Category Archives: General

As we’re slowly riding out of the COVID-19 pandemic and return to normalcy, traffic is starting to increase, and those deserted back roads suddenly are packed with holidaymakers and people looking to make the most of the situation before they’re called back into the office.

After a year of lockdowns, people are itching to get out and spend the money they saved during the pandemic on new cars, new motorcycles and gasoline. This spending spree in combination with a move away from public transportation has created a new wave of inflationary pressure, hiking prices for most commodities, including gasoline.

The days of cheap, lockdown-era gasoline are gone, and they’re unlikely to come back anytime soon.

Depending on where you live, gasoline prices may have increased just a few cents per liter, or may have increased almost €0,50 per liter ($2.27 per gallon) over the course of a year. 

Gasoline prices in the Middle East and Russia have remained relatively stable, but prices in especially (Western) Europe and the U.S. have climbed significantly, with prices for premium gasoline in our home country the Netherlands nearing €2 per liter (a whopping $8.5 per US gallon).

While the U.S has a more favorable tax structure, nationwide average prices per gallon are now also approaching $3 per gallon, with prices in some states set to top $5 per gallon this summer as a result of tighter supply (thanks Texas Freeze) and a shortage of tanker truck drivers to deliver the juice.

Soaring fuel prices are, however, not expected to keep motorists of the roads this summer. The desire to travel and to freely roam around is simply too strong after a year of lockdowns.

Custom motorcycle builder Nick Christian lived in the UK, the Netherlands and now resides in Canada. Throughout his custom bike builders career he built many motorcycles among which the fine specimen you see below. The athlete leaning against it is Olympic gold medalist Kaillie Humphries.

Kaillie Humphries

Kaillie Humphries is a Canadian-born bobsledder and a two-time Olympic champion in the two-woman and the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist. She asked Kevin Dunworth and Nick to build the bike of her dreams and together they set off to build her a masterpiece.

1972 Yamaha XS650

They used the base of a 1972 Yamaha XS650. They removed the twin-shock, swing-arm rear as well as the rear subframe and this was replaced with a brand new GS-3 Race Tech mono-shock set up. That was not all, also the engine is completely adjusted. The original ignition and carburetor were replaced by a new Pazon Ignition which is sparked by an Andrews coil with twin Mikuni carburetors. What do you think about the result? Kaillie loved it and so do I.

Canada’s best kept secret

Nick Christian is Canada’s best kept secret. He resides in or near the Rocky Mountains, grew his beard and listens to Hawkwind when he is not riding his own custom bike. A little snowbird told me he might be up for a new challenge. May you wish to reach out to him you can do so by responding in the comments below or send us an email directly. For more info about this bike and the source of the beautiful photos have a look at Silodrome.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made a number of bold statements about autonomous cars during the last couple of years, and has, despite all the naysayers made big moves towards developing a fully functioning level 5 autonomous car.

Currently, the EV maker is already building cars with an Autopilot driver assistance system, but in reality, this is nothing compared to a fully autonomous driving function, with which the driver can practically take a nap while the car drives itself.

Despite Musk’s claims that fully autonomous cars (AVs) could just be around the corner, a lot of technical and regulatory obstacles remain, and it may just be too early to tell how and when AVs will disrupt motorcycle markets.

In the meantime, we can only speculate what all this new tech means for the safety and riding pleasure of us motorcyclists.

With the installation of logic driven computers, self-learning systems and a ton of cameras and safety features, it seems like cars are increasingly well-equipped to deal with unexpected situations… but what happens when a sensor fails… or when a camera feed shuts down?

A number of highly interesting studies have been conducted on the topic, but with AV technology advancing at a rapid pace, it seems like a lot more studies will have to be conducted in the near future before AVs can begin to co-exist with human-operated vehicles. Let alone smaller, less noticeable motorcycles.

The most important word here is ‘co-exist’. It seems a mere question of time before AVs begin to hit the roads. Despite rumors that AVs could mean the end of motorcycles, or fears that AVs may knock you off your bike, it’s important to know that the development of autonomous driving tech won’t happen overnight. A lot of testing will be done before that time.

Some studies are already concluding that new motorcycles may have to be outfitted with some kind of sensor that informs autonomous vehicles of their location in space and time (think airplanes).

