Passes & Canyons Blog

The Progressive International Motorcycle Show (PIMS) will be held in Denver this year, albeit moved to June and held outdoors. This is going to be vastly different from other PIMS events and it could be pretty much fun.

The show will actually kick off in Denver, June 18-20, before moving on to places like Chicago, Nashville, and Atlanta. Originally scheduled in Denver for January, adaptation to the Covid-19 problem led the organizers to move things outdoors. This meant waiting for warmer weather. So June here.

Being outside in warm weather is going to open up a lot of possibilities that were not really options inside during the winter. This will include demo rides on the street, off-road demo rides, and stunt shows or races. Of course you’ll have the booths selling stuff and as in at least the last few years there will also be e-bicycles and the PIMS Discover The Ride opportunity for people who have never ridden to experience what it’s like.

Here’s the blurb from their website:

After 5 years in the making, the Progressive® International Motorcycle Shows is venturing outdoors to create the most immersive powersports event yet ­– IMS Outdoors, a tour of events across the United States, launching in Summer 2021.

The Progressive® IMS Outdoors invites riders and prospective riders of all ages and abilities out for a weekend to engage with powersports culture and explore related lifestyles in a festival-like atmosphere. Attendees will be able to ride 2 and 4-wheel vehicles, shop premier brands, watch entertainment and even camp overnight (in select cities); preparing them for more riding and adventures with family and friends.

Popular IMS attractions including, the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show, IMS Vintage Garage, Discover The Ride and Adventure Out among others will be back for your enjoyment for the new IMS Outdoors events.

What they’re not telling us yet is where this will all happen. Last year was the first time the show came to Denver, at least in a long time, and it was held downtown at the convention center. That doesn’t seem to be the case this year, but where? We’ll see, and I’ll pass that info along as soon as I get it.

Biker Quote for Today

Once the love for a motorcycle is discovered there is no putting out the fire.

I was reading the Spokesman, ABATE of Colorado’s bimonthly newsletter the other day and they had this piece provided to them by Scott O’Sullivan, who is involved with Rider Justice and the O’Sullivan Law Firm. I thought it was pretty good and worth passing along, so here it is. It’s a tiny bit self-serving in that it is a promotion for the O’Sullivan Law Firm and Rider Justice, but hey, no big deal. I’m not endorsing them; I don’t know anything about them. I just thought it was good information.

Top 5 Ways Insurance Companies Cheat You

When you’re injured in a motorcycle crash, it’s stressful enough dealing with the mounting medical bills and the long healing process. Even worse, all the red tape and hoops you have to jump through when dealing with insurance claims just adds insult to injury. But it’s important to make sure you receive all the money you’re entitled to. After years of responsibly paying your insurance premiums, you deserve to recoup every dollar from your coverage! However, I’m sorry to say that insurance companies are not on your side. Here are the Top 5 Ways Insurance Companies Cheat You.

After a Crash Asking for a Recorded Statement
Most everyone is familiar with the Miranda Warning that says, “Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.” This is also true for recorded statements that an insurance company may request from you. Insurance adjusters will twist your words to make you look bad, thus making you ineligible for your claim. If an insurance company representative is asking you to make a recorded statement, hang up and call a motorcycle accident attorney immediately.

Pushing for a Quick Settlement
Dealing with insurance companies and legal battles can be an extremely stressful experience. But no matter how badly you want to wash your hands of the entire thing and just get it over with, you should never fall into the trap of accepting a quick settlement from your insurance company. Insurance companies use this tactic because it saves them a lot of time and money, and it almost always guarantees that motorcycle accident victims accept a much smaller amount before fully understanding how much their claim is really worth.

Asking for a Signed Medical Release
If you’re in a motorcycle accident, an insurance adjuster may try to convince you that you absolutely have to sign medical release forms, giving them access to all of your medical records, both past and present. Why is this bad? I have seen insurance companies go far back into a victim’s health history and deny payment based on previous experiences that have nothing to do with the accident and the victim’s current condition.

Causing Confusion
When it comes to the average individual, insurance contracts are confusing. Insurance companies often rely on a victim’s confusion (and the many other issues they may be facing, such as medical concerns) to push inadequate settlements or even to get victims to sign away their own rights! When filing a claim, sign NOTHING until you hire an attorney to go over the documents so you know your rights.

