You Wanna Race?

Pull on your racing motorbike gloves. The best way to learn about racing is to visit the pit area of a racetrack and talk with the racers. Most will be happy to offer advice.

If you’re reading this then you’re already thinking about it.

Sometimes buying a bike built for racing is cheaper than preparing your own bike. You can find race bikes for sale in the pit areas. Look for the well-worn racing motorbike gloves!

Go to a high performance riding school and see if you are still interested. If you’re not, then at the very least, you’ll improve your riding ability.

One thing is certain…if you race, you will crash. Never scrimp on the protective gear. Get good motorcycle gloves and helmet.

A bike that looks like it has been cared for well will pass scrutineering much easier than a bike that looks like it’s been thrown together. All bodywork must be firmly attached…yours as well as your bikes.

Most club racers use tire warmers. Get a set with a thermostat so you don’t burn the tire. You wouldn’t put on a pair of hot motorbike gloves, would you? Warmers take about 30 minutes to warm the tire. Just like motorbike gloves, they are most comfortable after the first lap!

One more thing…it’ll probably cost you more than you originally planned. Depends on how many times you crash!! Therefore, concentrate on becoming that good rider you always wanted to be and your motorbike gloves will always look forward to being screwed open coming into the straight.

 View a selection of motorcycle gloves at:-
 http://www.leatheronhand.com/motorcycle_gloves/

How To Lift A Fallen Bike

If you've dropped your bike for some reason and found that you have no broken bones or other serious injuries, take off your motorcycle gloves and DO NOT sit down next to the bike and light a cigarette thinking how lucky you were. There's a chance gasoline has leaked out of the tank and you'll blow yourself skyhigh! There's also a chance battery acid has leaked out and is beginning to burn holes through your leather pants and into your backside!

Lifting even a small bike can injure your back, especially after you've just survived a crash and then you get hurt trying to lift your bike! Holy Motorcycle Gloves...what an embarrassment! If you do have a dicky back, then get someone else to lift it.

If you do have to lift it by yourself then leave your motorbike gloves on and use leverage...first, grab the handlebar closer to the road with a firm grip of your motorcycle gloves. Turn the front toward you. Grab a solid part of the frame. Work your knee under the seat. Bending your knees and not your back, use your legs to lift the bike upright, being careful not to allow the bike to fall over in the opposite direction.

Before you ride off into the sunset, check that the handlebars are firmly attached to the forks. If they are not, your motorcycle gloves and 'bars will break loose and you'll crash again! You'll be back to square one. What a drag!

Don't Know Your Motorcycle Gloves From Your Swing Arm?...Read On!

The environment of motorcycling engulfs all the senses. You need to be constantly aware of all around you, because there is little room for worrying about tomorrow. If you're new to motorcycling, then you need to read this before the salesman bombards you with the jargon.

Motorcycle Gloves: Typically made of leather. Keep the fingers warm at high speed, cool at low speed!

Frame: The major component of a motorcycle that holds everything together...including you, the rider.

Swingarm: The bit that holds the rear wheel to the frame. Will allow your suspension to "plunge" when you screw open the gas with your motorcycle gloves, when hitting the bumps in the road.

Clutch lever: On the left of the handle bar, under your left motorcycle glove.

Throttle: On the right handlebar, under your right motorcycle glove, along with the front brake.

Rear brake: In front of right footrest.

Gear selector: In front of left footrest. Now, some older bikes had shift lever on the right and brake pedal on the left.

Monocoque: A fancy word for a one-piece frame.

Engine: May be single, twin, four or even six cylinder. Two stroke or four stroke...in a four stroke, the piston moves four strokes, igniting on the third and expelling gases on the fourth. Two stroke engines are simpler and fire in two strokes.

Forks: You look down at your front forks when you are riding. They connect the front wheel to the frame.

Centre of Gravity: The overall factor that determines how a bike handles. Different bikes require different riding styles. A high centre of gravity leads to quick steering and agility eg. sportsbikes. Footpegs are raised for racing to increase ground clearance when leaning the bike over. Whereas a low centre of gravity leads to a more relaxed cruising style of ride.

Plain enough for ya! Now that you've stiffened up your rear end and added wheels and tires, pull on your leather motorcycle gloves and head over to:-
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How To Ride Fast and Live

1. Look ahead! The most important aspect of riding a motorbike is looking ahead. Don't look at your motorbike gloves as you twist the throttle...keep your eyes on the horizon!

