BluepoofBikes Motorcycle Adventures

Femmoto segment on Two Wheel Tuesday

Two Wheel Tuesday aired a short segment on Femmoto this week: click here to download.

So, for those following along, yes, I'm the one getting help taking off on the Tuono. My television debut and I look like I've never been on a motorcycle before in my life. I'm so cool I freeze other people. Really, it must be very intimidating for others. Sigh.

Now, of course, the reason the dude was there helping me was legitimate and very welcome -- I can't even tiptoe the Tuono, so he helped me stand up the bike and flip the kickstand up -- but I, um, don't think that quite came across in the TV segment.

I can't stop giggling. Man. Ah well. :D

A day without a Z pic is a day without sunshine

Photo © Alphonse Palaima, who I hope doesn't mind my linking to these from my journal...

Mutant head helmet review, part 1

I have a gear review that will apply to no one else on earth: a comparison between an XXS Shoei and a Small/Medium HJC CL-14 Youth helmet.

I still need to take some photos and get more miles in with the HJC, but here are my initial impressions.

safety first.
First off, how safe does the helmet feel? Now, I know that this is largely subjective, but I'm the kind of person who would feel very nervous were I to strap a cereal bowl to my head and call it a DOT-approved helmet.

The Shoei feels very secure; very safe. The padding is sturdy and the helmet gives the impression of mass -- that's mass that'll come between your skull and the curb, for those playing along at home. I've never crashed in my Shoei (or any other helmet, for that matter), but when I'm riding, the thought of my brains leaking out of my head post-accident doesn't occur to me.

The HJC feels a little less serious. The websites I've read say that the youth helmet has the exact same features as the adult model, and I've never worn an adult model, but this youth version feels a little flimsy. If I remember correctly, it's DOT-approved but not SNELL, which doesn't make much of a difference to me, but it might to some. I'm going to have to keep riding with this helmet to see if I become a little less nervous.

Winner: Shoei.

ventilation.
The Shoei has decent enough ventilation, but the shield still fogs up on cold mornings. It's pretty easy to crack the visor just a teensy bit and clear that up, though. On hot days, the helmet is pretty closed-up, making for a sweaty rider and a helmet liner soaked in blue hair dye.

Obviously, I haven't ridden in hot weather with the HJC, but it was pretty chilly on my way in today and the helmet fogged up almost instantly. To be fair, I may not have fiddled with all of the vents properly, so I'll have to keep playing around with those. Keeping the visor cracked open just a titch was easy to do. Somehow, despite the helmet fogging up, I felt a lot of air flow inside of the helmet while riding at freeway speeds -- my cheeks were a little windburned after only 15 miles of commuting. This might be because the helmet comes to the bottom of my chin (the Shoei practically sits on my chest) so I may need a scarf to cover my neck so cold air doesn't come up through the bottom.

Winner: Tied for now until I see how the HJC works in hot weather.

weight and size.
For some utterly insane reason, the Shoei XXS has the exact same physical shell size as the Shoei XXL. The only difference is in the amount of interior padding (this is probably why the Shoei feels as though I could fall off a building in it and still remain intact). The downside is that it's way. too. huge. I have no neck when I wear my Shoei. It literally sits on my shoulders. I look like Bug Woman from the planet Egghead. It's heavy and huge and gives me neck and shoulder pain.

The HJC is like a big huge breath of fresh air in this department. The outer shell is physically much smaller than the Shoei (yeah, I have to take photos) and weighs only 2.6 pounds. This morning, I put on my winter jacket, donned the helmet, and moved my head. Yes, you heard me -- I moved my head around on my neck. The novelty!

Winner: HJC.

noise.
I wear earplugs whenever I ride, so keep that in mind. The Shoei lets in a bit of engine noise, but it takes a few days of all-day riding before my ears are ringing when I go to sleep at night. When I'm wearing the custom iPod earbuds, the wind noise is practically nonexistant.

The HJC is a bit louder. To be fair, I only had my foam earplugs today, not my custom ones, so I won't condemn the helmet until I can do a fair comparison. That said, it was really darned loud. I think it has to do with the "less padding" issue that also makes it feel less safe (but a lot lighter!) -- there was more space between my ears and the padding than I'm used to. This isn't necessarily a bad thing -- for example, my earrings didn't hurt when I got to work -- but it does make for a slightly noisier ride.

Winner: Shoei.

So, with one measly commute down, the Shoei is ahead by a nose. The lighter weight really makes a huge difference for me though, so the HJC might be the better helmet for commuting overall.

This begs the question, though, of WHY Shoei makes all of their helmet shells the same physical size. This whole shebang would be a complete non-issue if the XXS size were smaller on the outside than the larger models. I can't be the only small person out there who gets severe neck and shoulder pain from carrying around almost 4 pounds of behemoth on their heads for hours at a time.

Pics from the Alturas ride

Ride report forthcoming, but in the meantime, here are a few pictures from this weekend's ride.