Refusing to Renew
Although you shouldn’t rush the process and settle right away, be sure not to waste too much time filing a claim if you decide that’s the route you want to take, especially if you’ve already contacted your insurance company with an inquiry. Many insurance companies will drop your coverage and refuse to renew a policy if they get a whiff that you may be considering a claim.

Do you have specific questions about Colorado state laws when it comes to dealing with insurance companies after a motorcycle accident? Call or text us at (303) 388-5304.

Biker Quote for Today

Look twice for motorcycles: someone’s whole world is on that bike.

“Have a safe ride.”

That’s an admonishment we’ve all heard countless times and my standard weak-joke response is along the lines of, “Oh darn, I wasn’t planning to, but I will if you insist.”

It’s not that we ever plan to have an unsafe ride, but then, that’s why they’re called “accidents.”

At least many people use that word, but among those serious about motorcycle safety, the preferred word is “crash.” The point being that a crash does not happen by accident, it is allowed to happen by riders who fail to remain alert and to engage in basic crash-avoidance practices.

Don’t get me wrong. Anyone who rides knows that the primary scenario for motorcycle crashes is when someone in a car pulls out in front of you or turns left in front of you. It’s their fault.

Or is it? Is it entirely their fault if you could have done something to prevent the crash? (Within reason: You could stay home and never go anywhere and that would prevent a crash, but that’s not reasonable.)

More importantly, does it matter that it’s primarily their fault if you’re the one with the concussion and broken bones? I have a friend, Jungle Fuhrman, who argues that without exception, if you are involved in a crash, you screwed up. I tend to agree with him.

When I was preparing to take RiderCoach training several years ago, the program put together by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) for training the people who train new riders, I rereading the Basic Rider Course (BRC) Rider Handbook, which is the study manual given to all the beginning rider students. (Which is to say, I had taken the BRC myself some time before that.)

The BRC focuses on both riding skills and the rider’s mindset. One key point they make is that crashes seldom have one specific cause; in fact, they usually have several. They call this the Crash Chain, and use an illustration of a motorcycle chain looping around two sprockets, connecting one sprocket (you) to the other (the crash). Each link is a factor that contributes to the crash. Break any one of those links and the crash is avoided.

So now that idiot talking on his cell phone is turning left in front of you. Is it foreordained that you will T-bone him? Are you traveling at an excessive speed? Were you day-dreaming as you approached the intersection? Were you not thinking about the fact that the setting sun is directly behind you, making it difficult for him to see? If you answer yes to all those questions then yes, you may indeed be irretrievably headed for a crash.

But you had it in your power to break that crash chain, and didn’t. He’ll get the ticket but you’re the one who will pay in pain.

Some highway safety agency used a catch-phrase years ago that has stuck with me and I think it bears repeating here: Safe driving is no accident. For motorcycling I’d go with that times 10. Have a safe ride.

Biker Quote for Today

Why motorcycles are better than women: You don’t have to deal with priests or blood-tests to register your motorcycle.

Have you ever rented a motorcycle? It’s really great to go somewhere on vacation and get a bike to ride around but if you go through any of the major rental outfits you’re going to pay an arm and a leg. As I recall, the last time I rented a Harley from Eagle Rider it cost me above $150 per day. Ouch! That’s a lot of money if you’re looking at a week-long trip.

I’ve written about a couple different rental options, basically the sharing economy thing, as with AirBnB, such as Twisted Road. Well, I recently learned of another such outfit: Riders Share. I would have sworn I had written about them before but multiple searches of this blog turns up nothing, so maybe I haven’t. In that case, now is the time.

Looking at the Riders Share site, they list cities where they operate. For Denver they say they have 64+ bikes for rent. There’s quite a range. For $150 a day there is a 2004 Honda CB600F. There’s a 2018 BMW R Ninet Scrambler for $122 a day. There are a bunch of scooters for $38 to $40 a day. A 2015 Suzuki GSX-S750ZL5 for $72 a day. In Fort Lupton there is a Honda VT1100C2 Shadow Sabre for $52 a day. In Westminster there’s a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R for $53 a day. In Lakewood there’s a 2004 Harley FLSTFI Fat Boy for $67 a day. You get the picture.

These are realistic prices that won’t break the bank. Plus, it works the other way. Riders Share does not own these bikes, they’re owned by people like you and me who have agreed to rent their bikes out to other folks. I’m not sure what the price split is between the website and the owner but if you’re interested I’m sure they’ll be happy to explain it all to you.

