Cheap rider or is that me
 

I just met with some rider and one more time I am surpised to see how cheap some of us are, when I mean cheap I don't mean that you stay in inexpensive hotel or eat in small dive, I mean that I am always surprise to see guys riding in the rainny season with tire which have no thread left , biker with almost no break pad or sproket looking like they are on diet, I am surprised to meet with guys riding Off road with no boots because they cost too much to thier opinion or guys not seeing anything at night because thier wind shield is too scratch, I am not for over spending but is all that been cheap or what.

I just got to!
 

Hendi:
I just had to reply to this, before you came to your senses and erased this post. I can relate, but I don't think I have that anger yet!

I need to know which was the final indignation, got you to write what you did? I mean, it can´t be the scratched windshield!

Just curious, and waiting to see where this one goes.

I am with Hendi on this one. I am a cheap bastard about some things for sure....but basic safety is where I draw the line. Without the gear or decent bike...I just won't ride.

I've seen some of the young guys at the HUBB meetings doing RTW rides running on some pretty questionable equipment. I totally understand they are on a tight budget....but hey, maybe they could reach out to other HUBB members here and ask for help!?? Worth a try, anyway.

Tires? Boots? Chain? Brake pads? Face shield? Many of us have a few spares in the garage (in the US at least) and could happily help out a RTW guy coming through our area. I know I would do what I could. In fact I've got probably one of each of the above items.

Riding off road without boots is simply insane.
In the two groups I ride with....one for 20 years...the other for about 7 years...anyone who shows up on either a sub standard, unsafe bike in serious need of work....or ridiculous riding gear...well, these guys are not asked back on our rides. We know better. We all have seen what can happen.

There used to be a guy that would show up for rides wearing Tennis shoes. We named him. Tennis Shoe Rob. Sadly, Rob took his own life about 7 years ago while on a Death Valley Ride. He purposely rode his Ninja ZX-12 off the road at over 160 mph.....at night...not wearing a helmet. Funny, he never hurt his foot on all the rides in Tennis Shoes.

I'm hoping boot-less riders will check out how expensive surgery is these days.
I broke my leg (compound fracture of Tibia/Fibula) in 1997. I hit an Armco barrier then flew over the Armco and free fell 200 ft into a creek bed. Besides the Tibia, I broke 4 ribs, ankle (other leg), concussion, and bruised my heart...which caused perio-carditis a year later(another operation). Things were much cheaper then...after six operations over two years (8 months of PT) total cost was right about $200,000 usd. Now it would be close to a million. Yep, ONE MILLION DOLLARS...this according to my hospital administrator friend....who should know. Intensive Care is the most outrageous cost. My ten days there was $10,000 in '97....nowadays it would be as much as $100,000. Robbery, plain and simple.

So anyone who thnks good boots are expensive should check out my little
report. Good boots are the cheapest insurance you could ever buy!

Patrick:mchappy:

Ouch!
 

Sorry to hear of your accident and the beating you were given over costs. You are welcome to come and live in the European Union where such uncivilised and brutal behaviour on medical bills does not happen.

Good roads!

cheap or not
 

Hi quastdog, I have no special indignation but I have been riding bikes for years and when I see people been cheap with thier bike or gear I feel bad for them , I am not even talking about the idiot riding sport bike on speedo with no helemet ( I live in Florida), I went down few time while riding and the right gear help you get up faster , regarding the bike a $90 tire or a $20 brake pad seems to be a great deal compare to repare on you or the bike.

What really pisses me off!
 

I just want to get this off my chest while we're still venting here.

The reading list sucks in the book exchanges here in SA. I can't read one more trashy murder/mayhem/mystery, I'm tired of wading through stacks of romance nonsense. Thankfully it seems, the selfhelp folks are staying at home, or at least leaving their books at home.

I want more! I need something with some meat to it. I'm not talking Shakespear here.

I want more comedy. Especially the guys write about how nuts el presidente de los EE.UU. is. I want more history, literature, classics. Good contemporary authors (excluding John Grisham - read too many now) writing decent suspense.

