On May 7th, 2022, women across the world will be riding their motorcycles for the 16th annual International Female Ride Day! For 16 years the IFRD has “shined a spotlight on women riders and females in the motorsports arena!”
Nearly 20% of riders are women and that number has been growing over the years and I do not expect that growth to end anytime soon. Coming out of the pandemic more people and especially women are feeling empowered to do the things that they really want.
The goals of the event are:
Highlight the number of women who ride.
Encourage other women to take up the activity
Raise awareness about women’s equality in motorsports
Celebrate women’s advancement in motorsports and powersports
Ride for accelerated gender parity.
Are you going to participate? If so, submit your photos to the IFRD photo gallery for a chance to participate in the photo challenge sweepstakes. And while there are no prizes here, you could post to the comments section to show us what you were doing!
Your motorcycle helmet is your most important piece of equipment so keeping it clean is important. Not just from an appearance perspective but as a method to ensure it is still in good working condition. Also, April is Motorcycle Helmet Awareness month so now is a good time to do the work!
While you are cleaning your helmet look for cracks in the shell, that the hard foam is intact and in good condition (this is the part that does most of the work to protect your head) and all the other parts are in good order.
Before you start… read your owner’s manual on cleaning your specific motorcycle helmet.
1 – First thing is to clean the exterior of the motorcycle helmet. Using a wet microfiber cloth or a paper towel, lay it across the visor and helmet shell for at least 10 minutes. This will soften the baked-on bugs and cruds allowing them to be wiped away reducing the chance to scratch or damage the finish. You may have to repeat this step.
2 – Remove the visor after you have cleaned the exterior. Use warm soapy water to really get the visor clean inside and out. Rinse, dry and reassemble your helmet.
3 – The visor needs special attention. DO NOT use any products that have acid or ammonia! Even products with citric acid can damage the visor. Most glass cleaners have some form of acid or ammonia so pay close attention or just avoid them. Warm soapy water and microfiber cloth is the best way to safely clean your visor.
4 – Make sure you clean the visor mechanism. Keeping the mechanism clean will ensure it works as designed.
5 – Does your helmet have a sun visor? If it does clean it in the same manner, you cleaned the visor. No ammonia or acid-based cleaners!
6 – Next up is the interior of your motorcycle helmet. Most helmets allow you to remove the interior padding. Look at your owner’s manual for directions on removing the padding. Some manufactures allow you to use a washing machine and other recommend hand cleaning in warm soapy water. If you use the hand method, I recommend using a baby shampoo.
7 – If your helmet’s padding is not removable follow the instructions your helmet manufacture provides. But, in my opinion, dunking the entire helmet into soapy water is not the way to go. It takes forever to dry; it can mildew, and I am always unsure if it can damage the underlying foam. My suggestion is to use a motorcycle helmet sanitizing spray.
8 – Check the air vents to make sure they are clean, and function as designed. A shot of compressed air, from the inside, might dislodge dried road grime and bugs.
9 – Put it back together, following the manufacturer’s instructions, if you still have them.
There are a lot of things you can do with old motorcycle helmets. Make planters or art with them for example.
But one of the most important things you can do with those old motorcycle helmets is to donate them to emergency services. Why? Because they need to train to deal with motorcycle accidents and how to handle the helmets is one of the things they need to practice.
This month IJustWant2Ride.com and The Dawghouse Motorcycle Radio show donated 10 old helmets to the Front Royal Fire Department. With April being Motorcycle Helmet Safety Month, it was the right time to get rid of the old lids.
April is Motorcycle Helmet Safety month so now is a good time to make sure your lid is in good shape. You should, at least once a year, check your helmet to make sure it is in good shape, as it is your primary safety tool. I just bought new helmets, read on to find out why.
What should you look at while checking your helmet? Here are 9 items you should look at when assessing your motorcycle helmet for use in another year:
1) Is the shell all in one piece? Are there cracks or splits?
2) Are the straps and connectors in good shape, no adverse wear or tear?
3) Is the internal padding is connected and stays in place?
4) Remove the padding and check the foam. Is it dented or has cracks?
5) While looking at the foam, most companies place a sticker printed with the “birthday” of your helmet. Is it over 5 years old?
6) Does the rest of the internals look in good operating conditions?
7) Check the visor for damage that might obscure your vision, can you see clearly?
8) Are the screws or other visor attachments tight and is the visor working as expected?
