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.

Among the most common, most accessible and most affordable mode of transportation for this purpose is the motorcycle. It is multi-purpose. It can travel to distant places with a minimum of gasoline consumption. It can travel fast also, depending on the driver’s preference of speed. It can even carry an additional passenger.

And of course, the most fun benefit of all, even though it sometimes annoys other drivers – in times when there is a traffic problem, motorcyclists can easily get out of the way of it, weaving effortlessly through larger, more cumbersome vehicles. All this together with their low maintenance requirement, and fewer resources used for parts and repairs, and it’s obvious why they’re so popular.

A prudent motorcyclist must be able to observe correct safety measures when using a motorcycle. This includes proper attire such as a helmet; long sleeves as protection for the skin; sunglasses with tinted lenses to shield the eyes from dust and ultraviolet rays that might cause irritation and swelling; and sometimes even knee pads to protect delicate joints.

Secondly, one should know how to use hand signals at all times. Hand signals are important in communicating with fellow drivers and bikers. Failure to read what the other person is conveying may cause an accident for both.

One must also see to it that their driver’s license and motorcycle registration is up to date. In compliance with the government requirement as well as to avoid hassles in the future, it is better not to procrastinate and to renew your registration as often as required.

Also remember to always bring your driver’s license and registration at all times to prepare for situations when there are check points. Normally, in situations like this, the police officers will always confirm one’s paperwork. You can keep the registration certificate in the trunk, together with machine tools.

Having tools with you is the last thing that the safe biker must do. In cases of emergency, tools are very helpful, especially when traveling to secluded places. You never know when a sudden need for repair might arise.

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.

Quick stops are easy to practice on a good parking lot with a good surface. Bring your speed up to 15–20 mph, look at a distant object straight ahead, and squeeze the front brake while you press on the rear brake. You squeeze quickly, progressively and hard. Do not grab the front brake. If you keep the speed the same for several tries while you start braking at the same yellow line, you can measure your progress.

Now comes the fun part-swerving around an object. Recently, one study found that an expert rider could swerve as sharply on his Gold Wing as he could on a much smaller bike. You won’t believe just how quickly you can swerve. Try swerving around an eight-foot wide obstruction (tennis balls cut in half) at 15 mph. Remember, do not brake or downshift while swerving.

Once you bring these two skills up to par, it’s time to put them together. Quick stops on a curve require you to (1) straighten up before you (2) brake hard to stop. Let’s look at that order again. First press on the handlebar near the outside of the curve. (If you’re turning right, press left.) Press until the bike is completely vertical. Be sure to straighten the handlebars as the bike straightens up. Once you are straight, all your traction is available for stopping. Look at a distant object straight ahead, and quickly and progressively squeeze the front brake while you press on the rear brake.

You have just put two skills (swerving and stopping) together (but not too closely) to practice quick stops on a curve. Now you’re ready to go out and face the world again, much better prepared than when you rode into that parking lot. You’ve tuned yourself up for another few months.

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!

In the following two or three months, the malevolent machine, named Critter, managed to pop a weld in the header, almost deafening him before it was fixed, foul its plugs, and toss him into the road and smashing its new windshield when he hit a patch of ice.

Critter soon had a big brother, an magnificent 1978 Yamaha XS 11, macho maroon in color. It was a big 4-stroke and I was instantly in love. Robert had never carried a passenger, but we were too dumb to realize how much experience is needed.

I inherited Critter. Robert moved the bike into the street in front of our house and I got on. At least I knew to wear a helmet and long pants. He walked beside me as I made tiny progress. Then he ran beside me. At least we weren’t dumb enough to have him on the back of the bike as some people do. I got independent and took off and left him. When I got to the end of the block, I confused the brake and the clutch and ran into the intersection. A car was coming and the woman slammed on her brakes. She had no front bumper and the huge “crashbars” got caught on the bumper mount, pulling me and the bike against the car. She said some things I richly deserved and I profusely apologized. We gave her $20 for the broken bumper mount and I walked the bike back home, limping from the huge bump and technicolor bruise that immediately formed. It was not a propitious start to riding.

I managed to get a little better in the following days and thought I was flying when I hit 20 mph. My husband finally coaxed me to venture out of the neighborhood onto a back road. He said it would be a lot easier and more fun.

There was only one small problem. There was a slight slope onto the main road. I couldn’t coordinate brake, clutch, and throttle to get started. I sat there for an hour and a half. Traffic was backed up to the back of the subdivision and horns were honking angrily. Some whipped around me. I covered the tank with tears of frustration.

The gods of motorcycling must have taken pity on me, because I finally got out onto the road. Wheee! I was roaring along at about 30 when a car passed me. It scared me to death.

I finally got the hang of it and we made jaunts of about 150 miles with the friend who taught Robert the basics.

We had an accident on the XS 11 because of inexperience and lack of knowledge. Some cosmetic damage to the bike and a broken wrist for me. Robert was on the front, and took the pockets out of his pants. We were very, very lucky that time. We both got back to riding.

Critter continued its evil ways, throwing its chain and flattening a tire. Then, in 1980, Yamaha created the Maxim, and I was in love! I got one of the first in the city. I put a color matched full fairing on it and went out to play with the big boys. It made my heart smile.

The third day I had it, I was making a right-hand turn when the truck in front of me stopped abruptly. I was already leaned to the right and the ground sloped away, so down I went. No damage to me, but there was a tiny scratch on my tank and one on the brake lever. I was crying and swearing at the same time.

