Articles by Ken Bingenheimer

Going the Distance

I brought some motorcyclist friends together socially recently, by which I mean some of these guys had never met each other before. I don’t know that many people are out as actively meeting other riders as I am in the course of writing about so many ...

LEDs for Your Ride

How do you get your motorcycle to look just a bit cooler? OK, a lot cooler? One increasingly popular option is adding LED lighting. Two members of the OFMC took the plunge this year. Once Johnathon caught up with us in Chama, NM, and after it got dark, ...

Adventure Riding the Backcountry

By the standard of “It's not an adventure until someone says, ‘WTF are we doing here?’" Paul Guillien and his riding companion were pretty certain they were having an adventure coming down from Reservation Ridge.

“Two of us were out scouting ...

Would You Rent Your Ride?

I ran across a new business recently that really made me stop and think. Called Fun2Rent, it is a peer-to-peer site set up to connect owners of motorsports equipment, such as motorcycles, boats, and snowmobiles, to people who want to rent them. The idea ...

Into the Great Wide Open

There has always been a direct link in my mind between motorcycles and exploring. Back when I was saving my money and waiting for the day when I’d be old enough to buy one and get my license I had visions of breaking out of the very limited range that I ...

Motorcycle Maintenance 101

As with any complex piece of machinery, a motorcycle benefits from an occasional check-up and adjustment from a knowledgeable profession. In between those infrequent visits, there is a great deal you, the owner, can do to keep it in good shape and minimize ...

Back on Two Wheels

Janice Carrington had one thing going for her when she decided to buy a motorcycle and learn to ride at the age of 61: She had owned and ridden a bike 30 years ago.

OK, that really wasn’t such an advantage.

“I didn't ride very good back then. I ...

Blazing a Trail

If there’s no route going where you want to go, sometimes you just have to make your own. So it was that Charlie Ketchum and his buddy Dan “Doc” Lewall went about mapping out what they dubbed the Trans Arkansas Trail, TART for short. Then having done ...

Here Comes Winter

Snow on the ground this morning, and in the air as well. No riding today. Somewhere, in the less-temperate parts of the country, motorcyclists are probably already putting their bikes in storage for the winter. So sad.

Not here. In Colorado, at least on ...

Close Encounters

Let’s say you’re a bee, and you’re minding your own business, heading across this road on your way back to the hive with some pollen to drop off. What are the odds that some guy on a motorcycle is going to come along at just the right moment, ...

Gremlins in the Salt Flats

You’re out on the salt at Bonneville, with intentions of setting a world speed record. Your motorcycle has been checked and rechecked, and it is in top condition. And then it’s not. You see your record fading in the distance, and you have no idea what ...

This Means Fun

My 1999 Kawasaki Concours is a far better bike than my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom. So why is it that it has always been very clear in my mind that it is just more fun to ride the Honda? I may have finally figured it out: Weight.

It just make sense. I’ve ...

Highsiding

Do you know what it feels like to get tossed through the air like a rag doll? I do now. I had my first highside last week.

There are two ways for a motorcycle to tip over. A lowside crash generally happens when you’re leaning way over to one side and ...

An Unlikely Contender for Offroad Fun

Sometimes the best tool for the job is not the one designed for that purpose, but the one – the only one – you have.

Take dual-sport riding, this business of taking a motorcycle down the highway to get somewhere, and then taking that same bike ...

Risks of the Road

The light turned green and both lanes of traffic pulled forward and then left. As I swung my Kawasaki Concours from the right-hand lane of one street through the arc and into the right-hand lane of the other I saw a common sight. A driver in the left-hand ...

Bike's Little Lessons

Ongoing mechanical issues with my 31-year-old Honda CB750 Custom have me thinking the unthinkable, as in getting rid of it rather than continuing to put money into it. Don’t get me wrong. This won’t happen next week. When it comes to things like this ...

Motorcycling's Sanctioned Sport

Ride your motorcycle through some fabulous country, on some great roads. Hang out with a fun group of guys in the evening. Shoot a few pictures. And, oh yeah, compete for a world championship.

That championship would be as the lifetime points leader for ...

Flying on the Ground

I’ve read that pilots make better motorcyclists, or motorcyclists make better pilots – I can’t remember which. Probably the latter. Both go beyond the basic right, left, forward, backward movement that you get in a car. Both have to lean.

...

Biker Wit

Bikers say the darnedest things. I know, that old line generally starts with “kids,” but there are just too many great quotes out there from motorcyclists, about motorcycles, or in some way related to motorcycling. One of my favorites is “Only a biker ...

Ride With The 40

Ten years ago, on Sept. 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 left Newark, NJ, en route to San Francisco. It never reached its destination. The plane crashed in a field outside Shanksville, PA, after terrorists hijacked it and then the 40 passengers and crew ...