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Ride the Arizona Backroads or Die Trying

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Eric Herrmann’s Can’t Get Enough of the Desert and the Tarantula Gang By Bandit, with illustrations by Eric Herrmann Eric Herrmann wrote, illustrated and published a book about riding in Arizona. It’s called Ride the Arizona Backroads and it’s a guidebook for bikers who want to ride hot, flat, desert, rattlesnake invested roads of Arizona. I started to read it immediately, and if you plan to blast into Arizona, you might want to read the first nine pages, quick. They immediately give you the life-saving do’s and don’ts around desert riding. CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE ON BIKERNET Quick, Join the Cantina – Subscribe Today https://www.bikernet.com/pages/custom/subscription.aspx

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Motorcycle safety foundation helps prepare riders for Arizona’s roads

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Kimberly Chapman was known as the “ultimate motorcycle enthusiast,” earning a national reputation for being a motorcycle community advocate. The 55-year-old was killed in 2011 when she collided with a vehicle that pulled in front of her at a Phoenix intersection. Months later, some of Chapman’s friends spearheaded the creation of the Arizona Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for safer practices for motorcyclists and eliminating distracted driving in the state. “She was heavily involved in the motorcycle community,” said Mick Degn, the foundation’s executive director. “I’ve been a motorcycle rider and been involved in motorcycle organizations and we just felt that there wasn’t anything that was really being done to help be preventive in regard to motorcycle crashes. So myself and seven other folks formed AMSAF.” “As we spent time looking at what we wanted to accomplish, our biggest thing was to help reduce crashes and fatalities and promote motorcycle safety and awareness,” Degn added. In Arizona, 150 motorcyclists were killed in crashes in 2018, a decrease from the 161 killed in 2017. In Tucson, fatalities doubled from 7 to 15 from 2018 to 2019. The foundation, which primarily focuses on educating riders of all levels, used a pilot scholarship program to reduce the cost of motorcycle training, an expense reaching upwards of $300, according to Degn. By 2014, the foundation’s mission expanded to allocating monthly scholarships. So far, more than 3,500 Arizona riders have been trained. The foundation’s statewide effort has received support from the Arizona Governors Office of Highway Safety, the Arizona Department of Transportation, the Arizona Trauma Association and various organizations in the medical and law enforcement fields. “We’ve seen an increase in motorcycle registrations — there’s 400,000 plus people registered, but at the same time we also see that even though they’re

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Riding a Harley-Davidson Can Help Fight PTSD, Veteran Group Ride Planned

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com/ In the first month of of 2019, Harley-Davidson released the results of a research that showed just how beneficial riding a motorcycle can be for the mental well-being of humans. As it seems, motorcycling is even good to treat more serious conditions. Back in 2015, Harley started supporting the efforts of an organization called Wounded Warrior Project. The group provides services and programs for war veterans post-9/11, and among these programs there is an idea called Rolling Project Odyssey. This Odyssey is centered around bringing together soldiers and help them heal their mental scars through adventure-based learning. And that includes riding Harleys in groups, just as a Harley should be ridden. This type activity has been found to be beneficial in cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), among other things. The Harley research we mentioned earlier, conducted by scientists at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, showed that riding a motorcycle for 20 minutes can increase the heart rate by 11 percent, reaching a level similar to that achieved while performing a light exercise. That in turn increases alertness, and helps decrease hormonal stress biomarkers by 28 percent. The study’s findings were based on data taken from 50 experienced motorcyclists that were made to ride their own bikes on a 22-minute route. “Rolling Project Odyssey was a life-changing experience for me,” said in a statement Jonathan Goolsby, an Army and Rolling Project Odyssey veteran. “The experience has taught me many things that I have been able to implement into my daily life, like finding my center and keeping my cool when things start to get tough.” This year’s Rolling Project Odyssey kicks off at the beginning of next week starting in Jacksonville, Florida, and going through Daytona, where

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Why A Car Tire On A Motorcycle Is A Bad Idea