A few things about the website. On the home page they have a listing of cities where they operate and you can click on the city and be taken to those listings. Looking at what was offered I clicked to see more and found myself cycling through the same seven or eight bikes, not the 64+ they claimed for Denver. Looking around I found that if I used the map on the home page to zero in on the Denver area they have an interactive map that shows you every offering within that map area. That’s where you see all the other available bikes. If you’re interested in a particular price range or specific make they have filters for that.

Unfortunately, if I clicked to see one particular bike and then hit the Back button it took me all the way back to their headquarters in the Los Angeles area. Then I had to drag the map back to Denver to look at another. Again and again. I suspect that if you sign up as a user they have it set to you can always return to your specific area. Or something of that sort. Boy, if they don’t, they really need to. OK, digging around further I see they do have that option. You just have to plug in the city where you want to focus. Good.

So this looks like a good option. I know there have been plenty of times I’ve been somewhere away from home and wished I could go for a ride in the area. Now maybe that can happen.

Biker Quote for Today

100 Reasons not to date a motorcyclist: We rev our engines when going under bridges.

A lot of motorcyclists insist on keeping their bikes spotless. I am not one of those. I figure that I can spend hours cleaning a bike and then go for a ride and get in some rain and by the time I get home it’s filthy again.

No, I just try to make a point to clean each of my bikes at least once every few years. I’d rather just spend that time riding.

But it had been a few years so I’ve done some cleaning recently. I had Joel give my Concours a complete tune-up while he had the bike to put on a new front tire. After I got it back I figured what the heck, if I’m doing all that I might as well clean it. So I did. Looks nice.

That got me going. Next I decided I ought to clean the Honda. I had to admit, it was pretty dang dirty even by my standards. Plus, Joel was going to be working on it because I had had an issue with the fuel line. I figured he might appreciate working on a cleaner bike.

So I dove in. That was when I noticed the right front fork tube was spectacularly dirty, and the left tube was not. Uh oh, this looks like a failed fork seal. Who knows how long it would have been before I noticed this if I hadn’t started cleaning.

Of course it’s a good thing to notice it. And the timing was good. I just added it to the list of things for Joel to work on. So now it’s the fork seals, the fuel line, and I’m having Joel do a tune-up on this bike, too. Lord knows how long it’s been since it had one.

Considering how filthy this bike was, I’m sure Joel is glad I cleaned it.

And I have this consolation: it took a long time for that bike to get that dirty. It won’t be anywhere near that dirty again any time soon. Yahoo! Let’s go ride.

Biker Quote for Today

Reasons not to date a motorcyclist: One bike is fine, but five bikes are better.

Not to put too fine a point on this but the OFMC should never let Bill lead.

OK, sure, if all we’re doing is following one highway in one direction and there is no way to go wrong, fine, he can take the lead. But if there are any turns involved someone else better be in front. And even then there can be problems.

We saw this a couple times on this last trip we took in July. On the first day we were heading south from Poncha Springs to Alamosa. There is a point along there where you need to get off U.S. 285, which veers southwest at this point, onto CO 17, which continues straight south to Alamosa.

Bill was in the lead and at this intersection he just stayed on 285. Dennis and I made the turn and pulled over to wait for him to return.

While we waited I told Dennis about the time up in Wyoming many years ago when we were coming down from Cokeville on U.S. 30, headed to Kemmerer. There is a point there where 30 bends east and if you go straight you get onto WY 89 headed into Utah. Bill blasted past the turn and so did John. I pulled over to wait. After a while John came back but then we waited longer for Bill. It seems he ran into a speed trap and was getting issued a ticket. Bill has never lived that one down.

So this time around he figured it out pretty quickly and came right back and on we rode to Alamosa.

A few days later we were headed to Durango, coming down through Ouray and Silverton. Leaving Silverton it looked like rain ahead so we were geared up, but it wasn’t long before the skies cleared and it started getting warm. Dennis did not want to be cruising slowly through Durango all rain-suited up so he turned on his right-turn signal and kept trying to attract Bill’s attention. But Bill wasn’t paying any attention. Finally Dennis and I pulled over on our own and stripped off the suits. When we encountered Bill a short way down the road he said he thought it was silly to stop when Durango was so close ahead. Later, however, he acknowledged the wisdom of shedding the suits before reaching town.

