Passes & Canyons Blog

I was pretty ignorant when I bought my first motorcycle but there was one things I was sure of: I didn’t like getting pounded by the wind. So one of the very first things I did was go to a parts shop for wind protection. I asked to see fairings and mentioned that I really wanted a windshield; the sales guy rolled his eyes and asked which it was, did I want a fairing or a windshield?

Truth is, I didn’t know the difference. I thought they were pretty much two words for the same thing. Wrong. A windshield is essentially a curved piece of clear plastic that blocks the wind. A fairing often covers up much of the front end of the bike, has compartments for storage and installation of electronics, and provides much greater protection from both wind, rain, and flying objects.

I bought a windshield that day, for my Honda CB750 Custom. Years later, when I bought my Kawasaki Concours, it came with a full fairing as part of the package. I still don’t like getting pounded by the wind.

A lot of guys think very differently than I do. For many, a windshield or fairing ruins the look of the machine and that’s what they care about, at least more than they care about the buffeting. Others actually seem to like the wind blast, considering it part of what motorcycling is all about. I just don’t get it.

For one thing, it’s work to ride fast when the wind is beating on you trying to throw you back off the bike. Additionally, for example, right after I bought the Kawi I went riding with the guys and of course they wanted to test ride it. So John and I swapped bikes and I rode his naked Honda Shadow. Not only was the wind uncomfortable for me, without a fairing or windshield it also blasted my eyes behind the glasses I wore for eye protection, making them water profusely. By the time we stopped to trade back I could barely see and the sides of my face were streaked with the tears that had left trails back toward my ears. Give me my own bike back!

I do understand that on some bikes with lower seat heights you actually sit down more into the bike than on others, and the front end and aerodynamics reduce the wind blast. I experienced that when I test rode some Triumph motorcycles. Even without wind protection they were comfortable until I got up to 70 mph, and at 70 the blast was not as bad as on other bikes at much lesser speeds. But if I ever buy a Bonneville I’m still going to put a windshield on it.

In recent years, manufacturers have made big strides in making windshields more attractive, as well as easy to install and remove. Harley-Davidson, in particular, offers attractive brackets that allow you to do either in about two seconds. That makes it easy for the guys who want to cruise around town without the windshield, but do want to have one when they travel.

And that would include people like my buddy, Bill. He decided to go with that type of system when he bought one of his Harleys, but after giving it a try he decided he still liked traveling without it. Later, however, with a newer, different Harley, he has finally concluded the fairing really is kind of nice. I still just don’t get it why he preferred no fairing for so many years. I never will.

Biker Quote for Today

Life is not waiting for the storm to pass . . . learn to dance under the rain.

So this is probably the best helmet I’ve ever had. It’s certainly the most expensive. But hey, you know the saying: If your head is only worth $5 then buy a $5 helmet. Otherwise . . .

The helmet is a Shoei RF-SR. And I’m happy to say I already need to clean the visor.

So how do I like it? Well, it’s kind of mixed. It is certainly the most comfortable helmet I’ve ever had. My first was a Bieffe and it pressed on my forehead and gave me a headache after wearing it awhile. Since then I’ve had several others and while all have been serviceable, the two I’ve been using the last few years are by far the noisiest I’ve ever owned.

This was one of the selling points for the RF-SR. Eddy McCarty at Fay Myers says Shoei makes the quietest helmets on the market.

So maybe I was expecting too much. Yes this new helmet is much quieter than the old ones but it was not as quiet as I hoped. Of course, what I really need to do is go for a ride with one of the old ones on and see if it now seems much noisier than the Shoei.

Eddy also talked about the ventilation and that is another thing I may have had too high expectations. The RF-SR has vents at your forehead and matching vents in the rear. Riding on a hot day I could feel that flow of air across the top of my head and it was welcome. But the rest of my head was very hot. I suspect that is in part a result of having a better helmet than I’ve had before: With better padding and better fit there is simply not as much room for air to move around inside the helmet. When you have padding pressed right up against your cheeks there is not going to be air flow past your cheeks.

The one thing that is terrific about this helmet, however, is the built-in pockets for communicator speakers. In all previous helmets I have had to do my best to locate the speakers in any recession existing, and usually ended up with them rubbing against my ears. I think all new helmets now come with spaces designed to take speakers and keep them away from your ear and therefore comfortable.

Removing and installing the visor is a two-second job with the RF-SR. Several of my old helmets–most notably my Bieffe and HJC–made these operations so difficult as to be almost impossible. I busted the whole mechanism on one of them one time just trying to get the visor attached.

So there are a couple things I’m not as thrilled with as I had hoped but I do like the idea of having an actual high quality helmet finally. If in a few weeks I find I’m not so thrilled–or find myself much more pleased–I’ll make note of that here.

