Archive for the ‘Motorcycle Gear’ Category

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Trial Run for Motorcycle Camping Two-Up

Monday, June 23rd, 2014
Pack For Motorcycle Camping

Once I got the tent and one sleeping bag in there wasn't much room left in the side bag.

My wife, Judy, and I enjoy camping and we’ve talked for a long time about going camping on the motorcycle. Getting more serious about it, we recently bought down sleeping bags that are much more compact than the ones we’ve been using. Plus, with the V-Strom we now have the capability of going on gravel and dirt roads. We decided this weekend was the time to give it a try.

Now, I’ve camped on the bike by myself since forever. It’s easy to get everything on that one person needs. Going two-up, however, is entirely different. You’ve got to get twice as much personal stuff in and the passenger takes up space where camping gear usually goes. I saw a presentation a couple years ago at the Overland Expo where a couple who had ridden around the world on their KLR 650 talked about packing. It made sense then but now I don’t see how they did it.

We’ve both cut back our work hours to four days a week so in order to avoid crowds we figured we’d just go on an overnight somewhere close by, leaving on Sunday and returning on Monday. I’m writing this on Sunday morning and we’ll be leaving in about an hour.

On Saturday I figured I’d better start loading up the bike and see how it all fits together. The answer turned out to be not all that good. As you can see in the photo, I got the tent in one side bag with one sleeping bag. The other bag holds one foam pad and the other sleeping bag. I had nowhere to go with the second foam pad except to bungee it on on top of one of the sidebags. You can see that green pad in the photo.

The top bag holds our rain gear and with all this stuff loaded there’s not a lot of room for other camping gear. For instance, I have a little one-burner gas stove and it would fit but that would mean we would also need at least one pot, utensils, a couple plates or bowls, and probably some very small cooler to put food in along with blue ice. Trying to figure this out was driving me crazy until I decided that this is just a first test run and I’m not going to over-think it. We’re going to carry dinner that doesn’t require cooking and for breakfast we’ll just get by with granola bars, oranges, and water. For one morning I’ll get by without coffee first thing.

Now, truth is, there is still a good amount of space left in the side bags. Although the one side is pretty well taken up by the tent and sleeping bag, there is a lot of width to the bags and the other half of the clam shell is still empty. This may yet work out better than it appears to at first.

The other thing that occurs to me is that the Concours may turn out to be the better bike for camping, as long as we don’t need to go on gravel or dirt roads more than a very short distance. I know I could strap the tent and both pads on the back of the bike and then the sleeping bags and a whole lot more stuff could go in the side bags. We’ll probably do a second test run on the Kawi later this summer.

So we’re going to see how this works. I’ll tell you all about it soon.

Biker Quote for Today

You’re a biker wannabe if you won’t ride down a gravel road.

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, Motorcycle Gear | No Comments »

Rain Riders

Monday, June 9th, 2014
Rain On Motorcycles

Nothing like a little moisture to liven up your day on the bike.

You may have noticed we’ve been having rain lately. I do ride in the rain but lately I’ve seen some people who are much more hard-core than I am.

I rode to work one day recently when rain was predicted and sure enough, about 20 minutes before I was planning to leave it was coming down in buckets. I had brought my rain gear in off the bike so I was prepared to head out in the downpour if necessary.

To my good fortune, by the time I did leave the rain had stopped. I still suited up because I knew that with water on the street I’d still be getting wet.

What really surprised me on that ride home was how many other people on bikes I saw. And what really surprised me was how many of them were the cruiser types with no helmets and no rain gear. I mean, unless all these folks headed out as I had, right after the downpour stopped, they must have been riding in the rain. I’ve ridden in the rain with no helmet; I don’t like it. It stings! Those little drops are like needles. And no rain gear? Yeah, I’ve gotten soaked before, even got a bit of hypothermia one time, but that’s why I own and use a good rain suit. As I say, if you’re going to get out and ride with no helmet and no rain suit you’re a lot more hard core than I am.

I’ve also seem some people who weren’t as hard core, but they at least were out in it, though some looked miserable.

The one that really caught my eye, though–and boy do I wish I could have shot a picture–was a couple on a sport bike. Not sure what the bike was; I was looking at them. It was pouring and he had no helmet and just a regular riding jacket. She had no helmet, just a winter coat that looked soaked, and a huge backpack strapped on her back, also soaked.

Were they really happy to be out riding? Or was he in for some serious crap once they got where they were headed, about “I’m never riding with you again unless . . .”?

