Passes & Canyons Blog

I saw an article the other day that talked about something I had not heard before and I wondered if this is well known and I’m just out of the loop.

The signal is setting your helmet behind your bike when you’re pulled over along the road.

This is usually just to signal that they are having mechanical trouble, but it could also be a signal for medical trouble, injury, or other problems. It’s an unofficial rule, but a widely acknowledged one.

That’s a quote from the article, which also says the Canadian Ministry of Transportation has a motorcycle handbook that tells you to do this.

I’ve been riding for about 35 years and had never heard this before. It sounds like a good idea, but that would be providing that other bikers know what it means. Until now, I would not have known.

Now, theoretically bikers stop for each other in trouble just automatically. That’s not really the case, though, as I think we all know. I have certainly had riders stop to ask if I need assistance, sometimes when I was just stopped to take a break. You bet I appreciated their thoughtfulness. But I’ve also been stopped along the road actually in need of assistance and watched as bike after bike just blew on by. So I like the idea of something concrete like this to really say “Hey! I need help!”

I would think you would do best to put the helmet maybe 10 to 15 feet behind the bike–maybe more–for two reasons. First, if it’s right next to the rear wheel it may just look like you took it off and set it down. But also, the further away from the bike the more time that gives passing riders to react and hit their brakes.

I had a flat on I-70 out by Rifle one time and I waved frantically at every bike that passed but they were all going so fast that by the time they had a chance to react they were already 100 feet beyond me. One couple did finally stop–about 200 feet past me–and came running back to help.

And who knows. Maybe someone in a car who read this same article will recognize the issue and stop to help.

Biker Quote for Today

A guy letting a girl ride his motorcycle is like saying “I love you.”

A bill (SB24-079) to allow lane filtering by motorcycles when traffic stopped was passed out of House committee Tuesday and will now go to the floor. Let me back up, though, before I go forward.

I reported on this bill passing the Senate committee in February but I had been oblivious to later events. The situation is that apparently I depend too much on Stump, the ABATE of Colorado legislative liaison, to keep me up to date on these things. I assumed Stump would keep us advised on the progress of the bill but I guess maybe his main focus is on getting people to come in support of bills when they come up for hearings.

What that means in this case is that while I reported that the Senate committee OKed it on February 7, I did not know that on February 13 the entire Senate passed it, sending it over to the House. Oops. Big omission.

So it came to committee hearing in the House Tuesday, March 12, where it was passed on an 8-3 vote, sending it to the House as a whole. Its fate on the House floor is beyond my ken. I have no idea how the other members feel about this. But this time I’ll be watching and when it gets scheduled for floor debate I plan to be there to hear what is said.

In Tuesday’s hearing the list of witnesses wishing to speak pro or con was largely the same as in the Senate hearing. Several Colorado law enforcement agencies expressed their strong opposition, as did one fellow who is both a rider coach and an accident investigator. ABATE of Colorado maintained its neutrality, although State Rep Larry Montgomery, in his remarks, seemed to me to be leaning pro in that he said ABATE sees both sides but ABATE is a motorcyclist rights organization that strongly adheres to the philosophy that the rider should be able to choose. You can’t legally choose to filter if filtering is not legal.

Speaking in favor again were Nick Sands, representing the American Motorcyclist Association, and other individuals, including Tiger Chandler, representing the Coalition of Independent Riders and the Colorado Confederation of Clubs.

Several of the representatives expressed concern and two indicated they will seek to have amendments made on the House floor to address their concerns.

In the most forceful statements offered, the rider coach/accident investigator, Ed Shoenhite argued that Colorado motorcyclists are more privileged than they deserve or need to be and that they’re doing a “terrible job of keeping themselves alive.” He said that making helmets mandatory would do more than anything else to cut motorcycle fatalities in the state.

Countering such statements in their summation, one of the bill’s sponsors, Javier Mabrey, pointed out that no one in the opposition had pointed to any data from other states where filtering is allowed that show an increase in crashes or fatalities. In fact, most such data show a decrease in these incidents.

