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What is Bama Rides?
Bama Rides is a motorcycle community and Alabama-based group of motorcycle junkies, sharing information about bikes, roads, rides, trails, and anything to do with motorcycles in and around Alabama. If you want to find out what is happening in Alabama, check out the forum and sign up for your free membership. All brands, styles, makes and models of motorcycles are welcome.
UAB Safety Study being conducted now.
If you would like to participate in the UAB safety study about motorcycle safety, and rider habits and education, please follow the link below. All information gathered is strictly confidential, and cannot be connected to anyone person. You can also fill out an optional form after the survey to receive a $10 debit card for participating in the study. Click here for study
Interview with motorcycle author Ray Gironda
A passionate motorcyclist, Ray writes about some young misfit sport-bikers that videotape themselves running from the law, and post the video online.
Ray Gironda – author, “The Runners”
Mississippi to Georgia – Trans-Alabama Dual-Sport Adventure
It was late. So we had to find a place to set up in the dark. I pulled off of the Natchez Trace parkway at the first “scenic overlook” sign that I saw. It was a Hot and humid night. There were lots of stars out that night. I took a sleeping pill and was out with a quickness. Read the story
Motus Motorcycles – interview with Lee Conn
I was able to spend a few minutes with the President of Motus Motorcycles – Lee Conn, last Thursday at the Innovation Depot in downtown Birmingham. What struck me immediately about Lee was his passion about motorcycles in general. We talked a lot about motorcycling and what type of riding and bikes we enjoyed, and the one thing that really stood out is – This guy is just like me. In other words, this is a guy that loves to ride, sport bikes, cruisers, touring, he digs all bikes. Motus is on the way towards making a really cool sport-touring motorcycle, right here in Birmingham. They should have 2 prototypes ready by October, and ready to do some testing. I cant wait to see the real thing.
Willy’s Covered Bridge Tour
47 bikes converged into a parking lot in Harpersville. Cruisers, sportbikes, scooters, a trike and a car all took advantage of one of the largest Bama Rides tours yet. Read the story
Willy T’s Covered Bridge Tour .
How to change the engine oil on 2007 Harley-Davidson Sportster / Nightster
Dual-sport crash on a dirt road
We (me and Jeep8) had just passed another member of the ride (doing a reasonable speed) and turned it up about 6 notches, just before a downhill turn. The rider in front locked his rear and went sliding off the bluff – about 15 feet down. I did the same, just to his right, and my bike was stopped by the tree to my right – luckily it did not follow me down the hill. Read the article
Riding in the RAIN
Did ya know it’s officially Spring? Did ya know there’s a chance of rain in the Spring?
Did ya know it’s POSSIBLE to RIDE in the RAIN?
It’s been my experience that here in the Heart of Dixie, springtime is a glorious time to ride a motorbike. Yeah, it *MIGHT* rain, but not always, and it doesn’t always rain all day long, when it does rain. There’s no need to take your car keys just because there’s a chance of showers. Get out and ride, if it gets too bad, find cover / eat lunch / take a break, it will blow over and you can get back in the saddle. Read the article
Off-Road Riding Class
More details and discussion HERE
Alabama’s hidden history, discovered from a motorcycle
Exploring Alabama’s David DeBandi takes us on a tour of an abandoned (and haunted?) state mental institution, with a profound set of images, and a bit of history of the Jemison Mental Institution in Tuscaloosa. More
A few minutes with Joe Bruton
After spending 17 years at Barber Motorsports Museum, Joe and his wife Cindy decided to start their own business restoring and servicing vintage machines.
Daytona Bike Week – My story, and I am stickin’ to it.
It started as a desire of mine to go to Bike Week.
I soon started making plans for such a desire. First, I enlisted the help of a “local escort” (LE). The compensation for such duties included but were not limited to food and drinks for the entire time we’re together. The LE had to know just a bit about the area, so naturally the LE had to be of legal drinking age. It was also a must that the LE be female. It was not a requirement or restriction that the LE be nice, intelligent, good looking, economical, or prompt (We will cover these as we go). Read the story
Dual Sport riding in Alabama
A nice day to do some off-roading in the urban areas of Homewood, we decided to do a tour of the old Sloss mines just off Lakeshore drive. The mining ruins of the previous iron industry still exist in their rotting forms. Enough to make an interesting day of riding and exploring to the area known to THE DIRTY DOZEN as – The Shire READ MORE
Motorcycle ride to Peru – Machu Picchu
The scenery is just mind blowing. Its hard to keep my eyes on the road. The roads are switch backs, esses, sweepers and every now and then a mountain stream will cross the road or a landslide will be all over it. The roads are bad to the bone, the best I have ever ridden or seen. I can’t describe the views. Just constantly picture perfect. Ansel Adams pictures everywhere I point my eyes. We ride through Urubamba town and start climbing in altitude through the Andes. Read the rest of the article
AMA Racing at Barbers – a new perspective
I have never really been a big race fan, I guess because racing has never really seemed to me to be a real sport. I was never that impressed with anyone’s ability to push a machine across asphalt faster than a bunch of other guys….. until Saturday. Yesterday, all that changed when I saw the Superbike race at Barbers. I saw things that were shocking. Guys doing things with bikes that were unreal. These guys were moving the bikes down the track in ways that defied laws of physics, human abilities, and any reasonable explanation. I was in awe.
Now don’t get me wrong, I have been to races before, and even shot them up close, but I have never seen men operate machines in a way that left me wondering how they did that. I have always believed, with enough practice and the right equipment, I could join the ranks with these racers and compete with them. But no longer. I even discovered a new slight flaw in the track in turn #2. I small dip exists on the exit of #2 that has always been invisible. Invisible, because at 40-60 MPH the other bikes appear to be riding on the flawless surface. At 90 MPH, the small dip becomes visible, as the bikes compress and the rear-end swivels, all in a turn, amazing to watch.
AMA Racing at Barbers – a new perspective
Upcoming events
There are quite a few upcoming events in the next few weeks, many we have placed on the calendar and posted details about, and many other that we do not know about. If you have any event, rally, or interesting bike-related activity you would like posted, take the first step and sign up for a free account here , or if you simply want to tell us what is going on, call or email us
