Threats To Motorcycling

May 21st, 2026


Racing will always involve a certain amount of risk.

American Motorcyclist, the publication of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), has a cover article in the latest issue about the “10 Biggest Threats To Motorcycling.” For those of you who are not AMA members I figured it might be worthwhile to discuss these 10 threats. I’ll spread this out over several posts because otherwise this could get extremely long.

Autonomous Vehicles
The first is autonomous vehicles. If you get the publications of the AMA or the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) you know both organizations have focused a lot on these self-driving cars. Nobody is opposed to them. Come the day when the technology is really well honed and the systems can flawlessly recognize a motorcycle and other smaller objects then they will almost certainly lead to safer roads for everyone.

The point is simply that that is not where the equipment is yet. And the folks who are out there every day defending our rights and safety on the road are adamant that–as we all should be–that before these vehicles are allowed out there they must meet exacting standards. As it is, there have already been fatalities of motorcyclists hit by self-driving cars.

The article sums it up saying, “The AMA has been outspoken about the dangers of AVs for the last decade and has called for sufficient testing and regulation. The technology needs to be proven to detect all road users–including motorcycles–in all situations before being allowed on the road. Once the technology is proven to be reliable, AVs will be beneficial to the safety and well-being of motorcyclists. The AMA will continue to be in favor of regulations that hold the manufacturers of these technologies accountable and protect motorcyclists.”

Insurance Issues
There are very real risks associated with riding motorcycles. We all know this and we accept it. But we also all need insurance for when things go badly. And when the costs of lawsuits outweigh the potential income from insuring motorcycle events, guess what the insurance company is going to do: your event is not going to happen.

That’s where the concept of inherent risk comes in. I wrote about this a little while ago. The idea is that we need state legislatures to pass legislation that protects land and facility owners and event organizers from lawsuits based on injuries that are not caused by deficiencies of the facility. Basically, “it was your fault you crashed so don’t go suing the track for your screw-up.”

Arkansas and Texas have already passed this legislation and momentum is building in other states. Nothing will kill motorcycle racing faster than the inability of tracks to operate. The time for this legislation is now.

OK, that gets the ball rolling. I’ll follow up with the other eight, not necessarily in an unbroken series of posts. Heck, I want to write about riding motorcycles, too, though with the rain and freezing weather we’ve had lately it’s been a while since I’ve been able to get out. Warmer weather is in the forecast.

Biker Quote for Today

Trucks never slow down in the rain. The best time to pass trucks is when you’re going uphill.

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Posted in American Motorcyclist Association, Biker Issues, motorcycle clubs, Motorcycle Riders Foundation, Motorcycle Safety | No Comments »

Is This A Bad Idea?

May 18th, 2026


These are the three helmets I want to get rid of.

There is the ideal world and then there is the real world we actually live in. I’m considering something we’ve all heard for a long time is not good, and I’ll tell you why. Ideal world vs. real world.

We have a bunch of helmets we no longer use. I have an old Bieffe that I never liked and never wore much. Judy has her original AGV helmet, which we have replaced with a new Shoei. And we have an old Shoei that was Charley’s. None of these has been in a crash, they’re just old.

Common wisdom says you should discard helmets once they reach a certain age. I was going to do that but then I got to thinking.

What if I gave them to a thrift store? The thinking being, anyone who buys a helmet from a thrift store is probably not someone who has the money to go buy a new helmet at a motorcycle shop. And while an old helmet may not give the protection a new one will, if it is a difference of them crashing in an old helmet or no helmet, even an old helmet has to be the better option.

This is really not even theoretical. I’m drawing from my own experience.

When I first started riding the only helmet I had was a Bell hang-gliding half helmet, from my days as a hang-glider pilot. And that helmet went through a crash with me, though considering the results, my face may well have taken more of the impact than the helmet did. Not once did any one of my hang-gliding buddies suggest I needed to trash that helmet and get a new one.

I eventually gave up hang-gliding and bought a motorcycle. I had a helmet so that was the one I used–when I wore a helmet at all. Back in those days I rarely did.

When I got my first full-face helmet I did not go to Vickery or Fay Myers, I was passing a yard sale and saw a couple motorcycle helmets offered. I stopped and bought one for $25. Used, of course, who knows how old or if it had been in any misadventures.

