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Did you know that more women are buying motorcycles for themselves? They aren’t taking over the market by any means, but according to the American Motorcyclist Association, 24,000 of their 265,000 registered members/riders are women. In addition, the Motorcycle Industry Council has determined that females are responsible for ten percent of the total number of motorcycle owners. I think we are seeing a trend here!
Statistics show that the average woman who purchases a motorcycle is in her mid-30s to early 40s, has a college education, and likely to advance in both their job and social position. Bike manufacturers are taking notice of this trend, and have started to design and sell motorcycles especially for women. Some of these include the Honda Nighthawk and Rebel, both 250 cc, the Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 Drifter, the Ninja, and ZZR600, the Harley Davidson XL1200 Custom, DynaGlide Low-rider, and Sportster, and the Suzuki Savage 650, Intruder 800, and Marauder 800.
Women are getting deeply involved in the motorcycle world, forming clubs and putting out small magazines to tell about the rallies and charity events they are planning. These women are raising money for such needy causes as children’s hospitals, breast cancer research, at these events. The popularity of these group events is rising, as the women can meet other female riders and recruit them into their clubs! Some women have even decided that since gasoline is reaching an all time high and threatening to go higher still, they will sell their cars and use their motorcycle exclusively.
There are options for those women who are a bit squeamish about buying a motorcycle either because they are afraid they would be unable to handle it, or think that they would be thought of as a stereotypical “motorcycle mama”, which isn’t their scene at all. They have settled for an electric scooter, feeling that they are safer and will still give them the “feel” of riding the open road - just at a slower speed! Of course, they cannot ride a scooter on the highways or freeways simply because of the speed limitations the machine have, only around 30 miles per hour. If their commute to work or route to go shopping does not include heavy traffic or either of these types of roads, they can certainly enjoy the riding freedom and money saving aspects of the electric scooter. Most scooters will get around 60 miles a gallon, which can add up to quite a savings over time.
Popularity: 3% [?]
One of the important things about selling a used motorcycle is the pricing. Many people overestimate the amount that their motorcycle is worth when preparing it for sale, and then wonder why no one is responding to their advertisement. Others cheat themselves out of at least a little profit by pricing their bike too low. It is only after the motorcycle sells very quickly that they realize that perhaps they could have asked for and received more money for their bike by choosing a more competitive price.
When buying a used motorcycle, you need to be aware of what a fair price for the make and model of bike you are looking at would be. It is easy to figure out when a motorcycle is priced almost ridiculously low. However, unless you are very much up to date in the motorcycle world, you are not going to know exactly how much a motorcycle is worth. It is always good to know this when looking to buy a bike, as it not only keeps you from paying too much but also give you some negotiation room.
The main factors that should be considered when setting the price of a used motorcycle are the age of the motorcycle, the make and model, the condition it is in, and its location. It also helps to have something that is “official” to go by. Luckily, those who buy and sell used motorcycles have a couple of references they can use which are practically considered the “bible” of buying and selling any kind of vehicle. These references are called the Kelley Blue Book and the National Automobile Dealer’s (NADA) Association Guide.
Most people who deal with vehicles have heard of the Kelley Blue Book, but many do not realize that it also lists motorcycles. It has been published for over 80 years. The prices listed in this book are the price you are likely to pay when buying or ask when selling a certain year, make or model of motorcycle. Many times the Blue Book price is less than what you will see listed in an advertisement. The reason for this is that the person selling the bike added a bit to the price in the hope of making a small profit.
The NADA Guide is also well known in certain circles. It also lists the prices for new and used motorcycles, but gives you more information than the Kelley Blue Book as to how the value of each kind of vehicle listed is figured.
Anyone who wants to make certain that they are getting a good deal on a new or used motorcycle would do well to consult both of these books to get an idea of pricing before you buy or sell. Taking the time to do this could save you some money!
Popularity: 100% [?]
