Predictably a Blog RSS

Question... “When you finish a long adventure ride, have you experienced strong emotions that you hadn’t planned on? If so, what were they and why?” -- Michael Boton (from the LinkedIn online forum 'motorcycle journalists') Many years ago, at age...

Our first product was the ‘Roadcrafter’, an armored coverall which has been produced, updated and improved continuously for thirty-six years. We’ve never felt the need to restyle it. Depending on how much one rides, and if they sit behind a...

A few weeks ago, I drained the fuel tanks and float bowls of my two long-ridden old (BMW) airheads, washed and waxed both, aired up their tires, and then put them away inside the basement, not the garage. Also pulled...

Getting Started: Notes On One’s First Bike Trip Packing your crap... The first few days of travel and dealing with the straps, soft duffels and bags will teach you if your setup is good for you. The idea is to have things secure, semi-easy to...

Is there a Perfect Combo for the TAT? DarienLight Jacket & AD1 Light Pant Review By Luke Boldman, Founder / President of Wild Road Early in fall 2017, my wife (she’s a keeper) suggested we both ride the TAT (Trans-America Trail)...

If it can happen, it will (usually)... 1. The farther it is to the next gas stop, the larger the bug that will hit your shield exactly on the sight line. These may help... Cycle Wipes Effective, specially formulated wet wipes...

"The Older I Get, the Faster I Wuz..." Back in the day when 'Smokey and the Bandit' was in first-run theatrical release, Fuzzbuster (cheap) and Escort (expensive) radar detectors were still pretty new stuff. Lots of drivers had them and...

The Ultimate Poach Camping App. Motorcycle vagabonding in the United States usually involves some camping, occasional couch surfing and a few cheap motels. The camping stuff divides between authorized and unauthorized campsites. Unauthorized means poach-camping. Stealth camping. Finding someplace to...

Riding road trips range from a simple out-and-back overnights to meandering multi-year globe-girdling vagabonding experiences. But for most who are reading this a typical summer road trip will involve crossing several states and riding thru deserts or mountains or to...

Riding from Pickerington, Ohio to Duluth, Minnesota. Between 2000 and 2007 I rode from Minnesota to Ohio and back several times a year, always aboard a 1981 BMW 800. These were wonderful bikes with famously weak electrical charging systems. My...

Back in 2009 I had two flats, both at highway speeds and both due to using dry-rotted innertubes. Luckily no crash resulted. All because of my own negligence and ignorance. Somewhere along the way I’d forgotten that one should always...

The last six or seven weeks have been unusually cold across most of the Midwest, and much of the rest of the USA too. It's been about six or seven degrees below seasonal norms here in Duluth, MN. Which doesn’t...

Nearly everywhere you’ll ever camp you’ll find all kinds of combustible hot-burning biomass. Sticks and twigs the size of your thumb and smaller. This stuff is way faster and easier to light and to cook with that you’d think, burns...

Our Irrational Attachments Many years ago I read a story in a British motorcycle magazine about a fellow who’d ridden the same bike for almost his entire life. A quintessential quirky Englishman. I liked this story so much that I...

Guest post by Kyle Allen Motorcycles ridden for everyday transportation was a normal part of my life growing up in the 70’s and 80’s. With high gas prices playing a factor, I have fond memories of both of my parents...

Today fellow employee, Randy, reluctantly gave up the keys to the company owned Zero for the weekend. After he gave an overview of the all-electric motorcycle I was perched on, I hopped off and let the thumping adrenaline in my...

There are essentially just two kinds of tank bags: The emptyish ones for varying day-to-day commuting loads and full-ish ones that have been loaded and equipped specifically for long distances and all-day-plus rides. Over the past thirty years I’ve assembled...

These photos are of some of the 105 competitors getting ready for the start of this 11,000 mile event. This event takes place every other year. Not sure we will be back to capture images of the riders returning from...

Rand Rassumusen, SEDALIA: A Primer Focused Mostly, but not Exclusively, on Riding and Camping in the Heat One-Hundred-and-ten degrees. Fahrenheit! That’s what the thermometer affixed to my windshield says. Of course, that’s in the direct sunlight; but then, so am...