Monday, August 31, 2015

Road Eats: OleyTurnpike Dairy

I recently stopped in the Oley Turnpike Dairy, located south of (surprise!) Oley, Pennsylvania on (wait for it...) Oley Turnpike.  I first worked up a hunger by negotiating the twisties on PA 345 through French Creek State Park; it was early, so I had the whole park to myself. The blindingly bright low sun dappling thru the trees, making it difficult to spot potholes, gravel and deer, just added to the challenge.  The dairy started making its own ice cream back in 1970, and over the years, a diner and small petting zoo were added.  I'm not a big fan of private roadside zoos but as this one had only farm animals, and appeared very well-kept, I guess it's OK.  (Nothing like poor ol' Ricki the bear at another PA diner I've visited.) The diner was very busy, the grub decent enough, and the service was friendly if a bit harried.  As I was in the parking lot gearing up to leave, a tiny woman who had to be in her mid-80s told me how she'd motorcycled all over the country until she got "too damn old" to continue.  As I pulled away, she still had that wistful look in her eyes.

 






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posted by Doug Just Doug at 9:15 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Product Review: MotoJug hydration system

MotoJug is a universal on-board hydration system kit designed by ADVrider.com forum member "lacofdfireman" a/k/a Dave and his wife from Utah. You can order the bag and straps only for $50 (shipping included) or get the whole she-bang like I did for $75, which includes the tubing, tubing retractor and bite valve, everything you need except the water cooler, which would cost more to ship than for you to buy.  Click here for the full product description, photographs and ordering information.  Below I've copied and pasted a short review I recently posted in the ADV thread. Highly recommended!

 "Lovin' my MotoJug so far. Had it out for a long shake-down ride over the weekend. Not only did it remain 100% secure despite my best cornering and braking efforts to induce movement, but the handling wasn't at all affected, which I was a little worried about ahead of time, particularly as I have a mid-sized bike. Mine is on the left as my exhaust would interfere on the right. I have the tubing retractor clipped to my tankbag so it takes a few extra seconds to deal with the tube when mounting/dismounting the bike, but it's well worth it in the heat. (When temps don't warrant carrying this much H2O, I may use the cooler as a waterproof storage device.) The bag, loops and straps offer many mounting possibilities, and everything is constructed very well. The price was worth it to me to have someone source and build the kit. I went with Dave's recommended $8 cooler but I had to get someone else to buy it for me so I could keep my claim of never having purchased anything at WalMart intact...well, sort of."

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"Iron Butt types: order two, but substitute a small funnel for the bite valve on one side, so you'd have both intake and output."

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posted by Doug Just Doug at 2:25 PM 0 comments

Friday, June 12, 2015

Nothin' to see here; move along please!

It's difficult to get photos of oneself in motion on a motorcycle.  Below are some from the last few years, mostly shot by event or roadside photogs. You don't really need to see them; I just decided to catalog them in one place for future reference.  Yeah, I know a couple are just me standing around...



This and the 2nd below were taken at nearly the exact spot 3 years apart.

Too much civilization; get me outta here!





T'was a slow news day obviously. Posted at my American Legion hall.

Photo by Rod Don

Don't distract me with your camera; I'm trying to not ride into that stream.


Can you can spot the error in this image?




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posted by Doug Just Doug at 12:43 PM 3 comments

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Motel, Motor-Tel, wait...what?

This seems so wrong on so many levels, not the least of which are physics and common sense, but hey, may great ideas were spurned in their day.  I wouldn't sleep in it, but perhaps it would come in handy as a sail in the event of an empty fuel tank.  For more info, check out http://www.mobed.eu/.

No joke; they're actually trying to sell this product.

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posted by Doug Just Doug at 8:54 AM 1 comments

Friday, May 15, 2015

Mid-Week Ride Report

Wednesday seemed as good a day as any to ditch work in favor of a long day-ride through the Amish countryside.  It was also the first day of my motorcycle club's annual rally HQ'd in Bird-In-Hand, PA, so I checked in there as well.

