Budget-Minded Motorcycle Holiday Gift Guide
Here it comes – another Holiday gift season. If there’s a motorcyclist on your list to buy for, it can be difficult to know what they might need or want. Stress ensues. Then when you spot things they might want or need, the price tag might cause more stress. It can be tough to even know where to start.
Have no fear Ultimate Motorcycling is here. These are some ideas to help get you started, not ranked necessarily in any real order, but all are selected to not be budget-busters.
So those heads-up display smart helmets with anti-gamma-ray, heated, reflective faceshield, night vision, GPS readout, weather alert, rear-view, collision-avoidance, V2V, Bluetooth comm ready, air-conditioned, custom-fitted interior, heated face-shield, MSRP whacky ultra-helmets don’t make the list. Indeed, some are so cheap, they may fall into the stocking-stuffer category, but you gotta start somewhere!
You’ll also notice that these items are something we’ve covered here at Ultimate Motorcycling. That allows us to give you a link to more detailed information and it also gives us a higher degree of confidence that you will get what you pay for.
1. Lift Tickets for the Copper Peak Adventure Tour
It was only this past month that we took you to the top of the world’s tallest man-made ski jumping tower called Copper Peak. They say that on a clear day, from the top of the slide, you can see three states and Canada from its bluff-top location in the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The trip is well worth it and, while the U.P. will soon be in ski-trip and snowmobile mode under a blanket of snow, there’s always next spring, summer and fall touring to plan for.
The tickets are available at the Copper Peak gift shop at the base of the hill for only $20 and many local businesses offer $5 discount coupons and you can get tickets via the web at https://copperpeak.net/visit/ . The whole area has a lot of great motorcycle touring points of interest, dining (including great places across the border in Hurley, WI) and natural scenery. For more read our Touring Michigan’s Porcupine Mountains and North for the Fourth articles.
2. Tire Repair and Inflator Kit
A flat tire on your ride can ruin your day. It’s one of those things that can happen anywhere and usually manages to occur at the worst “where” possible and worst “when” possible like when you are ready to head for the shed late in the day on a Sunday ride and you find one of your tires going down or flat as you get ready to leave from your last stop of the day. And your cell phone gets no towers.
Fix-a-flat and its variants are not an option for motorcycle tires, convenient though they may be for certain circumstances. The product is not recommended by its manufacturer for use on certain types of tires, including motorcycle tires.
Kits to allow repair of a puncture and inflation of the tire using compact compressed CO2 (carbon dioxide) canisters are available on the market, such as the ones from Pit Posse for $38, Moose Racing for $36, or BikeMaster for $47. Spoiler alert: there are inflator-only kits and repair-and-inflate kits, so you will want to be sure to get the latter if you want the ability to plug a puncture as well as re-inflate the tire. Also, don’t forget to have a trusty ol’ tire pressure gauge in your kit.
3. Slipstreamer Windshield
A little more than a year ago, we took a look at the Slipstreamer Spitfire Windshield. Fact is, the Spitfire is only one style and size of windscreen that Slipstreamer makes and they make them all right here in the good ol’ USA. They make them for pretty much any brand and style of bike you care to name. Over the years, I’ve used a couple of different ones and if I had a penny for every bug, bit of flying road debris and what-all that those windshields have kept from hitting me, I could probably afford a fully restored Crocker Small Tank. Or something else pretty nice. Pricing varies by style, tint, and size, but all the info is available online here.
4. Tail or Tank Bag
Up till recent years, I tended not to take much stuff along with me on a ride, even a longish day-trip. So, a set of light throw-over saddlebags was about all I need to take anything along that I thought ahead enough to bring. Lately, I found myself giving a lot of thought to using a tank or tail bag for more capacity or as an alternative to saddlebags. For example, in the case of the Yamaha V-Max I picked up this summer, I just didn’t think saddlebags were the thing for that machine, yet I wanted to be able to bring my usual supply of stuff.
I found a Nelson-Rigg CL-15 Journey Sport tank bag that looked pretty cool and is expandable for a pretty reasonable price—it retails for $115.95. They have a wide range of bags for tank, tail and saddle locations, and you can check them out on the Nelson-Rigg website. If that rider you’re looking to gift with gear tends to have more stuff to pack than room to pack it, something in the line of this type of high-tech, adaptable luggage might be in order. Other sources to have a look at online include Viking Bags, Cortech and Tourmaster to name but a few to get you started.
5. Gear Security and Portability: Lidlox Helmet Lock and Wraptie Tie-Downs:
Ok, we actually are giving you six instead of five ideas, but the Holidays are coming and we’re in a generous mood. Besides, these two ideas perform a similar type of function.
The Lidlox helmet lock keeps your expensive and essential helmet from going down the road in somebody else’s possession when you are stopped someplace; the Wraptie, meanwhile keeps your other gear from going down the road while you’re going down the road.
Each of these products is very practical and meets our rather arbitrary and capricious criteria for the economy.
MSRP for the Wraptie: (as of July 2018): 130 twin-pack: $29 (USD); 180 twin-pack: $37 (USD); 240 twin-pack: $43 (USD); Bundle with two of all three sizes: $109 (USD). See product listing on the website for latest pricing data.
Lidlox goes for between $44 and $140 depending on the model and application, so to get pricing on the one your rider would need, check out https://lidlox.com/.
