Motorcycle Journal

by Clinton A. Buhs (RowdyRed94)

The mercury cleared 50 degrees in my Minnesota city just before the sun broke through the hazy sky. It was early afternoon and a breeze blew lightly from the west. The road called, so I put away my lawn rake and pulled on my riding gear.
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by “Big” Al, Motorcycle-Journal member

“I think we’ll have another slice of pie”, as he cuddled with his new wife having swapped out the old wife 2 years before meeting and falling head over heels for this, his second. Quite an upgrade in the looks department and a biker to boot I thought. Their love was still fresh, and tart and hinted of renewal like the last bite of summer blueberries lying on the plastic plate.
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by Clint A. Buhs (RowdyRed94)

Yesterday was the first real ride of the season in Central Minnesota. I’d been around the city twice before in recent weeks on warm afternoons, but this time I went 150 miles and found some good, tight curves. The weather is finally, genuinely warm. Not the fickle, fleeting kind of March warm that disappears with the sun. The road has been heated by the sun, so my tires stick, and the air is warm too, so my muscles stay relaxed and ready. The scent of old leaves thawing slips through my helmet as I ride. (more…)

By: Intimid8er

Oops! Maybe not! I was rudely wrenched out of my reverie this morning on my ride to work. The State D.O.T. is resurfacing a stretch of concrete (not macadam) highway along my route. They’ve ground down the surface for rain grooves. It makes for some tricky riding, but once you are used to it, it is okay. Some of the grooves are deeper than others and can influence your line of travel.

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A short while ago I posted some tips on riding in the wet. This time it’s going to be about riding in the cold. A lot of the same tips apply since when it’s cold the tires are stiffer and have less grip on the asphalt. But for me the worst part is staying warm and comfortable. I’m in Canada and for some reason it seems the temperatures are much lower than what I remember from the previous years. I’ve, on a few occasions already, had to ride to work when the thermometer was indicating 5 or 6 degrees Celsius or 42 degrees Fahrenheit. While already a tad nippy, you need to consider the windchill factor when going at 90km/h (55mph)!

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I don’t know about you but for me, the mornings are certainly not warming up anymore. It’s not cold yet but there is more and more morning dew and one of the problems it creates for me and my fullface helmet is that the visor tends to fog up, especially at traffic lights where there is no wind to clear it up.

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It doesn’t happen to me often but yesterday it did… I got caught i the rain, without my rain gear, a few miles before getting home. When riding to work, I have a backpack to carry my stuff but also my packed rain gear if there are chances of rain during the day. As I said earlier, most of the time I’m lucky as I don’t often get rained on during my 25 minutes commute to and from work. I ride my SV650S rain or shine.

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