9 Make sure that insects/creatures are not living in your helmet, see photo below!
Let’s talk about item 5, the 5-year rule. Most manufactures recommend that you replace your helmet after 5 years. The sceptic in us will think “more sells = more money” for the motorcycle helmet makers. The reason, they state, is that the foam between the padding and shell will deteriorate over time reducing its ability to protect your skull.
I believe in the 5-year rule, but I also check every year. I just replaced my 7-year-old Nolan motorcycle helmet this month. Why? When I ran my hands over the foam it no longer felt as smooth as it once did. It is hard to describe but, I felt that the foam was starting to show its age and we needed new helmets.
It is your head; I hope these checks help you out.
We were able to sneak out for about 2-hour motorcycle ride this past weekend. Still a lot going on in life/work, so I am just happy to get out on the motorcycle.
Motorcycling around Front Royal, VA and the surrounding area is a lot of fun. More than a few nice places as destinations and more than a few good country roads to ride.
We even got up on Skyline Drive for a short ride. The leaves have not yet reappeared on the trees, so the views were spectacular!
The curiosity of the day was the “Audi” Can Am Spyder. The reality was the guy was not happy with the big, black, empty area on the front of his trike and put the Audi badge there. It was a neat conversation starter. Ride on, Ride safe
My wife mentioned that this is Women’s History month and that I should post something, just not photos of her. LOL
I went back into my vintage photo folder to look for those “old school photos of women and motorcycles. Women have been riding motorcycles from the start and these photos prove that women JustWant2ride.
WOW 2021 was just as bad as 2020 in regards for content for best motorcycle poster, but it was close. I gather my candidates from the social media cesspool, looking all year for the interesting, cute or weird poster.
This year I had 12 to start before reducing down to the best 9 motorcycle posters. Why 9 because everyone does 10 and 11 is too much work. I would love to give credit where it is due, so if you know the artist that produced the items below let me know and I will be happy to provide attribution.
BEST WEIRD motorcycles of 2021! This year I started with a list of 22 really off the wall strange motorcycles. Was not too hard to work it down the best 9.
Just a quick note, these motorcycles may have been around for a few years, but I first noticed them this past year.
In the lead up to Christmas 2021 when, at a local bookstore, I noticed the latest issue of Easyriders magazine. But that magazine did not look at all correct, it did not have a hot bike and girl on the cover.
In fact, glancing through it at the newsstand, it did not have “really” have any hot bikes and no nude or scantly clothed women.
The new Easyriders magazine looked more like coffee table style magazine then anything else. All this raised my curiosity to find out just what happed to the old school motorcycle magazine.
Death of Easyriders Magazine
The original Easyriders magazine was a champion of the counterculture, on the road biker symbolized in movies like “Easyrider”. But, as we all know, the printed word is in decline due to the evolution of digital media. From my point of view, magazines have been the hardest hit with many, to many, motorcycle magazines failing to survive the transition.
Easyriders magazine started in the early 1970s and always showcased the best motorcycles from across America along with the aforementioned scantily clad women. Later Easyriders would host and run events, rallies (or as they called them rodeos), and motorcycle shows.
From what I can gather, that Easyrider magazine closed its doors and auctioned off what was left in 2018.
So, What Happened Next?
It appears that a Canadian clothing company called StrongHold now owns the name and trademark of the old company. If you go to the new Easyriders website you can purchase $16 shaving kits, $30 t-shirts, $25 boxers, and $60 hoodies.
The magazine, as noted above, is now more “up-scale” targeted to a very different audience then the original Easyriders. On their website they state that this is an “Elevation of an Iconic Brand”, that it is more then a magazine it is a lifestyle.
I purchased the second issue and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Short stories and great pictures laid out in a modern format; the magazine looks nothing like the classic version.
Rodeos and events
Easyriders did support three events 2021 but the long running, over 30 years, rodeo in Chillicothe, OH will not be back in 2022 but not due to the pandemic.
The town, fairgrounds and county will not allow the Easyriders event to return because, during the 2021 event, there was, very nearly, a “gang” battle.
According to reports an undercover cop stopped the unnamed biker gangs from starting a shootout when he spotted “his” gang putting guns together and getting ready to move against their rivals. The gangs were not identified.
Easyriders is dead, long live Easyriders.
I am sure many purest will not like the new Easyriders but, at least it is still around. I don’t have any issue with the new direction while at the same time, I am kind of missing the old magazine. Things change and in this new age, at least we still have a motorcycle magazine on the news stand.
Ride On, Ride Safe
(If I did not get anything right, please let me know!)
I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!! 
