What excuse do you have left?

You're still driving your car, SUV, or truck? If you're reading this blog, I know you either have a bike or have been thinking about buying one. If you're not riding at $4.00 per gallon, sell or give your bike to someone who will use it! Quit making excuses.

"people drive crazy sound here" - you have more maneuverability on a bike or scooter and take up less room. You have a better chance of avoiding a collision if you're properly trained and keep alert.

"What if it rains" - seriously? If you're going somewhere important like a job interview, you can take gear to protect you. Otherwise you can show up at Wal-Mart wet. I guarantee there are worse looking people there. If you're headed home just get on dry clothes when you arrive.

If you need to pick up lumber at Lowe's or two cartfulls of groceries I get the car. If you're soccer parent duty, you can't get them all on your Harley. I get that. But if you have the bike and it lives in the garage 90% of the time, it's better for you and the bike if you just send it on its way.

Kathy's Birthday at Red River Gorge

This past weekend we hopped on the bikes and rode to a little cabin in Daniel Boone National Forest. The area is called Red River Gorge and it's known for the beauty of the wilderness and several natural stone bridges, arches and chimneys.  You can view pictures here.

We came in through Winchester Kentucky and rode by the Ale8-1 manufacturing and bottling plant.  Nada Tunnel is a unique sight you must see. We stayed at Red River Gorge cabin rentals. The whole area is (as they say) Red River Gorge-ous.

We had a fantastic time and saw a lot of natural beauty and winding twisting roads (some of them gravel) in a very short amount of time.

Oil change complete

I replaced my OEM oil filter for a K&N filter. I had to purchase a special tool from Cycle Gear to remove the Suzuki filter because as you can see in the picture there is no way to grip it otherwise.

The K&N has a bolt-like fixture on it to help in removal next time.

Oil change time

I had to grab a couple things from Cycle Gear to change the oil on my Suzuki C50 and Kat's Honda Helix. The price of full synthetic is outrageous. Do you pay this price for your bike?

Still, it really should be done before Friday when we leave for Daniel Boone National Forest and Red River Gorge.

Mothers day 4 --flowers for my mom

It had been a while since I'd visited my mom. The grounds were grown up quite a bit. They are always having problem with keeping them up. I grabbed a couple pale roses and put them in mom's vase.

Mothers day riding 3 --end reward

At the end, we got lunch and ice cream at Shel's in Veevay. It's a great place we stopped back in September on the first night of our honeymoon...

Mothers day riding 2

We got into some fairly hazardous gravel roads that had a significant upwards grade to them. My bike is heavier and I didn't want to drop it so I rode ahead in search of level ground to wait for Kat. On the way up we were passed by three 4 wheel ATV's and met an SUV coming down!

I got around the bend and the Cardo Scala G9 headset cut out and I couldn't hear my girl. I got to a mostly  level spot, jumped off the bike, and as I got closer I could hear she was in trouble. I hurried as quickly as I could on the gravel and found her still at the bottom. Her bike was leaned over with the left side barely touching the ground. She was bracing it to keep it up.

She did a fantastic job of gently setting her Honda Helix down so there were only minor scratches. Kudos to my wife, Kathy, who took a possibly dangerous situation and neutralized it. She's such a trooper and said she would take gravel roads again if necessary, but like me, doesn't really enjoy them on a street bike.

Riding on Mothers day

Since my beautiful new bride loves to ride also, we told the kids we would meet them in Veevay Indiana around 1pm, and took the long twisty roads there.

REVIEW: Tyre to Travel GPS Software

A lot of you folks may know that I really like to plan intricate routes for my GPS taking all these odd little backroads I've never been on before.  Before my honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls and back, I purchased a TomTom Rider Motorcycle GPS.  Bundled with this is a software called Tyre to Travel (or just Tyre).  It was originally developed by Jan Boersma in 2006 right before I started riding, and I used it with my original Tom Tom One in a huge waterproof Otter Box mounted to my scoot's handlebars.  It was ok, but not great.  The thing I always wanted was to plan a route in Google Maps and somehow transfer it to my GPS without seventeen or twenty steps.  It was pretty good software at the time but it was still not very easy to do this.

When I became a member of the Iron Butt Society and joined their discussion email list, I found that nearly all those guys used Garmin GPS and software, so I switched.  The software I installed and used on my Garmin Nuvi 550 (one of the only waterproof GPS units under $400) was really professional and allowed the granular tweaking I do for routes.  The trouble was it was nearly impossible to plan anything on Google Maps and transfer it.  I tried web apps galore and some manual procedures to no avail.

Today, with the TomTom Rider (which is an excellent MC GPS if for only the Winding Roads route feature) I can seamlessly transfer the route I've planned from Google Maps into the Tyre Software and then right into the GPS unit ready to select and ride.

Weekend riding

About two months ago we moved into a new (to us) home. Since then about the closest I've come to riding on the weekends is running errands.  One good bit of news: my wife got me this new tool chest for my garage.

Product Report: Bilt Typhoon Jacket

Bilt is one of the house brands of Cycle Gear. They offer a 5 year full warranty on manufacturer defects on their entire Bilt line...so buy them up, right?

Maybe not. I originally got the Typhoon on sale over a year ago on sale for $99. I am a big guy and the jacket fit great. I take a 4XL in this jacket, or the Joe Rocket or Power Trip jackets (both made by the same company). Note I said "this jacket" and not Bilt jackets. Even in a size larger the other Bilt jackets do not fit. I have purchased jackets up to size 7XL from leatherup or jafrum and they fit about like a 3XL.

One thing about this jacket: the thing keeps you bone dry. I've never had another that kept me this dry even in heavy rain.

It rode well for about three seasons (fall , winter, spring for me) and then the side seam blew out. I wore this jacket snug and that's the way you should wear a MC jacket. I didn't know if it was the fault of fat or  fate so I took it back in. The guys at Cycle Gear here in Louisville took it back no questions asked. I was delighted.

I wore the new 4XL for one season. Same issue. This time they suggested another jacket, giving me my full price I spent originally. I tried several on and none fit. They ordered me another.  This one lasted less than a week and this time the Velcro that closes the storm flap unravelled and came loose.

When I came back in dragging yet another jacket and expressed my irritation, they ordered me another jacket. This time in a 5XL. I've worn the 5X a while now and the only issue is one of the cuff snaps fell off.

The quality of these specific jackets is suspect. Still, for $99 per 5years it ain't that bad of a deal. And having to ride back over to CG, look at all the stuff on sale, check out other guy's bikes, and just plain having an extra reason to ride is not something I'd complain about. I count the purchase as a wash. Not good, but not bad.  Still, I would not really recommend the CG Built Typhoon jacket if there's another that suits you at that price range.