Writing and Riding! At least now there is something to do when the weather is sh... and the motivation low: write about your riding experiments, thoughts etc... as more and more people do!

Our friend Mike from Bikes in the Fast Lanes and some others had the idea to get together the biker bloggers !

Check the Motorcycle Bloggers International web site to learn more and see the 2006 MBI awards winners...and losers.

Do you want to know the next motorcycle event in the US, Australia... wherever in the world? Click on the following link and you'll get your answer! MotorcycleEventsWorldwide

You have decided to attend a motorcycle tour with friends or a Motorcycle Tour Operator like Unicorn Adventures Ltd, for example.

You will of course think about the usual important stuff for the motorcycle, your gear, clothing, maybe even food! You will definitely check twice all your documents and maps, get yourself some nice road books and some gas in the tank, as well as check the oil and tire pressure.

But will you think about your body? Well yes you will definitely think about the “biker look” to make sure you get the right looks or even, for those hitting the beach, make sure you get rid of that little unnecessary fat. Most if us are so used to take the motorcycle everyday or so that we do no more pay attention to body needs.

Before hitting the road “Jack” for a long trip and enjoy twisty roads why do you work out a bit? It will definitely help you be sharper on the motorcycle for longer periods.

The abs, yes those muscles that everyone talks about but no one ever saw, are essential for motorcycle riders as they help maintain your back and are a nice support for your lumbar muscles (yes those should get some workout too).
Getting a bit more juice in the arms and shoulders as well as pectoral muscles will help a lighter handling of the bike and support strong and efficient breaking, especially with a sleepy passenger.

Don’t get ready for the next Bodybuilding world championship (or you won’t be anymore able to move your bike or even close your jacket) but get fit to enjoy twisty roads at your best!

When on a tour you decide to visit some gorgeous historical place or just want a rest in a good restaurant you always end-up with your helmet on the arm! Which is never that comfy! Not even mentioning the glances you get from people ready to scream because they think you are going to rob the bank (see the “Are bikers that scary” note).

Most bikes come with a sort of solution to hang one helmet to a metallic loop hidden somewhere under the saddle. But that element is only made for one helmet. Where does the second go? Most of the time, and we have seen it many, many times, on the ground, locked with the U lock or chain. Which seems a good idea…if you except dogs walking around and always curious to drop…a drop in a new place! This really happens!

A nice little trick is to get a bicycle cable lock and attach it the motorcycle frame or rear handles or any static piece! Those locks are long enough to get at least to helmets (you aren’t supposed to be more than two on a bike, aren’t you?) and can stay in place all the time.

It is cheap and efficient!

I could have called this note "do designers ever test what they design!"

Here is a little trick I have applied to my R1200RT (works the same on the K1200LT).
It could happen that you hit the outside of a mirror during your ride or while moving the bike around.
A very smart guy at BMW came out with a fantastic idea!
- "Why don't we find a solution to avoid the mirror exploding or getting broken when it gets hit?",
- "Wow! replies the project team, lets do it!"
Here is the solution: the mirror clicks out of the casing to avoid damage when hit!...only issue is that....they aren't attached to anything!
Which means your miror doesn't get broken because you hit it BUT because that smart system let it crash to the floor (don't even look at the spare part price)!

The solution: use a plastic collar to link the mirror to the casing! It will still get out of the way but will no more crash!
The collar must cost ....approx....0.10 Euros which is of course a HUGE over cost on a more than 16.000 Euros bike!

As promised here is a note about riding in a group. This is based on our experience and does of course not represent the ultimate solution as each group will have to adapt to the set of bikers it is made of.

A group starts with two, sounds pretty logical and can go up to…many more (see the more than 1.000 bikers attending the group ride at the BMW biker meeting or the HOG rides! The rules apply as well for groups of friends on a Sunday ride as to groups managed by professionals like Unicorn Adventures Ltd.

The first thing to keep in mind is …testosterone! And that need to always be the one ahead of the others! If you need to race there are many tracks all over Europe where this can be done, but it is best to avoid it on open roads as we share them with car, camping cars, trucks etc…not even mentioning those driven by a person on the mobile phone ;) .