The point is, this was what I could afford. Heck, I couldn’t really afford the motorcycle; I had to borrow money to buy that for the grand sum of $800.

I never had a crash wearing either the Bell or Bieffe but if I had I’m sure they would have offered me some protection. And if I had only had the option of buying a new, much more expensive helmet, I would not have.

Am I wrong to think that there are people out there today who are just like me way back when?

I’m just sitting on these three helmets for now. I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts, particularly if you strongly disagree with me. Thanks.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if everyone on your last group ride works at your law firm, or plays golf with you.

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Posted in Biker Issues, Motorcycle Gear, motorcycle helmets, Motorcycle Safety | 1 Comment »

Time For More Stupid Questions

May 14th, 2026


Where I’d rather be.

I don’t generally fall back on these humorous things except in winter when there’s no riding, but we’re leaving on a really big trip soon, with lots to do to get ready, and there’s still a huge amount of stuff needing to be resolved following Charley’s death. So I’m taking the easy way out.

What are some of the most stupid things people ask you while you’re on your bike? Here are some more from this thread on Adventure Rider.

  • Came out of the store the other day, and there was a guy standing next to my KLX250, and said he had a few questions about my bike. He wanted to get one like it. And he actually asked, “how many CCs is the klx250, 450?”
  • Overheard from another patron at a small town gas station where I stopped to each lunch …”Can’t believe someone would spend 12-15,000 dollars on a motorcycle just to save a little money on gas”
  • A guy was dropping parts off at work as I was putting on my Stitch to leave. He said “Aren’t you hot in that?” My stock answer is “I’d rather sweat than bleed.” He told me that he’s one of those guys that wears a wifebeater and jeans doing 105 on his sportbike. :huh I just said “Let me know how that works out for you.” as I walked out the door.
  • Tuesday morning, I come dripping and sloshing into the office (it seems my jacket zippers have become non waterproof and it was raining cats and dogs the whole way) as I’m stripping off the sopping wet dripping mess no less than three people came up and with an amazed look asked me if I really rode today. Nope. Log flume.
  • Went to Cabela’s in Hamburg, PA. yesterday and as I was pulling on my helmet a man walking by and asks are you wearing a helmet? You know in PA you don’t have to wear one. You must be from Jersey. I responded that no I was not wearing a helmet but was encasing my head to protect me from the covert microwaves that the government is sending out to control all of us and that if he lived in Jersey he would know this. The look on the dude’s face was priceless. Needless to say our conversation ended at this point. May be it was a sign!!!
  • I was going round Lake Michigan and stopped at a gas station for gas and a drink. The clerk asks me why I was wearing a snomobile suit in summer….. I was wearing my one piece Areostitch suit.
  • A co-worker known for smart-assed replies walked into my office, notices my helmet and asks, “Do you ride a motorcycle?” My obvious answer: “No, I’m just a really bad driver.”
  • “Do you race that?” Made more funny by the fact that the bike had a full set of hard luggage fitted at the time.
  • The patio was full of folks and one yelled out “Hey why don’t you buy a “real bike” you can pretty much tell what he was riding. I was on an old BMW R1100rs: My mouth got ahead of my brain… I blurted out; My wife rides an Ultra Classic, why would I want to ride a chick bike. I got a few seconds of dead silence followed by his friends giving him crap that she rides a bigger bike than he does. I’m thinking I did not make any friends that day.
  • Him: Why don’t you ride a Harley? Me: I can’t drink that much beer….

OK. Hope you got a bit of a chuckle. Next time I hope I’ll have some riding to write about.

Biker Quote for today

No one has ever said, “I wonder where that intersecting freeway goes.” — Eric Trow

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Future Motorcyclists?

May 11th, 2026

I was headed to the grocery store yesterday and saw these three kids on their ebikes. They were waiting for a green light and when it came they started across only to have a person in a car make a right turn on red right in front of them. Hey buddy, pay attention.

I went on to the store and was only there for a couple minutes, then headed home. I turned off this main street where I had seen them and proceeded down this cross street and they came into view again, turning onto the street I was now on. I followed them a ways till they turned off at a park. Pulling away from a stop sign you can see one of them doing a wheelie.

