UltraGard Motorcycle Cover to Support Breast Cancer Research

COVER YOUR TA-TAS. To encourage early detection, network support and a cure for breast cancer, Big Bike Parts has teamed up with The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. BBP has created a Limited Edition UltraGard Motorcycle Cover to help raise funds to support breast cancer research. This Limited Edition cover will be available in Medium Street/Cruiser Cover ($39.99) , Large Cruiser Cover with expandable windshield and sissy bar pockets ($49.99) and Large Touring Cover ($49.99). These Supporting The Cause covers are pink over charcoal with a pink ribbon noting your support. Big Bike Parts will donate $5.00 from each purchase to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

For more information, visit www.bigbikeparts.com

Kawasaki Performance Oils

SLIP SLIDIN’ AWAY. Comprised of the latest formulations of superior quality lubricants and specifically engineered to Kawasaki’s highest standards, the new Kawasaki Performance Oils line includes full-synthetic, semi-synthetic and mineral based formulations in multiple grades of motorcycle oils, plus new ATV/UTV and PWC formulations. This is not a simple re-branding of the old product, but an entirely new lineup of super quality modern powersport engine oils. In accordance with strict Kawasaki guidelines, significant improvements have been made across the entire line.

For more information, see your nearest Kawasaki dealer.

Motorsports Films

NEED FOR SPEED. If you’re hooked on watching motorsports on TV, then here’s your pusher. Motorsportsfilms.com features a comprehensive collection of the best motorcycle DVDs from around the world. Titles include Isle of Man TT 2009, ISDE 2009, Endurocross 2009, World Superbike 2009, MX of Nations 2009 and many more, including automotive titles. Try before you buy with previews of the best-selling shows. Navigation and checkout are fast and easy, plus shipping is FREE for all U.S. orders. The site has been designed to be easily searched and checkout is configured to be quick and direct. All major credit cards are accepted, as is PayPal, and Google Checkout. Follow Motorsportsfilms.com on Twitter and Facebook for the latest releases, discount codes and more.

For more information, visit www.motorsportsfilms.com

Update: Asterisk Knee Braces

After my Asterisk Cell Knee Brace blog hit the ether, I heard from Asterisk Sales Manager Darryl Atkins about my comments on not liking the leg sleeves and not using the brace tethers. He noted that the sleeves would not slip down, as I stated they did, if I only took the time to fold the tops over the braces. I took his advice, rode 60 or so sweaty dual-sport miles with the sleeve folded over the braces, and had nary a problem with slippage. [Read more]

Reg Pridmore’s CLASS Motorcycle School, Part 2

Reg Pridmore in the CLASSroom.

After tech inspection, classroom orientation begins promptly at 8:15am. With an hour-long lunch break and ending at 4:30pm, CLASS Motorcycle School is a full day: between seven and nine 15- to 20-minute track sessions and an equal amount of classroom instruction. Students self-select into A (fast) and B (not as fast) groups, with one group on the track while the other is in the classroom (at some tracks, CLASS runs three groups). Last year I immediately jumped into the A group since I had quite a bit of track time under my belt and had previously taken another school at Streets of Willow. Many A-group riders were CLASS veterans (some being members of Reg’s frequent-rider club, Force 5), and they ran a fast pace from the get-go. Being a moto-journalist with Rider stenciled on my leathers, I felt obliged  to keep up. Only a few sessions into the day, I pushed a cold tire too hard on the first lap and crashed out in the Turn 8 bowl. Lessons learned: ride your own ride, and warm your freaking tires, dude! [Read more]

Reg Pridmore’s CLASS Motorcycle School, Part 1

Family affair: Meredith Peake and her two sons, Joseph and Alexander Villarreal, attended CLASS together.

