Monday, November 25, 2013

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

GlowRider Vest Showcased in BMW ON Magazine

Our GlowRider Vest was featured in the Product News section of this month's BMW ON Magazine, check it out!



Monday, September 9, 2013

GlowRider Vest Featured in Friction Zone

GlowRider Vest got some press time in this month's Friction Zone Magazine, check it out!



Tuesday, August 27, 2013

The Beauty and Evilness of Being Only 290 Miles Away from Las Vegas

Welcome to Nevada!


A few weeks ago my buddy Adam from Twisted Throttle stopped by to spend a few days here in LA.  He was finishing up a trip on a loaned BMW F800GS that he rode down from Oregon.  He got here on a Monday afternoon and that night at dinner we tried to plan out his itinerary for the next two days that he was going to be here.

His original plan was to head down to San Diego to visit family and friends and then be back on Wednesday afternoon before flying back to Rhode Island.  I was giving him route suggestions and where to go on his bike, and at one point, he asked me to ditch work on Tuesday and ride out to Vegas with him instead.

The thing with Vegas is that it's only 290 miles from me.  When I was in my 20's, there were plenty of spur of the moment Vegas trips.  All of them were memorable, for sure, but unfortunately, some of them were all too memorable for the wrong reasons, or right reasons depending on how you look at them.

The amount of impromptu Vegas trips have dwindled as I've gotten wiser (meaning older), and these days, last minute Vegas trip pretty much only happens once in a blue moon.

When Adam suggested the Vegas trip, the first thing that went through my mind was "hmmm, I haven't been there in a while," which was a bad (or good) sign as I knew instantly that I'm game for the trip.  But I had just gotten back from MotoGP the previous week and there were still about 500 emails (okay, maybe not 500, but still a lot of emails) in my inbox that I needed to get through.  But Vegas was calling, so I brilliantly came up with a compromise: instead of ditching work on Tuesday to go to Vegas, why don't we leave Vegas on Tuesday afternoon and come back on Wednesday morning so that way I can still get some office time on Tuesday.

I think Adam threw out the Vegas idea without really think that I would take up on it and was surprised when I gave him my counter offer, and now begins to find reasons trying to get out of it, but after a few whiskeys he came to his senses and the Vegas trip was on!

Our original plan was to leave LA around 4PM.  We didn't actually leave my office's parking lot until 5:30PM.  Bad idea as it meant that we'll be fighting traffic out of LA, but it won't be too bad as we could split lanes.  For someone not used to splitting lanes and being on a bike with hard case on both sides, Adam was still able to split lanes at a decent pace, and once out of the LA proper, we pretty much had the entire I-15 to ourselves.

It was decided before the trip that since my bike was equipped with the TPX Detector and the TPX Laser Jammer, I was going to lead the entire way, which I did for the most part.  Adam would leap frog me a few times but I would always end up leading again.  On the last time where Adam got in front of me, we were going around 85ish when all of a sudden I see a vehicle approaching us at a pretty good pace from behind in my mirrors.  My detector stayed silent and I didn't think much of it, until I was able to make out the vehicle and it looked like a Ford Crown Victoria... yikes!  I let go of the throttle immediately and tried to warn Adam by flashing my lights but he didn't see me.  I dropped my speed while Adam was still maintaining 85, and I was hoping that the Crown Victoria wouldn't be a cop.

Sure enough, it was a CHP.  However, the CHP zoomed by me and went by Adam as well.  Lucky for us, the CHP was not after us and both Adam and I dodged a bullet as in a situation as such, no radar detector can save you from a ticket.  We were just lucky that the CHP had better thing to tend to, or just thought that going 15mph over the posted speed limit on a bike on a clear day and open road didn't warrant a ticket.

We were on good behavior for a bit, then we opened back up again and Adam made sure not to leap frog me any more.  As we got close to Vegas, my trusty TPX Detector started to pick up a weak Ka band.  We were doing about 90 and knowing that Nevada cops like to hang around just outside of Vegas catching speedsters, I knew immediately that there's got to be a cop fishing for speedsters somewhere so I dropped the speed to down to 70.  Sure enough, about 3/4 of a mile down the road, in the median, a Nevada cop cruiser was aiming his radar gun in our direction.  There was no way that we could've seen the cop in advance as it was dark and the cop was parked behind a bend, but thankfully we had the TPX Detector and it definitely saved us from a ticket in that situation.

We rolled into Vegas around 10:30PM, a few hours later than we had planned.  We proceeded to get dinner and drinks and gambled until 4 in the morning, and four hours later, at 8AM, we were back on our bikes back to LA.

We made it back to LA under 3 hours and 50 minutes and that was including a gas stop and an agriculture check stop.  Needless to say, we were able to book along with the confidence of the TPX Detector keeping us out of trouble.

I did return to the office on Wednesday afternoon and was somewhat paying for it, but all in all, it was a fun trip and I had forgotten how nice it is to have Vegas to be only 290 miles away.  I'm just not sure if I want to make this a habit again!

Friday, May 10, 2013

Look! We are in BMW ON!

There's a picture of Don, Wayne, and Candie in the April issue of BMW ON Magazine!  Damn we look good!



Thursday, May 9, 2013

GlowRider Jacket Mentioned in Wing World!

