Lightweight vs Heavy Boots

I enjoy walking. One of the things I expect to do a considerable amount of when on my tour of the USA is to walk. I can picture stopping my bike, grabbing my camera and walking to explore and to take pictures. When I have done this before, footwear has sometimes been an issue, for to walk any distance in typical motorcycle boots is, well, a pain.

The heavy boots that are good for giving you protection on a bike are frankly useless for walking in, especially in the summer as the temperatures rise. Here are my normal riding boots, which I have had for years. Okay for walking short distances, but no good for anything longer.







My Normal Heavy Riding Boots














So, I have been trying to decide what boots to wear on my tour. As I will be travelling from June to October, the weather should generally be good, with only light rain (please!). During my 2 week motorcycle trip to California last May, I wore my regular heavy riding boots and I suffered in the heat. So, I have decided to go for a compromise between boots that give some protection but are very lightweight.

On Monday this week I decided to give myself a birthday present – new lightweight riding boots. Here they are....






New Boots









As you can see, not your regular riding boots. These are made by Alpinestars and are nearer to a shoe than a boot. They describe them as “this range of footwear offers a modern, casual look, while offering superior levels of protection and abrasion resistance. Constructed using synthetic leather, the shoe offers waterproof performance making it the ultimate, urban, riding shoe for all occasions.” As I said, a sort of a cross between giving some protection and being comfortable. And comfortable they are too.

Now, I just know that some of my readers are going to say that these won’t give the full protection needed on a bike.... and yes, I know this is true. But, I am a realist. Last May, I often left my heavy riding boots in my saddlebags, preferring instead to wear something really flimsy because it was just too hot to wear the heavy boots and that was the only other footwear I had with me. I would rather have something that is a good compromise between some protection and comfort, hence my new acquisition.

And before you suggest it, no I don’t want to carry two pairs of boots with me....!

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The best item I have ever bought for a bike....

.... and there is even a video!

The other day, I had a conversation with a friend about what was the best motorcycle related item each of us had ever bought. For me it was easy to answer.

It is an blower called Air Force Blaster, that I use to dry my bikes after I have washed them.

To dry a motorbike properly after it has been washed takes a lot of time and effort, but with an Air Force Blaster, the job is done very quickly and much better than can be done by hand. The Air Force Blaster works really well on my Road King, but on my red custom bike, with all of its nooks and crannies, it is even better. At about £200 (or $300) it isn’t cheap, but in the long run it is worth every penny. It has an air flow of 29,250 ft./min or 828,000 litres per minute and it comes with a 10 foot flexible hose and different shaped attachments, but I have always just used the standard rubber nozzle and that works perfectly well for all situation I have encountered.

It blasts warm air which is great for when your hands are freezing cold from washing your bike. I can dry my bike in about 7 or 8 minutes with one of these. The real benefit is when drying my Road King which has laced wheels – a complete pain to dry properly by hand, but really easy with the Blaster. The rally good thing is it gets rid of water that you wouldn’t even be able to see normally – its blast is so strong that it will find ANY water on your bike and shift it.

Here is the video....





I can highly recommend them. My test for gear and or gadgets would be – if it broke, would I buy another? The simple answer is yes, straight away.

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Two Little Beauties!

When you go travelling on your bike, you want to minimise what you carry, right?

OK, maybe not the two little beauties you were thinking of!







There is never enough space in your saddlebags / bike luggage / tank-bag or rucksack. So, anything that means we can carry less stuff has got to be good. Maybe I am slow on the up-take, but I have just realised the benefits of mini USB cables. When in the USA I carry two phones with me – my UK mobile and my US cell phone. I need both, but I used to have to carry two different battery chargers with me, because the connectors are different.

