Every year, we get bombarded. Professional marketing firms are allowed to use all sorts of psychological data and research to figure out how to entice kids to beg their parents and grandparents for the latest “must have” gift that will likely be forgotten about (or broken) by the time we ring in the New Year. […]
Over the last two weeks, two really great guys that I know that live thousands of miles apart have suffered catastrophic crashes on the back of their bikes. The reason isn’t weather, or distracted drivers, or even a random system failure. Nope. In fact, it is as far from those “traditional” problems as you can […]
I mentioned last month that I had the chance to cruise around the state of Wyoming a few days on an old, borrowed Gold Wing. The lists of towns and places isn’t important, although the effect they had on me was. More than once, I crossed the remnants of the Overland Trail, the Oregon Trail, […]
“How can I be lost, When I’ve got nowhere to go?” – Metallica, Unforgiven III We all do this – get used to riding close to home, we get set in our ways, we take weekend trips to stuff we’ve already seen. Park in the same spot. Take the same route to work. Eat the […]
The late, great comedian George Carlin had a rant in one of his shows years ago about “stuff” – you spent a lifetime accumulating it and then your kids spent years trying to get rid of it. He explained that you would go on vacation to “get away from it all” but still bring a […]
Hopefully, by the time you read this, Hurricane Harvey and the devastation that it caused in southeastern Texas will be old news and cleanup will have been quick, the death toll low, and the fallout – both literal and figurative – minimal. Somehow, I doubt it. Down here, we get hurricanes. Not every year, but […]
By the time you read this, Sturgis will be either roaring through the last weekend or the cleanup crews will be working overtime. Even though, for most of us as bikers, Sturgis represents the chance (albeit one we don’t often take) to go and hang out with half a million kindred spirits, the truth of […]
Waxers. One Percenters. Citizens. Weekend Warriors. You name it, we’ve made up a term to describe it. From Panheads to Crotch Rockets, bikers may not have done too much, but we’ve damn sure got a label for everyone and we don’t do a good job of mixing with others. You don’t see street bikes rolling […]
Like an awfully large part of the population, I enjoyed Sons of Anarchy when it was on. Sure, it got violent, it got over the top, I thought it was a pretty good portrayal, not of motorcycle gangs, but of certain types of personalities who just happened to ride. It was, if you really think […]
Last weekend, as I usually do, I rolled the bike out of the garage and pointed it down the road. No real plans, just a need to get out of the house and burn some fossil fuels. A couple of hours later, in a small town that was slowly dying as the population moved off […]
So this last weekend, the 2 or so billion Christians in the world celebrated Easter in a lot of different ways. Especially popular in my part of the country – the Bible Belt – is the Sunrise Service. For those of you that don’t have this particular institution as a part of your religious lexicon, […]
In the continuing saga of my Harley flip, and if, for some reason, you can’t remember my story from last week, then here it is: Found a cheap Harley, bought a cheap Harley, getting ready to sell a cheap Harley for more than I bought it for. This thing is a time capsule. 24 years […]
So for the most part, I keep my other hobbies out of The Bikers’ Den, but over the years, I’ve let on that I spend a little time restoring stuff that isn’t just bikes. My Texas Dually Project is nearly finished and like any red-blooded American, I have a few things that go bang around the […]
Now I know that plenty of you guys are stuck in the cold and the snow and really jonesing for a few hours in the saddle. Even if there isn’t any snow, the cold is enough to turn even the most insulated butt into a popsicle and that means short rides. On the other hand, […]
I get it. You’ve been cooped up for what feels like months and the bike is sitting, clean, set and ready to go and Spring seems years away. For folks that don’t have the benefit of warmer winter weather like me (I had to swat a damn mosquito the other day – in January!) there […]
So here we are, in the “blahs” of January. Snow is actually in my forecast here in the south and for once, it is too cold to ride. With the beginning of a New Year, we’ve all made some resolutions, and I figured I’d go back and check on mine from last year. In all, […]
So I had to take a long trip yesterday on business that didn’t involve my bike and despite the weather, I still saw a fair amount of guys out riding. Bundled up, facemasks, you know the look. And then I started seeing some special riders. Guy on a Goldwing in a head-to-boot orange jumpsuit. Just […]
Well, even here in the south we’re in a deep freeze. Yesterday, the high never got above 38 degrees and I’ll tell you, driving the old diesel was a relief. It may not be anything like what some of you guys are used to north of the border, but we truly don’t have the gear […]
This Spring I wrote about the wildfires that were ravaging northern Alberta and while my friends up North were dealing with all of that tragedy, I remember thinking how rare wildfires are here in the southern United States. Oh, we get the occasional brush fire that takes out a few acres, maybe a structure fire […]
Last week, like the good boy I am, I got the whole family cleaned up and went to visit my parents for the Thanksgiving holiday (Yeah, we have it a little later than our Canadian friends). We ate too much, we laughed, and when the feast was finally done and the second piece of pie […]
Well, as much as I hate to discuss politics, I would like to say a few words about the election here in America. I know a lot of our regular readers are Canadian, but news of Donald Trump’s win in his bid for the U.S. presidency is potentially world shaping, so here goes… What does […]
Well, it was bound to happen and I guess it did. After three decades in and around motors and motorcycles and nearly four around firearms, I’ve officially lost some hearing. How’d it happen? Honestly, I’m not sure. When it came to firearms training, I was always the guy wearing hearing protection on the range. Nevertheless, […]
Just a newsflash… I know that the lion’s share of our readership is north of the border, and with that, I want to wish you guys a belated Thanksgiving. While my Canadian friends were giving thanks for the blessings they have, I had a Thanksgiving of my own here in the last week. You see, […]
Hard to believe that 15 years ago our lives here in the Western world were changed forever by a few extremists and a misguided view of our freedoms. September 11, 2001, everything changed. Like Kennedy’s assassination a generation before, we will all remember where we were on that day. In the end, for a lot […]
Well, as I’m writing this, the remains of Hurricane Hermine are rolling across South Georgia and my game plan for a speedy escape this evening and a couple days on the bike are somewhat stymied. Not to worry, though, I’ll be on it by Labor Day at the latest – it just depends on if […]
Way back at the first of the year, I told you guys that I was going to clock 15,000 miles this year and that I was going to ride to Sturgis this year. The way the year started, I wondered if that was actually going to work – losing a motor does tend to slow […]
As I was sitting down to write this, the tragic news of the killing of five Dallas, Texas police officers and the wounding of 7 more is still playing over the news. As some of you that read regularly will remember, I was driving through Dallas three days ago on my way back from picking […]
Okay, maybe I’m getting old, but it occurred to me, sitting under a bridge the other day, waiting out a storm, that sometimes, it may just be smarter to haul my bike to some of the places that I usually take it. I’ve had a few hair-raising moments in heavy traffic over the years, and […]
