12 Days of Safety Tips: Day One. Upgrade your ride and skills!

Hey, everybody, you're listening to your favorite motorcycle safety podcast,
the Arrived, Alive podcast, episode 97, and we're going to take you through another
12 episodes in 12 days. Yes, this is the 12 days of motorcycle safety tips,
and we're going to do them all in 12 minutes or less, and it's brought to you by
our friends, our good friend, a Christmas friend at the Hayman Law Firm.
If you go down, they'll bring you up. If you've listened to the show once, you've
heard that they are a sponsor of the show. Their lawyers are not only experts in
their field of personal injury, but they represented me when I was down and they
all ride motorcycles. Call 1 -800 -H -A -Y -M -O -N -D, if you ever need a personal
injury attorney. And now the exciting news. So we have 12 days of Christmas.
Now, the 12 days of Christmas actually starts on Christmas Day and goes to the
Epiphany January 6th. A lot of people don't know that. And I just found that out
probably like a few weeks ago. Now, we are starting a little bit late, but in the
theme of the holidays, and it doesn't matter if you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah,
Kwanza, or a hot cup of coffee on a cold winter day. Here's what we're going to
do. Today,
Day five, teaching your kids about motorcycling. That's very important, especially for
me. I have a 21 -year -old daughter who wants to get a motorcycle if she moves to
Brooklyn. That's another story for another time. We're definitely going to talk about
riding in different types of weather and road conditions and hazardous conditions.
That's day six. Day seven, we're going to talk about low speed and high -speed
riding, how they're the same and how they're different and how mastering both will
make you a more pleasure -filled and safe and happy rider. Day 8, we're going to
talk about age -related motorcycle riding. So if you're under 25 or over 55,
how to approach riding from both those angles and both those levels of experience.
And not even talking about years of motorcycle experience, but the different things
that you have to look for when you're in those age groups about riding happily and
riding safely. and then day nine we're going to talk about
Every New Year's Day, since the early 70s, motorcyclists in New York City have been
riding one lap of the island of Manhattan, which I think is about 24 miles,
and it's supposed to be in the low 30s. So we'll see how that goes. Now,
I also want to tell you a little bit about Spotify and what they've told us about
our podcast. Number one, we've had a very, very good year with listenership and with
engagement. Thanks to people like you. Yes, you that's listening to the show right
now. We've grown our followers and our subscribers by 22 % this year,
right? I think part of that is that we've been around so long, number one. We're
going on, this is the end of our fifth or sixth year. We have 96 episodes and the
time that people listen has increased 50%. Now, Spotify also gives you the types of
music and content that people that listen to your podcast also listen to. So the
top artists that people listen to who are also listening to our podcast, believe or
not, I hate to say it. I mean, Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallin, Eminem,
Journey, the Smiths, and Depeche Mode, believe it or not. So for what it's worth,
for those people who like those types of artists, and a few of those are my
favorite, more power to you.
So in dealing with, we're talking about gifts for motorcycles, let's talk about, you
know, if there's a motorcyclist in your life or yourself. Now, most likely it's
going to be yourself, right?
And I loved giving gifts. My dad taught me the art of gift giving, which often
means thoughtful, practical.
days. We all know that. Well, they are getting better, uh, in many cases. And then
some mid -range things and then some higher -end thing, right? So, you know,
and they all relate to safety in some way. Now, years and years ago in a decade
called the 90s, when we read motorcycle magazines, I used to see an ad for this
product called the Wii Willie professional face shield cleaning.
And back then, I thought it was the coolest thing. And what it is, you can get on
Amazon. I'll put links to all these things on the show notes, but it's a small
spray bottle with a sponge and a squeegee, and it comes in a small carrying case
that's waterproof. So if you want to clean your face shield, you use this.
Now, there's also a cheaper version on Amazon that I bought, and it has it has
In my opinion, this is a must have. Now, there's also these little, little in size,
but not little in light. They have, Amazon has some small, high -intensity flashlight
that you can either clip to a visor. You could actually, a lot of them, a few of
them are magnetic. So if you want to put them on a metal tank or a metal part of
your motorcycle, if you're doing some roadside maintenance or repairs, You can do
that. And most of them have different types of modes, flashing modes,
red, blue light. So if you're stuck on the side of the road and you are changing
a tire, that's something that you might want to put out just for increased safety.
