People Are Crazy... and Everyone Is A Racer

?And everyone is a racer. If you doubt that, you've obviously never driven in New York City during rush hour. Look closely at the driver of that Japanese luxury car. He's just as miffed as you the racer is at having to drive fifty-five miles per hour when the speedometer on the car clearly reads one hundred and fifty. Why can't we drive it at that speed if the car can come close to it. Man, just look at him fiddling with the knobs pretending to be tuning the radio into a station. We racers know what he is really doing is setting the frequency of his imaginary laser beam roadblock remover system. You know the ones; they make little bomb sounds as we pretend we are obliterating our foes on the drive home.

If you really want to annoy him, honk your horn, tailgate him for a few seconds then cut in front of him. When he reaches his boiling point, slam on your brakes and drive slower than you were both going previously. then apply your brakes and drive slower than you were driving before you cut him off. His typical response will be one of anger, an anger borne of the pent-up frustrations of living in a high tech world and being legislated into a low-tech existence. Our driver will invariably stab the gas pedal and swerve out of the lane in an attempt to pass you back. You, in turn, speed up, knowing that his intent is to block pass you at the first opportunity, then brake check you just so you get the message.

And so this high-speed game of "chicken" unfolds on any highway others will graciously move over to let the two road-warriors carry on with the spectacle. I've participated in a more than a few such duels myself though lately I choose to be a bystander to other people's road rage. This emotionally charged ego-tripping could be very dangerous to anyone near the scene.

Society says we should be punished for breaking their law of a maximum velocity of fifty-five miles per hour (in New York at least). Most racers will try to get away with as much as we can, just like on the track and usually have the skills to pull it off. The typical driver lacks all of the needed skills and courage to indulge themselves and so after one or more two hundred dollar speeding tickets, the potential racer's lust for life is usually squashed flatter than Spongebob in the Arizona desert. They usually go home more frustrated, angrier, and two bills poorer. I'm glad I race motorcycles; I'm glad I have a family of people who know and think and feel exactly as I do... we are fortunate to be real racers.

Drivers aren't the only ones who are acting crazy either. Anyone who has walked or driven in Manhattan can attest to the fact that the craziest of all humans is not "Checkered Cabbus-Weavus"; that honor belongs to "Pedestrius Al-sue-yerbutt", the dreaded New York City pedestrian.

No other form of life on the planet is capable of staring into the eyes of the errant tractor-trailer driver and then stepping nonchalantly into the path of his serpentine behemoth. If you've never seen eighteen thousand pounds of truck with all the wheels locked up you don't know what you're missing. The puff of blue smoke in the distance alerts one to the presence of "Pedestrius Al-su-yerbutt."

While the truck driver shakes uncontrollably, trying to bring his heartbeat back below the three hundred mark, "Pedestrius Al-su-yerbutt" flashes an ear to ear grin. And why shouldn't they, they've just looked fear and death in the face and walked away unscathed. Others can only look on in amazement; children will point in their direction with wonder and awe. They are momentarily idolized as they relish fifteen seconds worth of their fifteen minutes of fame. They will be on the tongues of everyone who saw their gutsy moves,

"Holy cripes, did you see that?"

I'm glad I race motorcycles; I'm glad I have a family of people who know and think and feel exactly as I do... we are fortunate to be real racers and have our outlet.

Before we forget that this is a moto-cross story, let me get to the heart of the matter. The point is simply how much we as off road riders and racers have to be grateful for. Unlike the road-rager and "Pedestrius Al-sue-yerbutt," we don't have to drive our cars at one hundred and twenty miles per hour, nor do we have to tempt fate by stepping in front of speeding trucks just to feel that surge of adrenaline. Thank God we are real racers... I do. We aren't as unlucky as the folks who live out the two examples of non-racers.

We are the normal; we can take out our frustrations on machines that were designed to be the healers of our pressures and frustrations. We have moto-cross and the woods to keep us sane. How lucky we are indeed. I'm glad I race motorcycles; I'm glad I have a family of people who know and think and feel exactly as I do... I am fortunate to be among real racers. So when next you are privy to witness any of the afore mentioned dramas, you'll know? people are crazy, and everyone is a racer.

Michael James

*7 years covering professional motocross racing for Cycle News, mxlarge.com, motocross.com, and mxwired.com *amateur motocross racer *screenwriter - seeking representation- *8 year columnist for several motocross papers and magazines

Motorcycle Suspension: - A Troubleshooting Guide

Trouble Shooting Suspension Problems.

Adjustment locations: Forks

Rebound adjustment (if applicable) is located near the top of the fork. Compression adjustment (if applicable) is located near the bottom of the fork. Spring preload adjustment (if applicable) is generally hex style and located at the top of the fork.

Lack of Rebound

Symptoms:

? Forks are plush, but increasing speed causes loss of control and traction

? The motorcycle wallows and tends to run wide exiting the turn causing fading traction and loss of control.

? When taking a corner a speed, you experience front-end chatter, loss of traction and control.

? Aggressive input at speed lessons control and chassis attitude suffers.

? Front end fails to recover after aggressive input over bumpy surfaces.

Solution: Insufficient rebound. Increase rebound "gradually" until control and traction are optimized and chatter is gone.

Too Much Rebound

Symptoms:

? Front end feels locked up resulting in harsh ride.

? Suspension tucks in and fails to return, giving a harsh ride. Typically after the first bump, the bike will skip over subsequent bumps and want to tuck the front.

? With acceleration, the front end will tank slap or shake violently due to lack of front wheel tire contact.

Solution: Too much rebound. Decrease rebound "gradually" until control and traction are optimized.

Lack of Compression

Symptoms:

? Front-end dives severely, sometimes bottoming out over heavy bumps or during aggressive breaking.

? Front feels soft or vague similar to lack of rebound.

? When bottoming, a clunk is heard. This is due to reaching the bottom of fork travel.

Solution: Insufficient compression. Increase "gradually" until control and traction are optimized.

Too Much Compression

Symptom:

? Front end rides high through the corners, causing the bike to steer wide. It should maintain the pre-determined sag, which will allow the steering geometry to remain constant.

Solution: Decrease compression "gradually" until bike neither bottoms nor rides high.

Symptom:

? Front end chatters or shakes entering turns. This is due to incorrect oil height and/or too much low speed compression damping.

Solution: First, verify that oil height is correct. If correct, then decrease compression "gradually" until chattering and shaking ceases.

Symptom:

? Bumps and ripples are felt directly in the triple clamps and through the chassis. This causes the front wheel to bounce over bumps.

Solution: Decrease compression "gradually" until control is regained.

Symptom:

? Ride is generally hard, and gets even harder when braking or entering turns.

Solution: Decrease compression "gradually" until control is regained.

Adjustment Locations: Rear Shock

Rebound adjustment (if applicable) is located at the bottom of the shock. Compression adjustment (if applicable) is located on the reservoir. Spring prelude is located at the top of the shock.

Shock: Lack of Rebound

Symptoms:

? The ride will feel soft or vague and as speed increases, the rear end will want to wallow and/or weave over bumpy surfaces and traction suffers.

? Loss of traction will cause rear end to pogo or chatter due to shock returning too fast on exiting a corner.

Solution: Insufficient rebound - Increase rebound until wallowing and weaving disappears and control and traction are optimized.

Shock: Too Much Rebound

Symptoms:

? Ride is harsh, suspension control is limited and traction is lost.

? Rear end will pack in, forcing the bike wide in corners, due to rear squat. It will slow steering because front end is riding high.

? When rear end packs in, tires generally will overheat and will skip over bumps.

? When chopping throttle, rear end will tend to skip or hop on entries.

Solution: Too much rebound. Decrease rebound "gradually" until harsh ride is gone and traction is regained. Decrease rebound to keep rear end from packing.

Shock: Lack of Compression

Symptoms:

? The bike will not turn in entering a turn.

? With bottoming, control and traction are lost.

? With excessive rear end squat, when accelerating out of corners, the bike will tend to steer wide.

Solution: Insufficient compression. Increase compression "gradually until traction and control is optimized and/or excessive rear end squat is gone.

Shock: Too Much Compression

Symptoms:

? Ride is harsh, but not as bad as too much rebound. As speed increases, so does harshness.

? There is very little rear end squat. This will cause loss of traction/sliding. Tire will overheat.

? Rear end will want to kick when going over medium to large bumps.

Solution: Decrease compression until harshness is gone. Decrease compression until sliding stops and traction is regained.

Mark Thompson has spent the past 20 years racing motorcycles and managing Race teams and riders. He now runs the <a target="_new" href="http://www.trackbikes.co.uk">Trackbikes</a> Website along with a number on Internet Ventures

It?s One Thing for People to Buy Your Product or Service, but It?s Another for Them to Tattoo Your

William Harley and Arthur Davidson, both in their early twenties, built their first motorcycle in 1903. During their first year, the company's entire output was only 1 motorbike; however, by 1910, the company had sold 3,200. Movies such as Easy Rider made Harleys a cultural icon and soon the company attracted people who loved its bad-boy mystique, powerfulness, rumbling voice, distinctive roar, and toughness. It sounded like nothing else on the road, and even Elvis Presley and Steve McQueen longed to ride one.

The Harley-Davidson Motor Company has had its ups and downs, and at times, the downs seemed as if they would end in bankruptcy. In the sixties, Honda, Kawasaki, and Yamaha invaded the American market, and when sales at Harley-Davidson dropped drastically due to decreasing quality and increasing competition, the company began to look for buyers and was finally sold. However, the new owners of Harley Davidson knew little about how to restore profitability. The quality became so bad that dealers had to place cardboard under bikes in the showroom to absorb the oil leaking.