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by Justin Hughes from https://www.rideapart.com/ They call it the “dark side” for a reason. A while back, Kate discussed the perils and pitfalls of using a car tire on the back of your motorcycle, a practice known as “the dark side.” A video just came across a Facebook group I’m on demonstrating, clear as day (the daylight you actually see under the tread), why this isn’t good. Where The Rubber Meets The Road: What it comes down to is simple. Bikes lean. Cars don’t. OK, yes, cars do lean a little due to weight transfer and suspension loading and unloading. I autocrossed for years—I get it. In the car world, though, we fight against this lean as much as we can with stiffer springs and sway bars. We’ll even dial some negative camber into the alignment so that when the car goes around a corner at full tilt, the tire is straight up and down for maximum grip. A car tire has its maximum grip when its full tread width is in contact with the road. Motorcycles, on the other hand, need to lean in order to turn at any speed faster than walking. It’s the fundamental way that bikes work. Motorcycle tires are made to lean. Their profile is round, not square like a car tire. In most cases, you’re either going to drag hard parts while leaning hard or chicken out before you lean hard enough to get onto the tire’s sidewall. Here, though, we have a perfect view of a car tire on the back of a Honda Valkyrie. On the surface this may seem like a good idea for such a big, heavy bike, especially if it does a lot of highway travel where it doesn’t lean much. Here, though, it’s on the Tail of the

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Going electric could help revive the motorcycle industry

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by Peter Valdes-Dapena from https://edition.cnn.com/ Motorcycle sales, particularly in the United States, have been struggling ever since the Great Recession. As older riders lose interest, or simply become unable to ride any longer, the younger generation hasn’t been showing the same kind of enthusiasm. But the industry is hoping that electric motorcycles — with a quieter, simpler experience — might be the key to attracting new riders. For one thing, electric motorcycles are easier to ride. With an electric motor, there’s no need to shift gears. To experienced riders, that’s no big deal, but most Americans today have become accustomed to automatic transmissions and don’t know how to shift gears. “It’s just a lot easier learning curve,” said Susan Carpenter, a writer and radio host specializing in motorcycles. “You just hop on and twist the throttle. If you can balance, you can go.” Another benefit is that electric motorcycles are much less noisy than gasoline-powered motorcycles. To many veteran riders, the roar of the engine is part of the excitement. But a lot of other people would prefer to enjoy their surroundings much more peacefully. The bikes also don’t have hot engines and exhaust pipes that can become burn hazards, especially when parked around kids. Electric motorcycles also qualify for federal and state tax credits, similar to those for electric cars, although in smaller amounts. There are tradeoffs, of course. Electric motorcycles have the same disadvantages as electric cars, namely cost and range. Motorcycles can only accommodate small batteries so they have a lot less range than gas-powered bikes. And that range diminishes greatly during high-speed highway riding because the bike’s electric motor has to compensate for increased wind resistance pressing against the rider’s not-so-aerodynamic body. Hoping to get the attention of a new generation of riders, Harley-Davidson introduced the

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Riding in the Rain on Motorcycle: What To Remember?

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When the rain comes, most of the motorcyclists store their bikes in the garage, and close the riding chapter until the sun shines in the following spring! Such abstinence indeed keeps them free from risks associated with motorcycle riding in the rain. But unfortunately, they cannot understand that by doing this, they are depriving themselves of one of the best motorbiking experiences! They can never feel how thrilling a motorcycle ride can be in the rain staying inside the garage! So, move on the roads in the rain, but never forget the risks associated with it. What to do then? We shall discuss in the ongoing lines how should you ride and what should you do while riding a motorcycle in the rain to get the most out of it and still stay risk-free. But you should not forget one thing – unless you are an expert and confident enough at riding a motorcycle under challenging conditions, you should not take the risk for fun only. The safety measures and safety accessories can safeguard a confident, careful, and expert guy, not a novice. Anyway, let’s go to our main points: Get the Right Gears Choosing the right gear for rainy conditions is your first task. A good piece of waterproof rain-suit, boots, gloves, and a vest (obviously electric) will make you equipped for a rainy drive. They will help you keep warm, and especially the vest will act to prevent the colder wind soaking you. These should be good enough to keep you warm and protected. Still, if you want something more, you can consider wearing extra layers, especially some of your clothes, e.g., instead of one thick undergarment, multiple thin undergarments. Another crucial component for your rainy ride is an appropriate helmet, which should be safe and have features,

