By: Rocky Marks
The good news is the lack of rain has given us a few extra
days to tool around on our scoots, but the bad news is it hasn’t truly given us
a break from the summer heat. There have
been several times where I wanted to choose the air conditioning of my car over
the saddle of my motorcycle. I didn’t
give in though. This year I chose to
find ways to keep riding during the dog days of summer.
One of the simplest accessories you can purchase for your
motorcycle is a drink holder. You can
order a manufacturer specific drink holder or you can order an aftermarket
model. I have researched and tried many
different drink holders on the market and my favorite is a universal drink
holder from Kuryakyn. It features a
chrome outer ring big enough for a 44oz drink in its mesh basket. There are rubber grips on the inner circle of
the chrome that allow you to carry smaller drinks all the way down to a 12oz
bottle of water. It’s perfect for
around-the-town.
For long distances, one of the best products I’ve used is
the CamelBak hands-free hydration system. According to www.camelback.com,
the first CamelBak products were popular with mountain bikers and motocross
riders. It began to cross over into
other sports when scientific studies showed athletes drank more fluids and
performed better when they wore a CamelBak. For me, it proved successful when I traveled almost 1,000 miles in one
of the hottest weekends we’ve seen in a long time.
On a recent trip, my wife wore it and filled it up every
time we stopped for gas with ice and water from a beverage dispenser. While on the road I found it easy to drink
and it felt great when she sprayed it on my back every now and again to cool me
off at 70 mph on extremely hot asphalt.
Another product that I like to use is a neck cooler. All you have to do is soak the bandana in
water and it inflates with a cooling gel. Surprisingly the bandana stays cool most of the day, and at night I just
soak it in the ice bucket in the hotel room and it’s ready to go for the next
day. Most sporting goods stores carry
neck coolers during season.
In addition to finding ways to hydrate and cool your body,
there are products to keep the heat of your motorcycle away from you. A slam-dunk for any big-twin rider is a heat
deflector that mounts right under the rider’s seat and directly above the
engine. It points most of the engine
heat away from the rider and their passenger.
Motorcycles with lower fairings now have accessories that
provide a vent to allow air onto your legs and feet to keep you cool on a hot
summer day. There are also products that
allow you to replace your bolt-on parts with a quick-release for your lower
fairings so you can remove them all together and store them with very little
effort.
In 2009, Harley-Davidson started to offer a factory
two-into-one-into-two exhaust that directed the exhaust away from the
passenger’s legs and under the motorcycle. There are several after market true-dual exhaust systems that work very
well too.
The oil you use in your motorcycle can make a small
difference in heat. Choosing synthetic
over traditional motor oil and adding an oil cooler will bring the temperature
of the motor down a few degrees. Don’t
expect a night and day difference, however every degree counts.
Even though we only have a few hot weeks left in the summer,
now is the time to look for specials on these products at dealerships and
sporting good stores as they get ready to re-merchandise for the fall.
