When you get your lid out for the 1st time this year, or if you have let it set for while you might want to make sure nothing has crawled in there. In the 1st photo that is a poisonous Black Widow spider. How bad would it feel to get bitten at 50MPH? Oh and in the second pic that is a miniature Mountain Lion, I am sure you can all see the danger in that!!!!
Check your lid! That is a Black Widow Spider!
Look! A cat!
Here in the US, as well as many other places, motorcycling appears to be in a major decline. Most motorcycle manufactures are selling fewer bikes, industry aftermarket companies are facing hardship, publications are reducing output or closing shop. The economy may be rebounding which gives me hope that our avocation is just lagging and all will be better soon enough.
But if not, is it our fault? There have been many articles, post, opinions shared about how the younger generation (those dang whippersnappers, get off my grass) appear to have no interest in motorcycling. Or that they can’t afford motorcycles, or they are afraid of motorcycles, etc. etc..
Harley Davidson appears to be the most hurt by this apparent trend. They also appear to be the one company attempting to change that trend as well. They are spending a lot of money and capital on coming out with new products and promotions. Heck, they were the corporate sponsor of a new Winter X-Games event, the snow hill climb. But, their efforts are all about the company not motorcycling in general, as it should be.
The reason I ask the question “Is it our fault?” is what are we, the current crop of riders, doing to promote our passion to the next generation(s)? Do we hang out with the same bike loving groups? Do we ride with the same group of friends?
Because of this I am challenging myself and you to get out of the 2-foot rut in which you
The Grandsons out on the motorcycles
are riding. Find ways to talk with non-riders about what it is to ride, on-road, off-road it does not matter. Spread the gospel of motorcycle and see if you can convert, even one, to the world of riding. If only 50% of the riders out there can get someone up on two wheels in the next 5 years, we would have a 50% growth in the industry.
Here are a few ideas on getting non-riders involved, add yours to the comments:
* Take a non-rider out for several motorcycle rides (and don’t scare them).
* Going to the dealership? Take a non-rider with you to acclimate them to bikes.
* Have a stack of motorcycle magazines? Give a few to a non-rider, again acclimation.
* Have a track nearby? Take your non-rider to a race or event at the track.
* Know some young kids? Buy them any of the motorcycle themed video games out there.
Well that is my 2 cents on this discussion of the decline of motorcycling. The motorcycle brands can do a lot, but so can we. Don’t make it our fault.
The DawgHouse Motorcycle Radio…The #1 Motorcycle Show in the US
WOW…. where do we start…. MOTOGP, Moto2, Flat Track, Daytona 200, Drag Racing, Supercross!!!!!
Hector Arana Jr becomes the 1st to break 200MPH on the Pro Stock Motorcycle tour.
Two red plates going into the 250 Supercross final, but only one comes out! Phil was cheering Austin Forkner to get into a fight….WHAAAA?
Eli Tomac dominated the night but it is still Jason Anderson’s Championship to lose! What is going on with Money Marvin Musquin? OH, and Phil has a tweet liked by the GOAT!
Flat Track kicks off the season with the Daytona TT! LOTS of great racing with a bunch of MotoAmerica and wild card racers doing well. Wonder if Phil still wants to punch JD “Jiggy Dogg” Beach? JD finished 2nd in the twins!
Oh and then there was MotoGP…. Moto2 was uneventful really but the finish of premier race was AWESOME. Dovi and Marquez fighting into the last turn!!
Kevlar Motorcycle Riding Pants
I currently have 3 pair of Kevlar reinforced motorcycle pants. I reviewed the pants in earlier posts, click here for the BILT Iron Workers, and here for the NEWFACELOOK Motorcycle Cargo Pants.
These pants are starting to show their age and I am in the market for new motorcycle pants.
I have a high preference for cargo pants over denim jeans. Actually, make that a complete preference for cargo pants over jeans while riding my motorcycle. The problem is there are not a lot of cargo style motorcycle pants out there.
As I was weighing my options when I ran across the Bohn Body Armor site. They offer a different solution, what looks like armored underwear!
The concept is intriguing enough to me that I sent them a couple Twitter messages asking questions about their products.
They provided some quick responses and they are now in the top 3 of my selection process.
ALSO…. They provided a coupon code for this blog! From now to the 30th of April 2018 take 10% off on orders over $150.
