Motorcycle Nation Podcast

The popular Rider’s Edge® (RE) motorcycle safety program offered by the Motor Company® has been at the heart of many discussions lately after it was announced that Buell production would end. The big question that has popped up is what is the future of RE without the use of the Buell Blast?

I have long thought that the Blast was a less than suitable training motorcycle. This is my opinion only, although if you asked the question to many of my colleagues you would get that same answer. There are two main reasons that I feel this way. The first lies in the single cylinder 492cc powerplant. This is too much power to put in the hands of a beginner who does not have the concept of throttle control and friction zone yet. The first reaction that a novice has when a motorcycle gets away from them is to apply a death grip to the handle bars. As we all know, in our right hand is the throttle which a death grip tends to roll on causing even more power transfer. This spells a bad day. A 125cc or 250cc motorcycle, while definitely still dangerous, is much less forgiving in the same situation.

The second reason I do not agree with the Blast as a trainer lies in the brakes. This motorcycle was produced, as best I can tell, with an entry level sportbike rider in mind. It is small because its secondary target market is made up of females. Again, my opinion. Because it is directed at the sport bike crowd it has extremely aggressive brakes. No other motorcycle class on the market can compare with the brakes on sportbikes. Low motorcycle weight paired with excellent brakes make sportbikes some of the quickest stopping bikes on the market. New riders tend to “attack” the brakes instead of reaching and squeezing the front brake lever. They also tend to stomp on the rear brake pedal instead of applying steady, even pressure. Doing either one of these can cause serious consequences, many times reason one. Panic hits, the deathgrip is applied, and we are in trouble again.

Those are my reasons. Now, back to the original question. With the demise of Buell, what will the future training bike of Rider’s Edge be? I discussed this with a RE provider and the answer I got is this. The government requires that manufacturers who cease production on a product continue to provide repair parts for a period of seven years. The RE program was also granted permission to use used motorcycles that they take in on trade provided they fully inspect them. This was prohibited in the original rules of the program. So, RE will continue to use Buell Blasts in the near future. The most surprising piece of information that I was able to get was that the Motor Company® has told the providers that they will have a new training unit available within five years. Whether this means that HD themselves will build it or that they will contract it out remains to be answered. Whatever route they take, I hope that they address the two problems that I have noted here for the sake of their students.

Ride Safe

Hello everyone! I am working on trying to make some upgrades to the site and I would like to find a new logo for the podcast. I have given thought in the past to staging a photo but pulling all the bikes together at one time and in one place has proven to be a major undertaking. So, I am looking to all of you to see if you can come up with a new logo for the show. Let me give you my vision. What I want the logo to portray is the Motorcycle Nation. In other words, I would like for it to represent all motorcycles. The photo I was wanting to stage would have included about five or six motorcycles of all different manufacturers and types (cruiser, bagger, sport, adventure, etc). I was looking for a school that had a painting of the earth on the asphalt where I could park the motorcycles in a semi circle with the front tires pointing into the center of the earth. This would represent the fact that the podcast is for all motorcyclists regardless of your choice of ride.

Now that was the vision and you can probably see why I have not found what I was looking for. But, there are other pics that would represent the same thing without having the earth on the ground. If you have a good pic that represents many manufacturers and many types of bikes please email it to me at steve@mcnationpodcast.com for consideration. You will receive full credit if yours is the one that is picked.

This just in from our friends at SideStand Up! Grand Junction BMW has a group purchase offer from Arai helmets. Deep discounts are available on helmets but you must act fast. Place your order between now and Feb 26th. Call Sam Kloberdanz at 1-800-523-0594 Extension 11 to order your helmet. Don’t miss out!

Don’t Fix It. I have heard this so many times over my years yet there is something in the back of my mind that will not let me heed the advice. I must like the adventure of it all. Before I get any farther, this is the second rendition of this post. You will understand a little better shortly. You see, the blog was running fine but behind the scenes in the admin panel where you create your posts there was a message. This message was like a beacon to me as it screamed out, “Click Me…Click Me”. The message said that version 2.9.2 of Wordpress was out. Well I was on 2.7.1 so I felt that I “needed” to have the latest version so I got suckered in.

I installed an automatic upgrade plugin and clicked the button. The first 5 steps were progressing very well and then it happened. The dreaded fail message saying that the upgrade could not complete because it needed a newer version of mySQL. OK, no problem, leave me on 2.7.1 until I figure out how to upgrade mySQL through my host. Now, where do I click to get me out of here? The screen was stuck on the fail message with no way to return. So, I closed the window and attempted to log back in. No go. I was stuck with no way to update anything on my site.

