Mr. Subjective

My first bicycle was a 20” Huffy. Deep candy red with white pinstripes on its triangle-shaped fenders. I remember it so perfectly because this was the bike I first learned how to balance without training wheels. I can take you to the exact spot where this miracle occurred. My mother held the bike up by the back of its saddle...

Year after year this is co-promoted by both the AMA and the Motorcycle Industry Council, and almost nobody cares. The AMA is the American Motorcyclist Association and is the largest membership motorcycle rider political group (PAC) in the country. Sort of like the NRA (National Rifle Association) but for motorcyclists. They also provide racing sanctions and rule books and oversee...

Or A Very Short Blog Post Photo of Jim Weatherhead, taken by Susan Weatherhead. If you own, wear and enjoy your Aerostich gear, please tell your friends about it. Our ability to continue as a solvent, successful business depends on your positive recommendations, stories and referrals. We all came back to work during this past week. Now we are busy...

For motorcycle accessory businesses like ours the good sales quarters are Q2 and Q4 and the slow quarters are Q’s 1 and 3. Most annual profit is made during Q4. This entire year will be an economic write-off, but hopefully Q4 will still be at least semi-ok. Much will depend on clinical/medical/science stuff. Many different kinds of medical things are...

An earlier Mr. Subjective blog post led to a long-ish email exchange between two old friends: Tom, a continuing blogger in ‘Geezer with a Grudge’, and Mr. Subjective. The ‘Sorta Sensible Trade Off’ essay was about the trade-offs between today’s safety-enhancing technologies like anti-lock brake systems, and the other important aspects of the motorcycling experience. Among other things, Tom is a...

“Younger rider’s reactions to my suit (Roadcrafter Classic, R-3) are not entirely positive.” - Any number of experienced motorcycle journalists. That’s an understatement. I’ve thought a lot about why this is. First, youth-in-general looks very hard at the micro-granular details of everything but often has a more difficult time seeing the so-called bigger picture. Looking hard at each tree means...

Photo: Paul Pelland during his Aerostich visit (Feb 2020) Most riders today agree about the desirable complications of modern motorcycle safety features like ABS and Traction Control. I do, too, though at times still slightly struggle with some these high-tech enhancements. Electronic fuel injection is great and so are most other advanced technologies which improve a motorcycle’s efficiency and reliability...

...Or, A Completely Stupid Situation (As appended to an email reply to ‘Gabe F’, January 4, 2020.) PS - I still have a car. Two in fact. I just don’t want to drive either in the winter. Here’s my car life-story: - 1971.  Datsun PU.  Red. New. Put larger tires and wheels on it (15”x7”, snow tires all around) and...

So far this has been a fairly mild winter, temp-wise, but we've had an above-average amount of snow. Which is fine. I'm quite happy riding my now three-year-old electric bicycle on its studded tires as primary transportation (made up a separate set of 'winter wheels' two years ago) but in hindsight I should have spent more to have one of...

A Good One... A customer wrote today and suggested we re-name the Transit suit after Neil Peart.  He was a great fan of the Transit suit and generously let us use photos of him riding wearing his Transit.  We have been selling his very good books about his motorcycling and life experiences for many years. (We ran out of them...