Motorcycle Long Ride Trip Planning
**All credit for this blog goes to Rob (Lawdog) Layman**
COMPLETE TUTORIAL VIDEOS YOU WILL WANT TO CHECK OUT: (CLICK DESCRIPTION TO LEARN MORE ABOUT EACH)
TUTORIAL VIDEO-Complete Harley Davidson Ride Planner & GPS Guide
TUTORIAL VIDEO-Complete Harley Davidson “Boom Box” Infotainment System GPS Stereo Tutorial
TUTORIAL VIDEO-Harley Davidson Boom Box Infotainment Software & Map Update Tutorial
Blog-Ok so you ride motorcycles. The big question is do you ride to dinner once a month or do you enjoy really putting the miles on?
I enjoy really putting the miles on. Unfortunately, I live in eastern Washington State (it’s not all rainy). During the winter months it can be downright cold. We haven’t been above 30 for a high in about three weeks.
So what do you do with your winter? You can only polish so much and eventually the money for modifications dries up. I spend my time dreaming of places to go see and planning how to get there, afterall half the fun is getting there when you are on a bike.
Currently, we all ride Street Glides or Road Glides. I like the baggers for a couple reasons. I can go long distances, my luggage is dry and can be locked up and you are protected by a fairing from weather. When you are on a trip you don’t always have the luxury of saying “it’s raining, I will ride tomorrow’.
I plan my trips using the Harley Davidson Ride Planner. Go to the website http://rideplanner.harley-davidson.com/rideplanner/ridePlanner.jsp then log in (this is done in the upper right corner). If you have a wish list or a log in for Harley it works here too. You don’t haveto be a current HOG member to use this feature. It works just like Google maps with a couple of nice add-ons.
On the left, first type you’re starting point. Then as you add locations, just keep adding them. Once you are done you can select save at the bottom. For planning and searching ease I suggest you name your trip; my latest is Sworn Few 2013. You can also add notes, I use this for hotel names as all I have for locations are addresses. Input the dates you plan on taking the trip and then save it. Every time you log in now your trip will be at your fingertips. You can also e-mail the trip with other riders.
I zoom in to the day’s route and move slowly across the route to see rural roads that parallel the route the computer selects. If you want to change the route click on the red line indicating the route and drag it to the road you want to take (tip if you change a route zoom in on the change and make sure you dropped the pin on the road you want to take. I have dropped the pin on what I thought was the route and when I was driving it would tell me to get on a side road for 10 minutes and end up back on the road I was on). I don’t know about you, but I avoid freeways unless I really need to get somewhere.
If you click on the 4 diamonds at the top; roads (shows scenic roads you can also check rider submitted roads to see others ride routes), Dealers (shows Harley dealers), Hotels (shows Best Western hotels), discount with a HOG Membership) and finally events (shows events Harley has going on).
then hook up my Harley Davidson Zumo 660 GPS and click on GPS Synchronization right below where you log in and it’s uploaded right into my GPS for the road. Synchronize right before you leave, because if you are like me, you are changing little things here and there right up to the last minute.
Riding long distance for repeated days can take some getting used to. I try to limit my days to 500 miles when on the freeway and 350-400 miles when on back roads. This provides me plenty of time to stop, eat, gas up, see the sights, etc. Key to long distance riding; make hotel reservations, especially in the summer and heading to tourist areas (Yellowstone). Make sure you are ready for weather. Pack sun screen, rain gear, warm gear,etc. If you make your hotel reservations, most places need 24 hours to cancel. I have ridden in some bad weather to make that next stop. Just because you have a place to be, leave time to get off the bike, walk around, maybe grab a beverage, and enjoy the ride.
**All credit for this blog goes to Rob (Lawdog) Layman**
Harley Davidson 10″ Wind Splitter Windshield
Blog- Of course my 2011 Harley Street Glide comes with the stock tinted wind deflector. It works great year around for the most part, but there are very cold times and inclement weather conditions when I wanted a taller windshield.
So, the local Harley Davidson dealership had the Harley Wind Splitter windshields in stock. I purchased a 10” clear (they make a smoked version too) Wind Splitter windshield and had it for about 6 months (Harley Davidson Part #57400092). I tested it out during some very cold and inclement weather at a variety of speeds.
If you don’t know; the windshields on Harley touring models come off and on in about a minute by simply removing the three retaining screws across the front of the fairing, so installation is not going to be discussed in this blog.