That was Sunday evening. I labored through support forums and phone calls for the past few days trying to remedy the situation. I finally saw that there was a new Wordpress app for Android and I downloaded it to my phone last night and wrote the first version of this post. Later on I figured out how to upgrade mySQL and used FTP to enter into the files for the first time. It was all a frustrating but educational experience and today we are able to write again. I made the joke in the original post that I was going to have pretzel fingers from typing the post on the phone.

But, in the end all is well. Did I learn my lesson? Probably not. The only thing I can tell you is that when I feel that I “need” to change something on my bike that “ain’t broke” kick me. Really hard. In an unmentionable place.

Ride Safe

In an earlier post here on the Motorcycle Nation Podcast I talked about how the public had found out that motorcyclists will look for reasons to ride and many times will try to mix their need to ride with helping out a cause. They will scour their local motorcycle rags or get online and search for local rides. On any given weekend most areas have more than three or four rides in the local area to choose from. The amount of rides can be attributable to the fact that the general public, some that can’t even spell motorcycle, are bringing charity to the biking community because they know there are big hearts and deep pockets there.

Recently, I have been hammered with requests to attend charity events, not related to motorcycling, but more on the level of being a Dad. Each morning when I get to work I take the five or ten minutes prior to my official start time to check my email and Facebook to see if there is anything that I need to handle quickly. What I have been finding are requests to attend Texas Hold’em tournaments. I have had at least 7 in the past week and that blows my mind. Tournaments for kid’s ball teams. Tournaments for cheerleading. Tournaments to send athletes to football camp. You name it, there is a tournament coming up for it.

It is interesting to me how people find ways to raise money for their particular cause. But, I can tell you, motorcyclists have the biggest hearts around. If you are reading this, thanks for sharing your heart with those legit organizations that put on a ride. You make yourself look good and you also make our two wheel community look good. Keep it up Motorcycle Nation. Let’s kill the stereotype.

Ride Safe

The VTwin Expo is going on right now in Cincinnati, OH and as you can probably tell I am not there. I had my media credentials along with the recording equipment and camera ready to go only to wake up this morning to blowing snow. Yesterday we received a little over five inches and even more overnight. The roads here in central Indiana are passable at a slow rate but some of the counties that I would have to pass through to get to the Duke Energy Center have travel advisories and the state police are asking motorists to stay home.

So, the show is on hold for me until 2011. I could actually attempt the trip on Sunday but being the Indianapolis Colts fan that I am, how can I be gone during the Super Bowl? I was really looking forward to this show as it would be my first opportunity to cover a major show and the biggest names in the VTwin market are exhibiting there. I am very curious to see what new, innovative ideas the manufacturers have managed to come up with during their winter hibernation period. I guess if I can’t bring the show to you first hand we will have to get the information from our favorite magazines that cover this market segment. I will be looking through IronWorks Magazine, a friend of the podcast, to get any information that I can. We will be attempting to bring you some of the new product information straight from the mouths of the creators themselves. Time for me to start the research. Happy Super Bowl weekend and if you are able to ride this weekend then I am jealous. Be safe.

The Motorcycle Nation Podcast will be one of the featured guests this evening, Tuesday February 2nd, on Sidestand Up – The World’s Only Motorcycle Radio Roadshow. The show is from 7 to 9 pm Eastern on Talkshoe. You can join in the chatroom there and chat with other motorcyclists while you listen to the amazing guests that host Tom Lowdermilk and crew bring to the show week after week. If you can’t make it for the live show it is available on the SideStand Up website where you can also download via RSS. If you are an iTunes subscriber you can find the show there as well. Hope to see you there this evening.

The month of February is known for a few things, most notably Valentine’s Day and Groundhog’s Day. Valentine’s Day is pretty cool but I want to talk about Groundhog’s Day. Today, February 2nd, 2010 Pawksatawny Phil was pulled from the tree trunk and looked around. As hundreds stood out in the fifteen degree weather and watched, he looked around and saw his shadow, dooming us for another six weeks of this cold, nasty winter. Now I don’t know about you but I am a firm believer that snow is just another four letter word. I don’t mind riding in the cold as long as the nasty white stuff is not on the roadway.

Riding in the cold is just as enjoyable as riding in the warm weather if you have the right gear. I have accumulated some nice cold weather gear over the years and can stay pretty toasty. With the purchase a few years ago of a Cortech Advantage riding jacket I was able to get rid of my Widder heated vest. I let the gloves go with it and bought new Tourmaster Synergy electric gloves. So, I do still stay warm.

