Category Archives: General

With the risk of sounding like someone’s mother I want to point out a few things you should keep an eye on before you hit the road again on your steel horse. The one thing we all would like to do is just mount it and pull open the throttle but here are a few things to keep an eye on. Best practices for riding motorcycles:

It feels like more and more people are driving their car while on the phone and perhaps even navigating the street from their GPS. This leads to decreased attention to the road and therefore to us; the impuissant motorcyclist.

Of course, there are plenty of motorcycle accidents caused by the rider, but the vast majority are caused by the actions of distracted car drivers. This can lead to serious injury or even death for the far more vulnerable motorcycle rider.

No matter whether you are new or old to the world of motorcycles: it is important that you stay vigilant. You need to practice defensive riding in order to ensure your own safety and security while on the move. Here are a the 5 best practices for riding a motorcycle that will help you to make it through summer unscratched.

Don’t get between a vehicle and an offramp

This may seem obvious, but many riders get into trouble by a driver who decides to exit at the last minute on a highway offramp. Passing on the right is a bad idea, but it is especially risky if you position yourself between a vehicle and an offramp.

Watch drivers’ heads

Most drivers will not lunge suddenly either left or right without first moving their heads in some direction, even if they don’t check their mirrors. Stay observant through the windows and mirrors of other vehicles for the head movements of the drivers. This way you may be able to predict their next move. You can see if they have noticed you and your motorcycle, or realize whether they are distracted on their phone, or about to make a sudden swerve into an offramp.

Running interference

It’s good practice to let larger vehicles run interference for you when you are crossing intersections. This simply means keeping a larger vehicle beside you as you cross, effectively shielding you if someone were to come flying through the red light. It’s for this same reason that you should never take off immediately as the light turns green, but rather try to be patient and have bigger vehicles provide a bit of coverage.

Be alert!

Another one of the 5 best practices for riding motorcycles to be ready for sudden changes in speed, either slowing down or speeding up. The ability to react quickly can save your life. Especially in traffic, can mean the difference between a serious accident and a close call when someone decides to merge suddenly into your lane. You should also keep your brakes covered and ready for action. This means a toe close to the rear brake pedal and a finger or two on the brake lever. But in some cases, you might want to speed up quickly in order to avoid an accident. Which means riding in a lower gear, so your bike is ready to accelerate rapidly if needed.

Be visible

Most accidents involving motorcycles are due to the fact that the other driver simply didn’t see them. This is why it is important to make sure you are noticed. You can improve your visibility to drivers and pedestrians by using your high beams during the day. Just make sure to turn it off when sitting behind someone in traffic. Brightly colored gear also helps, especially the color of your jacket or helmet.

That is it, the 5 best practices for riding motorcycles without getting into trouble. Riding is a great way to enjoy the freedom of the road and by keeping these 5 best practices for riding motorcycles in mind, you can help ensure that you will continue to enjoy it for many years to come. Make sure to check out this cool video by Greg, he uses Scenic to discover Japan!

This is an adaptation of an article that appeared on the fnlawfirm.com website in January 2018.

Last month Norton Motorcycles was put into administration, which is more or less equivalent to US Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Norton has millions of British Pound debt amongst which around £300k of unpaid taxes.

As the administration is progressing, yesterday, the Guardian posted an article stating that the British parliament has asked to investigate the government’s funding of Norton Motorcycles and has accused officials of “blindly pouring” millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money into the motorbike firm before it went bust.

In summary, Norton received millions of pounds in loans and grants from the British Government and associated organisations. On top of that some government officials publicly endorsed the company.

Stuart Garner, a British entrepreneur, ‘saved’ Norton in 2008 from US hands, which at that time had stopped manufacturing motorcycles all together. He did this with the intention to restore this piece of British history (founded in 1898, yes… this is not a typo) to former glory, so he claimed.

If you’re interested in the details please see the Guardian Article. What I want to do here is offer some perspective and room for discussion.

The role of the government

First, let’s talk about the role of the government: So yes, it’s true that they pumped millions into Norton over the years. The Guardian article depicts this as blind mistakes, not having done enough research in the viability of the company. Even if that’s true, the real question is why, isn’t it? Please allow me to offer some potential answers to that question:

• Government officials saw a British icon company in trouble and wanted to help save this piece of British history. This wouldn’t be the first time a government does this. For example, Dutch government also helped iconic Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker in the late 90’s.
• There was an ‘agreement’ between Stuart Gardner and some of the involved government officials.
• A combination of the above.

