Autonomous Motorcycles?

If you've read many of my blog posts, you'd remember that I'm usually a fairly big fan of technology enhancements in motorcycles. I just read this article which details the oncoming increase of electronic sensors on motorcycles. One statement in the first paragraph jumped out to me as alarming. It is, "The primary goal of the automotive industry is an autonomous motorcycle electronically driven by the onboard computers."

Previously I've mentioned that autonomous cars could be a huge benefit for motorcyclists' safety as it would take the chance of other motorists hitting them out of the equation. However, to me, an autonomous motorcycle defeats the purpose. This would make you a passenger in your own motorcycle! What would be the point of having a motorcycle if it operated by itself? Now I can relate to the car guys who vehemently object to autonomous cars.

If I step back and look at it from someone who enjoys being a passenger on a motorcycle (my wife for example), I can see the benefit of enjoying motorcycling without needing someone to ride with. But then again, how are us biker guys supposed to pick up chicks if they don't need us operating the motorcycle?!!! Nope, I'm definitely not a fan of the idea of autonomous motorcycles!

"As machines become more and more efficient and perfect, so it will become clear that imperfection is the greatness of man." - Ernst Fischer

Sturgis and Bad Tattoos

 

It's the beginning of August. Bikers know that probably the most famous motorcycle rally happens now. It's the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota. A relatively small town gets an influx of hundreds of thousands of people for this rally, not to mention all of the surrounding areas. I've been there twice and it's quite the experience. I'd recommend that everyone into motorcycles should see it at least once.

 

My dad is there as I write this and he's probably been there at least 20 of the last 25 years. I went for a short ride with him the day before he left. While we were riding I came to the realization that it had been 24 years since the first time I went to Sturgis. My dad took me there when I was a kid. The funny/scary thing is that my dad is 24 years older than me, which means that I'm the same age he was when we made that trip. I remember thinking my dad was pretty old back then, which definitely makes me feel old now.

 

Before you start judging my dad for bringing a kid to a crazy motorcycle rally, you need to realize that these types of events are whatever you make them. They can be a place for wild debauchery, or just a place with some great riding and scenery that you can enjoy along with thousands of other riders. Also, my friend and his dad came along with their van, so I didn't have to ride on the back of my dad's bike for the entire trip. I'd switch back and forth from the van to the motorcycle.

 

You also have to realize that I was already obsessed with motorcycles at this point and I got to see thousands of them. This was a slice of heaven to me back then. I also saw Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument, which are national treasures. I'll forever remember sharing this experience with my dad.

 

I returned to Sturgis years later, when I participated in more of the party side of the event, which was definitely fun. I even got my first tattoo, which said Sturgis above some tribal design. Regrettable? A little, but it's a permanent reminder of the great trip I had. I think people should cherish even their bad tattoos, with some obvious exceptions.

 

"Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them." - Bob Dylan



Read the Manual

 

Your bike has broken down or you've decided to buy a basket case that needs a lot of work. What do you do now? You could take it to a professional, but let's focus on people who are going to do it themselves. First thing you should do is buy or find a service manual. I recently had a conversation with an experienced motorcycle mechanic. He received a call from a guy who was attempting to repair his own bike and had failed miserably. My friend's first question was whether this person had a manual to work from. The answer was no. My friend stated that he still used a manual for reference on bikes he's repaired dozens of times, just to make sure that he wasn't missing something.

 

Where do you find a manual? Online is a good place to start. I've found downloadable PDF versions of service manuals for free on some motorcycle forums or websites. If you can't find anything free, Amazon has a large selection of manuals to purchase. Also, I've found some hardcover Haynes service manuals at farm and fleet stores. Finally, your last resort could be to ask a dealership to order you a factory service manual, but this would be the most expensive option.

 

Many people like to think that they are mechanically inclined and that they can fix anything, manual or not. This might be true for some, however it would be nearly impossible to know the proper torque on every specific fastener, or the proper order to disassemble components without some reference. Using a manual will save tons of time (and possibly money) in the long run.

 

Hobbes: "Shouldn't we read the instructions?" Calvin: "Do I LOOK like a sissy?" - Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson



Family and Motorcycles

I didn't make a blog post last week. Some personal stuff happened and my life spiraled into a bit of chaos. Don't worry, no one is dying. This is more or less just some issues that tend to happen when you're a homeowner. Something was outdated and I was dragging my feet in fixing it. This came back to bite me. I follow psychology professor Jordan Peterson who has a great metaphor for instances like this. He says you need to slay your dragons while they're small instead of letting them grow into unmanageable problems. I had an issue and I failed to address it quickly enough. This is my fault and I need to use this as a life lesson.

 

Okay...back to more positive motorcycle stuff! I did buy a motorcycle for my kids. It is a 1999 Honda XR 70R. It is a little big for them now, but it was a deal that I couldn't pass up. I have been giving them little rides around the yard on it and teaching them about the throttle and brakes. I've also been trying to instill in them the proper respect for the inherent danger that there is when riding. My wife is also having a blast riding it as it's the first motorcycle she's ever operated on her own.

 

This interaction with my family is really helping me through this stressful time in my life. My advice to you if you find yourself in a similar situation is to focus on things that bring a smile to your face. Those are family and motorcycles for me.

