Photos from Kari Prager's Memorials

Two memorials were held for Kari Prager, who has been called the godfather of BMW motorcycling in the San Francisco bay area. The first was held on December 5, 2010 at Hotel Sofitel. Here on the CalMoto website is a Flash presentation of the pictures that the Prager family and friends assembled for people to watch before and after the celebration of his life. By my unscientific estimate about 250-300 people came to pay their respects.

On December 12, there was a rolling thunder celebration - as much thunder as mostly Beemers, Triumphs, some KTMs, a couple of Ducs, a Ninja and a few other moto makes could muster. Our assembly, my guestimate is about 150-200 bikes, made quite a sight on Arastradero, climbing up Page Mill Road, making our own little caravan on Stage Road, down the coast to Davenport. Here are three photo albums for this ride:

• Albert Santosa's photos
  
• J. White's photos
  
• Robert Stokstad's photos - the panorama group picture is here
  

Kari standing on the rocks below Davenport bluff where the riders assembled

From the perspective of a memorial ride, the weather was perfect - cold, grey and foggy on the Mountain View side (east) of the Santa Cruz mountains, bursting into clear blue skies and sunshine riding on the crest route of Highway 35, lifting everyone's spirits.

For those of you who couldn't make the ride, there will be an annual celebration of Kari Prager's life ride next year, most likely it will be on or around his birthday in October.

Winter Solstice Gifts

Honestly, the year-end consumer frenzy makes my stomach turn. Still, it is nice to show your friends that you appreciate the friendship with a gift. My friends who live in snow country are telling me that this weekend will be their last ride - it is time to put the bike away for the winter. So what are you going to do apres-ski? Dream about off-road riding in Spring?

Check out  Dual Sport Riding Techniques
[View Techniques Trailer] and Advanced Dual Sport Riding Techniques [View Advanced Trailer], two well-produced instructional DVDs published by Dualsport Riding. Reasonably priced gift at $29.95 for that friend of yours who doesn't need another socket set, or a treat for yourself.

Lucky (or stubborn) enough to still be riding? Hands freezing? I've been eyeing Gerbing's heated gloves. As usual, there are plenty of choices for men and women with hands large enough to wear men's gloves. The Gerbing's Lady Rider glove comes in a size 6 (XS). At $169.95 this is pricey -

Gerbing Lady Rider

you are paying for the extremely thin wire technology and the instant heat and Gerbing quality which I can attest to. The good folks at Revzilla have an outstanding video that talks about the Gerbing gloves and the very cool technologies in the gloves. Looking at reviews of the gloves I see that some people are concerned that the Gerbings' gloves have no hard protection on the glove, just the leather. Maybe fingers with blood circulating in them is a reasonable trade-off for the hard protection - I give up the hard protection when I'm riding in 100+ degree heat in the summer - I switch to dirt bike gloves.

Kinekt Ring

Okay, here's the last item.  The Kinekt Gear Ring has me saying "ridiculous" and "how cool is that" at the same time. Featured in the December 2010 BMW Owners News, the author must be writing tongue-in-check when he says, "By rotating either of the two outer rims, the six micro gers turn in unison. For some guys, this might elevate the idea of twirling a ring on your finger from a nervous habit to a clinical disorder. For the rest of us, it's hands-on art that says "I am a man; I am mechanical." Also, "Now you can flaunt your virility with the risk of being the object of derision in the wrong social circles." And what social circles might those be, I wonder. (Can you tell my Girl Geek jets are steaming?) I think the ring is gorgeous. For just $165 plus shipping you too can anticipate a repetitive motion stress injury from playing with it.  

Finding the Right Bike for Your Body's Dimensions

Looking for bikes that will fit your body? Want to know if your feet will touch down without having to swap out the suspension? Check this out: Cycle Ergo - you enter your height, inseam (length from crotch to lower ankle, the vertical inside seam on your pants) and specify whether or not you want to see your feet on the ground.  You select the motorcycle manufacturer and the site shows you an image of what you would look like sitting on the bike.

Play with the leg length so you can see the articulation of the foot change - longer leg, more ground contact with the foot. You can adjust the seat height as well to simulate getting a custom seat. It was really interesting to change the bar rise and bar pull back - making these adjustments results in the torso lean changing, you can see how modifying the handlebars would reduce strain on your lower back and neck.  Nice work - kudos to whoever who did this site. Different ads depending on the bike manufacturer you pick so I'm speculating that the bike manufacturers funded the effort - the models are new.

Source: http://news.MotorBiker.org - Thank you Mike!