Biker Quote for Today

She’s got a wide seat, a couple of saddlebags, smokes like a fiend, and doesn’t mind being call a hog. What a hottie!

Judy and I have spent a good bit of money on motorcycle gear in the last year or two and pretty much all of it has been at Fay Myers. The truth of the matter is, we’re buying from Eddy.

Eddy McCarty works in gear sales at Fay Myers. We don’t shop at Fay Myers because we love that store or think they have the best selection and/or best prices. We shop there because Eddy is the best, most knowledgeable sales guy we’ve ever met. Not only does he have an encyclopedic knowledge of the products, he is personable and accommodating and also entertaining.

We got to know Eddy when we bought our newest communicator set, Sena SMH10s. As I noted in a blog post then, “It was my good fortune to hook up with Eddy at Fay Myers because Eddy spent a lot of time with me and was exceedingly knowledgeable.”

Later we went back to get a new helmet for Judy. Once again it was Eddy who waited on us and once again he impressed the heck out of us with his expertise. He helped Judy pick just the right helmet and then he did the installation of her communicator in the new helmet, a task that took him at least 20 minutes and probably would have taken me an hour.

Now, just last week, we were back again. We knew we wanted Eddy so we stood for 5-10 minutes just waiting for him to wrap up what he was doing. And he sold me a new helmet, and once again he did the installation of the communicator. And while all this was going on he entertained us with discussions of topics as varied as deodorants and a tongue-in-cheek petition to ban water (ask him about that!).

We don’t typically grow attached to the sales people we deal with, but Eddy is absolutely an exception. Next time you’re at Fay Myers try to get him to help you out. Eddy is special.

Biker Quote for Today

You’re a biker wannabe if your tattoos wash off.

Emiliano contacted me about this new “Biker Coffee” they are now releasing in the states and asked if I was interested in passing the word along. I believe the gist of my response was “What makes coffee ‘biker’ coffee and of course if you’d like to send me some I’ll try it out and tell people about it.”

Biker Coffee was the brainchild of my uncle, Frank Rossi. Frank is a “no nonsense” kind of guy; he’s passionate about certain things like motorcycles, great coffee, freedom and family. He thinks political correctness is overrated so he prefers to tell it like it is. If it’s s–t, Frank is the first one to say so. That’s where “beans with attitude” comes in. Frank didn’t want to sell any old coffee – he wanted to craft coffee blends that said something. With every cup, you’re making a statement.

Frank started Biker Coffee Company in Canada in 2009 where it was a huge success. He decided to buy the rights from his partner to sell in the U.S. market so we’re now geared up and rolling in the U.S.A.

What makes Biker Coffee different is that the beans are roasted to order. That means when customers place an online order, the beans are roasted and the flavor-sealed bag is delivered to their doorstep. It also means our coffee is at peak freshness when you open the bag. The robust aroma, accompanied by a rich, bold flavor, will get you ready for whatever the road (or day) brings. Our beans are sourced from free trade, sustainable farms in the mountains of Costa Rica and Guatemala. We add the attitude in the states.

Biker Coffee Company embodies everything we hold dear – quality, freedom of expression and the adventure of the open road. We will gladly support biker causes by providing rallies or clubs with a percentage of revenue when Biker Coffee is served at their events. Interested groups can contact me for details.

So I received the coffee and made a pot. The first thing you need to understand is that I usually drink a pretty dark roast. I’ve read that with the really dark roasts, almost all the coffee flavor has been replaced by the taste of char. So if you drink a milder roast you may find yourself experiencing actual coffee flavor for the first time and that may be surprising. Emiliano sent me the Medium roast.

My wife and I both thought it tasted like dishwater. I realized I had made a mistake using the same proportions of water to coffee that I do with my dark char standard. I contacted Emiliano again.

You can adjust the percentages to taste. Here is how we recommend brewing:

Here are some brewing tips:
Drip method is best.
1. Use 1 oz of coffee for 16 fluid oz of water or .625 oz for 10 oz of water.
2. Heat water to approximately 200 degrees F
3. Pour water over beans.
Enjoy!
i.e. one pound bag of coffee yields 16 delicious 16 oz cups. or 25, 10 oz cups!

Yes, that is a bit more coffee than I was accustomed to using. In fact it was so much more that I didn’t go straight to the 1-16 ratio right away. But the further I pushed in that direction the more I started feeling like, OK, this is good coffee.

I should make the point here that Biker Coffee offers three versions: the Original Blend medium roast, Disc Brake decaffeinated, and Full Throttle dark roast.