2. The second most important thing is look where you want to go. Try this when cornering. As you enter the corner, keep your eyes on the exit.

3. Relax! If you're tense, holding the 'bars with the death grip through your motorcycle gloves, you are not going to ride smooth. Learn to hang loose!

4. Be smooth! Don't jerk at the throttle through your motorbike gloves. Don't stab at the brake or yank at the steering.

5. Love the rear brake! Although many riders ignore the rear brake in preference to the front brake...the rear brake is essential for cornering. Learn to use the rear brake and twist the throttle through your motorbike gloves at the same time. It helps to balance the bike.

6. Keep the throttle on! Also essential for bike balance when cornering. Keep opening the motorbike gloves and when the time is right crack it open to exit.

7. Keep your head level. Imperative for your balance to keep your eyes parallel to the ground (when cornering as well!)

8. Keep your line! Use the road properly. Enter corners better, exit faster.

9. Anticipation! Goes hand in motorcycle glove hand with looking ahead. Be aware. When approaching an intersection or the crest of a hill...set your brakes up. Get ready for the unexpected.

10. Ride fast and safe and get some rider training...bad habits can kill!


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How To Look Cool and Stay Cool with Motorcycle Gloves & Leathers

How do you Beat the Heat?

Black leathers might be cool on the outside, but on the inside, phew, they are NOT!
"In the Summertime
when the weather is fine..."
...the only thing on your mind is riding. Bear in mind...this is not an excuse not to wear your protective gear - including your leather motorcycle gloves. Mesh panel jackets, suits and gloves are invaluable. BUT, be careful!
Because they ventilate so well... they can give you a false sense of dehydration, simply because they work so well. You get hot, you sweat, the airflow evaporates the sweat and you feel cool. But you still sweat & you're losing fluids which you may not realise. Drink plenty of water when biking in the summer!

If you tuck a few under, the night before you strap on the motorbike gloves, make sure you drink plenty of water at breakfast. Replace that second cup of coffee with a glass of water. Coffee is a diuretic. They strip fluid out of your body and you'll be stopping for a pee a few miles up the road. Coke can have the same effect.

Riding in hot  weather is tiring. Riding in bright sunlight can give you sunburn. Slap on the sunscreen at the beginning of the day. Don't forget those important places that are uncovered...the wrists where your motorcycle gloves and jacket sleeves don't quite overlap...the neck...the face through the visor. There is nothing worse than riding through the day and then getting your faced burned at the end of it!

Eat right and eat light! Hitting the diner for a beer and steak 'n' chips for lunch always sounds like a good idea when you're on the road. Just make sure you can get your leathers and motorbike gloves on when you finish eating. And beer is a diuretic too! If you feel like a siesta in the middle of the day...take it! Enjoy it!
You'll feel better when you jump back on your bike and head of into the sunset!


Check out my mesh gloves at:
 http://www.leatheronhand.com/short_racing_gloves/

Surviving The Morning Traffic with Twitchy Motorcycle Gloves

Well this seems to be about as much fun as watching paint dry!

But, bear with me! This is important. Road survival will never be as good as doin' a stand up wheelie, but stayin' alive is rather important because without it we wouldn't be here! Get ya motorbike gloves ready because...

You've just rolled out of bed twenty minutes late, swallowed a bowl full of marshmallow fruit loops, thrown down a long black thick enough to stick to the back wheel and pulled on your gloves as you hit the morning rush hour chaos. As the caffeine hits your fuzzy mind, you think..."right, watch out for school kids!" Frazzled parents with road rage are causing havoc. They look at you with jealous conceit and swear obscenities at you because you're on a bike and you don't do queues!

You've got experienced hands inside those motorcycle gloves, so now, it's time for some serious filtering. Now that your morning cup o' tar has hit ya, you're watching the traffic like a hawk because filtering can be dangerous when the car next to you moves only a couple of feet to have you off! Don't watch the car itself...watch the driver's head through his rear window...that'll move before the car does...and watch his front wheels too...because they'll move before anything else!

Guide your motorbike gloves around parked cars with drivers in them...Sure as eggs, they'll get out just as you pass, so, give them a door's width. Buses are classic for pulling out in front of you because they reckon they have to get the kids to school on time! And hang back a bit at gas stations and the 24 hour bar. Someone is sure to pull into or out of them without even looking at you.