Many people own and ride motorcycles without the protection of a motorcycle insurance policy. These same people would not dream of even backing their car out of the driveway without having insurance on it. There really isn’t a whole lot of difference in getting insurance for your car or your motorcycle. Even though some states do not require motorcycles to carry insurance, it is something that all bike owners should consider.
Some may try to argue that since their state doesn’t require motorcycle insurance, why should they spend the money needed to take out a policy? Simply put, motorcycle insurance can save you a lot of money if you should cause an accident with your bike. Let’s say you accidently hit someone’s Lexus, or ram into the side of somebody’s house. Who do you think would have to pay for the damage? Hint – it wouldn’t be the car or homeowner!
A basic liability motorcycle insurance policy will cover bodily injury and property damage. These two are easy to figure out. Bodily injury coverage will pay for any injuries to the other party if your negligence caused the accident. Most of the time, it will also pay for any legal fees if needed. Property damage will pay for whatever your motorcycle damaged.
The amount most insurance agents seem to recommend for property damage is $5000 and $10,000 for bodily injury because that is the minimum limit in a lot of states. But… think about it. In this day and age, $5000 for property damage wouldn’t go very far. Remember that Lexus you hit in our example above? Just one replacement tail light for this car is close to $200! If a little light costs this much, imagine what a fender or a bumper plus the labor would cost? The $10,000 for bodily injury more than likely wouldn’t be enough either. As you are probably aware, a hospital bill can add up to a large amount very quickly!
Here’s the rub. If the amount for either the property damage or bodily injury is more than the limit you are carrying on your policy, you are responsible for paying the difference. If you don’t have the money to pay up, the accident will go to court. This is when things can get sticky. If you own your home, own stock, have a savings account, real estate… anything of value, really – you can be forced to sell it in order to pay for the medical bills or damaged property.
The thing to do is not only have a basic motorcycle insurance policy, but when you take it out, speak with your insurance agent about raising the liability limits to a higher amount. Yes, it will raise your rate a little, but that is far preferable to having to pay out a huge sum of money in case of an accident!
While you’re at it, you might want to think about adding some extra coverage to your policy to protect yourself, too.
Have you heard of Uninsured Motorist Coverage? Since not everyone has insurance, what would you do if someone without any coverage was to hit you, and in the process, they damaged your bike and fractured your leg? Obviously, with no insurance, they would be unable to pay for your medical care and repairing your bike. If you had coverage for Uninsured Motorist on your policy, it would pay your doctor and hospital bills and take care of your property damage.
How about Guest Passenger Liability Coverage? If you sometimes have someone else ride on your motorcycle with you, this is a good choice. Your basic coverage will only pay for the medical treatment and property damage of the people in the other vehicle – not on your own. If one of your passengers should sustain an injury or rip an expensive leather motorcycle jacket, they would have to pay for everything themselves – or take you to court for the money. It’s much easier to add the Guest Passenger Liability Coverage to your policy. You just might save a beautiful friendship!
If someone were to steal your motorcycle out of your garage, or from the parking lot, you would be out a lot of money, wouldn’t you? Or, if your bike should become damaged in an accident that only you were involved in, the addition of Collision and Comprehensive Coverage would replace your bike with another one that is worth up to the book value of the damaged one. In the case of a stolen motorcycle, it would be replaced in the same way. What would you do for a motorcycle if someone should steal yours? True – with this particular type of coverage, you normally have to pay a deductible. This can affect your premium rate, but in the long run, most people find that this type of coverage does pay for itself.
This coverage is really more for convenience than anything else, but I think you will agree that it would be nice to know that you wouldn’t have to worry about these things any longer. Roadside Assistance and Towing Costs will pay for towing your motorcycle, jumping a dead battery, replacing a flat tire, or other assistance you might need when away from home on your bike.
Popularity: 30% [?]