The role of Stuart Garner

Stuart Garner is an interesting man to say the least. Before Norton he was already a successful entrepreneur owning Britains most successful pyrotechnics company. Here’s a 2015 interview with Garner, which took place in the 2012 purchased Norton’s headquarters “Donington Hall”.

In the Guardian article the role of Stuart Garner is questioned. It depicts him somewhat as a villain, who shoved too much money his own way in stead of trying to rescue the company. There’s talk of Norton lending £160k to Garner personally and £325k to another company of Garner. And there are some questions about Norton’s luxury car collection worth £800k and, most significantly, there is an open question about the £14 million fraude with the pension fund, who Garner claims he was also a victim of.

So the question arrises… were Garner’s intentions true in trying to save the motorcycle company in 2008, or was it all a farce from the beginning? Or, did he really try and after a while decide it was a waste of time and money, cutting his ‘losses’? Or, did he really try until the end to make it work?

The only one who truly knows the answer to those questions is Garner himself of course… and unless you have the opportunity to talk to him directly, the only thing you can form an opinion on is press articles. My personal opinion WAS: Garner tried to make it work, but eventually saw it was an uphill battle. And then it becomes a question of moral… how far should he go to try and make it work? Did he already know it was a lost battle before accepting government loans and grants, or did he accept the loans and grants hoping it would pull Norton through?

I’m saying WAS above, because after writing this article news came to light where Garner did not show up for a hearing regarding the claims laid against him in relation to the Pension Fund: Garner doesn’t show up at pension fund hearing. This sure calls Garner’s intentions and ethics in question. Maybe he was not interested in saving Norton after all, and just saw it as a ‘vehicle’ to enrich himself.

Whatever the case may be and regardless of what the investigations conclude, it is a true shame that a 122 year old iconic brand has to come to an end like this.

A long time in the making, a dream of mine has finally come true. Scenic in 30 seconds. An awesome video, made by https://www.youtube.com/user/baikudokan1. Thank you Greg!!!

I noticed that some of us worry about fuel consumption. Although I love riding in sport mode I am sometimes shocked by how long (or short) my gas lasts. Before the riding season takes off, here are some things you can do to manage how much gas your bike uses.

What can we do to save petrol? I will give you 5 ways to improve your motorcycle fuel economy:

Firstly, it would be a good idea to service your bike before riding it because the number one reason for unnecessarily high fuel consumption is a dirty air filter. Pay special attention to that. With normal use you should change your filter after 20 thousand miles (+/-30k km) but if you hit the occasional dusty dirt road you might want to change it more often.

Also, try to take it easy on the gas. I know, that isn’t easy on a sportbike and you might have no intention to ever do so, but still. It is an option. Multiple short trips take much more gas than the same distance in one single trip, this is due to the engine heating up which costs a lot of energy.

Weight. Not only the cargo you carry but also your own weight makes a difference to fuel economy, so if you’re heavy on the scales yourself be aware that has an effect too. Winter is over, and the six pack can lose some of its insulation.

High grade fuel might cost a bit more but might actually save you a penny and therefore help you improve your motorcycle fuel economy. Something many people forget is that it isn’t smart to overfill your tank. If you try to get too much fuel into your tank it can cause issues. Gas needs to expand in your tank, and if you don’t leave room for that expansion then your fuel economy will suffer.

Tire Pressure

Make sure your tires are filled to the correct pressure. When the air pressure gets low, the area your tires cover will be larger, which increases drag and makes for poorer fuel economy. Filling the tires too much, on the other hand, will give you a rough ride and result in much faster tire wear. Remember that when the temperature changes tire pressures too will change, so check your tire pressure regularly.

Talking about tire pressure, the MIR team bought 3 TPMSs and will be testing them over the next couple months. Before the season really takes we will post the results right here. Last year Guido wrote about it in this article

Read more in this article by motorbikewriter.

As winter approaches and your fall riding has dwindled down it is time to think about winterizing your motorcycle, ATV or powersport vehicle. Winterizing a powersport vehicle isn’t an intensive procedure like winterizing an RV and can generally be accomplished within 30 mins of spare time. When it comes to winterizing your motorcycle or ATV there are two thing that typically need your attention. They are the battery and fuel that is currently in your tank.