The 10” Wind Splitter has a very unique design if you look at pictures and is specifically designed to push the wind up and over the rider. It is also wider than the stock wind deflector. I spoke with an experienced Harley mechanic at the dealership, who stated that the way the windshield is designed to cut through the air will cause the front end of your bike to suck down to the road a bit more, which is a good thing. Let’s just say the windshield has unique curves compared to other regular flat type windshields.
The windshield certainly performed very well in blocking cold wind and rain. I have nothing bad to say about its ability to protect the rider from extreme elements. The wind certainly went up and over me and I was very protected.
I will say that because of the unique curves in the windshield that it can distort a rider’s vision of the road directly low and in front of the bike, which is not where you are supposed to be looking anyways when riding. Depending on your height, there are some spots that can be a bit distorted even farther out front, but overall it is not unsafe or something that can’t be overcome by the rider.
I am 5-08” tall and have a stock seat on my 2011 Street Glide. I found that I will now likely go with the shorter 7” version of the Wind Splitter windshield (Harley Davidson Part #57164-10). I am soon going to demo the 7” version at my local Harley dealership, since I already sold my 10” version. The 7” version should push the wind up and over me during those very cold inclement weather days, yet I will still be able to see over the top of it, thus eliminating any distortion issues out front. However, I will still run my very short stock wind deflector most of the year, because I still like the wind in my face and that feeling of freedom that comes with it!
Overall, I give the Harley Davidson Wind Splitter windshield 4 stars out of 5 stars. You just need to make sure you get the right height that fits your personal needs.
Keep checking back on this website often and listen to all the entertaining and educational Podcasts, as I will eventually write or give a Podcast review on the 7” version after I get it and test it. Heck, maybe I will even do both!
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LAW ABIDING BIKER PODCAST EPISODE 06 WILL RELEASE IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS!!!!
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We want to know your history and how you formed, as we are truly interested in all LAB clubs. There are so many awesome LAB clubs out there that we want to get to know. We would love to talk about your club, history, what your all about etc on our LAB Podcast, with your permission of course.
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LAB Podcast Studio/Office Coming Together Nicely…..More Rich Diverse Content Coming!!
BLOG-Well I am super stoked and have been working diligently on getting the NEW AND IMPROVED Law Abiding Biker (LAB) Podcast studio/office and equipment up and running. I have been very fortunate and the good Lord answered some serious prayers of mine, thus allowing me to sell some personal items I had listed in different places for some time!! Suddenly those things sold out of the blue, giving me basically the exact amount of money I needed to invest into the podcasting equipment I have longed for. God does answer prayers and I am very thankful. It has been a long process getting everything set up by myself and with the limited space I have to work with, but I am not complaining. My office is small, but much bigger than podcasting from my daughter's 6'x6′ closet with less than adequate equipment and no ventilation. 🙂 I thank God that he has seen me through this ongoing endeavor and I can get real serious about this now. I am still lacking a few minor equipment items, but I have workarounds for those things for the time being. I have spent the last two days running sound tests, recording short test podcasts, and reviewing everything for quality. In the future I plan to blog on the exact specifics of the very limited equipment I got started with. I have never taken any podcasting classes, website building classes, or any other technical classes allowing me to do these things. I have spent literally hundreds and hundreds of hours over many years to get to where I am. Much frustration has come along the way as it always does with tech stuff. I have learned all this stuff on my own, but it is truly God that keeps me focused and allows me to learn such things.
Everything is coming together nicely and I can't wait to pump out the first LAB Podcast using the new awesome equipment!! I am getting everything set just perfect, so a superior rich audio product can be produced for the listeners out there!! Next to content, audio quality is extremely important. I thank all my listeners that have stuck with me even though I had hardly any equipment and the audio was not the best. I hope to really step things up from this point on and take the LAB Podcast to the next level. I am going to put 100% of my focus on the LAB Podcast for quite a while, but there will likely be other Podcasts in the future………I can't stop the ideas from popping in my head. Along with getting the podcast stuff done, I was able to shoot an awesome tutorial video last week. It is about Harley Davidson motorcycles and some tips and tricks. I will leave it at that for now, as I don't want to give the full content away at this point. Expect that free video to come out sometime late next week. I think the video will really help some LAB bikers out there, which is what this forum is all about. Thanks to my Sworn Few LEMC brother, Rob, for being involved with the video shoot.