So now we’ll see what the House as a whole does, and then, if it passes, whether the governor will sign it. Neither is a certainty.

Biker Quote for Today

“It’s about the time I was riding my motorcycle, going down a mountain road at 150 miles an hour, playing my guitar.” — Arlo Guthrie

I wear a helmet any time I ride now, but for years I did not. What changed that?

When I bought my first bike I had a Bell half-helmet from my hang-gliding days. I figured that was all I needed and I only needed that if it rained, if it was cold, or if I was in a state where helmets are required. I did find, however, that if I was going to wear it I also needed a visor. The helmet had three snaps across the front so I bought a visor that snapped onto those. Voila. But I didn’t wear it much; mostly I left it hooked on the helmet lock on the side of the bike.

It wasn’t that I didn’t understand the value of a helmet. In the third year of the OFMC trips I was headed for Durango and came upon a chip-seal operation. Cruising over new chip-seal, the car in front of me threw up a rock that I saw coming right at me and it glanced off my helmet as I tried to duck out of its way. I had the helmet on at that time because it was a rainy day. So I knew the value of helmets; I just enjoyed riding without one too much.

By the sixth year of the OFMC trip I had a full-face helmet. I had picked up a used Bieffe helmet at a yard sale for $25. Yeah, I had probably heard that line about if your head is only worth $10 then buy a $10 helmet. But I was poor and I still wasn’t big on helmets. But a half-helmet really doesn’t do all that much good in rain. And to this day I say, if you’re going to wear a helmet, wear a real helmet that gives you all the protection possible.

So I wore that Bieffe for a lot of years, but not very much. Truth was, it hurt. The Styrofoam liner pressed against my forehead and after an hour or more I was in pain. I only learned why that was last year. I was buying a new helmet and some that I tried on did that same thing. The sales guy explained that some helmets are shaped differently to accommodate different people’s heads. Some heads are oval shaped, others are more round. Don’t get a helmet meant for someone with a round head if your head is oval shaped.

Time passed and Bill and John started wearing their helmets more and more. I was the hold-out. I remember some year when they both wore their helmets nearly the entire time. I defiantly did not wear mine at all on that trip. More guys joined the group and more and more of them wore helmets all the time. It wasn’t peer pressure but that kind of thing does impact your thinking, if only subtly.

Oh yeah, and along the way I got ride of that painful Bieffe and bought a series of other helmets. One of the first was a new Bieffe but that hurt me the same way the old one did. I hadn’t learned about that yet. I still have that one but it’s hardly ever been worn.

Another thing that came with the passage of time is that I got married. I still was not overly concerned for myself but I didn’t like to think of what something happening to me would do to her. And then family things started happening.

First, my oldest brother was diagnosed with, and then died from, brain cancer. Next my second brother and his wife ran into serious marital issues when her sister developed serious mental illness. My sister-in-law felt she had no choice but to care for her sister, despite the extremely bad relations between her sister and her husband, my brother. That marriage ended. And then my younger brother’s wife got hit by a truck while she was riding her bicycle. She was wearing a helmet but those bicycle helmets are junk, if you want my opinion. She suffered irreparable brain damage.

At that point I was feeling like I was inviting a clean sweep. I did not want Judy to have to deal with the same issues all my siblings were facing. For Christmas that year I told her my real gift to her was that I would always ride with a helmet from then on. Actually, I had made that decision and was doing so for some months before this, but this was the first time I ever mentioned it to her. Merry Christmas, Judy. She was very pleased with the gift.

This was my own personal journey. It applies to me, and only me. I’m not one of those converts who now thinks everyone else should do the same. I still believe in helmets being the choice of the rider. And I choose to wear a helmet always.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you paint your office nick-name (like EasyRider or Bad-Ass) on your Bell open-face helmet.

I’ve got a really good Shoei helmet and a perfectly good Icon helmet but, illogically, I have most frequently worn what I take to be a fairly crummy Hawk helmet for a number of years.