A few posts ago I wrote my thought on the new electric motorcycles that Harley Davidson is bringing to market in the next couple years. Now there is more information available and that got me thinking. (RUN for the hills)
First a little catch up for those that might have missed it. Harley Davidson has invested in Alta Motors whose claim to fame is 
the Redshift MX (the equivalent of a 250cc motocross bike) that has won some of the Red Bull Straight Rhythm races. Alta also has SuperMoto bike, but I did not see it on their website. Alta and Harley are going to work together to bring two electric motorcycles to market under the Harley colors. The name of the new bike(s) is Revelation.
Now here is where my Revelation comes in!
I was thinking that this would be an interesting twist on the Harley Davidson involvement with American Flat Track. Harley
does not have any motorcycles in the singles Flat Track series. Soooooo
Why not enter a Harley team on the new electric motorcycles? Could you not see Shayna Texter and Kolby “Flying Tomato” Carlile wining on Harley electric bikes?
BUT WAIT… There’s more!
During this week’s DawgHouse Motorcycle Radio podcast (show #453), my buddy Phil tossed a greater even better idea out before I could even get started, and I fully agreed with his idea!
Harley Davidson should run an exhibition race between the heats at “SUPERCROSS” for me…. MIND BLOWN. Phil hit 
this out of the park.
Yes, Harley has not had dirt bikes for years. BUT WHY NOT! What a way to get a product (already proven) in front of people and get them thinking of Harley electric motorcycles. If they are talking about your electric dirt bikes they may come in to see your electric street bikes!
What would you think about seeing 20 of the top amateur supercross riders racing on identical dirt bikes with the Harley name? On national TV every week for the entire Supercross season, with commercials for their electric motorcycles sprinkled about.
As I see it… what the heck… do both! Harley Davidson electric motorcycles racing Flat Track and doing exhibition Supercross racing WOW!!!
What do you guys think? (I reserve the right to poo-poo on any negative comments 😊 )
This is NOT one of those typical helmet cam “adventure” video’s. These guys had an actual camera man as part of the team. Due to this fact the Globeriders Iceland Adventure a Motorcycle Tour of Iceland video is a lot better than most.
I enjoyed the show. It was quite well constructed and organized. The editing and sound was good. The star of the show were not the riders or the bikes it was Iceland itself. It was a lot of fun to watch them interact with the terrain and some of the Icelandic population.
While I am not fully invested into doing the adventure biking “thing”, I prefer paved road trips, I am quite enamored with the concept. The thought of getting a bike of this style and heading out to the off roads is quite appealing.
But for now, I have added Iceland’s Ring Road to my bucket list of rides.
The Globeriders have documented many other exotic rides beyond the Iceland adventure. They also host tours to these interesting locals. Check out their website here if so inclined.
I watched this show via Amazon Prime and give it 4 Stars.
Looks like Motorcycle GPS & Gear thinks that IJustWant2Ride is one of the 22 Best Motorcycle blogs. Looking at the list of other blogs they recommend I am very pleased to be placed in that company.
If you have a few minutes check out their list of Best Motorcycle Blogs as well as the rest of their site. The list of recommended motorcycle GPS devices is worth the stop alone.
Some other mentions on Best Motorcycle Blogs:
Top 200 Motorcycle Blogs by Feedspot
Top 15 Motorcycle Blogs by Test Facts
Top 100 Motorcycle Blogs to Follow by 10 Selects
Not sure what was going on in 2017 but there was some badass motorcycle tank art going around. These might be older then 2017 but that is when I first saw them.
I started with over 20 cool motorcycle tanks that I cut down to the 9 best. I wish I could attribute the artist that created these crazy works of art. If you know who created these rolling motorcycle art pieces, formally called a tank, please let me know so I can properly label them.
The weather here in the mid-Atlantic region of the US of A has been very cold so far this year. Record breaking cold on several days and cold enough to keep the local HOG group from holding its New Years Day Frosty Balls ride (click here for more).
Yesterday was quite the unique day it was 74F degrees (not a record but very close) and sunny. SOOOOOO after work I jumped on the bike for the 1st time this year. Yea, I know, sad sad sad for a guy that states “I just want to ride” ! LOL
Less then 15 miles out the clouds appear and BAM, I am in the rain. Not a downpour, but enough to make me laugh and smile at the crazy luck I seem to have at times. Oh and enough to create a lot of road spray and make a clean bike very dirty. 😦
I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!! 