Linda over at Raven’s Rides is giving away a copy of Triumph Around the World by Robbie Marshall.

To enter the giveaway all you have to do is go to her site and post a comment! She’ll pick a name at random on May 1st. To qualify, your comment needs to have an April date. Pretty easy!Here’s what Linda thought of the book:

“The story is amazing: I could not help but admire his courage, sheer bloody-mindedness and his soul-searching. His insights were deep and this was the aspect of the book that I enjoyed the most…Read her full review here.

From Santiago Chopper Specialties:

Description: This bad ass looking helmet will scare the crap out of any onlooker while your enjoying you mid day cruise. Not only is it light weight, but it’s very comfortable inside, and has a lot of breathing space. You might even want to buy one for your buddy

Price on this bad-boy is $149.99 and it is not DOT approved. But it’s frickin’ cool so who cares, right?

Now that we’re nice and fat from Thanksgiving dinner, it’s time to think about decorating for Christmas! If you’re a devout biker wanting to trim your tree with all things motorcycles and biker-related ornaments here are some ideas for you.

The Harley-Davidson online shop has a plethora of ornaments to choose from, a vintage style tree topper and stocking holders to hang stockings by the chimney with care.

At Cycle Spot I found some really cute ornaments, including these biker versions of Mr. and Mrs. Claus!

Oh, you want something for the outside of your house? ChristmasLights.com has two light up, motorcycle-riding Santas to choose from (one that’s kind to your wallet and one that isn’t)!


If you prefer inflatable lawn decorations, here’s an inflatable chopper-riding Santa from the Christmas Catalog.

As you can see, no matter how subtle or over the top you want to be with your decorations there are plenty of options out there for bad-ass bikers who happen to be filled with holiday spirit!

Here’s a cool product: the Biker+ID bracelet from Guilty Customs.

It’s like a biker version of a Medic Alert bracelet and it’s made for bikers by bikers. The wrist band is made of nylon and it has a little steel name plate that has important information such as your name, address, phone number, emergency contact and blood type. It offers peace of mind to those who worry about the bikers in their lives and helps hospital staff should you ever happen to arrive at a hospital unconscious.You can get your BIKER+ID by visiting thebikerid.com. It comes with designs for both men and women and costs a mere $19.00.

I’m not a super-fashionista by any stretch of the means, but I do think that I have a semblance of style. I know what I like and why I like it. And here’s a couple of things that I’ve found recently that I like:

From mooshoes.com: this is a non-leather engineer boot. But I don’t like them because they’re vegan-friendly. I like the style, the rubber sole of the boot and the matte black finish on the buckles. They’re comfy and really easy to break in. I wish I got them earlier on in the riding season, but at least I will be able to enjoy them for fall riding.

Chopper Couture has some really cute clothes with biker-esque designs on them. I don’t love everything they have to offer, but I could see myself in a few of these shirts.

And of course, there’s Juicy Couture. I would never normally spend my hard earned money buying anything “designer”, but these gloves are really frickin’ cute.

Do you guys have some “biker” fashion that you like and want to share with me?

I said goodbye to my new friend, the 2007 Kawasaki Vulcan Custom. We were only together for one short month, but I will never forget our time together. (You can read all of our adventures together here.)

If you’re a woman looking into getting a cruiser, I think this is a good option. I put on a little over 600 miles during the time that I had it and I got really great gas mileage out of it. It’s a nice looking bike, rides smoothly and handles really well. Plus, it doesn’t feel like a heavy motorcycle. I never worried about dropping it (ok maybe I did worry, but mainly because it wasn’t my motorcycle to drop!). I also fund that I leaned much farther in my turns than I usually do. Some people with back problems commented that they didn’t like the forward foot pedals but I had no problems, especially after riding for a couple of hours straight.

The only drawbacks that I found with this bike: it kicks out a lot of heat on higher temperature days and there’s a lot of vibration at higher speeds that I never really got used to.

Bye, bye little red motorcycle…live long and prosper!

I’d quickly like to say thank you to Greg White for finding my site and pitching the idea of giving a motorcycle to a virtually unknown blogger to Kawasaki. And of course, thank you Kawasaki for giving me the opportunity and for trusting me with your fine-ass motorcycle!

Here’s another self-created video post. This past weekend we had great weather so I took the Vulcan Custom out for a ride to NH where we hit the shooting range. It was my first time shooting a gun and although I was really nervous when we got there, I did great (hit the bulls-eye on the first shot!). We then rode east to Seacoast Harley Davidson to window shop and then made a pit stop in Hampton, NH at North Beach (that’s the part of the video where you can barely understand what I’m saying, ha ha!) to watch the surfers and parasailers before heading home.

It was a great day. And my video editing skills are improving quite a bit, too! By the way, I’ve got a new song, “Scary Kitty” featured in the video (got rid of that awful banjo music!) by my friends, the Missing out of NYC. So, BIG thanks to them for letting me use their song. They rock hard!

This weekend was the first time that the feeling of fall was evident. There was a crispness in the air, some leaves that have fallen from trees were swirling around on the ground and the need for a jacket or sweatshirt apparent.

