Ever try to teach your (let’s not say “elderly”, but older) mom how to use a new electronic device or computer?  Me: “What did you just do?” Mom: “I didn’t do anything” Me: “You just pressed something, what did you press?” Mom: “I don’t know what you’re talking about I didn’t do anything!”  The problem is we’re always DO-ing something without realizing what we’re doing.  Since the beginning of motorcycles and bicycles in the 1800’s people have been countersteering…  But it wasn’t until recently people still insisted that they just sorta’ shifted their weight around (even the best riders in the world insisted that was what they were doing at one point)….

The challenge with anything motorcycle related is that the human element is HUGE.  It’s hard to differentiate what the rider is doing vs what the bike is doing…  That’s why I think THIS project (an autonomous motorcycle) is so interesting.  They really can eliminate the human element (eventually when the thing learns to ride)…

The other part I find interesting is that you can have an autonomous car do stunt moves into a parking space, but you can’t teach a robot to ride a bike through simple obstacles that a twelve year old could manage on a dirt bike.  It’s THAT hard.  You may not realize it, but riding requires all of your senses, attention, spatial perception, judgment, reflexes, and planning skills.  And so far you can’t program a machine to beat a twelve year old.

But if you allow your inner geek to dream a bit, imagine what such an autonomous motorcycle could do one day…  Find the three ideal lines that no one is taking on a racetrack (just set it to Rossi-mode), or deliver medical supplies to out of the way places overnight…  Pretty cool.

Harley is hot these days.  They figured out what they do best and have started to put their best stuff into it…  Of course there were some casualties: Buell, for one… But in return we got the redesigned classics based on the Sportster line like the 2009 Nightsters, and new for 2010 1200cc “Sportster Forty Eight”, the “Fat Boy Lo” with beefy looking forks and cool exhaust…just to mention a few. They’ve managed to make them new and classic looking at the same time, along the lines of what Ducati did with its Sport Classic line.

Feet forward is still NOT the best way to ride, but if you like to touch your toes then you might as well do it on a Harley.  If you’re buying an older cruiser, then you might still do better with one of the big four (Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha) versions because of reliability and handling on older models.  But if you’re planning on buying new, Harley seems to have worked out the reliability issue in the past several years…so if you want a feet forward cruiser, you better go for the real thing.

Are they good city bikes?  I’m not sure…  Feet forward isn’t just a problem for cornering, it’s a problem around potholes too not to mention slippery weather riding.  But if you have to have one, then now is the time…they’re making some of the best bikes they’ve ever made right now.

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1. Big Bang Theory
2. The Future of Harley Davidson
3. The Low Down on Seat Height

This blog isn’t really about announcing new bike models and products…but we’ll make an exception for the newest Ducati, the Monster 796… Most of you know that the Monster is the original city bike… A sporty bike specifically designed for real world riding and commuting around cities…the look of the original Monsters helped a whole generation of us decide we wanted to ride. With the redesigned 696 they did it again by modernizing everything that made the original Monsters great.

The new 796 is mainly about minor tweaks… a wet clutch (better for when you’re stuck in traffic) plus a few more horses without much more weight, which makes the 796 a better all around bike (the 696 seems a tad under powered for spirited riding). For the truly power hungry there’s always the Monster 1100 that went on sale a few months ago – although it lacks the impossibly light weight of the smaller Monsters…and might still feel heavy and slow compared to typical super-sports in the same price range…

So here’s a quick “cheers” to the folks who brought us one of the first performance bikes with city bikers in mind!  And a link to a proper review from people who actually know how to do stuff like that.

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1. What makes a Good Starter-Bike?
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Those are neat tricks! But in all seriousness, it can be a hassle riding to work everyday. You need to think about your riding gear, transporting things like your laptop, briefcase, meeting clothes, also you have to consider your parking situation… And these things really are big hurdles to get over. But once you figure it out for your situation, it’s actually much more practical than facing reduced subway service and rush hour crowds. That’s just my opinion.

What’s the biggest hurdle you face riding to work?  And if you have a solution, how do you work around it?  Cheers!

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2. Efficient Transportation
3. Why do you ride to work?

One fact of the post 9-11 police state is that “normal” conduct for officers is much more aggressive than it used to be.  If you were pulled over in Russia for speeding, you could get out of the car and talk to the police officers. In many places in the U.S., try that and you’ll find yourself face down on the pavement with your hands cuffed behind your back.  Put on some leather and a helmet, and overreacting police officers becomes a real problem.  Police often take out their guns or wave their batons and make verbal threats.  Is this the way civil servants should treat people in a free democratic country?  No.  But that’s how it is for now… so be careful.