Expect Law Abiding Biker (LAB) Media to keep pumping out fun entertaining podcast with rich content that can be useful for all law-abiding bikers. You, the listeners, are my focus. I have three of my brothers set to start co-hosting LAB Podcasts with me. I was able to add two additional microphones to my studio for guests and co-hosts. I am all set to do phone interviews and will eventually be set for Skype interviews. I already have a couple of phone interviews done and recorded and a couple others on standby. I am still just getting everything dialed in and still need a few items, but I am good and set for the time being. Sometimes there will be one c0-host and sometimes two, and on occasion it will be just me. It just depends on schedules and what the content that is being put out consists of. Anyone who has listened to the LAB Podcast knows that there is no other similar motorcycle enthusiast podcast out there with the extremely diverse range of content we put out. We cover all law-abiding bikers and the content is just too long to list right now. We care about our audience and want you involved, so leave us those emails and voice mails right on the contact page of this website. We have listeners that range from those that are thinking about getting a bike, to beginning bikers,to those that are experienced veteran riders. I appreciate the emails and support my listeners have given me and the appreciation for addressing all law-abiding bikers and relevant issues etc. I have so many podcast show content ideas that it is hard to prioritize!! Bottom line is, we will get to each topic in due time and have a blast doing it! Of course your emails and voice mails will change what topic we talk about next, as those will take priority. We want to talk about what you want to hear, discuss or even learn.
As many of you know, I injured my hand at work on February 20th and I have been unable to ride my Harley since then. I have been in a cast and then a splint, which I officially got off yesterday! My right hand is healing and I can now officially use it with some restrictions. The doctor says the restrictions will be in place for about the next 4 weeks. However, turning the throttle on my Harley Street Glide is not one of the restrictions, so I got out today and went for ride for the first time since February 20th!! Man do I feel alive after that ride!! It still amazes me after all these years what a motorcycle ride can do for the mind and soul!! Lets just say that I am satisfied and will sleep well tonight. Thank you God!
Thanks to all my supporters, friends and family. The law-abiding biker community are good people and I look forward to meeting many LAB's. I hope you like the forum and content that is being produced. Go to the bottom right of any page on this website and subscribe to my Blog RSS feed or to hook up on Facebook or Twitter. Share this content with your friends and motorcycle enthusiasts. Get the LAB Podcast on iTunes, Zune, Android, Stitcher Radio, or listen to it right on this website. Go to iTunes and rate the LAB Podcast for me. All the support is much appreciated. Make comments on the blogs right on this website.
GET READY FOR THE LAB PODCAST, VIDEOS, AND BLOGS!! IT'S ONLY GOING TO KEEP GETTING BETTER!!
Ride safe out there and keep the rubber side down…………………..
Cross Club Brotherhood and its importance in the law abiding biker (LAB) community
BLOG-LAB Podcast-03, which I will be releasing this coming weekend sometime, deals with the issue of cross club brotherhood. There are also other things I cover as usual, so be sure to stay tuned for the release of that podcast! I thought I would write a blog about this issue too, prior to the podcast release.
The law-abiding motorcycle scene and clubbing are not new to me. Prior to forming and becoming the president of the Sworn Few Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club (LEMC), I served as President of the local chapter of the Blue Knights LEMC for 4 years. Four years ago myself and some other brothers started that chapter from the ground up. Up until 4 years ago there were no law-enforcement motorcycle clubs in this immediate area or in the surrounding four counties and so we made history! And once again some brothers and I made history by starting a brand-new law-enforcement motorcycle club from the ground up in this area, the Sworn Few LEMC.
I still have many brothers and friends in that local Blue Knights chapter and would never say bad things about them. I learned much as president over those four years, which prepared me to start a new LEMC from the ground up. I learned what works and what does not work. Me and some of my brothers started talking about specific ideologies about what we wanted in a LEMC. However, the Blue Knights is a huge organization with a large governing body and changes are very hard to come by and one might feel like a number after a while. They have a very specific way they have run things for years now and that is likely not going to change. Again, I am not talking badly about that club whatsoever, but just stating the facts. I think I can speak intelligently about it since I served as President “P” for four years. That club environment works for many persons and their particular clubbing interests. I will say that my brothers and I left that club (chapter) on very good terms and were even given awards for all our hard work over the four year period. Several of us held elected positions in the chapter and it was election time, so we graciously stepped down to let others lead. We knew our intentions and they have great new leaders in that chapter, who will do a fine job.
