The spontaneous and unplanned rides are sometimes the most fun. It started with a text message from my girlfriend: “What are we going to do today?” Before long we found ourselves near the historic village of Kleinburg, Ontario. Kleinburg is surrounded by beautiful hills and branches of the Humber river.

The town is picturesque and its early 1800s origins have been left unspoiled.

How do you turn 6,000 into 60,000? Ask residents of Port Dover, Ontario, a small community on the north shore of Lake Erie. Every Friday the 13th Port Dover is filled with over 50,000 motorcyclists. This year marked the 30th anniversary of the event which first began in 1981 to tune of a group of a little over 20 friends having fun while the Rolling Stones sang "Start Me Up" over the radio.

There’s something about the connection between man, machine, and the elements. Hand on the throttle, rubber on the asphalt, warm sun and cool wind on face. It’s part of the beautiful connection of riding. When we were looking to expand our connection to include others, we bought a Cardo Scala Rider Multiset Q2.

The all new 2011 KYMCO Downtown 300i's have landed in Canada, many have been awaiting its arrival date. The Downtown 300i was designed with maxi-scooter performance and sport bike agility for the perfect scooter experience. The scooter looks particularly sharp and looks equally as good on paper. We took our first look at two of them today at Studio Cycle Group in Toronto.

The 250cc motorcycle market has finally opened up in the Western hemisphere. In North America, where the Ninja seemed to sit at the top of the 250cc sportbike throne all alone, it now faces challenges from both Hyosung, as well as from Honda's new CBR-250R. If you're looking for a 250cc cruiser, the only one available in Canada or the USA we'd recommend is the KYMCO Venox, but if sportbike motorcycles are your thing, here's a comparison of acceleration, speeds, braking and fuel economy from Popular Mechanics:

In December of 2008 I found my father unable to make his way up a flight of stairs by himself. He felt weak on one side than the other. We were fearful of a stroke. The hospital assessed him and ordered an emergency CT Scan and MRI. This was no stroke. They said they found something “deep within the brain”.

Disk brake vs drum brake motorcycle on a motorcycle. What are the differences between disks and drums, and which is best for your motorcycle?

In stock form, the KYMCO Venox has a great top speed for a cruiser. It does over 140 km/hr, but 5th gear is a bit of an overdrive and the bike doesn't have much pull left at that speed. The bike cruisers comfortably at 120 or up to 130, but at those speeds there isn't a lot of power left for passing.

Be safe, or at least don't get ripped off!

Part of our on-going How to Buy your First Motorcycle series. We've already looked at motorcycle insurance, the M1 license, including an M1 practice test, now it's time for the M2 test. We'll cover:

Should I take an M1 exit course (a.k.a. MSF riding school course), or just take the test with the ministry?

Does taking a course for my M1 exit test help me save on motorcycle insurance?

What are the approved ministry of transportation motorcycle courses and which one should I take?