Passes & Canyons Blog

This may be embarrassing to Lorna Reed, the lady who runs Colorado Chaps, making fleece-lined motorcycle chaps for winter riding, and for others. Nevertheless, I’m going to tell you about it.

Because I have several Google Alerts set up to pick up on news items regarding motorcycles, I ran across a posting this morning in a riders of Honda 1000RRs. It seems one forum member from Australia had ordered some chaps from Lorna and sent payment. Of course, if you pay any attention to the news at all, you are aware there has been incredible flooding going on in Australia recently. Lorna filled the order but then sent this note:

I’m sorry that I was so unawares of the plight of your city/country. Our news has been engrossed in the slayings in Tucson Arizona.
My thoughts and my prayers go to you, your family, and your neighbors.
I just refunded $100. to your credit card ending in XXXX
When you are able, please contribute this to a family, your church, the Red Cross, whom ever needs it most there in Brisbane.
My heart is with you and your family and your country.
We are really all one, on a tiny earth……………..

Of course, I’m familiar with Lorna. She made me a pair of chaps awhile back and I put them through the paces and reported favorably on them. Lorna and I have since stayed in touch and I sent her the URL to that forum post.

So what can you say? I know Lorna never expected to get a lot of attention for what she did, she just did it because she felt it was the right thing to do. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say, “Lorna, you are a truly good person!”

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
A call for honesty regarding helmets and vision

Biker Quote for Today

Many of us are irritable most of the time (unless we’re in love or just bought a motorcycle). — Carolyn See

By now everyone knows that Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot Saturday in Tucson, and that a lot of other people were killed in the incident. What many motorcyclists don’t know is that Rep. Giffords is one of us: She rides.

Giffords is chair of the United States House of Representatives Motorcycle Safety Caucus. I didn’t know that but you know the folks at the Motorcycle Riders Foundation did. As soon as they heard about the shooting they issued a statement describing her as “a true friend of the motorcyclists of this country.”

I was wondering what she rides and the best I could come up with was a photo of her with some BMW that I don’t recognize, a boxer.

What is far more significant than what she rides, however, is what I found when I went looking. I found a YouTube video she did for the Motorcycle Industry Council promoting Ride Your Motorcycle to Work Day. Not surprisingly, that video has had a lot of viewers in the last 24 hours, and a lot of comments. Some of them are incredible. Statements like, “I hope this socialist c— dies.” And apparently in response to YouTube removing some more outrageous comments, this: “What ever happened to freadom of speach? Only if you support faggots and socialist negros.” Or this: “She was a jew !” And this: “She got what she got! f–kin illuminati whore.”

What is wrong with these people!? Where do these scum breed? These self-proclaimed America-loving patriots wouldn’t understand the values of our founding fathers–or the people of this country today–if George Washington and Thomas Jefferson enunciated it for them to their faces.

I know this is getting off the topic of motorcycles but today is not an average day. If you read the blog regularly you know that for nearly three years I have been writing for Examiner.com as their National Motorcycle Examiner. In my life beyond motorcycles I have been interested in politics but turned off by the style of politics that has become so prevalent, where your opponent is not just someone you disagree with, but the devil incarnate. Someone absolutely evil.

Getting fed up with that, just three weeks ago I took on another title at Examiner, as their National Common Ground Examiner. The intent of my writing on this topic is to promote a return to civility in politics and to making reasonable compromises in order to actually fix some of the problems facing this country. To use a metaphor, there are no Republican potholes or Democratic potholes, there are just potholes and they need to be fixed. Do it! It’s fine to disagree, and work for different ends, but treat each other with civility and respect.

Little did I know that my topic would so suddenly become so relevant. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. As the Common Ground Examiner I’ve been writing about a group called No Labels that is working for this same return to civility. I’ve been reading the comments people make about the group and it is astonishing how negative and vicious many of those comments are. The one that particularly sticks in my mind was a guy who said, “Not all who hate America are liberals, but all liberals hate America.” Is there anyone who doubts that it was this sort of sick thinking that led to the attack on Gabby Giffords?