So, myself and other brothers split off and started our new club from the ground up, which has been very rewarding. Make no mistake about it however; if you’re thinking of starting a new LEMC and want to do things right, it takes an extreme amount of time, money, and dedication by you and your brothers involved. Sure, you could do it half ass, but that’s not the way I roll. If you’re going to start a new LEMC, it’s something you want to take pride in or don’t do it at all. We still take extreme pride in everything we do as a club and we are still developing and progressing. You can check out our website at www.swornfewmc.com to learn more about the Sworn Few LEMC. You can also contact us from that website if you have any questions. We have received much positive feedback about our club. We are here to help you if you are thinking about starting a new club or have questions about ours. There will be future blogs and podcasts about starting a club from the ground up and the things we learned, but for now let’s get back to cross club brotherhood.
So, several months after we started the Sworn Few LEMC from the ground up, I got a call from a member, Paul, of the local Blue Knights chapter, which we had just left. Paul told me that he had a gift for us. Paul has a hobby and makes granite clocks. He advised me that he had crafted a granite clock with our Sworn Few logo on it and wished to give it to me. This was completely on his own and it had not been requested by any of us. Paul is a retired Sheriff’s Deputy.
I was very overwhelmed at the cross club brotherhood that was taking shape. I met him the very next day and he presented me with the clock, which was very well done. He was a little worried and made some statements that we could keep it, destroy it, or do whatever we wanted to with it. I quickly told him that is not how our club rolls. We were very pleased that he took the time to make and give us this gift and that it would be in our club forever. His concerns stem from how some clubs worry about their colors being drawn by others et cetera. Believe me when I say that never even entered our minds and would be ridiculous to me.
The clock is made of granite and is very heavy. I have small children, so I could not take the chance of it falling on one of them. I grouped texted my club brothers and it was decided that it would reside at Vice President Matt’s house, as he currently has no children. Someday, when we get a clubhouse it will reside there.
Paul had made a Blue Knights clock some time back when we were with that club (chapter) and our now Sworn Few LEMC Treasurer, Ed, won the clock at a meeting raffle. We decided that we no longer need that clock and are going to return it to their chapter, so it can be put to good use. We wanted to return a favor and related this to their chapter officers.
We will continue these type of cross club brotherhood relationships in our area and in our state. I can only speak for our area and this state, but I hope clubs in other states are striving for the same type of cross club brotherhood and relationships. We are all out here for the same reason and have some of the same purposes. We may be affiliated with different law abiding biker (LAB) clubs, but that does not mean we have to separate ourselves within the law abiding biker (LAB) community.
We have stayed in touch with our brothers from the other club. If you listen to the LAB Podcast-02, I actually did a field interview of several of them. We were at a local biker charity event. It was very nice talking with them, as I have not seen some of them for quite a while. This is when we relayed that we would give the clock back to them. I know we will continue our good cross club brotherhood and communications with them and we will see each other at a lot of the same events.
The Sworn Few LEMC and the Law Abiding Biker (LAB) Podcast are a separate entity. But in so many ways they intertwine with each other. We are about being humble and mingling with all law abiding bikers (LAB’s). We don’t brag and tell people that our club is better than theirs. Of course, in our hearts we truly believe we have put together something very great that works perfect for us and other like minded individuals. However, there is a difference between keeping that in your heart and bragging openly about it. We don’t look down on any law-abiding biker club and we are here to support such. Please contact us at www.swornfewmc.com or me at www.lawabidingbiker.com if you have any questions. You can also like the Law Abiding Biker Facebook Page or follow on Twitter @lawabidingbiker. We are here to help all law abiding bikers (LAB’s) and bring everyone together, not to cause separation. The LAB podcast, website, and blog are just for that; a forum to bring all LAB’s together in one place for communication, education, brotherhood, and entertainment. In LAB Podcast-03 you will hear me give praise to the Road Dawgs LEMC Tacoma Chapter about an upcoming event that they hold each year for a great cause. I want to learn as much as I can about other law abiding biker clubs and their members. That is what motorcycling is all about; riding to new places and meeting new people. The Sworn Few LEMC is built on the foundation of riding as much as possible and riding hard. We are not a social club, we are a true LEMC and we keep it real. Sure I blog, built our website, and podcast. But, riding is my passion and comes first. I have had a little extra time lately with a bum hand. Thank God for dictation software, because there is no way I could type this blog with one hand. It would take me weeks….LOL
Until the next time we meet; ride safe and keep the rubber side down my friend’s.