lisaholtjames

[lisaholtjames]

Sweden Loves Piaggio MP3s

There were a lot more bikes on the road in Budapest.

The most common motorcycles I saw in Stockholm, Sweden, a few weeks ago were Ducatis and the three-wheeled Piaggio MP3 scooters. They really like those scooters.

It may be that in late March and early April in Sweden, that third wheel makes all the difference. Nights were still getting down to freezing and if you are going to ride you’re much more confident on three wheels.

Now, as it turned out, the first bike I saw was a Gold Wing, then a scooter, a sportbike of unknown make, another scooter, then finally either a Harley or Harley wannabe. Then a BMW, another sportbike, a Ducati, a Triumph, an MP3, a V-Strom, and then another MP3.

So while there were four scooters in those first dozen, scooters were nowhere near as prevalent as they are in other European cities. And bikes in general were not as common.

Again, it may just be the season. Summer in Scandinavia may be very different.

Then we got to Copenhagen and I swear I didn’t see a single motorcycle or scooter in the first full day there. I was really starting to wonder.

At one point, though, we sat on a bench by a major street and then saw plenty of bikes. But this was rush hour and I hardly saw another bike the rest of the three days we were there.

It changed considerably when we got to Budapest. I saw more bikes in the ride from the airport to our hotel than I had the entire previous week. Of course Budapest is nearly 1,000 miles south of Stockholm, and 600 miles south of Copenhagen, so it’s full-blown spring here.

Which is where we are now, so I’ll end here. (But I actually wrote those words three weeks ago.)

Biker Quote for Today

To anyone commenting on my choice of riding in any kind of weather, “Beats driving a Prius”!

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/sweden-loves-piaggio-mp3s/

[lisaholtjames]

House Kills Hang Up And Drive Bill

The Colorado House just blew an opportunity to make roads safer for motorcyclists and others.

After coming all the way through the Colorado Senate, the Colorado House has killed the bill that would have made it illegal for drivers to dial or text with their phones while driving. The vote, on Tuesday, was 11-0 in the House Judiciary Committee.

Senate sponsor, Lois Court, said she is not done with this measure and it will return next session.

The American Civil Liberties Union was one of the chief opponents of the bill. The ACLU argued that “all the studies tell us that banning their use or imposing high fines on their use doesn’t stop the use.” Denise Maes, Public Policy Director for the ACLU, also expressed concern that the law could be used as a cover for racial profiling.

No, banning and imposing fines would not stop people from using their phones but I have to believe it would at least reduce their use. Laws against murder do not stop all instances of murder but you better believe it happens a lot less frequently than it would if it were legal. As for racial profiling, Colorado is not known as having a high incidence of that, unlike some other cities we could name. But if a bad cop wants to do it he or she always knows some law they can use. It’s not like this would have been the only one they could turn to.

So this was a very sad day. Drivers need to hang up their damn phones and drive.

In the meantime, there is other activity of interest at the Capitol.

Per Stump: “SB19-144 (Motorcyclists and Malfunctioning Traffic Signals) passed through 2nd and 3rd readings in the House chambers this week with one small amendment at 3rd reading to correct a “grammatical” error. Of course, that meant it had to go back to the Senate for concurrence on the House amendment, which was easily handled this week also. So now it goes to the Governor for his signature.”

Biker Quote for Today

Fake bikers have an image to maintain. The real bikers just don’t give a damn.

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/house-kills-hang-up-and-drive-bill/

[lisaholtjames]

Examiner Resurrection: On The Motorcycle Scene With Diva Amy

Diva Amy doesn’t do “plain.”

I had seen this extremely exotic, crystal-encrusted custom Harley up in Keystone, CO, at the International Women & Motorcycling Conference in 2009. It was such an attraction that I ended up shooting pictures of the numerous people clustered around it taking pictures of it.

When I saw it again in Scottsdale at Arizona Bike Week I knew I had to meet this person. So I introduced myself to Diva Amy.

The first thing you need to know about Diva, as she is known familiarly, is that she rides. “I’m out here riding the bike in rain, and sleet, almost snow, whatever, because I love it that much.” Her tricked-out ’07 Harley-Davidson Road Glide had 46,000 miles on it in March so you can bet it has more on it now. This is no trailer queen.

The second thing you need to know about Diva is that “Plain is not in my vocabulary.” She adopted the Diva persona “Not because I act like one but because I love everything shiny and embellished.” She tells of meeting a fellow at a truck stop who asked her what a diva is, and “I said, a diva to me is a woman who gets what she wants. But I’m no Mariah Carey. I don’t need Evian water everywhere I turn. So that’s my name, and my credo of life is, ‘Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.'”

And what Diva does is make and sell hats and bandanas and belt buckles and various other items. None of them are plain. When I met her she had a booth set up in the vendor area at Arizona Bike Week, with her Road Glide parked for maximum visibility as a sure-fire way to draw crowds.

Diva Tells How She Got Into This Business “It all started because all of us girls knew we needed to wear hats. I had some girlfriends who said, ‘I would wear a hat but they’re all so ugly.’ And I thought, ‘Let me go to work on that.’

“That’s what started it all. I primarily focus on the cowboy hat silhouette, but I’m also doing fedoras and cadets. And I come from a fashion and merchandise and sales background. For 29 years I sold and merchandised and promoted a line of ski and snowboard apparel out of Aspen, CO. It was so seasonal I needed something to do when I wasn’t doing that so I started my own company called Team Diva. I named it Team Diva for all the women I’ve known, and I know now, and I will meet in the future. Because we’re all a team, getting through everything here. I love to hang with the divas and people we can be with and promote and share the love of riding. And that became a whole new segment for me as far as things go.”

The Bret Michaels Connection Then she got a big break.

“I have a girlfriend whose husband is Bon Jovi’s bass player. And she said to me, ‘Diva, I’m going to go see Bret Michaels (of the group Poison). Give me a couple hats. Let me see what I can do.’ This gal friend of mine delivered. And Bret put those hats on–I sent a couple–and then I heard from his camp and I sent about 10 more.”

Michaels wore Diva’s hats on “Celebrity Apprentice” and in his own reality show “Life As I Know It,” and then on tour with the Bret Michaels Band. Meanwhile, Diva’s work on customizing her Harley was tied in with the money she had coming in, and she wanted designer Paul Yaffe to do a high-roller wheel for it. She got the wheel.

“I actually call this the Bret Michaels wheel. Because I sold enough hats that I could finally write the check!”

