Every year there are tons of events and rally's held through out the country for motorcyclists. I've compiled a short list of 3 places you should visit if you're an avid motorcyclist. These events and tours will only make your love of riding grow and you will meet tons of great people while you're at it. As always, before you head out on a road trip make sure that you are equipped with all the proper motorcycle accessories!

1. If you can make it down to Florida for Daytona Bike Week, you should! This is always an exciting and fun experience. The streets and bars are literally packed with people and bikes (as you can imagine). And when you're down there, don't forget to ride the Loop, a beautiful ride spanning 22 miles of open road and curves that will demonstrate some of Florida's best scenery.

2. Similar to Daytona, is the yearly motorcycle rally that takes place in Sturgis, South Dakota. Every year thousands of bike enthusiasts gather for this spectacular event. Set against a rural setting, bikers and vendors alike line the main street, this experience is one that you’ll never forget.

3. Cruise the West Coast - California has some of the most breath-taking scenery the country has to offer. If one has the opportunity, the west coast offers some of finest roads for touring. 110 miles spanning the coast of California, from Morro Bay to Monterey, or vice versa, this route offers amazing scenery and great roadside amenities. It has been voted into the list "Ten best drives" and dubbed as "one of the most scenic rides in America".

These are only 3 of the great rides can take to add excitement to your riding. There are plenty of beautiful places and great rallies to attend year after year to suit your tastes. Don't forget to prepare well for your trips, and pre-plan where you will stay.

Before buying your first motorcycle you should take some time to ask yourself some important questions. You might think you're in the market for a Harley motorcycle and then suddenly find yourself uncomfortable with the massive size and weight of the bike.  A lot of people jump in headfirst when buying a motorcycle without actually putting the time and research into doing a little homework before dropping the big bucks.

Answer these questions before making the leap.

What is your riding style?

This is an important question to ask yourself, because there are many different types of bikes out there and they all offer a different style of ride. Answering this question will help you determine exactly what kind of bike you should get for yourself.

Are you experienced?

There is absolutely no doubt that riding a motorcycle is great fun. But we all know it can be just as dangerous, especially when inexperienced. Obviously you should have your M license before riding, but make sure that invest the time into learning how to ride properly, and take an extra course if you are not 100% sure that you are ready to head out on the open highway.

How much money do you want to spend?

Buying a motorcycle is usually for fun or a hobby, since most people have other forms of transportation. Bikes range anywhere from $4,000 to $20,000 or more for a brand new model. You can find plenty of great deals through dealerships and private sales, so take your time and shop around for the best deals without sacrificing good quality.

Now that you have all that figured out, don't forget about your accessories! You will need some good riding gear, depending on what state you live in, you may be required to wear full leathers when you ride. Some states such as Florida and California don't even require a helmet, but it's wise to wear one anyway.

Although most people prefer to store their motorcycles during the winter months, those of you who don't will still be able to use these helpful tips to keep your bike in the best shape possible. Even though many of you have most likely already started your winter storage process, for those that wait until the last minute it's not too late to get started on preparing your motorcycle for its way too long winter sabbatical.

Here is a basic check list below that you should have done before you put your bike away to ensure that your ride will be running smoothly for the spring.

1. Give your motorcycle good wash and lubricant

Salt, dirt and sand will rust, damage and corrode the surface of your bike if you put it away dirty.  You should always make sure to give your motorcycle a good cleaning before you put it away for the winter. Lubricating the chain, and cables and all moving parts is crucial so that they don't rust.

2. Be sure to get a fuel stabilizer

Leaving gas in your bike tank for more than 3 or 4 weeks while it's sitting is not smart. Any gas that remains in the tank will begin to oxidize and become varnish. This is very damaging to your bike, so make sure that you empty your tank and get a fuel stabilizer to get rid of any residue.

3. Get the oil changed

Once you have added fuel stabilizer, you can now get your oil changed. Same as leaving fuel in the tank, old oil will be contaminated and will oxidize after a long period of time. Although it seems pointless to many, changing the oil will actually freshen it up for when it's ready to come out of storage after a long winter. It will remove old dirt and debris from your tank and will keep your engine running smooth.

