4 May - Walhalla

Came back from a 6 day caravan trip to Port Fairy on Friday. As you riders will know, 6 (or more days) without a ride is ridiculous, and the weather in Traralgon has been less than encouraging. Did manage a quick coffee in Mirboo North on Saturday on the VT750 and I must say the more I ride that bike the more I like it. Of course, it is similar to ride to my VT400 but it has that extra power for hills and passing. It runs beautifully.

With all the attention going to the recent Honda acquisition lately the Beemer has been looking a little bit neglected and by mid afternoon today I decided to ignore the inclement weather for a quick trip on the Beemer, to Walhalla. It was a bit overcast but dry and the temperature was 15ºC which is perfectly fine provided you turn the grip heaters to high. Within 5 km it had started to rain and by the time I got to Walhalla the temperature had dropped to 7ºC - hadn't really dressed for that and the hot coffee at the Grey Horse came just in time. The ride back was mostly in the rain but in a strange way, enjoyable none the less. Motorcycling is like that!

On another topic altogether - some weeks ago I was contacted by a representative of two on line businesses marketing motorcycling gear, namely http://www.motorcyclehouse.com.au/ and http://vikingbags.com/ .

Most Australian motorcyclist will know that in this country we are slugged mercilessly by vendors of motorcycles and motorcycle gear. This is of course true for a range of goods from books, clothes and CD/DVD's. The higher prices charged in Australia can't really be explained in transport costs. If you take motorcycle apparel for example, most of it is manufactured in Asia and if anything should be cheaper in Australia than in the USA, but often it is 100% plus more expensive.

So on checking some items in both of these on line stores I was pleased to see a good range of quality goods available at a fraction of the price charged in this country.

On the basis of my motorcycling and blogging activity the representative of these companies asked if I would be interested in reviewing a couple of items on my blog, and while it is not the intention to make my blog into any kind of of commercial venture (I have deliberately avoided advertising opportunities) I am more amenable, in the interest of informing fellow riders, of the opportunities offered by Motorcycle House and Viking Bags.

I decided to review a Viking sissy bar bag which will go on my Honda VT750, and when I arrived back from my brief caravan trip it arrived the very next day.

So, in the next few days or so, I will mount it on the Honda, take some photos and video and let you know what I think. In the meantime, if you need some gear (and who doesn't) check out the web sites.
The URL for the US Motorcycle House site is www.motorcyclehouse.com