Daniel Gross, in Forbes Greatest Business Stories of all Times, recounts how in 1981, with the aid of Citibank, a team of former Harley-Davidson executives began negotiations to reacquire the company and rescue it from bankruptcy. Among these executives was William Davidson, the grandson of the founder Arthur Davidson. In a classic leveraged buyout, they pooled $1 million in equity and borrowed $80 million from a consortium of banks lead by Citibank.

Harley's rescue team of loyal executives knew that the Japanese motorbike manufacturers were far ahead in regard to quality management, and they made a bold decision to tour a nearby Honda plant. Paradoxically, the Japanese had learned Total Quality Management from the Americans, Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran. The new business concept outlined by these two pioneers was a new management approach that, interestingly enough, had been rejected by American manufacturers. As a result, they offered this approach to Japanese manufactures that were eager to learn and implement it. Therefore, soon after their tour of the Honda plant, the Harley Davidson Motor Company decided to put into practice this originally rejected approach.

After implementing just-in-time inventory (JIT) and employee involvement, costs at Harley had dropped significantly; this meant that the company only needed to sell 35,000 bikes instead of 53,000 in order to break even. Their lobbying at Washington also helped, and import tariffs were raised temporarily from 4 to 40 percent on Japanese bikes. This extra breathing space was something that the U.S. motorbike company desperately needed for its recovery.

The combination of visiting a Japanese motorbike manufacturing plant and lobbying in Washington for import tariffs was a daring move on behalf of Harley's executives in their attempt to bring back profitability and growth to the company. Another important strategic move was the company's unique marketing and branding campaigns. Studies showed that about 75 % of Harley customers made repeat purchases, and executives quickly recognized a pattern that refocused the company's overall strategy. Simply put, they needed to find a way to appeal to the extraordinary loyalty of customers, which they found in creating a community that valued the experience of riding a Harley more than the product itself.

The sponsorship of a &quot;Harley Owners' Group&quot; has been one of the most creative and innovative strategies that has helped create the experience of this product. Without realizing it, Harley executives had pioneered a new paradigm that would be increasingly embraced by other industries in their quest to increase profitability by converting their product into an experience. The company started to organize rallies to strengthen the relationship between its members, dealers, and employees, while also promoting the Harley experience to potential customers. The Harley Owners' Groups became immensely popular; it allowed motorcycle owners to feel as if they belonged to one big family. In 1987, there were 73,000 registered members, and Harley now boasts to have no less than 450,000 members.

In 1983, the company launched a marketing campaign called SuperRide, which authorized over 600 dealerships to invite people to test-drive Harleys. Over 40,000 potential new customers accepted the invitation, and from then on, many customers were not just buying a motorcycle when they bought a Harley; instead, they were buying &quot;the Harley Experience.&quot;

Harley-Davidson offered its customers a free one-year membership to a local riding group, motorcycle publications, private receptions at motorcycle events, insurance, emergency roadside service, rental arrangements on vacation, and a host of other member benefits. Branding the experience, not just the product, has allowed the company to expand how it captures value, including a line of clothing, a parts and accessories business, and Harley-Davidson Visa card.

If you were to scan the list of companies that delivered the greatest returns on investment during the 1990s, you would discover Harley-Davidson. Only a few companies have been successful in inventing entirely new business models, or profoundly reinventing existing ones. Harley-Davidson went from supplying motorcycles to antisocial raiders to selling a lifestyle to the aging bad boy wannabes caught in their midlife crises. Traditionally, Harley-Davidson bike owners came from the working and middle classes, but as quality and prices of the bad-boy-bikes rose, and with energetic marketing, the company soon attracted a different class of buyers-currently one third of Harley buyers are professionals or managers, and 60% are college graduates. The new customer segments of Harley are the Rolex Riders or the Rich Urban Bikers. Hell's Angels do not run in the same group anymore. Now there are groups of accountants, lawyers and doctors. Women also account for a significant portion of the new riders, and there are women-only riders clubs spreading all over the globe.

The future looks bright for the U.S. motorbike company. According to The Economist, overall U.S. sales increased over 20% in 2000, and more than 650,000 new motorcycles were sold in the U.S. in the same year, up from 539,000 the year before. Bike buyers spent an estimated $5.45 billion on new bikes in 2000.

Stay alert and get it early. The new branding paradigm is to sell a lifestyle, a personality and it is also about appealing to emotions of your customers. Increasingly, it will be more and more about creating an experience around the product. Brand managers and executives will need a new set of lenses. The rules have changed as well as the opportunities to maximize profitability and create value in the process. Nonetheless, the majority of companies continue to follow traditional ad campaigns and they seem to ignore the fact that the media has fragmented into hundreds of cable channels, thousands of magazine titles and millions of Internet pages.

Consumers are no longer sitting ducks for commercials; they are looking for new experiences. Whether it is the bad-boy-aura of the Harley riding experience, the exquisite coffee experience in Starbucks caf?s, or the active participation in Net communities, more and more companies will need to follow these early new branding pioneers. They will need to look into the dynamics of their relationships with customers and the nature of their interaction. They will need to ask themselves some serious &quot;out-of-the-box&quot; questions if they want to move with the shifting value that is the result of constantly changing market conditions.

Branding has changed and so have marketing and advertising campaigns. New variability, heterogeneity where there was once homogeneity, newly emerging stratifications of wealth, new preferences, and new life styles are all characteristics of the 21st century customer that are here to stay. We better get used to it, at lease until the next paradigm is discovered. Remember, the companies that are creating new wealth are not just getting better; they are becoming different-mind-bogglingly different!

Bibliography:
Barker, Joel. Paradigms. Harper Business, 1993.

Bedbury, Scott. A New Brand World: Eight Principles for Achieving Brand Leadership in the 21st Century, Viking Press, 2002.

Gross, Daniel: Forbes Greatest Business Stories of All Time, John Wiley & Sons, 1997.

Hamel, Gary. &quot;Innovation Now,&quot; in Fast Company (http://www.fastcompany.com/online/65/innovation.html), December 2002

Kotter, John P., Leading Change, Harvard Business School Press, 1996, pp. 4 ? 14.

Teerlink, Rich, and Ozley, Lee: More Than a Motorcycle: The Leadership Journey at Harley-Davidson, Harvard Business School Press, 2000. Young, James Webb. Technique for Producing Ideas, McGraw-Hill, p. 14.

Josef Schinwald is consultant in Performance Measurement and professor in Business Strategy at the University of Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and his didactic material must not be replicated without the given permission to do so. Copyright ? 2003-2005 Business Design Innovation. Josef is also owner of ValueQuest, LLC, a e-commerce business, and you can visit his sites at My Motorcycle Leather <a target="_new" href="http://www.my-motorcycle-leather.com">http://www.my-motorcycle-leather.com</a> and Stylish Wedding Favors <a target="_new" href="http://www.stylish-wedding-favors.com">http://www.stylish-wedding-favors.com</a>.

Auctions and Car Transport: Everything You Need To Know

Everyone has wanted to sell a car at some point and in the age of Internet auctions, there are more options than ever when it comes to selling your car whether it's an '05, '78 or a '20. With this ever expanding world of options comes the need to make delivery after you've sold the vehicle and that requires a car transport service.

Depending on the auction service, you can list that shipment of the item is completely up to the buyer's discretion or offer a method of transportation to fold into the final price.

The first is often more preferable to buyers because it allows them to shop various car transporters themselves to find the one that suits them best. However, if you decide to fold the cost of the shipment along with a hand picked transporter into the auction of your car, there are some things you need to do.

First, you need to narrow down your selection of transporters in some fashion that incorporates not only their price ranges but also their reliability and service records. Remember, that by folding in the selection of the transporter to the auction, you are in some way taking responsibility for the shipment both before you deliver it to the transporter and after.

Second, to simplify the matters with regard to the auction, make sure you have all the information about your selected transporter at hand. Include this information in the auction information. When buyers look through potential cars to buy on auctions they are as concerned about the cars they are looking at as to how they might get there.

Some buyers may not want to use the transporter you have selected; you may or may not wish to include that as an option to turn down on the buyer's part.

Finally, when you are ready to list the car as well as the transporter information, be sure to include a series of price quotes from the transporter from the car's location to major hubs on both coasts, the mid-west and include both upper and lower sides of the coasts, mid-Atlantic and so on.

This will allow the buyer to guess based on their proximity to one of those locations what the cost will likely be. Always be sure to list that the quotes are not exact and are not final until the buyer's shipping information is received.

It may seem like more work than it's worth to go through all of this prior to listing the car that you want to sell, it will pay off at the auction's closing. As the seller, you simply wait to confirm where the car is being transported to and confirm a final quote from the transportation company.

Once the seller receives the payment from the buyer they can get the car to the transportation company of their choice and not have to worry if the buyer chooses a transporter that will be a hassle for you the seller.

While most buyers and sellers work in fairly cooperative relations in order to receive the item sold and the payment for the item, sometimes having the game plan set will save a lot of time.

Discover vital information and advice about car and auto transport services. Find out what you must do, and what you must not do. Click <a target="_new" href="http://www.auto-transport-101.com/">http://www.auto-transport-101.com/</a>

Do You Need a Part for Your Harley Davidson Motorcycle?

Need a Harley Davidson Part for your ride?

<B>Where do you get a good quality Harley Davidson Part? Can I use an aftermarket part?

These questions are not easy to answer. It depends a lot on your situation, part you're looking for, and the money you want to spend.

The bottom line......... you have to decide.

I have a little information here that may be useful to you, so keep reading!

<B>An OEM part versus an aftermarket part.

An <B>OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) part are of course the genuine Harley Davidson Part you would find at an authorized Harley dealer.

These parts are original in that they have the exact same specifications that came with the original part.

