Archive for the ‘American Motorcyclist Association’ Category

« Older Entries

More Threats To Motorcycling

Thursday, May 28th, 2026


You ride this, I’ll ride that.

I’ll pick up again on this list of “10 Biggest Threats To Motorcycling” that the AMA printed in its latest issue of American Motorcyclist.

Right To Repair
The third on the list is right to repair. The problem is that as vehicles of all kinds get more complex, the manufacturers are not excited about sharing their proprietary tech that is needed for someone else to fix them. They’d rather you had no option but to take your bike or car to the dealer.

As they put it, “Right to Repair is the idea that a consumer has the right to choose their preferred service and repair provider (including themselves and independent shops); this also means that manufacturers are required to make the parts and needed information available to the public for a fair and reasonable price.”

For example, what if the nearest dealer is 150 miles away, while you’ve got a good independent shop right down the street?

The AMA and other groups are promoting–with growing momentum–federal legislation to require that this be an option. Meanwhile, 20 plus states have passed their won Right to Repair legislation.

Land Access
This next item is perhaps the most contentious of the bunch, with some riders on one side of the argument and others on the other side. Motorized access to public lands is not something everyone wants to see. A lot of hikers strongly resent sharing a trail with someone on a motorcycle.

But motorcyclists are citizens and pay taxes, too, so you can’t rightfully close off all public land to all motorized traffic. It’s all about striking an equitable balance. It also helps to have separate hiking and biking trails.

The fix for the problem, the article says, is this:

“A wider recognition and understanding of the benefits that off-highway motorcycles have on the local economy, coupled with volunteer trail maintenance efforts spearheaded by these users, goes a long way in preventing potential closures from being proposed. Responsible trail use and partnerships with other users are important.
“When land-access issues do arise, it is important to be organized and engaged with the land managing agency. The AMA encourages alternative sites to be identified and made available if a recreational area is closed for an extended period of time.”

Keep this in mind because the next item on the list refers directly back to this.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 47. Spring fever starts in November.

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

Threats To Motorcycling

Thursday, 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.

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

Biker Junk

Thursday, January 23rd, 2025

This is the stuff I’ve accumulated and I don’t even care for this kind of stuff.

You’ve seen them, I know. The guys with leather vests and jackets festooned with pins and patches. Biker paraphernalia. Some guys just love that stuff.

To each his own, I guess. I’m not that kind of guy. But I am a biker, so this stuff inevitably comes my way nevertheless.

That photo above is all the stuff I could find to pull out and display. There’s an AMA Life Member patch, an ABATE of Colorado District 10 (defunct) patch, a Ride with the 40 patch from when that crew came through some years ago, and an OFMC patch. I do actually have an OFMC patch on one of my leather jackets. That’s the only patch I have on anything.

Of course there are the brass nuts from attending ABATE’s Last Brass Monkey Run each December 31. I only found six but I’m sure I have more somewhere.

Then there are the pins. Time was when every year I would receive a pin each from ABATE and the AMA tallying my years of membership. Finally people got wise at both organizations and asked “Do you wish to receive a pin each year?” I said no. Great idea. Save yourselves money and save me accumulating junk I don’t want.

Some people really get into this stuff, I know. That’s great. For you. I’ll pass, thanks.

Biker Quote for Today

Weekend forecast: Motorcycling with no chance of house cleaning or cooking.

Tags:,
Posted in ABATE, American Motorcyclist Association, motorcycle clubs, Motorcycle Gear | No Comments »

Calling On Roadside Assistance — When You Don’t Have It

Monday, December 3rd, 2018
pushing motorcycle

The kind of roadside assistance you really appreciate having.

For years I have spread the word about how your membership in the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) can provide you with good roadside assistance coverage at no additional cost. I have used it several times and I still recommend it.

But I had an issue recently that I think bears passing along.

Earlier this year I received a notice that I had been an AMA member long enough that I was now accorded Life Member status, which means I no longer have to pay annual dues. Of course, it is only logical that if they are cutting off a source of revenue–my dues–that they are also cutting some expenses on their end. I’m sure this is all explained in the information sent to me but, like most people, I probably didn’t read it carefully.

The first idea I had that things were different was when I got a notice that if I wanted to continue receiving the organization’s magazine in hard copy I would need to pay for that. Otherwise, I could read it online. OK, I get way too many magazines anyway, so not getting American Motorcyclist in hard copy was OK with me. Heck, we read the Denver Post online so I can read American Motorcyclist online, too.

