This is only part one because, well, I haven’t finished the tour yet.  No, I’m not still out on the backroads of Bucks County, PA, it’s just that we didn’t get around to completing the loop, as laid out by the Bucks County Historical-Tourist Commission.  Heat, looming clouds, rumbling tummies, and pressing schedules conspired to cut our tour short.  Four of us did get to see the first six (out of 11) bridges, so I do have something to report.

I planned this trip myself, so I finally got to pick a meeting spot that was convenient for me!  I arrived at the Wawa on Rt 13, just off the PA Turnpike Bristol exit, right on schedule to find Paul already waiting, with his silver Bandit.  Just a moment or two later, Jim and Bill arrived.  After I inhaled a Wawa breakfast and we topped-off our tanks, we headed north on Rt 13 to US-1 to Rt 32 along the Delaware River.

Arriving in the area of Washington’s Crossing, I pulled over to turn on my GPS and begin following the route.  I had some “GPS issues” early on, as my venerable Garmin GPS-V kept shutting off on me.  I stopped again, threw in four new AA batteries, and it worked fine the rest of the day.  I’ll be taking time to install the power cord for the GPS in my Bandit some time soon, so I don’t have such issues again.

Turning left on Lurgan Road, and climbed the undulating asphalt towards Bowman’s Hill Tower.  This uphill roller-coaster of tarmac is best done in 2nd gear, hard on the throttle.  The front wheel gets light, if not airborne, over each rolling bump in the road.  I made a “command decision” and bypassed the tour’s suggested stop at Bowman’s Hill Tower, in favor of pressing on to the covered bridges.

We reached the Van Sant bridge in no time, but the next one was farther than I expected.  Jim brought up the rear, and his safety-yellow jacket let me see when he had made the last turn and was with us.  The Cabin Run Bridge required a u-turn to get back to Dark Hollow Road, and Paul was kind enough to lead us through a local resident’s driveway to get it done.  Back on Dark Hollow Road, there was a nice 70-degree left-hand curve that appeared as a flat smooth section, but ended up having a wicked dip right at the apex, causing all of us to dig a piece of our bike into the ground, even at a sedate pace.

We took a break for some photos and conversation at the Frankenfield Bridge.  There was a fair amount of traffic coming through that one-lane road and bridge.  We also saw an irate bicyclist going at least twice the speed limit on the downhill leading to the bridge, cursing at the car driver going the other way for…well,…I’m not sure why; I didn’t see her do anything wrong.  We had our laughs, then moved on.

I almost missed the turn-off to the Uhlerstown Bridge.  The GPS didn’t show the detail of the intersection, nor did it update quickly enough, but I saw a sign for maximum height clearance, and concluded that a covered bridge would require just such a warning.  That road became as narrow as a residential driveway.  We passed a sign detailing the hazard of proceeding down the hill ahead, and also announcing that it was closed during winter months, and to proceed at your own risk.  The road narrowed to the width of a small car, with dirt accumulated down the center and bushes reaching out from the sides.  The Uhlerstown Bridge was the last bridge we visited on the tour that day.

The tour route looped north from there, heading up Rt 611.  Paul and Jim had expressed interest in checking out the new Cycle Gear store on the west side of Allentown, so we headed north to I-78 and west into Allentown.  After a visit to Cycle Gear and lunch at TGI Friday’s, we headed home.  I counted three seperate showers (and I think some hail) as we zipped down the PA Turnpike’s Northeast Extension.  We got soaked (and Jim got soaked for the second time in two days).
It seems everyone had a great ride.  I’ll probably get around to finishing the bridges tour on my own soon, so I can report on the entire route.

Click here to see the slideshow with comments.

Or, “Luck Favors Fools.”

Last Wednesday, I headed out after work to meet up with some folks from SportBikes.net in the Allentown area.  The plan was to ride as a group to Bike Night at the Dairy Queen in Morgantown, PA.  Well, I didn’t quite make it, and my adventure made for a very late night.

