reflects a perfect mirror of the woods and mountains of the Upper Valley. I always managed to do a “rolling stop” on the hill next to the cemetery before pulling into the village. (I’m still a little insecure on those hill starts!) The post office run was now in my comfort zone but Dana was about to open up a whole new world for me beyond it.

Ironically the “first ride” started exactly like my usual morning run as we motored down along the river and through the village but then we left the edge of town and began winding our way up through the beautiful Green Mountains along the Quechee West Hartford Road. The first thing that I became aware of was the business of speed, gearing and the sound of the engine. (And particularly in going up and down fairly steep hills) For the experienced rider who has been riding for years it is all second nature. I am sure it is probably not even a conscious thing. The good news is that I found that it was really not all that hard and just like we were told in MSF school, “you’ll get the hang of it!”

Beyond that bit of the technical there was the sheer exhilaration of cruising up through the hills with the beauty of God's creation all around us. It was a thrill to be riding my classic old bike and finally getting her up to speeds where I felt like we were really moving. After 15 minutes or so we reached the high point on the road and began several miles of pitching down toward West Hartford village. Now keep in mind there is no such thing as a straight road in Vermont! My grandmother (a Vermonter) had a saying, “This road’s so crooked it’d break a snake’s back!” And that is what we were riding on, going down hill at a fairly good clip! I watched with admiration as Dana carved through the bends like an old pro, his feet up on the pegs and relaxed as anything as he leaned his bike over comfortably at every bend. Behind him I was enjoying the ride but giving a cautionary application of front and rear break to both slow the decent and make the bends more manageable at a slower speed. I admit I was grateful so see the stoplight ahead as we finished the decent and made our turn onto Route 14 along the White River. For the moment all the bends and apprehension of mountain roads were behind us and now I had a brand new experience ahead of me. The thrill of the open road and letting my little 400 open up and get some speed along the gentle bends and fairly flat smooth road ahead of us. My little Honda may be an ancient 31 years old but she only has 13,000 miles on her and, for an old girl, she cranked right up there! At this point Dana’s bigger, faster Magna left me in the dust. I could still see him ahead of me but I didn’t care how far out he got. I was just enjoying my own ride at my own pace. I wound her up to around 50 mph. for the first time since I had her and stayed in fifth gear all along the river. It’s an incredible experience…with blue skies, sunshine, the wind in your face and a good bike under you. What a day and what a ride! When we finally pulled into my yard and dismounted I walked over and shook Dana’s hand and thanked him for getting me out of my comfort zone. It was a great first ride!        Anchor

Keep the shiny side up, the rubber side down and happy riding everyone!

Just a quick little blog on tire repair. As you know, riding season is in full swing and I'm sure many of you have plans for some nice multi-day rides. One of the things you should carry is a tire repair kit and tire pump. Nothing can ruin a bike trip like a flat tire in the middle of nowhere...especially after most repair shops have closed. You can easily lose a day of riding waiting to have your bike towed for a repair.....and your riding buddies will not be happy that you were not prepared.

There are tons of repair kits out there but one that we have come across that we like is the stop and go tire plugger and mini air compressor. We reviewed the tire repair kit a few months ago but the mini-air compressor is a more recent addition to the stop and go product line. Well....this weekend I got a chance to use it.......because I had a flat tire.

I was pulling out the Yamaha Raider and noticed the rear tire was flat. I found the nail, used the tools from the repair kit and quickly plugged the tire....which I had done before. But now it was time to inflate the tire. Because I was running late, I didn't want to use a hand/foot pump so I plugged up the stop and go mini air compressor to the battery tender cable, screwed it to the tire and turned it on. Initially I thought "this is going to take forever! The tire is huge, the compressor is small (1.5lbs) and getting the tire up to 40psi will take an hour and kill the battery." I was totally wrong! 10 minutes later the tire was inflated and the bike started right up.

Long story short I was able to do a 200 mile ride without any problems. If you are in the market for a repair kit, go over to www.stopngo.com and look for the tire plugger and mini air compressor. You will not be disappointed.

