You Gotta Get These: JIS Screwdrivers

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Rather than taking my bike to a dealer for repairs I can’t handle myself, I prefer Oltman—he lets me help—stifling his snickers at my ignorance and ineptitude. This typically doubles or triples the time a repair would take at a real motorcycle repair shop. My last visit required some extensive disassembly. Unable to dislodge one rusted and corroded screw, I’d managed to strip a good part of its Phillips head. Oltman went to his tool box and came back with a different screwdriver saying, “try this.” This screwdriver fit snugly and the screw came right out. “That’s a JIS screwdriver,” Oltman told me… Continue reading →

Visiting the Ducati Factory in Bologna, Italy

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This month Motorcycle Consumer News published my article on visiting the Ducati factory in this month’s issue. I loved this very large poster hanging between two areas of the factory. The literal translation is: “You are in doubt? Ask” MCN – August 2012 – Ducati

Don’t miss the Summer 2012 issue of the Overland Journal

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Well, it’s finally arrived – the summer 2012 issue of the Overland Journal. One of its feature articles is my story on the Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile. In theory it should be on newsstands and Barnes & Nobles and Books-a-million, but I’ve not had any luck finding it.… Continue reading →

Now this is good stuff

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Andy Norrie, a Staff Sergeant with the Toronto Police Service in Toronto, Canada recently wrote an article on motor officer training. He lists the six R’s of training as keys to reducing risk to officers: Recent, Relevant, Repetition, Realism, Review and Responsibility. What I liked about his article best was… Continue reading →

Test ride for Andy’s Lake Como trip

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Andy is contemplating a MC ride in this area in the fall. Yesterday I checked it out. West out of Treviso to Trento, then north to Revo. West over passo del Tonale, then Colico at far north end of Lake Como, then down the east shoreline, bypass Milan, through Verona… Continue reading →

Dakar update

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Cordoba, Argentina Dakar conclusion: I’ve just arrived back in Cordoba, Argentina for a couple of days of rest and a Malbec fueled recovery, before flying to Santiago on Monday afternoon, then overnight to Dallas and then on to Phoenix on Tuesday morning. It has been an amazing 13 days! The… Continue reading →