Just think how many books we, er you, have at home. We'll either throw them out, or get pennies on the dollar if someone ever buys them back. Instead, you could be spreading stimulating reading material throughout the known world.

As to that cheap thing. Defining cheap - now that's the hard part. One man's cheap...another man's luxuries!

I do agree with making sure that certain lines are drawn, relative to safety, BUT cheap riders aren't bad guys...and I'm one of them.

I DON'T buy into the marketing hype that I need aluminum cans, waterproof bags from North Face(or some similar supplier), GS's etc. to be safely RTWing...

By the time you buy ALL the gear, you'll have no $$s for why you chose to do this trip.

Riding in North America/EU is completely different than riding in some of these less developed countries. Our assumptions and how we ride in those areas will be different. I am NOT conservative in riding in these areas because I may not get another chance again...

SO I take risks others may not take, because I didn't make a huge investment in my equipment, and can simply walk away...


Just another approach to riding...

Try English Books stores or English sections in public libraries. B.A. has a few. Popular hostals/hotels always a great source for books too.

Dozens of books outlining the last seven years of the Bush debacle. The great ones will be written when Bush, Cheney, Rove, and about 20 other key players (like Addington, Libby, Delay, Gonzales) are all behind bars, along with about 10 key Congress folk who are all complicit in the many crimes they have commited against the USA and the world.

Some very well informed commentators on the Bush legacy are on line.Not all directly about Bush....but many link the subject to our current admin. as the source/cause for all kinds of situations worldwide...and provide good documentation.

Guys like Seymour Hirsch (New Yorker), Noam Chomsky, Jeremy Skahill (book on Blackwater Security), and one of my favorites, Robert Fisk. Fisk is a Brit who has lived in Lebanon for 30 years and probably has more up close and personal knowledge about the middle east than 50 Fox News pundits and so called experts. Also has great insight into the Bush Admin. and its rise to power. There are dozens of others, just scratching the surface here.

In the meantime, go for re-reads of the classics....
Gabriel Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is a great read...again.
I read it while in Colombia in 1975.

Likewise, a favorite from my youth....Henry Miller. Tropic of Cancer &
Capricorn, Lexus, Nexus, Plexus, were my favs. I worked on a film about Miller
when he was living, hung out with him when he was in his 80's and chasing his
20 something Japanese wife around the house naked. Miller is a crack up. Henry's son, Tony, and I went to school together, so I met Henry the first time in about 1965. Miller was an avid bicycle rider and could have been a motorcyclist if given the chance. He loved two wheels as much as sex!

Re-read Doris Lessing, she just one the 2007 Nobel Prize for lit. (about 40 years overdue). Lawernce Durrell (Alexandria Quartet), Jack Kerouac, Herman Hesse, Carson McCullers, and dozens of others I can't recall. (too many concussions). If you're near Bariloche still, plenty of sources there if you takl to the right people.

Cheers,

Patrick:cool4:

Good gear is very important in the US, Western Europe or Aust/NZ, but if you are riding in developing countries its MANDATORY. Most developing countries have no ambulance service whatsoever and with a bad crash in a remote area you are totally on your own. Think about how you are going to arrange transportation and medical treatment when you have broken bones and are shaken up or half conscious.

And let me tell you, I am speaking from firsthand experience here. My quality gear (BMW) saved me twice in developing countries from crashes. Having cheap equipment versus high quality equipment could literally mean the difference between life and death.

If you can't afford high quality gear, ask yourself if you can really afford the consequences of riding without it?

Cheap rider or is that me
 

The judgement " Cheap rider" That would be you.
The rider with the worn tyre - That would be him.

