Based on over 140 years of record keeping, today, January 17th (2023), is supposed to be the coldest day of the year in Duluth. I think the average low temperature here on this day is something like minus two (ºf) and the average daily high is nineteen. Instead, what we actually got was a high of 37º under dark cloudy skies. This after an unusual two-day steady and sometimes hard mid-winter rainfall which cut our five feet of already fallen snow down by at least half. The unseasonable rain had washed most of the road salt away so I rode to the grocery store on my non-studded-tire Suzuki DRZ400 and stocked up. Statistical summary: Dollar value of the groceries carried:  $160ish Number of items bungeed to the bike: 0 Number of bags used: 2 (1 backpack, 1 Aerostich LP bag on left grip) Total distance ridden:  About 15 miles Number of passers-by or pedestrian thumbs-ups: 2 Amount of fun this was on a 1-10 scale:  11+ I'd started out on this errand riding Aerostich’s loaner Zero electric bike but got only about two miles before turning around. That machine had been sitting unplugged for months waiting for me to stud its tires for winter, and I’d forgotten its massive battery had been low the last time it was parked. As I rode away, I watched as the gauge went from 30% capacity down to 22% capacity within two miles, at which point I turned around, making it back to the garage at 16%. Then I plugged it in and got on the Suzuki which fired right up after sitting unridden for at least eight weeks. A couple of months ago I’d given the Suzuki a tank full of stabilizer-treated fresh gas and at the same time had forgotten to check the state of charge in the Zero. Today vintage ICE dramatically won the first annual side-by-side unattended shelf-life motorcycle availability contest.

This morning (March 29, 2023) I watched this sort of tedious and longish educational video about traffic problems in the largest city in the Bahamas. Enjoyed it enough to think maybe you’ll find it interesting as well, if you have the time. A few of my takeaways: 1.) I saw this exact same thing during my honeymoon five years ago in Jamaica, a similar Caribbean tropical island. 2.) Though motorcycles and scooters are never mentioned, I have always believed small to medium-sized motorcycles (up to about 500cc ICEs) could be a partial solution (along with bicycles, public transit, etc) to some of the things this video is about, which is why armored textile coveralls have always been the Aerostich’s most important product. 3.) I have spent most of the past forty years primarily commuting year-round via walking, bicycling, skating, and smallish motorcycles. One-way distances varied between three and six miles. Routes have varied as well, but for most of this period, I went three miles each way through the center of my small town, which allowed me to experience and observe traffic things a lot more closely than one can when using an automobile.  This closer-view effect is significantly mentioned in the Bahamas video. Without further ado, and for whatever it’s worth, here’s the video link.  Hope you’ll enjoy it:

Technology is our creation and the resulting array of physical things that are useful. There are two types of technology: Physical and metaphysical. Physical technologies are things like making a fire, doing agriculture and husbandry, and making tools and buildings and machines. Metaphysical technologies are ideas and beliefs. Things like (for example) religions are useful for raising good children and dealing with the forever unknowable vastness and neutrality of the universe. Mathematics is a kind of bridge between the realm of physical and metaphysical technologies. What is Morality? The creation and application of metaphysical technologies.

This is a photo of me at the local old biker guy gathering a week ago. Two tables at Sir Ben’s tavern pushed together + a dozen old guys. Mostly acquaintances, some friends. Once a month. I got there via e-bicycle. There are several reasons I’m sharing it here. One is because graininess-and-all, this image captures the relaxed random feel of such gatherings, two is because I’m shown at the center of the age-old human story it tells, and three is because it’s low quality resembles lots of old-fashioned film amateur photography, which (even though it was made digitally) seems authentic to this moment. Old men talking motorcycles. As my wife and these moto-geezer acquaintances all know, I go to monthly gatherings like this only a few times a year, even though I enjoy them. This was a randomly scheduled no-club-open-to-anyone meetup in my smallish community of Duluth Minnesota, a semi-remote northern plains town of approximately 85,000 souls within an overall metro area of maybe 150,000. The surrounding geography and biomes include forests, swamps, and lakes, with nearly zero nearby agriculture or husbandry. Our long difficult winters combine wetlands and rocky poor soil with a stoic Nordic immigrant culture which influences even local old guy motorcycle gatherings. I learned of this one only because I’m fortunate to be on someone’s cc-all email list, and though I’ve been riding with a few of these guys (only once, earlier this year), I’ve become reasonably acquainted with most of them by occasionally being at these types of gatherings across a span of over four decades. Normal small-town stuff. There’s another monthly ‘bike night’ event here at ‘Clyde Iron’, a wonderful pizza + craft brew place operating inside a recently refurbished vintage industrial fabricating building (see photo).  And a third weekly old-guy rider 8AM breakfast which moves between half a dozen small home-cooking cafés. About a third of the regulars at that gathering no longer ride very much, if at all. Nobody cares.   The day I happened to be at the event in the photo was particularly nice weather-wise, perfect for an e-bicycle ride, which I’d ridden to work that morning. I went directly from there, a distance of four miles, very happy to be outside playing hooky for an afternoon during what was certain to be one of the last warm(ish) sunny days before everything outdoors became northern Minnesota winter, I.E. miserably cold, cloudy, dark, and snowy. But this exceptional day was sunny and warm. Leaves had all fallen weeks earlier, but the temp reached sixty (15.5ºc), which was only a couple of degrees below the all-time high on this date. The gathering started around 4PM and ended about 5:30PM. The antique flip-phone camera used to make this image is a hallmark of the fellow who likes taking such photos. I’ve never paid attention to the specific device he uses, other than noting it is a beat-up flip phone. He regularly shares lots of grainy in-the-moment photos with a small cc’d group of friendly moto-geezers. Most images record various motorcycling exploits, and almost all are about as rough as this one, whether they were made in his workshop to share some old bike mechanical repair project, or far out in the backcountry of Texas or Mexico where this guy winters as a professional varmint hunter/exterminator riding his trusty well-used dirt bike. Behind the Coke can on the table directly in front of me is a worn piston from an ancient Norton P11. This one and its equally worn mate were brought to show how they had recently been ‘nuralized’, which is a way to make worn-out old pistons fit a bit more tightly into the bores of an engine so they could be used a little while longer. (https://www.enginebuildermag.com/2017/09/lost-art-knurling-pistons-takes-skill-guts/) You can tell a worn-out piston by its sound. The noise is called ‘piston slap’ and if you’ve heard it once you’ll be able to recognize it forever. It gets worse and worse, which means louder and louder, with time. For a geezer gearhead who’s got some tired old motorbike, it is a bad noise. To fix this problem on a tight budget the engine’s pistons are removed so each piston’s skirt can be mechanically dimpled with rows of short, tiny bars pressed hard enough into the aluminum to cause the metal displaced by the bars to expand outward and upward, making the effective diameter of the worn-out piston slightly larger. At least for a while, anyway. There are a variety of machines and tools made to do this in several ways because it works quite well and is inexpensive. Necessity being the mother of invention, it’s the kind of thing one did back when they were young and poor when pistons didn’t last as long as they do today, and when replacement slightly oversized ones were neither easy to find nor very affordable. When I was young, I had a machine shop do this nuralizing procedure to the worn-out pistons from a car I had and it worked reasonably well. Almost a lost art now, except maybe in economically ‘still-developing’ parts of the world and also for geezers on Social Security trying to get a couple more years out of some long-loved mostly worn-out old bike. It’s also a perfect example of why these guys come together to talk about their motorcycles and lives. Telling stories far too boring for youthful riders, but meaningful for those who’ve shared such long-lost experiences and are now old. Whenever motorcyclists gather at a tavern, rally, or racetrack to share stories, the generic term for the conversation is ‘bench-racing’. The younger the riders, the more hairball/incredible/borderline unbelievable their stories seem to be. When I was young, I distinctly remember a fellow slightly younger than me who was at the time explaining in detail how he was able to ride very VERY fast for long periods in a variety of road situations and never receive even a single speeding ticket due to his advanced on-board anti-radar technologies and supposedly brilliant ultra-stealthy high-speed riding skills. After listening to him go on about this for a minute or two, and when he seemed to have finished his boastful account of high-speed heroics, I said “That’s impressive, but if you are not getting tickets, you are not really riding that fast, that much, that consistently.”  Which was my truth at the time, for despite having a nice radar detector and three (!) speedos on my handlebars (the one that came with bike, an added digital bicycle speedo calibrated to the exact circumference of the front tire, and the instantly calculated speedo function in a small early GPS), I was for a few years nearly always a single ticket away from losing my license. (Once during this period I’d done something stupid* while riding south toward LA on the I-5 freeway in California and got one where the CHP officer had written simply “100+” on the ticket, but that’s another story.) As an old geezer-rider these days, the stories I hear going around the table are considerably gentler and far less heroically inflated. They’re also more wide-ranging and often involve wives, kids, grandkids, home maintenance and mechanical jobs, sailboats, fishing, hunting, cool tools, almost-forgotten or long-absent acquaintances, non-motorcycle travel experiences, and sometimes even politics (!!). Topics that go far beyond riding experiences and riding heroics. Despite today’s easy and amazing technology for filming and photographing everything, and the general popularity of doing this now, very few visual records exist of one of these old-fashioned bench-racing moments. Unlike today’s youth, geezers seldom think about making visual records of ordinary events like this, unless a rider with a crappy flip-phone happens to still be as young at heart as he was fifty or sixty years ago. The old saying: “You’re only as young as the games you play.” is an eternal truth. This image accidentally was well-composed and framed. Its grainy fuzziness captures the atmosphere around some old guys talking about motorcycles in a tavern. Plus, (repeating myself as old people do) I’m the old guy in the foreground.  Pontificating on something of crucial importance. Happy Holidays, and good riding,Mr. Subjective, Nov 2023 *That big ticket in California story is this: It was a gorgeous warm spring afternoon under a cloudless sky with extremely light traffic, often not another vehicle within sight either ahead or behind as far as I could see. There’d been enough recent rain that year so the nearby low hills provided a spectacular wall-to-wall display via hundreds of millions of colorful flowers in full bloom. I was enjoying all this while moving along happy and relaxed at +- eighty (mph) which was slightly over the speed limit, without paying much attention to anything. Just enjoying the overall bliss of this ride. The bike was happy too, thrumming along smoothly and perfectly. Suddenly, and somewhat surprisingly I was passed by a very black BMW seven-series sedan going maybe twenty-five miles per hour faster than I, which woke me right up from my blissful daydreaming. Those things were semi-exotic very expensive twelve-cylinder sport-oriented luxury cars favored by wealthy doctors or lawyers. They were easily capable of speeds around one fifty or sixty (mph) as they’d been designed for German Autobahns, which have no posted speed limits.   In an instant I decided I could use this car as an effective ticket-blocking ‘shield’ if I sped up and matched its speed from about a quarter mile back or a little more, which is exactly what I did, settling in at something a bit over 100 (mph). From such a distance, all I’d need to pay careful attention to would be the brake lights on that thing.  If they flicked on, even for a moment, I’d need to grab a big handful of front brake and immediately bring my speed back down to the legal number, even it looked a bit comical or smoke curled off the tires (in my imagination).  This new higher speed would cut about half an hour off the rest of my trip that day and was perfectly safe because the highway was smooth and wide, the weather was perfect, and there were very few other vehicles around. I was looking forward to a playful, fun, illegally fast riding game for a little while. The bike was willing, too, seeming to enjoy it’s greater load and higher RPMs. California did not use radar for speed enforcement at that time so if I was vigilant and played the game well, I should be ok. Wrong. Ten minutes later a CHP officer had us both cooling our heels on the side of the road. For whatever reason, the highway patrol car was positioned in front of the BMW and I was maybe twenty feet behind it. As soon as the ‘Chippie’ walked up to the BMW driver’s door, the driver stood fully upright on the car’s driver’s seat and took the ticket through the open sunroof, standing there calmly under that perfect California sunshine. Turned out he wasn’t some smart rich MD, business entrepreneur, or attorney. This guy looked a lot more like a clueless entitled kid in a worn t-shirt and long unkempt raggly hair. He would have easily passed as some spoiled Beverly Hills brat or performing artist from LA’s music or film industry. A few minutes later I signed my ticket feeling like a complete idiot for following this car under the mistaken assumption anyone driving such an advanced machine would not be a dummy and would know what the hell they were doing.  Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. After I got back to Minnesota, I spent the next several weeks worrying if this ticket would cost me my driver’s license since I was already carrying two lesser (lower speed) speeding tickets. This big one was worth so much more on the ‘points’ system most states then used to keep track of such things, that if it showed up on my Minnesota driving record, I’d immediately become license-less. Supposedly the ticket was serious enough to require an appearance before a judge at a traffic courtroom in California, but with the help of an attorney that requirement turned into a fine somewhere in the $500 range, so I didn’t need to go back and appear. But I remained fearful of receiving some kind of letter or phone call asking me to surrender my Minnesota driving license and stop driving for a year or two. Eventually someone told me I could simply go down to the driver’s licensing place, pay five dollars, and they’d run my record and give me the printout, so that’s what I did. It came back without listing the big California speed violation. I asked the person who handed me this paper if Minnesota and California had ‘reciprocity’, as many states did. “No.” was their answer, and an immediate huge wave of relief spread through me as I rode back into my everyday life feeling like fate just gave me a great gift, but this joy didn’t last long. Later that afternoon, or maybe the following morning, my insurance agent called and said in a familiar but slightly amused-sounding voice “I see you got a big ticket in California last month….”.  My policy was a bit more costly the following year. If you think you are riding fast a lot, and you are never getting speeding tickets, you are not really riding fast. Audio Version (16:25), reader: Mr. Subjective