4. Take care of your battery

If you live in a cold climate, you need to make sure to remove your battery and place it somewhere where it can store in a nice cool and dry place. It's imperative that you also keep your battery charged so that it doesn't lose its life after a long period of not running.

5. Cover your motorcycle

Seems pretty cut and dry, but a lot of people store their bikes in garages without a cover. It's a simple solution to what could end up costing you money later on.

There are several other things that can be done to prepare your bike for storage, but above are the 5 most important steps to ensure that your bike will run smoothly when you’re ready to ride in the Spring.

We were making survey about what items motorcyclists are bringing with them on a road. Besides wearing personal items such as cell phone, cash, credit cards, the majority of motorcyclists are thinking about Murphy’s Law and take spare motorcycle parts more or less. According to our survey the most needed on-the-road items are mentioned down bellow. 

Tools for repairing more perishable motorcycle parts. Most of the motorcycles come with toolkits, but if you don’t have one, it would be advisable to get equipped with pliers, wrenches, wire cutters, duct tape and of course pump or CO2 cartridges ( little battery-sized cylinders that deliver a burst of pressured gas and refill tires really fast).  

Key spare motorcycle parts. It’s really good to take extra spark plugs, fuses, bulbs, chain oil on the road. You never know when a motorcycle part will break down.

First Aid Kit. You’ll never know what will happen on the road. You can get scratches, burns from the pipe and similar little accidents.

GPS. If you don’t have one already mounted on your motorcycle it’s good to have portable GPS with you. It’s really easy to get lost on the road.

Before going out on the road it’s recommended to inspect your motorcycle. First, make sure your tires are properly inflated by mounting air pressure monitor to them. Check your controls (brakes and clutch) if they work well. Checking the lights before going on the road is really essential. Make sure your headlights, turn signals and brake lights are working. And lastly check all oils and fluids; everything from engine oil to brake fluid. 

We’ll be continuing the “1980 Honda CB50 motorcycle part issues” saga. Why? Well, it seems in many cases the previous blog post isn’t enough in resolving the motorcycle part issue. For the previous part, you can find the blog post here, "1980 Honda CB50 motorcycle part issues".

So, after the alternator, battery and gas are all checked, we should move our suspecting on other motorcycle parts:

Pulse generator - This motorcycle part could get hot and after the motorcycle goes on the road, the difference between temperatures makes it break down.   

Battery - Again we’re referring on the two spark units mounted back by the battery. If you see black emission down from the units, they may be weak.  

Spark Plugs – Connect spark plugs to the two outside cylinders and check them for spark. Notice if they look overheated from a lean condition. If it loses one coil, it could be the coil overheating or the spark unit acting up. If the spark plugs are good we’re moving on the next motorcycle part.

Vacuum hoses - Check if the vacuum hoses to the automatic fuel valve are tight. If they’re not tight, you can get vacuum leak and fuel supply loss to the carburetors.

Extra tip: Quick check your charging system by watching the headlight bulb intensity. If this light brightens up when you rev the motorcycle, than probably your motorcycle is doing okay.

Do you have really old Honda motorcycle made before 1980s? If you do and you’re trying to find old Honda motorcycle parts, you might find your solution here.

 Some guy had lights problem with his old 1979 Honda CX 500 motorcycle when turning the key and we tried to help him. Since Cycle-Parts.com is a company providing motorcycle parts produced mostly after 1980 we can’t meet our customers’ needs with really old Honda motorcycles.  

This guy’s problem more precisely was with the headlight, neutral light; tail light, blinkers and horn.

Situation no. 1. The ignition switch base could be down. Get new one and replaces it. If it works than you’re done with this issue, if not than we are going to the next step.

Situation no.2. Clean the connections to the battery, and check the fuses back by the battery and also those under the plate at the handlebars. If everything is okay than you should buy cheap 12v test light and start with the battery leads and move forward on the red and black wires with the switch on. If power is coming out of the battery connections, you should go up front to the switch and see if power is coming in and then out again. The motorcycle parts wiring diagram can be found here.

As we can notice, recently we were writing a lot about Honda motorcycles and sure a lot about starting issues.  As you can notice by far, every motorcycle has its own specifics and every problem with each motorcycle part could have million different solutions.