These parts however many not have been manufactured by Harley Davidson themselves (at their physical location). Harley may get another company to manufacture these parts to Harley specs, and then they will sell them in the Harley box as OEM.

OEM parts are generally more expensive, and almost always recommended by the dealer. (They make their money by selling parts not bikes)

The dealer will most likely tell you that OEM parts are of a higher quality. This may or may not be true.

An <B>Aftermarket part should perform as well as an OEM but take note. These parts were made by a company other than the original manufacturer.

Sometimes after a certain time period the original manufacturer of a part will allow the company that physically manufactured the part to sell it at a reduced price and in their own packaging. The part now becomes an OEM aftermarket part.

Normally after a certain period of time, the manufacturer will allow the company that originally designed/produced the part to sell it in their own box at a considerably lower cost, making it: an Aftermarket OEM part

So what does this tell you about that Harley Davidson Part that you need?

If you cannot find the quality in an aftermarket part, then search for the OEM provided it is in your price range.

There is a lot of competition out there between vendors who want your dollar. An aftermarket Harley part, for your Harley Davidson are generally of good to excellent quality.

If you own a Harley, sooner or later you will have to buy parts for it. Buying online has its conveniences and you don't have to go downtown and fight traffic.

Keith Nivon is an avid Harley Davidson Motorcycle Enthusiast! His website contains information on all things Harley Davidson. <a target="_new" href="http://www.everything-harley-davidson.com">http://www.everything-harley-davidson.com</a> is a great article resource for anyone who shares a passion for Harley Davidson Motorcycles. Have a look at <a target="_new" href="http://www.everything-harley-davidson.com/harley-davidson-part.html">http://www.everything-harley-davidson.com/harley-davidson-part.html</a> for more info on parts.

Avoiding Excessive or Uneven Front Tire Wear

All rubber tires wear down over time, whether they're on a motorcycle or automobile. However, you want to watch out for uneven or excessive wear, both of which can cause serious problems for motorcycle riders. If you pay attention to the following causes of excessive and uneven wear, you will extend the life of your tires and keep yourself safe:

1. Improper Tire Pressure - We have all heard about the importance of maintaining proper tire pressure at all times. Improper air pressure in your tire is a big reason for many tire problems and failures. Be sure your tires have the recommended pressure in them at all times.

2. Humped Roads -- Most roads are "humped" slightly in the middle or banked away from the center to allow rain and water to drain off. However, this hump can have a dramatic effect on one side of your motorcycle's front tire because the side of the tire closer to the center of the road will wear faster. There's not much you can do about this, and it can become very visible if you ride a lot. So be aware of this phenomenon and check the left side of your front tire often.

3. Disproportionate Cupping -- Cupping is a normal phenomenon on rubber tires that occurs when the brakes are applied. However, excessive use of the front brake can produce disproportionate cupping, when one side of the tire is more cupped than the other. Using the front brake will naturally put more pressure and force on the front tire to make it stop, thereby using up more rubber.

4. Wheel Alignment - While this problem is not as common on motorcycles as it is on cars, it causes uneven tire wear. Any number of things can cause wheel misalignment on motorcycles, including getting into a fender bender, riding over potholes, jumping over sidewalks and curbs, etc. It is a good idea to have your wheel alignment checked out at least once a year to make sure that a misalignment isn't unevenly wearing your front tire.

5. Shock Absorbers -- A bad shock absorber can wreak havoc on the handling of your bike and promotes uneven front tire wear. So make sure your shocks are in good shape.

6. Improper Loading -- The final major problem to keep in mind is improper loading of your bike, which causes your front tire to wear unevenly. Proper weight distribution is essential to being able to handle and steer your bike safely. Loading down one side of your saddlebag with tools or equipment can keep you from riding as vertically as possible, creating uneven tire wear.

So check your tires frequently, and keep these causes in mind if you begin noticing excessive or uneven front tire wear. Having the knowledge and taking the proper precautions will not only make you a safer rider but will prolong the life of your bike's tires.

Jeff Sinason aka Tools - is the owner <a target="_new" href="http://www.bikerwares.com">Bikerwares.com</a>. Being an avid biker, he spends most of his time working on his web site and touring the country.

Welcome To The World Of ?Upside Down? Motorcycle Loans!

With the depreciation on motorcycles being so enormous after they are driven off the showroom floor, the potential for a buyer owing more on their motorcycle loan than the bike is worth it quite high. Owing more on your bike than it is worth is often referred to as the world of &quot;up side down&quot;.

Many people finding themselves in this situation discover that financial lessons are sometimes the hardest and most expensive to learn. Motorcycle loans of more than 48 months (especially without a down payment) put you in the position of owing more than the value of the bike.

Let's take a look at this phenomenon.

First, the interest calculation your lender uses can make a big difference in your situation, especially in the first 18 months. There are two primary interest calculations, pre-computed (combined with rule of 78) and simple interest.

Pre-computed interest combined with Rule of 78, is typically the worst situation for a buyer because most of the interest is paid in the first 24 months. Therefore, in the first 24 months little of the monthly payment has gone towards paying down principal. If a buyer wishes to sell or trade in the motorcycle within this timeframe they will likely find themselves owing more than the bike is worth. Statistics show that the average owner trades in every 18-24 months.

Simple interest on the other hand, is much more favorable for buyers since interest accrues on the balance of the loan. However, buyers that extend their loans for greater than 48 months can still find themselves up side down with simple interest. This is especially true if a down payment is not made. The reason this occurs is that the motorcycle depreciates faster than the principal is paid; leaving the balance owed to the lender to be more than the bike can be sold for.

A common view that many people have is that they will just surrender their motorcycle to the lender if they are caught in an &quot;up side down&quot; position. If you are considering this option don't! Your worries do not just end after your bike is surrendered or repossessed; in fact they are just beginning. The lender will sell your bike at an auction for much less than it is worth. You will still owe the difference between the amount you owed on your loan and the amount the motorcycle sold for at auction. So if you owe $5000 and the bike sells for $1500, you still are responsible for owing the lender $3500. To make it worse lenders may tack on hefty auction fees which you will owe as well. So the net result is that you are now responsible for making monthly payments on a bike you can no longer ride.

So what steps can you take to prevent from being caught &quot;up side down&quot;?

1. Find a lender that uses simple interest. Avoid lenders that use pre-computed / Rule of 78 interest calculations.

2. Always try to put money down on your purchase.

3. Try to avoid motorcycle loans that extend past 36 months.

Jay Fran is a author and publisher for a website that specializes in <a target="_new" href="http://www.motorcycle-financing-guide.com">Motorcycle Loans: High Risk OK</a>. A comprehensive resource on simple interest motorcycle financing, poor credit, new, used and bad credit motorcycle loans.

The Motorcycle Helmet You Want May Not Be As Safe As You Think!

Choosing the right Motorcycle helmet can make a difference?.

?.literally between life and death. But how does an ordinary guy in the street make an informed decision about what kind of helmets give the best protection? There are so many makes, models and styles. Not to mention DOT approved, Snell approved, ECE approved! It is enough to make you go goggle eyed when confronted with so much information.

Tests have shown that it is perfectly possible to suffer a fatal injury falling off a stationary bike if you hit your unprotected head on the kerb, so clearly choosing the right helmet is important.

But which one?

Wouldn't it be easier if someone just said, &quot;Look, when you are in a crash, you need to protect this part of you head, because this is the part that is most likely to get hurt&quot;?

Well that's what I thought. But it wasn't that easy. The kind of information you need to make that kind of call requires someone, somewhere to look at a whole bunch of motorcycle crashes, look at the motorcycle helmet damage, assess where point of impact occurred and put the information into a form that allows ordinary motorcyclists (like you and me) to make a decision for themselves.

However, the good news is that if you look hard enough, the information is available. A study was carried out a few years ago by Deitmar Otte, at the Medizinsche Hochschule in Hannover, Germany on the damage incurred to helmets worn by motorcyclists involved in accidents. His analysis was extremely detailed; in fact it was far to detailed for me to go into here, but it was extremely important.

What I am going to do is tell you in a nutshell, what parts of your head are most likely to be hurt in a motorcycle accident, based on Herr Otte's findings. The rest is up to you?

Take a motorcycle helmet and look at it from the front. Now imagine it is divided into three sections; the top (the cranium area) the middle (the area most likely covered by the visor) and the bottom (on a full face helmet, this would be the chin guard area). If you were involved in a motorcycle accident, and you hit your head you would have a 35% chance of the impact occurring to your chin area, 10% to your visor area, and 22% chance of the impact occurring to your front cranium area.

Now turn the helmet around. Looking at it from the back, divide it in two down the middle. In an accident, if you hit you head, you have a 16% chance of impact occurring on the back of you head to the left side, and a 17% chance of impact occurring on the back right side.

Conclusion? Well, this is only my personal conclusion but I would say the following?

The safest helmets are full face helmets?

Second would be three quarter helmets with visors?

Third would be half helmets?

Last would be novelty helmets.

There are lots of reasons people wear helmets. However, if safety is you main consideration, then take a good look at the full face helmets on the market, take some time and find one which you can wear comfortably on every ride.

Michael Holmes is a enthusiast for all thing motorcycle. His website, <a target="_new" href="http://www.motorcycleparts-accessories-andmore.com">http://www.motorcycleparts-accessories-andmore.com</a>, is a great resource of articles aimed at motorcyclists of all levels, including a page specifically for <A target="_new" HREF="http://motorcycleparts-accessories-andmore.com/cheapmotorcyclehelmets.html" >cheap motorcycle helmets.</A>

Motorcycle Suspension Setup: Getting to Grips with a Black Art

Suspension Set-up: The basics

Whether you are a road rider or a racer correct suspension setup is the key to fast smooth riding and consistent lap times. To get the best out of your bike it needs to be set up for the conditions in which you will be riding. It is considerably easier to set the bike up for the Track as you know what conditions will be like for the next hour or so and thus you can dial in the optimum settings for the that particular situation.

To what extent you change your suspension settings will depend on whether your bike will also have to cope with riding on the road. Unlike Roads Tracks are generally smooth and grippy. So if you are only going to use the bike on the track you have the luxury of fitting harder springs and modifying the fork and shock internals. If you ride on the road as well as the track you will probably want to keep a certain comfort level and concentrate on just optimizing the current equipment

With incorrect suspension setup, tire wear is increased and handling suffers, which in turn can result in rider fatigue. Lap times can be dramatically slower and in extreme cases safety can be compromised. Hopefully the following guide will help you dial in your suspension for faster and safer riding both on and off the track.

Firstly you will need to check the Fork and Shock sag: this is the amount the forks and rear shock settle under load. To measure it do the following: push down on the forks a number of times to settle them, then mark the stanchion with a felt pen or put a cable tie where the dust seal is sitting. Next ask some for help to lift on the bars so the front wheel is just off the ground and measure the amount the forks have traveled down. This is the static sag (or unladen sag), This can be changed by adjusting the spring preload (more preload = less sag). Repeat the same process for the rear, this time measuring the distance from the wheel spindle to a fixed point on the tail. Now you are ready to begin setting up your suspension. The key is to do it a little at a time and make notes as you go. For road riding start with the wet track settings and work from there.

Basic Setup: Check the following

Forks sag 18-22 mm for dry track, 23-27mm for rain.

Shock sag 8-10mm for dry track, 10-14mm for rain.

Check chain alignment. If not correct, bike will crab walk and sprocket wear will be increased.

Proper tire balance and pressure, starting with 30psi front and 32psi rear (both dry and wet).

Steering head bearings and torque specifications - if too loose, there will be head shake at high speeds.

Front-end alignment. Check wheel alignment with triple clamps. If out of alignment, fork geometry will be incorrect and steering will suffer.

Crash damage, check for proper frame geometry.

Stock Suspension Tuning Limitations

Manufacturers plan on designing a bike that works moderately well for a large section of riders and usages. To accomplish this as economically as possible, they use valving with very small venturis. These are then matched to a very basic shim stack which creates a damping curve for the given suspension component. At slower speeds this design can work moderately well, but at higher speeds, when the suspension must react more quickly, the suspension will not flow enough oil, and will experience hydraulic lock. With hydraulic lock, the fork and/or shock cannot dampen correctly and handling suffers. The solution is to re-valve the active components to gain a proper damping curve. It does not matter what components you have, (Ohlins, Fox, Kayaba, Showa) matching them to your intended use and weight will vastly improve their action. Furthermore, if you can achieve the damping curve that is needed, it does not matter what brand name is on the component. Often with stock components, when you turn the adjusters full in or out, you do not notice a difference. In part, this is due to the fact that the manufacturer has put the damping curve in an area outside of your ideal range. Also, because the valves have such small venturis, the adjuster change makes very little difference. After re-valving, the adjusters will be brought into play, and when you make an adjustment, you will be able to notice that it affects the way the way the fork or shock performs.

Another problem with stock suspension is the springs that are used. Often they are progressive, increasing the spring rate with increased compression distance. This means that the valving is correct for only one part of the spring's travel, all other is compromise. If the factory does install a straight-rate spring, it is rarely the correct rate for the weight of the rider with gear. The solution is to install a straight-rate spring that matches the valving for the combined weight of the bike, rider and gear to the type of riding intended.

Remember!

? Always make small adjustments, more is not always better.

? Always keep notes of what you have done.

? Suspension tuning is an art - be patient

Mark Thompson has spent the last 20 Years Racing motorcycles and managing Race Teams. He now runs the <a target="_new" href="http://www.trackbikes.co.uk">Trackbikes</a> website.

Workings of a Motorcycle Muffler Suspension

Motorcycles are becoming more popular because of its convenience and relatively inexpensive cost compared to automobiles. They are capable of the same speeds as cars and can also be licensed for use on public highways.

Owners and drivers of motorcycles opt for these motorized, two-wheeled vehicles as transportation because aside from it being an inexpensive alternative to cars, they can be easily maneuvered and they deliver higher fuel economy. In addition, they take less space for parking. No wonder a lot of Asian countries have more motorcycles than cars.

And for drivers who love speed, motorcycles are great vehicles because they can accelerate more quickly than an automobile. Nevertheless, motorcycles are not for everybody. Riding and controlling this vehicle requires skill and extra caution especially during difficult maneuverings on wet or slick surfaces.

But when you do get the urge to ride a motorcycle, you would want to learn a lot of information on the vehicle, like "Where do I start?"; "How do I start my motorcycle?"; "Do I need to shift gears?" "If so, how do I do it?" And most of all, any beginner would want to know first the makings and basic parts of a motorcycle and how they work.

One author wrote that to give steps on how to start a motorcycle on a hill involves a tremendous number of motorcycle parts. And it doesn't matter if its aftermarket motorcycle parts or OEM, once a new rider begins to learn to ride it, he or she must also be able to identify which part is which, or how to operate the basic procedures for riding a motorcycle.

One of the most important and popular part of a motorcycle is the muffler. Other than the tires, the body, the most well known part I believe is the muffler. The motorcycle muffler includes all pipes and baffles needed to reduce, if not quiet, the exhaust noise. It is also used to match with the carburetor jetting. Most often than not, factory mufflers are changed to aftermarket pipes to tailor to the specifications of the user according to sound and performance.

However, not all motorcycles have the same parts in the same places. Each motorcycle, whether they have aftermarket motorcycle parts or OEM, has its own names for its parts and even the way that the parts are interconnected may be different. It's up to you, the rider, to identify these parts according to the model and brand of the motorcycle you're going to use.

Granny's Mettle is a 30-something, professional web content writer. She has created various web content on a diverse range of topics, which includes digital printing topics, medical news, as well as legal issues. Her articles are composed of reviews, suggestions, tips and more for the printing and designing industry.

Her thoughts on writing: "Writing gives me pleasure? pleasure and excitement that you have created something to share with others. And with the wide world of the Internet, it gives me great satisfaction that my articles reach more people in the quickest time you could imagine."

On her spare time, she loves to stay at home, reading books on just about any topic she fancies, cooking a great meal, and taking care of her husband and kids.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit <a target="_new" href="http://www.motorcyclepartsbin.com">http://www.motorcyclepartsbin.com</a>

Motorcycle Parts - OEM or Aftermarket ?

This is always a difficult one to answer when shopping for motorcycle parts and I firmly believe that each one of us must decide what's best for our bikes AFTER carefully evaluating each of the possibilities.

For me?

Well... it really depends on what I am looking for - just replacement or improvement - , the availability of the part, my budget and other things. Sometimes I buy OEM, others aftermarket motorcycle parts.

Keep reading. You will find some views that will hopefully help you decide the next time you shop for motorcycle parts.

What a heck are OEM parts??

OEM parts stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer parts which not necessarily mean the OM (Original Manufacturer) actually produced them. You know, many motorcycle and automobile manufacturers don't manufacture each of the parts used in their vehicles. They frequently have the parts designed and manufactured by outside independent companies and then, install them in their machines or put them in their own boxes to be sold as OEM parts!

Good to know when buying OEM Motorcycle Parts:

When you buy OEM Motorcycle Parts you are buying the exact same original part the manufacturer used to build your motorcycle, that means:

>> Same performance as the part installed in your motorcycle right now. The part won't be better nor worse than the original part you want to replace.

>> Normally OEM parts a more (in some cases MUCH more) expensive than aftermarket parts.

>> Motorcycle and car agencies clerks will normally tell you OEM Parts are higher quality and the best option for replacements. Is this true? Well sometimes it is, sometimes it's not.

>> Normally after a certain period of time, the manufacturer will allow the company that originally designed/produced the part to sell it in their own box at a considerably lower cost, making it: an Aftermarket OEM part! :-)

>> BE CAREFUL if your bike is still in its guarantee period make sure you use only OEM parts and have them installed by authorized mechanics. If you don't do so, you will probably void the guarantee.

What about Aftermarket parts??

Aftermarket parts should perform as well as OEM parts but are produced by companies other than the original manufacturer(s).

Things to know when buying Aftermarket Motorcycle Parts:

>> MAKE SURE YOUR GUARANTEE PERIOD IS OVER. In many cases, you can VOID your guarantee if you have an aftermarket part installed by an unauthorized mechanic in your machine. I know I said it before, but it's worth repeating; I happened to me! :-(

>> Equivalent aftermarket Suzuki motorcycle parts are normally cheaper than OEM parts. Sometimes up to 70% cheaper!

>> Aftermarket parts can have lower,the same or higher quality than the original.

>> When buying aftermarket parts make sure you are getting AT LEAST the same quality as the OEM part. If possible try to get some reviews about brands and performance. You can do it in the Internet, with your favorite mechanic or with fellow riders.

>> If you are looking for high performance parts and devices, you know the kind: carbon fiber, titanium, aerospace aluminum parts and gizmos, well you will probably find them as aftermarket motorcycle parts.

OEM or aftermarket motorcycle parts, sooner or later you will be shopping for them...

Enjoy the ride!

Daniel Levy

Daniel Levy is the owner and contributing writer of <a target="_new" href="http://www.Japanese-Motorcycles-Only.com">http://www.Japanese-Motorcycles-Only.com</a> . He loves motorcycles and Web development. For more great info visit <a target="_new" href="http://www.japanese-motorcycles-only.com/">http://www.japanese-motorcycles-only.com/</a>

If you need motorcycle parts, check out BikeBandit: my favorite online store for motorcycle parts. You will find a full review of their business in this page:<a target="_new" href="http://www.japanese-motorcycles-only.com/bike-bandit.html">http://www.japanese-motorcycles-only.com/bike-bandit.html</a>

A Convenient Way to Slash Your Gas Bill

&quot;With oil prices spiraling higher almost every day, people are starting to look for alternative modes of transport,&quot; says Michael S. Milstead of Scootertronics. &quot;With scooters, commuters can slash their gas bills and still have an efficient, reliable mode of transport."