But, I still hate cold weather. I know, if you don’t like it move. Wish it was that easy. Since I have to put up with this for the time being, I think that next year we should hire a groundhog sharpshooter and pop that thing between the eyes before he can see his shadow. Ooops. I hope that none of my readers are members of PETA. Let me rephrase that. I don’t want anyone to shoot a poor defenseless animal. So, maybe the rotten varmint can become roadkill next February and we can all be sipping tea in the sun on one of our stops along the ride.

Until then, don’t put that cold weather gear away just yet. Happy riding…brrrrrrr…..

Today is ABATE Day at the Statehouse. The legislators here in Indiana know this day well as they are annually welcomed to the Capitol on this morning with coffee and pastries passed out by motorcyclists from the organization. As they walk the halls on this day they will be greeted by leather vest wearing, smiling two wheel enthusiasts that love freedom. Hopefully everyone stopped long enough this morning to remove the bugs from their teeth,

Seriously, the legislators know that once a year they will hear from a group of riders that are passionate about maintaining their rights, both as motorcyclists and citizens. They know quite a few by name as our members stay in contact with their individual legislator throughout the year. We have been called the greatest, most powerful grass roots lobby organization in the State. We have had many victories over the years. From the repeal of the discriminatory add on motorcycle registration fee that called upon two wheel enthusiasts only to aid in funding spinal cord injury research to beating the many attempts to force mandatory helmet usage upon us.

We have accomplished this with dedication to the cause at hand. There is truth in the saying strength in numbers. There are people willing to spend a day at the Statehouse for the right to stand up and be heard. This is not only needed for motorcyclists. It is needed for all citizens. Assaults on our rights don’t only come from our states, they come from our federal government as well. We are being slammed in Washington right now and we need to stand up and be heard there as well.

On two levels I urge you to get involved. As a motorcyclist, join your state motorcyclist rights organization. Also join the AMA and / or the MRF. Just because you don’t live in DC and can’t lobby in person does not mean your voice can’t be heard. That is what the AMA and MRF are all about. They maintain a daily presence inside the beltway on our behalf. As a citizen, write and call your legislator on issues that you want heard. We put them there and they are supposed to work for us. We need to do our best to keep them honest and sitting back watching TV and complaining is not the answer. Keep them on their toes and let them know that you expect them to do the job you hired them to do. We need to take America back!

STAND UP AND BE HEARD MOTORCYCLE NATION

I hope you did not expect to come to this post and find some great blues song about a bike being down and a rider drowning in his beer over it. The song is not here but this post is about looking at your bike knowing it is not running and you can not do anything about it. It is one thing if you are strapped for cash or you don’t have the time. It is something altogether different when you have the time and your credit card has already been provided but you can not get the part.

We always try to promote using your local shop to help boost the economy but there are times that the deal at the online retailer is so good that we make the decision to purchase it online. Many times you can save hard earned cash by purchasing from the online parts house even if you have to pay shipping. The problem is that you have such a wide variety of shops to choose from in the vast world wide web world that you have no idea who is legit or who is true to their word.

You are sitting back in your chair right now wondering why I am ranting on about this subject aren’t you? Well, I have been listening to the continuing saga of a coworker who ordered a simple part online to save $7. He placed two orders online approximately 55 days ago, one with Bike Bandit and the second with another retailer to be left unnamed at this time. My buddy owns a mid 80’s (I believe) Yamaha Venture and it is hard to locate parts to keep this motorcycle on the road. The part he ordered from Bike Bandit was at his door within 4 days. The part he ordered from the anonymous retailer is yet to be delivered even though the website said that it ships within 5 days. After numerous phone calls around the 25 day mark he was told that the part should be shipping in 1 week as it was backordered. It never came. So, he made another phone call last week and had to leave a message with the newly installed automated phone system.

Today, he received a phone call from one who claimed to be the owner saying that he was looking over the orders list and that he noticed this order being so late. He wanted to apologize and said that he had good news. It looked like the ordered part would ship in 4-5 days. My buddy said he wanted to tell the guy, “Excuse me for not getting excited.”, but he just told the guy if it is not here next week he could keep it.

There is nothing worse than having a ride that is down and in this down economy we are all looking for a break on the cost of maintaining our bikes. It is understood that sometimes things happen but two months to get a part that says it ships in 7 days is ridiculous. If you find yourself down make sure to do your homework. Either buy it from the local shop that you can deal with face to face or get on some forums and track down that reputable parts dealer that won’t leave you stranded. If the owner turns out to be stretching the truth then I will reveal the name of his company on the blog as one to avoid. After all, I don’t want anyone in the Motorcycle Nation Podcast family to live with the Bike Repair Blues.