The thing with the Hawk is that it is modular, but I almost never flip it up, and it has a Velcro-attaching patch of fabric across the front to keep cold wind from blowing up by your chin. In winter especially I like that bit of fabric. Plus, the helmet itself is comfortable. Or was, I should say.

Setting off on the Great River Road Ride I chose to wear the Hawk. But that’s not what I came home with.

I got the Hawk a long time ago, as a freebie, to do a review of, back when I was writing for Examiner.com. The main feature was that it came Bluetooth equipped. Theoretically you would link your phone to the Bluetooth in the helmet and voila, you had in-helmet communication. It never worked. I tried linking it to the phones of several friends and we could never get it to work. But it was very comfortable so I used it.

Early on I ran into some issue and as I fiddled with the helmet to fix whatever it was that was wrong I discovered that the flip-up part was only attached to the rest of the helmet by what appeared to me to be fairly flimsy clips. I wondered if, if I had a crash, those clips would give and that part of the helmet would just fall off. But I liked the helmet so I kept wearing it. Hey, I’m not going to crash, right?

Well, on the first or second day of this trip I noticed that where the two pieces attach they appeared to be pulling apart. That didn’t seem good. Plus, I had been having trouble keeping the helmet liner assembly–the plastic pieces that fit together to hold the foam liner in place–in place. At one stop Tom brought me a piece of plastic asking if it came from my helmet. It had. And now, when I took the helmet off, the entire fabric liner seemed to want to come out along with my head. This was just not OK any more.

On the third day of the ride we stopped for lunch in Hannibal, MO, and I checked for a local motorcycle shop. I found a Suzuki dealer on our route ahead about 20 miles and resolved to stop there. I was splitting off from the rest of the group after Hannibal anyway so this was perfect.

I got to the shop and it turned out they are no longer a Suzuki dealer, but they did have exactly six helmets still in stock. Only one of them fit me. I bought it. This was a Zox helmet.

Now, to me, Zox is a no-name brand and who knows how good it is. I did later Google it, however, and found that it apparently is well-constructed, meeting both DOT and SNELL standards, and is aimed for the low end of the market. Works for me; I only paid about $105 for it, and the lady was glad to get it out of her inventory. Five more left to unload. I gave her the Hawk to throw away. (She also said she had some good Suzuki luggage she’d like to sell me for a good price but I passed.)

About an hour later I was having second thoughts. The foam liner was pressing into my forehead and hurting. I’ve had helmets like this before. My first two helmets were Bieffes and they did the same thing. For years I wore helmets as little as possible because they hurt. I tried pounding on the foam in the specific spot and that had helped some but I was glad to finally get rid of that first Bieffe and I still have the second but never wear it.

The next day we stopped at a battery shop because Dave was having issues and we all hoped it was just the battery. There was a motorcycle shop just across the street so I went over there to look at helmets. They had a good selection, and some were not overly expensive. Did I really want to buy another new one and abandon a one-day-old helmet?

I spoke to a sales guy and asked him why some helmets are like this. He said some helmets are shaped more for round heads–like his–while others are for oval heads–like mine. I looked at him and by golly he really does have a round head, and mine is definitely more oval. Well that explains it. You just have to pay attention to what you’re getting. Not that I had much choice buying the Zox.

I decided I could get home with the Zox, even if that meant discomfort. But then I decided to try compressing the foam in that spot as I had with the Bieffe. And amazingly, it didn’t take much and it made a world of difference. I can actually continue to wear this helmet now. Sweet. And I’m so glad I got home without suffering the whole way.

Biker Quote for Today

The idea is to die young as late as possible.

ADV has an ongoing thread I like to dip into at times, asking what the most stupid question you’ve been asked while on your motorcycle. Here are a few more.

