ContourHD1080p Helmet Camcorder

One thing a helmet cam has to be is simple to use, and the ContourHD1080p has that down. This rugged little tube of anodized aluminum starts recording when you slide the long top switch forward and stops when you slide it back. It’s easy to do with gloved hands and built-in stops at either end let you know the job is done correctly. Two small lasers beams let you align the lens to ensure horizontal shooting. Believe me, tilted helmet cam videos are something you’ll only watch once. The lens rotates 192 degrees to compensate for pretty much any mounting situation. [Read more]

Adventure GearLab 9: Klim Stow Away Jacket

There’s nothing like a chilly downpour to dampen your spirits, especially when you’ve planned and dressed for a sun-soaked ride. The folks at Klīm, the dual-sport clothing specialists, have a solution to the sudden shower – their compact Stow Away jacket. It lets you dress for the sun but defend against the afternoon gully washer. [Read more]

Adventure GearLab 8: Giant Loop MoJavi Saddlebag

Carrying stuff on a dual-sport day ride is easy, right? You toss it in a backpack or bum bag and head for the hills. Or maybe you bungee it to the back or drop it into saddlebags. These conventional methods have worked for years, so why change? Comfort and performance come immediately to mind. I don’t like a big load on my back when I’m riding and don’t want to land on a fat fanny pack positioned to bruise my spine. Having gear strapped on behind hampers my movements and the bike’s handling. Saddlebags aren’t bad, but they also position the load behind the rider. [Read more]

In the Beginning….

Witness here a relic of my childhood, all that remains of the Handy Andy toolkit I opened one Christmas day long before I even dreamed of riding motorcycles. Inside the metal box from Santa Claus were this blade screwdriver, a hammer, a saw and a few other tools that are lost to time. Intended for small hands and small construction projects, I can assure you that in my little paws the tools did more destructing than constructing. Still, the set helped me build boats to float in the creek, wooden airplanes to zoom around my brother’s head and anything else my imagination could conjure up. Limits were few – Dad had a nice scrap pile and what I couldn’t find there I could scrounge from nearby construction sites. My biggest challenge was keeping a nail straight long enough to join two pieces of wood.

The Handy Andy hammer was large enough to blacken a finger nail, small enough to require 100 well-aimed whacks to sink a 16-penny nail. The saw was sharp enough leave a bloody zig-zag trail on a small arm and dull enough to skip along the surface of wood, almost ensuring injury. The screwdriver was special. The powers imbued in its once-shiny shaft were magical for a tiny technician: pry bar, jabber, stabber, reamer, chiseler, splitter. In a pinch you could even turn a screw with it – if you had one.

The blue plastic handle bears the scars of early onset ham-fistedness – chips where pliers have grasped it, a chunk missing from the end where the hammer rung out one too many times, probably some teeth marks if you look close enough. And that once-square blade has long since met its match: me. A smooth, rounded shadow of its former self, the business end of the screwdriver is certain death to any screw it touches.

I could retire this worn-out warrior to my box of mementos, but it remains in my tool tray because it’s still useful for jobs that I won’t touch with a better tool, like popping chunks of mud off my DR-Z or prizing rocks from a tire tread. And recent testing in my garage has shown that the time-worn shape of the blade will open a bottle of suds if there’s no church key close by. Not necessarily what the good folks at Handy Andy had in mind when they sold it, but if my leg up on tool use taught me anything, it’s that most of them can be multi-purpose. And multi-purpose is just what the roadside mechanic needs when stranded in the boonies. I’ve used many tools in ways that would make real mechanics strip their ratchets, but thanks to early tutelage by Handy Andy, I’ve never had to walk.

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]

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]

Escape from White Canyon, Part 4: Road Gang

(We left our tired riders having to cross a sandy chasm while the solid pavement of the highway taunts them from just yards away.)

The rain clouds are darker and closer as we dismount to examine the sand ledge in front of the culvert. What would be child’s play with a dirt bike looks too steep and soft to risk with heavy dual-sports. “Better get some rocks,” Kail says, as he starts kicking down the sand to decrease the slope. There’s no shortage of rocks in southern Utah, so it’s not long before we have a rough ramp set up. After unloading his luggage and carrying it across the creek, Kail makes the first run down the slope, across the creek and up the ramp. Roger and I stand by on either side of the culvert to lend a hand, but Kail cleans the section and parks his KLR in the escape tunnel. As usual, it’s easier than it looks. Roger’s next with another clean run and I make it three for three. We celebrate briefly, pack up the bikes and are soon on our way down highway 95, heading for the gray mass that hangs over the Abajos. [Read more]

Escape from White Canyon, Part 3: Lost and Found

(Part 2 ended with our party of three moto-men parked somewhere east of Hite, Utah, and north of Highway 95…and wondering just where the heck they are.)

The clouds to the north and east are getting darker, curtains of gray beginning to form in the distance. I know the area the best of any of us, and I’m pretty sure that rain is already falling on the upper reaches of White Canyon. I also know that the canyon lies between us and the highway. When I mention the potential for flash floods, it’s apparent that Kail and Roger have already considered the possibility, and with it, the possibility that we’re just a little lost. [Read more]

Escape from White Canyon, Part 2: Water, Water Everywhere

(At the end of Part 1, we had one smart guy taking a sure bet – pavement – while three riders with more bravado than brains pin their chances on the whims of the weather as they slosh their way across southern Utah.)

Dust isn’t an issue with the rain-damp surface, so we ride in a pack while sneaking peeks of the red rock the skyline. The desert is fresh and inviting, and we leave clean, clear TKC-80 tracks in the bright red soil. It’s all good for awhile, but the farther we go, the wetter it gets. Damp earth turns to small puddles; we splash on through. Then small puddles slosh together into larger ones. Water floods only one wheel rut at a time, so we slalom over the crest of the two-track to stay in the dry zone. Later, puddles on both sides force us to ride the crest itself, and when that’s below water level we navigate through the puddles, gingerly guiding the heavy bikes through several inches of water and mud. My KLR’s front end wiggles in the mucky bottom and the rear slides like a boot on a banana peel with the slightest throttle movement. [Read more]

Escape from White Canyon, Part 1: Monticello or Bust

The A/C was on, the ranger friendly and the news encouraging when I walked into the information office at Hite Marina on Lake Powell to escape the heat. I’ve studied my maps of southern Utah pretty well over the years, but was surprised when the ranger asked, “Did you know that you can ride dirt roads all the way from Hite to Monticello?” [Read more]

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