I then realised that when on my 4 month bike tour I would be taking an external hard-drive which connects to my netbooks by a mini USB cable (you can see the red hard-drive and its cable in the photo below). I can connect my GoPro camera to the netbook with the same cable. It occurred to me that if I could find an adapter to connect my phones to the same USB cable, then I wouldn’t need to take my two phone chargers as well. I looked on the web and hey-presto, there are such connectors and they are tiny. I will therefore be taking these two little beauties with me. All that means I can connect my two phone, the external hard drive and the GoPro camera all with the same cable, or more likely in case I need to connect two at the same time, I will take two mini USB cables. Neat.

My big Nikon camera also connects to the netbook using the same mini USB cable to move pictures from the camera to the netbook, but I still need to take battery chargers for that Nikon and my point-and-shoot Sony camera. What I really need are cameras that ONLY need a USB cable for connecting AND charging and then I will be in minimum packing heaven!

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Best Bike Touring Item?

I was just writing something about packing for a motorcycle tour and it got me thinking about what was the most useful items us touring motorcyclists take on our trips. I would like to know from you what your most useful items are on a motorcycle tour. I will start the ball rolling and say that I enjoy listening to music not just on my bike but also in the places I stop at overnight. I have been trying for years to find a good sounding but small speaker system that I can plug my iPod into for when I am in motel or wherever I am staying that night. I have tried a few over the years, but they either don't sound good or are to bulky for carrying on a bike.

Then out-of-the-blue, I found myself on Christmas day opening tiny present that my darling wife had just given to me. It was a speaker by Lifetrons and it is fantastic! It is very small sounds just great. It has about a nine hour battery life and is recharged via a USB so it is perfect if you are taking a laptop or netbook, meaning you dont need to take a bulky charger for it. Here is a link to the Lifetrons Website. I have to say that this tiny speaker is stunningly good to take on a bike tour.

What I would like to hear from you is what item do you find most useful on a bike trip. I dont mean common items like cameras or cell phones that we all take, but other things that are maybe more unusual.......?

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To Cover or Not to Cover?

I am not sure about whether I should take a bike cover with me. Opinion seems to be divided on this with security of your bike being compared to the amount of space a bike cover takes to carry when touring.

Essentially it comes down to this – where are you going to park your precious and maybe beloved bike overnight when on the road? Will it be safe where you leave it? If you think it will be safe, then go without the cover. However, my guess is that you will never really know if your bike will be ok – even parking in what seems like a very safe area doesn’t mean the bad guys don’t go there.

I have bought a lightweight bike cover for my tour (http://eztouring.com/). As can be seen from the photo below, it does a great job of covering the bike. This cover is made of the same material they make parachutes from – it seemed to me that parachutes get packed really tightly so a cover made from the same material should roll and pack into a similarly small space. The first photo below shows the cover packed ready for carrying on the bike – hmmm, this is small, but even this takes quite a lot of space, so I am not sure if I will have room for it. I guess I will make my mind up when I have packed everything else and see what room I have left.
















This photo shows the cover on the bike.

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Pannier / Saddlebag Liners

I forgot to mention something very useful that we used on our motorcycle trip to California – Pannier or Saddlebag liners. We purchased these in the UK before we left and took them with us. As we were renting bikes, we wanted to be able to put our belongings in a bag that we could lift out when we arrived at the hotel for the night. We each had 3 and everything we took went in these.

I have to say they were excellent – waterproof with a top that sealed and this formed a carrying strap. I would definitely recommend these for anybody going touring and renting a bike.

They are called Exped Shrink Bags, come in different sizes and are available in the UK from http://www.gearpac.com

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31st August 2009 - Saddlebag Locks for my Road King Classic

Having done a few long trips through Europe on my Harley-Davidson Road King Classic, I had learnt that not having locks on the standard leather panniers is a real pain. This means that I could not leave anything of value in the saddlebags.

I had heard that you could buy locks for these saddlebags and I had previously set out to find some on the web. I found they were available in the USA and had bought a set from the Lock It company (http://www.lockitt.com/). Today, I fitted them. It took a couple of hours and was relatively straightforward. They were quite expensive ($180), but in the long run, I suspect they will be more than worth the money.

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