Passes & Canyons Blog

Apparently it doesn’t matter how long you live in Colorado, you never quite figure out that the weather can change on you in a flash. Here’s an example.

Bill and Dennis and I rode over to John’s, outside of Montrose, for a few days riding in southwest Colorado. The weather was beautiful, but you know, it’s September. That should have been the tip-off. And mind you, Bill has lived here his entire life. I’ve been here more than 30 years.

I was packing and I made the decision that I didn’t need to take my electric vest. What the hey, it’s hot right now! Bill was the same. He just bought a new bike and picked up a new half-helmet at the same time. This bike is his first with a fairing so he figured the fairing the the half-helmet would be all he would need. Yes, his new bagger had plenty of room where he could have just tossed in the full-face helmet, but he didn’t figure there was any need.

The weather was great on the way out and while we were there. Then it was time to head home. We woke up to rain, and unlike so often in Colorado, this was not a rain that was just going to pass over. Weather radar showed storm clouds over half the state, and all of the route to Denver. But hey, we had rain gear, so no problem.

Wrong.

First off, Bill had already figured out that the fairing only does so much to provide protection from the elements. Fortunately for him, John had an old full-face helmet that he no longer used and it fit Bill. That was a godsend.

For me, there was nothing to do but put on layers. Still, we got to Gunnison and the temperature was 40 degrees. We still had to go over Monarch Pass, and that was another 3,600 feet up. And a woman we spoke with who had just come over said it was snowing on top when she was there.

Long story short, it was a cold ride, and it didn’t have to have been. Will I ever learn? If Bill is any example, I guess not. I guess we all keep relearning the same lessons again and again. It just took longer to get home, what with all the stops to get warm. Could’ve been worse.

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Biker Quote for Today

People who wear full faced helmets with tinted visors are aliens and can’t scare teen aged girls at stop lights.

Camping on a motorcycle trip is a good way to go but if you’re riding two-up you might as well forget it. If you manage to get all of two people’s camping gear on the bike you’re not going to have room left for much else.

Unless you pull a trailer. Then it’s whole new ball game.

Ken and Janet Knox are motorcycle travelers who stayed with us recently, via the Motorcycle Travel Network, and behind their Ultra Classic they pull a trailer. It was custom-painted to match the bike and the pair look great together.

Asked about it, Janet initially responded that, “The only advantage for me is that I can pack more stuff.”

Ken made the point, however, that it enables them to carry camping gear with them. Of course, he points out, “If Janet would bet her license and ride her own bike we could camp without pulling a trailer.”

“That would mean work for me, and I’m not into working,” she retorted. “I’m on holiday.”

Turning serious, she continued that she likes that, “When we camp we pull in at 3-4 p.m. and look for a site, then interact with people. We meet more people that way. That aspect is nice, although the comforts of a motel are better.”

Ken added that “Campgrounds are generally in a beautiful spot, whereas motels are on the main drag.”

Still, if they get into town later, or if it is raining or looks like rain, they’re not likely to camp. But it’s nice to have the option.

As for how the trailer affects the ride, Ken said, “You don’t even know the trailer is there. It does increase gas consumption, and on long, steep uphills you have to upgear, at least on a Harley.”

There’s one other advantage: Their trailer has a 12-volt plug so they can charge their cell phones while riding. Hey, what else do you need?

Biker Quote for Today

You’re a biker wannabe if your longest road trip this year was to Hooter’s for bike night.

You need to understand that I’m very hard on maps. As far as I’m concerned, they’re disposable, and ripping is just part of the gig.

Enter Butler Motorcycle Maps. These guys are riders who decided to make motorcycle-specific maps, by motorcyclists, for motorcyclists. So far they have released maps for Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho.

There are two things that make these maps attractive to motorcyclists. First, they highlight the best roads in each state based on what they know we like, i.e., scenery, twisty roads, two-lane, and all that. Second, they’re durable. They’re not printed on paper. It’s probably some kind of plastic, but whatever it is, they are waterproof and tear-resistant. Good things to have out on a bike.

