Social: Online forums and communities.

One of the greatest resources for a Motorcyclist is the online communities and  forums that are available for owners to get information and tips about their passion.      But they are not all friendly.   I've been on Honda Forums, BMW forums, Yamaha Forums and others with a lot of nice guys,  but it seems the forums that are specific for motorcycles that only the retired old guys ride are full of crochety old grumpy men that will nail you to a cross if you are wrong, but don't you dare question them when you find they are wrong.   Case in point I have been wrenching and riding motorcycles for 37 years and I'm only 45.  Yes that means I have been on two wheels and working on the since I was 8 years old.  My father made sure that us boys got our hands dirty and knew what we were doing with motorcycles, so my education started early in life and stayed with me to this day.    I have rebuilt and repaired at least 6 Bikes in my lifetime,  Two brought back from the dead that others have had no hope of ever recovering and one was stored wrong back in the early 70's forgotten in a barn for 40 years and restored to running and darn good looking status.  I have rewired motorcycles, reprogrammed the Ignition system computer on newer ones, etc...   So I actually have a bit of knowledge in the arena.  So I question an old guy and try to clarify and he blows up that I dared even question his words or not take them as gospel. And no this has not only been once,  I have seen it several times on this specific board.  They will say something that is wrong and if you point it out nicely  you will get jumped on hard.  I discovered that I ride a bike that has a typical owner age of 65.  So that explains why all these guys keep dropping it on the ground in the parking lot, cant fix it them selves, and go postal on anyone that questions them nicely.    I really like a touring bike and I want to do what they are doing (Riding not complaining) before I get old  and crotchety.

And I typically try to be as friendly as I can be,  but any time you correct one of these Retired fellas who is repeating yet another bit of bad information they read elsewhere on the internet,  suddenly they wig out.  Ask for clarification or where they got the information,  they wig out.  And then let on that you are not 60+ but in fact what they consider a snot-nosed kid at 45 and they go way overboard on being insulting and raging.

I strongly suggest to lurk on most and only ask questions when you need to,  Helping others with answers is only for those with very thick skins, yes even when you post links to 5 different places that back you up you will have someone trying to shoot you down for daring to correct them.

Secondly, remember only people with problems post on the boards.  People that have zero problems with their motorcycles rarely post on the boards as they are too busy riding, so do not gauge the reliability of a bike by the number of complaints.  Knowing what common failures are is one thing,  obsessing on them is another.  Look for real failure rates.  I found the rear drive of my BMW has a failure rate of around 4-7%  That is so low that I do not even need to think about it.  Yet on the forums it sounds like every BMW is a ticking time bomb waiting for the Rearend to explode at any moment.

My point is,  be nice to your  fellow riders no matter where you are or how you feel.  Being a grumpy old coot only destroys your own reputation and makes others look down on you.  I lose a lot of respect for every old fart online that goes all grumpy rage over another person,  it shows that they may be old but they are not wise.

How to use a real coffee percolator.

Trying to get in one last camping trip this season,  and because it's gonna be cold, I'm packing the campfire percolator pot.  Some people say these ruin coffee,  Others say it's the best coffee made.  I say it's easier than packing the stove, french press, grinder, etc...  plus it is the ONLY way to make safe coffee from "questionable" water sources.  It's why it was highly popular with our grandparents and in the wild west.

First,  ignore everything you read out there on the internet,  all of those people are dead wrong.  Looking at temperatures, etc...  This is not how you use these,  this type of coffee pot boils the ever living heck out of your coffee.   It will look different, taste different, and burn the snout out of your mouth if you drink it right away out of the pot.  At the turn of the last century, this is how it was made and it was left on the campfire for 10 or so minutes and then set to the side in a cooler but still hot spot.

Step 1- grind.  You are not going to buy the proper coffee for this pot, you need to grind your own and do a very coarse grind.  Look at the holes in the bottom of the basket,  your grinds need to be larger than those holes.   Not all of it will stay in the basket, you will get some in the bottom of the pot for that last cup swill to be extra special.  I also recommend against using ANY flavored or foo-foo coffee, this brewing method will strip out all of those flavors completely. Get a good medium or mild roast, if you want to really endure what Grand-dad and Great Grand-dad endured,  get a "bold" roast and be ready to swear like a sailor.

