Motorcycles are very popular among the youth as they offer a fun way to ride, are economical to maintain, and give a chance to experience freedom while driving. At the same time, they are more prone to accidents than cars. Hence it becomes important to buy motorcycle insurance. Before venturing out on the road, it is essential that you carry minimal cover, according to the government rules. With so many insurers offering different motorcycle insurance policies, you need to shop around to find a policy with the lowest premium. If you are in the process of buying motorcycle insurance here are some useful guidelines to buy the right policy.

What does motorcycle insurance premiums depend on?

Motorcycle Insurance premiums are decided based on the following factors; riding experience, age, market value of the bike, type of bike e.g. cruiser, touring, sport, sport or touring, your residence locality e.g. crime-infested areas will attract higher premiums, size of the engine like under 500cc, 500-750cc, 750-1000cc and 1000 or more, mileage, any training on motorcycle driving and number of years you have been insured.

How should I buy the cheapest motorcycle insurance?

Since many companies consider motorcycles to be a high-risk mode of transport, they tend to charge a higher premium. But still you can save money by shopping around. Get an insurance quote from a few companies and compare the rates. But it does not mean that the cheapest quote is also the best. Take a motorcycle-riding course to lessen the premium charges. The premiums attracted by older, slower vehicles are far less than those charged on new models.

What are the types of Motorcycle Insurance Coverage?

· Liability in an accident to insure others against damages;
· Passenger liability to cover injuries and physical harm to people in the car;
· Uninsured motorist, which protects you against drivers with no insurance;
· Medical expenses caused in an accident;
· Collision and Comprehensive, covers the costs incurred on repairing or replacing your motorcycle and also against fire, theft and vandalism are the common types of coverage’s.

Besides, you can also insure to protect against any changes done to the bike and its equipments. If you are a beginner, start with a good, simple motorcycle insurance policy. This will increase your chances of getting advanced policies later on, besides saving your money.

Harley Davidson has been one of the top manufacturers of motorcycles of the past decades. Their bikes are among the most fascinating bikes you’ll see out there. Many people are drawn into purchasing Harley Davidson motorcycles. I don’t know if you noticed this, but many experienced bikers are more likely to choose Harley motorcycles than most motorcycle brands.

But what makes these Harley motorcycles such a good choice? What makes them different from other bikes?

Well, the more likely reason for Harley Davidson motorcycles’ greatness is not really on their design, but on their suspension. The suspension of a motorcycle

Most Harley Davidson motorcycles have 3 and a half inches of travel, this is in terms of the stock rear suspension. Due to this, most Harley Davidson motorcycles can probably go perfectly through 3 and a half inches of bumps.

One good thing about Harley suspension is that it will help you in keeping your motorcycle on the road. When you go through small bumps, your Harley bike’s seat will sit perfectly still. Harley suspensions systems are also designed to lets you ride comfortably even on roads with holes.

Harley Davidson motorcycles are still able to make your ride comfortable even if you go through really bumpy roads, because their suspensions are also designed for such terrains! Well, quite frankly, most Harley Davidson motorcycles are designed for different types of terrains.

In a Harley Davidson motorcycle, part of the suspension system is perfectly adjusted to perform at the high possibility. A good Harley suspension will let you have a very comfortable ride while helping you perform better.

Suspension system of Harley motorbikes often includes tires, steering stern and swing arm. All of which are specifically designed to work suitably with the other in order to create a perfect suspension. In addition, for a Harley motorcycle’s suspension to be durable, Harley Davidson uses tough materials that are rust avoidant. Due to these materials’ durability, Harley Davidson motorcycle can work perfectly at any type of environments. These materials also help make Harley bikes suitable for different types of climates.

Evel Knievel is undoubtedly the most famous motorcycle stuntman ever to take to the air.

His astonishing daredevil feats have shocked audiences all around the globe and Evel soaring through the sky in his white leathers is an image that has burnt itself into the consciousness of fans the world over.

The man is a living legend but, in all fairness, he shouldn't be alive today. There's probably not a bone he hasn't broken or a muscle he hasn't torn in his pursuit to be the best. And that's what makes him the superstar that he is; determination, sheer determination.

Not many men in this world would rev up their bike and attempt to jump clean across 14 buses only five months after shattering their pelvis attempting to jump across 13. But that sums Evel up. Gutsy. Maybe a little crazy too, but gutsy nonetheless.

Evel Knievel is to motorbike accidents what Valentino Rossi is to racing. He's been there and done it all and has the scars to prove it. At the height of his fame he was said to be worth more than $300 million and forged genuine friendships with stars such as Mohammed Ali and Elvis Presley.

Not bad for a high school dropout from a rough mining town in Montana.

The early years
Born Robert Craig Knievel in October 1938, he was brought up by his grandparents and saw his first motorcycle stunt show at the age of eight. He was hooked.