Diva also teamed with Michaels to support breast cancer funding-raising.

“I just got done making a dozen hats for Susan B. Komen gals who are fund-raising. The top 12 fundraisers got pink hats made by me for him to sign.”

Diva Offers Strong Support To Women Considering Riding Motorcycles “I call it pulling the trigger. If you’re thinking about doing it, go take a motorcycle class, see if it’s your thing. If you’re comfortable being a passenger, do it. If you’re thinking about doing this, take a class. Get out in one of the parking lots on a little 250 and see. A lot of women talk to me because I’m in my 50s and I’m riding. This bike has 46,000 miles on it. It’s never been in a trailer. And it’s only three years old. I ride it. I think the whole idea is, if it’s something you’re thinking of doing, pull the trigger and go try it. And then the bug bit me for touring and that’s all I love to do now. My god, I love it. I love it. I could pack a bag and be gone a different place every day. I love it so much. So that’s kind of my thing, you know?”

Look for Diva Amy at a motorcycle rally near you. You’ll know that bike the moment you see it.

Biker Quote for Today

Taking B12 is the price of getting to be vegan, the way wearing a helmet is the price of getting to ride a motorcycle and giving up alcohol for nine months is the price of getting to have a baby. — Victoria Moran

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/examiner-resurrection-on-the-motorcycle-scene-with-diva-amy/

[lisaholtjames]

Riding With Strangers

Riding with strangers calls for discussion so you’ll each know what to expect.

I’d never spent significant time riding with people I didn’t know, until I took part on a media tour put on by EagleRider, a major motorcycle rental outfit that also offers tours. When you ride with the usual bunch of guys you pretty much know what to expect. With strangers, I found, it’s a whole new ball game.

The EagleRider tour leaders made it clear that we were to ride in double-file staggered formation, which builds in extra space for safety and visibility. When I ride with the OFMC we are not the model of safety because only some of us adhere to the staggered formation concept. Doing demo rides, on the other hand, the ride leaders make it absolutely clear that you will ride in formation and not change the line-up or you will not be allowed any more demo rides.

The 18 media members on this tour consisted primarily of a variety of Europeans, one Canadian, one Australian, and three Americans. Considering that nearly all the riders on this tour were professional motorcycle writers or photographers, who understand the safety issues, I expected strict adherence to the formation. I was in for a surprise.

The first situation that threw me was the two Dutch folks on the tour. An older fellow and a young woman, they work for the same outfit and he stayed on her tail the entire time. The ride leader would take the inside track, the young woman would follow to her right, and the guy would do whatever he wanted to do. Mostly he rode extremely close behind her, but on occasion he would move to the left where I would have expected him to be all the time.

So if you’re the person immediately behind him, what do you do? If you stay where you theoretically ought to be, you then have three bikes in a row in the right-hand track. If you stay to the left, what do you do at those times when he moves left? If you shift to the right, then everyone behind you has to shift as well to stay in formation and that alone can be hazardous.

I chose, those times I was immediately behind him, to stay left at all times. It just seemed to make the most sense. And I did eventually figure out that he had a video camera mounted on his bike and he was filming her. At least that helped to make some sense of his actions.

Squeezing From Behind Then there was another of the Europeans who stayed in formation but was always close enough behind me that I could see him in my peripheral vision. I purposely kept a good distance between me and the bike ahead but he was always right there. Sometimes he would even pass me and soon after wave for me to repass him. I kept wondering why he didn’t back off and I figured he kept wondering why I didn’t close up.

I mentioned it at one point to another rider who told me that guy’s magazine is focused on speed and running in tight groups. OK, I get it. So I just did my best not to get right behind the Dutch or right in front of him. But sometimes it was unavoidable.

Another thing that threw me was the fellow who would on occasion just pass me and maybe one or two other riders. I finally asked him if there was something I was doing that troubled him, and should I be reading between the lines to recognize some mistake I was making. No, he responded, he just didn’t think it was smart for everyone to stay in the exact same formation all the time because that has a tendency to lull you into complacency. He liked to mix things up. And hey, thanks for asking rather than just getting angry or annoyed.

I can go with that reasoning, especially since it is focused on safety. As for the young woman being filmed, I don’t care, I don’t want anybody on my tail like that. I wouldn’t have wanted to be her. As for riding tight in general, I know the European countries have far more rigorous skill and training requirements for motorcyclists than we do. And they do ride close together, sometimes at amazingly high speeds.

Meanwhile, I guess I won’t be so hard on the OFMC. It’s not like they’re pros or anything.

Biker Quote for Today

You’re most likely to have an accident in the first year of riding because of inexperience, and after two years of riding because you think you know everything.

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/riding-with-strangers/

[lisaholtjames]

Backseat Driving

It’s entirely different riding with a passenger.

I read somewhere recently that the best passenger a motorcyclist can have is a girlfriend who has never been on a bike before. (This was obviously a guy talking.) The point being that she’ll get on and do exactly what you tell her to do because she doesn’t know to do anything else.

The worst passenger, this writer went on, was your buddy whose bike is broken down and to whom you’re giving a ride back to town. That guy is going to want to do his own leaning and all the things he normally does to control his own bike, but that throws your control efforts way off and makes for a hazardous ride. Backseat driving takes on a whole new meaning on a motorcycle, and it is not for the better.

Riding a motorcycle with a passenger is a whole new ball game for a variety of reasons. First off, you are now responsible for the safety of another person besides yourself. I know that I ride carefully at all times, but when my wife is on behind me I ride even more carefully. If I was responsible for something happening to her I’d never forgive myself. So I do everything in my power to ensure that nothing happens.

Second, adding all that weight makes a huge difference in how the bike handles. It’s a big difference if your 110-pound wife or girlfriend gets on; imagine the difference if your 210-pound buddy gets on.

Novice riders simply should not carry passengers. Until they have some real experience and skills with the bike it’s just too dangerous. I told the story recently how my friend Terry told me not to take some girls riding on his bike and never let me ride the bike again after I did so anyway. He was right to do so. I wasn’t ready.

After I got my own bike I waited awhile before taking a passenger but even then I was ill at ease. What finally made a difference was when the OFMC took its first extended trip and I rode around for days on end with a bunch of gear bungee-strapped on the back. I grew accustomed to the weight and from that point on I was comfortable with a passenger.

