First Ride 2015 on My Triumph and Navigating with Garmin

Ahhh that was a great ride. This was my first official ride with the Philly Moto Girls (only women can be members, but significant others are always invited to join rides).  And my first long ride on the Street Triple !!

I mapped out this ridiculously insane route, but sadly, my written maps have failed me yet again. I seem to get lost on every adventure because these are all new roads for me!

I've been trying to figure out a way to navigate on my iPhone and have found a few apps that do this. Unfortunately I have found them to be clunky, with the interfaces being rather difficult as to allowing me to import my google maps. But even if they did let me do that, I would have to pull over, take my phone out and pull off my gloves. And if you know me, I don't sacrifice protection for convenience. I'm not going to give up my incredibly protective riding gloves for something that has touchscreen-ability. I love my gloves!

So I bit the bullet and on a friend's suggestion (Thanks Anthony and Kate!!) I purchased a used Garmin Nuvi 765T, the car edition. It was $80 on eBay, and I have the option to return the sucker if it lets me down. I NEED the ability to import routes, and although I could maybe do it on Navigon, that doesn't eliminate my need to remove my gloves to use the iPhone even if it's mounted on my bike.

The other benefit to this particular model is it was less than $100 and it does essentially everything the Zumo does but for less! I'll need to figure out mounting options but I just didn't want to invest $500 in something that I don't *really* need. For $80, I couldn't pass this up.

I will do a couple tests next week and post a mini review. I can't wait to use it on my trip on the 13th! I'll be heading to W. VA (weather permitting) to visit my friend Tamela Rich so we can ride together through the mountains. Yippee!

I just have to say that I LOVE this bike. It's everything I'd imagined and I just can't wait to go riding again with her. She's smooth, powerful and just perfect. We even rode some dirt together!

One thing that I really love about this bike is the handling. Every corner, stop and start is smoooooooth. The throttle doesn't twitch nearly as hard as the SV and is far more smoother when accelerating and decelerating. I can't say enough good things!

I'll be doing a more comprehensive review after my long trip next week.

Philadelphia Women Riders

I've created another Meetup group to bring together women who love riding motorcycles. You may or may not remember (Bay Area) Moto Girls, which I ran with my friend Aleks a la Moto Shop. Check it out, join and let's ride once the ice melts!

http://www.meetup.com/phillymotogirls/

Do We Want Jade or Pink Dirtbike Gear?

Thor's 2014 Motocross women's dirtbike collection includes the Phase Kit Tilt outfit, which includes a jersey, gloves and pants. I'm not a dirty girl yet, but if I were I would totally wear either of these outfits. Two color options including Navy/Jade and Black/Pink are available. Which one do you like? Which one would you choose? I actually like both color sets. I think the pink one appeals to me because of the way they incorporated the pink. Not too loud or annoying, just a few accents and logos. I am partial to magenta/pink and do HATE the light, baby pink options. I'm also a fan of richer colors like navy/turquoise/purple. The jade is more like a light green in my eyes, so maybe that's why it doesn't bug me. Which outfit would you choose?

Klim Ladies Offroad Savanna Pants

If you're a dual sport or offroad rider, you know how hard it is to find women's gear.

Klim offers a woman's offroad pant that is on par with their men's Dakar pants. They're even offering these in size US 2-16 and tall sizes!  The fit is great for anything upright, and there is plenty of room in the knees for knee guards and external body armor. There are also pockets to add armor inserts but since they're designed mainly as an offroad pant, armor isn't included. They're very hip friendly and generous across the thighs/butt.

Unfortunately they're not waterproof but that's where the Altitude would come in handy.