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Tips & Tricks

When I was 9, I spent every single day riding my dirtbike in the hills north of Los Angeles with all my delinquent buddies....

Touring on a Sportbike

When you travel by motorcycle, people like to tell you about how they could never tour or camp on a bike. From non-motorcyclists, I...

Motor School With Quinn Redeker: Motor (Sensitivity) Training

We’ve known each other for a little while now, so let me just come out and say it: Deep down, you’re a sensitive person....

Motor School With Quinn Redeker: Cover Me, I’m on the Move

Covering the front brake is a big no-no at most police motor schools across the country. By this, I mean resting any number of...

19 Common Motorcycle Myths

As a rider for over 50 years and writer for motorcycle magazines for more than 25 years, I’ve heard motorcyclists spout some bizarre beliefs....

Motor School With Quinn Redeker: What Does a Green Light Mean?

I’ll assume that most of you have quite a bit of motorcycle riding experience under your belt, and I bet you’ve logged some heavy...

Motorcycle Camping Tips…From the Backyard?

You’ve packed your moto camping kit. You’ve loaded up your luggage. You zip up your moto jacket and step out into…your backyard? When it...

Split Decision: Are Lane Splitting and Lane Filtering Safe?

As part of the Stayin’ Safe advanced rider training program – a method that leads a small group of experienced motorcyclists on road tours...

Motorcycle Tips: Riding Alone Off-Road

The following motorcycle tips article was the Exhaust Note feature in Rider's adventure-themed November 2022 issue, which also included stories on the TransAmerica Trail,...

Motorcycle Tips: Back Brake Benefits

Rear brakes aren’t a hot topic in today’s motoverse, nor are they necessarily among the most sought-after motorcycle tips. In fact, they’re kind of...

The Why Behind Arai Helmets

In 1914, a doctor practicing near the Brooklands racetrack in England first correlated the relationship between motorcycle accidents and serious head injuries. Dr. Eric...

Honda’s Dual Clutch Transmission

The age of the Dual Clutch Transmission is not approaching, it’s already here. If you happen to be comparison shopping Ferraris, Lamborghinis, or McLarens...

How to Plug and Repair a Tubeless Motorcycle Tire

Considering how bulletproof the rest of our motorcycles have become, it’s ironic that it only takes a little 1 ½-inch box nail in a...

Carburetors and Ethanol

For better or worse, most of the gasoline you can buy at stations around the U.S. has been “oxygenated” with some kind of additive...

Group Riding Best Practices

For some, group riding is a quintessential part of the motorcycling experience, a rolling social gathering that happens as naturally as a family party....

Clearing the Air: Air Filters 101

The air filter is the unsung hero of every engine on the road. Without it, dust and debris in the air would wear down...

Before Help Arrives: Being Prepared in the Event of a Motorcycle Accident

Like it or not, accidents happen. Fortunately, they tend to be rare events, and when they do happen they’re often minor, such as a...

Electrical Accessory Installation Best Practices

Adding electrical accessories to your bike is an age-old custom for street and touring riders. Heated grips, fog lights, USB charging ports, GPS systems,...

Tech Q&A: Switching to Tubeless Wheels

Q: I want to purchase a 2004-2006 Honda 750 Aero, with driveshaft and spoked wheels, or a 2004-2006 Yamaha 650 V Star, with driveshaft...

Tech Q&A: Magnetic Oil Drain Plugs

Q: Why don’t the manufacturers put magnetic drain plugs in motorcycle crankcases? They are in rear ends on shaft-drive bikes. I know rear ends...

Level Up! Upgrading Your Riding Apparel Armor

Our riding apparel serves two major functions: it protects us from abrasion (sliding along the ground) and impact (hitting the ground or other objects),...

Stayin’ Safe: Countersteering

Conversations about steering a motorcycle inevitably come around to "countersteering." You may have even taken a rider course where they taught, "press left, go...

Tech Q&A: Replacing Riding Boots

Q: This question is short; I hope the response is longer. When is it time to replace riding boots? - David Fulmer, Punta Gorda,...

Stayin’ Safe: Fueling Risk

Intersections are the most common sites of motorcycle crashes involving other vehicles. You probably knew that. Oncoming vehicles turning left across the path of...

How To Back Down An Incline With Your Clutch

There are countless YouTube videos showing epic failures of riders attempting to back their motorcycles down ramps from trailers or truck beds. And I’ve...

Tech Q&A: Radial vs. Axial Brakes

Q: What is the value of radial-mount brake calipers over the normal "old-fashioned" fork mount? All I’ve read is that radial mounting makes it...

Stayin’ Safe: A Pain in the Grass

I've got a grass-fed beef. And, based on recent conversations, so do a lot of riders. Homeowners mowing their lawns and throwing abundant grass...

Stayin’ Safe: Wheel He Or Won’t He?

For those of us on two wheels, the most likely clash with another vehicle would be at an intersection with an approaching vehicle turning...

Stayin’ Safe: Are You READY?

A while back, I dedicated a Riding Well column to the topic of preparing ourselves for every ride. We have T-CLOCS to assess the...

Stayin’ Safe: Using Hills To Gain A Visual Advantage

If only we could see into the future and know firsthand what lies ahead. If we were able to do that, we could be prepared...

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