Motorcycle Adventures

Since Nicole and I have started riding, I have done a lot of research on various products to add to our motorcycles. As a result, I have come across a lot of information, and over the last year, done a lot of purchasing. Most of these have been from US online stores, together with a few items from local retailers. Here them is a little bit of a review on some of the various products, services, and retailers that we have used

Insurance

Cassells Insurance

I can’t say enough about the wonderful insurance services at Cassells Insurance in Vancouver, BC. They are friendly and helpful. They offer the kind of service you would have expedted years ago, from a small town store. It’s refreshing to find such an easy and pleasant insurance buying experience. They also offer Beacon Motorcycle Insurance, which is by far the best insurance we have a found. With a reasonably clean driving record, the insurance is cheaper than the optional ICBC insurance, and offers many more features, not the least of which is an agreed value policyon your bike, rather than a market value policy. This means that if your bike is totaled, they will cut you a cheque for the insured value, not the market value – that’s great!

Other items covered include:
- Emergency Roadside Service Expense
- Lock Rekeying
- Travel Protection
- $1,000 for Motorcycle Trailers
- $1,000 for Riding Gear included

This policy doesn’t make sense for everyone as there are age restrictions and a reasonably clean driving records is needed, however it’s very much worth looking in to.

http://cassellsinsurance.com/

Great Products

RAM Mounts

If you have anything that you would like to mount on your vehicle, even if it’s not your motorcycle, this huge line up of products may be for you. It’s a simple system, with a huge number of custom products to fit almost anything you may want. The way it works is simple. You have a base, which attaches to your vehicle. There are many different bases to suite different mounting challenges, but a large number are specifically designed to work with motorcycles. The base has a ball attached. To this ball, attaches an arm, which come in various lengths and styles. To the other end of the arm is a specific mount, again with a ball, which then holds your favorite toy. I have used the system myself to mount my GPS. See this post for an example of the system: http://motorcycleadventures.info/2008/05/26/more-stuff-arrives-in-mail

RAM Mounts are never really ordered through thier website, howver it is a good resource for all the products they have. To order see our other reveiws.
http://www.ram-mount.com/

Online Stores – Reviews

SpoiledBiker.com

This store is a US online retailer, and is the store we have ordered our StarCom1 communication systems from, various Powerlet accessories, our GMRS radios for use with the StarCom1 system. Joe, who seems to be one of the owners, has been great. Emails are returned quickly, and even on weekends. Orders have been shipped within 24 hours, and when we had a problem with one of our GMRS radios, a new radio was sent out right away, no questions asked, before we had a chance to return the old one. Shipping costs have been fair – I have no complaints. Selection is limited to the brands they carry, and other than the few brands we have been interested in, there isn’t a lot that we have ordered from the store. We have however now dealt with them 5 different times for various shipments, and they have always been great.
www.spoiledbiker.com

WhiteHorseGear.com

Another US company that has done a great job with customer service. Orders have been shipped the same day, often within an hour or two, and emails have been returned within a matter of minutes when they are open. I have had the opportunity to communicate with several staff and everyone has been very friendly. They have a wide selection of products, including RAM mounts, which is where we originally ordered our RAM products from. Although they made a mistake based on wrong information from RAM, when I contacted them about it they quickly and professionally dealt with the situation. We have ordered 4 times from them. Shipping costs are reasonable again, and service is top notch.
www.whitehorsegear.com

HelmetHeadCycleGear.com

These guys have a wide selection of products, but most are geared towards owners of cruisers. their website is a little frustrating to navigate as you must select a brand and model of motorcycle to browse much of their online items, even if they may be applicable to other bikes… They do however have a great selection, and a great price on GIVI products. I have ordered my 650’s windscreen here and they dealt with the order very well. They also have an interesting shipping policy, whereby they will not charge you for shipping when you put your order in, but once the order has been prepped, will add the actual shipping costs to your order, not an overinflated price. They also send a free Tshirt with orders over $100. Email communication has also been quite good with them, and turn-around time between placing and shipping orders has been about one day.
www.helmetheadcyclegear.com

Dream Cycles

This Canadian retailer is based in Ontario. We have put in 2 orders to them. They have been adequate, but not impressive like the others. Orders were shipped within a couple of days, but when there was a missing item in our second order, they took 4 days to respond, and then were unwilling to send the missing item by ExpressPost to get it to us for our trip in time. Prices are however good. I was able to find my Battery Tender Batter Charger in their store, and the price was less, including shipping than if I had bought it locally in Vancouver.
www.dreamcycles.net

Accommodation

Alpine Motel – Nelson BC

We have been very happy with the genuine friendly service provided at the Alpine motel. They have helped us find great places to eat, and have returned our emails, answered our questions, and always greeted us with a smile. Prices have been great as well – we would easily recommend them to anyone staying in Nelson. They are located only a couple minutes walk from the center of Nelson.

Alpine Motel
1120 Hall Mines Rd Nelson V1L-1G6