Let’s Prepare Now to Ride Again Soon

Apr 28, 2020

IRVINE, Calif., April 28, 2020 —During the COVID-19 outbreak, riders everywhere are anxious to see a return to normal so that we can head out to our favorite trails, scenic roadways, and motorcycling events.

For now, many of us are following directives to stay at home. Others live in areas where riding may be limited but still possible. We encourage each of you to adhere to local, state, and federal guidelines and restrictions, and take all necessary precautions.

For those of us waiting for the “all-clear,” this is the time to prepare to ride again. While some riders do routine maintenance at home, many others may be wondering when their local dealer will reopen for business. The fact is, dealers in most states are available now to provide parts, service, and sales in one form or another.

If you need these services now, or anticipate that you will need them soon, we urge you to contact your local dealer today to determine how they can help you. Your dealer can put your mind at ease by telling you the measures they are taking to ensure your safety, such as phone or online orders, social distancing, drop-off procedures, and more.

Another advantage to contacting your dealer now is that you can schedule the services you need in advance, avoiding the inevitable delays that will occur when everyone starts contacting their dealers once authorities issue the all-clear signal.

If you are shopping for a new bike, some manufacturers are offering home delivery programs, so be sure to ask your dealer about that, too.

Riders can also stay sharp and keep learning at home with the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s online library. Most educational materials are free, including a fun MSF Rider Perception Challenge. Riders visiting the MSF’s YouTube channel can also take a dozen narrated virtual rides to learn about street strategies.

Also, for a limited time digital issues of American Motorcyclist magazine can be viewed online for free at https://americanmotorcyclist.com/Members-Magazine-Archive, providing news and features about rights, riding, racing and the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

Finally, share what you have learned with your riding friends and family. Here at the AMA, the MIC, and the MSF, we will continue to share the latest news through email and our social media channels – Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Stay well and ride safe.

Rob Dingman
President and CEO
American Motorcyclist Association
@ama_riding

Erik Pritchard
President and CEO
Motorcycle Industry Council
Motorcycle Safety Foundation
@followMIC, @MSF__USA

About the American Motorcyclist Association

Founded in 1924, the AMA is a not-for-profit member-based association whose mission is to promote the motorcycle lifestyle and protect the future of motorcycling. As the world’s largest motorcycling rights and event sanctioning organization, the AMA advocates for riders’ interests at all levels of government and sanctions thousands of competition and recreational events every year. The AMA also provides money-saving discounts on products and services for its members. Through the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Pickerington, Ohio, the AMA honors the heroes and heritage of motorcycling. For more information, visit www.americanmotorcyclist.com. Not a member? Join the AMA today: https://americanmotorcyclist.com/join/

The Motorcycle Industry Council exists to preserve, protect, and promote motorcycling through government relations, communications, media relations, statistics and research, aftermarket programs, data communications standards, and involvement in technical and regulatory issues. As a not-for-profit national industry association, the MIC seeks to support motorcyclists by representing manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and retailers of motorcycles, scooters, ATVs, ROVs, motorcycle/ATV/ROV parts, accessories, and related services, and members of allied trades such as insurance, finance and investment companies, media companies, and consultants.

The MIC is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., with a government relations office in metropolitan Washington, D.C. First called the MIC in 1970, the organization has been in operation since 1914. Visit the MIC at MIC.org.

2010 HONDA ADVENTURE SCOOTER

What can we say about this? Well, plenty actually. Kudos to Honda for producing yet another two wheeler that should - at least on paper - bring in more younger or new riders to our sport. It has long been this editor's personal view point that scooter riders are too often dismissed and overlooked. Yes, I get it that the two don't really mix. But that's really it isn't it? I mean motocrossers and over the road touring riders don't really mix do they? Or do they? Do you see? The thing with Scooters is they bring up questions. Questions that aren't easily answered. On top of that, for some reason they are like that one puzzle piece that seems like it should fit but just doesn't. And so the more I looked at this, and read the specs and considered it's purpose and possible underlying motive of bringing new riders in the more I began to think Honda is still on the right track. Here's the specifications.

ADV150

MSRP: $4,299

Standard Features

• 149cc liquid-cooled 80º single-cylinder four-stroke
• Honda V-Matic automatic transmission
• Large 27-liter under-seat storage area
• Electric starter
• Showa® piggyback rear shocks
• Roomy, plush seat
• Honda SMART Key
• Anti-Lock Brakes (ABS)Engine Type 149cc liquid-cooled 80º single-cylinder four-stroke
• Bore And Stroke 57.3mm x 57.9mm
• Induction PGM-FI; 26mm throttle body
• Ignition Full transistorized ignition
• Compression Ratio 10.6:1

Find out more at https://powersports.honda.com/street/scooter/adv150/

Which is where I found this information. This could be the perfect thing for college or camping. Or just riding around the neighborhood after the day cools off. Kudos Honda.