Or, "I sure with it would stop raining." The ancient Greeks had a useful story about a guy named Sisyphus, who forever strained pushing a large heavy ball up an inclined plane.  In our time, the famous (but little-known in America) long-time (1960s-80s) president and CEO of the Toyota automobile company, Kiichiro Toyoda, lived, wrote, and spoke this Japanese aphorism: “To shoulder a heavy burden down a long road — such is life.” Across centuries of history, many wise people have presented this same idea in similar ways.  Not so long ago motorcyclists were generally regarded as rebels. That was mainstream thinking in America through much of the post-World War 2 era, when social conformity and broadly increasing prosperity were the order of the day. Suburban fathers would not allow their daughters to go out with motorcycle-bums and many motels and restaurants would not serve them. State and local police harassed them. Much of middle America was afraid of them. Hard to believe now, but true. Back then many good motorcycle bums chose to ride simply because it felt great and was tremendous fun. Plus, it was affordable. Those riders knew riding was cool for many reasons; It was the perfect way to get from A to B enjoyably while also showing a little rebellion against the era’s dull social conformity, and also mildly rejecting the era’s rapidly expanding commercialized hype. Win. Win. Win. As those years went by much of riding’s rebelliousness became co-opted, sanitized, and commercialized. By the early 1960s, all those small high-quality utility-transportation Hondas, and the many similar imported machines that had all become hugely popular across postwar Japan, became tremendously successful here as simple leisure toys, and then shortly after that in variations that were more specialized for performance, sports, and recreation. “You meet the nicest people on a Honda” was the ascendant commercial story, while on the traditional biker side, Marlon Brando’s scary rebellious “Wild One” cleaned up and morphed into Henry Winkler’s mega-popular “Fonzie”. Meanwhile, year after year there came more better-quality cars and light trucks, moving along broader and straighter high-speed roads, with larger numbers of well-stocked retail stores, an increasing number of nice places to visit and eat out, and many additional ways to entertain ourselves. Everything was measurably becoming better and better. Earlier motorcycling expressions of rebellion faded and were replaced by new variations and forms of rebelling, most of which didn’t involve one’s chosen mode of transportation and/or recreation. Today’s roads are filled with larger and taller slab-sided vehicles providing their occupants both with a better view and a more securely sealed and climate-controlled internal environment, so much so that even during perfect weather nearly all the openable windows on nearly all of these vehicles are nearly always fully closed. Primary control interfaces recognizably remain for steering, braking, and accelerating, but today interior ‘climate control’ and ‘infotainment’ systems are of seemingly equal importance. It’s not a stretch to imagine a future where the first three of these will become less important than the last two. Long-time New York Times writer/opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie recently wrote about the sudden sharp increase in pedestrian and bicyclist deaths, under the title ‘The Path to Reducing Pedestrian Deaths Is Steep but Straight’. He correctly attributed the cause to today’s greater numbers of tall, slab-sided, climate-sealed, infotainment-maximized cars and light trucks. Duh. That shift, more than anything else, is probably partly why street and touring motorcycling has been experiencing a decline across most of the advanced and rich parts of the world. Just as with walking and bicycling, moto-riding has become noticeably (and statistically) riskier, which translates to less urban and distance-traveling road riders, and more off-road sports and recreational riders. This is because at its essential core motorcycling will always be attractive in one form or another. This is a lot like how domesticated horses transitioned from centuries of utility applications to becoming recreational pets because of the wide adoption and popularity of automobiles and motorcycles. There now are a greater number of horses in the latter role than the total number of them back when they were near-exclusively bought, sold, and kept (enslaved?) as functional work, military, and transportation tools. A classic story from the near beginnings of automobility goes like this:  It’s 1916. It’s pouring rain. The driver of a fully enclosed period car and the rider of a similarly period motorcycle each arrive at the exact same destination at the exact same moment. The driver looks at the soaking-wet rider and says unsympathetically: “I bet you wish you had a car!” The rider smiles back and replies: “No, but I wish it would stop raining!” Russian writer Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) wrote: “One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between Man and Nature shall not be broken.” He was one of the greatest writers and thinkers in history.  Today’s wonderful high-tech, safe, comfortable, well-sealed cars and trucks have become pretty good at breaking this link. Yuval Noah Harari (1976- ), a contemporary Israeli author, historian, and professor in: "21 Lessons for the 21st Century" | Talks at Google, said: “The way we design technology can make us less compassionate.” Today’s wonderful high-tech, safe, comfortable, well-sealed cars and trucks have perhaps unintentionally (?) been designed in ways that may be doing this. Combine these two important ideas with the old “…bet you wish you had a car!” parable and it is something to think about. Now, add an idea from French philosopher, author, journalist, and political activist Albert Camus (1913-1960): ”What is a rebel? A man who says no.”  Ok, campers, for extra credit what would you call a utility transportation + commuting motorcycle rider today?  Or, for that matter, a transportationally-dedicated pedestrian or bicyclist? - Mr. Subjective, Oct 2023 PS – “I don’t want a pickle; I just want to ride my mo-tor-sicle.” – Arlo Guthrie (1947 - ) American folk singer

