Common Gear Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

7PM East / 4PM West

Where: Facebook.com/GearChic

RSVP HERE

Join me Wednesday night, I’m going to share some common gear mistakes you might be making. This idea has been swirling in my head for months, I finally decided to just schedule a 45 minute-1 hour talk about this.

And then we’ll have 15 minutes or so for QnA at the end.

Doesn’t matter if you’re experienced at riding, or new at riding.

Gear is fluid and so much of how it works and what it does for us depends on how you may use it or want it to work.

I’ll cover how wearing a helmet that isn’t designed for your riding position can be a negative or positive thing

The human aspect of wearing gear adds another layer of difficulty sometimes because when our gear doesnt do what we want it to do, it can be frustrating or a let down.

I’m going to give you the most common mistakes that I run into when I talk to customers about riding gear. Sometimes I’m right, and sometimes I’m wrong.

Feel free to post any questions here as well, but you can rsvp and post in the Facebook Event too.

Adventures Resources for Women Riders

Oh Hai! Are you thinking of taking yourself on your first long, solo ride? YES! YOU CAN DO IT.

Women have been traveling solo on two wheels since almost the invention of the motorcycle. Personally, I have many female riding friends who’ve ridden everywhere from Chile to Mexico to Mongolia to Vietnam and everywhere in between completely by themselves. 

If you’re a woman rider who’s new to solo adventuring or traveling on two wheels, I want to give you some inspiration and resources to help guide you along the way. Because there will *always* be someone whispering in your ear (sometimes it’s just you, but that’s a story for another time) that “it’s dangerous”, or “a big mistake” or “a terrible idea”. 

These women have ridden across almost every continent and they have exciting and sometimes scary stories to tell. But if you ask each and every one of them if they’d have it any other way, I think you’ll be interested to hear what their answers would be. 

So here’s a list of resources that will hopefully give you a combination of confidence, inspiration and motivation to travel anywhere you want to go on two wheels, all alone.

Friends/Sheroes: 

Some of these are friends that have inspired me to do my own long distance solo rides in the US. I know that if you sent any of them a message via social media that they would be happy to answer any questions you might have about their solo travels.  And some of these women are simply cool, amazing sheroes that I have found crawling thru Instagram’s hashtag feeds.

Alisa Clickenger IG @motoadventuregal

Porsche Taylor IG @porschetaylor

Cristi Farrell: IG @moterrificmedia

Brittany Morrow IG @brittanymorrow 

Rachael @fuzzygalore

Anna Greschishkina @anna_grechishkina

Sinje Gottwald @sinje.gottwald

Egle Gerulaityte  @eglegerai 

Motobird Adventure @motobirdadventures

Shruti Singh @girl.on.himalayan

Sarah Moreau @seccret_cross_country_rider

Maryam Talaee maryam.talaee.1/

Momma D @mommadandherfreedom

Web / Social Media:

• #solowomentravel Follow this hashtag (on any platform like Twitter, Facebook or Instagram) or simply enter it in a google search and you’re going to find women traveling any way they can to see the world. I know that motorcycling has its own challenges, but we can always find inspiration from eachother, especially when we’re all trying to achieve the same travel goals. 

• HorizonsUnlimited.com - This is a global meetup that takes dplace all over the world, I highly, highly recommend attending one of these events in your area. This is the one place you’ll find at least 10-20 women in one place who’ve ridden quite literally, around the world solo. It’s also a highly comprehensive online resource for anyone looking for help planning their journeys around the world.

• Facebook.com/groups/WomenAdventureRiders/ - If you’re a facebook fanatic, you can find this public group (membership does require approval) with thousands of likeminded women who are out there riding solo right now

• Facebook.com/groups/MotorcycleConfidence.ByWomenForWomen/ - “We're here to support and encourage all lady riders with an open heart and adventurous spirit.”

Moto Books:

• Boost Your Confidence Through Motorcycling A Woman’s Guide to Being Your Best Self On and Off the Bike. By: Alisa Clickenger.

• Hit the Road; A Woman’s Guide to Solo Motorcycle Touring. By Tamela Rich.

• American Borders: Breakdowns in Small Towns all around the USA. By Carla King.

Lois on the Loose. By Lois Pryce.

Please keep in mind, these are NOT Top 10 Lists or meant to be ranked in any way, shape or form. It’s simply a list of women that I either know or have found searching online that I thought were worth sharing.

Please feel free to add your own inspirational women adventurers or travelers that you love or follow.

Honda Grom 125 - The Perfect Beginner Bike?

The Grom is the perfect beginner motorcycle if you’re |this| small. I certainly wouldn’t recommend it if you’re blessed with a taller inseam. But I absolutely, positively, love this bike for anyone out there thinking they’re too small to ride anything.

Even if you can’t flat foot,

IT DOESN’T MATTER

IT DOESN’T MATTER

IT DOESN’T MATTER

IT DOESN’T MATTER

IT DOESN’T MATTER

I flat foot , but barely. Without shoes on, I’m not even flat! Also, I have a 28.5” inseam but the bike has a 30” one. So how is this possible? SUSPENSION!

Because riding some motorcycles (anything except a cruiser) inherently means that you won’t flat foot.

And if you want to join this club, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. You must learn how to ride a motorcycle first, so well that your inseam becomes far less important than you think it does right now.

Meet the Honda Grom. It’s a lightweight, single cylinder (less cylinders = slimmer bike between your knees), 220lb bike with plenty of power for a smaller rider. Because no, if you’re 250lbs, this bike will definitely feel severely underpowered.

I rode it home to downtown Philly on my way home from the RevZilla Philadelphia Showroom and it was SO much fun.

Traffic is moving at an average speed of 25-35mph, and if I was a new rider, I would feel comfortable on this bike, taking corners swiftly and smoothly. I wouldn’t be scared or worried because I accidentally hit the brakes too hard, which will likely result in me dropping 400-500+lbs of metal on my foot. Instead I would feel confident, comfortable and happy that I chose something that I’m not afraid to ride everyday.

You’re going to see all types of riders on all types of bikes. You will absolutely notice that not everyone has flat feet when they ride. I know what you’re thinking: “But if I don’t flat foot, I won’t be comfortable.” That is mostly true when:

• You’re not wearing real riding boots (pretty much anything on Zappos)

• You’re riding a bike that exceeds your riding experience (pretty much anything over 300cc because they’re probably going to be too heavy AND tall)

• Your skills are so poor that you aren’t able to overcome your lack of height

When these areas are ignored, and you let your ego or peer pressure take over, you are not only making things more challenging/frustrating but you’re actually slowing down the process. Your instinct to ‘speed things up’ by buying a bigger bike is actually going to slow you down in every way possible.

Small bikes like Groms are designed to motivate, excite and move you towards your ultimate goal of learning to ride motorcycles! I’m going to do a more in-depth review in a few weeks after I’ve ridden it around a few more times.

So give yourself a huge break, and take time to learn how to ride a motorcycle (really well).

No one says “I want to learn how to ride poorly, or slowly, or at an extremely slow pace”. Do you?

Gaining More Confidence in Motorcycling

Me in 2006, on my first bike, a 2003 Ninja 250, on our first Real Road Trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

• Learn to wrench on your bike

• Choose your own motorcycle

• Make your own mistakes (with reasonable approach)

• Gear Up

• Get training

• Educate your moto brain

• Ride alone, somewhere you’ve never been