Of course this is where my style of usage comes into play. I have a tank bag that has a map display on top. The problem with the map display is that it is not sized to fit any map conveniently. Conveniently, in my mind, would be something that allowed you to use the basic folds of the map and show two panels. The display on my bag is too short and too narrow, so I end up folding maps every which way to make them fit. (See the photo above.) The consequence of that is that they tend to rip along the folds and fall to pieces quickly.

I was in Sturgis last week, and on Thursday I left and went to Yellowstone. The Butler guys had a booth in Sturgis that I just happened to stumble upon. I was already familiar with them because they had comped me a couple maps and had taken out an ad on the Passes and Canyons website. I stopped in to say hi and they gave me the two latest maps, Wyoming and Idaho.

I then proceeded to use the Wyoming map as I made my way to Yellowstone and then home to Denver. It didn’t fit any better than any other map in my display so I manhandled it the way I do all maps.

The result? When I got home I opened it out, smoothed it off, and refolded it along the original folds and it’s good to go. Now, it looks a bit rough. You’d never mistake it for new. It has wrinkles and creases, and it didn’t want to fold back perfectly and probably won’t ever again. But it’s absolutely usable, it’s not torn, and I suspect it will hold up to that same treatment many more times.

What’s more, it is also good in its other function of highlighting the best routes. I’ve ridden all over Wyoming, so there are almost no roads highlighted on the map that I’m not familiar with. There is one, a bit of two-lane between Laramie and Cheyenne. So I know the roads they’ve marked and I agree with them. These are the best roads in Wyoming.

If this sounds like the sort of thing you’d be interested in, you can buy these maps for $14.95 either through their website or from selected dealers. Tell them Ken sent you.

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Biker Quote for Today

A bend in the road is not the end of the road . . . unless you fail to make the turn.

It’s bitter cold and snow is on the ground (and the roads!) and Dom Chang is reveling in his Ural sidecar rig that allows him to ride even in these conditions. This is the time of year for heated motorcycle gear. Fortuitously, I recently had the opportunity to test some electrics.

Mind you, I’m a firm believer in this stuff. I’ve had a Widder (company defunct now) electric vest for years and you’d better believe it’s been in use recently. What I tested was the StormRider body warmer, which is essentially a vest, and the StormShield gloves, which (surprise!) are heated gloves. They’re produced and sold by exo2 The Heat Inside.

Long story short, they worked great. The body warmer was very similar to my Widder vest, although it has more insulating power on its own, without the electrics turned on, and I appreciated the ability to adjust the heating level. My Widder is either off or on, unless you have a control unit, which I don’t.

The gloves were something new for me. First off, they’re heavy duty motorcycle gloves in their own right. They’ve got strategic padding and reinforcement, little wiper blades sewn onto the thumbs for wiping your visor and also provide significant insulation. Turn them on and you feel the heat instantly on the back of your hands. Very nice.

Rigging all this up was a bit of a challenge. You need to connect to your battery, then run the controller cable up to somewhere around the handlebars and instruments. There was nowhere for me to easily connect on my Concours so I just jerry-rigged it since I was only going to have it for a couple months to test. The cable splits coming off the battery and the other end runs to the vest. Another cable connects at the vest and that goes to the gloves. That cable itself splits and you run them up your back and down your sleeves.

Would I buy this gear? If I didn’t already have an electric vest I would definitely have purchased this one rather than returning it to the manufacturer. Of course, they would have given me a discount, so that would have helped make the decision easy. And I would definitely like to have those gloves, but rigging everything up for just the gloves, while still needing to rig up my Widder vest, would have been a bit much. Using the vest and gloves together just makes more sense.

If you don’t have electrics you don’t know what you’re missing. Don’t park that bike for the winter. Ride it. But stay warm in the process–it’s a lot more enjoyable.

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Biker Quote for Today

So how long did it take you to push your bike 4k thru the snow?

I mentioned on Tuesday that I was testing some video sunglasses that come equipped with a video/still camera and microphone, for use in the manner of a helmet cam. After using them a bit I have to say my assessment is mixed.