If you’ve never thought about what the chances could be of your motorcycle becoming just another statistic in the fight against motorcycle theft, maybe you should. Do you own one of the top five most popular makes of stolen bikes? Here they are, in order:
- Suzuki
- Honda
- Yamaha
- Kawasaki
- Harley-Davidson
Statistics have shown that in just five years time, motorcycle theft has risen 137 percent. There are organized crime rings in most major cities that have discovered that stealing bikes is much easier than stealing cars, and a lot more profitable, too. All the thief must do is roll the bike into the back of his van that he has more than likely outfitted with a ramp to facilitate the ease and speed of this unlawful transfer.
It seems that the more popular motorcycle riding becomes, the more theft of these expensive machines is reported. Thieves see them as a way to make easy money, and do a brisk business selling bike parts as well as the motorcycles themselves.
Unfortunately, if your bike is stolen, the chances of you getting it back in one piece, or even getting it back at all are fairly slim unless you take the necessary precautions to protect your investment. Some of these are simply common sense, like making sure your bike is stored in a safe, concealed area, preferably locked, when you aren’t riding it, parking your bike in a well lit area when you are away from home, remembering to always take your keys out of the ignition, and err on the side of caution when it comes to who you allow to ride your bike.
Of course, most everyone who owns a motorcycle uses care in parking and storing it. Sometimes these common sense precautions aren’t enough. Many people lock their bikes and use kill switches or alarm systems. Thieves nowadays are pretty sophisticated, and can figure out most deterrents like these very quickly. If someone with even a little experience in thievery decides they want your bike, it’s pretty hard to figure out a way to stop them.
If you want to make sure that you will be able to get your bike back if it happens to be stolen, about the only thing you can rely on is what is known as a recovery system (like LoJack). These innovative solutions to motorcycle theft are not easily seen on your bike, as they are small enough to conceal quite easily. Thieves usually don’t even suspect when a bike is equipped with a recovery system.
These systems use radio frequency, which allows law enforcement to be able to track their location with much success no matter where it is located in the United States, Canada, and even Mexico. Since it is estimated that motorcycle thieves swipe someone’s bike every seven and a half minutes, you can see just how important it can be to protect your own bike at all costs.
Popularity: 35% [?]
Have you ever noticed how much information people who are looking to buy a new car have to refer to in order to help them make a decision? There is a wide range of television commercials, especially in the early Fall when we see them on both the local and cable channels. Then there are the two page color magazine ads in glorious color that seem to assault our senses at every turn. You also have automobile columns in the newspapers where one “expert” after another espouses the virtues of one make, model, and even color over another.
We motorcycle people don’t have the options that are so willingly made available to the automobile buying public, and I’ve always wondered why. A motorcycle is my main form of transportation these days, and it gets me from Point A to Point B just as efficiently as a car can, but it’s much easier on my wallet. Now that more people are liable to jump on the motorcycle bandwagon in order to take advantage of the superb, yet low cost (as opposed to a car!) transportation option that a motorcycle can be, I can’t help but wonder if we just might start to see more mainstream advertising for motorcycles. Can’t you just see it now?
Imagine a nice television commercial with snappy music playing in the background, and a city street in the foreground. And then, we see a businessman in his suit, tie… and helmet, riding up to his office building on a Gold Wing. Or, a business woman doing the same… only hopefully not dressed in a suit and tie! They climb down off their bike, whip off their helmet, and stride into their office, ready to start their work day.
Seriously though, if motorcycle manufacturers would take advantage of the opportunity to advertise to this group of potential new owners, I imagine that sales would soar. And, if there were more motorcycle advertisements, those of us who have already been bitten by the motorcycle bug would more than likely welcome their presence on the tube gladly. I’m of the opinion that one can never learn too much about motorcycles, and any opportunity to pick up some motorcycle related information can only be a good thing.
Popularity: 30% [?]
One of the newest motorcycle accessories is something that could be potentially dangerous in the wrong hands. A Bluetooth headset that fits onto a motorcycle helmet is the latest must-have for cell phone users who are also motorcycle owners. It was manufactured by a company called Scala, and they did seem to try and make this accessory as safe as such a thing could possibly be. It is voice controlled - you say pre-programmed commands to answer the phone, hand up after a call, and fiddle with the volume control if you’re having a hard time hearing Aunt Sue-Sue while you are zipping down the highway at just under the speed limit. (No one who reads these blogs would actually speed, now would they?) The microphone that is attached to the headset is said to be resistant to wind damage at speeds up to 75 MPH, so they are giving you 5 miles to play with. How nice.