Not comfortable with just any passenger, however. We had a friend, Al, who was a super nice guy but not always the most prudent person. Al didn’t ride. (This is all in the past tense; Al died a number of years ago.) One night John and I rode over to Al’s and at some point Al wanted to go for a ride. He climbed on behind me first and I was aghast. Al was not fat, but he was solid muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat. On my 750cc Honda it was just too much and I suggested he ride with John. So Al got on with John, whose 1100cc Shadow was bigger than my CB750, and we took off.

But Al was not content to just sit there quietly on the bike. He was moving around and doing all kinds of stuff that kept throwing John off balance, so before we went more than half a mile John stopped and said “No more, we’re going back. This is too dangerous.”

Another time, John and Bill and I had gone over to Grand Junction to see our friend Christopher. Like Al, Christopher is not known for prudence. He wanted to take us to see the 20-foot dragon he was building so we got on the bikes, with Christopher riding with Bill. Turning in the driveway to the place where the dragon was under construction, Christopher was flailing around in much the way Al had done and he threw Bill’s balance off so badly that they went down. Fortunately, it was at a slow speed and the dirt was soft, so nobody got hurt.

The bottom line here is that, for a capable rider, and a passenger who knows how to be a passenger, riding two-up can be a terrific shared experience. But tell your own Al or Christopher “No” when they ask for a ride.

Biker Quote for Today

There is a delicate ridge one must ride between fear and reason on a motorcycle—lean too far in either direction and there will be consequences. — Lily Brooks-Dalton

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/backseat-driving/

[lisaholtjames]

Examiner Resurrection: Making Every Day Earth Day On A Motorcycle

This is going to be an Examiner Resurrection with a twist. After putting in this brief Examiner post I’m going to add a bit to the discussion. Look for that below.

Most motorcycles get better gas mileage than most cars.

“When you add it all up, there is no question: If everyone rode motorcycles, the planet would be a greener place.”

That’s Rob Dingman, the president and CEO of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), in an Earth Day statement on environmental benefits of commuting and traveling on a motorcycle.

And Dingman adds, “Just as important, more of us would experience the thrill and freedom that motorcycles provide. Riding is not just easy on your bank account and the planet, riding is a fun, and often a social activity that simply makes life more enjoyable.

“Regardless of how you use your motorcycle or scooter — commuting to work, riding down the block, across town, traveling across the country — your choice to ride instead of drive has a positive impact on the environment and results in a more enjoyable, less-congested experience for you as well as your fellow road userS. For motorcyclists, every day is Earth Day.”

The AMA notes that a typical motorcycle generally gets better gas mileage than all but the most fuel-efficient cars, often 50 miles per gallon or more, and that many scooters can deliver nearly twice that. Motorcycles also require less oil and other chemicals to operate. And then there are the growing number of electric motorcycles that are even greener than the gas-powered models.

Other benefits that motorcycles offer, says the AMA, is that:

Motorcycles take up less space than cars and trucks both during operation, and when parked. They reduce traffic congestion and, in so doing, help increase the efficiency of traffic flow on the road.

Significantly fewer raw materials are utilized to produce motorcycles and scooters compared to cars and trucks. By some measures, it requires thousands of pounds less metal and plastic per vehicle to produce a motorcycle. The environmental benefits are realized both during production, as well as at the end of the vehicle’s useful life.

Because motorcycles and scooters are so much more compact and lighter than cars and trucks, they cause far less wear and tear on the highways, reducing the cost and environmental impact of infrastructure repairs. In addition, because of their size, many more motorcycles can be transported from factory to consumer using the same or less energy.

OK, back to 2019. So after I put this piece up on Examiner I did some deeper digging. I wanted real answers to the question of whether bikes really are greener, and what I found was inconclusive. I wrote to Pete terHorst at the AMA for what he had to offer but the information he sent me didn’t seem to resolve my questions. I never did run the piece I envisioned and Pete later put out an AMA release on it rather than let his own efforts go to waste.

The thing that I found was that yes, motorcycles use less gas. However, because we don’t have all the antipollution devices that cars do, we actually put out more emissions. So what’s greener, using less gas and doing less road damage or putting out less emissions? How do you make that kind of determination?

Of course, much of the future appears that it will be powered by electricity. Once you put electric motorcycles into this equation there will be no question. Yes there is environmental damage associated with generating that electricity but if you have an electric bike and a solar panel powering it I don’t think you’ll ever get much greener.

Biker Quote for Today

Caution, twisting the right side hand grip of this vehicle may tend to alter the rotation of the Earth.

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/examiner-resurrection-making-every-day-earth-day-on-a-motorcycle/

[lisaholtjames]

Examiner Resurrection: On The Road To Arizona Bike Week

I wrote here about my trip to Arizona Bike Week when it happened, but looking at what I wrote I see that what I put up on Examiner was quite different. That makes sense since it would be boring to write essentially the same thing a second time. So here’s what you didn’t read previously.

A rest stop in New Mexico on my way to Arizona Bike Week.

The Pre-Rally is already in full swing but Arizona Bike Week itself doesn’t start until Wednesday. I’m en route and will be there tomorrow, Monday. I’m happy to be able to say that because it wasn’t a sure thing earlier today.

The weather gods seemed to be smiling on me this morning in Denver, with temperatures higher than they had been in a week and clear, sunny skies. I climbed aboard my Kawasaki Concours and took off with my only concern being whether I could keep my hands warm.

That particular question was starting to feel a lot more important by the time I got to Castle Rock, just 20 miles from home down I-25. My finger-tips were very cold but I didn’t have a lot of time to think about them because as I climbed toward the Palmer Divide I noticed that about half the cars coming the other way had snow on them. Then the highway started looking suspiciously wet and I wondered if that moisture was in liquid or solid form.

Then came the fog. I got over the divide and started the descent toward Colorado Springs and it was pea soup. To say that the warm, welcome sun I started out with was nowhere to be seen is an understatement. I tucked in behind a pick-up pulling a trailer that was going about 40 and just crept along. And I was getting a lot colder.

Of course I had my electric vest on, as well as my warmest longjohns and a bunch of other warm clothes. If not for the vest I would have turned back. No way would I ride on in that cold without that warmth. But by the time I got to the south end of Colorado Springs my fingers were screaming in pain from the cold and I pulled off to get a cup of hot cocoa at a convenience store.