Here’s a short-ish story about my old motard-modified Honda XR650L. I bought this bike new in 1994, intentionally planning to make it a motard. That year there was only one factory-made motard available, the very first generation KTM Duke. A friend of mine living in Minneapolis had purchased one and loved it, but within the first few hundred miles the needle fell off its speedo (all speedos were mechanical then) and was rattling around the bottom of the instrument, and there were no KTM dealers in Duluth, a far smaller town than Minneapolis. So I decided to try and make one out of the then first-year-released Honda XR650L. After working on it for two years (funding limits) I had the little wheels made by Buchannan’s Wheels, a big front brake, shortened forks, and a shorter shock. Plus, different taller-geared sprockets. Everything came together with stiffer pre-shaped foam inside the saddle and a few other changes and soon I was learning how to do nice stoppies in traffic and use its overall ‘entertainment’ potential.  It wasn’t fast, but was good enough for city use and commuting, and spectacular on bumpy surface streets, which we have a lot of here (Duluth Minnesota) due to the hard winter road damage. Now it’s twenty-nine years later and unbelievably the Honda company is still producing this same exact model with essentially zero updates or technical changes. In a few months, this bike will have been in production for thirty years. Which is completely unbelievable. In August of 2001, I decided to see if I could take a longer trip on it, packing very light, riding backroads, and camping. Almost nobody was taking long trips on smaller bikes then. My own travel and highway bike at that time was a BMW 1000cc boxer. I rode the little Honda 650L from here to LA and back. No problems. Wonderful trip. Got pulled over once for speeding in a canyon somewhere but only got a warning. Camping was primitive, due to packing very light. Did not carry even a stove. Didn’t miss it. The funniest thing about this bike was during the first year or two after I lowered it and put the little wheels on it, several of my local riding friends looked carefully at the results of my work and then very seriously asked me: “Why did you ruin a perfectly good dirt bike?” All I could do was shrug my shoulders and smile. Most riders at that time had no idea what a motard-style bike was. -- Mr. Subjective, October 2023 PS - Because my Honda 650L motard was specifically purchased to be modified and employed as a small-town daily utility-transportation ride and commuter, and not for speed or higher performance, it still has its stock, stupid and fairly quiet muffler. *shrug* Do you have a ‘Long Service Model’ story?  Send it to us here. We’d like to read it. This is one such story. PPS – This substack essay is about the disappearance of high-quality window ‘box fans’, because air conditioning became more affordable and universal. This essay actually relates fairly closely to maintaining and riding a long-service model motorcycle like my ancient Honda XR650L. When I started in college a long time ago, I bought myself a medium-quality window box fan, and just like the Honda I still have it. Despite its age and ordinariness, this fan is much better quality than the box fans sold today. Mine probably came from a Target or Walgreens store and was no more special in its day than the box fans those stores sell today. Assuming they still sell box fans. For many summers I had it placed in an open window in the guest bedroom of my apartment, running on a lamp timer set switch it on in the evening. It would run unattended all night exhausting warm air, and this system kept the place comfortable as the cool evening ‘in’ airflow entered via open windows on the north side of the living room and larger bedroom.  At some point, this fan’s electric motor failed so I took the grill off one side and removed the motor. Then I took the motor to the parts counter at a business called “Melke Electric” which is an industrial electrical contractor place. They either had or ordered (I don’t remember) a similar electric motor, which I used to replace the one that failed. That fan is still with me, though I don’t currently have a use for it. I was surprised to find this young kid’s substack essay lamenting the commercial obsolescence and disappearance of moderately high-quality box fans like mine. As an ‘old guy’ now, I am surrounded by old stuff accumulated with some effort during my lifetime. I have a quite nice box fan, now about fifty years old. Mostly metal, including the blades. A better electric motor than the one it came with. Probably the motor, frame, and blades all were made here. It’s almost embarrassing. Wait. Not almost. It is embarrassing. PPPS – Going from three simple stamped aluminum box fan blades to molded plastic or (even better) ultralight ultra-stiff compound-curved, pressure-molded carbon fiber fan blades, shaped to biomimic the evolved and highly specialized aerodynamic wings found in nature on ultra-quiet predator birds like owls, would greatly increase airflow efficiency and reduce the noisy propeller thrum of my old slide rule-engineered aluminum-bladed box fan. Today’s digitally-controlled higher quality electric motors are surely more efficient than the motor in my fan as well. A higher quality old-fashioned thing does not mean new versions of that thing must necessarily be of lower quality. Had air conditioning never been invented, many of the box fans being produced today would be of better quality.

Step One: Create a terrific product which answers a question almost nobody is asking. Something entirely new which meets a need few people are interested in meeting...

When it comes to crappy spring weather, riders living here can sing “Don’t Cry for Me Minnesota” to the melody of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” and really mean it. Below is a screenshot of what might be the worst-ever NWS (National Weather Service) seven-day forecast for April 16th in Duluth Minnesota. It was issued four days ago. Our typical spring weather is so bad it is actually funny. This year it’s been even worse. Locals have learned through long experience to laugh when bad weather happens and everything atmospheric goes against them because there is nothing they can do about it. Every rider living here gets this. Arguably, our reliably terrible spring weather is one of two reasons we ended up making some of the planet’s best rider’s gear. Combine truly rotten riding conditions (1) with wanting to ride a motorcycle extra-badly after suffering through one of our typically frigid, dark, and snowy Minnesota winters (2) and the solution (3) is an Aerostich R-3 armored textile rider’s coverall. It’s as simple as 1 + 2 = 3. These suits are highly wind and weatherproof, comfortable to wear, and very quick and easy to put on and remove. Another example of ‘circumstance being the mother of invention’. Aerostich R-3s, like many other models of Aerostich gear, work great for all kinds of riding situations and scenarios. Still, none of this was ever calculated to help you look like a cool bad-ass, or any other kind of hip or knowing rider. Rather it’s moto-gear as a simple and slightly geeky piece of equipment that is a functional tool more than a moto-fashion statement. It’s simply about riding more. So if you enjoy looking at yourself in mirrors or the picture windows of passing stores and shops, this gear is probably not for you.  But if, in addition to riding your motorcycle more often, you also enjoy showing up at the occasional meeting, or your regular workplace, or running routine errands on your motorcycle and having people look at you quizzically and sometimes ask: “Are you riding a motorcycle???” because the immediate weather at that moment happens to be noticeably less than ideal, I hope you will take a look through our online click-functional and pageable catalog here. You’ll be welcome there. This really was an unbelievable and terrible seven-day forecast for mid-April, even for here. Enjoy the ride. - Mr. Subjective PS - The R-3 mentioned above is the current and most advanced ‘third generation’ of the Roadcrafter one-piece suit, which is the product the Aerostich business was founded to manufacture forty years ago. You can watch a short video showing the early real-world testing of the R-3 here: PPS - The payoff for all this misery (yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus…) comes in July and August when the weather, camping, and riding around here are all super nice. And to celebrate our 40th Anniversary this year, we are planning the Very Boring Rally 5, too. It will be a little different than past VBRs (1-4). Instead of a single weekend gathering, all during these two months everyone showing up at our HQ will receive a swag bag with a VBR5 T-shirt, event pin (pin while supplies last), and assorted other stuff. Free. In addition, there will be a random variety of famous, semi-famous and infamous moto-related speakers and storytellers some days, sharing their life and riding experiences in the Road Grimed Astronaut Lounge (AKA the garage part of the Aerostich building) which has already been set up with tables and chairs. Light refreshments are a possibility. So come and visit us this summer and enjoy the area’s best everything, including the weather. More info about the event and the area’s many accommodations and attractions is here. We’d love to see you. Edited to add: This showed up in Mr. Subjective's email. You can't make this stuff up. For context: A few days ago, we were just shy of surpassing the record for the snowiest winter in Duluth. After Thursday's snow, we broke it... Yay?

It just hit me again last night and this morning, and it keeps coming back. Essays, news, emails. Story after story, year after year. Real-time life experiences. This so-called generational ‘divide’. The young digitally-fluent generations don’t understand how to navigate yesterday’s analog realms too well, while the older analog-fluent geezers struggle to handle today's computerized technologies. This is hardly news, and of course, there are a few polymathy exceptions. Those scattered extraordinary people living among us who are equally comfortable in both worlds. And like almost everything else, we all fall along this spectrum somewhere. I self-estimate I’m about 2/3rds analog-fluent and 1/3rd digital-fluent. A guess. This year I am sixty-six. When I was seventeen the digital stuff was room-sized IBM 360s and Fortran cards. Everything else was analog (in HS I was taught how to use a slide rule) but the future was clear. Analog was history. My best childhood friend Bill was a straight-A student and an Eagle Scout. We were almost perfect opposites. He was ‘born old’ and I’ve never quite grown up still. I was an undistinguished student who never made it past the scout rank of second class but sure loved going camping. His career involved computers and software and mine involved sewing motorcycle riding suits. We remain close friends to this day, but we’re far apart on the digital-analog fluency spectrum. The first explanation of the relationship between digital and analog that made sense to me was something I read in a self-published staple-bound book(let) attempting to teach improved off-road riding skills. I don’t remember its title but the year was 1971 and the key section was about something the author called the “Push-push-bang-bang-servo-technique.”  It was very simple. Imagine a grid with two indexes. Up the left side was increasing force. Across the bottom was moving forward time. Now draw a diagonal line starting at the lower left corner (where the two indexes meet) upward toward the upper right corner. This is a visual analog description of how a force increases at a steady rate across a period of time. Now zoom into the diagonal line. Zoom in really tight. Pixel tight. What you’ll see is that the diagonal line is actually a series of tiny steps. One up, one over, looking like a microscopic stairway. That is a digital description of something analog – the diagonal line. One up and one over, ones and zeros. This was a dirt bike guy explaining the neural feedback loops riders use to apply force to the handlebars and brakes. Press a little and in a microsecond decide if it is enough to cause the effect you want and if it isn’t press again a little harder and re-evaluate. Continuous unconscious infinitesimal one-up-one-over feedback loops that allow you to trail-brake, feather a clutch, or do a donut or wheelie. Beneath our conscious awareness, everything is digitally describable. Fifty years ago it was this guy writing a pamphlet about how to ride a dirt bike faster and smoother and today it’s Steven Wolfram’s magnum opus about how everything in the universe is digitally describable in fractal equations. Or this Quantum Gravity Research theory of everything (watch on YouTube). Here’s a short story involving analog fluency from November of last year. Five years ago I’d parked my old Honda XR650L without any special preparation and recently wanted to re-activate it. This involved all the usual resurrection restoratives (fresh engine oil, a gummed-up carb cleanout, front, and rear brake rebuilds, fresh gas, and a new battery) and after all this, ‘voila!’ it came back to life. Several knit-picks still needed attention, though, the first being a sticky-icky-gritty turn signal switch. This was disassembled, cleaned, re-lubricated, and reassembled just before parking the bike for the winter. All of the nano-details of that job were described in this blog at the time, the point being I did not need a service manual to take on the project. I just knew what to do. Walk over to the bike with a screwdriver and start taking pieces apart and cleaning them, then lubricate and reassemble. No big deal, but satisfying all the same. Getting this bike ready the following spring involved two more little analog jobs: I took the sticky throttle apart and cleaned, lubricated, and re-assembled it. Now it snaps back like the bike was brand new again. This bike is 26 years old and its twist-grip assembly had never been cleaned. I also bled the rear brake (again) using one of the EZ Bleeders we sell which I had purchased many years ago. I think this was about the third or fourth time I’d used this simple tool. With these two jobs done the bike is now (a mere six years after being unceremoniously parked!!) fully ready to go back into daily service. Which is as exciting to me as if it were a brand-new just-purchased machine. This kind of little-kid excitement never gets old. - Mr. Subjective, 2019 PS - After finishing this story I liked how it came out well enough so I sent it to a couple of old friends (the key word here is: ‘old’) thinking they might also like it. Their replies: “Maybe five years ago I had to take the carb off my 650L in a hotel parking lot at night, in order to clean out the plugged idle jet. It was the evening before a big group ride, and I was pissed that I hadn’t taken care of this earlier. So I was working quietly and furiously with clenched teeth, just wanting to be done so I could relax with a beer and the rest of the guys. After a while, I looked up, and there, standing behind me in total silence were six or eight riders under 40 years old. I don’t think they’d ever seen the inside of a carburetor. It was like they were watching someone perform simultaneous open-heart and brain surgery in a parking lot. They actually applauded when the bike started, ran, and idled.” Mark L. Mark, a few years ago I had the same experience changing a tire’s tube on the side of a well-traveled road. Several people stopped to ask if I needed help, and after I said I didn't, some drove on but three younger ones stayed, simply to watch. And: “…My grandson, for example, commutes 12 months a year on a mountain bike or eBike (RadMini), he is into rock climbing, wall jumping, marathons, kickboxing, and all kinds of stuff I’ve never heard of and has lots of friends doing the same kinds of things. I’d put riding a bike 7 miles one way in a Minneapolis January over anything I’ve ever seen a hippobike rider do, adventure-wise. He sucks at maintenance, though. His eBike is in my garage waiting for a motor replacement. He beat it to death in 8 months. We did a full service on his mountain bike last weekend and it was pretty hammered, too. ;-)” Tom D.