But then, we were up in Loveland over Thanksgiving weekend seeing my nephew and family and my car died. The battery had not been showing any signs of weakness or impending death, and the fuses were all OK. I concluded I would need to have it towed to the local dealer to have the problem diagnosed.

So, the coverage the AMA provides is good for your car as well as your motorcycles. But then it dawned on me: with my Life Member status, was I still covered for roadside assistance? No. I checked and the answer was no. That requires that I sign up for AMA’s Life Member Plus program, which costs less than standard membership, so it’s not like they’re taking back all the benefits of life membership.

I concluded I would need to sign up for Life Member Plus but this was a holiday weekend and no one would be in the office until Monday. We had no intentions of hanging out in Loveland till late in the day on Monday. (Plus, when I did sign up I was told that the roadside assistance benefit would not kick in for 72 hours. I’m sure this is to ensure that people don’t sign up only when they need the service.)

Judy has AAA so she called them and we got towed. The problem was fixed and we were on the road again. But the point is, I was without roadside assistance coverage for some months and didn’t know it. That could have been a real issue if I had needed it. So I’m just passing this along so you don’t find yourself in that situation. And I do still recommend the AMA coverage. Their coverage pays for 29 miles of towing (if I remember correctly). Judy’s basic AAA coverage only paid for 6 miles of towing so we still had to pay for 3 miles. Not breaking the bank but free all the way would have been better.

Biker Quote for Today

Ever since the young men have owned motorcycles, incest has been dying out. — Max Frisch (OK, yeah, that’s a bizarre quote. You’ll have to google Max Frisch to get some idea what the heck he’s talking about.)

Tags:
Posted in American Motorcyclist Association | No Comments »

Why Your Support Counts

Thursday, November 8th, 2018
legislative hearing

ABATE of Colorado State Representative Bruce Downs testifies at the state capitol.

I was going to put up another Examiner Resurrection about efforts by a few Congress members to put a damper on the then-new practice of setting up motorcycle-only checkpoints.

I thought that post would be worth resurrecting (Examiner.com died a couple years ago) because this is an issue we are still dealing with today. The point here, in case you are new to the subject or need a memory prod, is that law enforcement agencies sometimes set up checkpoints to look for a variety of issues: seat belt use, valid driver’s license, whatever.

The problem with motorcycle-only checkpoints is that they single us out, and for no justifiable reason. You want to check for valid driver’s license? Fine, stop everyone and check everyone. But don’t stop only motorcyclists.

I decided instead to tie this in with last week’s post about the Demise of District 10. The point being, these kind of policies go unchallenged if you don’t have people active in groups such as ABATE and the American Motorcyclist Association fighting them.

Just a few days ago I read a piece about how the American commitment to democracy seems to be fading as fewer and fewer people find themselves personally involved in associations. Years ago, it said, this country was sometimes called a “nation of presidents.” The meaning is that if you were a farmer you belonged to a co-op, and the co-op had officers and members voted on issues of concern. If you worked in a factory you belonged to the union and the union had officers and the members voted on issues of concern.

Cooperative groups like this flourished throughout society, to the point that everyone lived and practiced democracy and many, many people served as the officers of these groups: a nation of presidents.

This sort of participatory democracy has diminished. And it affects us as motorcyclists. District 10 of ABATE of Colorado died because there were not enough people who felt it worth their time to get involved. But really, is it not worth your time? How do you feel about motorcycle-only checkpoints? How do you feel about future infrastructure projects not taking motorcyclists into consideration in their planning? How do you feel about HOV lanes–which federal law says must be free to motorcycles–slapping you with a fee and fine for using them without a transponder?

These issues and many more are addressed by a very small percentage of riders–those of us willing to take our time to stand up for those who ride.

So back to the Examiner post I was going to run. The gist is in the lead sentence, “Laying it on the line, 11 Congressmen today questioned a grant program that provides money for law enforcement agencies to set up motorcycle-only traffic checkpoints and called on U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to suspend it.”

While we have made progress on this issue, we’re still fighting it. How much more effective might our efforts be if more of our fellow riders stepped up and offered their support, contacting their elected representatives to voice their concerns.

At the very least, lend your support via numbers. The more members the AMA has the more impact they are able to have. Here are three groups you might want to consider joining.
American Motorcyclist Association
Motorcycle Riders Foundation
ABATE of Colorado

Biker Quote for Today

And God said “Let there be bikers” and the Devil ran like hell.

