In the olden times, life used to be less complicated. People did not commute, they simply walked. Long distances could be reached through riding horses. In traversing mountains or rivers, one simply needed the help of carabaos, mules, or other similar animals.

Animals used to be the primary tool for transportation. There was no gasoline requirement, you just had to take care of them properly. Communication may have been more difficult in those times. However, things were simpler.

Going back to basics promotes good exercise for people. Walking an extra mile just to see someone from the other side of the mountain was a hearty activity to be enjoyed on weekends. Young people going to barn dances on Saturday nights. Church on a Sunday morning. Laughing out loud together, even on dark nights with only lamps enough to lighten up the faces of your friends. No electricity, no vehicles, and water wells used for potable drinking.

Until the emergence of technology, that is. People have come to realize how to efficiently use it, especially in making life effortless, less time consuming and less demanding. The invention of vehicles gave us all the ability to cross miles without difficulty, effortlessly attending to the personal, business and official matters in our every day lives. Read the rest of this entry »

Your skills are good. You ride every week. Last year you took the Basic Rider Course and this year you took the Experienced Rider Course. Turning around in the street, two-up, is a breeze. And you do your SIPDE so well, watching 12–15 seconds ahead, that you can’t remember the last time you had to do an emergency braking or swerving maneuver.

But perhaps the problem is that you are so good at avoiding using emergency maneuvers that you’re out of practice. If you ride properly, you don’t get to practice some of your skills on the street. That doesn’t mean you should let them deteriorate until the next time you take a rider course.

That’s why they make parking lots. And you thought those painted yellow lines were just there to corral the cars. Their real purpose is to provide a marked area to practice so you can keep all your skills sharp—not just the ones you use every day. The same skills which degrade in a few months can be retuned in a few minutes of practice. Read the rest of this entry »

I learned to ride two ways—the hard way and the right way. I can tell you the right way is far, far better.

I was a motorcycle hater. No one loathed bikes like I did. Then my husband bought his brother’s little Yamaha 200 cc two-stroke. My husband had never ridden and the evil thing had tossed him off the back once when his brother gave him a ride.

My husband’s first effort wasn’t pretty. Remember that I hated motorcycles and was diametrically opposed to his having it. He got about four blocks from his brother’s house, with me following in the car. He had about 35 miles to go through Houston freeway traffic once he got out of the neighborhood. He kept dumping the clutch and stalling the engine. In frustration, he revved the engine and popped the clutch. The little beast was torquey and promptly popped a wheelie across the empty intersection and up into the yard across the street, where it fell over. My husband jumped up, knowing that if the bike hadn’t killed him, I was probably going to, and the bike with him. He yelled that he wasn’t hurt, but the bike was damaged. I went racing back to his brother’s house, yelling that it was Larry’s fault his brother was almost killed. Larry came running, expecting to find scattered parts of human and machine. Instead, there was a broken lever and a bent gear shift. The bike went back to Larry’s and my husband went home.

A friend kindly took Robert out on his Suzuki 380 and taught him the fundamentals. That same afternoon, Robert managed to make it home unscathed. Talk about dumb luck! Read the rest of this entry »

The importance of hydration is vast in every day life, let alone during sporting activities, where the body is exposed to much higher levels of intensity. Consuming less than acceptable fluids before, during, and after a sporting activity, can lead to what’s acknowledged as dehydration.

As an athlete sweats, which is the body’s cooling system, fluid needs to be replaced in order for the body’s heat management system to function correctly, if not, then dehydration will occur, which will include a range of symptoms.

The most Frequent symptoms of dehydration include thirst, increased fatigue, increased body temperatures and up to 30% loss of performance. The loss of performance is the critical part of course; this leads to lack of; concentration, endurance, muscular strength and general productivity, a 30% loss in a sporting activity could be crucial, as well as dangerous. Read the rest of this entry »

Motorcycle chopper kits are a growth industry. But what does that mean to you and me? Well one thing that we know is that we will have more choppers to ogle at. There is not a single day that goes by without more and more pictures of chopper bikes that have just been finished showing up in all the motorcycle magazines. Then at the weekends, when we are on our “hot” rides, we will see four or five show finish level bikes. There are more choppers around now than there have been in the last twenty five years.

Most of these choppers have been built from motorcycle chopper kits, the “bike in a box” approach. But hey, don’t knock it! Building your own chopper has never been easier. There are rolling chassis kits, complete bike kits, and frame manufacturers give you a multitude of choice when it comes to take the plunge and buy a motorcycle chopper kit.

Thirty years ago, the old school chopper builders had to start with a stock bike off-the-shelf and literally chop it to pieces. With the modern chopper kits, there is a viable alternative to taking the cutting torch to your favorite soft tail! Read the rest of this entry »