With my freezing hands wrapped around the hot cup of cocoa, I questioned people coming in the store as to whether they knew how the weather was on south. No one knew for sure but the presumption was that it should be warmer heading toward Pueblo. I asked a guy where he was coming from that he had snow on his car and he said, “My house. Right here in the neighborhood. We had snow this morning, but I think it’s all done for now.”

With my hands warm again I got back on the bike and pressed on. Sure enough, the farther south I got the warmer it got. It was a little chilly going over Raton Pass but by the time I reached Santa Fe I switched the vest off because it was getting too hot.

Meanwhile, about the time I reached Walsenburg, before reaching the pass, I got hit by the first blast of the powerful crosswinds I was destined to contend with for the next several hours. Almost all the way to Albuquerque the winds played their cat and mouse game, easing off when the road dipped beneath the general landscape and blasting me as soon as I came out in the open again. I’d pass a truck on the downwind side and have to stand the bike up quickly to keep from steering right into it, and as soon as I would pull ahead the wind would blast me toward the median. I took to diving back into the right-hand lane as soon as I got ahead of the truck because while that’s exactly what happened most of the time, other times the blast hit me so hard that if I hadn’t already been leaned in like that it would blow me off the road.

At Albuquerque I turned west on I-40, so now at least, any westerly wind would be blowing in my face rather than from the side. I pressed on to Grants and considered continuing to Gallup. But the sun was at that point where if I had, it would have been setting and I would have been riding right into it the last part of that leg. I opted for Grants. That’s about 530 miles of the 850 from home to Scottsdale, where I’m headed. Another 320 miles tomorrow won’t be bad. Plus, I get to leave the interstate at Holbrook and the last 140 miles will be on two-lane through some mountains I’ve never seen before.

So all right! First bike trip of the year. Yee hah!

Biker Quote for Today

Riding fast is one thing, riding in a hurry is a completely different thing. Never ride in a hurry.

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/examiner-resurrection-on-the-road-to-arizona-bike-week/

[lisaholtjames]

Examiner Resurrection: Cyclepedia.com May Be The Wrenching Motorcyclist’s Best Friend

Before I decided to run this Examiner Resurrection I checked to see if this site still exists and whether the information I presented in 2011 had changed. It’s all still good. So I don’t need to change a thing.

A sample of what you get with Cyclepedia.com.

Figuring on restoring an old motorcycle you found in a barn? Looking for the technical info you do to do the work? Here’s a heads-up on a website I recently discovered that may be just what you need.

Cyclepedia.com is an online repository for workshop manuals for ATV, motorcycle, and scooter repair. If you’re only going to need access to the information while you rebuild the bike, a one-year subscription may be the way to go. If you’re planning on riding the bike for years, a lifetime subscription may be your best bet. Either one comes with tech support, so if you’re stuck trying to figure something out, they actually have a motorcycle technician available to answer questions or help you interpret the manual.

These are not just static text documents, like a printed manual that you access online. They come with videos to guide you through processes, as well as interactive features that a printed manual can’t offer. You do, however, have the option of printing the documents.

Want to see what the manuals are like? A sample manual for a Suzuki DR200SE is available. Open it and at left are topics such as:

Periodic Maintenance

Quick Reference

Fuel System

External Components

Engine

Final Drive

And more. Pretty much the stuff you expect in a shop manual. Also included are parts diagram, printable full-color wiring diagrams, and a troubleshooting guide.

I’ll be honest with you, I’m no mechanic myself, so I can’t judge the usefulness of this site; that’s up to you to determine. But I figured if you hadn’t heard about it, you might like to know the site is there. Happy wrenching!

Biker Quote for Today

Don’t make me use my motorcycle mechanic voice.

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/examiner-resurrection-cyclepedia-com-may-be-the-wrenching-motorcyclists-best-friend/

[lisaholtjames]

Finally An Update On Motorcycle-Accessible Campgrounds

That’s our tent up there on the hill behind the bike, and that’s the bike we got there on.

It was something of an embarrassment for me that back in 2017 I added a note on my motorcycle camping page saying I intended that year to update the information. I knew that over the years at the very least the nightly camping fee on most sites I listed had increased. I also knew that due to budget constraints, the National Forest Service had closed some campgrounds. My data were out of date.

Did I get that done in 2017? No. Did I get it done in 2018? No. But the page still said I intended to do it in 2017. Well, ummm . . .

I did it. I got it done a couple weeks ago. And it is interesting to see what has changed and what has not. As expected, most fees had gone up, but there were a bunch that had not. I wonder what makes the difference. And in some cases I found that major work has been done on the overall sites.

For instance, one campground that previously had about 17 sites now has 42. They’ve obviously made some major changes. More commonly, the number of sites went up or down by 1 or 2.

Now, pretty much all of the campgrounds that I have included are sites I have personally visited, usually but not always on my bike. I stopped, looked the place over, noted the road quality, and listed the number of sites and amenities. For this update I did it all by computer.

The thing that struck me in doing this was how many campgrounds there are in Colorado that are not on my lists. Now, obviously considering that these are intended to be listings of motorcycle-accessible campgrounds, with an emphasis on street bikes, some campgrounds were just not going to be included. But finding so very many that are not included makes me wonder whether at least some of them ought to be.

I’ve always said that this website will never be “completed.” Things change and there is always more useful information to add. I guess now that I’ve been able to cross “update campgrounds” from my to-do list I now need to add “add appropriate additional campgrounds.” My work is never done.

Biker Quote for Today

The reason I’m drawn to it is – both the off-road racing and the motorcycles on the track – it takes a lot for me to quiet my brain and anything that requires 100% of my attention and focus I find very soothing and that is the closest I get to being content. — Dax Shepard

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/finally-an-update-on-motorcycle-accessible-campgrounds/

[lisaholtjames]

Dead Red Bill Advances With Improvements

Who hasn’t been stuck at a light that does not recognize you on your bike?

Usually, for strong supporters of a piece of legislation, amendments mean a less favorable bill. That is not the case in the Colorado legislature with the proposed Senate Bill 144, known as the dead red bill. This bill is intended to address the issues motorcyclists face when traffic signals do not recognize their presence.

Currently state law says that you must wait for two cycles of the light before you can run the red. The catch-22, of course, is that if it doesn’t recognize your presence the light is not going to cycle so you can sit there forever. A revision was proposed that requires you to sit and wait for two minutes, at which time you are free to run the red.

