Something for the Newbies....

If you like the idea of Motorcycle camping and have NOT picked out a bike yet, I have some tips for you. Many people buy a bike based completely on how it looks. They dont car about any of the specs, the reliability, ease of maintenance, or ride comfort. They look at that one sexy ride they like and say "give me that one!" It's only a month later they discover that their decision was a bad one or there are quirks or compromises they did not realize they had to make. For example, a friend of mine wanted a bike, he LOVES sport bikes. He had drooled over a Ducati Streetfighter for months for two reasons. One, he loved how it looked. Sexy and nothing like the other bikes out there. Two, it was a brand that is not as popular so he would stand out. "I ride a Ducati!" is what he wanted to say. Well 3 months later and he discovered that this fine bike has Fuel injection problems, parts and mechanics are hard to come by to fix issues, and being a performance sport-bike any long trips are grueling uncomfortable rides with everything strapped to your back. A 350 mile ride to me is a comfortable fun ride. The same ride to him is a torture chamber. The difference? what the bike is designed for. My bike is designed to ride 300-600 miles with 2 passengers and about 200 pounds of gear. His bike is designed for 1 rider, no gear and to make it from stoplight to stoplight at the speed of light, or around a track at incredible speed. It is not designed for comfort. It's designed for performance and racing. In a drag race he will win every time. In a race across the USA from NYC to LA I'll beat him without effort.

This translates to camping as well. I can carry on my bike 10X more stuff than he can. This means I get a sleeping pad, warmer and thicker sleeping bag, and a larger tent as well as some extra things. He has to pack very minimal only what fits in his backpack and what fits on the tiny tail bag he can strap behind him. This raises his center of gravity DRASTICALLY causing a serious unbalance in his bike. When we discover some twisties he can not enjoy them. I have it easier than he dies even when riding 2 up and carrying stuff for two.

This does not doom you to riding a geezer glide if you love to camp. Far from it. there are plenty of options in bikes out there you just need to shop smarter. When shopping for a bike take your needs and wants into consideration. Also please take into account reliability. RESEARCH on the internet the bike you want to buy, find the forums, find the people that have had problems and try to discover the common issues. I want to buy a Yamaha FJR1300. It's a sport touring bike. and I know it has a problem with the valve guides wearing out and making the bikes engine complete junk within 50,000 miles. Yamaha will not warranty it, and I cant tell if they fixed the issue yet in the newer bikes. It only affects some bikes ,but enough that I have a good chance of getting one that will fail. MY 1983 Yamaha Venture has a 2nd gear going bad. I knew this was a problem going in and I was lucky enough to get a bike that has it's 2nd gear blowing out. It's going to cost me $2000.00 to get it fixed.

The best low cost bike for touring/camping is the new Honda NT700V. It's got the power to carry 2 and a lot of gear. It's very comfortable, and rides well in all weather including heavy rain. That's an important thing. You might look cool on your naked Harley Vrod cruising down the road in your leather and nut helmet looking like a bad biker... but you look like a drowned rat in the rain and will be miserable. A bike with a windshield keeps you riding in the rain and a lot dryer and comfortable. Many new bikes have adjustable windshields so they can be down for dry weather and up for rain or cold. My big lumbering geezer glide lets me ride comfortably in 30 degree weather with rain because of it's fairing and huge windshield. It does NOT let me enjoy the wind on a hot summer day. the vents on my helmet are ineffective because of the windshield...

ind a bike that you like and can do what you want as well as be comfortable for you.

cheap GPS trip logger.

Many times on a trip you want to share with others your travels or even simply remember where you have been for your own use. You can use a GPS, some of the better units allow trip logging, but most dont that are best for road trips with all the maps. Enter the GPS logger. Specifically the AGL3080 GPS logger. This little guy is cheap at under $70.00 on amazon.com and it allows you to press a button to record a location or continuously log your travel every second to the end of the day when you can easily save it to your netbook laptop you packed. (more on communication on the road for a later article...)

It's not gonna save your bacon when you get lost, but it will tell you what wrong turn you took 4 hours ago when you are in your hotel room miles from the campsite late at night. It's not useful for a trip, it's useful for after the trip.

Spring is Here!

Readying the bike for the season, cleaning things up, dont rush getting the bike on the road though. Right now is the time to look over the bike completely. Air up the tires to full air pressure and check them the next day, look for cracks. If you see ANY get the bike to the shop for new tires. nothing will ruin your day or life than a front tire blowout at highway speeds. Check your fluid levels, when was the last time you changed your fork oil? is everything tight? does the bike start easily after it has sat overnight without the battery tender on it? Water level in the battery? check it over carefully. Every minute you spend now is less that will cause you problems later in the year and miles from home. While you are readying your bike, check over your camping gear. make sure mice did not make your new compact sleeping bags their new home. get a can of tent water-proofer and on a good day set up the tent and check it out, at least re-treat the seams. I respray the whole tent with "camp-dry" silicone water-proofer every 3 years. finding problems now means you dont have to scramble later. One thing I added to my kit is the Scala Rider Q2 helmet bluetooth headsets. I can answer the phone on the road and talk to my wife as well as listen to my ipod and GPS. (I plug the gps audio out into a ipod fm transmitter and use the FM radio on the headset to listen, works great) This allows greater freedom and it stops the ripping out of the headset cords the old bike intercom had. Plus these devices are cheaper than replacement stock Yamaha headsets.

Several advancements have came about in camping gear. Some easier to use like a Cot-tent, but they are impossible to carry on a bike. some newer summer tents pack very small and there are new smaller cooking stoves available. One thing that works great is getting a soft fold-able cooler. you can easily stash it when riding, but use it to go get food for cooking after you set up camp if you want to cook over the campfire. I will cover some of the new smaller camping gear soon.

Almost time for riding season again....

Is your bike ready for the spring riding season? You know that most of the maintenance items you have your dealer perform in the spring you can easily do at home and with the toolkit your bike came with....

Sparkplugs : if you have a carburetor bike these need to be checked and cleaned. carefully remove each one and inspect them, if BLACK then your bike is running rich and needs the carbs adjusted or even the air filter cleaned or replaced. you want them to be slightly rust colored with clean spots probably the electrode will be clean. some light soot is OK.

Gas : you did put in a fuel stabilizer or "seafoam" before you stored the bike last fall right? also how old is your bike, have you checked the fuel filter? it should be replaced every 2-3 years.

Tires : inspect for cracks, make sure they are aired up properly. move the bike to keep from getting flat spots.. I park on carpets to help eliminate the flat spot problem.

Battery: you put a good quality battery tender on it right? if not get one now and get it on the battery, you might be able to save it if it's not went completely dead.

I would NOT start the bike until spring unless you crank it a bit with the gas off to build oil pressure first. you dont want to start a dry engine. If you do start it, then you need to run it for 20 minutes or more until it's up to full temperature, you dont need to fill your mufflers with water from the exhaust and a cold muffler... that makes for rust. If you start it, then let it idle until the engine is hot and at normal running temps, keep going until you no longer see moisture out of the mufflers...