Some of the comments here are typical "do-gooder" "you must be protected from yourself" type of mentality.
If a rider chooses to ride with bald tyres or ineffective brakes etc then he is a danger to other road users and should be stopped.
But if a rider chooses to ride without a helmet, or boots or gloves then that is his risk to take and what right do others have to criticise him for taking it.
We all have a line at which we draw for our own safety. Motorcycling is a dangerous activity and some of us feel more comfortable with full safety gear and others make do with less. That is their choice. Some people choose not to ride motorbikes at all as they consider them too dangerous.
If I choose to ride across India in shorts and helmetless that is a risk I have chosen to make. What right does someone have to say I shouldn't do it or I am a cheapskate just because their level of risk determines they always wear full leathers and body armour.
Someone else higher up in the food chain might well decide that riding motorbikes is too much of a risk and we must be all protected from ourselves by being prevented from doing it.
I fully accept that there should be laws to prevent us or reduce the risk of us harming others but there should be a basic right for us to choose the level of personal risk we are prepared to take. If we give up the belief to that right then we eventually risk losing the right to enjoy the pastime we love so much.

cheap rider
 

Sorry for the misunderstandings guys , I travel all arround the world and for me saving money on tires , brake pad or safety gear is not very smart at all , no need to have a GS to go travel but any rider or bike should be fully equiped to my opinion . I come from France and now live in the US for 17 years and the price of the medical bill is not what make me wear my helmet or change my tires on time ( for me cheap or stupid Hurt) . Actually in the US we are lucky enough to have fairly inexpensive moto gear . I met few rider which will not try to save anymore money by streching the use of tire or other, I myself think that its cheaper to maintain your gear and bike and they will carry you further that been cheap at first .

Book him, Danno
 

Quastdog - you're in luck with the books. You're in Argentina, right? Great bookshop in BA - Walrus Books, av Estados Unidos 617, near the intersection of Peru, in San Telmo, open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 to 8. Just happens to be round the corner from The Gibraltar, my favourite BA pop shop.

Maybe we should start a separate thread - non pulp fiction? Decent English language bookshops in Latin America? There's another intelligent oasis in Quito - the surprisingly-named Confederate Books, in the Mariscal, corner of Calama and Juan Leon Mera, has an amazing selection of proper grown-up literature rather than cloying Grisham garbage. Coincidentally, it's also coveniently close to another favourite boozer, The Turtle's Head...

Suerte, Dan

PS I guess the long term alternative to the quality english book shortage is for us all to learn proper Castellano - never a shortage of smart Spanish bookstores...

Why worry?
 

Why do you let yourself be troubled by these things? They have nothing to do with you and are beyond your control anyhow.
Here's what I do.
I search out things that make me feel good rather than things that make me feel bad.
I find this to be an effective way of helping others.

You want to ride without a helmet? You want to ride a bike in India? I think Darwin's theories will apply to you and your genes - you'll be extinct PDQ, and will join the dinosaurs!

I didn't say I wanted to do it, but I will argue the right to choose to do it.

Two comments here. When I was young and had the big red S on my chest I rode with no helmet, blue jeans, tennie runners, etc., until the commanding officer put out the word that safety gear at all times would be used. I bought the helmet, heavy leather pants, gloves and groused about the expense until a few months later when a little old lady (really) ran a stop sign and I hit her broadside. No serious injury to me, the bike was in worse shape. If you can't afford to be safe, don't ride. AARRRRGHHH! I can hear the blood boiling in a thousand riders and thoughts that (it is my life and if I want to risk it I can). Well, when a small rock hits you in the eye because of no shield and you-in your instant pain, lose control for half a second during which time you run a cross-walk, veer across the center line, or go through a light and cause someone else injury, it is more than you that suffers. All the gear all the time. One reason why we have taken so long to put our RTW together is making sure we have the funds to not only enjoy the trip, but also to make sure we can maintain equipment, pay medical bills, and be as safe as we can throughout the trip.

Second comment. For Quastdog and the others who are looking for reading--just drop me a line and your address and preferred reading. I have something like 3000 paperbacks that for the most part gather dust. I will gladly and happily mail you a few of them to anywhere in the world. Not much thanks for all the help I have received from this forum, but it is a gesture for those like me who can't even get onto a bus without a book.

You dont want to do it? Why bother then?

Why not argue something useful like getting diesel spillages stopped etc? Why argue for something vacuous?

Diesel spills.
Now they are dangerous to motorbikes and motorcyclists need protecting from them.
So let's ban motorbikes. Problem solved.