What I only thought about later was that all of this was being recorded on my dash camera. That’s the footage you see above. If you can zoom in definitely do so because I couldn’t get my video editing software to do that. And it’s only my second encounter with them that’s in the video.

Anyway, watching these guys I couldn’t help but think about other members of the now defunct OFMC. Our original group was John, Bill, and me. John and Bill have known each other since grade school. When they got into junior high the two of them, plus several other friends, all got scooters, like Cushmans, and they were a gang.

More than once I’ve heard how they would ride their scooters to school on cold days, all bundled up, and stop a block from school, take off hats and gloves, unzip their jackets and pull up at school being totally cool. Of course they had lots of fun on the scooters–who wouldn’t?

They didn’t go right on to motorcycles as they got older but at one point John got the urge. He bought a Yamaha 750 Virago, which prompted me to get my Honda CB750, and then Bill to get his Honda Shadow. And the OFMC was born.

So the gestation period took a while but it finally produced results. How can that not happen with so many of these young guys–and girls!–out there today on these ebikes? Don’t tell me those things are not motorcycles. They are cycles and they have motors. Surely at least some of these kids will get the bug. I hope a whole lot of them do.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you’ve ever stopped at a red light & forgot to put a foot down (sober).

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Posted in Biker Issues, Electric motorcycles, motorcycle video | No Comments »

Touring On The V-Strom

May 7th, 2026


Me on the V-Strom.

I used to have three motorcycles so when it came to riding I could choose the one that would be best for the particular ride. Now I’m down to just one, so that’s no longer a choice.

Apropos to that, Clif made this request: “Now that you’re down to only the Vstrom, I was wondering if you would consider doing a post about how that is working for you on longer trips. Thanks.”

Hey, happy to oblige. Here we go.

In the beginning I had only the 1980 Honda CB750 Custom. When the OFMC went on our annual week-long trips that was the bike I rode. But then in 1999 I bought a new 1999 Kawasaki Concours. That was a fine road bike and became my main touring bike for many years. Some years later I picked up the 2006 Suzuki V-Strom 650 but I still favored the Concours for travel because it was just supreme on the highway.

It wasn’t the bike I always took, though. There were a number of years when, for a variety of reasons, I rode one of the others. Like when I was set to leave with the RMMRC on the Great River Road trip in 2022. I went to check my air pressure and found that the valve stem was totally rotted out and would surely have failed somewhere along the way. I quickly transferred all my gear to the V-Strom and headed out.

The thing is, there was never an occasion when I regretted being on the V-Strom. And at times I was really glad I was.

For instance, on the Great River Road trip we were going through some very hilly country in Missouri. Dave was leading and I was right behind him. Dave is a very good rider, on a very big bike. I figured my bike had to be more agile than his, and so anything he could do I should be able to do. So I made a decision to just stick right with him. And I did, and what a great day of riding that was! I don’t normally ride that aggressively, but I did this day. What fun.

Then there was a ride I did, also with the RMMRC, the next year, down into New Mexico and Arizona. I was on the V-Strom again and everyone else was on much bigger bikes. We did some hard riding and several people commented on how “that little bike just kept right up.” Well, yeah, it does just fine. But then there was a day when we were on a super twisty bit of two-lane and as I put it then, I watched all these guys wrestle their big machines through these turns and meanwhile I was dancing. That light, agile bike was a dream.

Now, I will say, the nice thing about the Concours was that I could go high speeds and it just cruised, so smoothly. Going that fast on the little 650 it just feels like the bike is really busy. I get the impression something just a bit bigger might be nice. That’s why I’ve been looking at a couple Yamahas, the FJ-09 and the Tracer 9. At 800cc, either of these bikes would be just enough bigger to be a little smoother without having all that weight that even bigger bikes have.

What has stopped me so far from getting either bike is that I hate buying without actually riding a bike to see how it actually feels for real. I had plans to go up to Cheyenne last fall to test a Tracer but then I got hit on the Honda and was prohibited by my neurosurgeon from driving–much less riding a motorcycle–for 12 weeks. Of course that demo days event was during that 12-week period. Now this year I’m looking at making a road trip out of going to some demo days event somewhere, maybe in Boise. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, I’m quite happy with the V-Strom. It’s a really good little bike.

