Many of us ride through winter months as well, and then it can get REALLY chilly. I did a few rides down to 6 C (that’s around 42 F) and it was alright the first 15 minutes, but after that it starts getting cold quickly.
What better ‘garment’ to wear then but a heated vest of some sort. Trouble is, these things are expensive. My US friends ride with Gerbings stuff and that’s difficult to find here AND expensive.
That’s why I wanted to share a nice site with you, on which I found a Do-It-Yourself heated vest with a complete and very clear building instruction. Maybe something to make over this Summer and be less cold next Winter, eh?
Check out
‘Goldwings’s’ site here !
Well, it is stopping some people. So here is the good news: we have time on our hands to accommodate your travel again, since two US customers have canceled their plans. And that’s the bad news; some folks really are feeling the pinch of these economic woes unfortunately.
And yes, I keep promising to update the site, but like so many of you I am too busy trying to make a living. This has been a bad winter too, in more than one way, so I did hardly do any riding. Bummer !
I can only promise you that I am doing my best to get new conent on the site. We have some really nice travel tales to show that are still waiting in the photos folder of my hard disk. And I’ve been collecting many more interesting internet links too. Now, if only I could find a good system of storing and providing those links. Anybody ?
Wishing you all a great riding season(s) in 2009, in spite of the gloomy and depressing news the media are unloading upn us every day. I tend to just shrug it off and enjoy the days I have…… cheaper petrol helps in doing that ! ;-)
Hi everybody. As you already figured from the absence of much activity here, we are very busy! Busy with the Internet work I do, but also with preparing the 2009 riding season. We did some (delayed) scouting in September and found you some great new roads to discover in the Alps. I’ll be posting a story about the trips later in November.
We also are starting to get the first preliminary bookings for the next season, so if you have any plans to visit Europe next year, then do not wait too long with contacting us ! We hope petrol prices will remain at their current low (yeah, right!) and the Dollar will crawl back a little after the elections (maybe!).
The economic downturn does not have only negative effects. Sure, people may have less money to spend (or less confidence in doing so), but competition will be fiercer, especially in the travel industry, so lodging prices may drop a little too. We’ll keep an eye on it for you of course!
We’re back from yet another Alps Ride and I am now sifting through 2000 photos! I’ll be putting some of them in the Pictures and Stories section over the next weeks! We did some famous and not-so-famous routes, covering the Col de l’Iséran, Col de la Télégraphe, Col du Galibier, Col du Vars, Col des Guérins (ever heard of that one !!??), Col du Festre and the ‘obvious’ one, Col de Bonette !
We visited great routes, such as the Défile de la Sauloix, the route around Lake Serre-Ponçon, parts of the Route Napoléon, the Itiniraire des Villages Perchés and many more.
Used up an entire rear tire on the scruffy pass roads too !
Other news:
- we’re talking to new partners to extend the offering of our riding areas. Think Croatia next to South Africa!
- the rider web hosting service is almost ready….. more soon!
- working with an educational company to cover GPS courses
- ……. and working on changing this web site to something even more flexible this year!
Last but not least, I am in the planning stages for a few customers to take along through Europe next year…. and that of course takes priority over other work!
Hope you had a great riding season so far….. for me the ‘nice and cool’ season starts now…. well, after I get the new rear tire mounted, that is !
Riding our motorcycles is a ’seasonal thing’ for many of us. The bike goes in storage come end of Fall en stays on a charger until March or so. And what better to do in that ‘dark, bikeless period’ then to read and WRITE !?
Since I run a web hosting and design company as well, I figured why not use the skills, contacts and resources to offer cheap websites to bikers, and perhaps even motorbike clubs? Get your own blog and collect your news, ride stories, accessory preferences, travel plans and perhaps even a forum, and maintain it yourself.
All that will be offered for only $ 30 a year…… soon ! Of course you’ll have to learn to ‘manage’ the site a little, but the Wordpress software that we use will make that really easy. And, if you want or need more, you can hire our additional services of course.
Only in Summer we’ll be on the road……. like you will be !
One of the things I hate most is riding in the wet. I’ll do it when needed, but not with actual ‘pleasure’. So for all of you like-minded riders I have added a tiny little picture on the right, showing the overall rain activity in Europe, in miniature. Clock on it and you’ll be taken to the wonderful ‘Meteox site’ with LOTS more information on the weather all around Europe, and in multiple languages.
At least you’ll know whether to bring your rain suit along or not (mine’s always with me).
Did you already lose your pesky little Garmin screwdriver and are now stuck with your Zumo firmly mounted on your bike?
How many times have you cursed the finicky little thing, fumbling for the screw driver on your key chain and wondering why on earth Garmin didn’t make the top at least rotate so you do NOT have to turn your entire key chain to unscrew your Zumo security!!??
I found a solution (thanks to someone on the BMWST forum). Marco Boelis, who lives 12 km’s from my place, can provide you with a replacement screw, one that’s made of stainless steel and one you can turn in and out with YOUR FINGERS!
Throw away the stupid screw driver (unless you REALLY believe that pesky screw wil prevent your unit from being stolen) and order one of Marco’s screws! I’ve put up a special page about it here !
Due-South is our latest Motor Touring Partner, added just a week ago. Due-South is run by Joe Visser and is a South-African motorcycle touring company. Joe has pretty much the same ideas about what a good, but small motor company should be and do as we have! His company offers guided, road based motorcycle tours using BMW motorcycles (BMW R 1200 GS, BMW F 650 GS series) in and around Southern Africa.
Joe and I have agreed to act as each other’s booking and PR agents, thereby spreading our operations and contacts over two continents! Click on the logo to learn more about the Due-South Motorcycle Tours!
I finally pulled the trigger on a navigation system for the motorbike. 4 years ago I was looking at the Garmin 2610, the successor of the old Streetpilot system. At the time it was some 1700 Euros all inclusive. Yikes ! Too much for this ol’ boy!
I kept track of all the systems and prices over the years, while using my Compaq iPaq PDA with TomTom on it to get us from A to B. Worked pretty well in the car, but not at all on the bike. Then came the TomTom Rider. A lot cheaper than any Garmin and made specially for riders. But with it came a lot of bad press as well. So I held out. Even when Rider II appeared.
Although flawed in many ways, TomTom DID make garmin swallow and finally come up with a more friendly priced system of their own, the Garmin Zumo series.
Being able to reclaim the VAT now, the entire system (and installed by myself, see ‘Technical stuff’ on the right) now cost me some 615 Euros…… now THERE’S a difference eh?
Europe… here we come again !!!!!
Yup, we finally pulled the trigger on two things: a trailer to carry bikes on, and a Garmin Zumo 550. I don’t understand how I could have done without one for so many years! Had Satnavs in my cars for almost 10 years already, but on the bike I only used my PDA with TomTom software to get us out of trouble. Easier than 3 tons of paper maps of course. I’ll be posting a complete instruction on how to get the Zumo installed at some point (for my BMW friends), but here are some pictures of the EuropeRides Transport System:
