MOTORCYCLES

Are you an adventurer? Do you have the spirit of a wanderer? If so, then the hottest new trend in vacation travel, a motorcycle vacation, may be just the ticket for you. Whatever countryside you enjoy, and whatever bike you ride, a motorcycle vacation promises great fun and entertainment.

Imagine a history buff that uses a motorcycle to explore old Civil War battlefields. Wilson’s Creek in southwest Missouri, Pea Ridge in Northwest Arkansas, and the site of the battle of West Port near the Plaza in modern day Kansas City are all easily accessible by bike. Or, if exploring the west is more your thing, take a trek out west, starting in Sedalia, the scene of the first recorded cattle drive in history. Then on your bike trace the other cattle towns of the old west like Wichita, Parsons and Dodge City in Kansas. Then keep heading west to Colorado the mile high state and visit Estes Park. Go a little south and visit Colorado Springs, park your bike for a day and take a tour of the Air Force Academy and look at the grounds of Cheyenne Mountain, home of Norad.

Still yearning for more western adventure, then you can ride your motorcycle to New Mexico and visit Lincoln County where Billy the Kid and his Regulators raised a ruckus in the 1880’s. New Mexico has great camping in the mountains near Cloudcroft, so be sure to take the opportunity to visit and if you feel up to it, sleep under the stars, with your trusty motorcycle near you, like a cowboy’s horse.

While in New Mexico the Apache reservation at Riodosa offers a chance to try your luck at slot machines and the wheel of fortune. Then a visit to a great Mexican restaurant and on to the town of Roswell, site of the 1947 UFO crash that some people say made history. When you get to Roswell you can either take your bike to a campground, or park it at a nice reasonably priced motor hotel so that you can spend some time in the UFO Museum and Research Center on Main Street. While there you can visit with some witnesses to the crash and hear some fascinating stories, and take a side trip out to the ranch outside of town where debris was found, and some say small alien bodies were recovered. When you’ve seen all the UFO sites you feel like seeing, you can visit the Robert Goddard Museum next door to the Town’s convention center. Goddard is the father of modern rocket science. He performed many of his experiments in the desert near Roswell and the museum is great fun. When you get done in Roswell, then hop on the bike and go to Albuquerque near Holloman Air Force Base, and then on down to White Sands rocket test ground. New Mexico is full of interesting sites. If you head up north, be sure to his Santa Fe and appreciate the Native American arts and crafts on display.

Next stop on your bike tour should be Las Vegas, Nevada. The most exciting town on earth is just a hop, skip and bike ride away. Here’s a chance to really gamble, or if you don’t like to bet, then just stop in at one of the casinos to try a very low priced, delicious buffet. It seems like all the casinos have great buffets and try to outdo each other. You’ll enjoy them all. Remember too that this is a town made for entertainment. Try one of the shows on the strip, or a comedy club or magic act.

Now, after visiting Las Vegas, it may be time to go on to the one place that no motorcycle vacation can be complete without visiting, Sturgis. The town of Sturgis, North Dakota is legendary among those who ride motorcycles, and the town people know how to make a biker welcome. Stop in for a root beer and buy a T-shirt as a souvenir of your trip. You’ll be glad you did, and you’ll remember your motorcycle vacation for years to come. Hop on your biike, be it hog or Honda, and enjoy the ride.

Gregg Hall is a consultant for online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida. Get
motorcycle gear and accessories at http://www.motorcyclegearandaccessories.com

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1. General
Getting your suspension dialled in for your riding style is one of your first priority’s when you take your new bike out on the track. However, it is an on going process. What worked today might not suit the next track conditions you encounter next week. Therefore, you have to take on the role of test rider yourself and learn to identify problem areas. Never stop testing and thinking about what your bike is doing. Here are some practical tips for making your bike as good as it can be, stock or modified.

Spring Rates
There is again no way a manufacturer can know what you weigh. The “average” target weight for a full size motorcycle is a 75kg rider. Therefore, if you have a MX or current technology enduro bike, chances are the spring rates will be close for you. Of course, you will need to check and adjust your sag to be sure.
There are some expectations. If you ride in sand or mud a lot, you might want to do heavier springs. Pro class riders on four strokes will go for stiffer rates, as will x-treme jumpers.

Clickers
Often I will call a client on Monday after a race to see how he (or she) went. Occasionally I am met with the response of “it was too soft” or “it was to stiff” my next question is “What clicker position did you start out at and where did you end up? Did the adjustments you made help?”