We have a fundamental right for us to choose the level of risk we want to expose ourselves to. The logical conclusion to allowing others to make that decision for us is that slowly our freedom to make choices will be eroded from us.
At the moment we have a law in many countries that we must wear helmets. Most sensible motorcyclists would go further than that and advocate protective clothing, gloves and boots as well. That's how they dress to address the level of risk they are prepared to take.
But a natural progression to the ever increasing legislation regarding our health and safety might well be a law that says we must wear protective clothing. Then leg protectors, then airbags. Where will it end?

The right to choose for ourselves what our level of freedom should be is worth fighting for now, not when it's too late and we no longer have any.

The fight to stop diesel spills is also worth fighting for. And guess what? I do that as well.

Point taken about wearing eye protection. There is a law in the states for just that very good reason.

One of my favorite quotes is from General Patton..."Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash"...

travel reading
 

Just my point of view of course , but if I wanted to be reading so many books I might a s well stay at home and do so , save hauling all that paper around. Now , it is not that I consider myself an illiterate slob ,I've taken enough of my share of Eng.lit . courses .If I am travelling I have plenty other stuff going on to keep my mind occupied and entertained . I understand that much of this desire to read English books on the road is to feed a certain level of homesickness, well okay go to it . If you must read than do as Pat sugests and read the more current local stuff to add to your understanding of the forces and events moving affairs in the region you visit. As for me , after a day of touring and exploring I just can't see me getting excited about re-reading some old books I might have in the past. Por ejemplo, a long time ago I read one of these Tropic of... by Miller and now the only thing I can remember from it is that the main character,as a kid , roasted chippies (chipmunks ?) , that the he had some kind of courier job in a dismal office setting circa 1914 and that he spent a lot of time chasing a certain woman.
Apparently it was autobiographical ?? With that much left in the memory banks it is not much incentive to bother spending all the time needed to reread .Rather be out there taking in the local colour, look at the stars, the natural real world.
As for cheap- I consider myself frugal and practical . Run tires until the wearbars show or are about to , then replace them pronto with whatever is available at best price , regular maintenance but no frilly pointless accessorizing.After decades of riding in sturdy workboots, leather jacket, sometimes ditto pants , jean jacket in hot weather , I have only this past summer gotten around to buying a pair of bona fide riding boots ( nice comfy!) and padded mesh jacket-- from a discount dealer.

No offence meant, Harleyrider, but there is somebody for everyone at home, right?

Who would have to care for a mashed knee or cracked skull, or worse, paralysed legs? So it is not only a question of safety to other road users. We all owe ourselves this little bit, and definitely, a lot more to those at home who will be the first real sufferers if we exercise our "rights"! If asked, I'm sure they'll have one answer to the question of safety.

I, me, myself and my rights is fine if it really does not impact anybody else in any way, but on this issue, well, it does. My take on this, and like I said, no offence meant.

Ride safe!

So all the Indians riding without helmets are proving they are predisposed by their genes to be better moto riders than the rest of us? Is that what you're saying?

I'm happy to read most folk on here are drawing the line on safety gear...and hopefully that point is hammered home at HUBB meetings.

BUT I do agree with Harley rider...let the rider choose and do so smartly instead of having it dictated by government. Darwin will sort this stuff out...and I'm all for cleaning the gene pool QUICKLY.

BVut Harley rider, what is your view on taxpayer money paid for ambulatory/hospital costs to those that ride without helmets?

There's no easy answer to this one. Here in the UK we are lucky enough to have a national health service which most of us pay into. Therefore once in the system we have a right to rely on it in a time of need, whether it be through accident or illness.
There is a very good argument to say you should contribute to the costs of your care if you have contributed to your injury or illness by your own negligence or stupidity.
However where do you draw the line. Lets say today we agree that if a motorcycle rider is pursued for costs relating to injuries for not wearing a helmet and car drivers for not wearing a seatbelt. Who's to say that line won't be moved tomorrow for not wearing full body armour or next month for actually riding a motorcycle.

So on balance I would say it is no more undesirable to spend taxpayers on treating a motorcycle crash victim than it is on treating victims of smoking related illnesses.

