Blog Section: Touring & Safety Tips

Touring Tip: Riding in the Mountains

Feb 10, 2012 View Comments by

Mountainous terrain often provides motorcyclists with both stunning scenery and exciting curvy roads, but this environment also poses additional challenges to be mindful of. Here’s our list of the top 10 riding challenges for mountain touring: Sudden Wind Gusts A rider may be unaware of prevailing strong cross winds, until they suddenly grab hold of [...]

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A Guide to Visit Mexico

Feb 05, 2012 View Comments by

As noted in the companion article about my trip through Baja, Chad and I found Mexico to be an interesting place with good roads, nice people and ample security.  We had no problems, and I highly recommend to anyone interested, give it a try and not be dissuaded by all the negative television news reports.  [...]

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Touring Tip: Exercising Good Riding Judgement

Jan 13, 2012 View Comments by

Becoming a proficient, safe rider involves the accomplishment of many skills and a reservoir of experience in applying them. But even expert riders can be involved in serious accidents. In my experience, the primary preventable reason these accidents occur is because there was a lapse in the rider’s judgement. Here’s an example of one such [...]

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What To Do Until the Ambulance Arrives

Jan 01, 2012 View Comments by

Have you ever come upon an accident before emergency medical service (EMS) personnel arrive and were unsure how to assist? It can be a daunting situation, where it’s tempting to just ride past, but think how you would feel if you were the injured victim who desperately needed help! The essential things to remember at [...]

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Touring Tip: Selecting a Touring Motorcycle

Dec 13, 2011 View Comments by

You’ve been riding locally for a while, but now want to start taking overnight trips of a much greater distance. Although any motorcycle (and many scooters) can be used for touring, some are much better for this purpose than others. Before the shopping phase of selecting a touring bike can begin, however, there are six [...]

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Touring Tip: Winterizing Your Bike

Nov 11, 2011 View Comments by

(With winter approaching, we are re-publishing our checklist for winterizing your bike, which was originally included in our October 2011 newsletter.) Because mechanical systems perform best when they’re used regularly, the most effective way of preparing your bike for winter is to simply keep riding and maintaining it. But most of us, unfortunately, don’t live [...]

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Touring Tip: Riding In A Proper State Of Mind

Oct 07, 2011 View Comments by

It’s been observed that operating a motorcycle is 90% mental and only 10% physical.  In addition, scientists tell us that we are not consciously aware of most of what the mind is doing in everyday life.  Do you consciously think about breathing or making your heart beat or which foot operates your bike’s gear shift? [...]

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Touring Tip: Packing Your Bike Properly for Touring

Sep 08, 2011 View Comments by

Before going on tour, make sure your motorcycle is loaded in a safe and secure manner. Here are our top 10 “Dos” and “Don’ts” for motorcycle packing: #1 Do: Pack heavier items low and as close as practical to the bike’s center of gravity.         Don’t: Pack a lot of weight high and behind the rear [...]

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A True Story: Protective Gear Saved My Life

Aug 29, 2011 View Comments by

It was Labor Day of 2007, a Sunday. I’m a teacher and school had begun for me the previous week so this was my last real gasp of summer and I was looking forward to the ride. I was with a group of about 6 riders. My friend Jonathan and I were riding solo, and the rest [...]

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Touring Tip: ATGATT (All The Gear All The Time)

Aug 10, 2011 View Comments by

You’ve probably heard this old motorcycling maxim before: ”There are two kinds of motorcycle riders, those who have been down and those who are going down.” Unfortunately, riders have to contemplate the possibility of an accident every time they swing a leg over their favorite ride. The risk of an accident can be substantially reduced [...]

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