Category Archives: The Machine

The Machine

Inspecting lighting

Once we realized how important it was to be inspecting our  bikes and vehicles in order to pay  attention to what it was telling us, we made up a little routine of things to look at before going for a ride.
 Checking over the lighting is one of them. It’s important to make sure  turn signals, brake and headlights are all working before  starting to interact with traffic. So check all your lighting to make sure all’s good.  If you have a burnt bulb your owners and service manual will have a part number listed for replacement.  Using the shop manual is what makes self-maintaining your machines possible.  Change any bulbs that are burnt out. You might find that your brake light is not working but your bulb is good.  If thats the case, the next place to check is the brake switches. The front brake switch is in the handlebar controls (on a motorcycle) and the rear is a switch wired into the rear brake line. Eliminate which is not working, front or rear brake switch and re-place the switch.
The part number for your model will be listed in your parts book. If you don’t have a parts book the salesman at the parts counter can hook you up if you have your model and year handy.  If you have a horn on your bike you might as well take advantage of it and make sure it’s working. It’s nice to have the option to blast a warning to one of those idiots creeping out of a drive-way that for sure doesn’t see you, go ahead and blast the horn to give them a heads up  your out there. The horn works well for that.  It takes just a few seconds to make sure all the lighting on your bike/vechicle is working properly, so be sure to take the time to do it. 
The Machine

Killer New Seats From Mustang

Mustang Motorcycle Seats has been listening to you guys and are proud to be bringing you a whole new line-up of motorcycle seats, of course like always staying focused on rider and passenger comfort. At the 10th annual V-Twin Expo Al Simmons took some time to get all of us up-to-date with Mustangs new arsenal of  motorcycle seats.

The Machine

Be Aware of what your using to Maintain your toys in the Garage!

Cleaning and polishing is part of owning a motorcycle or any vehicle in your Garage and you need to be aware of what your using on these vehicles.  Hey look,  you wouldn’t hop in the shower with a bottle of “Comet” to wash yourself would you?   The days of grabbing a bucket and dish detergent to wash your vehicles are so over, choose carefully what you’ll wash your toys with. There are many products out there that will actually do more damage than good.   During the V-Twin Expo we were lucky enough to spend a few minutes with Amy From Wizards. Amy took some time to  explain to us why Wizards products is safe to use and delivers the end result like no other cleaning product can.

The Machine

Snow Tires

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With the weather forecast dumping more and more snow on most of us, we had a few emails about getting around better in these winter conditions. The first question we asked was “do you have snow tires?”  To our surprise many of you don’t.  We figured a quick run down of what snow tires are and the difference between them and all season or summer tires would be a great place to start! 
Snow tires (also known as winter tires) have tread patterns specifically designed to dig down and bite into snow and ice, plus they are made from softer rubber compounds that retain their flexibility in cold weather, allowing the tire to better conform to the surface of the road. (Regular tires tend to get hard and brittle in cold temperatures.) As a result, winter tires keep a better grip on snowy and icy surfaces than regular all-season or summer tires. Grip is critical — not just to avoid getting stuck, but to ensure that the car can stop and steer.
All-season (also known as all-weather) tires are designed to cope with all sorts of conditions, including dry roads and rain, but are not optimized for any one condition. They are generally made from harder materials that don’t conform to the road surface as well in low temperatures. 
We suggest buying an extra set of wheels for your snow tires, that way it’s  much easier to swap out snow tires for your summer tires, you just have to swap the wheels out vs. take the wheels off, dismounting the tire, remounting the different tire on the wheel and mounting back on the vehicle.  So much more labor involved that way, having another set of wheels will save you money. 
 Think of your vehicle as yourself, (body and machine) meaning you don’t wear flip flops or sneakers to go out in the snow, so why let your vehicle? 
The Machine

When it Snows, Get the Hell out there and Play!

Ok, not sure about the rest of you guys, but were getting another 10″ of snow on top of the 26″ we got over the weekend. Guess that means it’s time to get outside and play! If you have a snow machine now is the time to bust ’em out! Just don’t go as “sick” as these guys go! (and wear your protective gear!)

The Machine

BikeReader

So you gotta check out our Good Bud Scout’s page, Bikereader.  It’s full of images and words of what is exactly going on in our riding world today.. You ever get the feeling that  even though cuz you ride you really don’t fit or can be identified as a biker?  Well Scout’s got that figured out and gives you a little taste of how we as enthusiasts belong to a far more deeper identity than just “biker” 

From Bikereader….”What is this new scene that is comprised of a somewhat younger breed of rider on modified cruisers rippin’ our streets? Well, it’s not a “biker” scene. The contemporary biker image is different that what is seen in this new scene. Though the roots overlap in ways, the new scene feels like a reaction to the macho, tough-guy, simple biker image. There are several types of bikers these days as I see it, and this new phenomenon doesn’t seem to apply to any of these current biker factions in my OPINION. The biker image has blown into something that it originally wasn’t. The label has been hijacked into a meaning that is soft, superficial and commercial. This younger scene seems to have qualities compared to what can be found in the dawn of the current American biker icon.
This new motorcycler is less of what bikers are now, and more of what bikers were in their beginnings. From the vocal SoCal period-correct vintage purists, to the open-minded Limpnickie collective around the country, to the Chicago area hardcore riders, to the art/chopper mix in the East Coast, to the performance-inspired younger guys that sort of sprouted from the Big Twin aftermarket, to the isolated skaters on club-inspired later models, to the anything-goes unapolegetic youth Horse magazine subscribers on their first chop, to the Quad Cam Bastards who are proving Sporsters aren’t girly bikes, to the street tracker guys who got ideas from Dave and Dustin… When somebody dubs them a biker it doesn’t seem to make sense. The wrong image comes up.