It's not in doubt that wearing good protective clothing is a good thing and I'm certainly not suggesting that anyone should ride without it. But it should be our right to choose to wear it and to choose the level of risk that we are prepared to take. Once legislation determines that level of risk for us the screw can get tightened and logically continuing down that path will lead to a banning of all unnecessary activities that are deemed to be too dangerous.

Yes I agree (how is it possible) with both sides of this discussion. Yes, we should ride with the equipment to keep us safe and protect ourselves as well as hopefully prevent an accident with another vehicle. NO! I do not want the government to dictate my choice. I ride with the gear because I have been hurt when not using it. I want to be as safe as I can. Mentioning making cigarette smokers pay for the tax supported medical is a reality in most states already. The price of cigarettes has gone up 5000% in 30 years and everytime the governor decides the budget is slipping, taxing the cigarette smokers and beer drinkers is a safe bet, because after all, according to the popular view, beer drinkers cause accidents and smokers get cancer, so raise the price of smokes to 6 bucks a pack and beer to 1.75 a can. In Oregon, they call it a sin tax. I doubt that the increase in taxes actually goes to paying for the ambulances and treatment, but that is the argument. Bottom line is simpler: if you ride without adequate protection, don't expect sympathy when inury could have been prevented with a full-face helmet, stout boots, and at a minimum, chaps. If you choose to skydive without a backup chute, good luck when the main canopy fails to open. Some laws are for our own protection. Some laws are to garner funds or prevent funds from being spent due to our carelessness, neglect, or lack of understanding. Some laws, however, are made to line the pockets of a favored company whose headquarters are in a congresspersons district. to hell with the laws, common sense rules.

I read a lot. No crime in that. I also don't sell my paperbacks because in Korea, they are like gold, so over the last decade, I have collected a bunch of them. On any trip, in the evening I enjoy sitting with a good book, a cup of coffee, and some music. I expect that on the RTW I will buy a book here, another there, and when finished, give them to another rider, drop them in a bar where ex-pats congregate, or try to trade them off. To me, they are an essential of life, not a luxury. I also carry a bottle of licorice concentrate that I realy don't need, but if life is not going to be pleasant on the road, why go? I travel for fun, joy, and sightseeing-not to set records, not to see how much I can endure, and certainly not to live in a state of deprivation. The good life is traveling to other countries at a snail's pace, stopping in the evening where camping is safe or a cheap hotel, walking around the villages, eating strange food and watching life slowly close happily around me. Not reading would detract from all of that. I do not lug bunches of paper around. just a few well chosen books or in desparation, the lid from a cereal box (do you know that a box of wheaties has 1129 letters and 54 numbers on it). If someone else has a different viewpoint that is fine, but please do not condemn me for what I consider a necessity just because it is not your viewpoint.

Who is the more deserving patient?
 

It's an age old form of argument, often used by politicians to justify some tax increase or change in law or similar (and it is based on setting one part of a society/town/city against another part, albeit temporarily while the legislation, or whatever, is passed).

So who is the most deserving of medical treatment? :-

An obese person with a very unhealthy life style who lives on state provided aid.
A victim of work-related Asbestosis (or a dozen other industrial afflictions) who has never been out of work and has paid taxes throughout their working life.
A heavy drinker with a liver problem.
A heavy smoker with lung cancer.
A motor vehicle accident victim.
A motor vehicle accident perpetrator.
A skiier with a broken leg.
A mountaineer with a broken head.
A Pamplona bull-runner who has been gored.
A DIYer who has electrocuted themselves while working on their home wiring.
A soldier returned from active duty in Iraq with battle wounds.
A hill-walker with hypothermia, who went out in adverse weather.
Etc etc

Hopefully this won't occur:-
"There are 12 instances shown here, but we can treat only 11 today."

The word "victim" is interesting in itself.

There is no such thing as an accident: In the UK there is very little "recognition" given to the word accident nowadays - someone has to be at fault.

What we forget.
 

We sometimes forget about the few travelers we meet on the road, a local from within the country, or the fewer cross-border travelers. We talk a few of those we see on 20 year old bikes, realize they've 'run what they've brung', or in other words, that's all they got! For some, just having a little bit....a little of the stuff we got...the boots, the suits, the helmets, body armor, gloves, special expedition clothing... how odd it must be for them to meet people with intercom systems, or having issues with their heated garments?