With the introduction of four stroke scooters into the market this year even larger savings can be had with these scooters getting 60 to 80 miles per gallon. Four Stroke Scooters are much easier to care for than two stroke scooters with oil added to an oil reserveb just like a car instead of being injected into carb for lubrication. This keeps the carb from getting clooged up plus eliminates the expense of two stroke oil and reduces smoke plus you get a quieter smoother running engine.

The larger 150cc scooters are also making a splach adding the power and speed to to keep up with fast moving traffic. Although150cc scooters are treated like motorcycles where you need a motorcyle license the 49.5cc scooters in most only require a regualr drivers license and no tags in most states.

So if you are looking to slash your gas bills consider a four stroke gas scooter to make your commute not only enjoyable but money saving also.

As the owner and sales rep for <a target="_new" href="http://www.scootertronics.com">www.scootertronics.com</a> Michael Milstead has been providing info and scooters to the public for all kinds of transportation that will give them great savings on thier gas bill each month paying for the scooter in a very short period of time.

A Great Motorcycle Ride in Mexico: Queretaro

A beautiful ride across cities and places named World Heritage by the Unesco, through an splendid protected natural area and ending in a surrealistic garden by artist Sir Edward James. Just keep reading... The ride starts in Queretaro City at 5,970 ft above sea level.

Queretaro is a colonial city founded more than 500 years ago and named World Heritage by the Unesco in 1996 . It's located in the center of the country two hours North Mexico City. Nowadays it has become one of the most dynamic cities in Mexico due to the surrounding industrial parks where many international companies are located.

The first stop is just 45 minutes away: "La Pe?a de Bernal" (The "Rock of Bernal"). We are talking about the third biggest rock in the world and the highest in Mexico. At its feet a quaint little town were you can stop for a soda, lunch or spend the night. You can also find nice little souvenirs. Whatever you decide to do, this place is a must.

If you like rock climbing, you are in the right place too!

The road to Bernal doesn't present any major challenge, most of the road is straight with just a few extended curves... but just after passing Bernal it starts to get fun!

Surrounded by an arid landscape due the high content of lime in the soil, you start with a very interesting section of twisties, one after another, up and down, a technical road between the mountains for about 30 miles. The landscape changes a bit as you advance and a few miles later you are in the middle of a semidesert.

After this twisty section you then continue on a straight part of the road. A few more miles down the route and you find a military checkpoint... Don't worry about it, they are normally courteous people just looking for arm and drug smugglers.

After the control point the curves and the fun start again. As you get to "Pe?a Blanca" ("White Rock" in English) - by the way if you need gas, this is the place to stop and fill it up - you start climbing the mountains twist after twist.

I love this part: most of the ride you can clearly see three or four turns in front of you, and as it is a low traffic road, you can enjoy yourself taking the best lines (always keeping it in the safe side if you know what I mean!).

After climbing for a while you notice how things start to change and suddenly what were rocks, sand and cactus are now pine trees. It's beautiful.. You feel the change of temperature and then you reach "La Puerta del Cielo" (The Door of Heavens") the highest point in this ride.

We are now at about 9200 feet above sea level... The turns continue but now you are going downhill. Remember to adjust your riding to that fact. Unfortunately I have seen more than one forgetting about it that and paying the consequences.

As you start descending you ride through a small town called Pinal the Amoles... descend, turn turn, descend turn turn, descend turn turn... I love it! About 10 miles after Pinal de Amoles, the weather starts to change again and gets warmer. The vegetation also suffers a sudden transformation.

You keep devouring the road and you cannot help but getting marveled of the landscape around you... Just remember to keep your eyes on the road! Turn, turn... You are in the middle of the Sierra Gorda protected area and home of multiple plants and animals.

You continue descending till you reach Jalpan de Serra the most important town in the Sierra Gorda and place where Father Junipero Serra built one of his most important missions in the area before heading north to build the Missions in California. These missions were also named World Heritage by the Unesco in 2003.

In Jalpan you can find a couple of simple but nice hotels and some restaurants. Another possibility to spend the night is to ride a few more miles west to a place called Conca where you 'll find a hotel with Spa to relax from the day's ride and get ready for the rest of the trip.

After Jalpan our next stop and final destination is Xilitla, so you head north-east till you reach the state of San Luis Potosi.

A few miles after crossing the state limits in the middle of the mountains, at about 3,300 ft asl, in a rain forest of incredible vegetation you get to Xilitla.

This town was chosen by Sir Edward James, a surrealistic British artist - also noble and rich -, to spend the rest of his life. It is in this place he built a huge garden, a private zoo and a meditation place in the middle of the jungle. Its very difficult to describe it with words... Maybe the photos in this site can help: http://www.junglegossip.com/.

In Xilitla you can stay in the Castillo "The Castle" the house of former Sir Edward James' right hand and friend: Plutarco Gastelum. This exclusive Bed and Breakfast is unique in its kind and you can see, feel and breath the influence of the artist everywhere.

Another possibility to spend the night is to ride a bit more to the north and stay in Ciudad Valles an important city of San Luis Potosi state where you will find all kind of hotels and restaurants, night life etc.

My recommendation... stay at the Castillo, forget about your ride and enjoy for a whole day this Mexican Shangri La.

After spending the whole day in Xilitla prepare for a long ride back to Queretaro. For this one I like to leave early in the morning and keep, if possible, a fast pace. Turn, turn...

We are talking about many miles and literally hundreds of twisties... Once my wife counted them... She stopped when she was at the 500th and we hadn't arrived back to Queretaro City yet!

It's so fun that the time flies and suddenly you realize it's all over and you would like to turn around and do it again...

You know the feeling right?

Another possibility from Xilitla is to head to the famous Huasteca Potosina a zone of exuberant rivers, waterfalls and springs... But that area deserves a whole article by itself. I will be writing it in the future.

If you liked the trip I described and want more information about great motorcycle rides in Mexico and/or to contact me for any other issue please visit my site at www.japanese-motorcycles-only.com.

Enjoy the ride!

Daniel Levy

P.S. Below you will find a few facts about this ride.

Facts about the ride:

Difficulty: Intermediate-Advanced
Recommended time to enjoy the trip: 3-4 days
Total length of the ride: about 600 miles
Checkpoints:
Queretaro-Bernal
Bernal-Military Checkpoint
Military Checkpoint-Pinal de Amoles
Pinal de Amoles-Jalpan de Serra
Jalpan de Serra-Xilitla

Weather: normally clear and dry with the exception of the rainy season from July to September where you can find some heavy rain.

Recommended Map: Guia Roji Mexico Tourist Road Atlas. You can find it at Amazon.

Daniel Levy is the owner and contributing writer of Japanese-Motorcycles-Only.com. He loves motorcycles and Web development. For more great info about <a target="_new" href="http://www.Japanese-motorcycles-Only.com">Japanese Motorcycles</a> visit his site or his blog at: <a target="_new" href="http://japanese-motorcycles-only.blogspot.com/">http://japanese-motorcycles-only.blogspot.com/</a>

A Convenient Way to Slash Your Gas Bill

&quot;With oil prices spiraling higher almost every day, people are starting to look for alternative modes of transport,&quot; says Michael S. Milstead of Scootertronics. &quot;With scooters, commuters can slash their gas bills and still have an efficient, reliable mode of transport."

With the introduction of four stroke scooters into the market this year even larger savings can be had with these scooters getting 60 to 80 miles per gallon. Four Stroke Scooters are much easier to care for than two stroke scooters with oil added to an oil reserveb just like a car instead of being injected into carb for lubrication. This keeps the carb from getting clooged up plus eliminates the expense of two stroke oil and reduces smoke plus you get a quieter smoother running engine.

The larger 150cc scooters are also making a splach adding the power and speed to to keep up with fast moving traffic. Although150cc scooters are treated like motorcycles where you need a motorcyle license the 49.5cc scooters in most only require a regualr drivers license and no tags in most states.

So if you are looking to slash your gas bills consider a four stroke gas scooter to make your commute not only enjoyable but money saving also.

As the owner and sales rep for <a target="_new" href="http://www.scootertronics.com">www.scootertronics.com</a> Michael Milstead has been providing info and scooters to the public for all kinds of transportation that will give them great savings on thier gas bill each month paying for the scooter in a very short period of time.

Motorcycle Helmets - Mind Your Head!

To most riders, motorcycle helmets do not fit into their dream accessory. They feel helmets are restrictive and unnecessary and do not add to their aesthetic appeal. But it is important to know why you need to wear a helmet while riding a bike and what it does for you.

Motorcycle helmets act as a protection device for your head. Nearly all motor crashes in which riders do not wear helmets, result in major head injuries. To drive this point further, according to a survey done in the state of California, in 900 crashes, there were 980 head and neck injuries. The major factor was that most riders were not wearing proper headgear.

Canada has made it a mandatory rule for motorbike riders to wear helmets after seeing the way people die in these accidents. But in the USA, in some states, it still remains a choice for the rider ? so it is for you to decide what is more precious to you.

Hopefully, now that you are convinced about purchasing a helmet, let us see some of the things that you should keep in mind while buying a motorcycle helmet.

All helmets have an outer shell and an inner shell. The outer shell is meant to protect the head from initial impact and undertake all the abrasions onto it. The inner shell is basically a lining of foam that aims at minimizing the impact of the shock by absorbing it as much as possible. It is also supposed to provide comfort to the rider as well.

