Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Cycle World Int'l. Motorcycle Show schedule released


Cycle World has released the dates for the 29th Annual International Motorcycle Shows. I've attended 8 (I think) IMS events in Philly, NYC and D.C. and prefer the D.C. venue 'cuz I'm only about 1.5 hrs. from a Metro station, and from there it's a short ride to the stop underneath the Convention Center -- I never even have to go outside. If you've never been to an IMS, not only will you see over 500 of the current models on display from most of the OEMs (including smaller European and Asian makers), but you'll also see custom and antique bikes, race bikes and oddities. Also out in force will be vendors of various motorcycling products (helmets seem to be a particularly popular purchase), motorcycling organizations & clubs, tour companies, chambers of commerce/resorts, racers & stunters, rider programs and moto-magazines. The IMS is simply a must for motorcycle nuts of every type; particularly so if it comes around your neck of the woods in the dead of Winter like it does mine. I try to sit on as many bikes as possible and say vrooom vrooom while twisting the throttle. Below is the schedule, but visit the IMS website for more info.

November 13-15, 2009
Dallas Convention Center
Dallas, TX

November 20-22, 2009
San Mateo County Event Center
San Mateo, CA

December 4-6, 2009
Long Beach Convention Center
Long Beach, CA

December 11-13, 2009
Qwest Field Event Center
Seattle, WA

January 1-3, 2010
Rock Financial Showplace
Novi, MI

January 8-10, 2010
Carolina First Center
Greenville, SC

January 15-17, 2010
Washington Convention Center
Washington, D.C.

January 22-24, 2010
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
New York, NY

January 29-31, 2010
I-X Center
Cleveland, OH

February 5-7, 2010
Minneapolis Convention Center
Minneapolis, MN

February 19-21, 2010
Donald E. Stephens Convention Center
Chicago, IL

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

New Snell Helmet Standard

On July 15th Snell added its new standard, M2010, to the alphabet soup of leading motorcycle helmet safety standards: FMVSS 218 ("DOT") and the European ECE 22-05.  Get thee to webBikeWorld for its nicely done summary on the significance of Snell M2010 and the interplay among the 3 standards.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

RoadRunner's Tour Maps & GPS Files




RoadRUNNER magazine subscribers can now download GPS data and .pdf files of maps for all of RR's U.S. tours from 2005 to date, gratis.  Go get 'em on RoadRunner's website.  Directions for GPS file downloading can be found in  the FAQ under "Reader Services" on the home page. Yet another reason why RoadRunner is the best motorcycle sport-touring and touring oriented mag for we Yanks, who are starved for quality motorcycle publications, and another good reason to subscribe.

Monday, July 13, 2009

New Motorcycle Rally: Rolling Through Vermont

Americade wows 50,000 people every year.  Imagine what we'll do for only 300.  That's the tagline for the "Rolling Through Vermont" rally, a new motorcycle event created by the folks behind the Americade Rally, scheduled for September 4th - 7th, 2009. Judging from the itinerary on the website, the lucky first 300 registered attendees are in for 4 days filled with awesome riding (VT has some of my personal favorite roads), sightseeing, entertainment and eating.  For additional cost, rallyers can take advantage of the huge discounts on lodging packages the rally has negotiated with the two host hotels.  Odds are that "Rolling" will be every bit as well-organized and staffed as Americade, too.  It looks like huge fun; believe me, but for other committments I'd be there for sure. Check the rally's website here!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

How to Read Tire-ese

I just discovered that the AMA has a nice guide to decipering those mysterious numbers, letters, symbols and codes on your motorcycle's tires.  Clicky here.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Ride to Eat, Eat to Ride

I may be all of 169 pounds dripping wet, but I love Ride-to-Eat motorcycle events. And now comes a website we can all sink our teeth into: Ride to Eat.com.  Eatery database, maps, calendar, and links to other RTE sources. Essential.

Aerostich Bug Lights (New Product)

Below is a press release just received from Aerostich/Riderwearhouse. I envision these attached to mirror stalks as conspicuity lighting for night time, bad weather or commuter duty.

New Release: Bug Lites

Keep really bright LED lights at your fingertips -- or mount them just about anywhere. The Bug Lites' built-in mini-elastic cord wraps securely around handlebars, fairing braces or rear-view-mirror stems, and the light stays put. Handy for tank bag map reading, navigating a dark unfamiliar stairwell, or bed time reading without disturbing anyone nearby. Under each light is a curved rubber pad so they won't move around when attached to cylindrical objects. These lights also are great as handy, powerful keychain lights -- their easy on/off power switches are water-resistant push-buttons and control two distinct lighting functions: Continuous on, or Flashing. One push for "on," the second push for "flash," the third for "off". Small enough to carry anywhere, they’re not much larger than a quarter. Includes one super-bright white and one super-bright red light. Each light comes with a replaceable button battery. 2" x 1" x .75"
#8200 $16.00

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Bike (UK) Magazine August 2009

The mailman just delivered the August issue of UK's Bike magazine, and it's 194 pages of amazing. 37 motorcycle road tests (including current v. future iconic bikes), cornering tips from Valentino Rossi (!), touring stories, a hilarious and scary time trial competition around London, and an article detailing how the top MotoGP racers are forced to use the throttle and brakes on the current crop of GP motorcycles in ways we mere humans can't even imagine, much less duplicate. All this in large format with low ad-to-content ratio, a sense of humor and fun, and distinct lack of the namby-pamby PC that pervades some mags. Why oh why can't our American advertising circulars, oops, I mean moto-mags, do this? My guess is that they have so much ad revenue they simply don't have to: evidence the give-away subscription fees. Until our Yankee mags catch on (I'm not holding my breath), I'll just have to go on sending big bucks, OK, pounds, across the pond for subscriptions to Bike and Ride.

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Chain Adjustment Tips

Canyon Chasers has put together this nice video "how to" on chain adjustment. OK, we've done it a thousand times, but there are a couple of excellent tips here. I'll definitely try the allen wrench trick on the next adjustment.

Monday, July 06, 2009

Seen at Ephrata July 2009

Just a few of the interesting motorcycles that caught my eye at yesterday's "First Sunday" event at Ephrata (click photos to enlarge). My favorite was the vaguely military-ish Trimaha...or is it a Yamaumph? For more info on the Ephrata event, and pics of past events, click on "Ephrata" in my Post Topics tag cloud.

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