Your cast of characters:
Me
Peter
Jim (jpred)
Jim (hhhch45)
Frank (xs400)
Erik (frank's brother; no ST.n name that I know of)
Andrew (ZX11Andrew)
Terry (CBXTerry)
Gary (itsatdm)
Mitch (endo) and his wife met us for lunch on Saturday

Jim along Hwy 88 in the Sierras:

The SVS along Hwy 88 in the eastern Sierras:

Peter's first time crossing state lines on a bike trip:

Hwy 447 in Nevada:

Dinner at the Black Bear diner in Alturas, CA:

A balmy morning in Alturas (27F):

Frank along Hwy 299:

The road through Lassen National Park:

Impending weekend ride.

Peter and I are taking off this weekend to join the Sport-Touring.net ride to Alturas, CA.

Proving that, occasionally, I learn from past mistakes, I looked up "Alturas" in my book of California place names and learned that it means "heights" in Spanish. Thus, I plan to bring an extra sweatshirt. See? There's hope for the girl to whom it never occured that Death Valley, hottest place in the hemisphere, was nevertheless in a valley and thus might require a chilly mountain crossing to visit.

Yet another Z pic

Photo © Alfonse Palaima, motorcycle.com

Thanks for the awesome pic, fonzie! *swoon* I turn down the man's Red Tail Ale and he still sends me great motorcycle pictures. That's class, there. (why'd I turn down beer? Long story. But rest assured that there's a 12 pack of Red Tail in my fridge at this very minute.)

There's a guy selling a Z locally with low mileage for a great price (including soft luggage). *sound of gears in my head turning*

Z750S pics

Yes, I know that I lean with my ass and not my shoulders. Viv already had The Discussion with me about that. Ignore the crazy monkey posture.

(thanks for the photos, V! Qapla'!)

Damn. This might be inevitable.

Severe bike lust.

Stupid Femmoto.

Me WANT.

I will have to put some thought into this. When I rode the Z750S, it fit exactly like I've wanted the SVS to fit all these years. Hummmmm.

Why aren't there more women in motorcycling?

Because I am too lazy to come up with original content this morning, I'm going to reprint a post I made last night to the Motorcycle-USA forums.

The thread began by talking about the Femmoto track day and eventually, someone asked the ubiquitous question "why aren't there more women in motorcycling?"

Here was my response:

---

Now, to the question of "why don't more women ride?". I've put a lot of thought into the general question of "why don't more women [whatever]" over the past 10 years or so, originally as it pertained to computer programming (one of my degrees is in Computer Science; my college thesis was on Women in Computer Science -- available here, for those interested).

To make a very long set of theories and thought processes short, I don't think it matters one single solitary bit why more women aren't riding.

Ask a group of 10 women riders, and you'll get 10 different answers. You'll hear why this particular woman didn't start sooner, why that particular woman is ashamed not to love riding more than she does. You'll hear true stories about women being told that "girls can't ride", that "moms who ride are bad parents", that "women aren't strong enough/tall enough/quick enough" to physically handle a motorcycle.

All of these reasons -- and more -- are valid, and they're real, and they're true. But they also don't matter.

Every time someone sees a female motorcyclist, we get the message across that we're not different. A woman riding is just like a man riding. I don't do anything spectacular or brave or incredible by slinging a leg over a bike. I vote; I work outside the home; I own property; I ride a motorcycle. There is nothing intrinsic about riding a bike that requires a penis to operate it. To me, my riding is no different than my boyfriend riding. I haven't overcome some huge hurdle or stigma in order to commute in the rain with car drivers trying to plow me over. I just love to ride.

I enjoy discussions about women riders, and I adore events like Femmoto that bring us all together, but fundamentally, there is no smoking gun. There is no one (or three, or fifteen) reason(s) why more women aren't riding. Every woman who doesn't ride a motorcycle is like every man who doesn't ride -- maybe they're afraid, or maybe a family member was hurt while riding once, or maybe they just never really thought they'd like it.

A much better question, in my humble opinion, is "why isn't there money in women's motorcycling?". Manufacturers of motorcycles and of gear aren't neglecting the women riders because of some conspiracy -- they're neglecting us because they can't make enough money catering to us. So my question is "where's the money?". Why aren't more women buying leather track suits? Why aren't more women buying smaller sized helmets?

I think a lot of this is education -- women may assume that gear will be ill-fitting, so they may settle for a men's cut jacket or a slightly too-large helmet, for example. And this goes back to just meeting more fellow riders. This weekend, I learned about at least two or three gear companies that I hadn't heard of before, not to mention new (to me) magazines, products, and bikes.

I appear to be rambling, so I'll summarize.

1) Focus your energy. Write to manufacturers, stating what you like about their products and what you wish they did differently. Like your rain suit but think the legs are too long? Send 'em an email.

2) Fill out every single survey you lay your eyes on. Make sure to proudly circle that "F" under "sex" (or write it in if they don't ask!) and be honest about what you buy. Let them know you've got a wallet and aren't afraid to use it!

3) Spread the word to other women. Print up some business cards with your name, email address, website, and the name/site of any women's riding organization you belong to. Hand them out whenever you see another female rider -- at the gas station, at a scenic vista, at a track day. We're all foot soldiers.

Power to the people, kids.

Doomed flight #160

Viv mowing down the pizza on doomed flight #160, heading back home to
Sillycon Valley after our girl-filled Vegas pahtay weekend. Zzzzzz.