My famous map/nav skills took me down a gravelly road for a couple of miles.

Obligatory Pennsylvania covered bridge shot.

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posted by Doug Just Doug at 2:26 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

MotoStays: an Airbnb for motorcyclists?

MotoStays, the web site that connects motorcyclists with free home stays in other motorcyclists’ homes, announces free memberships for another twenty-five days, until May 15, 2015. “We’ve been offering the MotoStays membership for free for the past year and the site has expanded to include twenty-six countries,” said Tad Haas, co-founder of MotoStays.

MotoStays is a growing motorcycle community that promotes and provides access to home-sharing opportunities throughout the world. The MotoStays network provides a convenient alternative to camping and hotels by connecting motorcyclists with local hosts along their route. MotoStays also features motorcycle-friendly businesses that offer accommodations for members at reasonable rates.

Launched in June of 2014, MotoStays.com is the motorcyclist’s equivalent to Airbnb; the difference being the overnight stays are free. Motorcyclists create a membership account and profile listing then look for places to stay. Using the member location, photos, amenities and accommodation details to see which hosts best match their needs, members then contact potential hosts to work out the details.

“There are lots of people doing this, and have been doing it for years; it just hasn’t happened in an organized way until now,” said Gaila Gutierrez, MotoStays co-founder. “What we’ve done is create a community that is based on reciprocal hospitality and consolidated it in a way that people can actually plan around. It eliminates the randomness and connects people who share the passion of motorcycling in a unique and interesting way.”

Haas and Gutierrez quit their jobs, rented their house and took off on their motorcycles for fourteen months in 2012-2013. Traveling over 40,000 miles through ten different countries, the trip opened their minds to a new way of thinking. Upon their return home they decided to build a community where other motorcyclists could take advantage of the experiences that result when you share space and a connection with other people and founded MotoStays.

MotoStays will be offering free one-year memberships through May 15, 2015. More information can be found on www.MotoStays.com.

 If anyone uses this service, please drop me a line or a comment to let me know of your experience.

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posted by Doug Just Doug at 1:21 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Rumor Central: Yamaha FJ-09

Related to the below post, Yamaha didn't debut the much-rumored FZ-09 based FJ-09 at InterMot, but the name has been trademarked in the US, and the below image was "leaked" on the internet (it may have been purposefully leaked.)  The old Yamaha FJ series was among the first of what came to be known as sport-touring models, so it's nice to see the name reborn.  Judging merely from images and anticipated specs, the FJ would be in keeping with the new trend of ADV-styled street-only bikes that are in reality the new "standards" or sport-tourers: upright ergos, stonkin' motors, near sportbike-like chassis and brakes, 17" wheels, and luggage capability.   I'm very interested in this one, assuming Yamaha fixes the fueling glitches plaguing the FZ-09 and keeps the pricing reasonable as it has on the FZ-07 and -09. It's sure to be less expensive than the Honda CrossRunner given Honda's pricing strategy over the last few years.  Some color would be nice, too, but wouldn't be a deal-breaker.  Yamaha seems stuck on graphite/grey a lot lately.  How 'bout a retro Yamaha Racing white with red laser stripe scheme?


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posted by Doug Just Doug at 9:42 AM 0 comments

Monday, October 20, 2014

2015 Motorcycle Shopping List

Wow; a bunch of awesome ideas for 2015 model-year motorcycles were debuted at Intermot 2014 in Cologne a couple of weeks ago. Below are the ones that are one, likely to make to US dealers, and two, are particularly interesting as possible replacements for my current bike.

Honda Crossrunner, a VFR 800 based strictly-street "ADV" bike.

Suzuki V-strom 650 XT, a somewhat more dirt-capable Wee; still a street bike really.

Revamped Kawasaki Versys 650, now with tidy luggage option

BMW R1200R replacement. Hope it has windscreen & luggage options.

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posted by Doug Just Doug at 1:58 PM 0 comments