Tips and Insights

Fill 'Er Up - And Don't Forget The Fuel Stabilizer You needn't bother to drain your gas tank, as some will recommend. Instead, ride down to your gas station, fill your tank and add the prescribed amount of Sta-Bil fuel stabilizer. Gasoline will eventually degrade and turn gunky, and that gunk will mess up your fuel system. The Sta-Bil will mix and run through the fuel system on your ride home. And when you get home, the engine will be warm, so you can then... Change Your Oil and Check Your...

Check Your Tire Quality Going into the winter months with a shagged set of 3-year-old race take-offs is a recipe for a high side. If you prefer to avoid intimate engagements with the city’s roadway, then take winter head-on with a motorcycle tire that has at least 50% tread life – try the ol’ penny tire tread test. Check the birthdate of your tires by scoping out the 4-digit code usually adjacent to the DOT markings. The first two digits indicate the week of manufacturing and the second...

It was the late 1970s and Graham Hilder was riding home from late duty as a technician at the airport in Wellington, New Zealand's capital city. At one intersection a car did something silly and Graham made an angry gesture at the driver. It wasn't a wise idea. As Graham rode away from the intersection the car, full of irate gang members, came after him. Graham was riding an older bike and he knew that, while he might be able to outrun the car, he risked crashing and being attacked. So he...

  Time tested: Six weeks/3000 miles What's good? I’ve always thought flip-front lids were a bit naff and should be preserved for couriers and police riders, but having bitten the bullet and started to wear one I actually am a convert. With the front down it’s as good as any other full-face lid I’ve worn but where it comes into its own is when I’m off the bike. I’ve always removed my lid at fuel stations, because in a previous job as a bank clerk I was subjected to an armed robbery so I’m...

The coefficient of friction is greatest for our tires at the point just prior to a slide, and it decreases by 20-30% as soon as you start sliding. This, in part, because a sliding tire generates so much heat at the contact patch that the rubber there begins to liquefy. [Actually, dynamic coefficient of friction is always lower than static coefficient of friction.] (Curiously, it turns out that asphalt actually melts as well and your skidding tire cuts a trench in it as a result.)Clearly,...