A few 'Max Headroom'*/Mr.Subjective/Chat GPT answers to important questions (some blog posts literally write themselves ChatGPT Jan 9 Version (2023) Red text sections = Comments from Mr. Subjecive Important Question: Why should I ride a motorcycle? ChatGPT Answer: There are several reasons why someone might choose to ride a motorcycle. Some people enjoy the feeling of freedom and the open road that riding a motorcycle provides. Others may appreciate the cost savings associated with owning a motorcycle, as they can be more fuel efficient and require less maintenance than cars. Additionally, motorcycles can provide a more exhilarating and thrilling riding experience compared to cars. However, it's important to note that riding a motorcycle also carries more risk than driving a car and requires more skill and attention, thus it's important to weigh the pros and cons before making a decision. Mr. Subjective Comment: Missing - Riding makes one feel better, and in general puts a lighter footprint on the planet, and (importantly) reinforces and strengthens the social contract. Not to mention how you’ll generally look cool doing it. At least to most people. Important Question: Why should I ride a motorcycle for urban transportation and utility? ChatGPT Answer: Riding a motorcycle for urban transportation and utility can offer several benefits over using a car or other vehicle. Traffic and parking: Motorcycles are smaller and more maneuverable than cars, making them better suited for navigating crowded city streets and finding parking spots in tight spaces. Cost-effective: Motorcycles are typically cheaper to purchase and maintain than cars, which can be a significant financial advantage for city dwellers. Environmental (sic) friendly: Motorcycles emit less carbon emissions than cars, which can help to reduce your carbon footprint and contribute to a cleaner environment. Efficiency: Motorcycles can navigate through traffic faster and with less fuel consumption than cars, which can save time and money for daily commutes. However, it's important to note that riding a motorcycle in the city also carries more risk than driving a car and requires more skill and attention, thus it's important to weigh the pros and cons before making a decision. Additionally, it's important to make sure you have proper training and equipment, including a helmet, protective clothing and insurance before you start riding. Mr. Subjective Comment: This is getting boring already. And stupid. The number one reason not listed:  Because riding makes you feel better. Important Question: Why should I Buy (and Wear) an Aerostich R-3 riders suit? ChatGTP Answer: The Aerostich R-3 is a one-piece motorcycle riding suit designed for long-distance and adventure riding. Here are a few reasons why someone might choose to buy an Aerostich R-3 riders suit: Protection: The R-3 suit is made with a durable abrasion-resistant material and features reinforced impact areas such as shoulders, elbows, hips and knees. This offers a high level of protection in the event of a crash. Weather protection: The suit is designed to be completely waterproof and windproof, making it suitable for riding in all weather conditions. Comfort: The suit is designed to be worn for long periods of time, with features such as adjustable ventilation, a built-in kidney belt, and a comfortable lining. Versatility: The suit can be worn over regular street clothes, making it a convenient option for those who don't want to change into specialized riding gear. Durability: The R-3 suit is built to last, with high-quality construction and durable materials. It's designed to withstand the wear and tear of long-distance riding and adventure riding. Brand reputation: Aerostich is a well-known brand in the motorcycle riding gear industry and has a reputation for producing high-quality and durable products. It's important to note that the R-3 suit is a significant investment, but it's designed to be worn for multiple seasons, and to last for many years. It's also important to make sure you get the right size, as a good fit is essential for the suit to perform correctly and for the rider to be comfortable. Mr. Subjective Comment: “…designed for long-distance and adventure riding” - The R-3 was designed for commuting and daily utility riding but works great for most other types of rides.  Also missing: Made in America. Better fits available. Repair and refurbish services. Not seasonally restyled. Important Question: Where should I ride for the best curvy roads? ChatGTP Answer: There are many great locations around the world for riding on curvy roads. Some popular destinations include: The Tail of the Dragon (Deal's Gap) in North Carolina, USA: This 11-mile stretch of road is known for its 318 curves and is a favorite among motorcyclists and sports car enthusiasts. The Stelvio Pass in Italy: This winding mountain pass is considered one of the most beautiful and challenging roads in Europe, with 48 hairpin turns and stunning views of the Italian Alps. The Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and North Carolina, USA: This 469-mile stretch of road offers scenic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and is known for its winding roads and beautiful vistas. The Pacific Coast Highway in California, USA: This famous road winds along the California coast, offering breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean and some of the most scenic and challenging curves in the world. The Transfagarasan Highway in Romania: This winding mountain road offers spectacular views of the Carpathian Mountains and is known for its serpentine turns and tight switchbacks. The Road of 1000 bends in Taiwan: This scenic road is known for its many winding turns and beautiful views of the East China Sea. It's important to note that when riding in these locations, or any other curvy road, it's crucial to pay attention to the road conditions and traffic, and to have proper training and equipment to ensure a safe and enjoyable ride. Mr. Subjective Comment: Not mentioned, but important - The very best curvy roads are always the obscure ones which don’t have any other traffic or have very little traffic. There’s a little-known curvy road rule which goes: If there are no painted shoulder or other lane markings on a curvey road, you may ride as fast as you are safely able without fear because there are no applicable traffic laws. Important Question: What should I do if the sky is falling? ChatGTP Answer: The phrase "the sky is falling" is often used as an idiomatic expression, it implies a sense of impending doom or catastrophe. However, if you're in a situation where you truly believe the sky is falling, it is important to stay calm and follow these steps: Take cover: If there is an object falling from the sky, it is important to take cover immediately. Find a sturdy structure or a covered area, such as a building or a bridge, and seek shelter. Listen for official announcements: Tune into local radio or television stations for official announcements or emergency broadcasts. These will provide important information about the situation and any instructions to follow. Follow evacuation orders: If you are advised to evacuate, do so as quickly and calmly as possible. Follow the instructions of local authorities and emergency responders. Avoid damaged areas: Stay away from any areas that have been damaged by falling debris. If you are in a damaged area, move to a safe location as soon as possible. Seek medical attention: If you are injured, seek medical attention immediately. If you are unable to do so, call 911 or the local emergency number for assistance. Be prepared for the aftermath: After a catastrophic event, be prepared for the aftermath, such as power outages, disruptions to transportation and communication, and possible food and water shortages. It's important to note that it's always a good idea to have a plan for emergency situations, including a well-stocked emergency kit, and knowing your community's emergency response plan. Additionally, it's important to follow the instructions provided by the authorities, and not to spread misinformation. Mr. Subjective Comment: Not mentioned - Duck. *The multiple “F’s" in the first word of this essay's title refer to a speech mannerism of a popular 1980s fictional sci-fi character named Max Headroom, an entirely AI + CGI digitally animated screen image of a television newsman's 'talking head'. His trademark stutter was the result of buffering glitches caused by his underlying AI algorithms placing excessive processing loads on a mainframe computer. His name came from low ceiling height warning signage displayed across the malfunctioning automated gate of an underground parking facility in London ("MAX HEADROOM - 3 M”, translated as: “Maximum Headroom Three Meters). An unfortunate motorcycle courier died as a result of head injuries caused by crashing into that gate. It was the last thing this un-named rider saw before dying and also was the first information that came up after scientists had successfully translated the entire contents of this deceased rider's brain into AI and CGI software, which allowed Max to continue to live forever as a wisecracking sentient AI algorithm. Learn more about Max Headroom here.