Step 2 - prep the pot.   you need to really make 5-7 or more cups in these for them to work right.  A standard old world coffee cup or coffee mug was actually close to 1 cup of water.  Today we drink out of high society venti tapered side drinking devices designed to funnel the aromas...  If that is all you have, get out a measuring cup for the water, if you are lucky your pot has a line showing different cup levels.   Now get that grind and put in the basket 1 heaping tablespoon of coffee grinds per cup of water.  and add another tablespoon "for the pot"  Believe me, it makes a difference to "waste" that last tablespoon.  carefully assemble the parts, putting the spreader on top of the basket and place it in the pot carefully.

Step 3 -  Boil the hades out of it.   This is where 90% of the internet is flat out wrong.  They say start on low, and watch this or that...  No.   Turn it on high and try to launch that thing to the moon,  you need to get it boiling to get the whole process started,  once you can see it is percolating, then turn the heat down.   How much depends on how cold it is outside and how the pot acts.    Over a campfire you don't have a "turn it down" option so just let her rip for 5 minutes.   If you are lucky you have a glass bulb on the top so you can see it percolating.  If you have one of the older ones just pop the lid once in a while to make sure it's still spitting water and coffee up the tube in the middle.

Step 4 - take it off the heat and let it sit,  This coffee is a LOT hotter than the stuff out of your modern coffee maker.  let it sit a bit or pour a cup and let that sit if you want to drink it faster.  You will notice it looks very different,  more cloudy.  This is actually how coffee is supposed to look unlike the over filtered stuff we drink today.

You will notice it tastes different.  it's because you boiled it and technically over extracted.  Some people love this flavor, others find it vile.   I find it's a lot better than the instant stuff and on a cold morning over a campfire.....  It's the best coffee in the world.

Spares: what you should carry with you all the time.

Just a quick note,  Remember to carry a spare headlight bulb with you on a trip. The last thing you need is trying to creep home after dark without a headlight.  You should learn how to replace your headlight bulb, and then do it again at home one night with all the outside lights turned off.  To make it more realistic, wait for a thunderstorm to try this.   Because it will always seem that when you need to replace your headlight, it will be dark out, and it will start to rain.

Basically do the procedure several times so that you know how to do it by heart and not have to look up a set of instructions on how to change it.  You do have a very small flashlight to help you see at night if you have to fix your bike or find your keys you dropped.... Right?

I also suggest carrying a spare key,  IF you ever lose the bike key, it will be at the worst possible time.  Having a spare on you will eliminate the panic and the possibility of being stranded.

Your first Motorcycle camping kit

someone interested in getting into motorcycle camping may think you need to buy a LOT of gear, or a huge tent, etc...  Here is a simple list of what to get.

1 person camping kit

A Small 2-3 man tent that has a rain fly that goes all the way to the ground.  Such as an Eureka Amari Pass 2 person tent or Sturgis Gearbox 2 person tent.

An inflatable Camping Bed such as the REI XL 3.5 camp Bed or the Cabelas Deluxe Camp bed.

A good  Sleeping bag,  pick something with  vents and at least a 20 degree rating.

A Camping pillow

Good bug spray (NOT DEET)

A small folding chair or stool.  A place to comfortably sit is ALWAYS important.

A Kelly Kettle with cookset. and a small mess set with metal cup.

A good folding knife

A good LED lantern and good LED flashlight, a pack of matches and a butane lighter.

And 1 small hatchet.

With the above you can successfully camp.  you will be limited in what you can do but you will have everything needed to sleep comfortably as well as heat water and cook a meal.

Everything else is just adding to convenience as well as comfort.

Here is what is most important about everything in the list.   The tent, you MUST have a good tent that will survive a violent thunderstorm and keep you dry as well as remain intact.  The worst night of your life will be in a leaky collapsed tent in the middle of a raging thunderstorm.  Sure you can buy a cheap $39.00 tent from a grocery store, but they are cold and miserable.  you need a real tent and yes, you will spend about $125-$165 for a tent that you will stay warm and dry inside.   Do NOT think you need more space and buy a 4-6 person tent for yourself.  tents keep you warm by trapping body heat, if you have a giant cavern tent you will be very cold when it drops below 60 at night.  The small 2 man tent will be cosy at those temperatures.

