🧠 Need to know this week…

1. 🎒 Yooooo it’s riding season. Get your ass out there! Proud dad moment for me this week with my daughter.

2. 🎧️ The new Cardo Packtalk Pro truly is a great piece of kit; use coupon code NYCMOTO23 for 10% off.

3. ❤️ Ducati… who tf hurt you? First dirt bike and a retired rider take the championship in Italy.

4. 📷️ Next time someone bitches about congestion pricing, throw numbers at them; check out this traffic tracker to see the impact of congestion pricing

5. 🦺 Alpinestars keeps going with airbag upgrades; their new Tech-Air 5 Plasma is what you want for summer

6. 📱 Check out Peak Design’s mobile mounts (now with wireless charging) for the best damn solution on the market

I know you probably have an opinion on this…

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuttt I don’t really care

I put my 12yr old daughters on the bike this week. No not both of them on the same time… that would be silly.

I geared them up and started taking them on rides around the city. Now I take my 12 year old to school and pick her up whenever I can.

That’s my choice and you may have your own opinion about my choice. You’re welcome to have one but voicing it to me and others is a choice. Make the right choice.

The whole point of me even bringing this up (and very likely inviting opinions which hopefully end up with more love than hate!) is to tell you my story and what I’ve experienced. I’ve never been a pillion.

Here are the steps I’m taking to keep them safe and prepared:

1. They’re geared. Protective leather Dainese jacket, full face helmet with comms to talk to me, gloves.

2. I’ve been riding for a bit now and have been on the track a bunch of times, including CSS.

3. Almost all of my riding has been in the city; let’s just say that I’m confident here but not so much that I get careless. I don’t run red lights, make room for pedestrians, and mostly obey traffic laws ;). I’m not a dick.

4. I don’t over complicate it for them in terms of telling them what to do. They know to keep their feet on the pegs and secure themselves around me in the best way they know and whatever feels best. Once I get a few rides in, I’ll go ahead and start correcting them a bit and give them hints on what to pay attention to (anticipating stop lights, quick maneuvers, when to relax, when to grip tight)

5. I don’t tell them to not move on the bike; I just felt that telling them that would scare them and they’d become too rigid. Instead, I correct them when they’re moving around too much.

6. The sketchiest part of riding with a backpack in the city is acceleration points out of a stoplight. I’m starting to train them to anticipate acceleration by paying attention to crosswalk signs (watch the countdown) and feel when I’m starting to go. I’ll tap their leg or tell them to hang on over comms if I feel like they’re too loose.

7. I absolutely will not go on the highway (or higher speeds) until I feel like they’re ready (and geared). Period.

I can’t explain the joy that you hear during a ride with your kids. Get them on comms with you and listen to how they speak. Complete joy.

Still, don’t mistaken this as me convincing riders to take their kids on joyrides. This is not for every rider and it’s not for every kid, especially for new riders. I know that when I started riding, I was absolutely filled with enthusiasm and wanted everyone to experience it with me. Take a beat and wait. I won’t go too deep into this. Use your brain.

Also, my opinion is my own and yours might differ.

A new route database & ride calendar is coming…

I know I haven’t been around much over the last few months but between the winter and my actual day job, I haven’t been able to focus on the newsletter as much.

What I have had time to do though was to build out an entire route, group ride system that can support us as riders through the summer. Here’s some functionality I’ve built:

1. Routes

   1. All of my custom routes will be in here.

   2. Custom routes will be sortable and filterable by distance, type (off-road/on-road), location, etc.

   3. You can build your own routes and upload links to Calimoto, GPX files, etc.

   4. Add in your own comments on routes you’ve done or are interested in.

2. Rides

   1. This is built to support rides for charity, motorcycle club rides, and a general platform to help with planning, etc.

   2. There will be a calendar for all rides and you will be able to join any ride you want (ride leads/organizers will be able to choose whether riders need to be approved or not)

   3. All of the expected group ride creation functionality will be there:

      1. Routes

      2. Ride date/KSU location

      3. Planned stops

      4. Custom ride rules & guidelines

      5. Ability to tip ($) the ride leader

      6. A group ride can be associated with one of the routes on NYC MOTO or a custom route set by the ride leader

Stay tuned for more updates as I finalize the build.

🥇 The NYC MOTO Riders Club

Here’s what being a member of The Riders Club means:

🌟 You’re supporting the only newsletter for riders in NYC. I work hard as hell bringing you this content and hunt down brands, routes, gear, and stories I know you’ll love. It’s a full time job and subscribers to the NYC MOTO Riders Club make it possible.

🔗 All of the Google Maps links & .GPX from our ride guides. Simply click on the links and follow the same turn-by-turn directions I did. I include .GPX links as well.

🛣️ A new route every week. There is an email blast that goes out on Thursdays to only those that subscribe to the Riders Club. It features one new spectacular route every week.

🤑 Exclusive discount codes to the 🔥 hottest gear. Some of the discounts are higher value than the free subscribers and you’ll also see some exclusive gear/brands entirely.

Give it a shot with a 7 day free trial:

Or if you’re the non-committal type, buy me a cup of ☕️ coffee. Honestly though, I’d probably just spend it on a pair of gloves.

🙏 Join the NYC MOTO Free Facebook Group

Go ahead and hit up the NYC MOTO Community to keep the convo going.

Until next time!

NYC MOTO

p.s. Sign up for the NYC MOTO newsletter here or share it with a friend