Motorcycle Misadventures

Join us tonight to talk BMWs, fastest woman in the world, Melissa Holbrook-Pierson, and more fun motorcycle people

Join me tonight on SideStandUp.com 5-8 Pacific Time (8-10 Eastern) for a great show. Be sure to sign in to the chat room if you can, I know there will be questions! Here's the lineup:

Tonight September the 20th 2011 on SideStand Up Miss Adventuring Carla King (that's me!) talks the finer points of the BMW GS adventure series - F650GS, F800GS, 1200GS and buying used - with Larry Saenz, General Manager of BMW Motorcycles San Francisco, Northern California's top-selling and the only exclusively BMW motorcycle dealership in the Bay Area.

Also tonight:

JJUSTJ ( J Sheets) will be interviewing Belen Wagner -- Belen has set close to 50 records and is a FIM environmental steward for world trials championships.

When Roger Wiles informed Tom he would need to take a sabbatical from his monthly moto safety segment, tom immediately released it would tough to replace Roger. Roger wasn't about to leave the SSU nation short in the rider safety area, he suggested his friend and associate Tom Komjathy of Diversified Safety Konsulting to take over the segment.

Celebrated author and motorcyclist Melissa Holbrook-Pierson returns. Melissa's newest book "The Man Who Would Stop At Nothing" delves into the world of endurance riding featuring one of the titans of the sport John Ryan.

Back in the day on Saturday afternoons Wide World of Sports featured the greatest of sporting accomplishments. Once a year they world air men riding streamliners and such at the Bonneville Salt Flats. It's not just a man's event any longer, Leslie Porterfield is the absolute proof of that. Fresh off a new record of 236 mph Leslie is now known as "The Fastest Woman In The World"

For more information and to learn about discount from SSU advertising partners log onto SideStandUp.com.

Motorcycling for Women - Dual Sport Bikes

From Motorcycling for Women: Beginner Bikes

Dual-Sport Bikes
Jump Curbs. Ford Streams

These bikes are made for maximum maneuverability so you’ll find that the seat puts you upright at comfortable attention and the controls are all sitting where you intuit they’re going to be.  This is a basic bike that comes fairly “naked” with an exposed engine and higher ground clearance (and therefore seat height), so you can jump logs or curbs and ford streams or ditches. The handlebars are straight ad wide providing stability while you’re out of your seat standing up on the pegs.

There are many varieties of dual-sport motorcycles, but all are made for both street and dirt riding. Some dual-sports have dirt bike roots and others, such as “scramblers,” are street bikes modified to ride or race on dirt.

 Though seat heights can be high, the smaller dual-sports are great beginner bikes and really wonderful second bikes. Like standards, they don’t have a lot of expensive chrome and plastic that will be damaged when you drop them.  Adventurous travelers will throw a couple of saddlebags on and take off to anywhere in the world.

Examples of dual-sport bikes you might consider:

Yamaha TT-R125LE

This 5-speed, air-cooled 4-stroke weighs under 200 pounds wet.  A 31.7 inch seat height and 11.6 ground clearance is reasonable for most situations.

KTM 125 EXC

The 36.4 inch seat height and 15.4 inch ground clearance may be too intimidating for all but the most ambitious budding off-road enthusiast. The liquid cooled, 6-speed, 2-stroke engine is a real screamer though, if you have the need for speed.

Download the free ebook: Motorcycling for Women: Beginner Bikes to learn more about great beginner bikes in cruiser, sport, dual-sport, scooter, and dirt-bike categories.

Comments? I'd love to hear them. Use the comments feature below.

And if you'd like to share this ebook on your blog or site, be my guest.

Thanks!

More on sidecars in China

Awesome. In the second part of the show about Riding in China Jim and Bill talk about my 1998 trip in China, and the second trip last year with Teresa and Diny - 1st 5 minutes.

Why Horsepower Doesn't Matter: Torque (Or is it the other way around?)

Nobody's revealing horsepower these days. The first time I really noticed was in December when I was at the KYMCO booth asking how their 250 Venox cruiser can go freeway speeds. What horsepower does it have? I asked the rep at the booth, who quickly replied, "We don't reveal the horsepower because it doesn't matter, you have to measure different aspects...blah blah blah" and I went away thinking that they didn't want to tell anybody because it was so low. But now I've been reviewing all these really high-powered bikes and they don't talk about horsepower either. I asked a few people why horsepower is considered a wanky measure, and it my dad (as usual), gave the best answer. I look forward to your wisdom on this topic, too.