Biker Quote for Today

“A motorcycle is a bicycle with a pandemonium attachment and is designed for the especial use of mechanical geniuses, daredevils and lunatics.” — George Fitch

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Posted in Honda motorcycles, Kawasaki, motorcycle clubs, motorcycle problems, Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club, Suzuki motorcycles, Tales of the OFMC, V-Strom | 2 Comments »

The Wisdom Of Pre-Riding

May 4th, 2026


Riding in the hills.

I’ve had this particular day ride in mind for the RMMRC since before my year’s riding got disrupted last year by my crash on the CB750. Now with the weather getting better and better I figured it’s time. But I also figured it would be a good idea to do the ride myself again first in case any of the roads are torn up or who knows what.

Sunday was warm but cloudy, while the forecast for the coming week was for cooler with rain (we should hope!). Sunday would be my day.

As I usually do when I’m heading this direction I went west on Belleview with thoughts of turning south on Santa Fe. But this was exactly what I was doing when I got hit head-on so I’m still a bit shy of that intersection. Instead, I went under Santa Fe, on to Lowell and then south on Lowell. South of Bowles, Lowell becomes South Platte Canyon Road and that would take me down to C-470. Lowell/South Platte Canyon is a much nicer, far less busy road than Santa Fe anyway so why not?

At C-470 I got on the slab just to the next exit, Wadsworth, and then off and south to the first right turn, Deer Creek Canyon Road. I headed on west into the foothills and was soon being followed by two other riders, none of us with the other. But I turned off Deer Creek Canyon Road onto South Deer Creek Road while they went straight.

South Deer Creek Road goes up that canyon about as far as it can and then starts climbing the side of the canyon, up and over. Lots of switchbacks and slow going. For me at least. Up in the switchbacks I encountered a group of sportbike riders blasting down the other direction. Hey guys, there’s a bit of gravel in the corners here–really? They were followed, at varying gaps, by four more guys who weren’t so gung-ho to scream down this particular bit of road.

I got on up and over and started down, then came to Oehlmann Park Road, which goes up and over another big hill. That was my route and here the turns were tighter, calling for a lot of simultaneous braking and throttle, and there was more sand and gravel. Just take it easy.

Up and over that one and then down to South Turkey Creek Road. I turned right, toward Tiny Town, but then went left at Twin Forks, under US 285, and just a short distance up Turkey Creek Canyon before my next right turn.

Here was why it was good to pre-ride this route: I screwed up. While my brain was saying don’t take the first right, pass it by and take the next one, I went ahead and turned at the first one. Idiot. This was Starlight Drive and all it is is a loop up into a residential area. So that put me right back on Turkey Creek Canyon Road. I went a quarter mile further and made the correct turn, onto High Drive. I won’t make that mistake when I’m leading the group, thanks to having made it now.

Once again it was up and over, along the way passing a deer standing right next to the road. Good reminder; this is deer country. Be aware.

This brought me down into the outskirts of Evergreen, I passed through Evergreen, on down to Kittredge, where I stopped at the place I’m figuring on taking the group for lunch. I needed to make sure what days and what hours it is open and it’s good to have that nailed down. On the last RMMRC ride I went on, up to Estes Park, our destination was a restaurant that is not open on the day of the week that we were there. Oops. I’m not making that mistake.

So I headed on down Bear Creek Canyon to Morrison, south to pick up US 285 going east, and this would be where I normally say “and from there on home” but in this case the story is not finished.

I came across on 285 and was approaching Lowell and smelled burning rubber. Of course my first thought was, is that me? In just an instant I knew it was not, as there was a car pulled over right ahead with smoke pouring out of a wheel well. And then I spotted the tread from that tire, which obviously had come off, still rolling until it rammed into the back end of the stopped car. Like, this just happened a few seconds ago! That was one of the weirdest things I’ve seen in a long time.

And with that, I then cruised on home.

Biker Quote for Today

If you start thinking about a shortcut, you’ll end up taking it. — Walter Colebatch

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club | No Comments »

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