Most police officers are respectful and reasonable – doing a difficult job. And many police officers ride, and don’t see bikers as a threat. But there are just enough insecure and obnoxious ones to make us wary.

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1. Biker Cops Overseas
2. NYPD Hard on Bikers?
3. Feel the wave…

The cool thing about motorcycles is that you actually don’t need a good sense of balance to ride them.  Twist the throttle, and the magic of gyroscopic forces does its work keeping you on a vertical plane.  But when the wheels start to slide (and also for tight low speed maneuvers) your sense of balance is what keeps you from hitting the ground.  Ever see someone catch an unexpected slide?  How did she do that?  It happens too quickly to think about what to do.  The only way is if your steering, throttle control, and sense of balance are in sync to save your butt from the pavement.

So how do you improve your sense of balance? This is one of the most complicated functions the human brain performs.  Portable computers don’t run fast enough yet to perform all the calculations required to maintain balance while riding a motorcycle (video on a robotic motorcycle).  So how do we hone this complex skill?

Balance on a motorcycle comes from a combination of a physical sense of balance plus steering ability and throttle control.  But that first part, the physical sense of balance can be best honed off the motorcycle.  Because a motorcycle is inherently stable in motion, any non-motorcycling activity that requires left-right balance will help – like riding bicycles or unicycles… But an even better way, especially during the colder wetter months, is by spending time on a balance board.

You might want to be careful the first time you step on one. Maybe even wear your helmet (just kidding, although it might not be a bad idea for some).  If you’ve never been on a balance board, it takes a little getting used to, even if you have a great sense of balance.  But once you get the hang of it, it can go a long way…

Have you spent some time on a balance board?  Tell us what YOU think.  Cheers!

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2. Wiggle Room

Here’s something you won’t see at the Bike show. Saw this on Visordown.

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The first three rules of real estate are location location location.  The first three rules of winter riding (and competitive racing) are traction… Times 3.  The thing is you really CAN ride on almost any surface… even one with as little traction as ice.  And the liberating thing about riding on low traction surfaces is that once you get a sense of it, it makes all the mixed traction areas (patches of water or ice or gravel or steel road surfaces) more manageable because you know how much traction you have at your disposal, and you know the guidelines within which they are manageable.

A repost of a video I linked to last year

The most dangerous part of riding on a poor traction surface is when you’re going straight and you don’t know how much real traction is available.  Are you going to fast?  Too slow?  Too close?  The only way to be able to answer those questions are to test the traction on that surface.

The next step is being able to read how much traction a road surface will give you.  So how much traction will that construction dirt give you?  How about that patch of snow?  Or the wet spot on the pavement?

How do you hone your traction-reading skills?

Related posts:

1. Slippery when wet…
2. Riding Skills: Wide Vision
3. So You’re Thinking of Getting a Motorcycle…

“What’s wrong with you people that you need to park illegally on the sidewalk?”  It’s a valid question, especially considering that motorcyclists have a *reletively* easy time finding parking.  Yes there are some places in the Manhattan where it’s “impossible” to find street parking even for a scooter – but it’s doubly impossible for cars.  So “why do so many bikers park on the sidewalk?” ask law abiding citizens and NYPD…  Here’s why (watch the video).  YouTUBE is filled with videos like these of people parked legally, employing existing security measures (steering lock, wheel lock) only to be foiled by two guys and van.

Meanwhile there’s a perfectly good street sign a few feet ahead.  If this motorcyclist parked on the sidewalk and chained it up to the sign, this kind of theft would never have happened. On the sidewalk the bike would be out of the way of cars and pedestrians, and save tax payer money by reducing the police work for stolen vehicles.

“But what about people who park on the sidewalk but don’t chain up to anything?”  Even then there’s an added bit of security.  Parking conspicuously on the sidewalk means it will be more conspicuous for someone to come along and haul it away…and a longer haul from the spot to the van.

As it is, I don’t recommend parking on the sidewalk for the time being… Although I still do…where I can park right up against a building (with the building manager’s consent), and in the boroughs when I’m only parked for a short time.

As an alternative, I’ve considered going with an electric jack hammer and a tub of concrete mix to places I normally park to install ground anchors (like this one) in the street.  When I’m able to park near my car (when my car is at the front of the block, and not going anywhere), I chain my bike up to the car.  But there have got to be better ways…  Any ideas?  Share the wealth!

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1. Top 5 Sidewalk Parking Tips
2. How to Park Your Motorcycle on the Street, in NY
3. Parking your motorcycle in Manhattan