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Ducati partners with Lenovo for designing superbikes

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The bike manufacturer will use a Lenovo high-performance computing cluster that will help the company to drive rapid innovation. Ducati Motor Holding has joined hands with Lenovo for the design of its superbikes. The bike manufacturer will use a Lenovo high-performance computing cluster that will help the company to drive rapid innovation. As the brand says, it is continually looking for innovative ways to make its vehicles faster, safer and even more attractive. Konstantin Kostenarov, Chief Technology Officer at Ducati, said, “Our HPC environment is the engine that drives the development and design of our road and racing bikes.” He also added, “We use advanced aerodynamic and fluid dynamic modelling tools to calculate how a particular design or bike feature will react in different riding conditions. We don’t just do this for the superbikes that we sponsor on the racecourse, but for our road models too, so all bikers that choose Ducati enjoy an exceptional riding experience.” Previously, Ducati used its own HPC infrastructure for the design process, but recently, it found that is no longer delivering the performance, reliability or flexibility which is needed in order to test new designs within tight deadlines. Hence, Ducati decided to use Lenovo’s HPC infrastructure. Stefano Rendina, IT Manager at Ducati, said, “Previously, we had to transfer the results of our models and stress tests from the HPC environment and then use an entirely different workstation to transform this data into easy-to-understand visualizations. The process of transferring data in this way was both time-intensive and expensive—slowing down research and development.” News Source https://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com

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Riding in the Rain on Motorcycle: What To Remember?

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It’s all about Zen, Treachery and Survival By Isabella Katee When the rain comes, most of the motorcyclists store their bikes in the garage, and close the riding chapter until the sun shines in the following spring! Such abstinence indeed keeps them free from risks associated with motorcycle riding in the rain. But unfortunately, they cannot understand that by doing this, they are depriving themselves of this motorbiking experiences and bragging rights! They can never feel how thrilling, spine-tingling a motorcycle ride can be in the rain! So, move onto the roads in the rain, but never forget the risks associated with it. What to do then? We shall discuss how should you ride and what should you do while riding a motorcycle in the rain, to get the most out of it and still stay risk-free, which is impossible. CLICK HERE TO READ THE FEATURE ARTICLE IN THE CANTINA

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Hundreds of drunk scooter riders lost their licenses at Germany’s Oktoberfest this year

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by Zac Palmer from https://www.autoblog.com Drinking and riding carries the same penalty as drunk driving Oktoberfest just wrapped up in Munich, and surprisingly, there’s some pretty alarming transportation-related news coming from it. Ride-sharing scooters and drunk party-goers don’t make for a good combination, but that’s exactly what German police had to fend with throughout the 16-day-long event. According to German news outlet Deutsche Welle, and picked up by The Drive, local police say they caught 414 people riding scooters while under the influence. Of those, 254 riders had their driver’s licenses revoked on the spot. Germany treats scooters the same as cars, so there are serious consequences for not following the rules of the road — similar to America, there are repercussions for drunk driving. What remains unreported is how many accidents or injuries occurred as a result of all the drunk scootering. German police were on high alert when it came to the scooters, as they were just unleashed on the public in June this year. The numbers are slightly better for folks who were driving an actual car in the city of Munich during the festival. Police found 315 drunk drivers and forced 215 of those to give up their licenses immediately. Millions from all over the globe attend Oktoberfest every year. Beer is consumed in copious amounts in massive beer glasses known as steins — the only size of beer served in the beer tents amounts to 33.8 ounces. Drinking tasty German beer and singing all day may have given some folks a little too much confidence to pilot an E-scooter home rather than walking like the rest of the crowd. Police did a great job of keeping the scooters from entering onto the Oktoberfest grounds, banning their use during the festival itself. We’ll leave you with

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