• I was once at the Slickrock trailhead in Moab & a Valley Girl asked me: “Do those dirt bikes work on the rock?”
• Again today after having ridden to work I got “Did you ride your bike today” (me with full gear on walking into the building carrying my helmet). I finally cracked and said, “Nope… I’m just REEEEEEEEEALLY careful when I drive.”
• I swear to God, I get this all the time when I pull up on my KLX covered with mud, knobbies and all: “Is that a dirt bike?”
• I stopped by a huge dealership one day to grab something on the way home, still in my one piece leathers, carrying a helmet, and some sales guy asked me if I had a bike. How do you even justify that with a response?
• Not stupid… but about five years ago my buddies and I (sportbikes, full leathers, you know the look) were having breakfast at an IHOP before going on a Sunday ride. As we were getting up to leave, a little boy, maybe about 4 years old, walks right up to one of my buds and goes, “mister, are you a Power Ranger?” I just about died laughing on that one.
• My son used to ride with me and he always wore his helmet into the store he was so pleased to be on the back of a bike. Cashier asked him if he was on a m/c. He said no, I fall down a lot. I was SO proud of him!!
• I was at a local motorcycle shop, and a prospective rider was asking about the different brands of bikes. I was looking though the tires on the rack, minding my own business, when I heard the prospective rider ask the shop employee, “KTM, hmmm, where are those made?”
  “Australia” he responded… I couldn’t take it, so I respectfully interjected:
  “Actually, they are made in Austria.”
  “Really,” the shop employee said, “I thought they were made in Europe.” He was being genuine.
  Geography, without it, you’re nowhere!
• I get to work one very cold day, a girl asks me as I walk into the office with all my gear still on,” did you ride your motorcycle today? ” I replied, no way it’s to cold, so I pushed it in!
• A couple months ago I broke my collarbone. I must have had 10 people ask me “were you wearing a helmet?”
• I get strange looks at stoplights when on my bike but I guess it’s because I have a yellow mohawk on my helmet. I had one woman roll down her window and ask why I had it. I told her that it was for safety. She gave me a strange look and I explained that since she put down her cell phone and looked at me – in disgust – that it had served its purpose. You don’t have to like it, but you do see it. Haven’t had anyone pull out in front of me while I’ve had the mohawk on. I take it off when going to see customers because I want to give a more professional appearance – as best as I can while riding an old school bright yellow superbike.

Biker Quote for Today

I’m not speeding, I’m qualifying.

The cold finally backed off a bit on Sunday and the mid-day high was around 60, so I went riding. I wasn’t the only one.

The thing that gets me about the guys who are adamantly opposed to wearing a helmet is that in the winter a helmet keeps your head warm. I mean, there was a time–years–when I rarely wore a helmet but I always wore one in winter. There were two reasons.

One, as I said, was to keep my head warm. Sure you can wear a stocking cap and that would be better than nothing but it doesn’t compare to a helmet. And I especially like my helmet that has a velcroed cloth that encloses my chin to keep my face warmer. It’s probably not my highest quality helmet but it sure as heck is my warmest one.

The other is that from the first snow and ice of the season you are guaranteed that in some spots on the road there is sand and gravel. And with sand and gravel lurking, the likelihood of going down is increased by a lot.

I guess in my younger days I told myself I was not going to go down so I didn’t need a helmet, but I couldn’t convince even my younger self of that in winter.

So I dressed warmly and wore my helmet and it was a darn nice day to be out on a motorcycle. First I ran some errands and then I went for a cruise. And yeah, let me tell you about one crazy move I witnessed.

I was westbound on Hampden and traffic was heavy. Coming up to an intersection the guy in the second lane from the right suddenly sped up and shot in front of the car next to him to make a right turn. Holy crap! Keep that in mind any time you find yourself losing your focus on riding safely and being aware of what the folks around you are doing.

There was nothing else eventful on my ride but coming home I got to where I turn south off Hampden onto Tamarac. I’ve made that turn a few dozen thousand times but this time I thought maybe I ought to take it a bit slower. There might be sand there.

So I slowed and what do you know? There was a bunch of sand. No problem for me.

Biker Quote for Today

Why bikes are better than women: You can kick your motorcycle to wake it up.

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!

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!