Track Days At P.I.R and O.R.P.

So you’re interested in doing a trackday at Portland International Raceway and Oregon Raceway Park?It’s a great way to test your bike and improve your skills, and there are several organizations in the Portland metro area that work with PIR and ORP to provide trackdays. Each organization has their own rules, requirements and fees, so I’ve listed them below for your convenience. Suffice it to say that for roughly 200 bucks, you will experience an exhausting day of excitement, skills improvement and incredible fun!

        Read more... (115 words, 3 images, estimated 28 secs reading time)

Sounding almost disappointed she says “I guess this is the one.”

“Why that one and not the other?” I ask.

“The other one is just too flashy and girly.”

“But you are a girl!”

“Yeah but I don’t need to advertise that to everyone!  Plus it’s just too…pink!”

“Ok.  Well that is a nice jacket even if it’s a bit plain.  It looks to be well constructed, has good venting and protective elements.  I think either are a great choice.”

Looking at the jacket again she says “Yeah, I just wish it had a little something to it.”

        Read more... (1157 words, 13 images, estimated 4:38 mins reading time)

I’ve been interested in finding some good headphones for use on my motorcycle for a while now, but have found there are just so many options out there that it’s often hard to determine what to purchase.  Furthermore, the fit of the earbud style headphones is so critical to good sound quality, that what might be awesome for one person will sound like crap to another person.  That’s why I’ve decided to do this earbud shootout, so that I can directly compare several sets of earbuds against each other and determine what would work best for my needs.  Those needs are specifically:  Sound Isolation, ability to retain sound quality at higher volumes, and a good fit and function inside a motorcycle helmet.  Finally, since these headphones are going to see lots of use and abuse going in and out of my ears, and in and out of pockets a lot, there is a high probability of wire damage over time.  Due to this likelihood I also evaluated projected durability, and kept all headphone prices around $50 purchase price so that they could be economically replaced in the future.

        Read more... (2989 words, 18 images, estimated 11:57 mins reading time)

So you want to learn to ride a motorcycle…

Maybe you’ve just finished one of the books on the topic of rising oil and gas prices and think it’s time to look into a more economical means of transportation.  Perhaps you’ve just finished watching Mad Max The Road Warrior on Blu-ray and figure you’ll have the best chance for apocolyptic survival if you can ride a Kawasaki Z1000 (But please don’t lock the rear brake at high speed mmmkay)?  Perhaps, like me, you have gotten hooked on the idea by a great documentary series like: Long Way Round. Or maybe for any of a number of reasons you’ve decided you’re ready!  You yearn to experience the freedom of travel, the excitement of speed, and the bonds of friendship that motorcycling can bring:

        Read more... (497 words, 7 images, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)