On March 5th, Sport Honda Powerhouse in Metuchen, NJ hosted its first Safety Day.  The whole day was dedicated to motorcycling safety issues and was co-sponsored by the NJ Gold Wing Road Riders Association and Rider Education of NJ.  Lots of people showed up and there were plenty of activities and seminars to take in.  Although I didn't get a chance to attend the seminars, etc., I saw lots of people assembled to learn about all types of safety issues.  Sport Honda has a great meeting room that is adjacent to their service area and while they were conducting seminars there, other visitors could wander around the showroom, take a look at all the Honda bikes and scooters that Sport Honda has available, grab something to eat and drink, and just enjoy the company of so many motorcyclists who not only enjoy riding, but enjoy riding SAFELY!  Kudos to Sport Honda for hosting their first motorcycle safety day….I am looking forward to safety day being an annual event!!

The 2wheeltips crew made it over to the Javits Center in NYC last month to check out the International Motorcycle Show. This is our 3rd time going and we always have a good time talking to the vendors and catching up with the latest motorcycle industry gossip. This year was no exception.  We had a great time talking to our friends from National Cycle, Arai helmets, Touch of Purple, West Virginia Tourism and a few others. It was a great show and we had a lot of fun. But we couldn't help but notice a few changes, most of them driven by the slow economy. These are:

Smaller Show
As we all know, the "powersports industry" (motorcycles, UTV's, ATV's, scooters, watercraft) has taken a serious hit due to the declining economy.  The NYC show is one of the largest and over the years we have noticed a steady decline in the size of the show.  Five or six years ago, the show was "standing room only", had hundreds of vendors and was on 2  levels. Now the show is on one level and many of the exhibitors decided not to participate or are no longer in business.  To many, a motorcycle is simply a luxury item they can no longer afford and many people have put off purchasing a bike or they are selling the one(s) they already have. We think the show numbers reflect this new reality.

Smaller Bikes
In prior years, most of the big manufacturers couldn't wait to unveal the latest and greatest bike with bigger engines, more features and even bigger price tags. How things have changed. This year, the spotlight was on smaller bikes. The most memorable were the Honda 250cc (you heard that right) sport bike, the dressed up Honda Shadow (750cc) with Cobra accessories and the Harley-Davidson (mid-priced) softtails. Since banks are not handing out motorcycle loans like halloween candy anymore, the manufacturers have caught on and are now making bikes that people can get financed.

Scooters
We did not see ANY scooter manufacturers at the show nor did we see any "green" vehicles. In previous years, there were at least two at the show. This segment of the industry has taken a serious hit and we personally know of a few scooter manufacturers that are out of business. The only exception was the BMW, but it's a concept scooter.....and is not available for sale.

New Products
Although the industry is changing, we did see some new products and vendors. SpeedpassingXV was there with a new EZPass holder that straps you your arm. NikkoMotoRacing introduced a new line of motorcycle helmets. BLINC introduced some new integrated bluetooth helmets and West Virginia Tourism gave an excellent presentation on motorcycle rallies and events available in their state.

As one of our friends from the industry stated, the industry is getting back to basics and is now focusing on the motorcyclist that has always been there. We will see how this goes in 2011.

We all know how much motorcycle gear costs. Once something gets labeled "for motorcycling", the price jumps 3-fold. For example, a pair of decent snowmobile gloves cost $35.00. A decent pair of winter motorcycle gloves will cost you over $100.00. Which pair do you think will keep your hands the warmest and have the most features?

Since I plan to do some polar bear rides this year, I decided to upgrade my riding boots. I looked around in the dealerships and and it seems they are all over $200.00! And they did not look or feel warm.

Determined not to spend that type of cash, I went down to the local department store to see what they have. I found the North Face McMurdo boot for half the cost. Long story short, these boots are extremely warm, waterproof, come up way over the ankle and cost half as much as the "motorcycle boots" I saw earlier. They have a women's version too.