In order to ascertain whether your helmet is safe enough for you or not, you must check whether it has the Department of Transportation sticker or not. A globally accepted safety standard for helmets is a sticker by the Snell Memorial Foundation.

Besides these safety stickers, the other important thing is to ensure that the motorcycle helmet of your choice gives you a proper fit. It should not be loose or too tight. You must be comfortable with it, as remember that you will be wearing it for quite some time. There should not be any red marks on your head or face ? otherwise the helmet is too tight for you. At the same time, it should not come off your head or it just might fall off in an accident- providing you with no protection.

Also, you must choose between the various types of materials of which motorcycle helmets are made. Heavy helmets are made of fiberglass but it can crack if dropped. Another type of material used is injection-molded plastic. This is cheap and light but requires a lot of care. So think before you decide.

Enjoy the ride!

Daniel Levy

Daniel Levy is the owner and contributing writer of <a target="_new" href="http://www.Japanese-Motorcycles-Only.com">http://www.Japanese-Motorcycles-Only.com</a> . He loves motorcycles, Web development and Marketing. For more great info on motorcycle helmets visit <a target="_new" href="http://www.japanese-motorcycles-only.com/motorcycle-helmets.html">http://www.japanese-motorcycles-only.com/motorcycle-helmets.html</a> .

Kawasaki Motorcycles - Independent in Thoughts and Actions

The story of Kawasaki Company goes back to 1924, at that time involved into metallurgy and the aircraft industry.

In 1949, they decided to enter the motorcycle industry producing engines that could be adapted to motorcycles.

FIRST KAWASAKI MOTORCYCLES PRODUCTS &#61664; Motorcycle Engines

In their line you could find a 60 cc two-stroke, as well as a 150cc and a 250cc four-stroke engines developed with technology from BMW; company whom with they had had relationships since their beginnings in the aeronautical industry.

It wasn't until 1954 that Kawasaki Motorcycles produced their first complete motorcycle under the name of Meihatsu (a subsidiary of Kawasaki Aircraft Co.).

Almost at the same time, they also tried to introduce their own line of scooters to the market, but they soon realized they couldn't compete against the two giants of the scooters industry for those days: the Fuji Rabbit and the Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon.

And now before continuing with Kawasaki Motorcycles history, I have to open a big parenthesis?

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE HISTORY OF KAWASAKI MOTORCYCLES

We cannot talk about Kawasaki without mentioning another make that will definitely help Kawasaki become as well as Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha one of the big players in the Japanese Motorcycles scene:

--> Meguro Motorcycles: better know in that time as the "senior make and the king of four strokes".

Meguro entered the motorcycle industry in 1937. Having a good relationship with the government, the people at Meguro took advantage of the army orders.

Their first motorcycle was the Z97: a 500cc rocker-valve motorcycle influenced by the Swiss Motosacoche. It's worth mentioning this model was a success for the factory and the Z97 was in production till the fifties.

Along the years, Meguro produced some very nice 250cc and 350cc rocker-valve, single cylinder models as well as high performance twins. All of them with a very strong British influence. Then and thanks to the commercial success they were living, they also launched a rocker-valve 125 cc for their low end range and a twin cylinder 650cc to accompany the already existing 500cc.

But it was in 1958, when Meguro tried to get rid of their British influence, when things started to go wrong...

Based on a winning prototype of Mount Asama (one of the biggest races that time), Meguro Motorcycles produced three nice and elegant machines with overhead camshaft: the 125cc E3, the 250cc F and the 350cc Y A. Unfortunately these bikes turned out to be too heavy and didn't get the buyers' attention. Meguro will soon return to rocker valve models.

Meguro Motorcycles remained as one of the top 10 manufacturers till 1960, but due to some bad decisions, as the ones mentioned above, the company started to decline and was soon bought by Kawasaki.

In 1960 Meguro signed an initial agreement with Kawasaki Motorcycles, and in 1962 they had completely disappeared.

?.And this brings us back to Kawasaki Motorcycles...

In 1960, the company decides to give a serious push to the motorcycle division of Kawasaki Aircrafts:

They take out of the market the Meihatsu brand, they build their own plant of low end and low powered machines and buy Meguro.

These brilliant moves and decisions made Kawasaki Motorcycles have one of the widest range of models in the market. Kawasaki Motorcycles could offer at that time (1960's) from a 50cc moped-scooter to a powerful, high end and beautiful 650 cc twin cylinder motorcycle.

Its also important to mention that due to their very own nature, Kawasaki Motorcycles has always played the role of Maverick in the industry and that a feeling of independence from their main competitors has always been present.

Since then, many stories have been written, many models have been produced and many races have been won on Kawasaki Motorcycles, the truth is...

Nowadays Kawasaki Motorcycles is one of the major players in the industry and following their tradition, they nowadays offer a wide range of products for all kind needs and likes.

You can also take a look at Kawasaki 2005 line-up . Check this page: http://www.kawasaki.com/motorcycles/

Enjoy the ride!

Daniel Levy @ www.Japanese-Motorcycles-Only.com

Note from the author:

Do you own a Kawasaki or any other Japanese motorcycle? Why don't you send me your picture and your story, I would happily add it to this site.

Just go to the Contact Page clicking here and drop me a message. I will get in contact with you ASAP.

Daniel Levy is the owner and contributing writer of <a target="_new" href="http://www.Japanese-Motorcycles-Only.com">http://www.Japanese-Motorcycles-Only.com</a> . He loves motorcycles and Web development. For more great info visit <a target="_new" href="http://www.japanese-motorcycles-only.com/">http://www.japanese-motorcycles-only.com/</a>

Welcome To The World Of ?Upside Down? Motorcycle Loans!

With the depreciation on motorcycles being so enormous after they are driven off the showroom floor, the potential for a buyer owing more on their motorcycle loan than the bike is worth it quite high. Owing more on your bike than it is worth is often referred to as the world of &quot;up side down&quot;.

Many people finding themselves in this situation discover that financial lessons are sometimes the hardest and most expensive to learn. Motorcycle loans of more than 48 months (especially without a down payment) put you in the position of owing more than the value of the bike.

Let's take a look at this phenomenon.

First, the interest calculation your lender uses can make a big difference in your situation, especially in the first 18 months. There are two primary interest calculations, pre-computed (combined with rule of 78) and simple interest.

Pre-computed interest combined with Rule of 78, is typically the worst situation for a buyer because most of the interest is paid in the first 24 months. Therefore, in the first 24 months little of the monthly payment has gone towards paying down principal. If a buyer wishes to sell or trade in the motorcycle within this timeframe they will likely find themselves owing more than the bike is worth. Statistics show that the average owner trades in every 18-24 months.

Simple interest on the other hand, is much more favorable for buyers since interest accrues on the balance of the loan. However, buyers that extend their loans for greater than 48 months can still find themselves up side down with simple interest. This is especially true if a down payment is not made. The reason this occurs is that the motorcycle depreciates faster than the principal is paid; leaving the balance owed to the lender to be more than the bike can be sold for.

A common view that many people have is that they will just surrender their motorcycle to the lender if they are caught in an &quot;up side down&quot; position. If you are considering this option don't! Your worries do not just end after your bike is surrendered or repossessed; in fact they are just beginning. The lender will sell your bike at an auction for much less than it is worth. You will still owe the difference between the amount you owed on your loan and the amount the motorcycle sold for at auction. So if you owe $5000 and the bike sells for $1500, you still are responsible for owing the lender $3500. To make it worse lenders may tack on hefty auction fees which you will owe as well. So the net result is that you are now responsible for making monthly payments on a bike you can no longer ride.

So what steps can you take to prevent from being caught &quot;up side down&quot;?

1. Find a lender that uses simple interest. Avoid lenders that use pre-computed / Rule of 78 interest calculations.

2. Always try to put money down on your purchase.

3. Try to avoid motorcycle loans that extend past 36 months.

Jay Fran is a author and publisher for a website that specializes in <a target="_new" href="http://www.motorcycle-financing-guide.com">Motorcycle Loans: High Risk OK</a>. A comprehensive resource on simple interest motorcycle financing, poor credit, new, used and bad credit motorcycle loans.

Mini Moto Mayhem

Mini Motos have been around in the UK for around ten years now. The first bikes we're cobbled together with parts that were already available. Small 2 stroke engines, mainly from garden machinery, were used. This type of engine is still used today for a few models and is referred to as an 'industrial' engine. But now the mini moto has been given an overhaul and has taken off in popularity.

Mini Motos are true miniatures of their larger Super bike cousins. All of the details that go into the high performance motorcycles of today are scaled down. The slick tires, the race replica bodywork and the &quot;super bike&quot; colours are all present. Although usually only 15 to 18 inches in height and weighing 35 to 55 pounds, it can be difficult to tell they're not full size when looking at them from a distance. The exactness of detail adds to their 'coolness' and is most certainly what has raised them to such heights of popularity.

Although beautiful, Mini Motos go well beyond being mere exquisite scale models. Advanced engineering has catapulted them to high-performance levels at only slightly outrageous prices. European companies like Blata and Polini sell units for ?1200-?2000 but less expensive and arguably less reliable ones are made by Chinese manufacturers and cost ?180-?400. Most models have two-stroke, 47cc engines, which run on a combination of petrol and two stroke oil. Despite the awkward-looking position it takes to mount one, they are a sheer joy to ride. The short wheelbase and overall low weight give them a lightning-fast turn and the thrill of riding so fast and so close to the terra firma is indeed intoxicating. Safety measures are a must when riding Mini Motos. Gloves, elbow pads, knee pads, a leather suit and a helmet should all be worn for each and every ride. Without them, road rash is quite likely and worse injuries are possible.

