Motorcycle Articles - 10 things to make riding fresh again

Motorcycle Articles - Free online motorcycle magazine - Clutch and Chrome

Looking to recapture that thrill you had in the early days of riding? Do you find yourself wondering where to ride or what to do with your motorcycle this upcoming weekend? Don’t worry, it happens to the most devoted of bikers so we've put our collective creativity together at the Clutch and Chrome offices and come up with 10 idea's to make riding fresh again!

It happens in every relationship. Your heart doesn't skip a beat when you first see her, and even if it does certainly not like it used too. The passion seems to be fading and sometimes, just occasionally, you wonder if those early sensations and thrills can ever be recreated or recaptured.

No you haven't accidentally clicked on a 'Dear Prudence' relationship self-help site. This is Clutch and Chrome, the free online resource for all kinds of riders and we all know that even with the most exciting of past times, mediocrity can slip in. Maybe it’s from the boredom of riding the same route, drinking the same bad coffee at the same biker stops and worse of all, listening to same corny jokes from the same old riding buddies.

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Trying to live up to our reputation of being the best damned riding buddy that you'll ever have, the gang at Clutch and Chrome put our collective creativity together to come up with 10 idea's to make riding fresh again! So, in no particular order......

Close your eyes and pick a random point on a local map to visit. No questions asked, just go
There's and old saying 'familiarity breeds contempt'. Okay, so you're not that upset with riding yet, but why let it get that far?

Motorcycle articles from Clutch and Chrome Why not keep the passion alive by riding somewhere you've never been before or probably haven't ever thought about visiting. After all, riding is about the thrill of discovery, cruising down an unknown highway discovering every new bend.

The trip doesn’t even need to be any longer than your normal ride and only a few steps of planning are needed.

First, decide how far you're going to ride, divide that number in half and use that distance to draw a big circle around your starting point, which is usually where you live. This is the area to chose your mystery destination from, but don't pick it yet! Human nature will have you favoring certain areas and avoiding others, so live life on the edge by closing your eyes before putting your finger down on the map. You now have your destination for the day.

To make sure the experience is all it can be, go online and google the town or attraction, or even places that look interesting along the way. This will give you an opportunity to learn a little history or locally known facts about the area and give idea's of what to look for on the ride. Odds are that even if there isn't anything particularly interesting about the destination, there’ll certainly be something worth stopping for along the way.

Other websites to visit for travel information would be: America's Byways, See America or any state tourist website.

Find a new group of bikers to ride with
We're not suggesting that you stop riding with your current biker buddies, even if you have heard the story of Sam rebuilding his V-Twin on the roadside in the middle of the desert using just a pocket knife for the twentieth time.

Going out with a different group, even only occasionally will not only give a different perspective on that Sunday morning ride but also introduce some hidden away biker places you probably didn't know about.

These other riding buddies can be found at your local biker night or at any other riding hangouts such as dealership or motorcycle specialty shops. Clutch and Chrome covers riding with a new group of people in depth in our article, 'How to have a great group ride.'

If you've never done it before, try a local Track Day
Regardless of whether you ride a sportsbike, cruiser, streetbike or chopper, signing up for a local Track Day is an opportunity to not only experience a whole new side of riding, but also a chance to focus on the riding itself without worrying about incidental traffic or road debris.

Motorcycle articles from Clutch and Chrome Don’t let the type of motorcycle hold you back from attending a Track Day, there are a whole range of bikes and riders that enjoy this increasingly popular event.

There are several types of Track Days, from schools that teach riding skills and techniques throughout the day to the plain old organized time slots to race around a professional race course.

Finding, choosing and preparing for a track day is covered in detail in Clutch and Chrome's 'Straightening out the curves on Track Day.' We've even included a list of Track Day's sorted by state!

Go to a bike night that’s mostly attended by those ‘other’ kinds of riders. If you ride a sportsbike, go to a cruiser event and visa-versa
Motorcycle articles from Clutch and Chrome Riders are creatures of habit who can easily fall into a comfort zone. But harking back to the 1960's advertising campaign 'You meet the nicest people on a Honda', riders of all types of bikes would be surprised by the genuine hospitality a cruiser can get at a sportsbike bike night and visa versa.

Obviously one can't roll up with an attitude or feeling that their kind of ride is superior to the majority of motorcycles at the event, and we all know respect breeds respect. All the staff at Clutch and Chrome has heard stories from sportsbike riders who stopped off at a cruiser bike night they happened to be riding by only to have a wonderful time.

Offer to take someone who’s never ridden before out on a quick ride.
Although it may seem pointless and at first glance doesn’t help your personal passion for riding, trust us on this. This suggestion is also assuming that a) you're comfortable having a passenger on the back of your motorcycle and b) the person wants to ride!

We’ve all come across friends or family who always seem to have questions about riding or look longingly at your motorcycle. This person wants to experience the thrill of being on a bike but doesn’t know how to ask so why not offer to take them on a quick ten minute ride. There are a few important things to remember;

Make sure the person has all the safety gear either required by State Law or that you feel is necessary. This should include a helmet (which fits properly), protective clothing such as jeans, jacket, gloves and of course boots. Nothing will end a friendship quicker or cause more arguments at family get-together’s than scars from roadrash.
Go over how your passenger should handle themselves while riding. This should include what parts of the motorcycle to avoid touching, when to shift around or lean.
Pick a nice scenic route for their ride and avoid congested roads, after all you want the ride to be fun!