As I neared the Allentown interchange of the PA Turnpike Northeast Extension, I was running low on fuel and decided to stop at the Allentown Service Area on the turnpike.  I quickly pulled my magnetic tank bag from the tank, placed it on the passenger seat of my Bandit, filled the tank, replaced the pump’s nozzle, reset my trip meter, threw my leg over, and drove off.  When I arrived at the Allentown interchange, a mile up the road, I realized I didn’t have my turnpike ticket - it was in my tank bag, along with a $10 bill to cover the toll.  Also in the tank bag was my glasses (I was wearing my prescription sunglasses), cell phone, digital camera, mp3 player, and various much-less-expensive items.

After doubling back to the service area, I spent the next two hours wearing a blister on my left foot by walking the entire ramp (and the surrounding area) at least three times.  I finally decided my bag had been picked up and used a pay phone to call my cell phone a few times.  I eventually reached the man who saved my bag from certain destruction in the middle of the service area ramp.  He had taken it home with him to Scranton for safe-keeping, and had been calling numbers in my phone hoping to get in touch with someone who could get in touch with me.

I made the hour-long journey farther north to Scranton, where the kind man and his wife were holding my bag and its contents.  He adamantly refused any monetary reward for his thoughtful action.  I was glad to have my regular glasses back, as the sun had already set, and even more glad that I didn’t have to replace anything I thought I had lost forever.

I blasted home, arriving shortly after midnight, leaving me a full 5 hours to sleep before getting up for work.  At a fuel stop on the way, I made sure to put the tank bag on the driver’s seat,…on top of my glove.  I’m thinking of making some kind of tether so I can’t leave the bag behind again.

Living in a city that’s recently known mostly for handgun slayings and cop-killings, its experiences like this that renew my belief that people are genuinely good, and the “bad guys” are the abnormality of society.  My hearty thanks again to the man who saved my bag, and a sincere promise to pay it forward.

If you look to the right, you will see a link to the new Video page on the sidebar (under “Pages”).  No real new videos yet, but I put up most of my old ones that are worth watching.  Brand new videos, when added, will first appear here on the main page as an article, as well as being added to the Video page.  I may also add the high-res versions of my videos, if I can find the files.  Also, I may soon make the Bandits at Deal’s Gap 2003 and Spring Fling 2004 DVDs available again for purchase, if there is enough interest.

I decided to start posting Top Ten lists, addressing various motorcycling topics.  I don’t know how often I’ll get around to it, but I’ll try to throw one in here and there on slow weeks where I have nothing else to post.  Some may be just personal preferences (like top ten items I like to take on trips, or top ten roads in a particular area) or more of a tongue-in-cheek rant, like this one.

TOP TEN THINGS SNOOTY HARLEY-DAVIDSON RIDERS SHOULD KNOW:

10.  I know my bike isn’t a Harley, and most people don’t care (including me). 

9.  Most people who claim cruisers are more comfortable than any other kind of bikes, have never ridden any other kind of bike.  Are you ready for 14 straight hours in the saddle?  I am.

8.  Yes, my armored leather gear is hot in the summer.  And no, I wouldn’t be cooler in a t-shirt and shorts with the sun beating down directly on my skin and my sweat evaporaing before it can do its job.  (I’ve had desert warfare training and been to Saudi Arabia twice; trust me on this one.)

7.  Loud pipes annoy the hell out of people and makes them wish you would go away.

6.  A thousand miles of riding is not a good year.  A thousand miles is a good weekend.

5.  If you’re going to put a $10 plastic beanie on your head to comply with a helmet law, it would be just as easy to wear something that might actually protect your head in a crash.