One of the things making group riding such a pleasure is the diversity of people, bikes and experiences you can find in the group! But that positive point is also the most challenging one to manage! As you will need to find the rhythm which will work for all. The main idea is to get in front of the group ONE (not more…remember the testosterone issue) experienced biker, well aware of the itinerary, then comes the set of less experienced riders and less powerful bikes up to the most experienced/powerful. To close the group the rear guard is made of one very experienced biker.
Make sure all members know the itinerary and define regular stop points or places you will wait for the group in case of red lights or bio-brakes (it should be possible for anyone to get a break without thinking they will get lost as the head of the group, riding with the speed of light will never stop….real experience here ;) .

If the group is big split it in sub groups of 5 to 7 bikes, make sure meeting points have been set properly in order to get the group together from time to time.

The group members should ride in a quincunx figure (one on the right, one on the left etc…). This allows to ride in the most safest way as breaking distances are kept and visibility is maximum. Just make sure the group gets in one line when ever necessary (like a car overtaking! Yes it may happen ;) . Never race after a rider way faster than you! But learn from one a “bit faster”!

When overtaking is necessary always leave space between you and the bike in front of you! As that one may have calculated the available space between two cars for her/his bike but not for yours (real life experience again!).

Don’t hesitate to use your mirrors in a group to make sure the guy behind you follows and does it with pleasure (watch the amount of flies on the teeth)! If it looks like s/he is trying to keep up and will end up on the ground be nice, slow down!

Last but not least! At the end of the group ride get all together for a nice drink…but not before!

Another good place to find info on group riding can be found on motorcyclebloggers.com.

Diving into our archives we discovered a good manual : Brilliant riding – The Manual, The definitive guide to a fast and beautiful ride. Edited by “Bike” magazine in July 2002.
This little (A5 format) manual has all one needs to know about riding properly:

• Breaking hard: with all the “excellent” car drivers on the road this is a must!
• Reading the road: the best book ever! But not the one you can read in bed!
• Steering: sort of an important topic! How does it work? Do you remember the gyroscopic effect? At what speed does it start?
• Changing gear: try to do that nicely with a passenger and without getting the usual “tonk!” of her/his helmet hitting yours!
• Using the throttle: it is not just about “on”, “off”! But about efficiency.
• Overtaking: ahaaa an important topic for us as we cannot stand to be slowed down by anything slower than a jet fighter! Lets us the testosterone in the smart way!
• Relax: isn’t motorcycling all about that? The guy who once on a TV show came out with “riding a motorcycle is the lazy man’s Zen” was right!
• Clutch Control: pretty close to the gear changing topic, but also useful when the road gets tricky.
• Sitting comfortably: not all bikes are super duper comfy GTs! And even then you better get a good position to enjoy your ride.
• Riding at night: that time of the day where your lights go to the side of the road right when it turns sharply the other way!
• Scraping the pegs: not every ones cup of tea, but gives a feeling of success when achieved (not talking about Harley’s or their Japanese –and soon to come Chinese- imitations with which just looking at the bike scraps the pegs, no talking about bikes made for max angulations).
• Group riding: our favourite chapter! Don’t miss our soon to come article on that topic!
• Engine breaking: this is of course linked to the type of engine you have ;)
• Vanishing point: will you ever get there?
• U Turns: necessary when you get lost
• Fast roundabouts: when there is no truck fuel on the road (be careful they always dump it on the outside of the lane) this is nice.
• Riding pillion: what a passenger should know before getting on a motorcycle.
• Town riding: avoid being hurt in the jungle!
• Riding in the wet: this should not be necessary on our tours but you never know.
• Crash avoidance: the manual puts it clearly “fight or flight”!
• Tyre pressures: never to be forgotten, that small surface of rubber is all we have between us and the road!
• Getting noticed: even though bikers have a strange image we still need to make sure car drivers see us.
• Taking a pillion: once your passenger knows everything just make sure you keep her/him happy.
• Wheelies: the title says it all!

Each chapter gets the important points to know on one page and a nice illustrative picture on the other one.

As you can see from the list some items are more important than others, depending on your style and objectives.
For example: the group riding section is an important one when you join a guided tour, and we will have an article on that topic soon on blog!

The latest R1200RT comes standard with a system to get the BMW tank bag on the …tank! For those having already such a bag working with another attachment system the best solution is to dump the existing bag and buy the BMW one.

