The recipie for cleaning melted plastic, melted rubber, and even girlfriend skin from your beautiful chrome pipes is Blue Job Chrome Polish + Elbow Grease. You can purchase Blue Job at J&P Cycles but you have to supply the Elbow Grease. J&P Cycles® - Motorcycle Parts and Accessories
Blue Job is different from abrassive chrome polishes as it is an oxidizer and will not scratch your beloved chrome. No swirlies or spider webs or any scratching at all!
My intention in developing RoadCaptainUSA.com was to bring you information and stories that will enhance your touring experience whether it be day trips or week long journeys. For those of you interested in riding further than your local watering hole, here is another product review that fits the bill.
There is a company called Moto-Maps in New Hampshire that makes little laminated flip chart booklets of scenic backroads perfect for motorcyclists. You do not have to go to New Hampshire to get these maps as I have them for sale at the RoadCaptainUSA.com bookstore which is powered by the very reliable Amazon.com
To help plan my upcoming Rhode Island trip I purchased the Connecticut & Rhode Island edition of Moto-Maps. To get a better shipping rate I ordered two additional maps: New York and Massachusetts. Each booklet includes maps and turn by turn directions for 6 or 7 loops. The books are small so that they can fit in pockets or small compartments. They are laminated for durability. They are bound by ring clips so you can remove just the trip you are using that day. Moto-Maps also sells some accessories to compliment the maps. They have a special map holder that straps onto your arm and a map clip that attaches to a shield.
The maps cost less than $10.00 so you can’t go wrong. Amazon delivered in a just a few days. No matter how you choose to use your Moto-Maps I’m sure you will enjoy the rides. I’ll post a follow up review after my Rhode Island trip in June.
If anyone is going to Laconia next month, you should take the below Moto-Map with you. Don’t waste too much of your time at Weirs Beach, ride those mountains. See the country! That’s what it’s all about!!!!
Maybe good motorcycle boots are not motorcycle boots; or do I mean that good motorcycle boots are not good motorcycle boots? I’m not sure what I mean. Read on…
Harley Davidson Brake Light Boots
Part# D91680
Retails for $119
I have met some real bikers that like these boots. I don’t like them, the boots I mean. I have owned a pair of these longer than I have owned my motorcycles. For me… these are my “wanna-be” boots. They have a really good lug sole! It grips the road really well, even in the rain. Probably the same rugged sole used on every pair of Harley Davidson motorcycle boots. The boots say “Harley Davidson” on them in twenty places on each boot. It’s stamped on each rivet. They look real “bad ass” and I wore them on many a body guard job. If I were gonna shove a size 10 up someones back side, this would be the boot!
They have a decorative rope with a metal knob at each end that does absolutely nothing. There are no laces. Just two zippers. Nothing to snug them up for a firm fit. Just a loose fit. Maybe this is the same fit that engineer boots have. Maybe most people like this loose fit. They are terribly uncomfortable for walking because the sole is stiff. A full day adventure in these and I can’t wait to get them off.
As mentioned in yesterdays post; Jerry “Motorman” Palladino has some training DVD’s that can be purchased from my Amazon store. Maybe some of these techniques are too advanced for beginners; or even those of you who have not been on your two wheeler in a little while. Here is a little video clip to refresh your memory on how to operate a motorbike. If you are interested in purchasing Learn To Ride The Easy Way - click here. Enjoy!
eBay is a valuable resource for finding motorcycle parts, accessories and apparel. My wife bought her 2001 Harley Davidson 883 Sportster on eBay. It was her first eBay purchase. The Sportster was advertised on eBay by American Classic Motors in Zieglerville, PA. The motorcycle was in excellent condition. My only complaint is the oil in the bike was very black and filled up too high. Besides that our experience with American Classic Motors was good and she loves the motorcycle.
Once again HLFX Dave from the Road Grits Cafe comes through with another product reccomendation. Yes, Dave knows his Love Rubs!
I’m not much into cleaning and polishing. My bike is no trailer queen show bike, but I was pissed when some plastic got melted onto my pipes. This can happen from sneaker and shoe soles coming in contact with the pipes, rainwear, stray plastic bags in the wind, etc… Another common problem is bluing of the pipes from heat. Dave suggested I get Blue Job to clean my pipes.