There has been much talk about automobile drivers and their cell phones ever since almost everyone old enough to drive a car also owns a cell phone. Statistics have shown that people who talk on their phones while driving cause more accidents, and are also involved in more accidents. This does not bode well for the bluetooth helmet! The statistics for those who chat on their cells while riding motorcycles are probably going to be about the same as those for cars.
Driving any motor vehicle is something that should demand our entire attention. No call is more important than someone’s life. What did we all do in the days before cell phones were so popular? We waited until we got to our destination to make a call, or if it was an emergency, we found a pay phone. Now days, most pay phones have gone the way of the dinosaur, so most people feel that their only option is to carry a cell phone. The problem is that every call seems to be an emergency. It’s scary to think of how many lives could be lost simply because someone was paying more attention to their conversation than to the road and traffic ahead of them.
Popularity: 28% [?]
It looks like high gasoline prices are going to stick around for a while. In fact, there’s a real chance that we may not ever see low gas prices again. Because of this, many people are doing everything they can to get the most bang for their buck when buying gas. It’s a safe bet that more and more people are going to decide that a used motorcycle is just what they need to get back and forth to work with in order to make their daily commute less expensive. Buying a used motorcycle is certainly cheaper than buying one of those new hybrid cars that have been advertised as getting around 50 miles per gallon of gas. As a bike owner, you know that most motorcycles are capable of getting much better gas mileage than this! And, a motorcycle certainly isn’t going to lose power and speed like an hybrid is prone to do.
If anyone tells you they can’t afford a used motorcycle just to get back and forth to work with, point out to him or her the money saved by not having to buy as much gasoline would more than pay for such a motorcycle over time. Be a motorcycle ambassador and point out the good things about motorcycle ownership. Tell them how much less stressed they will feel once they have gotten the hang of navigating rush hour traffic with a bike and are able to enjoy the freedom that comes naturally when you ride. Mention that they might even save time commuting as motorcycles are so easy to maneuver around traffic jams if need be. Of course, also mention that safety when riding is very important. If it’s been a while since they last rode a bike, suggest that they take a motorcycle refresher course so they can be sure of their ability to handle any motorcycle made.
I predict we’ll be seeing a lot more motorcycles on the road very soon.
Popularity: 28% [?]
I have several helmets - Arai, Shoei and HJC. My favorite of course is the Arai RX7 Corsair.
So how do you choose the best helmet for you?
Well, here are some things to consider - I’ve read a helmet test / review in Motorcyclist magazine and was a bit shocked by the results. What they did is set up several tests where the helmet gets hit or dropped. Surprisingly the high end expensive helmets like Arai, performed the same or sometimes even worse than the cheap ones (like the low end HJC models). It turns out that the plastic helmets absorb impact just as well as carbon fiber and laminate and don’t crack in the process.
All that being said, there are advantages with the higher end helmets vs the lower end.
- Ventilation - Although the newer lower end models have ventilation, the more expensive helmets usually do it better. This is pretty important especially when it gets hot outside.
- Removable liner - Most high end, expensive helmets have removable head liner and cheek pads. This is useful when you want to wash your liner because it does get dirty after a while. Also on helmets like Arai RX 7, you can change your cheekpads for smaller or larger sizes to better fit your head.
- Noise - Some of the cheaper helmets are very noisy. I think the quetest helmet I’ve ever tried was the Shoei RF-1000 - yes quieter than the Arai RX-7 Corsair
- Weight - Yes, weight. Some cheaper helmets are heavy - and even if you don’t notice it at first, it can cause your neck to hurt after a long ride.
