Lee's 10 quick tips of motorcycling

Riding gives us time to think about the mundane.

Every now and then I stumble across something that makes me think I am clever. Clearly I have stolen these ideas from others but will pass them along anyway.

1. The zippers on Aerostich roadcrafters are notoriously stiff and hard to break in. My wife told me to rub a little candle wax on them and Voila! Easy sliding zips. Now in hot weather I may have a melted parafin stripe on my shirt but it did make the zippers easier to pull.

2. I have also tied a little strip of nylon parachute cord to the zipper to make gloved zipping easier. Don't make it too long or it will flog you at speeds over 80.

3. Often after a ride in the rain I will zip into the car wash. The bug guts are all softened up and there is never a line in a rainstorm.

4. It is slightly easier to wash bugs out of a rad grill from the back than the front if you can access it

5. The silicone washers (Caterpillar tractor hydraulics washers fit my R12G perfectly) make nice friction washers on motorcycle throttle grips. I got that from the Chain Gang for F650GS bars but it works on the bigger BMWs too. Easy to override, cheap ($2.50) last a long time and can be rolled in and out of the gap between the twist grip and the cable housing. I tie a short piece of string to mine to help lift it out of the crack and roll it over to the side when not in use.

6. I did a quick sand paper scuff on the road contact areas of my new tires to reduce new tire waxiness and poor adhesion. Not sure if it changed anything but it made me feel better.

7. There is a small piece of a microfibre cloth and a small spray bottle of windex in my tank bag side pocket that I can spray on my closed face shield while wearing the helmet. With a quick wipe of the cloth I can have a clear face shield in about 5 seconds without removing my helmet.

8. I use cheap foamy ear plugs. A tiny dab of Vitamin E salve on the plugs makes them go in a lot easier, seal much better and prevents itcy ear canals and irritation on multi-day rides.

9. Even a cheap $89 GPS stuck in a ziplock (for water proofing) and placed under the clear plastic top of a tank bag can be a great help. If you don't want to wire it up, you can run it on battery for a few minutes to get into or out of a city. If you crank the volume up to shriek you can listen to it's directions out of a confusing place.

10. If you stop to help someone (and you should help occasionally with flats and mechanicals, esp if the driver is elderly or seems uncertain of repairs) it is usually safer and less intimidating if you pull up ahead of them 30 yards and take off your helmet first before walking back to offer help.


I'd like to hear other peoples accumulated suggestions.

Lee

How to easily remove your kickstand's spring.

Extend kickstand as if you're parking the bike. Shove as many coins as possible between the coils of the spring. Retract kickstand. Often times the spring will fall off in your hand.

I used to remove mine frequently for track days.

When maneuvering the bike in the garage after a ride, it is better standing on the right hand side of the bike with the side-stand extended: You are tired and if the bike falls over, the stand is there to stop it. May not work in the Northern Hemisphere or where you drive on the right hand side of the road.

Foam earplugs are fantastic. But after a few months they get impregnated with earwax and slip out. Don't be a cheapskate: replace regularly.

P

Windex is not good for plastic screens. A spray bottle of water and a tiny bit of dish soap will work just as well, if not better.

Pledge

If you're the kind who wears glasses like myself, I just use the cleaning spray they give me at the optics shoppe - it's the same kind of stuff that you're supposed to use for any plastic things so they don't yellow, like cleaning laptop screens, newer flat tv screens etc.

A tip I can add, is if you're one who wears regular jeans or pants that are loose around the ankles, and don't like the cuff getting caught on things - there's a bicyclists clip that secures the extra fabric around the ankle so it doesn't catch the sprocket. I've ruined nice pants on my bike sprocket, and rolling up one pant leg is often kinda silly.

Great tips all of them. I am going to go replace my windex fluid right now. Thanks. Keep 'em coming

Lee

I use Plexus and a microfiber towel to clean my visor, windscreen, and headlights. It leaves the surface slippery helping water bead and roll off, and bug guts come off without hard scrubbing...

I keep a travel size in my tank bag to keep my visor clean on trips...

Clever. Off the top of my head I don't think I've ever removed a kick stand, but I'll store this in the back of my head somewhere.

Silicone spray works pretty good on the zippers as well.

I use a gun lock, the kind that has a cable, to lock my helmet to my bike when I'm going to be out of sight from the bike. Glock makes a nice one the has a plastic coating on it. That way you don't scratch your helmet or the chrome or the paint on the bike. I stick the cable though the eye hole to keep people from cutting off the D-ring to steal the helmet. I've never seen that happen, but I've heard of it.

One I'm sure everybody knows but for some reason I always forget to put my helmet on before the gloves. I will still end up trying to strap it for a full minute or so thinking it might work this time, before throwing the gloves off and trying for real

The gun cable lock is a good idea.

Why are we so stubborn? I do the same thing!

This is a popular myth. Scuffing a new tire with sand paper does nothing except give you a false sense of security. Running a new tire through a couple heat cycles is the only way to attain full traction capabilities.

I Like this one, and will be using it tonight!

Helion wrote:

And I would follow that up by suggesting you stick your gloves INSIDE your helmet as a reminder but be sure they don't drop out when carrying it. For me, even that might not work.

Remembering ear plugs is my usual "Doh!". Ever try putting those in while wearing your helmet?

Lee

As a former KLR owner, I learned to wash my foam plugs. Roll them around after coating them with liquid soap, then rinse by squeezing them a few times. Some of my plugs are 10 years old.

Haven't had an ear infection in a month or so, so the idea works.

Sometimes I stick them in my pants pockets when I do the laundry.

I tend to buy a new set of custom fitted ear plugs every couple of years. They are well worth the investment.

The soft foam plugs custom fit themselves every time.