Mind, Body, Motorcycle

Extending the life of your ride

As I throw my leg over the seat of my recently washed bike and start the engine, my brain registers that I am ready to ride.  My leg muscles are activated and my hand is gripped around the throttle. At this point, my safe zone of the driveway is behind me as the adventure of navigating traffic, pot holes and street lights are approaching. As I breathe into my full-face helmet, I recognize the pounding of my heart with the thrill of kicking into last gear on the freeway glides the bike underneath me. Without notice, a car cuts into my lane and my ABS brakes kick into a quick halt. My steady heart rate suddenly jumped into a rapid rate at the thought of my bike sliding underneath the car. Finishing the ride and upon arrival to my destination a sense of calmness returns and I quickly recall the love of riding.

The result of the near accident, led me to inquire changes in heart rate response with riding while wearing a heart rate monitor. Basic understanding of heart rate response is when you face a circumstance that causes the body and mind to enter into flight/fright response your heart rate will increase. Motorcycle riding has been for many riders a de-stressor and allows our brain to focus on obstacles in front of us. The obstacles vary from hazards on the street to cars and therefore, the opportunity for the flight/fright occurs more often. Prepping for riding with a monitor, I recorded my resting heart rate and trained my focus on the ride ahead of me.

Experimentation with heart rate is dependent on my current physical and mental condition, environmental factors and speed of the bike.  Physically, I am actively training for upcoming Spartan races and therefore, have heart rate responses expected of a fit woman in her early 30s. Also, I made sure to have a snack and hydrate. Mentally, I provide myself with encouraging thoughts prior to riding and clear my mind of outside distractions. My riding gear included a leather jacket and pant, gloves, boots and full-face helmet. The planned route for the ride included both street and freeway riding (to obtain that thrill of speed).  Throughout the ride, I was able to change speeds as well as stop abruptly for a car pulling out of a side street. Additionally, splitting lanes in California is officially legal, so I found plenty of opportunities to lane split. Upon completing the ride, the outcomes of the heart rate results were impressive. My resting heart rate of 60bpm climbed to 167bpm at the moment of the car cut-off and remained steady in the low 100bpms while street riding. Upon entering the freeway and speeding the bike up to 75mph, my heart rate climbed to 140bpms. My heart rate also remained steady in the 140bpms while lane splitting (thanks to my pep phrase of “Here we go, let’s do this”). Overall, the experiment held true to the increased heart rate response while riding.

Based on the results, the heart rate responses can be easily translated to any type of rider whether for sport or street. As a track rider, I can propose that my peak heart rates would improve over time on the track. And as an Exercise Physiologist of a Cardiac Rehabilitation program, I have worked with several cardiac patients who are riders. The majority of riders that come through the program are traditionally around sixty years of age, overweight and had cardiac surgery or a procedure for stent placement. Their communal response by the time they see me for an exercise plan is they had wished they had known about their disease process earlier in their lifespan. This population is who I work with following surgery or procedure but there is a much larger population of riders that are undiagnosed with heart disease, arrhythmias and additional risk factors, e.g. diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, alcohol and smoking. All of which can impair the longevity of riding and additionally putting the rider at higher risk for heart problems while on the road.

As a rider, I understand that ride destinations involving restaurants can make the ride more enjoyable. By choosing to eat healthier, not only improves my energy levels for the ride but prevents risk for heart disease. Alcohol and smoking have long been trended for an easement of stress and encouraged at social events. By eliminating or drinking in moderation can greatly reduce the risk of a heart attack and impairments while riding. Alcohol also causes dehydration which can lead into abrupt changes in the heart rate and blood pressure. Unfortunately, as a result of unhealthy behaviors many of the patients that are riders experience cardiac surgery.

The largest difference between cardiac surgery and a stent procedure is following a surgery, patients are expected to be on sternal precautions for three months. What this means to a rider, is that they cannot ride for three months. Usually the expected return of a rider to their bike is an average of four months due to time needed to improve strength and endurance for their ride (and that’s if the healing process is effective). So if the rider had a surgery in June, he/she would be off from riding during the summer months. This occurrence happens so frequently that I now provide lectures within the rider community on healthy behavior changes. The goal of these lectures is to help riders consider changes that will help extend their life of riding. Additionally, your riding technique can continuously improve with overall improvement in mental and physical capacities. Consider as well, the fellow riders on the road that are also trying to maintain healthier life-styles. And as your heart rate begins to increase with the thrill of riding know that you can assure yourself that your heart is stronger, thanks to your personal choice in healthy behaviors.

Former New Yorker Reminisces About That First Ride of Spring Sensation

By Tony Mangia

After almost 40 years of living in New York City, I permanently — and stubbornly — moved out of Manhattan to Florida. One of the reasons I made the switch from concrete sidewalks to sandy beaches — besides the fortuity to work out of what was my second home — was the weather and opportunity to ride my motorcycle almost any time I wanted. It’s been three years since I traded that one-bedroom apartment under the shadow of the Empire State building for a three-bedroom house with a pool, boat dock and garage on the Gulf Coast of the Sunshine State. Oh yeah, did I mention I now have a garage?