The May issue of Rider included a feature by Lance Oliver titled, “Track Training: 10 Reasons You Need to Get Out There!” Oliver summarized excellent reasons why attending a motorcycle track school makes sense no matter what or how you ride. His last reason says it all: “you’ll be a better, safer street rider.” Every motorcycle track school instructor will tell you the same thing, but reading those words next to photos of sportbike riders in full leathers on a RACE-track makes it seem far-fetched. [Read more]

New Honda Gold Wing News

When Honda announced it was ceasing motorcycle production at its Marysville, Ohio plant in 2009 so that it could consolidate building bikes at a new factory in Kumamoto, Japan, once over the shock we started speculating what that might mean for the motorcycles produced at Marysville, specifically the Gold Wing GL1800. We recently pow-wowed with a couple guys in the know at Big Red, and they cleared up some of the mystery for us. [Read more]

Paso Robles 3rd Annual Sidecar Show

Sidecar people are enthusiastic people, and they love to gather and swap technical advice and stories, and probably a few fibs. Back in 2008 Karyl Lammers convinced the Paso Robles (California) Chamber of Commerce that it would be fun, and perhaps profitable, to have a gathering of sidecars in the city’s park in April, along with the traditional Arts & Crafts show. Karyl owns, along with her husband, a shop called American Motorcycle Stuff (805-459-6235) and she does all the considerable leg and telephone work. This year over 40 outfits showed up, and everybody patronized the local restaurants — there is the profit. And fun? You bet, especially for the people who wandered over from the arts show and thought these rigs were pretty darn cool. Maybe even got a few of them interested.

Judy Muetz knows her sidecar technicals, and was quite happy putting an Earles-type front end on her 1968 Honda 175, and then bolting a Cozy chair on the side.

Mr. Sidecar himself, Doug Bingham, who rode up from Los Angeles on his 1971 Honda 450 with a Globe sidecar attached; Doug puts on the big Griffith Park Sidecar Rally in LA every year.

The Indian Royal Enfield company will sell you a complete sidecar outfit; this one is owned by Otto Lindegaard. Only two other companies today offer sidecars for their motorcycles, the American Harley and the Russian Ural.

That's event organizer Karyl Lammers, sitting on friend Dave Hanson's 1947 Harley-Davidson outfit. This is the 3rd year of the pleasantly low-key sidecar affair where you just show up, park your rig next to the others and then go gossip.

No, you have to sit on the 1980 Yamaha XS1100 to drive this rig, but inventor Chito Pastor built this battery-powered sidecar that allows the gas-consuming motorcycle to be turned off when rolling down the road. This gives new meaning to the hybrid concept.

Steve Wilson tucked a 1982 BMW R100 engine into a 1966 BMW chassis, with a Steib sidcar sitting off on the right side. The 1000cc motor is a lot more powerful than the original 600cc unit.

That 1943 BMW 750 outfit survived World War II, and has been kept in excellent running condition by Paso Roblean Tom Weiss. It should be noted that the American 4WD jeep put the three-wheel sidecar out of business as a useful military concept.

BMW Celebrates 30 Years of the GS

It’s time to sing Happy Anniversary to BMW’s GS line of motorcycles. Their biggest seller world-wide, the GS turns 30 this year. That’s right – you could have bought an R80G/S in 1980, raised a few young’uns, put them through college and had them move back in with you in the lifespan of the GS model. To celebrate this occasion, and to tempt you to trade in your old red-seater on a new one, BMW is offering, starting today, special anniversary editions of the F 800 GS, R 1200 GS and R 1200 GS Adventure. Each of them sports the color scheme – and sexy red seat – of the original R80. These back-to-the-future Beemers  come with special packages and pricing as well as that unique livery. [Read more]

The Trouble with Textile

Recently Senior Managing Editor Donya Carlson and I had the pleasure of having lunch with Andy Goldfine, founder of Aerostich RiderWearhouse and inventor of the Aerostich Roadcrafter suit. The Roadcrafter celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2008, which means this year it’s celebrating 27 years of protecting riders from the elements and the pavement. Over falafel sandwiches and cabbage soup, he told us how textile riding gear was all but unheard of when he designed and made the first Roadcrafter suits. In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, if riders wore protective apparel at all, it was leather. (Flipping through old issues of Rider, there were lots of new-wave colors, cuts and hair styles going on back then. I’m not naming any names…) Goldfine believed in his product and kept insisting that riders and magazine editors give it a try, and now the Roadcrafter is considered one of the best pieces of riding gear you can buy. [Read more]

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