If you are in the market for some decent winter "motorcycle boots", definitely check them out.

http://www.thenorthface.com/catalog/sc-gear/mens-mcmurdo-boot.html?parent_category_rn=&cm_vc=Search

One of our long time fans, Nick, writes for the Motorcycle Sport Touring Association. Nick and I spoke over the weekend and he is kind enough to let us link to his product reviews on all the nice bikes he gets to test out. Here is a link to his latest review of the Can-am Spyder. Ya know....the 3-wheel thingy you see in all of the motorcyle magazines.

http://www.sporttouring.us/content.php/425-Cruising-on-Three-Wheels-–-The-Can-Am-Spyder-RT-S-Roadster-Road-Test

 Last year, I bought the Gerbings G3 microwire gloves,  microwire heated liner and the dual temperature controller.

Well....the dual temperature controller failed about 3 weeks after I got it.  I was on a ride on a very cold day and all of a sudden I got cold...very cold. I fussed around with the controller and still no heat. At the first stop, I checked everything out and long story short it was the controller. I took it back to the store and they happily swapped it out. I think I used it about 4 times before it died. 

Fast forward to this year and the darn thing crapped out again!! But this time it is stuck on high!! It's like riding around with a blow torch on your skin. I think I may have gotten 6 - 8 rides out of it before it started acting up. 

But this time I called Gerbings Heating Gear.....since their products have a lifetime warranty. And this is where it gets interesting. 

Well....I was told the warranty is if you send it your registration card and you are the original owner.  If you do not, then.....you are out of luck!  They will not replace it. You can pay for them to repair it at $35/hour or you can buy another one. Me? I never send in the cards because all it triggers is a bunch of junk mail. 

Not one to argue but I did ask.....if it has a lifetime warranty, why does it matter who purchased it?

Needless to say, I am not happy about this. Their stuff is not cheap and to have them fail back to back is not good. Just think if it would have happened on a 20 degree day and I was 2 hours from home?

Since this is the second one that died on me, I'm not looking to try it a third time.  Has this happened to anyone out there?   Anyone have any suggestions on a different controller?

 

I was coming home from pleasure ride the other day and as I came round a blind bend a bright new shiny Porsche overtook at warp 10.  What the moron behind the wheel didn't see was that I was following a police bike.  The next time I saw the Porsche it was parked in a layby with the policeman writing a ticket.
Who said there's never a policeman around when you need one?

I am writing this because I want to stress the importance of always wearing your gear. Had I not been wearing it, my injuries would be far worse. Here is what happened. I was very lucky.

I was on a ride about a week and 1/2 ago on Rt. 84 in Highland County VA with a few other people on the way back to Marlinton WV. We had done so many twisties that day and I was a little tired so my husband agreed to lead us back.  Two people were behind him, then me and then the sweep. We came upon a sharp curve. I know I downshifted before the curve and slowed down but my friend said he thought I may have come in a little too fast. I may have just misjudged. I just can't remember and they said I may never remember. I remember thinking that I had to lean a bit more to make the turn and I did that while twisting the throttle.  What happened with other riders is that they lean so far that the rear wheel lifts off the ground and there is no way to recover.  I remember thinking that I was going to fall, my butt hit the ground hard on the left side of the bike and the next thing I knew, I was in a gully with the bike leaning on it's right side and my right leg was trapped. A friend lifted the bike off me.

I knew I was in pain but adrenaline must have kicked in since I could walk. My right hand was hurting, my butt was hurting and my legs. When the adrenaline wore off, all of a sudden I was in tremendous pain and couldn't straighten up. I started to feel nauseous and dizzy. They laid me over my husbands bike and thankfully the ambulance came as I started to pass out. They said I was in shock and my blood pressure was extremely low and stayed that way for a long time. There was no cell service so two riders had initially went to find help. Once the state trooper and the sheriff arrived, they radioed for an ambulance. The hospital was 4 mountains away and they took me to Waynesboro.

I have a possible hairline fracture on my hand (x-ray didn't show it but my doctor at home is sending me to an orthopedist since it still is quite painful), a hematoma on my left gluteus maximus, and terrible bruising on my legs and elsewhere. The hospital had never seen a bruise that bad on someone's butt so I was the talk of the hospital. After showing the 4th person, I was no longer embarrassed. Luckily, my head didn't hit the ground.  Somehow I held it up and I also held on to the bike so I wasn't thrown off until the last moment.  That helped as well.  My jacket saved my arms from road rash and possible other injuries to my back.  My gloves saved my hads and I only had a few scraps were the gloves shredded on my finger.  My over the ankle boots saved me as well. 