In today’s blog post we are going to elaborate starting issue at 1980 GL1100 Gold Wing Honda motorcycle.  This motorcycle was stored for 2 years though it has new starter, good voltage and starter relay. The owner suspects: the starter switch could be bad and also the connections could be bad.  

Experienced motorcyclists would test all the electrical components first. Next motorcycle part for inspection would be the battery and its connections. These GL1100 Gold Wing motorcycles all have a permanent magnet battery charging system, consisted of a stator with three output wires, which go into a regulator. This unit regulates the AC into DC and then DC to 14.5V to ensure proper battery charging. Every connection between the regulator and the battery should be checked.

Also there are cases where the battery could have 12V and it doesn’t have enough amperage to give the starter real power.  There have been tests with new batteries when one cell is shorted or weak and the motorcycle won’t start. Also check if the battery is right for the motorcycle.

Furthermore, the problem can be located at the Stator and Regulator. In addition, as we can tell from the previous blog post stator and regulator failure is also common motorcycle part issue at 1980 Honda CB650.

Every motorcycle series have common motorcycle parts issues more or less. One of these 1980 CB650 Honda motorcycle parts issues is turning off the field rotor when the charging voltage is too high; making the charging drop in which case the regulation circuit turns the field rotor back on. This issue sometimes is manifested similar to when the motorcycle is running out of gas.

The motorcycle ignition is battery-powered, so when the voltage drops down bellow 13.5V, the ignition system components shot down. Diagnosing bad rotor is easy, mount volt-ohm meter for testing the charging system output and the ohms value on the rotor tracks cold or hot.

Bad rotor can also cause bad regulator. When the rotor fails it draws too much current for the regulation circuit to supply, causing the regulator to die. This way this motorcycle part dies alongside the rotor.

Loss of spark can be caused by bad connection somewhere. Suspect any connection in the entire motorcycle. You can start diagnosing bad connection by taking off fairing motorcycle parts, the gas tank and seat, and disconnect all connections you find. Do these one at a time, and spray them with a contact cleaner before filling the connector again.

Also another motorcycle part could be suspected for resolving the issue. There is a vacuum-operated valve on these motorcycles. There is a fuel screen inside the fuel tank which requires draining the tank and removing the valve to draw the screen out from the inside the fuel tank. 

You can learn how to change the battery at Honda Nighthawk by following this 6-point list of instructions connected with moving several Honda motorcycle parts:

1.   First motorcycle part you need to remove is the right side cover. For removing this motorcycle part first you need to remove the seat. The side cover is held in place by rubber grommets. You need to pull at the front of this motorcycle part (the grommets are at the front of the side cover) in order not to break the side cover.

2.   Remove the battery case door bolt

3.   Slide the battery towards you

4.   Disconnect the negative battery cables  and the positive battery cable

5.   Remove the battery

6.   Hook up  the ground cable and then the positive cable

This motorcycle parts instruction is really simple and it should be done without any hardness except the first point. That’s why we dedicated more lines in explaining – just to make sure you don’t break any motorcycle part. 

Do you have really old Honda motorcycle made before 1980s? If you do and you’re trying to find old Honda motorcycle parts, you might find your solution here.

Some guy had a problem with finding aftermarket motorcycle parts and we tried to help him. Since Cycle-Parts.com is a company providing Honda motorcycle parts produced mostly after 1980 we can’t meet our customers’ needs with really old Honda motorcycles.   

This guy’s problem was linked with the connectors between the air filter and the carburetors. He was desperate to find out if he could find connectors that will suite his motorcycle the most. We’re talking about 1975 Honda cb200t motorcycle.

So here’s the answer: such connectors Honda is not producing anymore, unfortunately.  But you can look for aftermarket motorcycle parts (really hard to find) or you can try to build up or patch the old ones with some goop adhesive.  

Last thing you can try to do is to find other Honda motorcycle parts such as pod type filters but they will need you to increase your carburetors main and idle jet sizes, plus the motorcycle will need increasing the fuel mixture.

If you’re looking for other aftermarket motorcycle parts, you can check our aftermarket motorcycle parts section in which you can search by motorcycle type/brand or by motorcycle parts category.