“I DIDN’T TOUCH THEM, I LEFT THEM RIGHT WHERE YOU PUT THEM”
Anyone who knows a suspension tuner will realise how much this drives them nuts. Please adjust your clickers yourself. One adjustment at a time so you know what it is doing. Keep a note of where you started form, so if you get lost you can go back. Read your owners manual, it’s full of good stuff. Here is some more information that may help both revalved and standard suspension.

Washing
Wash your bike after every ride so you can inspect the fork chrome tubes for knicks or scratches that will lead to seal failure. For upside down forks keep the chrome tubes free of dry mud that the dust scrapers will not be able to dislodge.
For the shock, lift the bump stop up periodically with a screwdriver and wash under the bump stop. This is a common area where shock shaft corrosion starts. If the flap that protects the shock becomes damaged, replace it or the roost off the rear wheel will damage the shaft.

2- Fork Adjustments
Compression (C) clicker or adjuster is usually at the base of the fork; sometimes covered by a rubber plug, just flick it out with a screwdriver. (Compression clicker is on top for SHOWA twin chamber forks.

Rebound (R) is the top clicker for all forks other than twin chamber forks

Clickers, check the clicker settings are at the suggested positions. If in doubt, 10C and 10R is a good place to start.
After riding, raise the front wheel off the ground and release the air that builds up in the forks.

Triple clamps; Wipe the clamps out with a solvent, they must be clean and oil free. Use a “scotchbrite” pad if you need to remove any hard deposits. Feel the steering head bearings while you are at it do they move freely?

Axle; Check the axle for any nicks or burrs. NEVER HIT YOU AXLE WITH ANYTHING HARDER THAN BRASS OR PLASTIC. If your axle cannot centre in the axle foot, you will have a harsh feeling fork that you cannot remedy with clicker adjustment.
Install the forks and torque the triple clamps to manufacturers specification. Over tightening will cause binding in the upper tubes.

Set the fork projection through the top clamps to the stock position. If you have a projection preference and have not changed fork settings, set it to your previous figure.
Lubricate the axle with thin oil or WD40, run it through the feet and wheel bearings to ensure it is smooth.
Install the wheel and the axle, but leave the pinch bolts loose.
After all the other assembly, work is done, drop the bike off the stand, hold on the front brake and “pump” the forks several times to centre the axle and the fork legs. Tighten the pinch bolts with the bike still sitting on the ground. THIS STEP IS CRITICAL.

The remainder of this article covers Fork tuning specifics, motorcycle suspension problem solving, suspension shock adjustments and shocking tuning. The full article can be obtained by contacting Teknik Racing owner Nick Dole through their website www.teknikracing.com.

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No credit check loans imply that the lender does not know the risk that he is taking by lending to you. Thus, chances are that he will consider you high risk, actually the highest risk. And in the loan industry, high risk has many consequences that when they don’t entail a loan decline, they involve non advantageous loan terms.

Risk Consequences

High risk means that you’ll have to face an inflated interest rate. This is one of the ways the lender covers for what he may lose by lending money to a high risk applicant. The interest rate may be as high as that of cash advance loans or pay day loans and it’s never lower than that of credit cards.

A high risk also implies that you won’t be able to request as much money as you want. You’ll probably have to do with a few thousands of dollars. Only small amounts can be obtained by applying for no credit checks motorcycle loans. Again, it’s just like cash advance loans or payday loans.

Finally, the repayment schedule won’t be too long which will in turn bring about higher monthly payments. While regular vehicle loans and personal loans offer up to 60 months for repaying the loan and sometimes even more, these loans will offer 12 months at most. Thus, loan repaying can be really a burden.

Where to Find a Lender

Though some dealerships may offer these loans, chances are that the best source of no credit checks motorcycle loans is the internet. There are many online lenders offering this and other kind of loans online. You can request loan quotes from them and see if their offers are to your advantage. Always remember though, that if you can show a moderate credit score, you’ll do a lot better requesting a traditional motorcycle loan.

Make Sure you can Afford the Installments

These loans, though they lack credit checks, still carry with them the risk of repossession of the motorcycle. The lender knows that he will be able to recover his money by claiming legal property over the motorcycle if you fail to repay the loan. That’s one of the reasons why he faces so many risks by lending without credit checks.

So, be extremely careful as if you can’t afford the monthly payments, you may loose the motorcycle. And especially if you need the vehicle to work, this may affect your income and ability to repay other debt. Before applying for these loans you need to make sure that your average income will let you afford the installments without sacrifices and that if something unexpected happens that requires cash, you’ll still have enough left to make the payments.

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