I never knew having my own personal space to park my 1976 Harley-Davidson Super Glide would yield so many benefits after years of parking it on the 32nd Street sidewalk (technically illegal, but I was young, broke and the city was the Wild West back then) outside my building before being able to afford storing it in various indoor garages around the neighborhood.

Finally, for the next couple of decades I knew my garage-parked bike would be relatively safe (I did have my car stolen right out of a Sixth Avenue parking garage once), a little expensive ($250 a month), but wouldn’t have to worry about parking tickets, tow trucks or that ubiquitous homeless guy who occasionally “decorated” it with trinkets he culled from the garbage. The problems with the garage were that the bike was usually stashed in a dank corner swaddled under a perpetually dirty motorcycle cover (You wouldn’t believe how much exhaust soot the cars make and that the parking attendants must breath in) and it was jammed behind a couple of cars (I had to tip the attendant to move them while I unlocked the half dozen or so locks I secured it with). The act of retrieving my motorcycle became a task that actually made getting the bike out on the street a tiresome and sometimes time-consuming chore. It was easier to jump on the subway or grab a cab. Leisurely putts became a rarity.

The luxury of having my own garage now goes past just parking the bike. It means I can work on that leaky AMF (One rebuilt engine and two paint jobs later) in comfortable surroundings, leave parts scattered where they fall — all with with the convenience of an array of tools at my side. It is sure a big difference from when I would slip my bike between two parked cars on the street, kick some garbage out of the way and hope it didn’t rain before I finished changing the oil or whatnot.

But a Manhattan parking garage did provide my Harley with secure storage over the winter months.
From November until March, I would occasionally stop in the garage, reach under the gunk-coated cover and start the old warhorse for a quick battery charge thinking about a joyous warm day when I could take it out for the ceremonial first ride of spring. Honestly, I mostly neglected the bike during the winter storage more than I should have. Out of sight, out of mind.

Now, in Florida, I have the luxury of being able to ride the bike almost any day I want. It is sitting right there at my house. I’ve become spoiled by the warm weather and easy access to my bike 365 days a year. And in shorts and a tank top! No more soiled cover, no more airborne grime, no more drained batteries, no more waiting for the temperature to rise above 55-degrees (My personal comfort level) and no more 250 bucks for a three-foot by six-foot corner space every month. Florida is Nirvana for motorcyclists — and cheaper too.
Now after three years in southwest Florida, I came to the conclusion that I have been taking my motorcycle for granted and find myself reminiscing about that first day of spring ride ritual.

Looking back, after six months being cooped up during a New York City winter, the snow and cold, that first spin on your scooter every spring was like the last day of school and Christmas rolled onto two wheels. The act of gearing up — my 30 year-old leather jacket that has who knows how many miles and the scuffed patches from a few spills to prove it — and hoping that you have enough juice in the battery, the jets didn’t clog and the fuel didn’t evaporate (gas stations are rare birds in Manhattan) are now distant flashbacks.

The anxiety of those annual first city starts still linger though. Every year, while stepping around that puddle of oil under the bike before wiping off the accumulated dust and filth, there came the pressing of the start button followed by its first wheezing cough through the air filter, the popping burps from the exhausts and the prayers you don’t have to hump it up the parking lot ramp, then down to push-start it. Funny how those nuisances are fond remembrances now. Back on those first days, with any luck, the points and timing were okay, the gas was potent, tire pressure okay and there was enough oil left in it to take her out for that first annual spin.

The sensation of riding my motorcycle into bright sunlight outside the darkened garage exit was a glorious feeling. Cruising down Fifth Avenue, the 1200cc vibrating underneath, a slight wind in your face with Mother Nature somehow finding a way to send a chill down your neck. The smell of Sabrett’s hot dog carts filled your other senses. The staleness of winter being exorcised from your bike through temporary plumes of black exhaust and an occasional sputter. At the same time, your own pent up soul being cleansed with a healthy blush on your cheeks and a smile on your face.

For me, it was always over to the FDR to rev this baby out of her doldrums. Cruising along the East River, dodging potholes and taxis was dangerous, but also a delightful, welcome adventure. Then it was up to 96th Street and over to Park Avenue southward for my favorite secret shortcut through a tunnel slicing through the Pan Am Building (What real New Yorkers still call the renamed MetLife Building) and around Grand Central Station on an elevated roadway looking down at Vanderbilt Place before tooling up 42nd Street. It was a thrill gliding past Times Square over to the West Side Highway up to the the George Washington Bridge into Jersey for a fresh tank of gas for that thirsty beast.

In the coming weeks, it would be a wash, an oil change and tune up done on the crowded street. The leather jacket would go back in the closet and, considering the weather, more rides out of the city.

Today in Florida, like almost any day, I opened my garage door, hopped on the seat and rode that motorcycle to the local store for some groceries — hassle-free. No stuck padlocks, no ashy covers and no attendant with his hand out. In exchange, there are no more first rides of spring anymore.

Like that incurable drip of oil from my motorcycle and the eternal pool it leaves on my garage floor, the recollections of those anticipated first rides in New York City have stayed with me — even with the city inconveniences.