Sometime in 1981, I really learned to ride, and so did Robert. We took an MSF class. I’d like to tell you what we learned, but it’s far too much to put here. We realized a lot of what we were doing was wrong, and there was a lot we just plain didn’t know. What we learned that weekend saved my life on the way home that night. A car pulled out of a crossover which is in front of a beer joint. Without what I’d learned, I would have hit him. As it was, I simply made a safe stop and let him go on his way.

Later that year, we happened to meet one of our instructors, who invited us to be helpers at the classes. We did, and in 1982, we became fully certified MSF instructors. Every time we taught a class, our skills improved, too.

Then, about 15 years ago, the class was completely changed from a task-oriented one to a technique-based one. Everything students learned translated directly to any bike they rode.

Now we had a lot of the tools that had been missing. How to stop quickly on a curve, how to avoid going off a curve, how to set up for curves, how to corner correctly, how to turn from a stop, and most of all, the amazing technique of visual control. Visual control wows even experienced riders.

The motorcycle goes where you look. Robert and I have won awards for our teaching, but the real reason we teach is because we’re making safe riders and saving lives, besides making riding buddies.

I still feel the magic of seeing someone who’s never even sat on a motorcycle go from tiptoeing up to the bike as if it’s going to bite to mounting the bike with confidence and knowing they are in control and able to do a lot more than just start the engine, operate the clutch and gear shift, and apply the brakes. They know how to avoid obstacles, how to anticipate hazards, how to stop quickly, turn sharply, and avoid the problems most shown to cause accidents. They are riders, and good ones.

I had one student, 16, who came into the class saying her 250 cc scooter was way too much for her to ride. When the class was over, she dragged her parents over to my bike, mounted it, and brought it off its sidestand (I had the key in my pocket!) and told her parents she didn’t want that scooter, she wanted a real bike like mine. The joy was I know she could handle it.

The best way to ride? Take an MSF rider course. Studies have shown that 92% of accident involved riders are either self taught or taught by friends.. Your friends are a garden of misinformation. Your instructors are a wealth of real knowledge. Which do you want to learn from?

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.

When pushing your body to the extreme, sweat can escape from the body in excess of 1 litre per hour, which relates to 1-2% loss of body weight (for the normal person), in just 60 minutes. As far as dehydration goes, prevention is the key, and by following a schedule for hydration, and by replacing the fluids lost during sporting activities, the likelihood of becoming dehydrated are greatly reduced.

Athletes can become hydrated for a number of reasons, the event may be in excess of 45 minutes long, heat may be intense, or the athlete doesn’t become thirsty, the later being the most important. The most common cause of dehydration is not drinking, due to not feeling thirsty. Different health conditions or state’s of mind during sports activities; it is not sensible to rely, solely on thirst.

So of course, the question is; how do we stay hydrated and sustain our performance levels?

The easiest way to stay hydrated is to follow a schedule for hydrating your body, which will date back to a couple hours before your sporting activity, but needs to be followed;

• Begin drinking fluids on a regular basis, 2-3 hours ahead of your sporting activity.
• Drink 250ml 15 minutes before exercise.
• Drink 250ml every 15 minutes exercise.

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!

Nowadays, you have a cheap and easier way to build the bike from the ground up. When you take the cost of buying a new bike and the expense of chopping it, it works out much cheaper to start from step one, and your chopper kit. Instead of tossing away the parts that you’ll never use again, you can start building your own bike with the parts that you really need. All the parts are included in the motorcycle chopper kit, along with comprehensive instructions.

One of the first questions that people ask when considering buying a kit is how will my bike stand outs from all the other chopper kits? Well think of it this way, you are going to buy a chopper kit. A pile of unassembled raw metal. No paint, no real finish, just a blank canvas. Is your taste in paint jobs likely to be the same as the next guy, who buys the very same kit? I don’t think so. What about your taste in bolt-ons, seats, exhausts? Just because you buy the kit doesn’t mean every little thing has to be just so. That is the whole point isn’t it? It’s very easy in this way to build your own custom chopper from a chopper kit.

Another big question is, “How long”? The answer to that is as long as it takes. Even on the kit bikes, which are supposed to be designed to fit together like a glove, you are going to run into some snags. It can’t be avoided!

If you want a more concrete guide, try this. An experienced kit builder (though not a professional) I spoke to reckons it took 10 full days to build his last chopper from a kit. For someone less experienced it could take a couple of days longer. Twelve 9 hour days works out at 108 hours. Over evenings and weekends, this could drag out to three or four weeks of living in a pile of motorcycle parts! So be prepared to literally live the experience if you are going to take the plunge.

What about the practical side? Well, there is no substitute for experience. The place to start building up your experience with the mechanical side of building to kit bike is with your current ride. Make sure all you can do the basic maintenance on your motorcycle, and then start to do some simple disassembling. Take off the tires, take off the exhaust, real basic stuff; all of this will help to build a new confidence in the shop side of things. You can also get some great videos on maintenance, and even on building the custom bike of your dreams. Read the books, watch the videos, and buy the t-shirt! Believe me, all the preparation you make will stand you in good stead.

If you really are hopeless at the mechanical side of things, why not pay someone else to help you build it, or even get them to build the whole thing for you? The cost of the kit plus labor could well work out cheaper than buying a chopper “off the shelf”.

And of course, when that beautiful chopper is standing on your driveway, and your friends are asking you “Was it worth it?” you can turn to the chopper, drag your hand across the flames on the tank and the polished chrome, turn back to them and say, “What do you think?”