And then two days later we did it again. We were heading north out of Monticello, Utah, on U.S. 191 and needed to turn right at La Sal Junction onto UT 46. Bill was leading and once again he blasted right on by. Again Dennis and I made the turn and pulled over to wait for him to come back.

Back when John was still riding with us he often would take the lead. Queried about this once he said that he didn’t trust most of the guys to have any real sense of where we were going. He singled me out as the exception because, “Ken always has a map right in front of him on top of his tank bag.” And I prefer to bring up the rear, so that arrangement worked well.

But now it’s just the three of us and it looks like Dennis and I are going to have to more actively ensure that if the route is at all tricky, Bill is not in the lead. Sorry Bill, we love ya, but now that your brother Friggs is no longer coming on these trips you inherit his old title of Mr. Oblivious. I guess it runs in the family.

Biker Quote for Today

100 Reasons not to date a motorcyclist: You’ll have to park your new car outside because the garage is full of bikes.

You’re probably very much aware of the standard format for a motorcycle club: You hold regular meetings that are as much about being social as conducting business; you organize some rides; and you organize other social gatherings. That’s fine as far as it goes, but might there be a better model?

I’ve been a member of the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club for about three years ago and after Robert became president this year things have really changed. I was talking to him about it recently.

To Robert’s way of thinking, the main thing a motorcycle club should do is ride. Forget all these social gatherings. You can still do that but aren’t we really there to ride? The RMMRC has always organized impromptu rides but that involved someone making a plan and then letting people know about that plan in some way. That included emails but also phone calls, i.e., labor intensive.

Things are a little different now. We still have the meetings–or try to in this pandemic era–and the planned cross-country rides, but the focus is more on impromptu rides, and a lot of them. What has facilitated this was moving the club website to Meetup.com. Now, anyone who has an idea for a ride can post it, anyone who is signed up gets an email alerting them, and then whoever shows up goes for a ride. We’re averaging one or two rides per week now. THAT is a motorcycle club.

Plus, there are other benefits. Eliminating the cost of a dedicated website, the group’s membership fee has been cut in half. Putting the rides out there on Meetup gets the word out to other people who are free to show up, and once they do they often sign up, which means membership is rising.

Thanks to the coronavirus many of the planned, longer rides for this year are being canceled or adjusted, but boy do we go riding a lot! Heck, I’m thinking that once Pikes Peak and Mount Evans open for the season I’ll organize this Tale of Two Mountains ride I’ve been wanting to do for several years. It couldn’t be easier.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you think ‘Helmet Hair’ is a fashion statement.

I got a comment from Mark in regard to my most recent post, wherein I mentioned a rider going the other way tapping the top of his helmet to warn me of a radar trap up ahead. He asked if there were other signals that are used to communicate while riding. I had written about hand signals in a post back in 2008 and I referred him to that post. But that got me to thinking about how it can be good to cycle back to certain topics from time to time because there are always new people coming into motorcycling, as well as readers who didn’t see what I wrote 12 years ago. Just because you wrote about something 12 years ago doesn’t mean you should never mention it again.

On the other hand, I don’t want to just repeat myself. So I figured I would do a Google search for “motorcycle hand signals” and see what showed up. Turns out there are a lot but also not so many. Which is to say, there seems to be one basic chart that you see with many different organizations’ logos slapped on them. That would be one in the image above. I know you can’t read it that small so here’s a link to it.

Here’s a different one, which I linked to in that 2008 post. It’s a gif so it shows motion, which can be useful in understanding just what it is you do.

For the most part, these signals are for things like “start your engines,” “hazard ahead,” and “police ahead.” That’s all well and good, and certainly we should all know and use them. But in some cases there was a little humor injected. In particular, there was this one. Now, I made a decision when I first started this blog not to use language that could be offensive to some people, and this chart is a bit off color. That’s why I’m linking to it, not just dropping it into this post. So you can choose to view it or not.

And here’s another that is similar.

Good for a laugh. But anyway, thanks Mark for giving me a topic for this post. And I also want to mention, any time someone comments on any of my posts, as Mark did, I post a reply. But I’ve never had the blog set up to notify the person I’m replying to that I have replied. Well, I just added such a plug-in. It also works if someone other than me replies to your comment. So hey, comments are always welcome.

Biker Quote for Today

Why bikes are better than women: Motorcycles don’t get jealous if you come home with grease under your fingernails.