Unfortunately for me, that also means that riding time is dwindling. Kawasaki graciously extended more time with the Vulcan Custom, which is really generous. But I also feel like maybe I’m letting them down a bit. This is my first experience ever of doing a product review. I have been riding it every chance I get and I think that I have been really good at conveying my opinions about the motorcycle objectively—after all I need to keep it honest and true to my readers. I’ve been waiting to do a final thoughts kind of thing until I give it back, just in case something should jump out at me before then. Other than that, I’m not really sure what else I should be doing.

This weekend everyone was out on their motorcycles, bundled up to brave the chilliness. Added layers of clothing definitely make fall riding more comfortable, but also reflect the kick-off of autumn. We know what’s in store for us in the next few months: more layers of clothing, hot cider, pumpkins and motorcycle trips to mountain areas for fall foliage peeping. The summer is all but gone, the cold is coming in and soon the motorcycle will have to go into it’s winter slumber.

My plan for a long weekend road trip got kiboshed. I won’t go into detail because it really doesn’t matter. I did go for a little local ride through a couple of the coastal North shore towns: Salem, Swampscott and Marblehead. I took as many winding and turning roads and I could to get a good feel for how the Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Custom maneuvers them (not to mention a bunch of brick and cobblestone roads, which the suspension easily handled).

Since the Custom has such good throttle response, I did find myself getting a little daring with it. At stop lights I would pull up in the right hand lane next to other cars waiting at the light and just blow past them when the light turned green. I generally don’t do this on my Volusia because it just doesn’t have that kind of throttle response. I also noticed that more people tend to watch me ride down the street on this motorcycle and I think it’s because of the eye-catching paint color.

A kind of funny observation I had about the Custom is that the engine makes a whirring sound on acceleration that reminds me of a hovercraft from Star Wars. Which made me think of Star Trek and the obvious “Vulcan” reference. And the candy red color of the bike made me think of a lyric from Prince’s song “Little Red Corvette“-which made me giggle when I thought of Mr. Spock actually saying that line from the song:

“I’m gonna try to tame your little red love machine.“

Stream of consciousness while riding a motorcycle can be a funny thing sometimes!

I have to be honest: when they told me this was the model of the motorcycle they wanted to loan me I immediately looked it up on Kawasaki.com. My initial reaction to this bike was kinda eh. I didn’t like how the bike seemed to be mash-up of a sport bike and a cruiser with the rear fender so high off of the wheel. I also didn’t really like shape of the seat or the front wheel.

But I will say that I was pleasantly surprised when I laid my own eyes on it. It is much better looking in person. Perhaps I was dazzled by the gorgeous red paint…(just kidding!) Sometimes just looking at photos of a bike (especially online) don’t do it justice.

Right now I’m going to take the time to post some of the specs here (pulled from Kawasaki’s website) and highlight, in my opinion, what I believe to be some of the nicer features of this motorcycle.

Engine:

• 903cc V-twin SOHC
• Gear-driven balancer allows use of single pin crankshaft without heavy vibration

-This is very true. There is minimal vibration and that contributes to a nice, smooth ride. It’s smooth like “buttah!”

Electronic Fuel Injection:

• Dual throttle bodies with sub throttles provide optimum performance and rideability

-what this means to me is: no choke! It’s great to be able to start the bike up cold and not have to worry about warming it up to go.

Dual Slash-Cut Mufflers:

• The mufflers are angled so that they look good when the bike is on it’s side stand
• Include honeycomb catalyzers to help reduce emissions

-They do look good, but they are very quiet. Almost too quiet. But if you’re a “green” person and care about things like emissions, then this is definitely a benefit!

Belt Drive:

• Lower unsprung weight than shaft drive to improve ride quality and suspension action
• More efficient so more power reaches the rear wheel
• Low maintenance and low noise

-All three of these features appeal to me. The less maintenance and the more power, the better.

Custom Cast 21 in. Front Wheel:

• Arranged in pairs, the wheel’s 18 “spokes” were designed by hand
• Tapered and flanged in two directions, every line and surface of each 3-D spoke is exquisitely curved

-Basically, it looks nice. It’s also easier to clean than spoked wheels, which some people would appreciate. I know from experience that it’s a bitch to clean spoked wheels.

Cooling: Liquid

Rear Tire Size: 180/70-15

Wheelbase: 64.8 in.

Front Brake/Rear Brake: 300mm hydraulic disc/270mm hydraulic disc

Fuel Tank Capacity: 5.3 gal.

Low Stepped Seat:

• Ultra-low 27 in. seat height allows riders to easily plant both feet on the ground at stops

-Seat height is a huge deal for some women riders. I’m 5′7″ tall and I am lucky to say that I have no problem putting my feet flat on the ground when I’m on this motorcycle. I don’t know if I could say the same for a woman who is 5′5″ or under. I’m also not so sure how easily (if at all) this bike could be lowered-if so desired. I’ll have to do a little research.

Dry Weight: 549 lbs.- I was surprised to learn that this motorcycle is this heavy. It feels, and handles like it’s much lighter.