Still linking the old Bagster bag I used on all my previous bikes thanks to the smart tank mat solution I wasn’t going to give it up and pay 250 Euros for a brand new one when my 90Euros one is bigger, has a map pouch and still works perfectly.

A friend decided to find a solution and came up with a smart idea.

Using two raisers and a synthetic material board he found a way to use the BMW attachments.
The board hooks on the rear (close to the saddle) hinges, rotates towards the front where it gets locked in place by two sliders and screws. Once fixed the tank bag is clipped in place as with the old-fashioned tank mat.
This solution allows to unclip the bag by its rear end when necessary (e.g. gas station).

That simple solution costs approximately: 2 screws, 4 steel tabs, 1 board (synthetic material or aluminium) and a bit of paint…5 Euros, the tank bag: 90 Euros; my smile: priceless!

Just had a discussion with a friend about helmets.
Which one is the one you would use?

He was very adamant about the open face models and the fact that when you have to wear one (some states in the US allow to ride without) it should at least give you as much the feeling of freedom as possible! Isn’t biking about freedom?

The only concern I have is about the safety! Had once the chance to read a comment of a person who got an accident with a car (it didn’t stick to traffic rules) and started to a nice slide on the road, head first! When his body finally stopped the front part of his full face helmet was no more there! But his face was! Another advantage of the full face helmet: it avoids you to “eat” all the flies and mosquitoes which decide to commit suicide with your help!

On the other side the open face helmet gives you a more human looking face (see the note about scary bikers) and allows you to go pay for your gas without having to remove the helmet (before the gas station attendant starts to call the police). You can even have a drink while on the bike (try to drink from a bottle with a full face helmet!) or a smoke or eat! Also allows you to give a kiss to your beloved passenger! (Ever tried that with two full face helmets? People stop to watch the two pumpkins banging against each other :) )

The picture presents a setting seen at the BMW Biker Meeting (soon a note to come on that meeting):
Even though this is of course a demo model for Touratech GPS adapters, it made us think about how people do organise their trips!

As this is the core of our job it is obvious we pay a lot of attention to finding the right roads, the perfect "motorcycle" roads: curves, scenery, no gravels etc...
But you always need a good map! And then experience to dig out those tiny little roads which will take you to wonderful places you wouldn't have imagined existed!
There is a real pleasure to discover that the planning you did just worked fine!

Of course there is an even better way when you have time: get yourself a final destination or some towns/places you want to ride through and then just follow your "hit the road Jack" instinct! As soon as a road looks twisty and sexy get on it! This solution does indeed imply you have a lot of time as you can easily get lost!
Getting lost on a motorcycle has a huge advantage: you will meet people! As you arrive with the positive "touring biker" image (you will have noticed that "touring" is used here and not "tourist").

Getting lost, with the help of a good map (to write down the roads and eventually find the way home) is our favourite solution to find smashing roads for our tours ;)

And you what is your recipe?

This note will grow over time with your help an comments.

On a small bike with very little luggage it is easy to have your favourite passenger get on the saddle. BUT there are situations where this can be a real challenge!
We aren't talking here about the situation everyone (come on!) can manage:

• light, petite figure wife/gf/bf
• flat ground
• no gravels under your soles
• nice tempered waether!

But about the the real life situation! I mean lets take some real big bikes like a K1200LT or some R1200GS with all the side and top boxes! plus some more bulky stuff!

• loaded up to the top case
• sunny day in southern europe
• you AND the passenger are sweating in the leather (important it means it is sticky and goes against ample and easy movements )
• the road is slightly downwards
• there are plenty of little nasty gravels under your feet!

Here you have all the elements for a disaster! And don't try to make it easy with a very tall passenger as the top case is anyway too high for a nice leg lift over it (remember the leather is sticky)!
How will an experienced biker manage this without a sweat? And without going for a less than 40 kg passenger?

We all have some chromium or shiny metal parts on our bikes that need a good cleaning to give the perfect "look" to our beloved bike. You can clean them with water and soap but there will never be that shiny effect you expect.

We are using for some years Nev'r Dull from Eagle One. It is a "magic wadding polish". You apply the wet wad on your metallic surface, let it dry (gives a white coat effect) and then polish with a dry cloth (make sure it is absolutely clean or you may get some ugly scratches)…it shines!

For some tough dirt you will have to work a bit harder the wad but it will let go (we tested it on tar "dried and fried" on the exhaust pipes!).