 

"If something's nagging at you, just a bit, it's probably better to deal with it before it's a full fledged dragon." - Jordan B. Peterson

A Quick Adventure

 

Last week I had time off from work. The funny thing was that between get togethers, trips out of town, and projects at home I had very little "free" time. It was the first time in the history of this blog that I didn't upload a brand new weekly post. I barely had any time to go riding, but I was able to go for a couple hours on Thursday evening. It was quite an eventful 85 miles.

 

We (my wife and I) departed at 5:30 pm. I had been out in the sun working on our deck and sweating like mad, so I decided to forgo the riding jacket and just wear a t-shirt and jeans (it was 85 degrees and humid). We arrived at our friend's house and he and another friend joined us. I decided to ride my favorite twisty roads since I haven't done much riding except the daily commutes.

 

As we arrived on our first bit of curves, we came upon a bunch of traffic. Damn! With the road being twisty there was barely any good places to pass. Needless to say, this was a disappointment. As we approached a local state park, we realized that the cars were all going there. The rest of the stretch was plenty of fun as we were able to drag our knees on the rest of the corners.

 

Then, as we reached our first intersection, we noticed more traffic. We waited for what seemed like 5 minutes for an opening to get on to the next leg of our ride. Damn tourists! I, however, knew we could avoid traffic where we were headed as it was a little traveled backroad. This backroad may be my favorite in the area since it is filled with beautiful scenery and switchback curves. I breathed a sigh of relief as I noticed barely any other vehicles on this stretch.

 

However, about 8 miles in to this 12 mile road I started noticing rocks on every corner. At first, I was easily able to pick a line that avoided them, but as we went on the rocks became more abundant. This made us decrease our cornering speed considerably, which actually turned out to be a good thing. At the end of one of the corners a deer was standing in the center of our lane. None of us came close to hitting it, but it did make us grateful for our reduced speed.

 

This is where we began to make our way back home. We had put on about 45 miles and I knew we had to get back since my mom was watching our kids and had to work in the morning. As we began riding toward home on the main highway (country highway not a freeway) I noticed a rabbit racing across the road. As I rode closer I noticed something black chasing it. It was a fisher. If you don't know, a fisher is like a large weasel and is about as viscous of an animal as you can come across. As I veered to the right side of the lane to avoid it, the fisher reversed direction and nearly ran in to my rear wheel. Thankfully it missed and everyone was ok.

 

Finally, as we were making our home stretch, I marveled at the eventful ride that we had. Just then, extremely dark clouds rolled in and a downpour began. There were gravel sized raindrops that left red welts on my bare arms (another instance of it being dumb to not wear proper riding gear). I grit my teeth and clenched my handgrips as I rode the last couple of miles. My first thought as I finally parked in my garage was that I would definitely have to write about this ride.

 

"Adventure is worthwhile." - Aesop

Loud Pipes Save Lives?

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Loud pipes save lives. You've surely read this a thousand times on t-shirts, stickers, hats, and even tattoos. If you didn't know, this mantra demonstrates the idea that having a noisy exhaust will alert other motor vehicles of your presence, which will prevent accidents. My opinion is that this is mostly untrue. I know that this will be viewed as blasphemy to many bikers reading this and I may have had the same view in the past, but it has been shown that bright reflective clothing, good headlights, and an effective horn are greater deterrents for traffic accidents than loud pipes.

 

The thing about exhaust sound is that it's largely heard behind the motorcycle and you would much rather alert vehicles in front of you to your presence. I know motorcycles have been rear ended, but that makes up a tiny percentage of multi-vehicle motorcycle accidents. If your truly worried about saving lives, loud pipes should be near the bottom of the list of your concerns.

 

Now that the lecture is out of the way, I'd like to point out that I still like loud pipes! How about we say, "loud pipes kick ass?" The patch below is also one of my favorite when it comes to showing love for loud pipes. Let's just admit that we have a loud exhaust because we think that it's cool. At least that'd be honest!

 

 

 

"You got loud pipes, but you ain't sayin nothing!" - Junior in the motion picture Torque

Crash News

 

I believe I've written about this before, but I think it needs to be addressed again. On occasion, I'll Google search motorcycle to find inspiration for subjects to write about. Sometimes I'll click the news tab to see if anything cool is happening or if there's a new technology in the motorcycle industry. Today, of the 30 articles that I browsed, 26 of them were about motorcycle crashes. That just about ruined my day.

 

A saying that I've heard from multiple people criticizing news outlets is, "if it bleeds, it leads." I'm afraid that this statement is abundantly true when it comes to motorcycles. I understand that an online article's main purpose is to generate internet traffic, but quite a few of these reports were fairly gruesome and left me sick to my stomach.

 

There is a part of me that sees these stories as necessary. They're showing us riders that we need to place safety as one of our highest priorities. However, I really hate how this places motorcycling in such a negative light. An adult, who has never ridden a motorcycle, would probably never even dream of touching one after reading a couple of these articles.

 

For those of us that love motorcycles, all we can do is not let these type of articles discourage us. Don't let bad press ruin your fun, but please stay safe!

 

"The Press, Watson, is a most valuable institution, if you only know how to use it." - Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Six Napoleons / The Adventure of the Crooked Man