It makes me happy to commute to work on a motorcycle instead of driving my car. Well, let’s say it makes me happier. However, when you spend five to six hours a week navigating highway traffic, sometimes the last thing you want to do is hop back on a bike during the weekend.

It is with great joy that my twin friends Tomax and Xamot talked me into riding with them yesterday. I had an absolute blast, and may have converted another sportbike rider into a mid-distance-in-foul-weather riding, touring gear wearing, hardcase luggage bearing four-season motorcyclist.
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It has been raining since last Friday (technically wintery mix then), but yesterday I rode into work anyway. Light rain, no problem. It didn’t rain a SINGLE DROP from 9AM until about 3PM, and then it started to rain more and more.

By 5PM it was steady; by the time I was on the highway it was a downpour :)

I really enjoy riding in the rain, but it adds a few layers of complexity to an already sketchy commute. I have to allow for extra space between cars, worry about putting my feet down on painted surfaces, etc. I also have to worry (particularly on the way into work) about water getting through my gear. I kept a status check looping through my brain: car in front of you, car behind you, car to the right, gauntlets are covering sleeves, visor clear enough to see, neckline still dry, car in front of you, car behind you, car to the right ….

It becomes meditative. I think that motorcycle riding puts me in a trance anyway, which is probably why I think so clearly while riding, and why I am happy when I get to work. Riding in the rain also plays on that traditional motorcycle spirit of being independent. I didn’t see another single bike out yesterday. I really enjoy riding in the rain, as long as I am prepared and am traveling a short distance.

My gear did very well: my Rev’It Cayenne Pro jacket was fantastic, and the Motoport mesh kevlar pants were watertight, too. I wore my Teknic Speedstar gloves, although I probably shouldn’t have; they are great gloves and I don’t want to shorten their lifespan by wearing them in the rain too often. I have some Aerostich waterproof glove covers, but that will have to wait for another entry. My Sidi OnRoad boots kept my feets dry.

The Gmax helmet is still very comfortable, but it doesn’t vent for shit. All of those vents on the top didn’t keep my face shield from fogging up. I had to decide between a partially fogged visor or getting blasted in the face from wind and rain. I split the difference on the highway, and ran with the visor three clicks open once I got back to the surface streets.

It’s supposed to be less rainy today, so I will be riding again. Hopefully this time without the free bike wash. ;)

I’m not going to recap my nightmare experience with motorcycle safety equipment manufacturer Motoport, but over two months ago the Wayne Boyer offered to take my jacket back for a full refund. I was hopeful that the issue would be resolved quickly, and I would get my money back.

Long story short: Wayne never gave me the refund, and I had to dispute the affair with Discover. Discover ruled in my favor, and I finally got my money back on December 7th.

Here’s the full time line:
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The first half of my ride home from Georgia was great. I was moving along at a good clip, and the sun was bright and shining.

That is, until I got to Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Fayetteville seems to be the tipping point for bad motorcycle weather. On my trip down, my route south of Fayetteville was completely covered by rain. I guess the northern part of my return trip got jealous and wanted to get in on the “fun.”

It rained non-stop, and hard, all the way home. It wasn’t as bad as my trip down, but it was a soaking rain. Paranoid (and hopefully wiser) from my gear problems on the way down, I adjusted my waterproofing strategy slightly.
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As mentioned earlier, I spent four days on a motorcycle trip to see two of my friends outside of Savannah, Georgia. It’s almost five hundred highway miles, which winds up being between eight to nine hours depending on traffic, weather conditions, and the bike I’m on. My best time was on my first trip on my FZ6 because I had great weather and a very comfortable saddle.

This time I took Raider, my BMW R1150R. In theory, it should have been the best of both of my trips: the comfort of my old K1200LTE touring bike, and the mobility of Cylon. Thanks to the weather and an extremely hard seat, it was really the worst of both worlds.

But I still had a kick ass time. ;)
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The first half of my trip down to Georgia was fantastic. It was cool enough that I wasn’t hot in my Rev’It Cayenne Pro jacket, but not so cold my hands were freezing. It was overcast enough that I didn’t have to squint behind my Native sunglasses, but not so overcast that I had to worry about rain.

That is, until I got to Fayetteville, North Carolina. Then the sky opened up. It didn’t stop until I reached Savannah, some 280 miles later.

