Hosted at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the show featured most major manufacturers and most of their available bikes ranging from off-road dirt bikes and super sports to cruisers and urban warriors like motards and scooters. There was also a nice collection of vintage race bikes, sidecars, cross-country touring bikes, and everything in between. Obviously not all bikes are suitable for newer riders but there were certainly a lot of bikes to choose from.

For anyone new to riding, this would have made a great opportunity to check out lots of bikes that may be suitable depending on your needs and riding style, be it short hops in and around the city, to longer country tours. Some of the more notable bikes that would be ideal for new riders included the Honda CBR125R, Kawasaki Ninja 250R, BMW’s G650 & F650, Yamaha’s V-Star 250, Hyosungs GT 250R and of course you cant exclude Kymco’s line up of scooters that come with enough storage space to make a full-blown touring bike with all their “add-on” saddle bags blush.

Not only were the range of available bikes well represented, but so were the various bike and accessory shops, which provided an opportunity to pick up some gear or check out some products that you may not have seen or heard of before.

Considering the current Canadian climate, I was very interested in some of the heated gear that was represented by Gerbings, which included socks, pants, various gloves, jackets & jacket liners. However, when considering the use of heated gear, you must do some research as to the total power output of your alternator, how much power is already being used for the electrical system (running and brake lights, horn, etc) and how much is remaining to power your heated gear. Most bikes should be able to power a jacket (or jacket liner) as well as the gloves, but there may not be enough left over to also power the heated pants and socks.

I also had a great conversation with the fellows from Impact Jackets out of Maryland, USA. I recently posted some information about their jackets but I never had a chance to check out their gear first hand. Impact Jackets now has an increased selection of inflatable gear including vests, mesh & textile jackets and some rather nice leathers. I had the pleasure of trying on one of their jackets and experienced what it was like to have the “air bags” deployed while wearing it. Without a doubt these jackets will revolutionize rider safety (they have already saved many lives) and considering the costs when compared to CE armoured jackets on the market (prices starting as low as $400), it just seems like a no-brainer, especially since they are re-usable. Several Police motorcycle divisions are now using Impact Jackets across the United States; they are also being used in several military applications. Look forward to these jackets coming to a shop near you in the future.

So if a picture speaks a thousand words, what about video? Well that can speak volumes. More and more people are now recording their lives and publishing them on popular video sharing sites like YouTube and Google and you can find everything from the mundane to the spectacular.

“Wearable” video cameras are now used to record pretty much everything. I use one myself to record my rides and do so for various reasons. Sometimes it’s nice to be able to show others that nice section of road that I found, or perhaps make a video collection of some of the more scenic memories but they also come in really handy as evidence.

Police officers know that as a rule people make terrible witnesses and usually have no idea what actually happened despite their “I saw the whole thing!” claims. Generally speaking, bystanders notice the affects of an incident but not what led up to it…not the cause. As such there is always a lot of finger pointing resulting with police and insurance companies having to piece together various clues, evidence and statements to get an idea what happened. Not a very efficient system really and if I’m going to be blamed for something I would like there to be more then just someone saying so just to avoid being blamed themselves. What if I’m not able to defend myself due to short-term memory loss?

Sure it’s scary to think about such things but chance favors the prepared mind.

Another good reason to record your ride is for those “Where is a cop when you need one” moments; for when someone runs a red light or when that soccer mom makes an illegal left turn in front of you. Okay okay…people disobey the rules of the road all the time; I’ve broken more than I can remember. Let’s face it; nobody knows them all anyway and for some people, concepts like Right-of-Way are simply beyond them. Well now if somebody makes a violation that actually endangers my life, I can do something about it without committing acts of civil disobedience also (assuming I can resist the urge to lash out irrationally and break their window for having nearly killed me).

Speaking of cops…have you ever been pulled over and thought that you were mistreated in some way? Well now you have some video to look back on or perhaps even use in court. Remember that you are taping yourself too though! If you break the law or cause a situation, you need expect your video to be used as evidence against you.

Like a road, life is also a two-way street, so have fun in the corners but remember that bad things can happen when you cross the line. If it does…you caught it on video!

Long gone are the days of navigating by the stars with the use of a Sextant. The skill is now foreign to all but the oldest of sailors. Even today, basic knowledge of how to use a map and a compass is also falling by the wayside and seems to only be taught to school children. With the introduction of Global Positioning Systems aka the GPS, basic navigation is no longer deemed as an essential skill. The GPS, which uses satellites to triangulate your position around the globe, is the most revolutionary navigation tool since the map itself, which has been around since cave drawings.

I’ve used a GPS for many years now and they are without a doubt very handy to have with you when you travel. Not only can they help you get to where you want to go but also they can track where you’ve been, which can be especially handy when you get disoriented in the woods.

The features of modern day GPS devices are long and vast so I won’t get into the details since they can all be found on the websites of their respective manufacturers. Instead, I want to touch on some of the lesser-known drawbacks and limitations of relying on a GPS as a sole means of navigation.

Accuracy
Commercial GPS units are now accurate to within as little as 1sqr metre (which is good enough for most military applications) however, they are not consistent. This depends on how many geo-synchronos satellites the unit is locked on to and how strong those signals are, which by the way are ever changing as your position changes. Herein lays the problem. If the signal weakens, you could find yourself positioned on the wrong side of a river or past the road that you wanted to turn on.

On a recent ride along the Seaway Trail, which skirts the southern shores of Lake Ontario, my GPS signal weakened and suddenly placed me 5km offshore in the lake. Yes, thoughts of Moses on a Motorcycle came to my mind also. At the same time though my GPS was unable to accurately calculate my speed and showed me travelling across the water at 225km/hr. (GPS units also record top speed and at one point logged my max speed at 555km/hr).

Reliability
One of the other shortfalls of relying on a GPS is that they require power. You would think that this would be obvious, but time and time again, people have been caught off guard with drained batteries leaving them without a clue as to where they are and up the proverbial creek without a paddle, so to speak. The simple rule of thumb here is to always ensure that you have a fresh set of batteries on hand.

Safety
Although using a GPS is convenient, they do present a safety risk as a visual distraction while riding. Some people simply view them through the map window of their tank bags, whereas others use proper ram mounts affixed to their handle bars, placing the unit higher up making it easier to view while riding. No matter how you choose to use it, it still presents a visual distraction. Each time you look at the screen, you are effectively NOT looking at the road ahead.

In summery, the modern GPS has a long list of advantages when used properly but never make the mistake of relying on them as “fact”. In the end it’s still a good idea to carry an old fashioned road map.

A map never “crashes” and a compass always points north.