4.  Not waving back to other riders doesn’t make you a tough guy; it makes you an ignorant jerk.

3.  I don’t wear my gear because I plan to crash.  If a crash happens, I plan to survive it.

2.  You’re not an outlaw.  Outlaws don’t spend their money on Harley-Davidson-embriodered clothes.

And the number one thing Harley-Davidson owners should know:

1.  You’re right: Harleys are the only REAL motorcycles.  They’re the only ones that are real loud, real heavy, real slow, real expensive, and real pretentious, all at the same time.

Photo by Killboy.com.

I recently purchased a new helmet, to celebrate my return to motorcycling.  Besides, some of my Shoei helmets are old enough to be retired.  I surfed on over to Helmet Harbor and browsed the under-$200 helmets for something nice.  I found the SparX brand (not sure if its pronounced “sparks” or “spar ex” like they say on the Helmet Harbor video review), and was immediately attracted to the Skulls graphics.  The red on black with the skulls and barbed-wire was kind of the same feel I was going for by putting a little red paint on the black Bandit.  The list of features, especially the light weight and included tinted visor, sold me on it.

Flash-forward a few weeks.  My Bandit is running, and I’m off on my trip to New England.  Hitting the slower twisty roads in the early morning, I found the SparX S-07 to be quite breezy.  Not a bad thing in warmer weather, but the over-abundance of airflow made my head downright frigid in the morning chill.  Closing the vents (one large chin vent, and two small vents atop the visor) did very little to alleviate the mass airflow.  Taking my helmet off, I had two distinct parts in my hair where the air flowed across the top of my head.  This seems like it will be a good thing when the weather turns warm, but on chilly mornings and especially on the highway, the airflow is definitely too much.

Later in the day, I found that bugs would ride the airflow up under the chinbar and into the face area.  I would have to pop the visor open and turn my head to set the little guys free.  This was annoying at first, then became quite unacceptable.  No matter what configuration I used with the vents, I would still get the airflow coming in from under the chinbar.  The chin vent is easily manipulated, but the visor vents are quite small and are quite difficult to manipulate with gloves on.  I haven’t been riding the naked Bandit for long, so I’m not sure how my other helmets would fare, but the SparX would also try to lift off my head at anything over 80mph.  A removable chin curtain would probably help with the bugs and the lift at highway speeds.

The entire padded lining is removable for cleaning, held in with several snaps.  The chin pads are seperate from the rest of the liner.  Descriptions say the helmet is designed to allow for small speakers over the ears.  While the helmet fits me snugly (the way I like ‘em), the areas over the ears are more shallow than in other helmets, and really make using even small ear buds uncomfortable, especially when taking the helmet off.

On the bright side, the helmet comes with a spare tinted visor (very dark), and the quick-release mechanism works as well as any other helmets I’ve owned.  The matte paint has an almost satin feel to it, and I really like the graphics.  Also included is a cloth helmet cover with drawstring, SparX stickers for the bike or toolbox, and a set of orange foamy earplugs.  The interior liner also has a small loop sewn into it to store your earplugs when the helmet is off.

The helmet is very light, at 3lbs, 5.3oz, due partly to the ECE-2205 safety standard, which allows for shells made of softer materials.  ECE-2205 is the new British standard, and is generally accepted to be better than the American DOT.  This SparX helmet is also, of course, DOT-approved.

By far, the best feature is the “crashed helmet policy” SparX offers.  If my helmet is ever damaged from an accident, all I have to do is send the helmet back with a police report of the accident and a brief description of how the helmet performed, and SparX will send a free replacement.  Not a bad idea.  I think Shoei and Arai would sell more of their >$500 helmets if they offered a similar deal.

All in all, I think this is an okay helmet for the price.  It will be good for around town and short trips, especially in the summer.  If I go on a long trip that will involve cooler temps and/or highway riding, I’d rather use one of my Shoei helmets.  Helmet Harbor has great service, and their video reviews are usually quite thorough and accurate.  This time, however, I think they neglected to give this helmet a real test ride.  Looking at just the features and its light weight, it does seem like a good deal, but I think HJC and Scorpion have better quality and a better selection in the sub-$200 category.