News from Oakland Harley-Davidson

One learned to ride on a Harley-Davidson^® motorcycle, the other became a dealer.

Together, Linda Dugeau and Dot Robinson made motorcycle history when they formed the Motor Maids, the oldest running motorcycling organization for women in North America.

Smartphones are everywhere, and even those of us who ride to “disconnect” probably have one along any time we get on a bike. After all, bringing your smartphone on a road trip is great peace of mind, just in case you need to call the cavalry.

While there are many travel and riding apps available for smartphone users, these five useful apps can take your road trip to the next level. You can download the apps free for iOS and Android phones from Apple’s App Store or Google Play.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the features of these apps that can help make your next ride even better…

Harley-Davidson Service Consultants and Technicians are highly trained professionals. But what can you expect when you take your bike to an Authorized Harley-Davidson^® dealer for maintenance or repair?

First and foremost, scheduled maintenance, repairs, upgrades, and customization – our Service Technicians are experts at all of these. Our Service Consultants are there to ensure you get the best possible experience from your visit.

You’re at a rally, and there are bikes everywhere. You pull into a big parking lot and assess the situation. Riders have been coming and going all day, and the rows have gotten a little … “irregular.” Bikes are popping out of nowhere, and it’s hard to know where to ride. You see a path forward, but it’s tight. And crooked. And a little bit challenging.

To its critics, GPS navigation is a distraction, eliminates the elemental joy of riding a motorcycle, and has spawned a generation of idiots who might know where they’re going but have no clue where they are. It’s indicative of all that’s wrong in our modern technologically riddled world.

To its defenders, GPS navigation provides directional certainty, greater safety, and an overall more enjoyable motorcycling experience. It has solved far more problems than it has created.

Question: What’s worse than a stranded motorcyclist?

Answer: When that motorcyclist is you.

THREE WAYS TO AVOID ROADSIDE BREAKDOWN

1. Punch T-CLOCS

Sure, you get free Roadside Assistance as a H.O.G.^® member. But why use it if you don’t have to? Even with all that help on tap, getting stranded is still a massive pain. One you can avoid with a simple inspection. Yes, we’re talking T-CLOCS – the pre-ride checklist developed by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. Learn it. Live by it.

Tires, Wheels, & Brakes

Carefully inspect tread depth, wear, weathering, bulges, and embedded objects. Check air pressure. Check wheels for loose or bent spokes, or cast wheels for cracks. Check rims for out of round. Check bearings for free play in tires. Check brakes to determine that each brake alone keeps the bike from rolling.

A camera is a tool and a powerful one at that. But taking excellent pictures is not so much about the camera as it is about how it's used. Good photographs require the photographer to slow down, to see, and personally express the world in front of them. This is true, no matter what type of camera you're using.

How do you do this traveling on a motorcycle? The answer, as it so often is on two wheels, is to keep it simple and travel light. It's just like with the toolkit you probably keep on your motorcycle for emergency repairs. A basic set can meet most of the challenges you encounter on the road.

It's the same with your camera. These days, chances are the smartphone you carry comes with a pretty good camera. And if you use it well, that can be all you need to capture memorable images from any journey you take.

Here are a few tips for using your phone camera (or a simple point-and-shoot) to improve your picture taking and capture your next ride.

A number of simple motorcycle repairs can be performed in your garage or on the side of the road (when it is safe to do so). These are useful skills to have, and they will make you feel more comfortable riding because you know you'll be able to handle whatever gets thrown your way.

Women riders are storming the open road and The Litas—a community of women motorcyclists—is leading the charge. 

The name, Litas, is a made-up word, says founder Jessica Wise, but the friendships women riders are forming are real. 

“Women can be overly analytical and hard on themselves and it leads them to be competitive with each other,” said Wise. “It’s natural for women to throw up walls. Bonding over motorcycles breaks them down.”

Studies show that people subconsciously don’t see things they aren’t in the habit of looking for. Or, maybe they’re distracted by texting, looking at GPS, or checking their hair.

In these situations, a motorcycle’s rider’s best defense is to take active measures to make themselves more visible. Here are a few ways to become more visible while riding your motorcycle.