Despite the size of these little wonders adults are getting them for their kids but more commonly, for themselves. Normal models can regularly go 35mph, all though parents can set them to max out at much slower speeds or ? modify them to go faster. Moreover, models with more powerful engines are available. A GRC RX with 15hp 50cc engine by GRC Moto can be purchased for a mere ?1999.

The Mini Moto explosion shows no signs of ending anytime soon and MM racing leagues have been in practice in the UK for around seven years now.

The Mini Moto Racing Association offers the following categories for you to test your Mini Moto.

Junior Lights (4.2 hp) Age 6 - 15 up to 35.9 Kg
Junior Cadets (4.2 hp) Age 6 - 15 over 36 Kg
Junior Production Age 9 - 15 no weight limits
Lightweight Production Age 16 + up to 74.9 Kg
Senior Production Age 16 + over 75 Kg
4.2 Senior Age 16 + no weight limits
Supers Age 16 + no weight limits

Race meeting are held around to the country at Go Kart and Mini Moto Tracks. There are also many 'Arrive and Drive' practice sessions hosted by tracks around the UK.

Matt Tong owns and maintains the website <a target="_new" href="http://www.minimotosandmore.com/">http://www.minimotosandmore.com/</a> he has been riding and importing Mini Motos in to the UK for two years and can offer help and advice for newcomers to the sport.

Motorcycle Tires - Why Should You Care?

One of the most important parts of any vehicle is its tires. Not only are the tires subject to a large amount of wear and tear, but also their durability depends largely upon how you maintain them. But before we go into the details of motorcycle tires maintenance, let us first understand how you should determine which tires are best for you.

One of the most trusted sources to which you can speak about the kind of tires that would suit your needs the best should be the dealer from whom you purchased your bike or your bike repair mechanic. Since both these parties do not have any interest in giving you wrong information, they make a good starting point.

Besides your dealer and mechanic, you can also look up for information on motorcycle tires in: tire guides, magazine reviews, manufacturer official sites and a few serious forums on the Net. This will help you to re-affirm the information that you have gained from your bike dealer / mechanic.

One of the simplest ways of determining the correct brand for tire choice is to look at the tires which are being utilized by other motorcyclists in a competition. If any particular brand strikes you to be most commonly used, it might do you good to check out that particular brand first.

It's VERY IMPORTANT that you also check for what your user's manual recommend. You don't want to end up messing up with the performance of your motorcycle because you chose motorcycle tires that do not fit the requirements for your bike and kind of riding.

While choosing your motorcycle tires, you must categorize tires according to their performance level, their wet grip ability, durability and mileage, load carrying capacity etc.

Of course, price is a critical factor as well, but always make a considered choice while deciding upon your tires. Nowadays, there are several financing options available which you can lighten the burden on your shoulders.

Assuming that you have purchased your tires and are happy with them, let us now checkout some of the ways in which you can make your tires last longer.

Tires are constantly being subject to a lot of dust, scuffing, and abrasions, mud etc. Thus, it is crucial to keep them in optimal condition in order to get the most out of them. Here are some great motorcycle tire maintenance tips for you:

MOTORCYCLE TIRES MAINTENANCE TIPS

-> Use a mild detergent to clean your tires.

-> Rinse the tires properly and do not use harsh chemical washes onto them. This will lead to faster corrosion of the wheels.

-> It is also important that you wash and wax your wheels on a weekly basis. If you have a aluminum wheel, then use a corrosion protector as well in order to make it look nice and shiny all the time.

-> Please bear in mind to always check your tires every time that you get on it for air pressure.

-> Regularly check for any cracks, stuck debris or loose nuts and bolts.

Enjoy the ride!

Daniel Levy

Daniel Levy is the owner and contributing writer of <a target="_new" href="http://www.Japanese-Motorcycles-Only.com">http://www.Japanese-Motorcycles-Only.com</a> . He loves motorcycles, Web development and Marketing. For more great info on motorcycle tires visit <a target="_new" href="http://www.japanese-motorcycles-only.com/motorcycle-tires.html">http://www.japanese-motorcycles-only.com/motorcycle-tires.html</a> .

Motorcycle Protective Clothing That Works!

There is some great looking motorcycle clothing on the market these days, but believe me not all of the motorcycle clothing offers as much protection as you think. In Europe, for motorcycle clothing to be lawfully sold as &quot;safety" clothing, it has to pass a series of European standards, which are pretty lengthy but are available on my website. The standards cover the clothing's performance in abrasion, tearing and impact tests, and when they have passed; they are sold with the CE mark. However, no such regulation is available in the USA, so what should you look for?

Protection in the right places?

Not many people realise that most motorcycle injuries occur below the belt. Your legs and feet are extremely vulnerable, so make sure that you wear a decent pair of high boots and some protective pants. The pants should be reinforced at the knees and hips; ideally they should attach to your jacket by a zipper. Boots should be thick leather, with a sole that can flex with the foot but has a resistance to crushing across the foot.

Traditional material for motorcycle clothing is leather, but thick nylon and other synthetic materials work well too. Kevlar reinforced jeans are better than normal jeans .Normal jeans last 0.6 seconds in the European standard abrasion test, while protective motorcycle pants will last 5 seconds or more. You don't really want to be ripping your skin open within less than half a second of falling of your bike do you? Thought not.

Same principles apply to jackets. Make sure they are hardwearing, if they are leather make sure it is thick leather not fashion leather like some jackets. Stitching should be uniform with no dropped stitches, and all your &quot;sharp bits&quot;, your elbows and shoulders should be reinforced, ideally with some impact protection included.

A decent pair of gloves is a must; your palms will be at risk in an accident; you instinctively put out your hands palm side down to stop yourself in a slide, so the palms of your gloves should be reinforced with patches. Knitted Kevlar is especially good for this kind of abrasion resistance, but reinforced leather works well too.

Impact protection can be bought separately like back protectors and so on, but remember where your most vulnerable areas are. And make sure if you buy impact protection you actually wear it! If you have any doubts it may be better to go for motorcycle clothing with a degree of impact protection included so that you know when you put on your jacket and pants, the protection is always going to be there.

Last but not least, pick out a helmet you can wear and wear it always. You may have a greater chance of getting injured below the waist in a motorcycle accident, but the consequences of being involved in an accident without a helmet just don't bear thinking about?.

So, next time you are shopping for motorcycle clothing, give a bit of thought to the level of protection it offers before you buy it. You never know it could save you a lot of unnecessary pain!

Michael Holmes is a enthusiast for all thing motorcycle. His website, <a target="_new" href="http://www.motorcycleparts-accessories-andmore.com">http://www.motorcycleparts-accessories-andmore.com</a>, is a great resource of articles aimed at motorcyclists of all levels, including a page specifically for <A target="_new" HREF="http://www.motorcycleparts-accessories-andmore.com/motorcycle-clothing.html">motorcycle clothing.</A>

Fuel Cells Motorcycles, Trucks, Tanks, ATVs and Fire Hazards from Heat Exchanges

We have heard a whole lot of talk about fuel cells and of course it is a worthy endeavor. Portable generators, cars, transportation industry, Power generators, Ships, etc. can benefit. However in a mobile application such as a shuttle bus, car, truck, train, tractor, motor scooter or even a Segway air-cushioned platform mover, there is the problem of heat. The heat occurs on transfer of fuel. So if we are talking about a portable application the heat can make steam and the steam can be used for additional power needed also. In an off road application when we are in places of drought and extreme fire hard there is a significant problem which needs to be better addressed with the material sciences to control the heat. Everyone knows that 2-cycle motorcycles get hot and can cause fires if you are not careful.

The hydrogen cell problem with it's temperatures could be significantly worse. In larger vehicles there have been ways to mitigate this, with additional insulation panels, however in a small off road vehicle or ATV, the problem becomes more significant. When I speak of ATV, I mean All-terrain vehicle, not the Fuel Cell term of Advanced Technology Vehicle. At Texas A and M. they are working on just such a project.

When we are talking motorcycles, and ATVs the cooling system is the major obstacle, wouldn't you know it. There is always some hitch and it does appear that this small obstacle is in fact being taken care of through new material sciences and it is critical indeed as we have seen urban heat of five plus degrees within various regions of the US due to concrete and asphalt without one fuel cell car and we know that reciprocal engines of gasoline motors run about 300 or so degrees, which is a lot less than the conversion rate to pure hydrogen? Well these engineering barriers are being pummeled currently as the innovators in America accept the challenge and refuse to go back, such is the nature of the American Spirit, Never ever, ever, ever Give Up. Winston Churchill could have been an American, he certainly talked like one and this current situation could have used such talk. And of course he comes from the same stock as many of us do. Well it appears many University Researchers in this country may just beat President Bush's cautious commitment to bring this technology to the forefront by 2012. We are now seeing the strides of innovation take hold. From the Spinglass Scooters to potential Segway Models.

Now then, the components of these vehicles cannot be made of lightweight composite. Some types of composite unfortunately give off Cyanide Gas when they burn. We of course have been learning this from the F-117 Stealth crashes and the potentiality of the 7E7 half composite airliners. So what material do you make these units out of which is safe for anything from a ride on lawn mower to a laptop computer 90 watt power system. Even Plastics melt and give off some pretty toxic substances? Ceramic Coatings or glass coatings on top of other materials, indeed may be one solution. As a matter of fact this is just about the only known solution for the exhaust and catalyst systems (which run extremely hot and glow inside) in current exhaust systems. Many think it can be applied to the heat issues of hydrogen cells as well and of course after reading many articles and studies in the Ceramics Industry, I believe there is ample opportunity there.

http://www.ceramicindustry.com/CDA/Article...0,27484,00.html

We have been studying these situations for our company in the Mobile Oil Change Business figuring if we cannot change the oil in the future as a business we can replace filters and membranes with re-usable ceramic materials which maybe found in the new technologies associated with fuel cells. But where will all these filters be discharged? After all Glass takes quite a while to decompose rendering it's half life closer than that of uranium to lead, then from Ceramic filter to dirt? Will future archeologists dig up these nifty ceramic filters in old garbage dumps in the decomposed semi-crude oil remenance and wonder what on Earth we used them for and proving that we were indeed a species of significant cognitive worth? As we look at ceramic coatings such as Adsil (google it to learn more) and others we realize that they decrease corrosion from things like the nasty Magnesium Chlorides put on roads in the North during ice and snowstorms.

