StromTrooper banner

Anybody maintain a rider blog?

3K views 19 replies 10 participants last post by  darkjedip 
#1 ·
I'm not really a big fan of talking. I'm pretty sure I could make it though most days without ever needing to talk to another person - if only the opportunity would present itself. On the other hand, I really enjoy writing. I suppose the best reason I can think of that I enjoy riding is that as opposed to talking, I don't actually have to see when the other person rolls their eyes while I'm getting my point across... :roll:

At any rate, I have found that I have more to say about motorcycling than what I post here. So much so that I ended up creating a blog about my motorcycling life. This is nothing major, or even exciting, but it gives me the chance to write about what I want, when I want, and to be able to control who gets to read what I write.

I started wondering if anybody else here on Stromtrooper.com maintains a blog about their two-wheel exploits. If there are several of us (or more) I would kind of like to see a place where we can share the blogs with each other. I have had a link to my blog in my signature (off and on) for a month or so, but now I am going public. I will stick my neck out and offer my blog, G26 Motoblog, up as the first sacrifice. Feel free to read and comment, though hate-mail will be deleted.

If anybody else has a blog they would like to share (or cookies, they are good too...), go ahead and post a link here. If nothing else, we can all follow each other's blogs and look like we have some real friends in the blogosphere.

G26
 
See less See more
#2 ·
That's a cool idea. I started writing a blog for my trip down South last year, but I only had a couple of people following it, and I realized one of those people was my wife, so I couldn't post everything I was thinking of, or post anything that might worry her etc.. so I stopped writing it.

I find a lot of these forums is very similar to a blog, with the difference being there isn't one place someone could go to read all my thoughts, its spread out more, so that makes it more mysterious. ;)

I will have a read through your blog though. Thanks for the link. :)
 
#3 ·
...and I realized one of those people was my wife, so I couldn't post everything I was thinking of, or post anything that might worry her etc.. so I stopped writing it.
I know what you mean. In my case, my wife generally finds a way to misinterpret a good chunk of the things I write. She doesn't understand that I'm not nearly as deep as she thinks I am. When I write something, I mean only what I write with no other subtext. She knows that I do this but she has no interest in reading it unless it involves a ride we were both on. Beyond that she is pretty tired of hearing me talk about bikes, hence, this blog...

G26
 
#4 ·
I think you have a good idea going. As somebody who has written a few blogs during my travels, I can relate to it.

If it is just for your self then that is fine(mine started out as an online diary of my daily travel). If it is just for yourself but you don't mind others reading, then that is also fine. It is when it changes to writing specifically for others, that is when it becomes interesting as your outlook on riding and travel changes.

I progressed through both stages above and now even though my writing is still for me, I am always on th elookout for things that others may be interested in, so it is a win/win situation as I usually enjoy it as well. It can become a chore though, beware of that.

Good luck
TravellingStrom
 
#5 · (Edited)
I have been writing mine for several years now. Wish I had more time to spend on it, but we all know how that goes. Anyone interested is more than welcome to give it a read. My dream would be to find a way to write and ride for a living, but I'll settle for someone just reading my stuff!


http://nowheelieshere.blogspot.com
 
#9 ·
I have been writing mine for several years now. Wish I had more time to spend on it, but we all know how that goes. Anyone interested is more than welcome to give it a read. My dream would be to find a way to write and ride for a living, but I'll settle for someone just reading my stuff!


No Wheelies Here

You've been doing this for a while... Good stuff. Thanks.

G26
 
#6 ·
Great idea. Now you've got me interested.

I will be reading everything in everyone's blog, time permitting, of course.

Like someone earlier posted, I'm also introverted but writing definitely appeals to me. Communication without direct interaction, sadly, somehow has a nice ring to it. I love to share.

I've found myself in somewhat of a slump with writing ride reports. When I first started writing ride reports it seemed like there was so much to write about. But, as I continued to write I didn't want to write about the same things over and over. Over time I kind of ran out of things to write. This happens when you ride the same roads with the same friends.

Now, I find myself wanting to read about some of the finer details when reading ride reports. For example, I would like to hear the riders view point of the gear he is wearing, what he / she likes about it, what he / she doesn't like about it. The same goes for any farkles on the bike. What worked well, what didn't. Of course, this is in addition to all the details about the ride. Pics for the scenery, video's of the ride are good to see as well. I'm trying incorporate these into my ride reports. Anyway, my thought here is that not everyone provides this level of detail and that maybe a blog would be more appropriate to go into this level of detail.

Off to read the blogs listed here...
 
#11 ·
wordpress

As an alternative to journalling last summer on an extended 8 week ride my son suggested that I'd probably find wordpress a good tool without too steep a learning curve. It's an awesome place to read and write all kinds of stuff about personal passions. When riding I tried to post daily but don't have a need to post regularly. windtogo.wordpress.com
 
#12 ·
I used to be an avid woodworker who took on projects for friends and family. Tired of answering "is it done yet," and "what's taking so long" questions, I started blogging the process of a build so my 'customers' could see all that was involved. Everyone LOVED this and would check in frequently, so I wrote it for them.

