With less riding and more idle time this year I took a closer look at my touring gear and noticed a few things could do with being replaced. My Alpinestars Andes jacket is just five years old but in poor condition. Stitching is coming apart, the velcro no longer holds […]

Knowing I will face plenty of rain on my autumn tour I decided to examine all my gear and update a couple of items. My Autumn/Spring season primary glove for ten years has been the Held Rainstar. It is incredible to think those gloves were still in good shape externally […]

This is a continuation of my previous post on loss of water resistance in Gore-tex style gear (i.e. gear that has inbuilt breathable liner similar to Gore-tex). To recap, I’m trying to fix my Alpinestar Drystar jacket and pants that were fairly waterproof initially then seemed to lose that somewhat. […]

Examining my DriRider brand mesh summer jacket I noticed it was a bit tired looking. I thought this must be over ten years old then when I counted back realised actually it was 20 years old! I went to Naps motorcycle accessories shop Yokohama where I tried on a number […]

Topaz Sharpen AI I mentioned on one of my rides I was testing Topaz Sharpen AI software and thought it worth a post about that and a related program Gigapixel which I am finding useful. Post from RICOH THETA. – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA Sharpen AI software from Topaz […]

If you do much riding in SE Asia beyond Thailand you will encounter countries with motorcycle engine capacity limits and find these two bikes in rental shops. I have completed two tours on each and kept a couple of notes. I first rode the XT125 in southern Vietnam from HCM […]

For this years ride in Northern Thailand I rented a CB650R and have a few notes on the bike. I like this class of motorcycle. Mid size naked. It doesn’t suit my current location but if I was back in my old stomping ground I’d probably own something in this […]

If you own a Jet style helmet with a ratchet type strap rather than the D type strap then it can be a challenge to secure these using the strap. It’s not something I have needed to do frequently but in some locations I really want to leave the helmet […]

One thing that is on my mind a lot recently is getting a flat tyre on tour. In the past riding with tubeless tyres this had never troubled me. I always carried a tubleless repair kit which I still do here in Japan with gas canister although I have breakdown […]

Ahead of a trio of rides in SE Asia next year I decided to get a new pair of riding jeans. I’ve owned a couple pairs of rider jeans over the years. Alpinestar and Draggin items, neither of which I liked because they were not comfortable on the bike and […]

I wrote an article about my packing for the multi country ride I made to South Africa and Oman awhile back and what to take is something people continue to ask me about. I just threw all my gear together for a short ride in Vietnam and took some photos […]

I had never really noticed this motorcycle before, but after riding one in Turkey I now see quite a few people in those overlander groups on Facebook have them set up as ‘traveler’ bikes and along with the venerable KLR650 are a popular choice for riders on budget doing extended […]