Ten years later he was sacked from his first job with a local mining company after attempting to wheelie a bulldozer but ending up careering into power lines and knocking out the local town's electricity supply. It seems that the daredevil who would take the world by storm was starting to show his true colours.

Months later the jobless teenager was arrested and thrown into prison on a charge of reckless driving after being involved in a motorcycle accident whilst fleeing from a pursuing police car.

That evening, when the jailer did his rounds he shouted out, "Hey, we got a guy named Knievel in one cell and another named Knofel in the other. Goddamn! Double the guard! We got Evil Knievel and Awful Knofel here tonight."

The name stuck.

Always looking for new thrills and ways to get his adrenaline fix, Evel managed to scrape a living doing a range of jobs and appeared as a rodeo rider, a ski-jumper, an ice hockey player, a poacher and he even did a short stint in the army. Struggling to make enough to support his new wife and son, he turned to crime and it is rumoured that he bought his first motorbike with money he stole from the safe of a local courthouse.

He tried to go straight and attempted to make it big on the motorcross circuit but yet another motorbike crash resulted in a shoulder injury that left him unable to ride for six months. Next came jobs as an insurance salesman and a Honda dealership owner, but attitudes in the US in the early 1960s were profoundly anti-Japanese and his garage was forced to shut down.

A daredevil is born
Evel needed something new and, recalling the daredevil stunt show he'd seen as a kid, decided he could make a living doing a similar thing.

He rented a venue, sold the tickets, badgered the press into covering his event and served as his own master of ceremonies before treating a small but excited crowd to a leap over a twenty foot box of rattlesnakes and two lions. Where he got the lions from nobody knows.

That first show was a mini success but Knievel realised that to make big bucks he needed to hire more performers, a stunt co-ordinator and people who could take care of the show and allow him to get on with the tricks. Just for a change he was broke but managed to talk a Norton Motorcycles distributor into sponsoring him.

The show was a resounding success and the Evel Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils troupe became an instant hit.

A February 1966 jump, however, ended in disaster and Evel was in hospital for a month after suffering serious personal injuries.

His daredevil show broke up while he was injured but, not letting a little thing like a few broken bones deter him, Evel went on tour as a solo act. Other motorcycle daredevils of the time were plying their trade soaring over wild animals and pools of water so he decided to start jumping over cars.

Evel soars to success
He began making his jumps bigger and bigger as more and more cars were added, wowing the crowd and building up a loyal following of fans. Not surprisingly his increasingly daring stunts often ended with a motorcycle accident and one particularly ferocious smash saw him carted off to hospital with a shattered arm and several broken ribs.

The press exposure from the crash and the resultant stay in hospital were publicity windfalls and Evel's popularity went from strength to strength. More jumps and more broken bones helped to elevate him further and it wasn't long before he was becoming a household name.

His stunts began to develop into glitzy affairs packed with showgirls, lights and packed audiences and he even performed at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. That particular jump ended in a whole host of nasty personal injuries including a crushed pelvis, a broken femur, fractured ankles, cracked ribs and a smashed hip and left the 29-year-old in a coma for a month.

The doctors, quite understandably, were worried that if Knievel were to survive his daredevil career, he was unlikely to be able to walk or even ride a bike in the future. Evel being Evel, however, he shunned their advice and announced that he was planning to perform the ultimate stunt - a jump across the Grand Canyon.

The US Government put a stop to this somewhat suicidal proposal and so he continued leaping across cars, earning an estimated $25,000 per performance. He became a regular on TV, a film titled The Evel Knievel Story was produced and a whole range of toys were brought out in his name.

Every rose has its thorn
With fortune came fame and Evel certainly took advantage of all the opportunities that came his way. Despite being married, he enjoyed countless affairs and is thought to have bedded over 2,000 women.

Displaying some of the cockiness that is no doubt needed in someone who made his living the way he did, in the late 1990s Evel revealed his opinion of females to a journalist, saying, "Women are like buses. Good to ride on for 15 minutes. But they forget that if you get off, there will be another one along in 15 minutes. And another one, and another one."

Evel certainly seemed to live by this attitude and it got to the point where he actually consulted a psychiatrist to help find a reason for his womanising. With the women came alcohol, gambling and violence and he once famously had a fight with several Hell's Angels who were in the audience to watch him jump.

That same night he ended up with a broken back and concussion. Not because of his scrap with the bikers, but because a dodgy landing saw him run over by his own Harley Davidson. Just another day in the life of Evel Knievel.

Pushing the limits
As his off-the-bike shenanigans hit the headlines, so Evel continued to test the laws of physics with his death-defying stunts. Not allowed to jump the Grand Canyon, he instead settled for the Snake River Canyon in Idaho and attempted to bridge the ¾ mile gap on a specially adapted rocket powered bike.