And then the other thing I would say is, and you know, this goes to my mother,
right? My mother would always say, if you take something with you, you probably
won't need it. But if you don't take something with you, you'll need it. And I
refer to this or I speak about tire patch kits. And they're so, a lot of them
have come so far now. They have these plugs that are easy to do. They have
screwing plugs. So you can look for those on Amazon. I'll put one or two on the
show notes and the LinkedIn on the links on the page. But I think those are also
good to have because if you take them with you, hopefully you won't need them. Now,
as far as like mid -range stuff, right, so $25 and over. You know, our friend Ryan,
who was on the show earlier this year, he is the publisher and founder of MotoVelli
Motorcycle Magazine. And this is a magazine, unlike any that you've received before.
I'll put a link in the show notes. But this is a pocket -sized magazine that
delivers There's.
And it's just a great way to kind of keep in touch with the sport that you love,
especially during the winter, but anytime. And I love getting them every single
month. So there'll be a link to that. And then the other thing is, you know,
battery technology has come such a long way these days in the last few years. I
used to have this digital or this air pump that actually you had to connect to
your motorcycle's battery. And it was great. It was made by this gentleman in
upstate. I forget who his name is. But I'm going to reach out to him because he
was a very, very good guy. And but now Amazon has these digital tire pressure
pumps. You can get the many prices from $30 to $70. And I'll put some links to a
few of them and the one that I have. The one that I have also doubles as a power
bank. And it also has a flashlight. And what I love about these is that you can
set the tire pressure to whatever you need, 41, 39, 35,
whatever you need, and you just put it on there and you wait a minute or two
until it reaches that air pressure. So those are really two kind of good mid -range
things. And the other mid -range item, I would suggest, would be a reflective vest.
Now, I ride a scooter around New York City, like a stand -up scooter. So I try to
wear my reflective.
motorcycle owners of Association of America, and you don't have to own a BMW, you
actually get a big discount on any type of MSF course that you take, number one.
The other thing I would say is,
and we had Phil Freeman on last episode, look into a motorcycle tour,
whether it's for yourself, a loved one, and these are not cheap, but you're going
to have memories for the rest of your life. Now, a lot of us like solo touring,
as do I, but I've written a lot in groups this year and last year,
and anywhere from 20 to 75 people or more. Now, tour companies like MotoQuest and
Phil Freeman, he's on the smaller side. You rarely go more than 12 people, but he's
got tours on every continent on Earth. And then there's other tours that probably
have, you know, 15 to 25, 30 people in a group. And the one that you pick is
really based on the type of riding you do, your budget. But I'll leave a link in
the show notes to the show that we did with Phil Freeman of MotoQuest. Or if
you're listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, just look at the previous episode.
Now, I also sent an email to John Heyman of the Hayman Law firm that I mentioned
earlier. And I've known John for a couple of years. I said, hey, John, what gift
would you?
He said, I would give the gift of, or I would recommend people get $250 ,000 of
uninsured motorist protection on their insurance plans. And you know what?
As we go into the new year, I think that's a great piece of advice because A,
with uninsured motorists are probably at the highest levels that we've seen in many,
many years, number one. Number two, it will save you a lot of headaches should you
get hit by somebody that's uninsured. And the only thing I would add to that is
also get like up to $2 ,000 or $3 ,000 of accessory insurance.
Usually that's a nominal addition to the insurance. In my policy,
I think it's an extra $35 a month. But when my bike got totaled a few years ago,
I had over $2 ,000 worth of accessories and accessories don't depreciate so they gave
me the full value and because I bought everything on Revzilla or Amazon I had the
full receipts and it was great I got like I got 2 ,000 bucks for you know crash
pegs and things that you probably did depreciate but when you do the insurance most
insurances anyway they do not depreciate so get $250 ,000 of uninsured motorist
protection and if You also can get accessory coverage if you have accessories like
custom things. Okay, we've gone a little bit over 12 minutes for the 12 days of
motorcycle safety tips. I also want to thank Mr. Rob McLaughlin of the West Coast
Hearts. Go to Apple Music, go to Spotify, search for the West Coast Hearts. They
got a new album. I listened to the whole thing at least twice, and I really liked
it. We'll see you tomorrow for day two of the 12 days of motorcycle safety tips.
I'm Len Bellello. You're happy and humble holiday podcast host.
Thanks for listening.