Tags:
Posted in ABATE, American Motorcyclist Association, Biker Issues, Motorcycle legislation, Motorcycle Riders Foundation | No Comments »

Motorcycle Touring Without The Pack

Monday, February 5th, 2018

I always enjoy the annual OFMC weeklong trip with the guys but beyond that I am largely someone who likes traveling alone. I can go where I want, stop when I want, and ride just as much or just as little as I want.

AMA Grand Tours logo

The AMA Grand Tours logo.

So I’m the kind of guy who is particularly interested in something like the AMA Grand Tours program. As explained by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), “AMA Grand Tours, which allow riders to travel to destinations on their own schedule, are the perfect choice for motorcyclists who enjoy traveling solo or with a small group of family or friends. Participants document their visits to tour destinations with a photo or a stamp in a travel log. For 2018, the American Motorcyclist Association is highlighting six AMA Grand Tour events.”

I’ll present the list below but first I want to mention one in particular: the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge.

This is one of those times when you really know that things do change over time. Holy smokes! The Hoka Hey is now an AMA-sanctioned event!? Wow.

A little history here. In its first year–and it was initially supposed to be a one-off event–this event met with a tidal wave of skepticism, cries of fraud, and just general doubt on the parts of many, many people, including some who participated. I don’t remember all the twists and turns at this point but if I recall correctly, the two guys who reached the finish line at the same time were disqualified and I don’t know if the $1 million prize (was that the amount?) was ever paid out. I mean, I guess it was, but there were people who disputed that, saying the “prize winner” was in cahoots with the promoter. I don’t claim to know.

This must have been about 10 years ago. And now here it is an AMA-sanctioned event. An understatement: I guess they got the kinks ironed out.

So what are these tours for 2018? Here’s the scoop, straight from the AMA.

2018 AMA Grand Tours Schedule
AMA District 2 Polar Bear Grand Tour: Jan. 7-Dec. 23
Residents in the Northeast can join riders starting in the winter season, when groups ride to points each Sunday in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Connecticut. Even though they start during winter, the rides continue throughout the year. The 2017-2018 tour marks the program’s 40th year.

Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge: July 13-Aug. 13
Starting in Medicine Park, Okla., this route continues for nearly 10,000 miles, entirely within the lower 48 states, before returning to Medicine Park for the finish. The tour traverses scenic byways and passes through several National Parks and Native American reservations.

SCMA USA Four Corners Tour: Jan. 15-Dec. 15
This AMA Grand Tour offers two USA Four Corner Tours: the “Regular” and the “True X.” The organizer provides a package containing the ride materials and reviews the completion of either ride when they receive the finisher’s package.

SCMA USA 15 Best Roads Tour: Jan. 15-Dec. 15
This challenge started in the spring of 2011 after the AMA published a “Best 15 Roads” article in American Motorcyclist. Two riders took the challenge that year: Kathy and Larry Lamarche from Canada. Since then, many riders have accomplished the feat. The list was updated in 2016 with three replacement roads and a route change to an existing road group unit.

SCMA California Adventure Series: Jan. 15-Dec. 15
The California Parks Adventure challenges riders to visit all the national parks in California. There are 25 national park sites, stretching from Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma in San Diego to the Lava Beds and Redwoods in northern California. The 25th and newest park, Caesar Chavez National Monument, was created in October 2012. The challenge is to ride to each park within a calendar year and document the visit with a photograph and a stamp from the visitor center in the SCMA Passport.

For the California Missions Tour, riders add a photo of themselves at each location in their passport book, purchased from SCMA, detailing all 21 locations. Riders submit the completed passport and attend an annual awards banquet, where SCMA presents them with a California Missions pin and plaque.

Tour of Honor: April 1-Oct. 31
In this unique AMA Grand Tour, riders take any route they wish to stop at seven memorial sites in each state. Riders can visit as many selected memorials as they choose, meaning they can complete one state or several. After registering and receiving their rally flag, riders travel to the sites and photograph the flag, alongside their motorcycles, at the memorial. Visit any seven memorial sites to receive a finisher’s certificate.

I’m not sure at this moment but maybe I’ll discuss the several tours on this list that interest me.

Biker Quote for Today

Two wheels, one engine, zero limits.

Tags:,
Posted in American Motorcyclist Association, motorcycle touring | No Comments »

« Older Entries