You know what I like? I like a jacket that seals snugly at the (high) collar, a helmet that comes down below the top of the collar, serious rain jacket and pants, rubber booties, and waterproof mittens that allow me to slip my gloved hands inside. A nice full fairing helps, too. I can ride all day with all that stuff because I’m warm and dry.

Apparently some people are OK with less. To them I just say, “Wow. You are hard core.”

Biker Quote for Today

Not knowing where you are going is part of the adventure!

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Posted in Motorcycle Gear, motorcycle helmets | No Comments »

Just Can’t Give a Thumbs-up on These Earplugs

Thursday, February 20th, 2014
Auritech Earplugs

The Auritech earplugs I've been trying out.

I would hate to be the guy in charge of marketing for the folks making/selling Auritech earplugs. These earplugs may be the very best on the market for all I know but that marketing guy has his job cut out for him making that fact–presuming it is one–obvious to the buying public.

Like me.

OK, start from the beginning.

Back in about November of last year I was contacted to see if I’d like to try out these super-duper high-tech earplugs and then write about them. Of course I said yes. The line on these things was that they effectively dampen the loud, harmful noises while allowing you to hear conversation and important things such as traffic noises that warn you of potential hazards. Or, to put it in their words, “although the Auritech’s ceramic filter does allow you to hear conversation clearly as well as be aware of surrounding traffic noise, the presence of the ear plug will dampen this slightly as all of the sound is compressed into the earplug itself. However, this should not reduce this sound too much as the filter itself is tuned to more specific low and high end frequencies to cut out excessive and damaging engine and wind noise.” What more could you ask for in a pair of earplugs?

So I’ve been wearing them every time I’ve been riding the last couple months and I’m finally ready to make my report. This is one of the toughest product reviews I’ve ever done because as much as I want to praise them and recommend that you get some, I just can’t. And it’s not because they’re a shoddy product. It’s because I just can’t tell–I just don’t have the ability to tell–if they meet the manufacturer claims or not. Which is why I say I’m glad I’m not the marketing director for the company.

Here’s what I can tell you, the tests I did and the results, such as they were.

First off, when you take them out of the package they seem very cool, very high-tech. (Not to mention that the metal container they come in is great all by itself!) They’re of a fairly typical earplug configuration (see photo) except that there is a rigid stem down the middle with, I believe, a noise filter in it. This stem makes it easy to put them in and take them out, and it is my assumption that it also is the key to letting you hear what you want to hear clearly.

Inserted, and then with a helmet on, they are very comfortable. No complaints there at all. But then I had to wonder, were they blocking much noise at all? I could hear just about anything just fine. It wouldn’t be until I took them out and saw how much louder things were that it became clear they were indeed blocking a good bit of noise. So far, so good.

What I couldn’t tell was whether they were doing what they were supposed to in blocking the bad noise while letting the good noise in. Maybe if I had the proper lab instruments, but I don’t.

I pondered this dilemma for a long time, making a point to keep wearing them every time I rode. (I also wore them just walking around the house to see what I might find.) Finally I concluded I needed to take a different approach. How about a comparison of the Auritech earplugs to the every-day foam earplugs I normally wear?

So that’s what I did. I put one of each in my ears and took off. Initially I had the foam in my left ear and the Auritech in my right and it was pretty obvious that I was getting a lot more noise in my right ear. No jumping to conclusions, though, so I stopped and swapped them. Once again, there was more noise in my right ear, though not as much.

Now, this led to a couple hypotheses. One, my hearing is better in my right ear than in my left. I’ve never been aware of that, but it could be. Two, the right side of my helmet is somehow noisier than the left. Who knows. Probably more likely the first option.

But what seemed pretty definite was that the foam earplug blocked more noise overall than the Auritech earplug. Did it block the more harmful frequencies as well or better? You would need the lab equipment to answer that question.

So then the question, as I saw it, got to the heart of the Auritech claim, that it was easier to hear in a conversation. Do I generally have trouble hearing someone I’m talking to when I have the foam plugs in? Because if I don’t, why would I spend a whole bunch more to buy high-tech earplugs when the cheapo drugstore kind is no problem in the first place.

That is the case, by the way. I don’t have trouble hearing people speak when I’m wearing the foam guys. So for me at least, Auritech seems to be offering a solution in search of a problem. And that’s why I can’t recommend them.

Now, if your answer to that basic question is different than mine, these might be exactly what you’re looking for. And maybe for a whole lot of people that is the case and there’s a big market out there. I’m just not in it.

