Equipment Outfitters

Use of the Motorcycle Throttle

Smooth motorcycle operation of the throttle goes hand in hand with smooth motorcycle clutch control and machine appreciation. Harsh motorcycle acceleration can cause motorcycle wheelspin or wheelies; great for posers and fly boys, but bad for professional and caring motorcyclists, and bad for the general image of motorcycling.

Excessive use of the motorcycle throttle, when not absolutely necessary, is also very expensive. The cost of motorcycle fuel is always rising, so the less you open the throttle the better for your pocket. Read the rest of this entry »

The basic principle of the motorcycle gearbox is to alter the rate at which the motorcycle rear wheel is driven by the engine. In the same way that using a smaller cog (higher motorcycle gear) on a bicycle rear wheel makes the bike go faster with the same effort, a motorcycle has a selection of motorcycle gears for much the same purpose.

For every motorcycle gear ratio the motorcycle will travel at a certain speed per 1000rpm (revs. per minute) engine speed. Read the rest of this entry »

Motorcycle Rider Concentration

Motorcycleriding concentration is defined as the complete application of motorcycle rider mind and body to a particular endeavour, and the exclusion of everything not connected with that motorcycle endeavour.

Today’s road and traffic conditions demand that all motorcyclists exercise full riding concentration every time they venture on to the road. Read the rest of this entry »

The Obstacles—riders now weave their way through a series of turns that lead them over several obstacles (jumps), ranging from fairly easy to difficult and technically challenging. The jumps are designed to challenge a rider’s ability to the fullest, create close racing, and maximize airtime. Jumps come in many sizes and are linked to create varying degrees of difficulty throughout he course. The jumps are categorized as:

• SINGLE JUMP – rider jumps 20-60 feet (6-18m) onto a flat landing
• DOUBLE JUMP – rider jumps off one obstacle and lands on the far side of the next, usually covering 20-70 feet of terrain
• TRIPLE JUMP – rider must get through three consecutive jumps and may choose to jump them as sets of two and one, or as a group of three (launching over an entire triple requires the rider to catch up to 25 feet (7.6m) of vertical air over a distance of 75 feet (23m) or more. Triples are real crowd pleasers) Read the rest of this entry »

As off-road motorcycle riders have become more skilled, and as the equipment available from manufacturers has become consistently lighter and more powerful with an ever-increasing range of suspension travel, the physical boundaries of what can and can’t be done on a motocross (motoX) bike are expanding. In the early days of off-road motorcycling, the thought that riders would someday leap 40 or 50 feet (12-15m) in the air, regularly, would have seemed absurd. However that is precisely the state of extreme motoX today. Extreme riding is not as new as today’s riders would make it seem, though.

Extreme Riding is not as new as today’s riders would make it seem, though. Hill climbs, trials riding (riders negotiate through a broad range of obstacles, requiring low speed, highly technical, balanced handling), and motoX racing have been part of motorcycle sport for years. In their day, many other riders pushed the limits of what had been done to that date. Daredevil riderexample of an early extreme pioneer, who also had a pretty good grasp of self-promotion. Evel Knievel is a classic Read the rest of this entry »

Charging down a hill at warp speed on a bike is a rush that most of us have enjoyed at some time. As bikes developed they headed down the path of tradition, and for a while, all a bike buyer could find was a road-racing-style bike or a cruiser. Road bikes were fine for speed and offered a broad range of gears. But road bikes offered little comfort and didn’t take very well to rough surfaces. Cruisers were very comfortable, but heavy and not geared very well. All that changed in the early Eighties when a Japanese bike company by the name of Specialized purchased a unique bike made in Marin County, California, and took it home for a closer look.

The mountain bike can trace its roots back to when a small and unknown group of riders in Marin County, California first began riding stripped down and beefed up Schwinns on mountain roads just prior to WWII. One can only assume that the natural propensity of extreme oriented riders continued to pursue downhill riding until a few notable pioneers of the modern mountain bike began simultaneously experimenting and redefining the equipment they were riding. According to one of those pioneers, Gary Fischer, the early Schwinn “Ballooner” Cruiser bikes everyone was riding were so heavy that they were pushed, not ridden, uphill. Fischer is reported to have been the first to equip a Ballooner with multiple gears, an act that made it easier to pedal uphill, but also added 25 lbs (11.35 kg) to their weight. Read the rest of this entry »

Motorcycles have always attracted people with a yearning for speed and an appetite for adrenaline. For years, the closest thing anyone could get to that sensation on the water was in a small boat with a big motor. These were fast, but could hardly be called maneuverable. Then in 1965 a Californian banker with a passion for motorcycles conceived of an aquatic version which would become known worldwide as the Jet Ski.

Clayton JACOBSON enjoyed building racing motorcycles in his spare time. He loved going fast on motorcycles— but crashing on hard pavement was not what he considered to be their appeal. The concept of the Jet Ski was born from Jacobson’s theory that a motorcycle for the water would be just as fun to ride as the ones he enjoyed building, but without the pain of a hard landing if you fell off. Mr. Jacobson would be correct. Read the rest of this entry »