Well, in the hearing on Tuesday the Colorado Municipal League objected to that wording. Their representative explained that they had spoken with law enforcement folks and the two minute requirement was deemed unenforceable. Then an amazing thing happened. The League, the Colorado Department of Transportation, and the Colorado State Patrol got together and concluded the best language was simply to say that the motorcyclist should treat the light as they would a 4-way stop. Come to a complete stop, wait until it is safe, and then proceed.

Wow! How absolutely logical! And the great thing is that this amended bill was approved by the committee unanimously. With any luck it might make its way out of the Senate over to the House by the end of this week. Don’t you love it when government works!?

Distracted Driving Also of interest at the capitol on Tuesday, the distracted driving bill that would make it a primary offense to be holding an electronic communications device in your hand while driving–talking on your cellphone–also moved ahead, this time with some amendments. In order to win approval the bill was watered down a little more than it already had been in terms of the penalties.

Rather than a $300 fine for the first offense, the first offense would be set at $50, second at $150, and third at $300. Opponents working for these reductions made the argument that it works better to establish incentives rather than punishments. As Stump said in response, gosh, not incurring a $300 fine would seem like a pretty darn good incentive. And it doesn’t cost a penny to not use your phone while you’re driving.

Nevertheless, legislation is often a matter of baby steps. The most important things here are that using your phone while driving would become a primary offense, meaning the cops can stop you for that reason alone, and it would no longer be necessary to prove you were texting, which the current law against texting while driving requires. All it requires is that the cop sees you with your phone in your hand.

I guess considering that people now text or call with no fear of repercussions it makes sense to give them a break-in period with low fines. Then, once everyone knows that this is no longer permitted, perhaps fines can be increased, if indeed that is shown to promote compliance. Regardless, if we can get at least a significant percentage of drivers to hang up their dang phones while driving it will make the roads a lot safer for us and for them, too.

Biker Quote for Today

Never sell a motorcycle – it is a part of you. Just buy more.

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/dead-red-bill-advances-with-improvements/

[lisaholtjames]

Another Legislative Update

When “going for a scoot” really means scooting.

I spoke last week about the planned hearing on the latest dead red bill being on Tuesday, but due to weather(?) or whatever, it did not happen and was rescheduled for same time, same place this week. That is to say, 2 p.m. Tuesday in room 352. So if you have a chance to show up in support, that would be a good thing.

Beyond that, I’m just going to make it easy for myself by again pasting in Stump’s report.

Today is the 72nd day of the 72nd Colorado General Assembly and 197 Senate Bills and 250 House Bills have been introduced. SB-012 (Use of Mobile Electronic Devices While Driving) has passed the 2nd and 3rd readings in the Senate. As soon as it’s assigned to a House committee (and it might not be the H-T&LG) I’ll send out an action alert with contact information so we can contact the committee members and ask for their support on the bill. There have been a couple amendments passed, so the Engrossed version is different than the introduced version.

You can read the latest version at: http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2019A/bills/2019a_012_eng.pdf

The title has been changed, so the entire engrossed version is double underlined indicating Senate Amendments. The big change is lowering of the fines and points, which basically had to be done to pass the bill. It’s still a good bill though and hopefully will make our roads safer. SB-144 (Dead-Red Bill) is scheduled for S-T&E Committee hearing on Tuesday, 3/19, at 2:00 PM. There will be an amendment introduced to delete the “wait for 2 minutes” but add in “the signal doesn’t recognize a motorcycle” so it allows the rider discretion on when to proceed.

There are also a couple other bills I’m keeping a close eye on: SB-175 and HB-1221. SB-175 (Serious Bodily Injury Vulnerable Road User Penalties) is scheduled for a Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Monday, 3/18. This bill would increase the penalty for causing serious bodily injury to vulnerable road users and motorcycles are on the list. You can read it at: http://leg.colorado.gov/bill-search?field_sessions=57701&sort_bef_combine=field_bill_number%20ASC&search_api_views_fulltext=SB19-175&field_chamber=2&field_bill_type=75.

HB-1221 (Regulation of Electric Scooters) is also on my radar, which includes EPAMD. It’s scheduled for a H-T&LG Hearing on Tuesday, 3/19. More info later.

OK, so I’m interested in this regulation of electric scooters thing Stump noted. But it occurs to me, is the proposal related to those little stand-up things, like Lime, or in regard to the scooters that we’ve had forever, only powered by electricity? I suspect it is the former so that would not be of all that much interest to motorcyclists. We’ll see.

Biker Quote for Today

With cars’ air conditioning, kids, radio, mobile phone, etc. they just don’t hear you. The only ones that hear you are the ones you tick off.

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/another-legislative-update/

[lisaholtjames]

Riding In March

Just a shot in recognition that it is currently Bike Week in Daytona. (Photo by Friggs Pryor)

I was not the only one out of a bike on Thursday and Friday last week. I saw three other riders on Thursday and four on Friday. Meanwhile I was doing my standard thing of making sure each of my bikes gets ridden at least once every month.

It might seem that with that kind of policy I never have a chance for my riding skills to get rusty, and that is mainly true. However, when you think about it, in the worst case I can still go nearly two months without riding. That would be if I got out on the first of one month and then was not able to get out again until the last of the following month. That has happened a couple times.

And while it wasn’t so bad this time, it still had been quite a while since I had ridden. I went out first on the Honda and that was OK but when I brought that bike home and went out again on the Concours I could really feel a bit of hesitancy. The Connie is a big, heavy bike, and I just didn’t feel quite as at home on it as I normally do. Of course the best remedy for that is to ride, so I did. And by the time I was getting home I was definitely feeling more comfortable.

Not that the spin I took on the Honda was all peaches and cream. The road had been clear the day before but I didn’t pay much attention to the fact that we had a light snowfall overnight. I took off down our street and quickly found myself having to cross areas of ice from where the snow had fallen, melted, and then frozen. This was late morning and everywhere I rode through shaded areas it was the same. Then where it wasn’t icy it was generally wet. I got splattered a good bit and had to clean my visor when I got home. Of course the bike got pretty dirty, too, but I’ll tend to that later.

Getting out on the V-Strom the next day was totally different: dry and warm. It was just a good day to ride and was also an uneventful ride. We like those. “Eventful,” in this case, is a pejorative term. As in the Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”

But now the weather is to get cold again. I sure hope I’m able to get out at least a few more times in March. Heck, that’s part of the reason I live in Colorado.

Biker Quote for Today

The best path through life is the open road.