So I took my taste buds on a learning tour, although we got side-tracked by a hospital visit. Much hospital food is as horrid as you have probably heard but at least the coffee was only bad, not undrinkable. (The chicken noodle soup was inedible. How do you ruin chicken noodle soup?) So when I was released and back home to drink real coffee again the Biker Coffee was a blessing. Coffee with taste. What a concept!

Biker Quote for Today

Drive fast on empty streets with nothing in mind except falling in love and not getting arrested. — Hunter S. Thompson

Do thermometers lie? I was out riding on Saturday, a sunny 48 degrees and my fingers were turning into ice cubes. And I was wearing my non-electric winter gloves, with Thinsulate© lining. How could I be so cold on such a warm day?

I understand that the 60 degrees showing on our thermometer out front is not to be trusted because it is sheltered and has a southern exposure. But I trusted the 48 degrees the thermometer out back, in the shade, told me. Of course I wore my electric vest–I never ride without that at this time of year.

So I took off on the V-Strom and hadn’t gone three blocks when I realized I would have been happy to have had long underwear on. Sure I could have gone back but what the heck, I can live with it. So I won’t whine about my legs being cold, although they definitely were.

But then by the time I was gone about five miles my hands were really getting cold. And it was a sunny day! I don’t get it. This is Colorado.

Oh well, I was going for a ride. So I did.

I headed down Jordan Road to Arapahoe Road and turned east. I crossed Parker Road and decided to follow Arapahoe further and see where it went. I knew I’d been out that way before but just at the moment I couldn’t remember. And it did go on straight pretty far, until just before reaching C-470 it started wiggling. Then I remembered, it twists around and then heads north and intersects Smoky Hill Road.

Yep, that’s what it did, but then, where does it go beyond Smoky Hill? I guess I’ll have to find out.

Well, the answer is not very far. It winds around through a shopping area briefly and then dissolves into a housing development, becoming nothing more than a small collector street. And then it just ended where new development is still going on and there are more empty lots than new homes.

I turned south on Titus Way, which quickly brought me back to Smoky Hill. OK, my hands are cold enough, I’m turning right and heading home. It wasn’t as long a ride as I might have liked but at least I did get out. Friday would have been better–it was warmer–but we were just coming home from Grand Junction and I missed the better, warmer part of that day. So I rode on Saturday.

I had a realization though. There I was with freezing hands and while, sure, I could have worn my heated gloves but I didn’t, still, there is really no good reason why I didn’t have some of those chemical heat packs stuffed in my jacket pocket for just this sort of occasion. I have some, and once you buy those things there is no reason not to use them because if you keep them too long they lose potency. Why weren’t they in my pocket?

They are now.

Biker Quote for Today

Missing: Husband and motorcycle. Reward for motorcycle.

Having some way to secure your helmet to your bike when you park somewhere is essential. Sure, I know a lot of people leave their helmets with the bike, unsecured, and even I do that at times, but there are other times when I just don’t feel that trusting.

Years ago it seemed most bikes came with helmet locks as part of the bike. I know my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom has one. But then there’s my 1999 Kawasaki Concours: it has one but it is located such that it is essentially useless. Whose idea was that? No matter, I have long had a third-party helmet lock that has worked great.

I have not had a helmet lock for my 2006 Suzuki V-Strom 650. So when I was contacted by Big Pantha asking if I would be interested in testing and reviewing their helmet lock I jumped at the opportunity.

This device is really simplicity itself. It is rubber-coated cable with a loop at one end and attached to a locking carabiner at the other end. You run the cable through your helmet and around something on the bike and then connect the two ends with the carabiner. There is a combination lock element and once you have closed the carabiner you move the dials to secure it. When you’re ready to go you set the dials back to your combination and disconnect. As compact as it is, Big Pantha says the cable can be unwound to stretch as much as six feet.

As a former technical writer creating user guides I am a strong believer in the concept of reading the instructions. Nevertheless, this seemed so simple that I started fooling with it without doing so. I was immediately confounded by the difficulty I had trying to reset the combination. That is, to change the default combination to something of my own choosing. Doh! Read the instructions.

The lever to open the carabiner is obvious. What is not so obvious is a second lever on the inside that you need to depress in order to reset the combination. Press that and voila!

The biggest difference between the Big Pantha lock and the one I have on the Kawi is that the one on the Kawi is seriously connected to the bike and moving it to another bike would be quite a pain. The Big Pantha lock is not connected to the bike at all, and it is quite small, so it is very easy to just slip it in your pocket and use it on any bike you want at any time. Or you could use it to lock anything else you might need to secure.