A fair number of our customers agree about one looking like a dork/Road Grimed Astronaut if riding for transportation and utility, vs. when riding primarily for sport and recreation. These two different-but-related applications have at least this in common: they both involve a single-track motorized vehicle. In rich countries like America, transportation/utility/commuting riders generally do both kinds of riding, but most motorcyclists ride more exclusively for sport and recreation. This makes a lot of sense for a lengthy list of strong cultural and logistical reasons. Evaluating the risks of motorcycling-in-general through the lens of utility and transportation riding is difficult to sort out concisely, but still worthwhile. An important paradox is how we become better risk managers in all things, the more we do the thing. This means as we increase our overall motorcycling risk exposure by riding more, the better we become at managing and mitigating the various risks involved. But beyond that, the relative and comparative risk landscape for this type of riding has changed dramatically during the years I’ve been riding, worsening despite important improvements in protective gear and great motorcycle technology and performance advances. There are many components to this motorcycle-relative-to-automobile statistical worsening. Here are a few, not listed in any order of priority: Automobiles have become tremendously safer due to the development of required passive and active safety systems, beginning with easy-to-use seat belts during the 1970s. Roads have become far more crowded. Most rider accident scenarios that produce serious injuries and deaths involve another vehicle. More drivers (as a percentage of all drivers) are not driving as well as in the past because of underlying factors including increased risk-compensation behavior due to the above-mentioned passive safety systems becoming universal, of being better insulated from (and more oblivious to) their immediate surroundings (cars became better sealed climate-controlled ‘capsules’), of there being more compelling distractions inside the vehicle, and probably also because of an increased percentage of marginally skilled and poorly trained drivers becoming licensed and having access to an automobile. In collisions, cars and light trucks have become riskier to riders because of the increased popularity of taller and more slab-sided vehicle shapes. Changes in road architecture and surrounding infrastructure has made driving safer while doing the opposite for motorcycle riders. Typically, making roads easier to drive causes drivers to pay less attention to their surroundings, and also adding roadside barriers to help cars and drivers during crash scenarios usually increases harm to riders during motorcycle crash scenarios. So compared to driving, riding is now relatively riskier than it was forty years ago. This may be one reason (of several) why the X, Millennial and Y generations have not been adopting riding in as large of numbers as Boomers did. Those younger generations may not have broken down riding’s increased risks as I have described above, but they know by both intuition and cultural meme it’s become riskier. This may be part of the reason they don’t want it as much as I did. They perfectly recognize and appreciate its pleasures, benefits, and coolness, but it is not enough.The importance of acquiring the fluency and risk-management experience that comes only with increased ride frequency cannot be overstated, but acquiring this risk-mitigator is a lot harder today than it was when Boomer-riders were starting to ride in large numbers fifty years ago.  Nevertheless, it still can be done. Here’s a concrete example: If someone pulls out from a side street directly in front of a rider, or turns left in front of an oncoming rider at precisely the exact-to-the-microsecond wrong moment, the bike and the car will collide. Same for a random deer suddenly leaping out of the forest at the exact-to-the-microsecond wrong time. No matter what gear the rider is or isn’t wearing, or the age and type of motorcycle they are riding, they are going to experience some level of impact. But — and this is ultra-important — there are risk-mitigating things riders can do which dramatically lower their statistical chances of experiencing one of these scenarios.For situations where approaching drivers may be violating a rider’s right-of-way at exactly the wrong time, riders can tactically reduce the risk of a collision when they: Ride the speed limit, not faster. Wear bright clothing and a bright helmet. Add and use auxiliary lighting. (I prefer a single asymmetrically* located additional light, believing this looks more visually anomalous, and thus more irritatingly noticeable. Research indicates any additional forward lighting is a bit more noticeable if it is yellow or amber colored. *Meaning positioned relative to the low headlight beam at about 10AM, 2PM, 4PM or 7-8PM, and not at 3PM, 6PM, or 9PM.) Wiggle the bike side-to-side slightly for a couple of seconds if it seems like an approaching driver may not be seeing the rider. Ride only sober, and always in a relaxed yet subliminally slightly paranoid frame of mind. Automatically and unconsciously position one’s bike in the lane(s) and relative to other traffic so as to be more easily noticed. Automatically pay acute micro-attention to other vehicles' micro-movements which may indicate they are about to violate one’s right of way. Ride an unfaired and un-windshielded bike to visually appear more irregular in silhouette and more human in profile. Never rely on “eye contact” with other drivers because they can be looking directly at you and still not see you. Whenever possible choose routes one is more familiar with. Commuting on familiar roads with familiar and more predictable types of surrounding traffic makes a difference. Also, whenever possible choose optimal times of day. 2 AM bar-close is a poor time to be riding, and ‘rush hour’ is similarly riskier than at other times. Choosing optimal weather is a factor. Snow, ice, rain, and fog are all riskier times to be riding. (Do as I say, not as I do…) Ride the same familiar bike for years and maintain it well. Regularly practice ‘emergency’ riding skills like aggressive swerving and braking. For the deer jumping out of the forest scenario, there are other things one can do to reduce this risk, but with both exactly-at-the-right-time-in-the-wrong-place situations, the higher risk of riding never goes to zero. It may be reducible by 99.87% (or whatever…), but it never goes to zero. I like to think about the senior commercial airline pilot ‘Sully‘ Sullenberger who famously landed his jet full of passengers on the Hudson River after losing both engines shortly after takeoff.  He’d probably done that exact same take-off scenario (without losing engine power) maybe 5,000 times (a guess) over a career-long time span. The risks involved were never zero, but close, and when that one-in-a-few-million event occurred, he did essentially all of the best possible things, which worked out pretty well for him and his passengers. He knew how to use his plane and knew that particular familiar location extremely well.Despite recent measurably increased risks of riding, the above list of tactical risk mitigators lowers the overall risk of transportation and utility motorcycling to an acceptable level for most riders in most riding locations. For me, this type of riding is always going to be worth it, at least knock-on-wood so far. It’s still the best part of my day. But should I ever be badly injured or become disabled because of being on my motorcycle in the wrong place at exactly the wrong time, all bets are off. As many novelists, screenwriters, poets, and others have built their compelling stories around, you can never perfectly project how you’ll actually feel about some kinds of things until you are experiencing them. That’s life. (Also a good Frank Sinatra song lyric.)Lastly, in addition to my ongoing usual daily commuting and utility riding, this new year I hope to again get back to a little more recreational riding. Especially exploring interesting roads, trails, and places involving motorcycle camping. It’s been a couple of years since I last did this type of riding because of my stupid fear of the stupid pandemic/plague. - Mr. Subjective, January 2023

The First Ride... Photo: Daimler Reitwagen. Wladyslaw, CC BY-SA 2.0 DE <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/de/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons. November of 1885, 17-year-old Paul Daimler went for a motorcycle ride on the first ICE engine motorcycle, the Daimler Reitwagen (built by his father, Gottlieb Daimler, and Wilhelm Maybach). The date he made this ride is up for debate with some reporting that it was on November 10th and others on November 18th. No matter the exact date, it is an important milestone in motorcycling history. When was your first ride? Check out our own "firsts" in these past blog posts: Balancing Act 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... Read more » I Forgot. My first bicycle was a 20” Huffy. Deep candy red with white pinstLast week was the first time I rode on the back of a motorcycle in more than ten years. It was the first time I rode with my husband, Aerostich’s “Mr. Subjective”, whose life revolves around the activity... Read more » First Ride: Easy, Fun, Cool! Despite our record-breaking El Niño winter warmth right now here it’s six-tenths of a degree below zero (ºf) and there’s a Zero electric motorcycle silently sitting outside in the driveway, asleep save for a small green ‘I’m charging now’ LED blinking at the base of the speedo... Read more » Your First Bike Trip The first few days of travel and dealing with the straps, soft duffels and bags will teach you if your setup is good for you. The idea is to have things secure, semi-easy to get to, and not too much of a problem to remove... Read more »

A detailed explanation of how to comfortably commute on snowy and icy roads during a Minnesota Winter. My commute here in Northern Minnesota (Duluth) is five miles each way, all on surface streets, and last winter I decided to do it mostly by everyday motorcycling. The experiment was only partly successful, but I learned a lot, and it was usually fun. Here’s a link to a 17 minute video outlining setting up the bike, showing what was learned, and talking about the experience. I hope you’ll enjoy watching it and will maybe find something we learned helpful. Mr. Subjective PS - This coming winter I’m going to do it again, using what I learned last year. More Aerostich winter commuting videos from other years:   Read more Zero Below Zero Posts »

Rightly or wrongly I’ve sometimes privately felt a bit like the legendary Johnny Appleseed, in that the purpose of my life’s work turned out to be to help make ordinary useful A to B daily motorcycle and scooter use in wealthy countries a bit safer, easier, more comfortable, and more popular. By one rider at a time. This wasn’t planned. Making Aerostich one-piece coveralls is why the Aero Design & Manufacturing Company (inc.) was started. I simply wanted one of these coveralls for myself so day-to-day I could ride more and drive less. So I could ride on days when the weather was less-than-perfect. The weather is perfect for riding here about 5% of the time. The rest of the time it is either too hot, cold, windy, or wet. I wanted to ride anyway. In this regard, and for some Aerostich suit purchasers, the one-piece suit has been somewhat subversive equipment. A rider may have bought it for a recreational ride to a distant motorcycle rally or some other bucket list destination, but after getting back home there it still is, still hanging in the garage or closet, softly calling the rider’s name like the Tell-Tale Heart in Edgar Allan Poe’s famous horror story. “Rider, rider” it whispers, using the rider’s name, “come out and play today…” followed by “It’s not too cold or windy or wet…” Only the owner of the coverall is able to hear the soft seductive voice saying over and over: “You can ride to work today…” Or to the grocery store, or to wherever. Over and over, it is saying: “Leave the car in the driveway today. Ride there…” After hearing this sort of haunting invitation enough times, eventually one day the suit owner gives in and chooses the bike instead of the car. A few days pass, then a few weeks and eventually, they are choosing riding over driving a bit more often, somewhat to the concern of loved ones, employers, and (of course) the army of industrialists, governments and workers who create, provide and operate our complex car-centric surface transportation infrastructures. Including Elon, currently the grand hero-of-the-moment in these areas. Forgive my small hubris comparing the work of Aerostich to the work of Johnny Appleseed. It’s just that those coverall suits do plant subtle seeds about the feasibility of everyday useful motorcycling into the hearts and minds of some riders who own and wear Roadcrafters, Classic Roadcrafters, R-3s, and Cousin Jeremy’s. Until this morning I never knew anything about Mr. Appleseed beyond what has always floated around in popular culture. But today a fellow named William Ashworth, who writes and sends to a subscriber list an excellent daily email about a historical science figure (one per day), which I gratefully receive, made today’s post all about Johnny Appleseed, famous American 18th century amateur botanist. Beyond planting a bunch of apple trees during his walkabout life, I never knew his actual story. This story may be of interest only to me (?) because of my experiences at Aerostich, but here it is anyway: From: William AshworthSubject: Anniversary for Sep. 27, 2022: John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed)Date: September 27, 2022 at 6:02:41 AM CDTBcc: agoldfine@aerostich.com John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, nurseryman extraordinaire, was born Sep. 26, 1774, in Massachusetts (see first woodcut portrait of 1871). It is hard to sort through the legend of Johnny Appleseed to find the real John Chapman, but several historians have recently managed to make credible attempts. Chapman was a real enough figure, an itinerant who moved west to Pennsylvania, then Ohio, and finally Indiana, acquiring plots of land here and there, where he would plant orchards of apple trees from seed, and sell the sprouts for a penny or two apiece, which is where he got the money to buy land. He lived simply, wore second-hand clothes, disdained shoes, and slept on the ground except in extreme weather, when he had no problem finding a floor by a hearth, since he was a well-loved figure among the settlers. Here is a second portrait, from a different source, 1862. In addition to sowing apples, Chapman spread the Gospel as he went, as taught by a Christian sect known as Swedenborgians, or the New Church, which seems to have emphasized the oneness of humans with nature. I do not know much about the Swedenborgians, but I do know a little about Jainism, and Chapman sounds like a Jain to me, although a Christian version. He respected all forms of animal and plant life, refusing to kill anything, even insects. Most apple trees were the result of grafting onto a rootstock, but Chapman refused to cut and wound a tree, and so he grew his trees from seeds. It has however been pointed out, cynically perhaps, that grafting is difficult and time-consuming, whereas it is fairly easy to haul around a gunnysack filled with seeds, which could be acquired free at cider mills. Here is a third woodcut, from the 1871 source. The problem with growing apple trees from seed is that, if you plant the seeds from, say, a MacIntosh apple, you do not get a tree that bears MacIntosh apples. The seeds are unrelated to the apple the contains them. So the apples from Chapman’s trees were generally small and bitter. The fact that they were probably not too tasty may not have put a crimp in Chapman’s business, for the buyers of his two-penny sprigs were unlikely to know what kind of fruit they would bear until after Chapman had moved on. And they probably would not have cared, for the fact is that the reason people wanted apples was not to make America's favorite dessert, but rather to turn them into hard alcoholic cider. In hindsight, we know that Chapman’s habit of growing apples from seed was an ecological godsend, since he managed to leave behind an incredible variety of apple trees and thus inadvertently preserved most of the diversity inherent in the apple genome. How Chapman morphed into the legendary Johnny Appleseed, who wore a pot for a hat and could communicate with animals, is not altogether clear. The mythical Appleseed probably blossomed from an article in 'Harper's New Monthly Magazine' in 1871, 26 years after his death. The article plays up his simple life, his missionary ways, and his reverence for animals. Recent scholarship has shown that Chapman may have led a simple life, but he was far from simple-minded, being a fairly shrewd and eventually wealthy businessman, who had accumulated quite a bit of valuable acreage and capital by the time of his death. There are only two sets of near contemporary images of John Chapman, and both are posthumous. One is a single woodcut portrait that appeared in an 1862 history of Ashland County, Ohio, which I have no access to, but which is reproduced on Wikipedia, from which we borrow it (our second link). An account of Chapman in this book is one of the sources for his tin-pot hat. The other visual record is a set of three woodcuts that were included in the 'Harper’s New Monthly' article of 1871. For want of any other visual aids, I include all three here (our first, third, and fourth links), from a copy at Harvard. The last of the Harper’s woodcuts illustrates a story of an itinerant preacher, railing against modern decadence, who cried out, “Show me a primitive Christian,” whereby Chapman stepped forward in response.. Of course, if you prefer a pot-for-a-hat version of Chapman, you have your choice of dozens of covers from a variety of modern children’s editions of the Johnny Appleseed story. Here is a link to one, and to a second, with a young Johnny Appleseed and a child-sized pot. Bill Ashworth Should you want more of my drivel on the origin of the Aerostich suit, please follow this link to a much longer and fairly convoluted story explaining why (but not how) Aerostich suits came into existence. I didn’t have the courage to publish it on this blog without some kind of explanation like this.

