2Wheeltips

Now that riding season is here, we want to remind everyone of the 2wheeltips video store and the wonderful products we have for sell. What makes our store different from the other motorcycle websites out there is:

-- each product is filmed in high definition, so you get to watch a quality video of each product being used before you buy it. That way you know exactly what you are getting before you open the box

-- we sell quality products that are new, interesting and affordable. These are not refurbished or used products....they are shipped directly to you from the manufacturer

-- we sell a limited number of interesting products that we have personally tested ourselves.....so you don't have to worry about a product that looks good on paper but in practice is a huge disappointment

Check out our video store at www.2wheeltips.com/store to see what we have to offer. We introduce new products all the time so check back often to see what's new.

Your friends at 2wheeltips.com

    A golf instructor once told me that in order to achieve an efficient swing every time you must allow your muscles to remain loose.  Grip the club softly because tight muscles are slower than loose muscles and you’ll never achieve a decent club head speed with stiff muscles.  You become fatigued when having a real firm grip and it becomes impossible to achieve a smooth swing.  What does this have to do with riding a motorcycle?  Funny you should ask.  Recently a friend brought up a good observation when it comes to new riders, and it is also a very common problem with new golfers, and it is where the two are very similar.

    A motorcyclist needs to be aware of a million different variables; the situation that you find yourself in is dynamic and fluid.  Anything can happen at any time and riding requires a tremendous amount of concentration; sometimes your response can be the difference between a simple inconvenience and a trip to the emergency room or worse.   Most experienced riders are comfortable on their bikes and are relaxed.  The way their hand wraps around the grips is loose; allowing smooth responses and inputs into steering the bike also adjusting throttle and braking.  Where the experienced riders tend to make the mistakes is because of complacency and over confidence; they assume they have enough time and miles under their belt to simply know better or that they have the ability to outride the laws of physics. 

    A newer rider has more of a tendency to hold the handlebars with all his or her might, hoping that doing so will somehow enable them to react quickly when in fact, the opposite is true.   Also the fear of what could happen manifests itself in holding the grips with white knuckles and being overly cautious of what could be.  A good habit to get into is to learn to relax while still remaining aware and sharp.  A result of holding the grips too tight is that after a while, you will begin to feel fatigue in your shoulders and eventually your upper back.  If you are on a long ride, this becomes more dangerous because now your focus is shifted from the hazards around you to the pain in your back, shoulders and hands.  Coupled with hand fatigue which might cause you to let go of the grip, this could be a disaster in the making.

    Remember the tight muscles?  Those tight muscles make it impossible for you to react quickly and smoothly.  You may recall from your BRC class that it takes one half second to take your hand from the throttle to the brake lever and another half second to squeeze the brake.  If you find yourself having to make an emergency stop, those tight muscles will not only reduce your reaction time considerably, but also cause you to snap off the throttle and slam on those brakes, almost guaranteeing a massive loss of traction and inevitably, because you are now panicked, the bike will more than likely go down.  In addition, slower turns are no longer smooth and safe, but become choppy and abrupt usually resulting in a wider turn than what you had anticipated, possibly causing you to cross the center line or even leave the road surface altogether.  Faster turns will be more difficult and efficient counter steering becomes impossible because you can’t lean the bike smoothly possibly creating a situation where you take the turn way too wide.

    Worst of all, you just don’t look cool.  Your shoulders up around your ears and your arms straight out make you look like a scared mouse in a helmet. Definitely not cool.  Just remember to relax.  You know how to ride; just stay focused on what’s going on around you and loosen up those hands.  Stay focused, not afraid. You might even find that you can go the extra hundred miles and still come home smiling, ready to go out again tomorrow.  

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 was out on a short ride the other day with some friends. I was leading the pack since I was introducing some new roads. Once we got going, I noticed that one of my friends kept tailgating me....and at some points even passing me! He almost ran into me a few times because he could not see my turn signal in time.  It shocked me because everyone knows (at least I thought) tailgating another motorcycle is a no-no and you do not pass other motorcycles when riding in a group. If you do, you will cause a crash if the rider in front of you swerves to avoid a pot hole or brakes suddenly because traffic slowed down. Youtube.com is full of motorcycle crashes that highlight this point.