The sleeping pad will separate you from a good nights sleep and a 6 hour torture session.  Sleeping directly on the ground will chill you to the bone in short order, the thin foam pads are completely worthless for giving you any comfort unless you are very small and very light.  The inflatable pads with foam inside work great and the thicker the better.  I also get them wider simply because you get more room for comfort.  The cheap versions of these pads may work if you are small and light,  if you are a typical stout american you need the XL sizes that are thicker to handle your mass and allow you to have a warm and comfortable night.

Sleeping bags can be a sticker.  They tend to be the bulkiest item or they end up being tiny and cold.  I really can not make any suggestion as you really need to look at sleeping bags and even try them out.   Better stores like Cabelas let you try them out in the store.  Find one roomy enough and have vents you can open.  being able to regulate your temperature is key to having a good night sleep.

A camping pillow is a great asset, but you can get away with a stuff sack and your clothing.  I have used my pair of jeans in a stuffsack as a pillow at night.

Find a chair that will fit in your bike or on it easily, there are a lot of backpacking chairs to choose from and they are not cheap.  It is a godsend to have a comfy place to sit down and drink your morning coffee while you watch the sun rise.

I used to recommend all kinds of camping stoves, but recently found the perfect stove that makes all others look like junk.  the Kelly Kettle lets you use sticks and twigs to boil a liter  of water rapidly, it also will let you cook above it while you heat or boil that water.  No fuel to carry as the world is full of sticks and twigs (unless you are motorcycling through the desert)   boiling water gives you a way to eat easily.   You can make dried foods into meals easily and make coffee or tea when you need it.   Morning oatmeal is effortless with this kettle.  If you want to cook your beans,  the cooking kit will give you a pot to cook in above the kettle wile you heat the water.  This is absolutely the best stove/kettle to carry.

You need something to make the fire and light your way.  You can buy waterproof matches or make them,  but I prefer a BIC lighter or two in my kit with regular stick matches.  it allows you to have a backup and you can light wet matches with the lighter.  A good small and bright flashlight as well as a lantern are ideal.  the lantern makes tasks easier with an area light, and you always need a good flashlight to find your way to the bathroom.

Lastly you need a hatchet.   They work as a hammer on the flat end and will let you turn a larger stick into kindling for starting a fire.  Ask any outdoorsman and they will tell you their hatchet and knife are high on their list of "must have" for camping.

All of the above can fit in a large duffle bag or dry bag you can strap to your back seat. Is this all you need?  No, far from it.  you do need food, clothing, first aid kit is always a good idea.

but if you had no idea where to start for Motorcycle camping, here is a list you can get started on.  I recommend buying the tent and setting it up and packing it a few times at home. As well as using all the other gear so you are used to how it functions before you are at the campsite wondering how to set it all up.

Safety and riding skills

A lot of stories this summer about motorcycle accidents have reminded me about the importance of safety.  The biggest profile story out there in the news is a man who wanted a motorcycle for over 20 years and finally got one and killed himself on the way home from the dealership.  (Article Here) It's being used all over the internet as an example of how "dangerous"  motorcycles are.  What is dangerous is a person on a motorcycle that doesn't know how to ride.   And sadly I know and see people that have been "riding for 20 years" that do not know how to ride a motorcycle, in fact the motorcycle forums are full of them.  A lot of major mistakes and superstitions are given more credibility than real riding, and that makes me very sad.   Yes, we still have the problem with cagers (cars and trucks) not seeing us when on two wheels, but I see a lot of motorcyclists riding as if they are invincible.   When you are lane splitting at 70 mph through stopped traffic  YOU become the problem and the cause of the accident.  And it's not just obvious mistakes like that, I see motorcyclists every single day tailgating cars, Jack rabbit launches at red lights, Riding way too fast for the road conditions, not paying attention to road surface, not paying attention at all.   And that doesn't even start to cover the things we cant see, the mistakes that riders make that are based on either a lack of education or a listening to an "old biker" that actually doesn't know anything or has horribly outdated knowledge.