What followed was a near total failure of every piece of waterproof motorcycling gear that I owned. Am I being too harsh?
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Almost four months ago, I was killing time in a coffee shop in California. I was visiting family and had a PT Cruiser rental car instead of my motorcycles, and I was missing my two-wheeled friends badly. I made up for it by reading motorcycle gear reviews, and found read Web Bike World’s review of the Rev’It Cayenne Pro textile jacket and pants. I wanted it.

At the same time, my friend Fish Sprout was researching Motoport’s kevlar textile gear, mostly because her friend owned a set. The Cayenne Pro, despite ingenious venting options, was still a three-season jacket. Motoport owners reported wearing the jacket in temperatures from the 30s to 120s. The lure of a strong, four-season textile suit that wouldn’t melt to your skin like most mesh led me to order jacket and pants from Motoport in late June.

It was a huge mistake. For a product promising a “custom” fit, my Motoport jacket was put together for someone who weighed an extra twenty or thirty pounds. I sent it back twice for alterations, and am still in the process of getting my money back.

Cold temperatures were fast approaching, and I hadn’t solved the problem of a weather-resilient jacket that would hold up well in a crash. My Tourmaster Transition 2 jacket fit well and had nice features, but claims of the jacket disintegrating in crashes as slow as 25MPH made me nervous.

I bit the bullet, and bought the jacket from Beach Moto, run by a member of the ADVrider.com community. Dennis, the owner, was everything Motoport wasn’t, and should have been — responsive, personable, professional, and efficient. Did I mention that dealing with Beach Moto was easy and didn’t make me feel like an idiot? Motoport, take notice.

However, I’m getting ahead of myself. On to the jacket.
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I bought my first pair of Held Ninja gloves a little over three years ago. They had a manufacturing flaw where the stitching around the fingers began to give way. I returned them to the Held distributor, who sent me a new pair that was sewn together by Igor. Less than a year later, the right glove began to deteriorate near the wrist. A small hole developed, which eventually grew into a larger hole. If the gloves fell apart under normal wear and tear, what would happen in a crash? I started looking for another glove.

I researched a few other full gauntlet gloves with the help of Web Bike World, ADVrider.com, and the FZ6 forum over on sportbikes.net. I was chugging the Motoport Kool-Aid and bought a pair of the kevlar motorcycle gloves. I tried two pair but the fit was off (omen), and I returned them.

I purchased a pair of Teknic Speedstar full gauntlet leather gloves from NewEnough and have worn them for about 1500 miles. Priced at $99 on closeout, the Speedstars won out against the Alpinestar SP-1, Cortech Adrenaline, and Shift Carbine gloves. I considered some of the Rev’It gloves, but the lack of full wrist protection steered me away.
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With all of the riding and motorcycling mishaps last week, I neglected to post that Wayne Boyer of Motoport has broken his usual policy and offered to take my jacket back for a refund. You can read the whole saga if you haven’t been following along. The short story: I sent my jacket back for alterations twice, was dissatisfied, called for a refund, was told that because the jacket was now custom a refund was impossible, I posted about it on the Internet, Wayne emailed me in rebuttal (which was also posted), and now we’re here.

My jacket was sent back last week and should arrive on Monday. I am not sure how long it will take Motoport to process my return. Once I have my money back and this whole event is closed I’m going to update my Internet posts with how the situation was resolved.

I am thankful that Wayne decided to take the jacket back. It’s against Cycleport’s usual policy, but hopefully I will get my cash back in short order. I feel better, but keep your fingers crossed. We’re not out of the woods yet.

My friend Ghost Rider passed away on July 4th, 2007. The following fall his mother and family put together a benefit ride to Yorktown, Virginia. We did it again this year, this time heading up to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The weather called for rain for most of the day. I was not deterred for a moment — I’ve ridden in the rain plenty of times and have specialized gear that goes on top of my protective clothing — but I was afraid the event would be postponed until the next day. I already had plans for Sunday, and didn’t want to miss out. I put on wicking bottoms and top, my Motoport mesh kevlar pants and my Teknic perforated leather jacket. I stuffed my waterproof gear in the side case and motored off to the rallying point: the Starbucks where Ghost Rider used to work, and where we met for the first time.
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