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Thanks for another great year of comments and clicks. Ride safe and have a great weekend!

Want to ride for the weekend but don’t have a bike in the city? Places like LA and San Diego have had motorcycle rentals for years now, and you can rent a cruiser in over a dozen cities across the country… But how about in NYC?  Now NY has its very own in Brooklyn, and another one across the river in NJ.

I haven’t tried these myself so this isn’t a review of any kind.  If you check it out, come back and let us know what your experience was like.  There’s a review of JuptersNYC on the NYTimes site from a couple of weeks ago. Continue Reading »

Someone asks, “How do you ride on THAT road without losing traction?”  There are some roads, and definitely some bridges, with slippery spots built in, slippery all year round in whatever weather, but especially in the rain.  How do you deal with them?  What you need to realize is that bikes move around sometimes, and sporty bikes move around…a LOT.  We don’t usually call all those wiggles “losing traction” because if you look from a distance, the bike is still following the line.  But it’s bucking and wiggling all around the place while doing it! Continue Reading »

The summer riding season is in full gear and that means TRAFFIC.  And for city sportbikers (and some chopper riders) that also means back ache, wrist ache, and general questions of “am I too old for this?” For sporty bikes equipped with low “clip on” handlebars, the problem is that the forward lean is nice when you’re accelerating, but not so nice when you’re going slow or standing still.  So what to do? Continue Reading »

You wouldn’t know it by looking at a screenshot, but this is one of the most interesting motorcycle documentaries out there… And now it’s on Hulu. Wuhoo!

Bad habits are hard to break.  But when it comes to turning a motorcycle at speed, you either break the habit or it can break you.  Ha!  How’s that for a dramatic statement?  But this is serious business.  Here’s what I mean… Most car drivers turn this way: they get to the turn-point and they turn - turn - turn the wheel and then straighten out the wheel.  During the whole turn they are either turning-in or straightening out.  The way this habit translates to two wheels is: bikers lean lean lean the bike through the turn and straighten out towards the end of the turn.  On track days people lean into the turn, lean in a little more, and after the apex they lean in even more…  So what’s wrong with that? Continue Reading »

I totally forgot about ride to work day this year (did I remember last year? I forget!). Eh ride to work day is any day you want it to be… Anyway, here are the MotoIndustry Council people with a little PSA style video asking different riders in Irvine this question… Why do you ride to work?
[By the way - warning, the video is a tad boring... I know]

It’s been raining every week for as long as I can remember.  For a little change of scenery you can eat your heart out as this biker took his helmet cam along with him on a road trip across the prettier parts of the European continent…  Check out the rest of his videos.

Ever worry about killing the engine while doing a low speed maneuvers?  The technique the MSF teaches is to use your throttle liberally (rev it as much as you want) while using your clutch to moderate how much power goes to the rear wheel.  You can use your rear brake also to keep the power in line.  But…if you think about it, that’s a lot of work… You’re using three controls, two hands and one foot to control the amount of power to the rear wheel.  Why?  Because during low speed turns, the throttle is often too sensitive to use well without killing the engine or dumping the bike.  What if you could use just one control?  You can leave the clutch alone, and even leave the throttle alone, and control the power in a tight turn with just the rear brake. Continue Reading »

Well it COULD be… Jesse was good enough to post this under comments but it deserves more visibility:  There’s a city council hearing Thursday 11AM regarding “Intro 980,” a bill to compel the DOT to devise a plan for motorcycle & scooter parking. Here are some details.  And Jesse says:

FYI: I’ll be there, and will speak. My intent will be to say that 980 is a good start, but needs to go further. Specifically, that motorcycles and scooters need street parking separate from automobiles, due to their small weight and size (and resultant susceptibility to damage and theft). I will be pushing for a San Francisco style plan.

To give you an idea of what parking in NY COULD be like, here’s the link Jesse gave to some pics from San Francisco, one of which I stole and put up top.  So if you can get out there, go represent and give Jesse some thanks!  Cheers!