This story winds around a bit. The other day my younger brother, who’s a great vintage car lover, emailed me the link below which is to a story about how, during the great depression of the 1930’s, some ingenious fellow turned scrap Ford Model A four-cylinder auto engines into self-powered air compressors, and did pretty well selling them. Several patented conversion parts were involved. It’s a cool obscure story of someone making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. When America reinvented a Ford to get stuff done I replied to my brother: “I didn’t know anything about these, either. Thanks for forwarding the story to me. Very cool. And believe-it-or-not, for many years we carried and sold an air compressor device that works on this exact same principle, and I’ve carried and used it. More than once. It’s called the ‘engineair’ pump, and it was listed in our catalog and on our website for many years but the company must have gone out of business (?) because it’s not there anymore. Attached below is an image file showing a scan of our 2016 main catalog, which shows it being available.” Screenshot from 2016 Aerostich catalog I continued writing: “One of these pumps right now is in the tool pouch located on the back fender of my 81 BMW R80gs, the one I kept in mom and dad’s garage in Arizona for many years. I bought that bike in AZ in about 1988 to ‘live’ in AZ, for use when visiting them, and to be able to ride to CA in the winter to visit with MC friends and motorcycle magazine editors there. That bike is now in dry storage in the basement of Molly and my home on PP. "I rode this bike more than any other, about 300,000 miles over a 25-ish year period. And used this odd tire inflator several times. You’d screw it into one spark plug hole, then start the bike so it ran on one cylinder with the other end of the hose clamped on the tire’s inner tube valve stem. The bike sort of lumped along that way with the ‘enginair’ thing going ‘chuff chuff chuff chuff’ until the tube had good air pressure. I thought it was brilliant. Compact, light, and easy to carry. Also, very reliable. Today everyone carries (and we sell) tiny 12v electrical air compressors to do this same job. You plug them into a cigarette lighter socket or use clamps to the battery terminals. We sell one made for us to our specs, and it works well but probably isn’t as reliable as an ‘enginair’, and is bulkier to carry, too. Would not fit in the tool pouch on the back of that bike. I think I also have one of these enginair things stored on the gold hot-rodded BMW airhead which I also rode quite a lot off-and-on during that same period. Here is a link to a blog-post I wrote about using this tire inflator thing back in 2009 (it was posted to the blog in 2018). I think this was the last time it was used:  https://www.aerostich.com/blog/flat-tire-story/ "And lastly, I had a flat only a couple of weeks ago just south of Superior WI, where it goes from two to four lanes. Fixed it in the wayside rest there, much to the amusement and interest of others using this rest area at the time. But I used a bicycle tire pump to inflate, because the tool kit for this bike does not have one of these neat ‘enginair’ things. Photos attached. I have a flat about every fifteen years. This time the tire and tube were only a few weeks old.” Next, I shared the above story with some riding friends like this: “Fellow Geezers, This is an email exchange between my younger brother and I, about a weird Ford model A engine compressor” and also by added by cc two Aerostich co-workers (Rick and Stephanie), with this request:  “See the image attached from our 2016 main catalog showing the ‘enginair’ pump. Any chance the company that made these still exists? Stephanie, any chance one or more of these might still be in stock somewhere?” My cc’d riding friend Mark replied with: “Thanks Andy, I’d heard of the engineair compressor but never owned or had one. It’s fun to hear about the device again :). Hopefully Al will weigh in about how he turned a 'tube type' tire on his BMW into a 'tubeless' one upon having a flat on a rural road North of the Twin Cities, then rode home on it. Years ago, at Crown Auto (on the clearance table) I bought a compact 12 V tire pump kit which measures about 8”x8”x2.5”. I keep it in my truck along with a tire 'plug' kit. I've used it several times to fill a low tire and limp to the next gas station that had a decent air compressor (a rarity these days). When I used to travel on my 1966 Honda CL77 I always had a tire patch kit, tire irons and a skinny bicycle tire pump (which I still have) although the hose keeps rotting out after 50 years ??‍♂️. As a Boy Scout I was taught to 'Be Prepared'." I replied to Mark: “Before cell phones everyone valued mechanical self-reliance a little more than they seem to today. And I know those who convert tube-type spoked wheels to tubeless using strong vinyl tape with a powerful modern adhesive have good results, but I’m not interested because the rim profile of a wheel designed for tube type tires is different than the rim profile of a wheel designed for use with tubeless tires. So even though it can easily be done, and lots of people have good results, I’m too cowardly to do it. But I’m not a complete coward when it comes to tire and wheel experiments. I’m a half-coward. Last winter I took a chance and rode all winter on a set of non-DOT ‘gummy’ trials tires. Very soft rubber compound and very thin sidewalls. These are special Trials-competition-only tires and they hooked into frozen pavement well when they were also ice cold, but I am not going to do this experiment again for several reasons. The experiment was interesting, but also was about like running non-DOT ‘wrinkle wall’ drag slicks on the street, underneath a hot rod car. Pretty stupid. But I thought it was worth a try. I wish there was a motorcycle tire with a compound about halfway between that of regular MC tires and those gummy trials tires. And with all its tread blocks siped with little wiggly grooves like modern snow tires for cars. I’d buy them. Can you imagine the guys at the tire company making those? They’d be jumping up and down saying to each other: 'Hey!!!  We sold TWO of those stupid winter motorcycle tires! To some idiot in Duluth Minnesota.  Let’s celebrate!  We’re going to clean up on that guy!' Nobody ever makes the stuff I want. Which is why Aerostich armored textile coveralls exist, I guess.” Now you know why, too. PS – If any of you know of a good soft compound DOT legal engineered ‘street’ snow tire for winter-ridden MC’s, please let me know.  PPS - On motorcycles as on cars, tubeless tires are much better in so many ways. Many spoked wheels have been redesigned to allow the use of tubeless tires. High performance bicycles also now use tubeless tires. I wish my old Honda and Suzuki had such wheels. There is no super practical way to convert them, save using a special kind of strong adhesive vinyl tape where the rim strip would normally go to seal conventionally spoked wheels to work with tubeless tires. Even tough traditional spoked rims don’t have the correct cross-sectional profile for use with tubes tires, many off road riders have done this without encountering problems. At least in theory another way to use tubeless tires on an older bike with traditionally spoked wheels would be to build special wheels using the kinds of wheel rims designed to be used with tubeless tires. Even if custom modified spokes were not needed to accomplish this, if spokes simply building such wheels would be overly costly relative to the fairly low value of the older bike(s) these wheels might go on. In other words, who would spend $2,000+ (est) on a custom-made set of wheels for a bike worth only $2,000 only to avoid having to fix a tube flat once every five or ten years? Even if such wheels were built DIY, the time involved would be significant.  One’s time is worth something.  My newer (2007) 1200cc ’travel’ bike has tubeless tires. I carry a plug kit and an electric air pump under it’s saddle. Whenever it needs new tires they are dealer installed.  My car also uses tubeless tires. When manufactured it came with ‘run flats’ but now has ordinary tubeless tires.  After I switched to those I added a jack (to fit the OE jacking points), a plug kit and an air pump with an extended power cord, which so far I’ve never had to use. PPPS – That clever made-in-USA enginair gizmo is no longer available. Everyone today uses the ubiquitous little Asian-made 12v compressors. If one wanted to split hairs, the old fashioned gizmo probably had a lower overall impact on climate warming, but now we are talking Amish/Hutterite/Mennonite (etc.) stuff. - Mr. Subjective, Sept 17, 2022