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/riding-in-march/

[lisaholtjames]

Distracted Driving–Time To Contact Your Senator

Just a shot of a vintage bike.

OK, the time is now to contact your state senator in support of this distracted driving bill, SB-12. The bill would be a step toward persuading the idiot cagers that it is not OK to be using your phone while driving and, um, oh, by the way . . . mowing down pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists while being distracted by that phone.

The bill was passed out of committee a while ago, then made its way through the Senate appropriations committee, and will now come up for a vote on the floor of the full Senate on Thursday this week. We all need to contact our senators and urge them to support it. I do admit I have an advantage here, and will not be contacting my senator. That’s because she was the sponsor of the bill. I think I can rest assured that Sen. Lois Court will vote for it. For everyone else, if you don’t know who your senator is, here is a link that will help you find out: https://leg.colorado.gov/find-my-legislator

There are also two other bills of interest that you may also want to contact your legislators about. I’ll quote from an email from Stump on these:

Also, on Tuesday, 3/12, SB19-144 (Motorcyclists & Malfunctioning Traffic Signals) will be heard by the S-T&E Committee Hearing at 2:00 PM in room 352. Reminder to contact the S-T&E Committee members ASAP and ask for them to vote yes on the bill. It’s also very important for people to show up and testify or just show “silent support” on Tuesday. (It’s a Traveling Trophy Points event too!) Please do your “grass-roots” part and attend this important hearing. Thanks.

A bill was introduced last Friday, 3/1, SB-175 (Serious Bodily Injury Vulnerable Rd. User Penalties) and it slipped by me as it’s assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee. But the word “motorcycle” in the bill caught my attention. The bill lists motorcycles as “vulnerable road users,” along with 19 other users, and causing serious bodily injury to a vulnerable road user could result in license suspension for 1 year. I’ll be watching this bill more closely as it goes to S-Jud. Committee hearing on Monday, 3/18. The bill can be read at: http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/SB19-175.

Lastly, as you know the wording in each bill has to be precise so there is no confusion as to the intent of the bill. Last year a bill was passed which changed wording in a previous bill from “and” to “or” (probably a big deal, I don’t remember). This might be helpful information for testimony as SB-144 is basically just changing some wording to make the law definable for motorcyclists. The point being is that HB19-1148 changes the maximum jail sentence for certain crimes from one year to three hundred sixty-four days. I just might have to attend the next hearing on this bill to hear why this bill has been introduced.

Biker Quote for Today

Why Motorcycles are Better than Men: Motorcycles don’t say smart-alecky dumb stuff.

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/distracted-driving-time-to-contact-your-senator/

[lisaholtjames]

Chicks Dig Bikes

The idea that women are drawn to men on motorcycles has never discouraged any guy from riding.

Chicks. Dig. Bikes. Those three words succinctly sum up one of the big reasons some guys are attracted to motorcycles at a young age. That was not the main reason I fell in love with motorcycles when I was a teenager, but I’d be lying if I said it was not something I thought about.

For the most part, it didn’t much matter though, because my mother would not permit me to buy a motorcycle “as long as you live in my house.” Thus, I was limited to occasionally snagging a ride on someone else’s bike, but I didn’t know many other guys who had bikes either.

That changed in the summer between my junior and senior years in high school. I got a summer job working at a family camp on an island in a lake in Minnesota. There were several of us kids who were basically the gofers for the adults running the camp. We provided manual labor when necessary, took the big camp boat in to the marina to pick up supplies, and did anything else we were told to do. Mainly we got to spend the summer at camp on the island and that was something we would have done for free, although they did pay us $25 a week.

One of the other kids was my friend Terry. Terry showed up at the beginning of summer on a brand new Honda 305 Scrambler. And he told me that any time I wanted I was free to ride it. How many different ways can you say “heaven”?

Terry and I shared quarters at camp. We lived in a big, canvas army tent draped over a custom-built wooden, screened frame that fitted it perfectly. Terry always left the key to the bike hanging on a nail near the head of his bed. The bike was parked at the marina and any time I was headed to the marina and would have some time to ride I’d grab the key.

Adding Girls to the Mix Of course one of the nice things about our jobs was that families would come to camp with their teenage daughters. As the guys working at camp, we were seen as very cool, and summer romances were inevitable. On one particular week, a family from North Dakota arrived with their two gorgeous daughters, Randy and Sherri.

Everybody knew about Terry’s bike, and they also knew I was allowed to ride it, so one day when I needed to run into town I told Randy and Sherri if they’d like to come along I’d take them for a ride on the motorcycle. Of course they said yes.

As I was getting ready to go I went to get the bike key. Terry was there and he told me he didn’t want me taking the girls on the bike. My memory is not clear so I’m not sure if he told me it was a safety issue with my relative inexperience or whether I just assumed that. Either way he said not to do exactly what I was intending to do.

So the girls and I headed in to the marina and I told them what Terry had said. I told them I’d still take them for a ride, just don’t tell Terry I did it. We got to the marina and Randy and I got on the bike and rode into town on whatever errand I was on. Having completed it, we got on the bike just as a couple local guys came walking along. One of them called out, “Look at the girl on the bike!” Yes, she was a beauty and I felt proud to be the guy on the bike with her.

Now, the 305 Scrambler was a torquey bike and I was still having trouble smoothly releasing the clutch and easing on the throttle. In this instance, pulling away from the curb, I inadvertently popped a wheelie, thus making the whole scene that much cooler.

Randy and I headed back to the marina, where she got off and Sherri got on, and Sherri and I went for a ride out of town for a bit. Then we all got in the boat and headed back to camp.

Back at camp, when I saw Terry, he asked me if I’d taken the girls for a ride. I hated the thought of lying so I told him yes, I had. Terry could have chewed my butt, and I was prepared for him to do so, but he didn’t. In fact, he didn’t say a word. But that motorcycle key was never hanging from that nail again, and I never rode that bike again.

Regrets? Yes, I’ve had a few. But I’ll never forget popping that wheelie while those other guys stood watching, thinking (in my mind at least) that I must be just about the luckiest guy in the world.

Biker Quote for Today

I saw you have a motorcycle and tattoos . . . excuse me while I take my clothes off.

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/chicks-dig-bikes/

[lisaholtjames]

Profile: New Zealand Calling

Photo by Zigy Kaluzny

Zigy Kaluzny wanted to get away – far away. And he didn’t just want to visit a country, he wanted to see it. So he contacted a bike dealer and arranged to buy a 1996 BMW R1100GS, with a guaranteed buy-back at the end of his trip. Off he went to New Zealand.