Our GlowRider Jacket is mentioned in this month's Wing World Magazine, check it out!



Tuesday, April 16, 2013

AdaptivMount Skinny Bar Mount and Plate Extension Mentioned in BMW ON

Our AdaptivMount Skinny Bar Mount and Plate Extension were mentioned in last month's BMW ON Magazine, check it out here:



Thursday, March 28, 2013

GlowRider Jacket Reviewd in Super Streetbike Magazine!

Super Streetbike Magazine wrote up a pretty nice review of our GlowRider Jacket after they had a chance to test it out in the Pacific Northwest, check it out!


Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Cold Vegas Ride

Just over Cajon Pass, literally, on the edge of a storm.

When I first started riding, I remembered looking through various catalogs and seeing all sorts of cold-weather riding gear.  One item that caught my attention was heated grips.  Having never really ridden a bike anywhere else but SoCal at the time, I thought to myself: "man, you must been a real pansy to need heated grips."

Fast forward a few years later.  I had relocated to NY and I still remembered the first time that I had ride in the cold.  We had some prototype that needed to be tested and this is around early winter in NY.  It was a cold, sunny day.  It had been snowing lightly but nothing really stuck on the ground.  I hopped on the SV and off I went.  I was fine for about 10 minutes putting around town, then I got on the interstate and I quickly realized how big of a pansy I was.  My fingers were the first to go and it got extremely uncomfortable in a hurry.  I had to cut the ride short as I couldn't bear the cold wind blasting on my fingers.

That winter I learned to appreciate winter gloves and heat packs.

A few years later, I got my first bike with heated grips, a BMW K1200S.  A great accessory except by now I'm in sunny LA and I used it sparingly, only on trips outside of the LA area.

The K1200S was retired last fall and I now ride a Kawasaki Ninja 650.  It's probably the funnest bike I've ever owned.  Since getting it, I haven't really missed the K1200S at all.  Until last week.

I rode the bike out to Vegas for last week.  It had been cold here in LA and before I left, I checked the weather in Vegas.  In the mid to high 40's and sunny.  Just like LA.  So I thought to myself, just layer up and I should be fine.

I left LA mid morning on Thursday.  Having layered up and all the air vent zippers closed off on my GlowRider jacket, I was comfortable even cruising around the high 90's.

Traffic out of LA was light and I was zipping along at a pretty good pace.  When I got to I-15, a black SUV zoomed by me and it must've been doing well over 100.  A smile quickly appeared on my face.  I let the SUV get a few hundred yards in front and picked up my speed to match that of the SUV.  I love having a rabbit!

I tailed my rabbit for a good while until all of a sudden, my trusty TPX Detector went off on a light Ka alert.  I instinctively let go of the throttle and dropped my speed down to around 75.  Needless to say, the SUV quickly disappeared ahead of me and I kept my caution on.

At this time, I was thinking that if there is a cop ahead catching speedsters in my direction, that SUV is toast!

The Ka alert slowly got stronger, and sure enough, about 3/4 of a mile later, I went by a CHP on two wheels on the side of the road.  To my surprise, the SUV was nowhere in sight.  Not sure what had happened, but either the SUV also had a radar detector and slowed down, or exited the freeway before he got to the cop.

Regardless, had it not been for the TPX Detector, I'm sure that I would've had a chat with that CHP.

Now, back to the conversation about cold weather.  Shortly after my encounter with the CHP, I started heading up Cajon Pass.  As I was approaching the ascend, I could see heavy clouds at the top of the pass.  This is when I realized that I had forgotten to check the weather conditions in between LA and Vegas and I could be in trouble.  A portable sign on the side of the road warning motorists about icy road condition followed, then I start seeing cars with snow on their hood and roof on the opposit traffic.

By now, I know for sure that I'm in for a cold ride.  As I got near the top of the pass, it started to snow.  I went from being very comfortable to very, very cold quickly.  So quickly that I didn't even realize that my fingers were freezing numb until pain started radiating from my finger tips.  How I miss my K1200S with the heated grips now!

I decided to keep on going instead of pulling over because there weren't any exits, and I braved the cold until I got over the pass and immediately pulled off at the nearest fast food joint, a Jack in the Box.  After dismounting the bike I beelined directly to the restroom and had my hand under the faucet for what felt like an eternity before I could feel my fingers again.

I knew the ride should be better after the pass as I could see nothing but sunshine ahead, but I was in no hurry to get back on the road.  I took my sweet on lunch and used the time to defrost myself a bit before finishing up the ride.

I returned from Vegas the next day.  This time, I checked the weather in between LA and Vegas.  Sunny the whole way, but still cold.  I braved the cold as the return trip was not as bad, but still, pretty darn cold.

Surprisingly, not a single threat encountered on the way back.  Maybe the cops didn't feel like being out in the cold!

Another trip, another save, and I definitely learned that I'm a pretty big pansy when it comes to cold weather riding!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

New Products!

We are starting off 2013 with two new products!

The first is our AdaptivMount Skinny Bar Mount, which is designed for crossbars found on some adventure bikes, fairing bars on some sportbikes, and metal mirror posts on most scooters.


The second is our Mount Plate Extension, which will allow existing AdaptivMount to hold two devices!



Get yours today!