It sometimes applies to the folks real close to home.

What's that saying, about giving us the strength to suffer through such torments, to accept them for who they are???

Two threads in one
 

There seem to be two threads developing here, and I'm interested in both, so I'll comment on both here.

On what gear to wear, I will always offer advice if I see someone I think needs it. I recently ended a contract working with a young lady who commuted on a scooter. In the summer she went without gloves in the hot weather. I asked her who she was closest to, and if he would happily wipe her when she used the toilet, because if she stepped off without gloves and ended up with bandaged hands, he'd need to. Within the week she had bought a pair of lightweight gloves.

Would I therefore support a law requiring all motorcyclists (and cyclists) to wear approved gloves? No. If the government get involved they won't require us to wear gloves, they will merely ban those nasty, dangerous motorcycles for all. On this site we are at risk already; for what we pay for our motorcycles we could buy a small car, which is good enough for the rest of the population. The effort we put into planning our trips is excessive, especially when one considers how cheaply we could buy a package to the same resort as everyone else. "Individual" is a dirty word to government, and failure to conform is almost dissent to the average (most are very average; I've worked with too many) civil "servant".

[End of polital rant, this is not the place and I'll try to avoid any more for a while].

On reading, I read lots of travel books for leisure. I have good and valid personal reasons why I cannot travel as I would wish at present (No 1 is, if you don't want to raise your children, don't have them), so I am reading to remind myself what I will be doing when the youngest can be left for an extended period. On the road I would not want to take many books (perhaps guide books, but no more), but I would read local guides at night in my cheap hotel or tent. Others may prefer to read of other travellers' experiences, or other forms of literature because good local fiction can tell you more about a country than every guide book ever published. I'd recommend Anna Karenina for St Petersburg, Midnights Children for India, Proust for France (if you have the time!) and, for non Brits, Julian Barnes for England.

You stated the idea to t "T" Quastdog. that is why I said, be as safe as you can. If a person can't afford to buy the expensive boots, pants, helmet, but still loves to travel, we surely can't sneer. If his safety level is not what the wealthier person has, well, as one other person said, maybe we could help as long as it doesn't harm his or her dignity, and if we can't or won't help, we are an eclectic group, so everyone is welcome. Nonetheless, safety should still be the highest priority simply because the safer we are, the more likely we are to survive an accident and no one wants anyone to die in a wreck. Agreed, keeping the government out of it is paramount. Remember the first seat belts? They were a luxury add on. Then the gov decided they should be in every car, then it became a law to wear them. Now, the fines for not doing so are so stiff and the LEO's are so diligent about spotting those not wearing belts, that most of us who drive a cage fasten them without consideration. Do we want that kind of interference? Not in this lifetime. Then the guy (or gal) who has minimal funds cannot ride. If he or she is willing to ride without any safety gear because the bucks are not there to get better stuff, then more power to them. Food is number one in my life. I buy the best available. I make sure the pantry is stocked to the brim. I can afford it. Growing up, there were too many days when there was zero food. Too many times when hunger made sleep hard. one of my older sisters died from malnutrition. Had someone in those starving times said "Well, why don't you just buy more food?" I would have thought him brain-dead. I DO NOT condemn nor chastize the person with little gear. I only believe each person should ride as well equipped as he can within his pocketbook, and not to impress but to survive, to live, to escape any possible injury.

I think i am a cheap rider...

I sleep at beaches, gas stations, parks, pansions, campings, police stations etc....(which is the a good option in some routes as you many very well know)

I buy my stuff from the market and make my own sandwich ..

I buy (or get granted) hot water and make my own coffee ..

I cover my needs the most ecomical way possible, in such a way that mostly it is not the best way that money can buy...

But when it gets to needs of my motorcycle... definetly the best the money can get under the cırcumstances ...

