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Drying Out
Until someone invents an air-conditioned bike, motorcyclists will have to enjoy – and endure – the elements. And while hypothermia is a potential hazard at the lower end of the temperature scale, there's an equal danger lurking when the thermometer soars: hypohydration.Hypohydration (often called dehydration) means, literally, insufficient...
The Production of An Aluminum Case
How starting out small with just one valid idea became a big success story....
Ride Like a Pro
An often neglected motorcycle riding skill is fine low-speed control. You know, what we need to do in parking lots or on narrow streets where we have to make a U-turn in 20 feet. But due to lack of practice, most of us just aren't comfortable with these maneuvers and learning by trial and error is hard on the chrome and paint. So how does one acquire...
Gettin Started in Motorcycling
Motorcycling used to be just another way of getting around, but now it's one of a growing number of "powersports" that may also lay claim to major portions of your discretionary spending: ATVs, personal watercraft, snowmobiles, and any number of four-wheeled and water-based diversions. However, for me, motorcycle touring is still much closer to bicycle...
2006 KLR 650
I've never owned a car or motorcycle that didn't prompt me to "make it better" by modifying the original machine with a few – OK, many – aftermarket parts. Annoying as it sometimes is to others, it cannot be helped. This "I can't leave things well enough alone" compulsion probably took up residence in my psyche long before I could speak,...
Say what?
It was a beautiful late spring day. I had just crossed the border from California into Arizona, piloting a big, bad cruiser: Yamaha's Road Star Silverado. Riding toward me, a bunch of bikers, all bandanas, dark glasses, leather vests and chaps. Arizona has no helmet law, so I thought I'd give their look a try – the wind in my hair, that is. I...
Storm Watch 101
Three of us rode out of Palm Springs on a coolish March morning – me, the Electra-Glide and Doris, my chatty Garmin GPS. Cool is 70 degrees in Palm Springs, so I'd dressed in Draggin' Jeans, an Olympia leather jacket and summer gloves. I was heading for Idyllwild, the hippie town in the San Jacinta mountains, and then on to the Anza-Borrego Desert....
Helmet Help
Let's get this out of the way up front: whether you wear a helmet is your choice – or not, depending on where you ride. You do the research, you decide. I never ride without one for three reasons: good or bad, I like my face the shape it is; wind in your hair and bugs in your teeth are seriously overrated; and I feel naked without one. If you've...
When The Pavement Ends
If you do enough motorcycle touring in North America, sooner or later you'll end up where the tarmac turns to dirt. Though it may be just a break in the highway for construction, or a side road leading to your campsite, you'll need to modify your riding technique to stay upright, especially when surface conditions change – as they almost certainly...
The Right Tools
Having cruised to the front of a line of cars waiting to board the Spirit of Vancouver Island, I instinctively kick the side stand forward and lean the Yamaha 650 Seca to the left to dismount – except this time my rain pant leg catches the side stand, collapsing it – and over goes the bike with me still on it....