It was a trip filled with serendipity. Upon Kaluzny’s arrival in Wellington, on New Zealand’s North Island, the dealer picked him up at the airport and dropped him at the hostel where he had reservations. The hostel, or “backpacker” as they are known there, was literally right around the corner from the dealership.

After checking in at the backpacker, he strolled over to the dealership to handle the paperwork with the bike. The dealer mentioned that one of his customers was planning to visit the U.S. and would love to talk to him, but was away on his sailboat at the moment. Perhaps when Kaluzny returned the bike . . .

Two Big Islands New Zealand consists of two long, narrow main islands and is approximately the size of California or England. One thousand miles in length, there is reportedly no place on either island farther than 75 miles from the ocean. Intending to ride the South Island first, Kaluzny boarded a ferry and started riding counter-clockwise around it. New Zealand has impressive mountains, but, as Kaluzny says, “Since I live in the mountains, I wanted to stay by the ocean.”

The North Island has 75 percent of the population and two of the country’s largest cities, Wellington and Auckland. The South Island has the other 25 percent of the population, with Christchurch as the largest city.

“The South Island is more beautiful. It’s much more agricultural, it’s sheep country, lots of rolling hills. Plus, I’ve never been to a place where you can be at a glacier that then runs down through the jungle to the ocean. There’s a jungle on either side of the glacier and the run-off goes to the ocean right there. Climatically I don’t think there’s any other place like that in the world.”

Kaluzny didn’t have a plan or itinerary.

“I would just wander, and I knew about some places I was curious to go to, because I had done some research. But for me it’s more the day to day experience of being in a place and seeing what happens. I’d run into motorcyclists all the time, and sit and have dinner if we were staying in the same hostel.”

One spot of particular interest was the town of Blackball. This mining town was the site of a big union struggle years ago and has a lot of history. The main hotel is an old Victorian building that is “a target for motorcyclists,” says Kaluzny. It was named the Blackball Hilton, but the international hotel chain sent them a cease and desist letter, so they changed the name to “Formerly the Blackball Hilton.”

“I pulled up and there were about a dozen motorcycles, and I immediately sat down and started talking with the riders. With motorcyclists, unless they’re a bunch of Harley guys, in general, you’re all immediately companions of the road.”

On another day, in a tiny town whose name he doesn’t remember, Kaluzny was sitting having coffee and he looked out the window and saw a couple walking around the GS and talking about it. “I go out and I say hi and they start talking to me and I realize it’s the couple he (the dealer in Wellington) was talking about. So they invited me to come and stay with them.”

That openness and friendliness is part of what Kaluzny loves about New Zealand.

“The people are tremendously friendly, but there’s enough British reserve so it’s not like you’re always being bugged by somebody. It’s like America in the ’60s, just rip out the Vietnam war. Most stories from travel, for me at least, are either really terrible meals or really weird people, or experiences that could have been dreadful but turn out OK. I don’t have any like that from New Zealand.”

What he does have are stories of touching encounters. In a small town one day, getting ready to ride after having lunch, “I’m putting my helmet on and a little old lady comes up, a very elegant little old lady, and she says, ‘Just touring are we?’ And I said yes, that’s right, and she said ‘Well, how do you like our country?’ I went into my 5-minute spiel about how beautiful it was, how friendly the people were, how much I enjoyed the food, why I love New Zealand, and she listens and she says ‘Yes, we think so too.’ I smiled for the next 20 kilometers.”

Not All Smiles There was one New Zealander, however, who Kaluzny would rather not have encountered.

“New Zealand has the world’s only alpine parrot. They are profoundly destructive. They’ll rip up tents, they chew boots, they love rubber and fabrics like that. I come out in the morning and some parrot has feasted on my seat.”

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been warned. There were signs in the parking lot to “Be aware the kea is here.” But what American would suspect a bird twice the size of a pigeon would do such damage?

One subtle danger for Kaluzny was the lack of traffic on the highways. It was common to be riding a major highway and not see another vehicle for minutes at a time.

“We (motorcyclists) are so used to being hypervigilant, then suddenly, when you’re in the middle of nowhere, you stop some of the hypervigilance after awhile. And of course that’s always dangerous. I’d have to tap myself on the helmet and say, Zigy, there’s a car out there somewhere, pay attention.”

An annoyance was the ubiquitous sand flies, little gnat-sized critters.

“They are everywhere. If I would stop along the road and want to take a nap I’d have to keep my helmet on. You can’t camp out without being in a tent.”

Nearing the End After circling the South Island Kaluzny took the ferry back to the North Island, to Wellington, and headed counter-clockwise around it. At one small town of about two blocks, Onga-Onga, “I liked it so much, and it was getting late, so I wanted to stay there where it was totally quiet.” There were no hostels, and a local tried unsuccessfully to find him a place to camp, so he rolled on.

Then, on the very last day he was stopped along a beach and a car pulled up. Two people got out, a Maori (native) woman and her daughter. As they talked, she asked Kaluzny about disappointments. He replied that he had not gotten to attend a Maori hangi, a tribal feast.

Taking a pen and paper, she wrote and handed him the paper, saying, “Here’s my name, my phone number, and my email. Next time you come back over call me and we’ll invite you over for one.”

“I was really touched by that,” he says. “It still gives me goose bumps, it was just generous.”

And so typically New Zealand.

Biker Quote for Today

If you see me in your rear view on one wheel . . . stay in your $#@% lane! (OK, I do have problems with this quote but it was interesting so I figured I’d use it.)

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/profile-new-zealand-calling/

[lisaholtjames]

Examiner Resurrection: Converting Gas Motorcycles To Electric With Everyday Technology

As far as I can tell, this guy is no longer in business. I mean, this story is from January 2011. But this is still a very interesting idea.

Yes, even you can do this at home.

The future for vehicles may be electric, but that doesn’t meant the present can’t be, too. All it really takes is a motorcycle, some batteries, an industrial-type electric motor, and some know-how. Just ask Chris Ravana. He’ll be happy to show you the electric bikes he has built. Heck, he’ll be happy to take you for a ride.

And by the way, if your interest is in going green, you can’t get much greener. Doing business as Blindspot Cycles out of Fort Collins, CO, Chris sources his parts as much as possible from salvage yards.