I said i am a cheap rider .... not a silly rider .... :)

cheap AND safe...?!
 

yes, the combination of both is possible. we're of the school who believe that travelling with inexpensive gear saves you money which keeps you on the road longer. we rode for 44,000 kms. from Canada to Chile with hiking boots, soft panniers, no gps, cell phone or guidebook and were totally fine.
There's nothing worse than seeing some pompous rider with all the fanciest gadgets and gear with their head buried inside the pages of a lonely planet following the backpacker trail. this is why we travel without all that shit...to escape into the real pulse of the country and discover each place by surprise, with nobody making up our minds for us.
i understand the safety factor, and yes, tires and a poorly running bike should be taken care of, but i see no need to spend thousands of dollars in hard cases and kevlar gear.
go dirtbag and live the experience day by day!

and always keep 'yer knees in the breeze!
T&T

I think I may be
 

I think I may be one of the cheap ones. My bike gets what it needs when it absolutely needs it and never ever before, because I don't like spending money that I don't have to. And.....

Controversially - and I fully expect indignant backlash....I quite often ride in jeans and leather jacket, or combats and leather jacket, with combat boots and some leather gloves. I always wear an Arai, but I know the no leather jeans look can be controversial. If it helps people in preparing their anti jeans/me arguments, I am also young and irresponsible.;)

As for books - Miller is great - he conveys what it is like to be a wannabe writer as convincingly as anyone but Fante and Bukowski. Cancer and Capricorn are both massively inspiring.
I always used to claim I didn't like American lit, but after meeting an American girl in Essouira last year who gave me a Bukowski poetry book I haven't looked back. Fante, Miller, Bukowski, Kerouac, Vonnegut, Thompson - just can't get enough of those damn Yanks recently.;)

As a Brit, I would recommend Glen Duncan and Irvine Welsh as the foremost purveyors of what it is to be British.

As a controversialist, I would recommend Charlie Boorman for his insistently beautiful prose style. Which isn't at all whingey or repetitive.

Happy riding.

I think we all wear jeans once in a while , if we are prepared to admit it .
Heavy jeans would be better like Carhartt [heavy cotton] or Wrangler Rigg [thick nylon] .That's what I wear for short trips .
Gloves are a necessity , I don't ever want to have gravel picked out of the palms of my hands .
I used to wear very strong 9" work boots on the bike [ never found any bike boots that I liked ] ,but now I have a pair of Sidi Discoverys and they are the dog's gonads . Short hiking boots ? No thanks ,I wouldn't want to have a footrest impale my ankle and I would like my foot to be pointing the right way after an "off".
I would rather spend money on the bike than myself as it returns that most cherished of gifts - RELIABILITY !

Poetry for me is well poured pint of ale ,served after a long ride by a buxom lass with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye .
But I might buy a Charley Boorman book ,if you can absolutely guarantee he is not whining .

Now you are reaching for the stars!

Pun, pun, pun!!

''Poetry for me is well poured pint of ale ,served after a long ride by a buxom lass with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye .
But I might buy a Charley Boorman book ,if you can absolutely guarantee he is not whining .''

OK OK! I collapse under the pressure, I just can't give you that guarentee! It would take a braver/more foolhardy man than me.

I like the simile, but overall I've never been a poetry fan, I've been all about the prose. I just love Bukowski because his poetry is like a badly poured pint of ale, served after a cold, wet, miserable ride, and thrown at you by a sour faced witch titted lass behind a greasy, ring stained bar.

That's life.

On the boot front, I like Lowa Combat Highs, good protection against twisting and impaling, but also good for walking and not looking like something from Battlestar Gallactica.

Happy Riding.

Reading on thr road
 

Just my dimes worth,
"Those that trade independance for security gain neither" Jefferson
I don't ride for safety, I ride for the fun of it.
I rode in Zululand & India in T-shirt & shorts, at night with no lights, just to feel the wind and see the stars.
I do mountain roads just for the fun of it.

It doesn't make me stupid, or wackey, I make judgement calls all my life.
It makes me who I am.


On the road I like to read.
Try BookCrossing - The World's Biggest Free Book Club - Catch and Release Used Books
to see if someone has dropped off a book near you.
I've left them all along the road.

or Main Page - Gutenberg for downloading lots of books.

Either lead or follow on behind, but get out of the way.