Oh, and just for the record, I’m not a Democrat or a Republican. I’m a registered Independent. But I’m going to quote the words of the Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner: “An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve. Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society. Our prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords, her staff, all who were injured, and their families. This is a sad day for our country.” Do you idiots who cheer this attack just not get the message?

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Arizona motorcyclist Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords shot in head

Biker Quote for Today

Ride fast, life is short.

The following is a guest post by Miles Walker. Miles is a freelance writer and blogger who usually compares car insurance deals over at CarinsuranceComparison.Org. He contacted me to ask if he could do a guest post and I think you’ll find what he sent me very interesting.

5 most unusual motorbike designs

Bike enthusiasts and visual thrill-seekers rejoice. Below lays a bauble of hand-picked (or eye-picked) steel sirens of motorcycle design that are truly unusual.

From an assortment of shapes, colors, and themes, there is a little something here for everyone. The best part? There’s no Photoshop CGI Computer Play-doh here. Every one of these bikes is a real machine, with ignition and key. The Real McCoy.

What does this matter you? Well if you are as rich as a sheikh or on your way to becoming one, with the right connections and a little gumption, you could probably get a replica of one these bikes built yourself. Hey, anything’s possible right?

The Hubless Monster – The Wheels To The Soul

Woah. Now that is cool. Look ma, no spokes! The wonderbrains at Amen made this unique bike that is the first to have hubless wheels in the front AND in the back. If you want to know how it feels to be a Tron rider with flames, this is the bike for you.

Mean, Green Cheese-Eating Machine

Holy Limburger, hide the cheese! Don’t let this eye-popping creation find it, or it’s curtains. Man, this bike is so cool, we would have to change motorcyle moniker from “hogs” to “rats”. If you can’t get noticed riding this ultra unique mechanical phenom, then Superman must be flying butt-naked next to you. That’s the only way.

The Spider Rider

Straight out of your favorite anime comic comes the Yamaha Tesseract. This bike looks like it was transported from the year 3049 from one of Mr. Fantastic’s time machines. How cool would you be riding this? You’d get more looks than a wino in the front row at the Emmy’s. It has four legs like a spider, and four wheels like a car, and yet it’s neither. Look for this to be in the next James Bond movie.

The Circle of Road Righteousness

Dude, it’s a big-ass motorized donut! This is too cool for words and also would appear in a James Bond movie, but Goldtoe or Octo-vagine would be riding this baby. As hot as this bike is, I would be afraid to hit a pebble going 70 mph. You’d end up on the side of the road folded up like a giant metal pretzel.

The Horny Hog

Last but not least for all you horndogs out there, is this sexy ride. Who needs Viagra? After riding this around town, you’ll be ready for wifey. I wonder, does the girl come with the bike?

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Twice-ripped-off motorcyclist now gets last laugh

Biker Quote for Today

Live like you mean it, then get a bike.

For the first time in more than 20 years on motorcycles I rode more miles than I drove last year. In fact, nearly double. I’m pretty amazed.

Every year on January 1 I check my odometers on all my vehicles to see how many miles I covered on each. This year I rode my Kawasaki Concours 10,004 miles. Not surprisingly, that’s also the first time I’ve ridden more than 10,000 miles on a bike in a year. In 2009 I rode the Kawi 5,016 miles.

My car, on the other hand, racked up only 5,581 miles. That compares with 8,660 miles in 2009.

I didn’t do much on my Honda CB750 Custom, partly because it spent too much of the year in the shop. Mileage for 2010 was only 662 miles, compared to 1,037 the year before.

Altogether that puts my bike mileage at 10,666 or a bit less than double the car. Double the car would be 11,162, so that’s about 500 shy.

I’m happy to say that a lot of those miles came from the fact that I took a lot more trips this past year. I went out to the Laughlin River Run, I went to the Sturgis Rally, and of course I went on the annual OFMC trip.

