December 10, 2009
Motorcycle Touring Made Easy
....the eZine
....inside this issue
- Welcome to the Motorcycle Touring Made Easy eZine
- Knowing the Basics - General Motorcycling
- Happy Holidays to Everyone
We encourage you to email our eZine to your friends.
Welcome to the Motorcycle Touring Made Easy eZine
Our goal with our website is to provide motorcycle touring information to others that would like to get involved or know more about motorcycle touring. We've spent the last two years gathering information and getting it together on the site and now with our eZine we're looking to bring you more and up to date information directly to you. Feel free to forward this eZine on to all your friends and if someone has sent this to you, please go to our home page and subscribe to get your own monthly copy. Just fill out the form and your there!Back to the top
Knowing the Basics - General Motorcycling
It's December and What About Traction?
Well frankly in most places it hibernates for the winter and include freezing rain and black ice take over. And it takes over for all vehicles, not just the bikes. So for the most part I would recommend not going out in those conditions. Mind you, I'll ride in the cold, but when there is ice or snow on the roads, it's time to think otherwise. It makes no sense going out in conditions that would make dumping your bike an almost certainty.
So what happens if you get caught in it? Well then you need to take some precautions. Try to stay away from ice and hard packed snow. Loose snow will provide a bit more stability. Depending on your bike and its configuration and where you are riding, ride with your feet down or even on the ground for additional stability. GO SLOW!! No GO VERY SLOW!!!!!
Slow to a crawl through turns and give yourself plenty of room to stop. Flashers are also a good idea since others may have windshields that are fogged over or worse yet, covered in snow and ice. (Don't you love those people?) Keep your head on a swivel so that you can see a problem beginning to happen before it’s too late.
If for whatever crazy reason you have to drive your bike in the winter, make sure you understand your bike and how it reacts in the snow. If need be, go to an empty parking lot and ride around a bit. Get use to the acceleration (or lack thereof), understand what the braking does to the bike. See how it responds to turning input.
The one thing that you can do over anything else while riding in winter is USE COMMON SENSE! Stay off the roads, there's nothing like a cup of hot chocolate and a fire to warm up to.
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Happy Holidays to Everyone
This month we are keeping things short. Judy and I have enjoyed this first year of putting together our eZine and have enjoyed all of your inputs to our site and articles.Next year looks to be real interesting with some of the new bikes that are coming out. We've been looking at BRP's Can Am Spyder RT which seems to have some interesting possibilities in the touring market.
So we want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanzaa and all other holidays that may be celebrated during this festive time. Be safe, enjoy your family and we'll all get ready for the New Year.
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If you have any information you'ld like to discuss, we have our new forum up and need YOUR input to get some great and current discussions going. Plus a new area to post "For Sale" items. See our Forum Here
Judy and I hope that you've enjoyed our eZine and if so, please send it on to your friends. If you have any tips that you would like to see posted on our site go to our tips page. We'll get them on our site and maybe use it in our eZine as well.
Also feel free to Contact Us with any questions or suggestions.
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