In the end, with better artificial Intelligence systems in development, the safety of the motorcyclist and other users on the road will depend on the quality of data and the speed of data exchange between vehicles.

Autonomous driving tech isn’t likely to end the era of motorcycles, instead, it’s more likely that motorcycle tech will evolve along with automotive technology.  BMW is already developing autonomous motorcycle riding functions, which may be able to guide you through boring sections, until you make it to more interesting twisty roads.

And if you think this is futuristic, Yamaha has been working on a concept bike called MOTOROiD, an electric bike which actually recognizes you as its owner and comes riding over to you (think KnightRider 🙂).

If you’re interested in the future of AVs and motorcycles, Webbikeworld.com published a super interesting article about this topic last month.

I have been riding motorcycles for 26 years now and am still going strong. For the last couple years I have been writing about it too and bit by bit I am becoming more knowledgeable. But when I read this crazy article I discovered that there were quite some funny facts that I had no idea about. Link at the bottom of this article.

Perfect light reading material for when you take a break from work. Here is a bunch of crazy fats that you can use to become the life of the party: Did you know that the world’s longest motorcycle is 86 ft 3 in (26.29 m) long?

Did you know that modern sport bike tires don’t contain any natural rubber anymore? The tread of a tire is now composed of only synthetic rubber, which has been compounded to give a compromise between durability and traction.

Indiana lawmakers had the brilliant idea to oblige motorcyclists to stop for 120 seconds (2 minutes) at a red stop light. The stop light can be treated as an extreme stop sign. No wonder the law was nicknamed “The Dead Red” law. I don’t know how many lost their life because of it.

How much distance can a single rider cover in 24 hour? A South African did over 2000 miles (3200km) in one single day back in 2014. Do you think you own a fast bike? Rocky Robinson would most definitely have out-raced you when he set the record on the famed Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah: 376 miles per hour (605kmh).

Carmaker Dodge once produced a 500 horsepower motorcycle. It is the motorcycle you can see above. They went for over half a million dollars each. Perhaps a bit too pricey because they sold only 9 of them. This and much more in the easy to read article on motorcyclelegalfoundation.com.

Over at ScenicApp we rarely write about Electric Motorcycles. Why is that? It’s not because there is no news about them. Almost every day there is a news article on them. It’s not because there are no electric motorcycles. It seems almost every week a new model appears. It’s not that there are no brands. It seems almost every month a new electric motorcycle brand pops up. Just have a look at this list of 18 electric motorcycles. You’ll see some pretty ‘exotic’ brands and models there.

Then why? Well… because technology is just not there yet. To be more specific, the technology to create a compact and light enough battery with a decent range that can re-charge within 5 minutes. Because, let’s face it, as touring and adventure riders, that’s what we need!

Of course, if you commute or do some grocery shopping, the typical range of 100 to 150 miles (150 – 250 km) will do, but that’s not enough for a good day trip, let alone a multi day trip. Add to that the lack of charging station availability in many countries, and the fact that charging takes more like 30 minutes than the usual 3 minutes, and you’ve got yourself an unpractical (not to say unworkable) situation. Unless, of course, you have a gasoline powered van traveling with you and a diesel generator on call.

There is some good news on the horizon though. Just a few weeks ago Honda, KTM, Piagggo and Yamaha signed an agreement around swappable e-bike batteries. Now THAT could be a great solution. Imagine (at least that’s how I imagine it) rolling up to a ‘gas’-station, riding your bike above a ‘hole in the floor’, then, some arms come up, your old empty battery is dropped and a new full one is put in place. Et VOILA. Ready to roll in the same amount of time as a conventional ‘fill-up’.

Having said all this, I do believe that electric is the future of motorcycling. Electric motorcycles already out-perform traditional ones. It’s only a matter of time before we nail the range and recharging problem. Once that’s done… combustion engine based motorcycles will become a thing of the past.

For a long time I thought that a motorcycle adventure should entail me riding the long way round, down, or up a continent, having new experiences, exploring unbeaten paths, with waist deep river crossings, meeting new people and cultures, doing my own road side repairs, sleeping in a tent along a forgotten dessert or jungle road, etc.