The jump ended in failure but Evel was lucky to escape with no serious injuries and in May 1975 headed to England to perform in front of 90,000 people at Wembley Stadium. An attempt to clear 13 single decker buses once again resulted in a terrifying motorbike accident and left the stuntman with yet another broken pelvis. Despite being in obvious agony, he still managed to announce to the crowd that his daredevil days were over and that he was retiring.

The retirement was a little short lived, however, and five months later he added another bus to the 13 he had tried to jump in England and successfully cleared the incredible distance at King's Island, Ohio. With the event beamed around the world live on TV, Evel once again announced his retirement and, this time, it was for good.

The twilight years
The years following his retirement weren't so good to Evel and he was declared bankrupt, arrested after attacking a biographer with a baseball bat, charged with soliciting an undercover policewoman, convicted of firearms offences and then diagnosed with hepatitis C. More recently he revealed he has idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and now requires oxygen around the clock.

But whatever the world has thrown at Evel Knievel, he's come out fighting and he's come out with style. He's been blessed with a determination that'll bubble deep within him until he draws his very last breath. It's that determination that saw him, with body broken and battered, climb back onto the saddle numerous times to prove that he really is the very best.

What is Brake Bleeding?

“Brake bleeding is the procedure performed on hydraulic brake systems whereby the brake lines (the pipes and hoses containing the brake fluid) are purged of any air bubbles. This is necessary because, while the brake fluid is an incompressible liquid, air bubbles are compressible gas and their presence in the brake system greatly reduces the hydraulic pressure that can be developed within the system.”
- Wikipedia, Brake Bleeding, July 2006

To purge the brake lines, and all pipes and hoses associated with those lines, on any hydraulic brake system, you’ll need a good brake bleeder in order to get the job done. Brake bleeders can be used on most brake systems, including motorcycles. For brake lines to operate at their peak, and to be sure that every safety precaution has been taken, a good brake bleeder is a necessity. After all, you don’t want any air bubbles in your brake lines.

Rarely a system will not even need a brake bleeder used on the brake lines, so familiarize yourself with the system you’re working on and be sure that you need a brake bleeder prior to using one. Consult your owner’s manual to be sure about what you’re getting into before working on any brake system or engine.

Where to Find Brake Bleeders

Good brake bleeders can be found almost anywhere. Any automotive store should have some in stock, though mobile tool dealers will probably have the best selection of name brand brake bleeders. The largest selection of brake bleeders can be found online, available through the Internet for quick and easy purchase.

Be sure to do some shopping around when it comes to finding the best brake bleeder for you. Know your needs, know what you can spend, and know what’s available out there. Familiarize yourself with pricing before you buy, because you don’t want to buy the first brake bleeder you find and end up being sorry with your choice.

Once you start looking for brake bleeders, you’ll be amazed at the selection that you find. Take your time in buying the right one, because when it comes to your brakes nothing is more important. Safety has to come first, even over budget.

How to Use Brake Bleeders

Any brake bleeder you plan to use should come with an informative, step-by-step manual for you to follow. Most companies will have web sites featuring online support, should you have questions not covered in the standard paperwork that comes with your brake bleeder. Be sure to follow the instructions carefully, ensuring proper use of your brake bleeder. After all, if you aren’t using the brake bleeder properly then you aren’t doing yourself any good, and you certainly aren’t purging your brake lines the way you should be. Be careful when using your brake bleeder, and pay close attention to what you’re doing.

Brake Bleeders

When it comes to anything mechanical, but especially something as important as brake lines, it’s always best to consult a trained professional technician or service manual. If you are very unfamiliar with brake bleeders, you could actually do more harm than good in trying to purge your hydraulic brake lines on your own. Be sure you know what you are doing, or that you work with someone who does, when it comes to brake bleeders. You can never be too careful when it comes to brake safety, so be cautious when using a brake bleeder.

Any decent motorcycle racer or extreme hobbyist will tell you that the natural laws of physics do indeed matter. Whether you ride for fun, challenge or even race there is no doubt in your mind that the laws of gravity, acceleration, centripetal force and kinetic energy are very real.

In fact they can be your best friend or worst nightmare depending on how you chose to use them and there are plenty of broken bones and road rash scars to prove it out there. In Motorcycle racing you can feel yourself pulling from the turn due to centripetal force when you let off the throttle. So you get onto the brakes before coming into the turn and then feed the throttle thru it, while counter steering.

You can take a system of a combination of natural laws and change it around to fit your need for control; same with anything. Whether you are flying, sailing or skiing. Consider wind turbulence in an aircraft while flying straight and level. Your perfect system encounters an outside force, wind shear or other wake turbulence.