Some myths I’ve heard about helmets…
- One thing I heard is Arai recommends to change your helmet every 5 years. If anyone knows why please comment on this post. I just do not understand why you would need to change a perfectly good helmet. I’ve heard some race clubs don’t allow any helmets that are older than a couple of years - even if they are brand new! A myth perpetuated by the helmet manufacturers to sell more helmets? I think so…
- If you drop your helmet - it somehow becomes “unsafe” or broken. This cannot be true. Unless you crack your helmet by dropping it - its fine.
Most importantly buy something that you like. As long as it fits you well and you like how it looks - that’s what’s most important .
And finally - Always wear it!
Popularity: 51% [?]
I thought I’d mention my favorite tires on here - the Dunlop GPs. This “review” is kind of biased, since I really haven’t had a chance to try all the other nice new tires out there, but “if it isn’t broke…”
I’ve always liked the Dunlop GPs, the 209GP, the 208GP, the GP-A, whatever they were called - they are in my opinion the best tires out there. Yes, some people swear by the Michelin’s, Bridgestone or the Pirellis, but if you have ever been to the track, you’ll notice most people are using Dunlop. There is got to be a reason, why they cost more than anything out there. I think that piece of mind they give you is worth any amount of money.
Why do I like them? Well, the obvious reason is the grip. These tires are “race” tires so they are much softer than your standard tire or the stock tires you get on your new sport bike. The new 209 GPs are dual compound (just like the Michelin Power Sports). I am not sure why Dunlop doesn’t push that aspect of it as a selling point, like Michelin does, but I guess they don’t need to. The tires speak for themselves. I use these on the track and on the street. Some people ask me, why I use “race” tires on the street… and my answer is simple, I don’t want to crash because my tire lost grip, be it on the track or on the street. The GPs give you the stability and what they call in the “biz” - predictability, and definitely more confidence. I never knew what they meant by “predictability” until I started getting better (me getting better is still argued by some of my friends) and pushing these things more. When you slide your rear tire out on the GP, it doesn’t feel “dangerous” or scary… even the slides are predictable, you can still feel your tire gripping - its hard to explain, you got to try it on your own to see what I am talking about.
Now to tire sizes… I’ve seen so many forums and blogs arguing about which size to use on which bike, well I can tell you what I do - if it works for you great, if not I guess you can just ignore this.
The 209GPs used to come in 3 different rear sizes. 190/60×17, 180/55×17 and 160/60×17. I say “used to” because since the original “release” of the 209GPs, they’ve replaced the 190/60×17 with the 190/55×17, so you can’t really get the 190/60 anymore. I’ve heard from others and personally experienced the reason for the 190/60 replacement. They were too big/tall for most bikes setup to be stable. In other words, yes, you can probably make them work on your bike, but if your suspension is closer to stock than race setup, your bike will probably feel unstable, especially at high speeds. I’ve noticed this myself and when I talked to the Dunlop guys at the track, they told me that this was the reason they got replaced. I haven’t tried the 190/55 yet but I’ve got one ready for the next time I go to the track . Here is my general opinion: 180/55 works better on the street (slower, tighter roads) and the 190/60 or 190/55 works better on the track (high speed). You do (well at least I do) feel more grip coming out of corners on the gas on the bigger tire, but the trade off they are harder to turn in or harder to turn in as fast. Its mostly preference… I’ve seen some arguments about 190 is for the 1000 cc bikes and the 180 is for the 600 cc bikes, and thats true, but probably due to the fact that the 1000s ride faster or ride faster roads. From my personal experience, I’ve used both sizes on my 1000 and different ones are better at different things. And yes, they do both fit on both 6″ rim and the 5.5″ rim just fine. Like I said, its mostly a matter of preference and where and how you ride.
Of course they won’t last as long on the street as “standard” tires, but the dual compound feature of these 209GPs helps a lot compared to the old 208GPs. So if you ride your bike to work and back, you probably don’t want to spend $300+ on a set of these, but if you ride for “fun”, these things are a must. You just can’t put a price on safety and confidence.
Popularity: 64% [?]
Friday, August 15, 2008
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