Will we need to coat the entire car with glass to prevent fire? Will this mean you will wash your car with Windex? Is glass cleaning services a future growth industry then, since more things will be made from glass including much of the coating on a car. Will this foil the efforts of GM, Ford, Honda and Toyota in planned obsolescence? In other words whoever is making the cars, whether it is GM-Ballard partnership, Eaton-Ford Partnership or a Multi-National Foreign Conglomerate of China, Japan, Korea, US then will cars last so long people will buy fewer of them or will the Chinese demand for oil drive the prices of crude up so fast and furious that the whole world will begin to switch to fuel cells at once during a last hurrah of overbearing gas and diesel prices. Cars which last too long mean consumer will not continue to buy new cars which on average now is 3.1 years in the middle class of America. Now do not go out and buy Windex Stock right now. No matter what this is still many years off.

You will see in the future that many companies and even military, NASA and others use ceramic coatings on equipment to prolong life. Corrosion issues are serious in all sectors, including shipping containers, truck chassis, braking systems, railroad, automotive, even a rusty lawn-mower with many plastic parts from your local Home Depot, Lowes or Wal*Mart.

Ceramic coatings even applied at 5 mils are enough to seal the aluminum pores enough to solve basic corrosion problems. Corrosion control is especially important to military equipment after wartime. Sure it provides jobs to make new tanks, humvees and armored personnel carriers, but there maybe budget concerns as well to think about. After all some of the T-34 tanks used by our enemy were how old? Still running, perhaps with corrosion controls of ceramics, the ones left could be put in museums forever? A remainder of the Human Species and her need to wage war, perhaps an innate characteristic which may eventually be bread out of our genome, but probably not likely soon. Hydrogen cell tanks, yes there are many such projects going on now.

What will the routine maintenance service companies look like in the future? How will they maintain their ROIs and Proformas, forward looking statements and spreadsheets, Warren Buffet style balance sheets, quarterly profits and shareholder's equity? These companies to harvest continued cash flow in these cleaning, maintenance and coating industries will need to drastically modify their procedures. As we see from this weeks devastating Hurricane Charley, we need to pay attention to the global warming problems as they are real and when you turn up the heat, the surrounding atmosphere will notice and when it comes to mother nature, she is quite sure of what she is doing.

I hope you have enjoyed this provocative topic and interesting study on Fuel Cells for motorcycles, trucks, trains, tanks, ATVs, ships, etc. as it pertains to global warming, urban heat, Fire Hazards from heat exchanges and risks associated with these new technologies.

The future is going to be a most excellent place to live as long as we pay attention to what we are doing on the way to get there.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; <a target="_new" href="http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs">www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs</a>

Welcome To The World Of ?Upside Down? Motorcycle Loans!

With the depreciation on motorcycles being so enormous after they are driven off the showroom floor, the potential for a buyer owing more on their motorcycle loan than the bike is worth it quite high. Owing more on your bike than it is worth is often referred to as the world of &quot;up side down&quot;.

Many people finding themselves in this situation discover that financial lessons are sometimes the hardest and most expensive to learn. Motorcycle loans of more than 48 months (especially without a down payment) put you in the position of owing more than the value of the bike.

Let's take a look at this phenomenon.

First, the interest calculation your lender uses can make a big difference in your situation, especially in the first 18 months. There are two primary interest calculations, pre-computed (combined with rule of 78) and simple interest.

Pre-computed interest combined with Rule of 78, is typically the worst situation for a buyer because most of the interest is paid in the first 24 months. Therefore, in the first 24 months little of the monthly payment has gone towards paying down principal. If a buyer wishes to sell or trade in the motorcycle within this timeframe they will likely find themselves owing more than the bike is worth. Statistics show that the average owner trades in every 18-24 months.

Simple interest on the other hand, is much more favorable for buyers since interest accrues on the balance of the loan. However, buyers that extend their loans for greater than 48 months can still find themselves up side down with simple interest. This is especially true if a down payment is not made. The reason this occurs is that the motorcycle depreciates faster than the principal is paid; leaving the balance owed to the lender to be more than the bike can be sold for.

A common view that many people have is that they will just surrender their motorcycle to the lender if they are caught in an &quot;up side down&quot; position. If you are considering this option don't! Your worries do not just end after your bike is surrendered or repossessed; in fact they are just beginning. The lender will sell your bike at an auction for much less than it is worth. You will still owe the difference between the amount you owed on your loan and the amount the motorcycle sold for at auction. So if you owe $5000 and the bike sells for $1500, you still are responsible for owing the lender $3500. To make it worse lenders may tack on hefty auction fees which you will owe as well. So the net result is that you are now responsible for making monthly payments on a bike you can no longer ride.

So what steps can you take to prevent from being caught &quot;up side down&quot;?

1. Find a lender that uses simple interest. Avoid lenders that use pre-computed / Rule of 78 interest calculations.

2. Always try to put money down on your purchase.

3. Try to avoid motorcycle loans that extend past 36 months.

Jay Fran is a author and publisher for a website that specializes in <a target="_new" href="http://www.motorcycle-financing-guide.com">Motorcycle Loans: High Risk OK</a>. A comprehensive resource on simple interest motorcycle financing, poor credit, new, used and bad credit motorcycle loans.

Mini Moto Tips

These are some quick adjustments and tips for the B1 liquid cooled minimoto that I have found helpful.

Extra heat protection:

To protect the bike I've put some aluminium tape on the inside of the fairing at the closest point to the exhaust and on the underside of the fuel tank. I?ve done this because the engine gets so hot I wanted to protect the fairing from melting, and it doesn't hurt to protect the fuel tank for the same reasons!

My cooling system tips:

When you run out of cooling liquid for your B1 rep, use is distilled water which is available at your local garage, add some food colouring to it so that you can easily tell the level and away you go.

Only fill the reservoir to a quarter full, this is easily enough coolant and it leaves room for the pressure.

Once you have filled the coolant reservoir, there is often air locks in the system. To get rid of these start the bike and allow it to warm up, then bounce the bike (gently) on its back tyre with the bike vertical. Do this a few times, this should get rid of the air locks in the system and prevent overheating. The coolants level may need to be topped up now.

Where not to ride:

Hi just bought my new B1 air cooled from you guys. Thanks it's a great bike. A quick word of advice for your other customers. DO NOT RIDE YOUR MINI MOTO ON THE ROAD. My friend (who also rides a mini moto, but on tracks where they are supposed to be ridden!) is a police man (boooo!) and the law is very strict:

The driver or rider of a motorised board or cycle on a road could face heavy fines, endorsement of licence, disqualification and in the case of dangerous driving, up to 2 years imprisonment.

Remember that the term road includes not only a carriageway but also pavements and verges and also any highway which encompasses footpaths, bridleways and by-ways.

It can also include privately owned roads to which the public have access and has in some cases included car parks?

Car park warriors beware!!!???

Here's a good tip. Before riding your mini moto you will need to make sure that your wheels and chain are aligned. Here's how. Loosen the bolts on the back wheel so that you can move it. Place a piece of perfectly straight wood (I used a meter stick) up against the front wheel. When the front wheel is straight the meter stick should be flush against both the front of the tyre and the back. Then it's a simple case of lining up the back wheel. The chain should now also be straight.

Changing the gearing on your mini moto is simple. A bigger front sprocket combined with a smaller rear sprocket creates a smaller ratio, this means that the mini moto will have better accelelaration but less top spead. A smaller front sprocket with a bigger back sprocket will give your mini moto a better top speed but slower acceleration.

Here are the possible variations of gearing: The lower the ratio the faster acceleration. The higher ratio, the better the top speed.

8/54 6.75>1
8/56 7>1
8/58 7.25>1
8/60 7.5>1
7/54 7.714285714>1
8/62 7.75>1
7/56 8>1
8/64 8>1
7/56 8>1
8/66 8.25>1
7/58 8.285714286>1
8/68 8.5>1
7/60 8.571428571>1
8/70 8.75>1
7/62 8.857142857>1
8/72 9>1
6/54 9>1
7/64 9.142857143>1
8/74 9.25>1
6/56 9.333333333>1
7/66 9.428571429>1
8/76 9.5>1
6/58 9.666666667>1
7/68 9.714285714>1
8/78 9.75>1
6/60 10>1
7/70 10>1
7/72 10.28571429>1
6/62 10.33333333>1
7/74 10.57142857>1
6/64 10.66666667>1
7/76 10.85714286>1
6/66 11>1
7/78 11.14385714>1
6/68 11.33333333>1
6/70 11.66666667>1
6/72 12>1
6/74 12.33333333>1
6/76 12.66666667>1
6/78 13>1

I tried 7/56 with my B1 Rep at GP Karting, I think that this is just about right for that track as it has lotts of tight corners. Might go to Stretton soon so I can try my 7/68 setup. This should be good for the straights however it may take a while to get up to speed!!

Matt Tong has been importing and riding Mini Motos for two years. For expert advice and Mini Moto information please visit <a target="_new" href="http://www.minimotosandmore.com">http://www.minimotosandmore.com</a>