Husqvarna, courtesy of BMW Motorrad, has entered the hypermoto market.

After you've practiced braking and acceleration, then it's time to move on to turning. Turning comes naturally to some. Some people need to think about it and practice more.

While you may use a two piece suit on the track, they are generally regarded as street gear.  The Fieldsheer Radar 2 Piece suit is a good example of a leather suit that contains some street oriented features.  Pockets.  It actually has pockets.  It's not as street oriented as a textile suit, but being primarily constructed of leather, it offers more protection.  The suit is also heavily perforated which makes it ideal for hot climates.  In a solid leather suit I'm comfortable down to 40 degrees F.  With the highly perforated Radar suit, my comfort level is 50 degrees F.  On really hot days, it's much nicer than solid leather. 

I only have three minor complaints with the suit.  One, the sizing of the suit is a bit odd.  For this test I weighed in at 220lbs, 6' 1" height, 48" chest, 36" waist and 34" inseam.  I went with the XL size or 46 according to the Fieldsheer sizing chart. According to the chart, 48-50 chest, 33-34 sleave, 40-42 waist and 32.5 inseam.  The waist on this suit is huge.  If I don't wear the jacket, the pants will not stay up.  There is also no way to cinch down the pants to fit my waist.  This is a suit for somebody with a big belly.  The chest on the suit is actually a bit snug, but not uncomfortably so.  The legs and arms a bit snug, but only as snug as they should be.  The rest of the suit fits wonderfully.  My second complaint is the zipper that attaches the jacket to the pants is a slight bit finicky.  It took me about 10 minutes the first time I tried to connect it.  But now that I'm used to it, I can get it connected right away.  Only occasionally do I not hold the zipper at the perfect angle to attache the two.  My third complaint is that the collar has a really large diameter.  It does not come anywhere near my neck.  It doesn't cause any problems, however I've had bugs fly straight into my leathers through the neck opening. 

Aligning motorcycle wheels when adjusting the chain is simpler than it sounds.  All you need is a string that is about three times longer than the wheelbase and two weights to hold the string tight.  In my case I've used two old cam belt bearings from my Impreza.  I have yet to see a swingarm that has accurate chain adjustment marks.  The wheel always ends up being skewed to one side.  The good thing about motorcycles is that even if the rear wheel is not perfectly in line with the front wheel, it'll still be rideable.  The difference having good alignment makes is longer tire life as well as a decreased tendency to exhibit head shake.  You may also notice on some bikes that you feel more comfortable making left turns than right turns or vice versa, and can't quit firgure out why.  It could be rear wheel alignment.  Left and right turns will "feel" different if the rear wheel is tracking off to one side. 

First, get the motorcycle to stand up as straight as it can.  Put spacers under the kickstand, or put it up on the center stand, or track stands.  Now, tie your weights to the end of the string.  Next, take your string and fold it in half to find the center point.  Tape it to the rear tire at a height that will allow it to clear everything under the motorcyle.. exhaust, saddle bags.. etc. when pulled directly forward towards the front tire.

I got a new WR450 so I decided to convert my still strong running DRZ400 into a supermoto machine. 

The Yamaha WRs of recent years have come fairly well corked up from the factory.  I rode the machine around for a few weeks during break in while it was corked up.  It's rideable in that configuration, however it feels like an air cooled XR250 with a really light flywheel.  And it feels like it only revs to 6 grand.  I couldn't wait to get it uncorked.  I wish Yamaha would see fit to release multi state versions so we wouldn't have to uncork them.  Plugging up the exhaust, limiting throttle travel and restricting airbox flow as well as including some kind of smog pump are measures Yamaha has taken to make this bike green sticker legal.  

Alrighty then.. let's release the hounds.

Ok.. motorcycling is dangerous.. You learn to ride at your own peril.  If you read this, do what I say, and get hurt.. that's your fault.  I'm only imparting what works for me. 

Now that you know how to work the clutch and are hopefully able to creep around the parking lot at a crawl, it's time to add a little adrenaline to the mix.  We'll cover accelerating, gear changes and braking. 

Ok.. motorcycling is dangerous.. You learn to ride at your own peril.  If you read this, do what I say, and get hurt.. that's your fault.  I'm only imparting what works for me.

So you still want to learn to ride. You've accepted the danger involved and want to give it a shot. You'll need some basic skills. The most important skill is stopping. But, you obviously can't stop till you get moving. So the first order of business is to get you moving. Things like this are best taught by a tutor on the spot, however, reading it here first will let you get the process in your mind and give you something to think about till you actually get in the saddle.

So you want to learn to ride? Do yourself a favor. Don't!!! What!? Yeah, don't learn.  Do yourself a favor and stay away from bikes.  Bikes are dangerous.  You'll fall and get hurt.  You may even get killed.  Those of us that ride and have ridden for a long time, know people that have crashed bad, been maimed or even killed from crashing.  So, ask yourself how bad you want to ride.  Are you prepared to be maimed, crippled for life or even die?  Can you live without?  Is the risk worth it to you?  Many people simply see a bike and see the people riding them and think it would be something cool to do.  Don't be one of them.  Think it through.  Imagine in your head what it would be like to live in a wheel chair, or worse be trapped inside a body that simply doesn't respond.  Imagine what those you leave behind will go through if you die. I use to urge and encourage everyone to ride.  Not any more.  Not only will operator error get you maimed or killed, but debris and other motorists may just as easily do you in. Oh, and you if you can't ride a bicycle.. don't try riding a motorcycle... seriously, ride a bicycle first. Yeah.. you laugh, but you'd be amazed.  Now.. still want to ride?  Read on then.

The O'Neal Typhoon enduro jacket comes in any color you want as long as it's black. Yeah, I know, that was bad. But it's a good jacket. It's very durable and over the two plus years that I've been abusing it, it's taken it all in stride. It's not a water proof jacket exactly and it's not sold as one, but it keeps me dry in all but the worst down pours. The main weakness in it's weather proof defenses are the zip off sleaves. Water will leak in first around the seams at your shoulders and cuase water to leak down around your chest. I've never unzipped the sleaves. The jacket has enough ventilation and will stay securely in place when the front zippers are unzipped from the top and the bottom. This lets enough air in to keep you cool that I've never needed to unzip the sleaves. I also prefer to err on the side of being over protected.

One of easiest ways to get power out a bike is to open up the restrictive stock exhaust and intake. The Honda Shadow 1100 is no exception. In fact Kerkers, a K&N and a jet kit will make this bike much more fun to ride and smooth out the throttle response so much that you'll think it's a new bike. 

The Suzuki SV650 is probably one of ths most fun machines you can buy. They are relatively cheap and the word entry level comes to mind. But they are much better than a normal "entry level" street machine that comes to mind when when using that term. They have an incredibley strong frame for their displacement, the engine is bullet proof and makes excellent power for a 650 vtwin.