You were doing perfectly fine, aircraft trimmed up, nothing to do, but look outside, suddenly secondary forces. But provided every thing is correct no controls will put the aircraft into another stable system upon the disappearance of the secondary force. Or if it is strong it could turn you upside down into chaos if you are too close to the ground. You lose. Chaos wins.

There is no difference in motorcycle racing you set up for your turn correctly and prepare to adjust if anything changes or some squid loses the front end ahead of you sliding off the track. Either you adapt or end up eating pavement. Hey you decide, but do not ever believe you are above the natural laws of physics out there.

A motorcycle is a two-wheeled vehicle that moves with the help of an engine. The two wheels are situated in-line where the rider of the motorcycle sits on a seat with his hands placed on a set of handlebars. It is through these handlebars that the rider steers the motorcycle. The accelerator and brakes that are found on the handle bar control the speed of the motorcycle. The rider supports his feet on a set of foot pegs that project from the frame of the motorcycle.

There are many types of motorcycles available. They mainly differ in their engine capacities and weight. It is always better to buy a heavier motorcycle, as it can withstand collisions with less damage to the bike and the rider. Those who can’t afford new motorcycles can always buy a used one. There are even motorcycles designed for children. They are called mini motorcycles. Those wanting a unique motorcycle can buy a custom made one that is designed according to specifications.

A motorcycle is an economical means of transportation, when compared to other engine powered vehicles. Because of the smaller engine, a motorcycle offers good mileage and is convenient to use for errands. It is easy to park and is great in traffic jams; one can easily maneuver between larger vehicles.

It is important to have motorcycle insurance. It may be more costly because the probability of having an accident on a motorcycle is higher than driving a car. However, there are companies who specialize in motorcycle insurance and offer fairly reasonable rates.

One of the best performance modifications you can do to your motorcycle, is to put on lighter wheels! I know, you see that these wheels weigh like 10 pounds less than stock, so you're thinking, 10 pounds isn't gonna justify paying all that money for nice light rims. But the question is not how much weight are you saving, it's where is the weight you're saving?

Lighter wheels will make a tremendous difference in the handling of your bike, acceleration and deceleration “braking” of your bike for the following reasons.

Non-Rotational Weight: One ounce reduced from the wheels total weight, is equal to 4 ounces taken off another part of the bike. Magnesium wheels will normally weigh at least 10 pounds less than your stock aluminum wheels. This is equal to 40 pounds of weight reduction on the bike, not too bad...

Rotational Weight: This is the weight reduction on the outer rim of the wheel and this is where the weight reduction makes a HUGE difference. At 100mph, each ounce of weight reduced here, is like having 25 pounds of weight taken off the motorcycle! This is real weight that must be turned, accelerated, and stopped, and likewise, it will improve turning, acceleration, and stopping. At any speed the reduction is relative to the velocity of the bike. As you increase your speed the weight savings will increase exponentially.

There are many types of lightweight wheels out there, made in a variety of different materials, such as aluminum, magnesium, and carbon fiber.

What to expect: Most people who upgrade to light wheels, experience better acceleration, better engine braking, "lighter feeling" in motion, and easier turning, with no noticable stability loss. Due to their ability to start spinning so easily, many riders report being able to "break loose" with the rear tire around corners, but without any loss of control.

Conclusion: Although they may be expensive, I truly feel that lightweight wheels are an incredible upgrade for anyone looking to get more performance from their motorcycle. What other part can you get for your bike that gives you better handling, better braking, better acceleration, and better looks for that kind of money?

If you are an auto detailer who specializes in detailing older cycles such as Harley Davidson's then perhaps you might like to detail than at trade shows. This can be an incredible marketing opportunity for your company and it also pays very well.

Other people in the industry and region will see you if you wear company shirts with your name and phone number on them. Also it pays to have some business cards for each motorcycle detailing person on your crew.

Motorcycle manufacturers and aftermarket accessory part makers need and desire motorcycle detailing services at trade shows and they are willing to pay top dollar. Often they pay in cash and how can you beat that? What does it take to get such accounts?

Well, you may be surprised actually, as it is very easy to score such bonus type accounts. If you live in a city that has tradeshow activities is important to watch which groups are coming out in the future for trade shows. Then you need to go to the industry association web sites promoting the show and make sure you somehow get on the vendors list or go through the vendors list of all the people who will be at the tradeshow in contact them directly and let them know you are in the local area and ready to serve.

It is best to contact the marketing department of the motorcycle manufacturer or aftermarket accessory company and pitch them the ability that you have to keep everything clean even though the ventilation system will be pushing dust all over their equipment. If they know they can count on you that you become part of their team.

There are many additional benefits and bonuses to working with motorcycle manufacturers and aftermarket accessory part makers at trade shows. For instance the food is excellent and the parties are even better.