First, when it comes to the battery there are a few misconceptions that people are told and they will do more harm than good. We will try to clear up a couple in this post. In general, the battery needs to be maintained by a smart charger meant for motorcycle or ATV batteries. 

The first misconception we would like to clear up is that disconnecting the battery will ensure it is ready to go the next season. A simple fact is that the majority of powersport applications have sealed lead acid batteries in them and these types of batteries have a natural discharge rate of about 5%. Discharge rates are exponential and differ drastically depending on the temperature they are stored. While this might work the first time, it will most likely affect the life expectancy of the battery and chances are it won’t work the second time.

The second misconception is that you can start your motorcycle and let it idle while the charging system tops off the battery. I hate to break it to you, but unless you willing to grab your winter riding gear and take it for a ride you are doing more harm than good. The simple fact is that most powersport charging systems are stator based, so at idle they only work as a power supply to keep the vehicle going. Charging typically happens at cruise RPM’s, so the only way your going to charge the battery is by taking it for a ride for 15 to 30 mins. Otherwise, all you are doing is discharging the battery every time you start the vehicle, which is exactly the opposite of what you are wanting to do. 

We recommend that you use a quality charger / maintainers such as Battery Tender by Deltran, PulseTech, BatteryMINDer or a similar product found by reputable battery charger dealers like BatteryStuff.com. A quality battery tender has built in safety features that were made to alleviate a lot of customer concerns. One major concern is that everybody knows a battery will fail at one point, so they worry that the charger will keep trying to charge a bad battery. A quality charger that is sold by companies like BatteryStuff.com includes safety features that prevent this from occurring. This cannot be said of the $20 battery charger hanging in big box store like Walmart. 

If you store your Motorcycle or ATV in location that doesn’t have AC power, then you are open to couple of options. You can uninstall the battery and put it on a smart charger in your garage or basement, or you can solar charge the battery. Solar charging works if your location is exposed to good sunlight conditions most of the day. A simple low watt solar charging kit in the 3- to 7-watt range is all you would need to keep the battery topped off. These smaller solar charging kits will output approximately 1 to 2.7 amps a day. This should counteract any parasitic draw of most powersport vehicles and keep you ahead of the natural discharge rate.

The only other item to think about regarding the battery is if you are one of the few with a flooded motorcycle battery. These types of batteries will typically need a little distilled water added to them before putting it on a charger for extended amounts of time. Ideally, you should check the water level on these types of batteries at least three times a year. We typically recommend topping the battery off at the beginning of the season, checking the battery mid-riding-season and finally topping off the battery when you put the bike away during the fall or winter months.

Last, and probably one of the easiest topics to discuss, is the fuel. Most people know that you either need to drain the vehicle of fuel, or even more simply add a fuel stabilizer. Since we know that everybody has a favorite fuel stabilizer, we won’t cover brands other than what we like: PRI-G. It is a concentrated fuel treatment that both stabilizes the fuel and has detergents to clean the fuel lines and injectors. Once you add the fuel stabilizer to your fuel tank, be sure to run it for a little while to ensure that it get into the fuel lines.

Doing these few steps can save you a lot of headaches come spring! A well-maintained battery will last 3 to 5 years, and even longer with a good desulfating charger.  A fuel stabilizer added in the fall will save you a trip to the mechanic in the spring. Forgetting either of these could cost you a lot of money and time or even worst…the first good riding day of Spring! 

Hate it or love it but sidecars are really something to consider when you are traveling long distance on a motorcycle. Or when you want to bring your dog along and look super cool. Besides the fact that it is totally different to ride with a drifter connected to your bike, it also matters whether you go for a metal or fiberglass construction. Read more about that here.

One of the most famous drifter manufacturers is located in Irbit, Russia, home of Irbitskiy Mototsikletniy Zavod, which literally translates into ‘Irbit Motorcycle Factory’, IMZ is a Russian maker of heavy sidecar motorcycles. We know it as the Ural factory and they have a presence in Redmond, WA. Check them our here.

Also in the state of Washington, in Buckly, you find DMC Sidecars and Motorcycle Accessories. DMC has created their Cargo Sidecar which allows for more than 14 cubic feet (over 28 liters) of storage space and looks pretty cool if you are into these things.

Have a look and please let me know what you think, is this just a fad or are they really making a comeback?