Well, there you have it. As I said, I’ve struggled for some time now with writing this because I wanted very much to love them and sing their praises, but for me at least there just doesn’t seem to be any point. Then again, maybe they are just as great as they claim to be and I just don’t have the ability to perceive those things that prove it. Can you tell I’m frustrated?

One more time: I’m really, really glad I’m not the guy in charge of selling these earplugs.

Biker Quote for Today

Always take the long route!

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Posted in Motorcycle Gear | No Comments »

Heated Gear Triage

Monday, February 17th, 2014
motorcycles in the snow

No, it wasn't this cold on Friday, but it sure wasn't warm.

On Sunday we finally got the warmth we had been promised but denied on Friday and Saturday. What a glorious day to be out on the bike.

Meanwhile, believing the weather forecast, I rode to work on Friday without wearing all my warmest gear.

Of course I wore my heated vest. If you don’t wear anything else, the vest is essential. If your core body is warm you can tolerate a little coolness in the extremities. I’m not saying it’s pleasant to have your fingertips pinched by the cold but having your torso bathed in wonderful warmth is just that . . . wonderful.

So I didn’t wear my electric gloves and yes, my fingers were a bit nipped by the time I got all the way out to Lakewood. But my biggest mistake was in footwear. I just didn’t feel like walking around in boots all day and I figured, hey, it’s supposed to get up to 60 today–I’ll just wear shoes. Of course, getting up to 60 (which it didn’t) and being 60 at 8 a.m. when I’m heading to work are two entirely different things.

When was the last time you said to yourself, “I’m pretty warm and comfortable all over except my ankles are freezing!”

Boy, and they were, too. Boots aren’t electric but they don’t have to be. All they have to do is keep the cold wind off that part of your body.

So yeah, we all get stupid some times, don’t we? You never outgrow it. You learn by experience and maybe you never do THAT again but then you do something else. And you get to learn by experience again, only this time it’s something a little different that you’ve learned and then you never do THAT again. But there’s always another THAT.

Maybe I need a winter variation on ATGATT (all the gear, all the time). How about ATHGWIC? (Hey, that’s catchy, isn’t it?) That would stand for “all the heated gear whenever it’s cold.” Except in my case I might want to add DFB (don’t forget boots). ATHGWICDFB. Oh, now we’re really catchy. Just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?

Let’s try again.

WEWIC. That would be “wear electrics when it’s cold.”

Or maybe ATHGATW (all the heated gear all the winter). Do I have to add AB for “and boots” (ATHGABATW)?

OK, I give up. Whoever came up with ATGATT did a terrific job; I’m not going to match that. Who knows, maybe just remembering those cold ankles will be all the reminder I need. In fact, I’m sure it will. Until the next time I get stupid.

Biker Quote for Today

In the grand scheme of things, what’s it matter? Forget it! Let’s ride.

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Posted in Motorcycle Gear | 1 Comment »

Are You Talking To Me?

Thursday, January 16th, 2014
UCLEAR communicator

Here's the communicator we ended up with.

If you head out on your motorcycle two-up with your significant other it’s inevitable that at some point you will look into helmet-to-helmet communicators. The alternative is to continue to yell and try to be heard over the sound of the engine, and to frequently crack your helmets together in the process. You know, the way you’re doing it now.

A number of years ago my wife, Judy, and I took the plunge and bought a communicator system and I would have to say the results were decidedly so-so. Here’s our story.

The unit we selected was probably a mistake from the start. If all you want to do is communicate with your passenger, a simple wired system is all you need. I made the mistaken assumption that as my riding buddies and I continued to enhance our gear, some of them would also buy communicators and so it was only logical for me to get a wireless system. Of course, they would have to get the same brand product I had, but I figured that I’d set the precedent and they would follow.

A doxen years on and guess what? Not one of my friends has bought a communicator, except for John, who got one to talk with his wife when she’s on back. Oh well, Judy and I can still talk, and that’s the main thing, right?

Well, sort of.

Installing Speakers
Of course, the first thing I had to do when we bought our communicator was to install the hardware and speakers in our helmets. The foam padding in a helmet already has a cavity where your ears are so they’ll be comfortable, but if you’re going to put a speaker there you have to cut away more of the foam to make room. Our came with some glue and Velcro (or hook and loop as the generic term goes) so I then stuck the Velcro on the back of the speaker and attached it to the helmet. No problem. Except that as soon as the weather turned warm the glue melted and the speakers fell out. Jerry-rigging my way along I finally came up with an approach that held them in place, most of the time.