Even though I’d love to do this one day and am actually planning for it when my kids are a bit older, I believe my view of adventure has adjusted over time. Sure adventure can be all of the above, but until my life allows it, mini adventures will have to do!

Life getting in the way

I’m definitely not alone in this. Most of us have a normal job with a limited amount of vacation days, and/or a family with young children, and/or can’t afford to quit a job and ‘live on the road’ for a year or so.

There are those that say “If you really want it, you can make it happen”… and I agree! If I really wanted to I could leave my wife and kids alone for a year, or even bring them along, home schooling them on the road. There’s always a way… I know… but for me… those ways are not something I chose. I chose to wait until my kids are older. Until that time I will stick to mini motorcycling adventures.

Motorcycle Mini Adventures – the definition

So, what are those ‘Motorcycle Mini Adventures’ really? I guess it depends on the person and on the stage of your life. For some, a mini adventure might be a few weeks or even 2 or 3 months. For others, like me in this stage of my life, it will be a few days. With this in mind, I’d like to offer this definition of a Mini Motorcycle Adventure:

A motorcycle trip of at least 2 days and 1 night, not requiring a permanent lifestyle change.

So, if you need to sell/rent out your house or quit your job, it’s not a mini adventure! If you just need to take a few vacation days, or even a sabbatical of 2/3 months but returning to ‘normal life’ after the trip, it would qualify as a mini adventure.

Enjoy the adventure, even if it’s mini

With this definition in place we get to the reason of this article. I want to convince you to think different about motorcycle adventure. I want to convince you that even a mini trip is an adventure and you should enjoy it just as much as a big “real” adventure. To do that you need to shape your adventure to your life and your situation. Here are 4 examples of mini-adventures according to my definition above:

Moto Mini Adv – example 1: Long way round, down and up

Who doesn’t know Ewan and Charley’s adventures round, down and up the world? Even though these are quite long (2 to 3 months) adventures, they did not entail a permanent lifestyle change for Ewan and Charley, and thus, in my book, are mini adventures. Yes, they did say goodbye to their families for those 2 months and had some crazy experiences and adventures, but after the trip ended they returned back to their normal lives.

Of course the average Joe does not have the fame, contacts and money to do a trip in this fashion: with a support vehicle, all sponsored bikes and gear, etc. But that’s just an excuse. You can do a 2 month trip on almost any budget…. and that’s my point. Yes it’s long, but not lifestyle changing long. In fact, I’m planning to do this in about 5 years when my kids are more self sufficient.

Moto Mini Adv – example 2: Riding Solo

Riding Solo is a series on Youtube by Sterling Noren. He rode from the south to the north of the US and back in about 4 weeks, but you can easily see how this kind of mini-adventure could be shortened to 2 or even 1 week, covering less distance. Riding Solo is about riding and camping, but if you don’t like camping you can of course also do this with hotel/motel/hostel stays, depending on your budget.

What I like about Riding Solo compared to the ‘Long Way’ series is that Sterling is just a regular guy like us. He left home one day on a very long round trip… and came back a few weeks later. With some preparation, taking some vacation days and sacrificing some ‘home-front-credits’ (in other words good collaboration with your spouse :), anyone should be able to do this once every two years or so. Perhaps not 4 weeks, but 1 or 2 weeks should be doable.

Moto Mini Adv – example 3: Organized Trips

If money is not the problem, but time is, have you given organized rides a thought? They are expensive, but they take all the planning and preparation out of your hands so you can use your precious time on pure riding and enjoyment.

There are many motorcycle tour companies out there and they offer many destinations and options depending on your budget and wishes: Rent a bike vs take your own bike, with a guide vs self guided with navigation, including overnight stays vs self arranged accommodation, close to home vs fly and ride, etc.

Moto Mini Adv – example 4: The Weekend Trip

Who can’t get away for just two or three days? Leave on Saturday morning, ride for max 300 miles / 500 km, stay the night somewhere and then head back on Sunday after breakfast.

I’ve been doing this a few times lately. Mostly camping, but also hotel stays are fine. It’s just so easy to do. The most challenging part is coordinating with my wife 😃, but once that’s done the planning and packing part is easy as pie.

What does your mini adventure look like?

So… these are just 4 examples to give you an idea of the range of possibilities. What does your Motorcycle Mini Adventure look like?