VerschlimmbessernGerman verb, loose translation: To make something worse by trying to improve it. Long a favorite word of mine, though I've never known exactly how to pronounce it or use it in any actual conversation. Two forms, verb and noun version, neither of which I know how to say or use. But in our modern world, as we get older we become aware of more and more examples of it from life and the things around us. I've thought quite a bit about this. It’s sure true for me when this involves stuff like blue jeans and hopefully also one piece riding suits. I’m fairly convinced that wherever and whenever new technology gives us something, it always takes away something else. (If this wasn’t true, most philosophers would be out of work. Wait. Most are out of work...uhh.) For example, fuel injected motorcycles start and drive better, and get better mileage. But they are not as easy to hands-on tune without specialized tools compared to a carbureted bike. And the engines they feed don’t quite kick and snort in an almost animalistic way sometimes, like a (forever slightly imperfectly) carbureted engine does. And injection costs more to produce and operate when everything involved from raw materials upward is considered. Carbs are simple, elemental, and difficult to improve in certain ways, just like a hand-spun wool sweater or flint-knapped knives. Some of those flint blades can actually be measurably sharper than today's very best and sharpest surgical scalpels. It’s very hard to think of an example of a technology that does not take away just about as much as it gives. What makes an 'improvement' seem to be so involves our priorities as the consumers of whatever the technology in question is. We value easier starting, smoother running and more fuel-efficient engines a whole lot more than what is provided by carburetors. The consumer economy loves a product that sells at a premium, wears out quickly or is susceptible to regular improvement, and offers with each improvement some marginal gain in usefulness. Novelist Johnathan Franzen, Atlantic Monthly, April 1996 With blue jeans, it’s not so easy or clear cut. Does the decorative stitching applied increase the aesthetic appeal of a pair of designer jeans improve the level of attention paid to the shapes and contours of our bottoms, and in ways that benefit us? I think the answer involves our individually unique desires and objectives about how we want to present ourselves a certain way to those around us. In other words, fashion. AKA: Coolness. Style. Personally, I’ve generally presented myself to those around me more-or-less as a ‘purist’, ‘classicist’ and ‘truth seeker’, so I enjoy wearing plain original Levi’s 501s. But others have very legitimate and different goals when it comes to their jeans, so for them decorative stitching is an improvement which provides more than it takes away. Art (in this example, decorative stitching) can enhance and improve things in the service of utility when the way such things are defined is opened wide enough. Thus we have all the annually “improved” and redesigned versions of textile armored rider’s gear. You don’t see this when it involves classic black leather ‘biker’ jackets or basic denim jeans, and there is a reason. The market doesn’t want them new or improved. But there’s always a strong audience for people who enjoy chasing the latest-greatest whatever, whether it involves breakfast cereals, number 2 pencils, laundry soaps, computers or motorcycles and riders’ gear. In our view, armored textile ‘high tech’ riding gear isn’t like computers and motorcycles.  It’s a bit closer to a good nutritious breakfast cereal or a well-made pencil. When we started making armored textile gear it was a new kind of gear for serious daily commuters and long-distance traveling riders. It still is. -- Mr. Subjective Illustration from the 1986 Aerostich catalog. The Aerostich Roadcrafter was an all-new type of rider's gear introduced in 1983 - the world's first lightweight armored all-weather coverall intended to be worn over street clothing. The Roadcrafter, R-3, Darien and AD1 are embodiments of an original recipe which virtually all of today's "high tech" gear was derived from. There were no existing reference points when these garments were created, which is one reason why they are light and simple compared to the universe of derived copies. More About Our Originals » Dictionary stuff, found on the internet:Components – schlimm (fatal) + verbessern (improve) Verb that describes the attempt to improve or repair something and only making it worse in the process. Think of repairing bicycles and nuclear submarines with Scotch® tape. Whether "Trust me, I'm an engineer" or "There, I fixed it", these memes can all be summarized with this beautiful German verb. And it doesn’t just refer to honorable, but futile, DIY endeavors. Fractured phonetic pronunciation: 'Fair-shlim-bes-sen' or 'Ver-slim-bes-son' Fractured English usage of the verb form: "He is going to fair-shlim-beson that bike's rear suspension if he tries to do much more to it than has already been done." Fractured English usage of the noun form: "My new one-piece rider’s suit (or a Darien 'adventure suit' purchased from any manufacturer other than Aerostich) is a ver-lim-bes-son’d R-3 Stich’ (or Darien suit). Why did I buy it?"

...Or How to Ride Through 90º+ Temps (More or Less Comfortably) A) Ride a minimally faired/windscreened bike. There are several other reasons for this (Mr. Subjective) preference than heat, but below 95°F this can be a factor. B) Wear a wetted Aerostich Silk Scarf around one’s neck. Fold the wet scarf in half then drape it over your neck and put the two ‘free’ ends through the loop where the scarf is folded, then pull these ends until the scarf fits against your neck all the way around. The scarf is not worn loose around your neck. Lastly, zip up your jacket about 2/3rds or 3/4th of the way, so the loose ends of the scarf are well covered. C) As the scarf dries, I (Mr. Subjective) re-wet it using a self-modified Platypus water bag worn over my shoulder bandolier-style. The bag’s cap has been replaced with a neat flip-open cap from a (stupid and expensive) ‘Fiji’ brand water bottle, which allows me to either drink directly from it (after opening my modular helmet’s chin guard) or re-wet the scarf as needed while moving. I normally fill this container only about ½ full, which is more than enough water to get from one full-tank gas stop to the next. At highway speeds the wind stream ends up shifting it sort of behind my lower right back area. To use it, I pull the cord to bring it around to the front, then flip open the cap and go at it. The home-made cord reinforcements are necessary and involved using some 500D Cordura fabric, Barge cement and the grommet setting tool used in production at Aerostich. D) When not in use, this water bag rolls up small enough to carry or pack away easily. This is why it’s not covered in ¼” thick aluminized bubble-wrap or a water-absorbing fabric, which would help to evaporatively cool its contents.  In hot conditions I will use it as a kind of modernized version of a Bota bag, those comma-shaped traditional leather soft flasks used in alpine areas of Europe. I ‘sterilize’ my modified Platypus bag by letting it dry for a few days on a sunny windowsill after each trip/use. -- Mr. Subjective, July 2022

Two high-mile riders meet: Brook Dain (left) and Paul Pelland at the Aerostich store and factory in June 2022. Brook Dain and Paul Pelland. Click to view full size image. What do these guys have in common? Both Brook and Paul ride a lot more than the average rider (basically every day), and they use Aerostich gear.  One chooses a Vespa scooter and the other a Yamaha Super Tenere, yet it’s no coincidence both depend on Aerostich gear for its long-term value as functional equipment.  When they each rolled up here simultaneously, coming from two different directions, it was a coincidence, so we made introductions, took some photos and shared stories (and a nice lunch). Experienced high-mile riders appreciate better fitting all-day-comfortable gear that works and holds up. This means easy to use real-world-useful pockets, great functional venting and serious protection for hard rain and possible crash scenarios. Plus repair services if needed. Brook was an Aerostich ‘Rider of the Month’ a few months ago and is on a 3,000 mile loop around the western side of America, from home to home.  Paul is around the 500,000th mile of his million-mile ‘Chasing the Cure' for MS ride and stopped in because we were on his route home as well.  You may have met Paul at a motorcycle event or IMS show. He suffers from MS, which is why he’s donating his life to this cause, and has been partly sponsored by both Aerostich and Yamaha. He’d also be happy to have your support. Road directions to visit us are here. We’d love to show you around and help you examine the full selection of Aerostich gear.  We have (at this moment) about 153 R-3 one piece suits in stock, and another several hundred other models of Aerostich suits, jackets and pants in the store. Suits come in more than 60 stock sizes and our fitting experts will take measurements if you require alterations or would like a sewn-to-order garment in a custom color combination. Factory tours are always free, and this (recently gentrified) neighborhood now has several nice places to eat within a block or two.   If you visit, we cannot guarantee you’ll meet riders like Brook and Paul, but we can guarantee you won’t be disappointed in the gear or our service. -- Mr. Subjective PS - There’s a 10% discount for ALL purchases made here, and we ship your old gear home on the day of your choice at no charge.

After experiencing three days of sweltering 98º highs during the BMW Motorcyle Owners Of America’s National Rally in Springfield Missouri, I headed homeward riding up state route sixty-five. First stop, lunch in Sedalia. Temp still 98-99º. Sticky hot. By Iowa it was down to 87º and comfortable enough. At Minneapolis, 83. Very comfortable. All those miles of comfortable-ness made me want to keep going even though I was getting tired. Bike working well. Enjoying the ride, etc. Last gas stop was at Stacey, just north of Forest Lake. Still warm and comfortable at 10:45PM.Those who have spent any amount of time in northern MN during the early part summer already know what happens next. By Hinkley, I began to sense there may be a problem. By Finlayson, I was thinking I might see snow by Barnum, or maybe Carlton. Though this felt like a real possibility, thanks to the keen Aerostich-sourced digital thermometer stuck to the handlebars I could see it was still eleven degrees too warm at only 43º. Riding along in a T-shirt and vented leather Aerostich Transit jacket after spending the last twelve hours (and prior four days) in upper 90’s air, this digital temperature information was small consolation.Nearly an hour later I finally started to feel a little better after spending several minutes quietly standing under a nearly-scalding stream of hot shower water.– Mr. Subjective, June 19, 2022, a stubborn long-time rider of ‘naked’ motorcycles.PS – If you visited us at this event, thank you!PPS – If you are thinking of visiting us here in Duluth MN via an unfaired motorcycle, the best times are between mid-July and mid-September.

