#EvansBrasfield

The photo above points out how important properly functioning brakes are to getting the most performance possible out of them. Brakes, however, are instrumental in more than riding quickly. They are necessary for your safety.

For years, I’ve claimed that self-canceling turn signals were the answer to a question I never asked. I’d yet to experience an automated system that didn’t introduce one or more problems or adaptations I had to make in order to utilize turn signals the way I preferred to use them. Some systems turned the signals off too soon while others kept them on for an eternity, but both forced me to take my eyes off the road to check if the signals were on or off before and after a turn.

While my colleagues do enjoy teasing me about my tendency to overpack, I have a pretty extensive background in motorcycle touring and, before that, backpacking. Also, I believe that I’m the only member of the MO staff that has ever lived on a bike for a period of months. (While chronologically, my cross-country trek took over three months, I spent about four weeks of that period living in a “nest” of gear in the corner of a friend’s Phoenix apartment.) Before settling down to a life of domesticity, child-rearing, and working in the motorcycle industry, my periodic freelance employment allowed me to hit the road for extended road trips. From these two-wheeled forays, I will now give you a little insight into the twisted world that is my technique for preparing for a motorcycle tour.

Change comes slowly in the world of Harley-Davidson. The faithful will say that is a feature, not a bug. Still, change does come, and when any manufacturer introduces a new engine line, it’s a big deal. When Harley introduces a new engine and summarily whisks away the old engine in an entire category of its motorcycle models, it’s a sea change. You can almost feel the earth shifting on its axis. While we’d like to think that the performance of the new engine – which is impressive – could be the cause, the gravitational adjustment is most likely from the sheer number of motojournalists the Motor Company flew from locations around the globe to northwestern Washington state for the Milwaukee-Eight’s riding introduction.

In the past, I’ve called cleaning your motorcycle’s chain a messy-but-necessary task. Lubing the chain can also be messy if you’re careless, but neither chore needs to be that way. The secret is performing both frequently. After some time sampling the Velocity Chain Maintenance System, I think it could be just the ticket for simplifying both activities – and making a little less mess in the process.

Every year Harley-Davidson releases special models from its Custom Vehicle Operations skunkworks. These limited-edition factory customs are chosen to represent the best that Harley has to offer, which is usually based on the most popular models the manufacturer sells. This year, for our test of a 2017 CVO model, we chose the CVO Street Glide. We did this for two reasons. First, we’d get to do a true apples-to-apples comparison since we were also testing the standard Street Glide. This perspective would give us the opportunity to see what similarities and differences the Milwaukee-Eight 107 had with the Milwaukee-Eight 114 bruiser. Second, we last tested the CVO Street Glide in model year 2015, which would give us a good impression of how far the model has come in two model years.

Touring riders want it all: comfort, handling, big power, weather protection, and storage space. For years Harley-Davidson’s touring line of motorcycles, particularly the Electra Glides, have provided those requirements. The Ultra Limited carries the same batwing fairing of the ’Glides, but as the Limited designation implies, riders can expect more. Thanks to the Project Rushmore upgrades first seen in the 2014 model year, the Ultra Limited delivers first-class accommodations and the technological features touring riders expect. Just take a look at the infotainment system and the LED Daymaker headlight, if you’re unsure. The 2017 model year brings some big changes to the Ultra in the form of an all-new engine and upgraded suspension which combine to make the Ultra’s riding experience even more pleasurable.

As jobs go, working at a motorcycle publication is pretty darn good – as long as you’re not too fond of money. Still, like every job, there are work days and there are work days. This week, aside from having Monday off for Labor Day, we’ve got a pretty hectic work schedule planned.

Since Harley-Davidson has updated the engines of its entire touring model line, we thought we should check in with an example of each of the three variations of the Milwaukee-Eight. For years, the Street Glide has been Harley’s best-selling model – and a favorite here at MO – making it a natural choice for sampling the base-model Eight’s 107ci engine. Still, the engine isn’t the only news involving pistons on the 2017 touring models. In a normal year, the upgraded suspension components on the Street Glide would be big news, but with motorcyclists being power freaks, the new engines are stealing the suspension’s thunder.

The first Harley-Davidson V-Twin engine was released in 1909 in the form of the Atmospheric V-Twin. Since that time the Motor Company has sold a total eight V-Twin engine designs – Atmospheric V-Twin, F-Head, Flathead, Knucklehead, Panhead, Shovelhead, Evolution, and Twin Cam – most of these names are instantly recognizable to almost any motorcyclist. So, when considering the relative rarity of Harley engine redesigns and the importance of the engine to one of the world’s biggest motorcycle manufacturers, you can bet that any major changes are well thought out and refined to a degree that lesser OEMs might have a tough time matching. With all that’s literally riding on a new engine, Harley’s project planners turned to the tools that have worked the best in recent years.

Living on a budget is a fact of life, and MO staffers remember how buying our first motorcycles drained our available funds. So, like many young riders, we skimped a bit on our first riding gear. (I, for example, rode in a jean jacket until I could afford my first leather one.) The advent of textiles in the moto-gear arsenal of materials helped bring proper gear within reach of many budget-minded riders. On the flip-side, however, we’ve also noticed a ton of gear that went well beyond price-consciousness into the realm of cheap – as in crappy – gear that offers either little protection or sub-standard construction. The folks behind Pilot Motosport noticed this, too, and decided to create a price-point jacket that didn’t skimp on the protection or quality. The result is the Pilot Slate Air Jacket.

The MGX–21 Flying Fortress is Moto Guzzi’s fourth variation on the California 1400 platform. Given the additional stresses that a bagger with a fork-mounted fairing puts on a chassis, the fact that Guzzi felt it was necessary only to beef up the rear subframe says something about how stout the frame was in the first place.

Yamaha has gotten good use out of its popular Bolt line, giving us the Bolt, the Bolt R-Spec, and the C-Spec. Now, the tuning fork company has recast the Bolt as a Scrambler. The SCR950 shares much with its Bolt brethren. The same engine and frame are used throughout the line. All sport a 19-inch front wheel and a 3.2 gallon tank – though the SCR’s is now seamless. You can bet this change will make it to the remainder of the line at some point. Still, you get the picture. Yamaha built a platform to support a line of models that could be created with minimal change to components and parts manifests in an effort to keep the price of the bikes down. With the MSRP ranging from $7,999 for the base Bolt to $8,699 for the SCR, the strategy appears to be successful.

The SCR950 is the second Yamaha press intro this year offering a re-stylized version of an existing model – the first one being the XSR900 launched a few months ago and reviewed here. With the XSR Yamaha took the laudable FZ-09, dressed it in vintage ’70s attire, and upgraded the bike’s performance with better suspension and some (ironically) modern electronics. For the SCR, Yamaha took the popular Bolt model, stirred in some select features from the C-Spec, added a seamless tank, reimagined it as a Scrambler, and, voila, another très chic neo-retro from circa 1977.

Anyone who has attended a large-scale rally will tell you that there is a certain point, after the front wheel has turned for home, that a feeling of emptiness can set in, a sensation, as the events of the past few days pass out of sight in your mirrors, that can call into question your very reason for being. OK, not really, but I’ve spent hours reminiscing about a rally as the miles rolled by underneath me on my way home. So, grab your gear and take a virtual ride home with me.