And remember, keep your motorcycle gloved finger on the trigger of your front brake. It can save valuable seconds when you need to throw out the anchors! Enjoy yourself with leather on hand as everybody else around you gets frustrated!


Keep the action alive with:-
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How To Ride Fast On A Slow Bike

Believe it or not! By riding a smaller motorbike, you can actually become smoother, quicker and faster. If you want to learn how to ride a bike properly, after you strap on your leather motorcycle gloves, it's easier to ride a slower bike fast than to ride a fast bike slow! Besides, riding a slower bike makes you appreciate a big bike more.

Now, after you prepare yourself with all the protective gear from leathers to leather motorbike gloves, you can take a slower bike to the limit, and that is when you master the throttle control and feel the balance, with the back end sliding BUT with you still being in control. Twisting the throttle with motorcycle gloves in full control is a good feeling!

When your slower bike is on the limit you will value your corner speed, concentrate more on your line and less on braking, appreciate the smoothness because the small bikes are more nimble in the corners.

A 1000cc rider may even ask you if HE was SLOWING YOU DOWN in the corners! That's also good feeling!

 Whilst you have this ultimate control in the corners you can look further ahead, because looking ahead is a sure sign that you know what's goin' on! Your motorcycle gloves are in charge! This will also teach you about momentum, because smaller bikes feel good in the upper range and it can take sooo long to get there if you lose that momentum on a slower bike. That way you can rely on the slower bike's torque (force or energy) to get up to speed.

So, the idea is not to spend a lot of time grabbin' too much throttle with your motorbike gloves. On a slower bike, if you do grab a fistful, there's less chance of you lifting the front wheel and ending up with your embarrassed backside on the asphalt and you scratching your helmet with your motorcycle gloves.
 Besides, if you do drop it, it's less expensive than a big bike!

Have fun and view my gorgeous motorbike gloves at:-
http://www.leatheronhand.com/motorcycle_gloves/

How To Be Smooth and Hold On

Ever noticed your forearms pump up while riding?

Do your hands get tired inside your motorbike gloves?

Too tight a hold on the bars is the most common source of motorcycling handling problems. Yes, hangin' on for dear life with your motorcycle gloves is a survival reaction, BUT, it can also ruin your riding time.

It's easy for me to say "Just relax", but it's not that easy! Holding onto the bike is an art in itself. There is technology involved. Depending on the road surface, speed, tires and suspension, any bike will shake! It's part of the whole suspension system and it's necessary for the bike to do it.

First of all, your front tire will flex (because it's rubber, remember) with the imperfections in the road surface. It's supposed to do that. After it reaches its limit of flexing, the shock and forks take over to stabilize the bike. If the result is not being able to stabilize then the forks will move from side to side. You can't stop this happening, no matter how much you grip with your motorbike gloves on the bars! You're simply not strong enough.If your bike is set up right and stable enough, it will stay loose and balanced. If NOT, then the shakes will go through you via your motorcycle gloves and transfer to the rest of the bike, becoming violent and out of control. That's why your motorbike gloves are curved, because you're gonna HOLD ON for dear life. It's that natural reaction.

If you ride a dirt bike in deep sand and hold on with your motorbike gloves too tight, you'll crash...if you stay loose, the bike'll go straight! Once again, it's all part and parcel of machine set up and stability.

Coming out of a corner and screwing ya motorbike gloves while gassin' it will cause the "wobbles", because the front is light and doesn't follow the road well. BUT, YOU can make it worse by holding on too tight.

Relax and enjoy yourself and check out my motorcycle gloves and racing gloves:
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"Threading The Needle": Cornering: Motorcycle Gloves To Lead You

The essence of motorcycle riding is cornering, using the twist of your motorcycle gloves. I can't stress this enough! You will probably never do it like Valentino Rossi, but when you get into the rhythm of a flowing and ongoing stream, instead of seeing corners as a single entity, then you are riding!

Pull on your motorcycle gloves and do it! Corners are there because a straight line was not possible. Keep alert! Exit one corner in a position that gives you the best chance of a good entry into the next. When your motorcycle gloves are acting simultaneously, without being aware of what you are doing and you are choosing ideal lines, and you instinctively know how a corner will behave, you have the right speed, the right gear, everything fits together, then you are in the flow.

Your motorcycle gloves are helping you get into a rhythm. Even unfamiliar roads can be ridden smoothly and quickly, by just looking ahead. Look "far ahead". Keep track of the "vanishing point", because when it comes closer, the corner is tightening! If you concentrate on getting your exit right, then you'll get your entry for the next one right!