    Shot with my Nikon

First off, if you want to see some video I shot, riding through the colorful beauty of Red Rocks park just west of Denver, click this link here. It will open Windows Media Player or whatever the default application is on your machine. I tried to embed the video here, but the WordPress blog software is apparently known for making that difficult.

    Shot with DigaSpy in still photo mode

Now, as long as the window that opens matches the size of the video it’s not a bad image. Originally it opened for me at nearly full screen and looked terrible, but then I realized the video is only 640 x 480, so I shrunk the window to approximately that size and the image, though obviously smaller, was far better. Yes, you can get helmet cams that record in HD but you’ll pay a lot more for them than for the DigaSpy, which is what it is I’ve been testing.

    Shot with the DigaSpy in video mode

That’s right, the name is “DigaSpy.” As Tony Ibarra, the CEO of Digatron tells me, the camera-glasses were originally marketed for covert surveillance purposes. It was only after he started getting some interest from motorcyclists that they realized there was a whole other potential market.

The other mode offered by DigaSpy is still picture mode. Either by pressing a button on the frame of the glasses or clicking a half-dollar-sized remote you can also shoot an individual-frame still photo. Initially Tony gave me the low-end model with a .3 megapixel image. I quickly found that to be totally unacceptable so he swapped me for the top-of-the-line model with 2 megapixels. That was definitely an improvement, but with even cheap digital cameras having higher resolution than that these days I just can’t see a lot of use for this. Yes, you can shoot pictures from on your bike as you cruise along, and that would be a strength. But at least for me and for my purposes, if the shot is that good it’s worth it to me to stop and pull out the Nikon. It may be a different matter for you.

Just so you can see the comparison I’ve put up three shots of the same scene. The first was shot from a standstill with my Nikon. The second was shot from a standstill with the DigaSpy on still photo mode. The third was recorded on the DigaSpy in video mode and I captured the image from the video. I’ve done color correction and sizing just as I always do with images I intend to use.

The DigaSpy also records audio and in a calm environment the sound is good. If you view the video, however, you’ll see that on the bike you just get constant wind noise. So if you wanted to walk around at a party filming your friends it would presumably work quite well. Watching the video from the bike you may as well turn off the audio.

I know that Tony wants to crack the motorcycling market, so my hope is that they will continue developing this product and overcome the shortcomings I’ve identified. If it looks like it will meet your needs now, you can purchase the DigaSpy from Digatron. The .3 megapixel model costs $149 and the top-of-the-line model is $229. Plus, there are two intermediate models.

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Biker Quote for Today

The only time you have too much fuel is when you’re on fire.

This is going to be interesting. Earlier today I picked up a pair of glasses equipped with a microphone and digital camera, for testing on my motorcycle. They’re like a helmet camera except they go on your face like any glasses. And they have both clear and dark lenses, so the name on the box is “Video Sunglasses.” The brand is DigaNET.

The way I see it, these things have a lot of potential. Many times I’ve ridden through Glenwood Canyon and wanted to get pictures for the website that do it justice, but the only way to do that would be to stop on the highway–not a safe move. A helmet cam has come to mind more than once.

Plus, when I’ve been out shooting pictures for the site, on more occasions than I can count I have ridden along thinking “That might make a good shot” but by the time I’m saying that I’m already blasting past the point. How nice it would be to just see the great view, look at it, and presto, it’s been photographed.

So anyway, I’m going to be testing these things in the next week and will have a report for you soon after. The first thing I can tell you is that they won’t work with a full-face helmet. I tried and there is no way to get them on after you have the helmet on or to put them on before donning the helmet. So that’s an issue. Maybe the manufacturer can come up with a design that does work with a full-face helmet. I’ll be doing my testing with my half-helmet. Obviously, if you don’t wear a helmet there’s no problem at all.

One other interesting thing about these glasses: They were originally designed with covert surveillance in mind, and it is only due to interest shown by motorcyclists that the company has turned their attention in our direction. They contacted me via the Passes and Canyons website asking if I wanted to carry their ads on the site. I said I want to test this thing. And that’s how we got to where we are now. Stay tuned.

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Biker Quote for Today

If you’re lost, you’re most likely off the beaten path and that’s the best path to be on.