By the end of the ride you’ll find their ear to ear grin is infectious and a great reminder of why you started to ride in the first place. There’s your payback!

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Start your ride 30 minutes before sunrise and watch the sun come up while you’re cruising
Normally this is a pleasure which comes from trying to squeeze out as much distance as possible on a roadtrip, but why not use it to bring back a rush to riding.

Motorcycle articles from Clutch and Chrome The best part about this suggestion is that aside from getting your lazy butt out of bed a little earlier in the morning, there isn’t really any planning needed. Unless you particularly want to be in a certain spot when the sun starts its day, this suggestion can be enjoyed just by being out on the road and riding.

Not only is the feeling of the morning sun warming your face as it lights up the world around you an amazing experience, but there’ll be less traffic on the morning ride and there should be that much more time to stay out on the road.

Need to know when the sunrise happens in your part of the world? Check out Sunrisesunset.com.

Plan a ride around another hobby
Remember when you first bought your motorcycle and wanted to do everything and go everywhere on it? Well that urge isn’t as crazy as it seems and there a lot of other hobbies that can be mixed and matched with your motorcycle passion.

There are many amateur photographers who ride to different locations or subject matter. The same can be said for painting, bird-watching or even a beach day. Indeed, ESPN2 has a television show of two bikers who ride from fishing spot to fishing spot.

With a pair of saddlebags and smart packing there are few hobbies that can’t be incorporated into riding, adding a dimension to your motorcycle that may’ve been overlooked.

Ride over to a nearby town and visit a neighboring motorcycle club or chapter
One of the highlights of a Daytona Bike week Clutch and Chrome attended was the opportunity to ride with the local motorcycle club, Daytona 200. Meeting new bikers, have them show us around the back roads the countryside surround Daytona Beach made for a wonderful day.

Finding a neighboring chapter or motorcycle club can be as easy as asking at a motorcycle dealership. If a local club has a national affiliation, ask to see the national directory or go online. Once you know when they meet for rides or have club meetings call in advance and ask if they mind some company.

Not only does this idea allow you to meet new riders, travel through some new countryside but you should have a nice ride at the beginning and end of the day.

Regardless of what you’ve heard, try a Poker or Toy Run
Ask a seasoned rider about Poker or Toy Runs and you’ll be greeted by a grimace at best to a long tirade recounting miserable rides. So why do we include this in our list of things to give your motorcycle mania a rebirth?

Because it’s really not as bad as they say it is.

Motorcycle articles from Clutch and Chrome A successful run, whether it’s of the Poker or Toy variety will have a lot of motorcycles participating. The Toy Run in Fort Lauderdale Florida had over 30,000 motorcycles in its event last December. With that many motorcycles in one place on the same road there’s bound to be some confusion and congestion, which is usually at the heart of the anti-run biker’s complaint.

The upside to these types of events range from meeting a slew of riders from a variety of backgrounds, seeing all types of beautiful bikes and of course helping out which ever cause is the focus of the event.

Poker Runs will feel more like an ongoing activity as you ride from place to place trying to pick the winning hand and both types of events usually have live music and food at the end of the ride.

If you happen to be the souvenir type of person, both Poker and Toy Runs have patches and pins for the leather vest or scrapbook. But at the end of the day, there’s nothing better than hanging out with riders who love motorcycles as much as you do.

Start conversations with cars and other riders at traffic lights.
This suggestion came up from several staff members and as much as everyone liked the idea, we weren’t sure if it could be included. Why? It’s a ‘judgment call’ kind of activity.

While there’s no doubt that every effort should be made to swap a friendly greeting to a fellow biker at a traffic light, in this day and age of road rage doing the same with a driver is definitely a challenge.

Even with the yuppie rider and checkbook biker clichés floating around, society still stereotypes motorcycle types as mean, unclean thugs who would rape and pillage at the drop of a bandana. Bikers can be the most outgoing people around but it’s hard to have a friendly conversation when the driver is cowering behind the wheel looking everywhere except in your direction.

And that last thought is key to having a conversation to begin with. Whether speaking with a biker or driver, casual but friendly eye-contact is the determining factor of having any type of conversation. But also remember that just as many drivers are fascinated with motorcycles and many would rather be sitting on a bike rather than behind the wheel of a car.

One staff member had an older gentleman leaning out the window of a beaten up minivan checking out his motorcycle. Once the conversation got going, the driver pulled out a picture of his vintage Goldwing and all of a sudden the passing train didn’t seem to take that long to go by.

We hope you have as much fun trying a few of the suggestions as we did coming up with them. If there are any idea’s to spark the enthusiasm into mundane motorcycling that we missed, email the editor we’d love to hear them.

Update!
Reader Paul B. suggested the following idea's to help keep riding fresh;

Ride in a parade with all brands of motorcycles
Visit a senior center and talk about motorcycles
Guaranteed there will be an old biker there who will come alive.

Great idea's Paul!

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