Take his 1986 Honda Rebel. The frame and most parts were from a junker. The brakes, tires, and other equipment that affect safety are new. The electric motor was originally used in a big floor-buffing machine. The batteries are straight-off-the-shelf deep-cycle batteries like those used in RVs and boats. Voila! You’re set to go.

Now, admittedly you’re not going to go very far or very fast. The Rebel uses four 12-volt batteries that give it a top speed of about 53 mph and a range of around 30 miles. This is definitely a ride for in town, such as commuting to work, comparable to the electric scooters that seem such a good niche for electrics. The difference is, this is a real motorcycle and it’s something you can build for yourself.

Speed on electric motorcycles of this kind is directly a factor of the number of batteries used. The more 12-volts, the more power to the motor and the faster the motor–and the tires–spin. Chris recently acquired the much higher-tech battery from a Ford Escape hybrid–a 300-volt battery pack.

“I have some engineers that I work with, and we’re going to look at how to break that down and put it into a couple different bikes. I may do a bike that’s in the 96-volt arena, so theoretically a 100-mile-an-hour bike. And then I’ll look at breaking it out into a couple smaller bikes.”

Art that fools people Chris’s interest in building these bikes is not so much the commercial as the artistic.

“Basically I’m an artist and right now my medium is motorcycles. A lot of electric motorcycles are plastic spaceships and I don’t want to create plastic spaceships. I want to tribute classic styles. People all the time see me on these and don’t know that they’re electric until they don’t hear it. And they’re like ‘Oooh’ and I get that double-, triple-, quadrduple-take. I’ve been run off the road by people doing this (turns head way round). For me, that’s the point. For me that’s the ultimate design challenge, to take something that wasn’t supposed to be and fool everyone.”

Nevertheless, he is a true believer in electric vehicles.

“I’ve been riding motorcycles my whole life, I’ve just always had a motorcycle. But I hate having gas bikes. They stink, they leak, and never seem to run right. With these, when you turn it on it’s gonna go or it’s not gonna go, or it’s charged or it’s not charged. It’s really that simple. Other than that, there’s no maintenance, they don’t leak, they don’t produce any smells, they hardly produce any noise, and they’re just really user friendly and simple.”

Honoring the look A common question Chris gets is why he retains the gas tank on his electric bikes.

“Because it helps people understand it’s a motorcycle. I don’t want someone to think that I’m riding down the street on a trailer or some miscellaneous pile of parts. I want people to look at it and think, ‘Ah, it’s a cool chopper.’ The all of a sudden they realize it doesn’t make any noise and it’s not running on gas. I would love to do all vintage bikes, board track racers, and just really cool old stuff and keeping the tanks on, keeping them looking like motorcycles is really important to me from a design standpoint.”

Chris first got interested in converting motorcycles to electric when “I saw something online about someone who had built a bike and claiming you could do this for $1,800 or something like that. It turned out not to be the case at all. I was just intrigued and I said you know, I’ve got to build one of those.”

He works totally on a custom basis, building bikes only when a customer orders one. Each bike is made to fit the customer’s specific desires. If you want one he’d be glad to work with you, just contact him at info@blindspotcycles.com. (Nope, not gonna happen. Sorry. But these links below are still good.)

If you want to build one for yourself, there are several websites that offer instructions. Here are a few: http://visforvoltage.org/forums/electricrides/motorcyclesandlargescooters/custom-builds-or-homebuilt http://visforvoltage.org/forum-topic/motorcycles-and-large-scooters/587-my-kz750-electric-motorcycle-project

Biker Quote for Today

He was born free. And he loved to drift. He loved his motorcycle and his motorcycle loved him. But he did not believe in love and attachments. He just wanted to drift. He was addicted to his loneliness. He was free. And he loved to ride his motorcycle. — Avijeet Das

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/examiner-resurrection-converting-gas-motorcycles-to-electric-with-everyday-technology/

[lisaholtjames]

Ride This Year With The RMMRC

Looking for some folks to ride with? Try the RMMRC.

As the OFMC continues to shrink–after years of growing–it is starting to look more and more like I made a good choice to join the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Association (RMMRC). The OFMC continues to ride but we are back down to just three guys this year, same as when we started more than 25 years ago.

So it’s good to have another group to ride with.

So what rides are on the RMMRC agenda this year? There is an events page and here’s what is coming up.

Capulin Volcano Ride — May 25 and May 26. Two-day ride from Denver to visit Capulin Volcano National Monument in northeast New Mexico. We will stay overnight in Trinidad, CO. Capulin Volcano was formed approximately 60,000 years ago from four lava flows which formed the nearly perfectly-shaped cinder cone that rises over 1,000 feet above the surrounding landscape. A road winds around the cone to the top of the volcano.

BMW MOA Rally Ride – and so much more! — June 9 through June 20. Join us for all (or parts) of this 12-day ride that will include the 2019 BMW MOA Rally in Lebanon, TN and tours of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, AL, the Corvette Factory and Museum in Bowling Green, KY, and Hannigan Motorsports in Murray, KY. We will visit 8 states outside of Colorado and ride approximately 3,050 miles.

Rocky Mountain National Park and Walden loop — July 13. This will be a long, all-day ride traversing Rocky Mountain National Park on US-34W from Loveland to Granby, riding CO-125N from Granby to Walden, and CO-14E from Walden to Fort Collins. US-34/Trailridge Road, CO-125 and CO-14 are perennial favorites for Colorado riders and offer an abundant supply of curves, elevation changes, and scenery. In fact, this route has been named one of the top motorcycle rides in the US for 2019. Assuming a start and finish near I-25 and 136th, the ride will total approximately 335 miles.

Ride Colorado – A 4-Day Scenic Tour — August 9 through 12. This will be a tremendous 4-day tour of southwestern Colorado, featuring lots of twisties and awesome scenery EACH day! Approximately 1,254 total miles.

Fall Colors Ride – See Fall Colors in the Rocky Mountains — September 28 and 29. Join us for a 2-day weekend ride. We will spend Saturday night in Steamboat Springs.

Of course, to participate in an RMMRC ride you have to join the group. It’s $25 for a one-year membership and if you’re looking for folks to ride with I strongly recommend it. There are monthly meetings that frequently have interesting programs and if you’re free, there are impromptu rides going on any time the weather permits.

Let’s go for a ride, hey?

Biker Quote for Today

If you can’t buy happiness, explain motorcycles and beer.

from Motorcycle Riding http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/ride-this-year-with-the-rmmrc/