I am thankful to have such wonderful friends both on the ride with me and at home. My friend drove down from NJ on Monday (he left at 5 AM), picked me up at the hotel at 12 noon, took me to get my bike an hour and a half away and then drove me home. I got home at 10:30 PM that night. It was a long an painful ride. My husband spent most of the day before renting a car and then going to Marlington to pick up our stuff and taking care of me since I was pretty much helpless.  He had to ride home and he was shaken up by the whole thing.

I also have to mention how great the State Trooper and the Sheriff were. They couldn't have been nicer and more helpful.   So many times you hear horrible things about the police but these two couldn't have been nicer.  There is a law in VA that they must issue you a reckless driving ticket for all single motorcycle accidents.  You then have to appear in person and normally they will down grade it.  The trooper said I seemed like a nice person and he didn't have the heart to give me a ticket and he would just hear it from his sargent.  I was shocked that he didn't give me the ticket.  So always remember to be nice to the men in blue. 

Also always  make sure to wear your gear no matter how warm it is.   It may just save you.

I got up this morning with the desire to ride, and take just a short trip down US 12 from Ann Arbor, MI to Cement, MI near US127. On the way, I saw where there was the auto racing activities near the Michigan International Speedway. The cones in the road had been set up to take care of the heavy traffic. I made a U-turn and decided to go in a different directions which would take me to M52 towards Chelsea on to Stockbridge, MI. On the way i encounter a detour which was ok. Once I made it throught Stockbridge, I got on 36 head towards Pinckney and I saw a sign "Hell" and the arrow pointed to the right. I got off the bike and took several photo with the bike next to the sign. I when down the road and there I was in Hell. I had been there before several times. I was in Hell. It was not hot, and I began to take photos. I heard a friendly voice say, "Do you want me to take a photo of you next to your bike?" I turned around and said, "Ya." This gentlemen took my photo and we began to talk and to my supprised he was the owner of Hell. Now, just think, I met the owner of Hell, and who do you think that is? I was not shaking in my boots, and as we talked, we discovered that we had participated together on a couple of programs. (Humm, am I really saying that I worked with the owner of Hell on a couple of projects). Well, the owner invited me to one of his stores to have some ice cream. I was delighted to say, that I ate ice cream in Hell and it was a free gift from the owner of Hell. (Was this a trick, is there anything cold in Hell---I heard all my life that Hell was hot and the Devil was the most likeable being that you can ever meet). I was afraid to say, "No." Well we went to the ice cream shop and "he" told me to get whatever I wanted (I did not know if I was getting fatten up for the big supprise). In the store, I saw a skeleton laying in a coffin, I saw spiders, black cats, and skeleton at the entrance of the door. I took photos of each and smile and began to think of several frighten movies that I have seen in the past. I asked for a double dip vanilla and blue berry cheese cake and it tasted great. I had an excellent conversation with the owner. "He" shared with me all the activites of the place. A golf course that is made so that people with disabilities can play; a Chapel so that people can say they got married in Hell; or had the wedding from Hell; fundrasing activities for Veterans, and just yesterday they had an event for "Gold-Star Mothers" (mothers who have lost a son or daugther in the war), and had about 400 bikers to participate. I took some more photos and had a great time. I got on the bike, and before, I left the owner gave me a "free get out of Hell" card. I rode off and Hell was at my backdoor. I wish I could add photos to this, however, I must say that Hell is not bad. The owner even said, "It even gets cold in Hell." Well to all the readers, I was in Hell, MI. If you are ever in lower MI near Ann Arbor, Dexter, Jackson, Lansing, area, please take the trip. You can say that you have really been to Hell and back and lived to talk about it. You will have an outstanding time and really enjoy yourself. It is a biker friendly place--the place is just friendly---just like the owner.