Well that depends. There is torque horsepower and brake horsepower. They both have meaning if measured the same way.  If you put a Harley and a Yahama in 6th at 30 mph and lay down on both, the Harley will probably leave the Yahama for a while because the torque hp of a Harley is probably greater than the Yahama. However when they both get wound out and up the Yahama will probably leave the Harley. So for a horsepower to have true meaning it must be stated like "687 foot pounds of torque at 3200 rpms at full throttle," or something like that.

You want a farm tractor or semi to have a lot of torque. You want a racer to have a lot of brake horsepower at high rpms. You can use gears to help match them up. An example of the numbers being phony goes like this: A 100 watt light bulb generally puts out more light than a 60 watt bulb, but it doesn't need to, because the wattage is just an indication of the power it uses. It has nothing to do with the light it produces. But we have been hoodwinked in to thinking blindly that it does.  So horsepower in general means this bike is more powerful than that one. But who cares if the horsepower tests are only real above 150 mph?

2 + 2 does not =  4 if you are adding 2 cups of water to 2 cups of popcorn.

I also found a nice little writeup about torque and horsepower in fairly plain English by Bruce Augenstein as related to  automobile engines, which translates well to motorcycles, I am assuming, where the author states this, some of which I can relate to:

Torque is the only thing that a driver feels, and horsepower is just sort of an esoteric measurement in that context. 300 foot pounds of torque will accelerate you just as hard at 2000 rpm as it would if you were making that torque at 4000 rpm in the same gear, yet, per the formula, the horsepower would be *double* at 4000 rpm. Therefore, horsepower isn't particularly meaningful from a driver's perspective, and the two numbers only get friendly at 5252 rpm, where horsepower and torque always come out the same.

From there, my eyes start glazing over, and I find myself still wondering how a consumer is supposed to compare power between one bike and another without having to have a math degree. Because despite understanding torque and horsepower -- which this article thankfully provides in an easy-to-digest manner -- the manufacturers don't give us the numbers. And considering all this, I can hardly blame them.

Still, when I compare specs on the two bikes below, nothing in the numbers tells me that the Vulcan is going to give me an overall smooth and powerful cruiser ride, and the Boulevard is going to rip me off the back of the bike if I turn the throttle on a little too hard, right?

Kawasaki Vulcan Classic

Published specs:
Engine 4-stroke, liquid-cooled, SOHC, four valve per cylinder, 50° V-twin
Displacement 1,552 cc
Bore and Stroke 102.0mm x 95.0mm
Compression Ratio 9.0:1
Belt Drive
Transmission 6-speed with overdrive
Found with some research:
    Torque peak of 108 ft-lbs at 2750 rpm
    HP  peak of 89 at 5000 revs

Suzuki Boulevard M90

Published specs:
Engine 4-stroke, 2-cylinder, liquid-cooled, OHC, 54° V-twin
Displacement 1,462 cc
Bore and Stroke 96.0mm x 101.0mm
Compression Ratio 9.5:1
Shaft Drive
Transmission 5-speed, constant mesh
Torque (can't find)
HP (can't find)

If you can tell me - it would be much appreciated.

Six Outrageous Fantasy Motorcycles

Motorcycles that are fun to look at - 6 Badass Motorcycles.

Happy Holidays, Update

Happy holidays from Portland, Oregon! Twelve of us in our family were scheduled on several flights in San Jose and Oakland on December 22nd but when the airport closed we all got into rental cars and drove up to my sister's house, spending the night in Medford and getting here in another snowstorm: shoulda seen the Californian's trying to put chains on up south of Medford. We got there and the only vehicles we drove for a few days were sleds, which was just fine with us.

I'd just finished the Cycle World International Motorcycle Show in San Mateo, which was a great success in my opinion. I met so many people, some I've known on the web for a while, and some new folks who stopped by the booth and my motorcycle adventure travel talk. I hope that everyone who wants to travel but has been hesitant to to for some reason or other now has the information they need to get going. I was so surprised that the Horizons Unlimited website was big news to people. I thought everybody knew about it! But I was happy that so many people were ready to go on their first trip, and ready to go solo, without a guide or agency to make all the arrangements. It's really so very easy - especially in Europe.

I also got to sit on some new bikes from makers I'd never heard of, including the KYMCO Venox 250, which felt surprisingly substantial. It feels like a full-sized cruiser but with 250ccs and weighing only 418 pounds. (See article.) With the $4,299 price tag it might just be a perfect beginner bike. It might even be a nice upgrade option for some, like my friend Marian who is looking to upgrade from the rattletrap Rebel she started out on last year. She's looking for something bigger, newer, with a warranty, but not necessarily with a lot more power - while feeling comfortable on the freeway at up to 75 mph. This might be it! They also had one of their 2010 sport bikes on the floor. It was tiny on me, but shorter riders might find it the perfect starter sportbike at 150cc's and $3,499.