Now, as with the lock on the Kawi, the weak link in the system would appear to be the cable. Make no mistake, someone with a pair of bolt cutters could chop through either of these cables in an instant. But how many people do you see walking around carrying bolt cutters? I’ve used the lock on the Kawi for close to 10 years and have never had the slightest problem. Let’s face it, a dedicated thief can defeat just about any protective device. These devices are more about preventing someone who just happens to walk by and take a fancy to your helmet from taking it home with him.

And unless you have one of those really expensive helmets, it’s likely that no one is going to want your helmet anyway. Who wants to wear someone else’s sweaty helmet? But it’s still comforting at times to have it secured to your bike rather than just sitting there.

So OK, here’s the deal. Big Pantha sent me this lock as part of a partnership arrangement whereby I get a small payment for each lock sold to people coming to purchase via my site here. That’s not a big deal for me because I would have been happy to do a review just for receiving the lock. But it does matter to you if you’re interested because if you do click through on this link you will get the lock for 15% off the regular price. What you will need to do is, when making your purchase, enter the code “KENP797U” in the appropriate field. (That’s a clarification from what I previously told you–now that Big Pantha clarified it to me.)

If this is something you would find useful, by all means, click away!

Biker Quote for Today

I’m a free spirit. Either admire me or ride with me, but never try to cage me.

Sometimes you just need to spend the money, and afterward you’ll be glad you did.

For some years Judy and I have been using these early vintage UClear bluetooth helmet to helmet communicators but they have not been wonderful.

They were good in the beginning but technology had moved on and they were not doing so well now. On our snow-interrupted ride a month ago Judy could hardly hear what I said and while I could hear her, at any time she wasn’t speaking I was listening to loud static. Plus, we had always had a hard time getting them synced and in communication with each other. On that particular trip we probably used them less than half the time for all these reasons.

Back at home afterward I started looking around to see what was on the market today. Then I headed down to Fay Myers Motorcycle World to look at both communicators and helmets. It was my good fortune to hook up with Eddy at Fay Myers because Eddy spent a lot of time with me and was exceedingly knowledgeable.

I walked out with a pair of Sena SMH10 communicators.

Setting them up in the helmets was a pain but not a big deal. Then we had to figure out how to work them and it took some trial and error. We took a quick spin and found they worked much better than what we had been accustomed to.

The real test came last week when we were out on our four-day ride with Willie and Jungle and friends. The verdict: They’re great!

First off, the speakers are smaller so they’re much more comfortable than the old ones. They have greater volume potential so if we couldn’t hear well we could turn up the volume. They had no static, though we did have issues with wind noise across the microphones.

Most importantly, linking them and initiating communication is dead simple, and it works. On our old communicators we would follow the directions again and again and finally, at one point or another, they would work. Sometimes we’d just give up and go ride without them. These work quickly and easily every time.

You can call us satisfied customers.

Biker Quote for Today

Who needs a time machine when one twist of my wrist will leave you in the past!

I don’t know about other parts of the country, but in Colorado, Utah, and Idaho–where we are now–rain is a passing phenomenon. Wait 10 minutes and it will be gone. That makes it a tricky thing to decide whether you need to stop and put on rain gear when you’re out on a motorcycle ride.

Stop and gear up too eagerly and you will often find that you didn’t need to bother. Wait too long and you’ll be drenched before you get your gear on.

You tend to develop an approach that you find serves you well much of the time. For instance, I look at the traffic going the other direction. Are the cars dripping wet, with windshield wipers going? Suit up now. Are they dry? No problem.

What does the sky look like in direction you’re headed, and which way are the clouds moving? On Saturday, heading from Vernal to Duchesne, in Utah, I would have bet money we were in for it. Might as well just stop now and be done with it. But cars–and bikers–coming the other direction were dry so we pressed on. We ended up reaching Duchesne perfectly dry. And I’ve already described the situation we ran into as we continued west out of Duchesne.

Yesterday was one of those days when you just don’t want to stop but you know that if you continue you’ll be pushing your luck. It was the end of the day and we were nearing Soda Springs, ID, where we needed to stop and make a call. There was rain all around us but a pathway seemed to magically appear in front of us looking like we just might make it. I was lagging behind so when I came over a rise to see brake lights on I knew it was time.

It wasn’t that I could see the line of demarcation where the pavement was wet and where it was dry, although I could. It wasn’t that I could see that line moving in my direction, although I could. It was the hail that smacked me in the face before the first raindrop hit that convinced me it was time to suit up. And the line of wet hit me long before I had my rubber pants on; then, before I was finished pulling on the rubber mittens I could see the sky clearing ahead.

We mounted up and rode on into town, about 1 mile, and stopped and took it all off again.

That’s rain in this part of the country.

Biker Quote for Today

Some call it adventure; I call it my way of life.