But all those miles also mean I rode more at home. I made it a point to use the bikes for transportation as much as possible, even when it would have been more convenient to drive my car. And I’ll continue doing that, too. I like being on the bike more. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Riding the dang thing!?

Oh, and by the way, those figures actually don’t even represent all the miles I rode this past year. They do not include the four days I spent doing the EagleRider media tour in California, the dual-sporting I did on other people’s V-Stroms, or the week I got around exclusively on a scooter. So if you add those miles I did ride more than double the miles I drove in 2010.

I don’t know about you but I kind of like the sound of that.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
New motorcycle-related laws kick in with the new year

Biker Quote for Today

Warning: If this bike is on a trailer it is being stolen.

Along with a lot of other people I was surprised a few months ago to open the latest issue of Cycle World magazine and find that Mark Hoyer was suddenly the editor. What happened to David Edwards? Edwards had been the editor for years and now, without a word, he was gone.

That latter fact suggested that there were issues and conflicts. Usually when a long-time editor leaves a magazine he or she does a farewell column and introduces their successor. Not so in this case. Even when I was Senior Editor for the Sentinel newspapers and left unexpectedly in a hurry–my decision, but not a happy one–I had the chance to run a farewell column. Not so David Edwards.

Figuring that the folks at the big motorcycle magazines must know each other, I asked Donya Carlson, the Senior Managing Editor for Rider magazine, what she knew about Edwards’ departure. (Donya and I were among the group who spent four days riding California on the EagleRider media tour in October.) She said she didn’t know anything, and that they were as curious as anyone else.

Of course I also wondered where he would go. It’s got to be damn hard to find a job anywhere comparable to being the editorial honcho at one of the country’s premier moto mags. On that last question, and the reason for this post, is that there is now at least a kernel of an answer.

I’m not sure if this is in the magazine, but yesterday on the Motorcyclist magazine website I discovered an article, “The Bob Dylan Motorcycle Crash,” written by none other than David Edwards. So presumably Edwards is doing some freelancing. Good for him for getting a piece published; I know how tough that can be. He at least has better contacts than I do.

So anyway, it’s none of my business or of yours, but we can’t help but be curious. What in the world happened that he was gone that suddenly? I don’t suppose we’ll ever know.

And good luck David on making your comeback. For your sake, I hope to see your byline again somewhere on at least a semi-regular basis.

Biker Quote for Today

Sometimes it takes a whole tank of gas to leave your troubles behind.

I picked up some new work the other day and I’d love to tell you where to go to read what I’m writing, but at the moment I don’t even know myself.

Just to bring anyone up to speed who isn’t familiar with what I do, I’m a writer and a rider and I’ve made it my job to combine the two. In addition to this blog, I write for Examiner.com, RumBum.com, do occasional pieces for CycleConnections.com, and have various other outfits that sometimes will hire me to do a piece.

My dance card is not full, however, so I’m always looking for another gig, and this time I decided to check out Elance. That as in E for online and lance, for freelance. It’s a digital meeting place for freelancers and the people who need freelance work done.

An there it was, a gig posting titled “Motorcycle Articles Needed.” I put in a bid and the next day got an email from Michael A. saying “You’re exactly the guy I’m looking for.”

Michael has hired me to write eight pieces for him, with complete freedom to choose my own subject matter, provided that I somehow draw into the discussion some of the brands and models sold by the dealership Michael does work for. Which is to say, this is more or less advertising copy, though only in the sense that many websites where the focus is on selling want honest to goodness content to draw readers to the site. I’ve done some of that before.

At this point I have no idea where this stuff will appear, whether I’ll be identified as the writer, or even how it will be used. There is likely to be more of this work in the future, though, so I’m sure I’ll learn all this eventually. It’ll be interesting to see.

Biker Quote for Today

Midnight bugs taste just as bad as noon time bugs.