Motorcycle airbags have been around since the 90s, but hardly anybody uses them. Why not you might wonder, as new cars all have them. They are actually obligatory in most countries. I personally don’t use one but maybe I should! Ryan talks about 5 airbag vests for motorcyclists. As always he is super honest and the Helite Turtle 2 Airbag vest comes out on top. Watch his review here.

What I would like to hear from you is whether you use an airbag vest when you ride. Please share why!

BMW’s Smart Jacket

BMW is known for somewhat radical designs (this goes especially for its new lineup of cars with massive grilles), but some of its most interesting recent innovations aren’t to be found in its cars or bikes.

Besides the ever-growing offering of cars and motorcycles, the Bavarian company also sells high-quality riding gear. When I was 17 years old, I was amazed by the BMW Rallye jacket, which I considered to be the coolest, and highest quality piece on the market. And anno 2021, BMW continues to lead the pack, combining the latest safety tech with convenient features such as wireless charging and synched lighting systems.

The Definition CE 04 jacket matches its fully electric concept bike, which is BMW’s 2021 idea of what urban commuting looks like. Apart from its cool looks, this breathable parka is waterproof and includes flexible armor.

But here’s the funkiest part: the bike talks to the jacket via a Bluetooth connection, and mirrors operations such as braking, indicating and turning. The jacket lights up red when slamming the brakes, and turning signals reflect on the appropriate side of the jacket. 

Next to this, the jacket charges your cellphone through wireless inductive charging while you are riding. Juicing up the jacket is really simple – just connect the built-in powerbank to a power outlet and voilà!

Honda’s Brain-Machine-Interface

It gets much cooler than a smart jacket. Remember Elon Musk’s attempt to wire up a monkey to play video games with its mind?

Well, Honda is trying to develop something similar. In a patent it filed in late 2020, the Japanese firm talks about a ‘’brain-machine-interface’’ or BMI.  According to Rideapart.com, Honda is looking to hook up certain riding aids on modern sportbikes to the brain. ‘’Coupled with sensors that non-invasively monitor your brainwaves, the general idea is that Honda vehicles equipped with BMI will behave in the ways that you intend them to behave’’.

Honda thinks that through machine learning techniques, it could become easier for beginning motorcyclists to start to know the bike inside out. By correcting practical driving errors, BMI helps to improve the ride, and reduce the risk of a serious crash.

And with the ongoing advancements in machine learning technology, the system is also said to be adapting to improving driver skill, so more experienced drivers won’t receive the same amount of electronic compensation from the bike as a novice.

And if you think that driving a motorcycle with your brain is something for the 22^nd century, the truth is that investment and research in this field is advancing very quickly, with some of the world’s leading automotive companies investing heavily in integrating BMI in autonomous vehicles.

As Rideapart’s Janaki Jitchotvisut says: We can’t all be Marc Márquez, but Honda wants to help.

The topic of lane splitting is as hot as it’s always been and the French being the French, just threw oil on the fire. Whether you are for or against, you are likely to have an opinion, as do I.

As a results of a 5 year study that concluded lane splitters were involved in 12% more crashes, as of February 1st, the French are no longer allowed to lane split. They were actually never officially allowed, but it was condoned. Read more about their findings here. It might have been because most riders and drivers in France are, well, French. It might have been because it was something nobody was accustomed to, or it was simply the wine they consumed before partaking in the experiment.

What we do know is that The American Motorcycle Association claims the opposite; namely that it enhances motorcycle safety: “A motorcycle’s narrow width can allow it to pass between lanes of stopped or slow-moving cars on roadways where the lanes are wide enough to offer an adequate gap. This option can provide an escape route for motorcyclists who would otherwise be trapped or struck from behind. There is evidence (Hurt, 1981) that traveling between lanes of stopped or slow-moving cars (i.e., lane splitting) on multiple-lane roads (such as interstate highways) slightly reduces crash frequency compared with staying within the lane and moving with other traffic.”

I have always done it and will always keep doing it, I feel safe doing it and if the merde hits the fan, I am glad to have an escape route. But what do you think? Level a comment below, but, as they say on advrider: Feel free to disagree, to debate, but do not insult someone you disagree with.

Please, let us know what you think!