I found myself going back to look up a technique, calculation, or to share a pic of something with a fellow woodworker. It really was very handy to have a log 'in the cloud'.

I started a 'moto blog' to document my travels, wrenching, etc. and I use it much the same way - looking up when/ how I did maintenance, or when did I take that trip to XYZ, hosting pics... I find myself looking at my trips a lot in the winter when I can't ride. I write it for me.
 
#13 ·
I just added a couple of new blogs to my reading list!

Here's mine: Bandit Rider
 
#14 ·
There's some really interesting stuff in those blogs and I've bookmarked all that were posted and will read them all as time allows. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I've thought about doing a blog for some time, but wasn't sure how to go about getting started. Still not...

So, what about the nuts and bolts aspects of blogging? I noticed some use Blogger, some Wordpress.

How did you make your decision on which to go with?

Is spam a problem with responders? What protections are provided or not with either option?

What limitations are there on file sizes, i.e. photos, videos, etc?

How easy/difficult was it to set up and maintain?

Are there fees with these sites. I would think that with more elaborate blogs there would be.

I have looked at both sites and I know with further digging I would find these answers, but it helps to hear from actual users rather than just some text on a web site. I'm sure there are questions I haven't even thought of, so any help you can give to another would be blogger will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
 
#16 ·
Just do it! It's a piece of cake.

I believe that Wordpress is more customisable but with the Google stuff you get picture storage etc with Picasa and of course it's all free. I can basically upload an unlimited amount of pics as long as they are 2048 x 1536 or less in resolution. Videos can be linked from YouTube.
 
#15 ·
Blogger

I've found Blogger (Google) to be easy to set up. Haven't tried any others. It has no fees and no picture limitations. I usually use the default picture storage site owned by Google, Picassa. Works well. I also use YouTube for videos, also a Google owned product. They seem to work well together.

It only took me an hour to design and activate my blog on Blogger. I use "Blogsy" for the iPad when travelling. You can use a separate picture storage site too. I use Photo Bucket, especially when posting pictures to ADV Rider. That has free and paid versions. I use a paid version, $25 a year I think. Pretty cheap for what you get.

I didn't try the other blog systems basically because I already had a Gmail account and could just use that.
 
#17 · (Edited)
A couple of basics as I am heading to airport.

Wordpress is free. But, you then include the name worpress in th ebloag address. I pay I think $30/year and it gets removed. eg

standard free address. **http://www.travellingstrom.wordpress.com the ** is to stop it showing as links
paid for address **http://www.travellingstrom.com

Wordpress was about the only good one around when I started mine back in 07

Spam is filtered and kept in a folder. It seems to be very good. I used to check the spam folder before emptying it and sometimes I still do, but it has only ever marked as spam about 4 comments that were not spam in nearly 6 years. Not bad.

Normally if someone comments, I have it set up to send me an email and it will ask for action on my part. But, only the once. As soon as I approve an email address as being OK, then that person can post a comment and it will be seen without my approval, but I still do get an email for each comment posted. That way I can delete or respond to it as needed. I always respond to EVERY comment.

Videos are no problem, you just link direct from youtube.

Pictures on the other hand need to be matched to the actual theme you use. I use Andreas 09, this theme is 3 panels wide and at this stage can take the maximum size photo, I forget the exact size. I needed mine to be configurable for me, it takes a bit of time to play with the different themes until you find one that looks just right for you. Write some stuff, add some photos and then play with the themes until you find one. Don't forget, what you see is not what others see. If you are designing your site on a 19" widescreen monitor, make sure you have a bog standard monitor because people who look at you site with one of them may have to scroll to see the pictures and it is no fun and they will soon leave and not come back.

Once the site is up and running it is easy to run. I do not use the onsite photo album as when I started I found it not very user friendly. I linked all my photos to photobucket instead. I do not like what photobucket has done to me as a professional user recently and advise to stay away from them. I am looking to change hosts, but that will be a big job to update every blog entry and I am not sure I have the time or energy. I may have another look at wordpress photo upload and see if any changes have been made.

Be aware with photos that bandwidth from the host site can be important. If you get many visitors all looking at your blog, it is easy to run out of free bandwidth, that is why I had to go Pro and pay a yearly fee to PB, so that the photos were available at all times. But, saying that, as my trip is at an end now and I won't be doing a lot of blogs over the next little while, I do not have to renew my Pro account. The amount of free bandwidth should be enough for occasional views while I am idle(read working)

Cheers from Kuala Lumpur
TravellingStrom
 
#19 ·
That'll help being setup already...

About spam: Blogger has different options for comment approval so that you can filter out the spam. I'm setup so that I approve all comments before they are posted live to the blog. Blogger is also a lot more customisable now - pick a basic layout and then you can modify it.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top