This polish with the funny name is highly reccomended for cleaning chrome exhaust pipes and removing heat stains. It is available at J&P Cycle.
Regarding the J&P Cycle website: you can go to J&P and do a search using product name. J&P Cycle has Rider Forums where people discuss products and problems like cleaning stains and melted plastic off their pipes.
If you have any secret techniques for cleaning your pipes or have experience with Blue Job, please leave comments on this post as we would like to hear about it.
If you ask me who makes great riding gear I will tell you that I love First Gear and I like Tour Master. I bought a pair of Sierra Rain Pants from First Gear through eBay for about $45.00 which I thought was the right amount of money to spend on a pair of rain pants. I guess I was wrong. My advice to you is spend the extra money on a pair of rain pants with a heat shield on the leg to prevent melting. This will put you in the $70 range. For example, the Tour Master Sentinel Pants come with an optional Nomex heat shield for $22 over the same pants without this option. I like the Sentinel because it comes in a womens version which I bought for Diana. A good pair of rain pants specifically made for a women was not easy to find!
My Sierra rain pants look pretty cool to me. They look like a normal pair of nylon sweat pants with a reflective stripe down the leg. They have an extra long zippered cuff to put on over your boots.
I wore my Sierra Rain Pants today for the first time because it was supposed to rain. Of course the weather report changed and there was only a 30% chance of rain when I left my house this morning. I wore them just in case. They were easy to put on at home. I have not had to put them on yet standing on the side of the road hopping on one leg in the rain. I hear this takes practice. It didn’t rain so I can’t comment on their effectiveness in the rain.
Tip: you can wear your rainwear to keep the wind out. It doesn’t have to be raining to wear rainwear.
Towards the end of the day I noticed the right pant leg melted on my exhaust pipe a little. It must have happend while at a stop light or stop sign when my feet were on the ground. Now my new rain pants have two small holes in the right leg and there is melted black plastic on one of my pipes. I hope I can scrape the crap off my chrome. I’m disappointed in the heat resistance of the First Gear pants. It’s not like they were in direct contact with the pipes for an extended period of time. This sucks!
When I first started riding Harleys I purchased a DOT approved half helmet. Although the DOT helmet didn’t look as cool as the novelty skull buckets, it afforded the protection I wanted and some of the Harley biker style I was looking for.
I soon became annoyed with the eyewear situation. My prescription glasses didn’t protect me from the wind and my eyes would tear up. Goggles were a pain, especially carrying two pair. I carried a dark pair for daytime and a clear pair for nighttime. For awhile I switched from goggles to some very cool riding sunglasses from Flying Pig Eyewear. They worked great, until they broke. One day they just fell apart. I still had to carry both dark and clear glasses for day and night riding.
I finally opted to purchase a ¾ helmet with a shield. I bought a black DOT approved Harley Davidson Jet II. I can wear any pair of eyeglasses with this helmet. The shield protects my face from the sting of road debris, rain drops and kamikaze bugs. The helmet feels and looks like a well made product with plenty of cushion to protect my skull. I believe these helmets are made by HJC. I highly recommend the helmet even though it makes my head look a little bulbous. I look like the Martian in Bugs Bunny cartoons who had a little body and a huge helmet. The helmet also comes in silver. I wish I bought the silver one because the black gets very hot under the sun.
I like the helmet so much I bought a silver one for my wife Diana. She is much happier now that she can wear any sun glasses she feels like wearing instead of wearing a pair of riding glasses all day. She also appreciates not getting whacked in the face by large bugs when we are zipping through country back roads.
You can visit your local Harley Davidson Dealer to buy this helmet or you can go to eBay or eBay Motors and search under Jet II Harley Davidson Helmet for both new and used helmets.
You can visit Ride Gear for great deals on similar HJC helmets in a wider variety of colors.
I consider three pieces of equipment to be essential for motorcycle touring and “piece of mind”. They are:
If you have a flat while riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle with spoked wheels you don’t have many options. You can try to remove the wheel from the bike and attempt a roadside repair on the tube. But that is beyond difficult. I’m not laying my bike on its side to attempt removing the wheel! Assuming you have access to a functioning phone, your best bet is to call for help. Get towed to the closest motorcycle repair facility and pay the big bucks! I hope this doesn’t happen to you on a holiday, on a Sunday, at night, or anytime! [Read more →]
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