I ran a post on Examiner.com awhile back about Mike Corbin, the well-known custom motorcycle seat builder, retiring and putting the business up for sale. Just the other day now there was a comment posted on that article from someone identifying herself as the sister of the Gentry in the name of the company, Corbin-Gentry.

The surprising thing for me was that the company I had written about was Corbin-Pacific. It seems, as Gentry’s sister explains, that Mike Corbin started out in 1968 in the Corbin-Gentry company and then, “In the mid ’80s Corbin split, taking 1/2 of the business with him to California leaving Gentry with the other 1/2.” Thus Corbin-Gentry and Corbin-Pacific. I didn’t know this.

Gentry’s sister writes with what seems to be a bit of anger, though it’s not clear at what. Possibly she still harbors resentment toward Mike, or perhaps she just gets annoyed when her sister is ignored and forgotten. Just to air her concerns, here is the full text of her comment.

Quite interesting there is a book out about Mike CORBIN, King of motorcycle seats. It fails to mention that there was a Queen of seats, being GENTRY, CORBIN/GENTRY. This neighbor he talks about sewing his 1st seat for him was my sister. She was not a neighbor but his partner who was called Gentry. TOGETHER they formed and built the business into what would be known world wide. Without Gentry there would have been no Corbin. Gentry was by his side at every turn in the road. Corbin/Gentry was based in Connecticut and thrived from the ’60s to the ’80s. My husband worked for them as a salesman for years working the East Coast.

In the mid ’80s Corbin split, taking 1/2 of the business with him to California leaving Gentry with the other 1/2. So before Corbin rides off into the sunset saying he’s king of the seats let it be known that without Gentry he could not be saying this.

So now, what was it that Paul Harvey used to say about “That’s the rest of the story” or something like that?

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Biker Quote for Today

Life may not always be sunshine and rainbows, but what you live through will make you a better person and a better rider.

For 10 years my Kawasaki Concours has fired up for me immediately every time, not counting the times when the battery was shot and needed to be replaced. Those weren’t the bike’s fault, that was the battery, and all batteries die eventually.

So I was a little concerned while I was up in Keystone, CO, covering the International Women and Motorcycling Conference that on two mornings I had to turn it over repeatedly before it caught. Still, it got cold those nights, my whole bike was covered with frost each morning, and I chalked it up to cold.

When I was back home later, and tried starting it, you can imagine that I was considerably more concerned when I had trouble again. Something was clearly wrong. Just what I need, a mechanic bill.

I asked our resident mechanic and his presumption was much like my own: carbs need cleaning. Ouch. I’ve had that done and it’s not cheap. What’s more, I just had it done not that long ago so if that was what was needed again I was not going to be happy.

So I went over to Vickery Motorsports, my local dealer and the place where I bought the bike, and told my story to the service manager (sorry, I didn’t get his name). He asked how long it had been since I’d had a tune-up. Oh yeah. Too long, I had to admit. Well, do this then, he said: clean the air filter and replace the spark plugs. If that doesn’t work, check back.

Great. That wouldn’t cost nearly as much as cleaning the carbs and I could probably do it myself. I went upstairs and bought the plugs and thanked him again on my way out. “Be really sure to clean the air filter,” he repeated, stressing that part. I read that as meaning it was particularly important.

Now, I’m no great mechanic. I don’t generally work on my motorcycles beyond lubing the chain on my Honda and checking the tires and changing the oil. And I quickly found out that replacing the plugs on the Kawi requires removing the gas tank to get to them. That’s out of my comfort zone. But I checked my tech book and getting to the air filter was no problem.

I pulled out the filter and followed instructions on cleaning it and put it back in. Then I turned the key and pushed the start button. Vrrooom! Instantly. And it has started instantly every time since.

So wow. That is so nice. Yes, I’m still overdue for a tune-up, and I’ll get to that soon, but isn’t it amazing what even simple maintenance can do. And of course this makes me feel good about continuing to do business at Vickery. Thanks guys.

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Biker Quote for Today

If the bike ain’t brakin’ properly you don’t start by rebuilding the engine.