Commenting about it to a friend in the business, he told me that KYMCO Taiwan was in the 3rd party components and Taiwanese scooter business for a long time, and when they started supplying components to the USA their quality went way up. The scooter room was full of really nice models by them, too. I look forward to test riding the marque, soon, as I don't really feel comfortable with what the industry calls a "beginner" bike - 800cc models that weigh above 600 pounds. I still love the Rebel for a starter cruiser, and something like a Honda Nighthawk for a good "standard" bike.

Here's a photo of me with "Super" Sarah Schilke, who organized The Hub events and all kinds of other things going on at the show. By the way, here's Sarah's list of beginner bikes.

Never a lack of interest in the V-Strom

The Suzuki V-Strom (DL650) has to be the most interesting bike on the market if only because the people who never stop complaining about how ugly it is then launch into a list of merits that can go on for pages. It's great for around town and it's great for around the world. It fits people who are 5 feet tall and 6"7' feet tall. (With the right modifications.) People ask me about the bike but my friend D. Brent Miller is a much better source of informtion as he is a V-Strom rider and writer, and he's done a few really nice detailed reviews. Here's the link. Meantime, I guess I had just better get myself on a test ride . . .

Compare: BMW F650GS, Kawi Versys, Suzuki DL650 V-Strom

Thanks to Brent Miller for pointing me to this video comparison of the the BMW F650GS against the Kawasaki Versys and Suzuki DL650 V-Strom by MCN, a British publication. Enjoy!

Sidecar on the Darian Gap? Give it a miss.

In July I blogged about Scott Schidler's idea to tour on a Ural sidecar motorcycle from Prudhoe Bay to Tierra del Fuego. Some old sidecar hands replied with some wise advice, and everyone agreed that, dreams or no dreams, giving the Darian Gap a miss is the best idea.

But Scott hadn't even tried the Ural yet. Once he did, he wrote: "Although I knew that it would be different, I never imagined it would have been what it was! . . . turning was a monster effort! I had to dig deep within myself to understand why I would consider driving such a piece of machinery at all, let alone for a long trip."

Alan Karl wrote, "from what I can tell Eric Cleveland opted to fly over the gap to Bogata as I did a couple years back. It's a treacherous piece of real estate and not for the tame of heart. There are primitive tribes, drug runners, terrorists and who knows what else. Why didn't I do it? Well I was alone and if you see the pics in Helge's book, it doesn't look like a lot of fun."

I thought the toe-in might have been a bit off, and suggested getting advice from a sidecar forum. James Barnwell wrote in to advise reading the manual Driving A Sidecar Outfit and to practice the exersises suggested in the manual, and to take a sidecar safety course. "The pullin-drifting on acceleration/deceleration is normal," says James. "You will get used to it. Thank goodness you have not flown the chair-yet! Good luck! Urals are the most fun you can have on three wheels."

I agree. It doesn't handle like a motorcycle -- there's none of that leaning, flying feeling. It's more like driving a handicapped sportscar, one with three wheels and handlebars instead of four wheels and a steering wheel. Why do I love it, then? Well, that's a complex question. For now let's just say it's that je ne sais quoi.

How to Choose a Motorcycle

How do you choose one bike over all the other makes and models out there?

I was reading Brent Miller's article V-Strom DL650: The First 1,000 Miles (download the pdf that's linked from his blog entry), which is actually a very informative piece for anyone who is trying to narrow down their choices in the big wide world of motorcycling.

It's normal to get very confused about what you want versus what a seller, dealer, your buddies, or your boyfriend, want in a bike. Brent made his decision after a year of research, test rides, and self-examination. Here's an excerpt.

Everyone looks for information that helps them make a decision about buying the next motorcycle, or perhaps the first. Even though I have been motorcycling for more than 40 years, I did exactly the same. I started researching and reading rider/owner reviews, looking for information that would match my riding desires with the next motorcycle purchase. . . I started a self examination:

• What do I want in a motorcycle?
• What is important or a priority for my motorcycle purchase?
• Am I buying a motorcycle to impress others or declare a status in life?
• Would I rather ride or polish chrome?
• What kind of riding will I do?
• Where will I ride?
• How many miles will I ride each year?
• Will I be riding alone or two up with a passenger?

There’s a lot more involved: initial purchase price, cost of ownership (repairs, parts, and extras), and what a lot of people call “bang for the buck”—which is very subjective.

Read Brent Miller's article V-Strom DL650: The First 1,000 Miles (download the pdf linked from his blog entry), for more words of wisdom.