So, "threading the needle" is this:-

• Follow the line with your eyes, not your motorcycle gloves!
• Be ready, right speed, right gear.
• Stay at the outside of the corner, then lean and keep looking "far ahead".
• Give throttle in the corner. You can always lean a second time & give more gas. Twist ya motorbike gloves & accelerate out and look ahead to the next corner.

When Motorcycle Gloves Get Wet & Cold

"How cold do you have to get before you fall off?"

The faster you ride, the colder you get!

At some stage of your bikeriding, you're going to get caught in a rainstorm.
Option 1:- Find a bar, take off your leather motorcycle gloves, sit under an umbrella and watch the rain fall!
Option 2:- Make a rainsuit out of plastic garbage bags. Punch arm and head holes in one, then leg holes in another and step into it. Then go back to the bar, find the kitchen and ask the cook for a pair of dishwashing gloves to wear as liners inside your leather motorbike gloves.

Plastic shopping bags inside your boots will keep your socks dry.

With Option 2, duct tape everything together, so all the plastic won't blow apart. You'll be dry for a while, maybe long enough to ride out the storm.

Aside from the emergency preparations above, you can prepare for riding in the rain. With motorcycle gloves, at some point, they eventually get wet, but the big gauntlet style full leather motorcycle gloves works best. Some riders like to wear the summer weight leather motorbike gloves. They get wet, but they dry out quickly. Besides, some riders like to "feel" the bars. If it's cold outside as well as wet, try a lightweight kind of thermal glove underneath your leather motorcycle gloves. Toasty and warm!

Talking about handlebars, I'm a great believer in heated grips. They keep the blood flowing in ya fingers and are great with the thinner variety of leather motorcycle gloves.

Now, we all know leather is neither warm nor waterproof, but many riders do go for the leather riding suits with their leather motorcycle gloves because they feel safer, and when you feel safe on a bike, then you don't mind arriving home wet!

Nothing is as cool as leather!

Look for cool leather motorcycle gloves at:-

http://www.leatheronhand.com/motorcycle_gloves/

How To Tackle That Corner: A Learning Curve with Motorcycle Gloves to Lead You

"Which way does it go?"
How many times have you asked yourself that question, as you screw your leather motorcycle gloves around and open up your brand new CBR1000RR, and you lose sight of the corner!
Your bike is handling to perfection, you've dressed appropriately; abrasion-resistant knee-pads on these leathers and durable leather motorcycle gloves! I once saw a guy cut the bottom out of two large empty plastic soda bottles for his hands, cut the neck out big enough to fit over the handlebars and kept his hands warm and dry from the rain. He was over the moon when his mom bought him his first pair of leather motorcycle gloves!
If it's not a corner that you're familiar with, then how do you know if it's constant, or has an increasing or decreasing radius?
How you come out depends on how you go in!
Your hands are sweating inside your motorbike gloves as you change down and adjust your speed in anticipation of the corner. Don't stare at your new motorcycle gloves. Look ahead! You are looking for the "vanishing point" - the point where the road disappears from view. When that happens try to follow the line of the road with your sight. It could be a line of trees or posts. Pay attention, not to your motorcycle gloves holding the grips, but to the speed limit signs just before the curve.
If the vanishing point remains pretty much the same throughout the curve, relative to the position of the bike, then you're in a constant radius corner.
If the vanishing point comes closer, the corner is tightening and this is a decreasing radius corner. These can be nasty! This is when you have to know your back brake because you're gonna run out of room, BUT, if you keep your throttle on at the same time, the bike will tighten its line and you'll make it out! The curve in your leather motorcycle gloves has never felt more useful!
Always expect the unexpected on blind curves. A road-killed deer can take up a full driving lane and the oncoming 18-wheeler can take up the other. There's not much room for your motorbike gloves to fit!
However, if the vanishing point of the corner gets further away and you have maximum view all the time, this is an increasing radius corner. These types of corners are what riding a bike is all about. You've throttled into the first stretch of the corner, motorcycle gloves ready to react,  you can see that the road is open ahead, then you open 'er up as you exit, the bike wants to straighten immediately because of the centre of gravity and the geometry of spinning wheels and if your motorbike gloves are warm and your tires are the right pressure, you'll have a lot of fun discovering the next corner!


Discover leather motorcycle gloves and other varieties at:-

http://www.leatheronhand.com/motorcycle_gloves/