Initially, the system worked pretty well. We could talk and hear each other, although with voice-activation we found it worked best to start any statement with “Ummmm” to kick the voice-activation on. Of course, this was happening over the airwaves and we weren’t always the only ones using this particular frequency. If we rode along under or beside high-voltage power lines we would usually get a loud, unpleasant humming, which we would try to cancel out by loudly singing, “La la la la la la la la la la la la la.”

Other times we would pick up someone else’s cell phone conversation: “. . . Roger’s coming over at 3 then I need to . . .”
OK, fine. Judy and I can still talk, and that’s the main thing, right?

No, We Can’t
And then there came the day when we couldn’t talk. We were suited up to ride, the bike was warming up, and we connected all the wires. We did our usual tests to make sure we could hear each other, and I could hear her but she couldn’t hear me. I adjusted my microphone, we twisted all the knobs and pushed all the buttons, but nothing doing. So we took off and figured we’d mess with it when we got home.

The trouble was, we couldn’t figure out what the problem was. Next time we went for a ride we geared up again and tried the communicator and once again we couldn’t get it to work. Over the next year I fiddled with the thing again and again, all with no success. So we’re back to yelling and cracking helmets together.

Meanwhile I had been reading on motorcycle forums about different helmet-to-helmet systems and what I learned is that if all you want is communication from one helmet to another, seated on the same bike, the simple wired systems actually work quite well. They are not voice-activated; they’re just always on. The unit acts as a small amplifier, connecting the microphones in both headsets to the speakers in both headsets. They work even better if you use earplugs, and that eliminates the hassle of installing the speakers.

In other words, this is the sort of system we would have bought if I hadn’t had that silly notion of my buddies getting communicators, too. So did I got out and buy one of those?

No, I got an email asking if I’d like to try out a bluetooth communicator. Of course I had to have two to actually test them so they sent two. And they work great. That’s what we use now. I won’t rehash what I wrote about them at the time; you can see that here. Suffice it to say that Judy and I never have trouble talking on bike rides any more.

Biker Quote for Today

I went somewhere once and came back. It was kind of fun. I just might do it again.

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Posted in Motorcycle Gear | No Comments »

Balmy December Riding

Thursday, December 19th, 2013
Gerbing heated gloves

I love my heated gloves.

Beautiful day on Wednesday and I rode to work. Yahoo!

It had been 17 days since I’d been on a bike, most of that bitter cold and still snow and ice on our street even once the temperatures turned up. But Wednesday was great.

Starting out in the morning it was brisk, of course, so I wore the electric vest and electric gloves. Almost felt like I didn’t need the vest but it pushed me from on the verge of chilly to very comfy.

As for the gloves, I got to do a real test there because for whatever reason, I couldn’t get one of them to turn on. They’re warm gloves in their own right, so my left hand never got cold, except that by the time I got to work the very tips of my fingers were definitely feeling it.

Of course there were a slew of bikes in the parking lot today. There are a bunch of riders at the National Park Service who are serious bikers, riding just about any time they can. Most of them ride BMWs, so I assume they have electric seats, electric grips, and all that. They’re pretty much all 1200 GS’s and RS’s. There was one guy there today on a Honda, I noticed.

Coming home I didn’t use the vest at all but I did turn the gloves on. And yes, that’s plural. The one that wouldn’t come on in the morning did come on in the evening. Except I got about three blocks and it shut off again. I fiddled with it and got it on again and it stayed on the rest of the ride. So both hands had heat and I couldn’t tell if I really needed them or not.

Of course, I was on the Concours. That’s my warmest bike. It has a large fairing and the engine pumps out a ton of heat. That heat is not particularly welcome in the summer but in the winter it’s wonderful. I would have needed the heated gear a lot more on either the Honda or the Suzuki.

And I was trying out some new ear plugs, too. These things are some kind of high-tech product that are supposed to do a really good job of muffling loud noise while allowing you to hear clearly to talk or to be aware of traffic. I can’t really say for sure yet how good I think they are, but once I’ve used them a bit more I’ll make a report.

Now the weather is turning colder again. Hope I get to ride some more this month yet. As long as the road stays clear that should happen. But there’s possible snow in the near-term forecast. Keep your fingers crossed.

Biker Quote for Today

My solution for winter riding is to buy an old bike (winter hack) keeping your pride ‘n’ joy all warm and tucked away until the sun or warmer weather returns.

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Posted in Motorcycle Gear | 1 Comment »

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