So the next time you go out for a group ride, make sure you keep our distance and never pass a bike in front of you unless the rider signals you to do so.

I was at a motorcycle class recently and one of the sponsors asked me to blog about a topic that he felt does not get enough attention; knowing when to hang up the helmet when you do not have the physical skills to manage a bike.

Why did this come up? Well... during the class, one of the students kept dropping his bike. During every exercise, we kept hearing a loud crash followed by cursing and a racing engine. This happened more than once. Of course the student blamed it on the bike. He complained there was something wrong with the throttle and that's why he could not maintain the speed needed to complete the exercises.

To see if the throttle was the problem, one of the class sponsors checked it out. He didn't find any problems. He was able to maintain a constant engine speed at various rpms.  He then asked the student to do it and he could not. Why? He seemed to have some nerve disorder that caused his hands to move back and forth! Because of this, he could not control the throttle.

For obvious reasons, he wasn't able to finish the class and left early. What was not obvious to him was he should not be on a bike. He is not only a danger to himself but to others as well. We all know the day is coming when we will have to hang up the helmet and move on to other hobbies. For me, it will be one of the saddest days of my life. Hopefully I will have enough sense when that day comes to think of the dangers I pose to others and myself by riding around unable to operate the controls.

Share your thoughts.....

I was reading through a few posts and messages I get each day and one of them was on first aid kits. Most people I know carry something for headaches, allergies and the occasional scrape you will get from riding. But this message spoke about the need to check your first aid kit to see if any of the medicines have expired. Something I haven't done in a while (sort of like TCLOCS....how many really do it every time they jump on their bikes?).

The message mentioned the need for sissors for cutting clothing and latex gloves if you need to help a friend.  Something I never thought about. Some of the examples I think are somewhat extreme (a stryofoam cup to contain a displaced eye).

It was a great article and had excellent information. The main point I got from it was a first aid kit should be considered part of your riding gear. Here is the link to the article.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=670733698#!/notes/eric-shah/first-aid-kits-does-yours-need-a-check-up/120787724630466

Here are some pics I got from one of my friends on facebook and is a perfect example of what can happen to you if you are not careful at intersections. This is a classic case of a car turning in front of a motorcyclists and the rider not being able to stop. I don't know if anyone survived, but I seriously doubt it.

1 out of every 4 motorcycle accidents happen just like the one in these pictures. Always pay attention and reduce your speed when there are cars or blind spots at any intersection you cross.

Now that summer is here, we thought we would offer a few words of advice to those who check in out our site. None of this is really "new", be we all need refreshers to keep us sharp on our toes.

If it is too hot for gear, it's too hot to ride
We know the mercury is rising and it can get stuffy inside your helmet and jacket. But resist the urge to join the t-shirt and short crowd. Ride with protective gear at all times.

Stay hydrated
Nothing good can happen if you ride thirsty, dizzy, hot and weak. On a hot day, plan to stop more often than usual to take a break to cool down and to take a drink.

Blinding Sun
Now that dusk is longer, be mindful of riding when the sun is directly behind you. This will make approaching traffic harder to see you and can make intersections even more dangerous.

Feel free to add more tips to this blog so others can learn.

There are few principals of motorcycle riding that should be everyone’s mantra this riding season. So here is a reminder that might save your ass this spring.



1.    Consider yourself invisible.
2.    Maintain at least 3 escape routes out of every situation
3.    Maintain 360 degree awareness at all times
4.    Leave enough room between you and everybody else
5.    Ride your own ride
6.    Be protected (I got my 9mm)
7.    Get to know your motorcycle…again (T-CLOCS)
8.    Ride sober, well hydrated and well rested
9.     
10.   

That’s it. What? You only counted 8? So what? You guys can add the remaining two :-)