A famous old saying goes: “Nothing clarifies the mind like standing before a firing squad.” The last couple of years have been like that for more than a few of us. Hopefully we’re now on the far side of a fading pandemic. Surviving this plague (…so far anyway) has made me grateful and wanting Aerostich to focus more sharply on areas we’ve always been most interested in. One is making as long-term enduring products as possible. Typically sales are grown via the continuous introduction of ‘new-and-improved’ variations. Everything from laundry soap to fast-food items and motorcycle rider’s gear is commonly reformulated to increase sales. Though there are many exceptions, this business tactic is nearly universal because it works so well. Incremental improvements to Aerostich products are continuous, but our signature items are more like long-enduring successful products such as Levi’s 501 Button Fly Jeans, McDonald’s Big Mac sandwiches, and (in our field) Langlitz, Schott, and Belstaff motorcycle rider’s jackets. The technical rider’s gear from these businesses was first created to be worn as riders’ equipment, not fashion. Yet each soon became fashionable. Our synthetic-fiber abrasion-resistant armored gear represents another genuine rider’s gear advance and thus belongs within that timeline. Photo: Customer commend card from 1992, and accompanying letter. Click to download PDF version. When a market for anything new is created, later-entering businesses depend on coolness, fashion and style to sell their products. This means much of today’s rider’s gear is more like the specialized fashion clothing presented in ski and snowboard shops, which is revised annually with new colors (colorways) and design details intended to help boost sales. Selling ’new and improved’ is always tempting regardless of the functional value of what usually are trivial changes. One cannot easily improve a Langlitz, Schott, Belstaff, or Aerostich garment despite strident marketing claims otherwise. Our experience has proven that simpler and lighter and armored textile gear wears and works better over a long term. The Aerostich Darien, AD-1, R-3, Falstaff, and Roadcrafter Classic are each as lightweight, comfortable and functional as we can make them. And are sold without reference to fashion. They are gear-as-equipment, and we hope to continue doing the necessary business-discipline things well enough to be able to continue providing this gear for as long as riders want to wear it. So, what is new and improved at Aerostich? Like most manufacturing businesses we’ll always have a small wish list of things we someday hope to develop. Like an entirely new off-road jacket design which is complete and graded but has never been produced. It’s different from the Darien and might be better for some types of off-road riders. We also have plans for non-clothing items, including a revolutionary DIY bike service tool, and a new kind of structural fabric product which would be useful for protecting any bike, ATV or small side-by-side. And there’s more. Someday, and if all goes well for us, we’ll be able to introduce them. You probably understand how tough it is competing when making things in America. There are good companies from A to Z doing their design and marketing work in America with the actual production contracted to overseas manufacturers. Our business exists for many reasons, but my top three are: I wanted a kind of self-identity which involved having a small business, and I wanted to make stuff. Actual physical stuff. I enjoy the design and R&D work a great deal, but mainly as part of a vertical process which involves us making and selling stuff. I wanted to be able to ride my motorcycle more frequently, safely and comfortably, and drive a car less. It’s that simple, and in that order, too. I’ve never had a problem with consumers who desire the latest/greatest gizmo or fashion, but there is also nothing wrong with long-proven classics like Langlitz, Belstaff, and Schott jackets, Levi’s 501 denim pants or Big Mac sandwiches. And there’s nothing wrong (and a lot that is right) with Aerostich gear. Especially when it involves riding more, in a wider diversity of situations and weather conditions. If you’ve read this far and have never tried Aerostich gear, try it. There is a difference. You will not be disappointed. This is who we’ve always wanted to be as a business. - Mr. Subjective, May 2022

Last year an elderly friend emailed to inform me he’d decided to finally stop riding. A few months later he emailed me again about how he was missing it more than he’d anticipated and now was looking for one of those little (and somewhat hard to find) retro 250cc Suzuki’s, the TU250X. Those good machines have a small following in moto-geezer land but I’ve never especially been a fan. Should I be fortunate enough to make it to this elderly friends age, I’d probably go for something less conventional. Maybe a fat-tired 125cc Suzuki VanVan, or as a second option the similarly fat-tired Yamaha TW200. VanVans are slightly more high tech, being fuel injected, and both machines feature electric starting, low saddles and a fairly light weight. These things are unconventional enough so if one parked mid-trip at a rural roadhouse and the machine was piled with camping and travel gear, and was wearing an out of state plate, you’d surely get occasional questions like: “You rode that here? From Minnesota? Really?” This sort of attention makes any long trip more amusing, and a VanVan’s fattie tires might turn out to be both softer riding and safer for navigating into the nooks and crannies where you usually find interesting hidden places to stealth and poach camp and escape. My TU 250-seeking friend no longer camps.  Some of the coolest rides I’ve learned about involved bikes which were wildly inappropriate for the planned journey. Examples include those Australian postal-delivery bikes (Honda Cubs?) being ridden from Melbourne to Manchester, and Honda Rukus’s being ridden from Washington DC to Fairbanks, and then on to Los Angeles. This slow-boat-to-China touring method makes a lot of sense for young riders with more free time than money, as well as for elderly geezers living on Social Security with age-diminished skills and abilities.  John G. is now a few years past eighty and each summer he still rides all over the country aboard a small machine modified for long trips with a top box (for his little dog ‘Moose’) and windshield. Last year he was on his second TU250X and for this year he’s looking at further downsizing to Honda’s new 125cc version of the Cub. All his gear is carried inside one enormous waterproof duffel resting sideways across the passenger area of the saddle. He doesn’t camp and I’m sure it’s a challenge for him to lug it from the motel parking lot into a room. Which is another reason to favor old-fashioned tourist courts consisting of a strip of small rooms where you park directly in front of each room door. These ma-and-pa places are inexpensive, the room’s windows usually open, and though standards vary greatly, each is dependably unique. I love staying at those places too. During a typical 300 mile day John frequently pulls over to the side of any road at random times to shamelessly pee even as traffic whizzes past, and also to give Moose the same opportunity. It’s fun riding behind them as there’s a softball sized hole in the lid of the dog’s blanket-lined top box and every minute or two Moose pops his head up for a look and a sniff, then just as quickly disappears, unintentionally doing a hilariously perfect Whack-a-Mole impression. John G. and his dog, Moose. The best example of this kind of elder-logic touring was a guy I met at Milwaukee’s ‘Rockerbox’ motorcycle festival about ten years ago. Every summer a neighborhood there blocked off this shady side street for about half a mile and thousands of riders would come from Chicago to Madison and everywhere in between. They’d show up to ogle each other’s machines, make friends and enjoy themselves. It’s the same spontaneous vibe as the Twin Cities ‘Blind Lizard’ gathering of riders on Nicollet Island every summer on Father’s Day, and the annual ‘Bearded Lady Motorcycle Freak Show’ street event later in the summer in the Uptown neighborhood. Such slow-motion motorcyclist flash mobs started happening decades before cell phones existed, so if you’ve never been to one, find out where and when, and go. Back at the Rockerbox I’d become tired after so much walking and sat down on a bench in front of a friendly-looking neighborhood corner bar, to rest and soak in more of the warm summer afternoon and sweet atmosphere of passing people and motorcycles. A few minutes passed and an older man with an elfish smile sat down next to me. He was a wiry sort, and clearly enjoying himself as much as I was, so I started our conversation: “Did you ride here?” “Yes, I did, Yes!” “What do you ride?” He pointed to a generic moped parked about twenty feet from the bench, center-standed right on the sidewalk. It was not like any moped I’d ever seen, either. This one was fully outfitted for long-distance travel by a resourceful dumpster-diving type customer. Stuff was tied all over it in the classic haphazard Joad-family-Grapes-of-Wrath fashion, but there was also an undercurrent of method to the madness. On top of everything a one-gallon plastic lawn mower gas can was tied on with a single rubber bungee through its molded handle. Beneath that were plastic bags, pots and pans, canteens and a sleeping bag all tied with a mix of bailing twine, bungees and whatever else could be found. I gazed at this unlikely arrangement of Salvation-Army meets Army-Surplus store camping detritus for a long moment, taking it all in, and then said: “Wow! What a cool rig. That’s awesome!” I meant every word. It was easily one of the most incredible machines at the event.  “So where did you come from?” I asked, innocently. “Minneapolis.” The old elf replied, with a wide grin and a twinkle in his eye. We were about four hundred miles away from there. “No kidding! Really! Wow…So how long did it take you to get here?” “Three days.” “Wow. Holy sh-t! Ho ho ho…You are incredible! You are amazing! My hat is off to you, sir! You win!” There was a long silence and I just sort of stared at his moped for a while, thinking about this guy and his adventure, and how someday maybe if everything worked out for me I’d be able to be just like him. Then he said: “So where are you from?” “Duluth.” I replied. “Really? Know someone from Duluth.” “Who?” “Andy Goldfine. Great guy. Runs a motorcycle gear place there.” I smiled wide and said: “Hahaha…I know him too! And pretty well! I AM Andy Goldfine.” “No!” “Yes. Really! I’m Andy Goldfine. Nice to meet you again!…” The old guy looked at me very carefully for a moment, then smiled. Our conversation continued for another five minutes, with me asking him a few more questions about his riding history and listening to him describe long past and more recent adventures. He’d ridden that moped from his home in Minneapolis to the big annual bike rally at Sturgis, South Dakota, at least twice. I think he said he’d worn out one or two engines, or entire mopeds. My head was spinning, so I don’t remember much more, but I think he told me his age was somewhere in the mid 80’s. At one point two pretty women came by and he stood up and began flirting and then dancing with them, right there on the sidewalk. Music supplied by a rockabilly band about a block farther down. Motorcycles bring people together in such wonderful ways. What a great day that was, riding to the RockerBox in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and then meeting this amazing old guy. So if you are an old geezer, consider a Van Van or scooter. Or even a moped. (For inspiration visit www.mopedarmy.com) Just keep riding as long as you can. Mr. Subjective, April 2022 PS - I’m now age 69 and am not as skilled or strong a rider, or anything else, compared to ten years ago. Regardless of the loss I plan to continue riding for as long as I am able to. Hopefully many more years. Fluency comes with frequency, so the more often one rides, the better and safer they are. All this aging-out stuff varies so greatly it’s impossible to say what is sensible. I know maybe half-a-dozen people who still ride in their eighties. One still-sharp woman in particular took up riding in her forties and goes cross country camping on a BMW 800. Her ’safety’ protocol is to ride mostly empty backroads and take her time. Another very old rider has by increments downsized the bikes. His cross-country trips just take longer and again, he sticks to little-traveled roads. Another old geezer friend from Santa Barbara stopped riding MC’s at about 73 and rides an e-bicycle nearly every day with a posse of older moto-rider friends who’ve all also switched to e-mountain bikes. They trail ride those things over three thousand miles a year. Another long-distance and daily rider in his mid-80’s was just told by his decades younger wife to stop riding, so he’s looking at a Honda Grom for neighborhood-only riding. I hesitate to ask him to define ‘neighborhood’. Solutions are all over the place. My own plan is to see how I’m feeling day-by-day, year-by-year and follow these leads as best as I can. I’m no longer too concerned about what, where (or how) I ride. Just that I ride. PPS - Have you seen this wonderful long-form television commercial for a Taiwanese bank?(It became so popular a feature film was later made about the story.) Excerpts from an email from Muriel Farrington, received Aug 5, 2021:“On my nearly 8,000 mile trip to National in Great Falls, I ran through all kinds of weather…While I did limit my 114-degree day riding to 250 miles/day vs up to a 627-mile day, the weather was brutal…and (after visiting friends on the west coast) I was ready to make the last few miles home the next day. Olympia, WA to WRJ, VT in 7 days and 4 hours. It will be my last trip west - I am 80 in a month and probably should think about acting my age…Best, Muriel”