Mistake 1 - Don't use your front brake, you will flip over.   Really? are we to assume that all motorcycle makers are out to kill bikers by adding an unsafe front brake?  In fact most big bikes have linked brakes that force you to use the front when you only use the rear for this exact reason.  Many bikers just do not have a clue as to how a motorcycle stops.  70 to 80 percent of your stopping power is in that front brake; not using it is asking for an accident. Many bikers claim their accident was from a car turning in front of them, and yes that was the start of the event,   but the 200 foot long black mark from their rear tire tells me that they did not know how to ride and use only the rear brake.  This is why they were unable to stop and they hit the car.  Almost all modern motorcycles have exceptional brakes and can stop you faster than a car could ever stop, some now have ABS that have a spooky short stopping distance.   when you react you should be bleeding off speed first and looking for an exit second.   Clamping down on the brake until you hit the car is a rookie rider mistake that a lot of old timers and "20 year" riders make.   Slow down and look for and take that evasion path.  I would rather blow out the front rim and forks on my bike hitting a curb at 45mph than plowing into the car.

Mistake 2 - Highway pegs used all the time.   No, highway pegs are for...... the highway.   I see a lot of guys riding in town with their feet up on the highway pegs.  How are you supposed to react to a car pulling out in front of you when it takes you a second to get your feet back on the controls?  you will travel almost 50 feet in that 1 second.   Stop using your highway pegs in town, you need to be ready to react to the bad drivers that you know are on the road with you.

Mistake 3 - speeding.  yes I know it's fun to do 120 on your sportbike, but do that on a track.  There is no excuse for racing on the streets when there are so many race tracks that have bike days.   High speeds on public roads are pure stupidity for two major reasons.   First, the roads are in garbage shape. Sand, gravel, dirt, trash, etc are all over the roads.  Any of that can cause you to wipe out and crash.  Second you can not predict what a car will do.  If you are riding 120 and a kid walks on the street what are you going to do?  What about a deer?  you can not react fast enough to avoid the accident and die, and at those speeds if you over react you will have an accident and die.  This is not a track where you have a nice clear skid space and soft barrier to hit.   hitting a tree with your arm at 100mph removes the arm.  And lastly, do you hate riding? Why are you trying to make your ride as short as possible by speeding?  I want to ride as long as possible because my happy times is when I am in the saddle.

Mistake 4 - Not knowing the bike.  most motorcycle riders have zero clue as to how their bike will react in an emergency.  none of them have practiced any evasion or emergency maneuvers, so they are completely clueless as to what will happen when they need to react quickly to avoid an accident.  Do you know what happens when you try to brake in a turn?  Some bikes can not hold any grip and will slide out, others will pop up vertical, etc..  What will your bike do under hard breaking and you try to avoid an obstacle?  Big touring bikes have wet noodle suspension in a panic you can turn the handlebars hard and the front wheel will not react almost "bending" the forks from all the stresses involved.

I am not going to get into safety gear here,  It is a "personal choice" and a freedom issue for most people, but I will just say I ride with a helmet gear most of the time for my wife and daughter.   I love them more than any "freedom" of riding  with nothing on to protect me.  At a minimum they can at least have an open casket funeral, but my gear significantly increases my survival chances in the event of a crash.

I see a lot of riders that just ride, they do stupid things on their bikes that put them and others at risk.  They don't know their bike, they don't know how to ride, they don't learn and update their knowledge.  There are a HUGE number of riders that don't even know how to pick their bike up if it falls over.  Some claim, "my Harley is 900 pounds you cant pick it up"  and I can show you videos of a 80 pound 50 year old woman picking up that 900 pound bike easily.  These bikers do not know how to ride a motorcycle or how to handle a motorcycle.   Please at least buy a DVD like the "ride like a pro" series or take some classes on advanced riding so you can avoid accidents, and be a top 1% motorcycle rider.

One last thing,  unless you are a outlaw 1%er flying fast in the night without any lights on, you don't need to ride in all black leather.  Something bright to get the attention of the car driver that is eating a burger, texting, and painting their toenails (Yes I have seen this on a highway) goes a long way to increase your visibility.  There are a lot of "bad ass" looking bright colored jackets, shirts, etc that you can wear to be more visible.

I am not preaching,  I just want most of you to keep riding every day.  I want all bikers to become old bikers that can tell stories to the young kids about the trips they made and the fun they had on two wheels.  If we all ride smarter and better, we all will live longer and avoid the cagers.