Columns

A collection of 156 posts

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Tales of Trails: Paper or Plastic?

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Nicola Dutto Rides Again

Thirteen years and three seconds. That's how long it took motorcycle rally racer Nicola Dutto to realize his dream of competing in the 2023 Baja 1000, a point-to-point race from La Paz to Ensenada. Those three seconds, however, were the longest of his life. On March 20, 2010,

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Motorcycle Drive Systems Explained

The Motorcyclist's Guide to the Galaxy

Three Magic Words

GPX, or GPS Exchange Format, has become the de-facto file standard for overland navigation. Each waypoint in the file uses the WGS 84 coordinate system. In layman’s terms, there are two decimal numbers—latitude, which is north/positive or south/negative of the equator, and longitude, which is east/

Shiftin' Semantics Premium Content

Do You Ride or Drive a Motorcycle?

Motorcyclists are riders—they ride motorcycles. Yet, now and then, you hear someone refer to the act of operating our favorite two-wheeled conveyances as “driving.” As the copy editor of RoadRUNNER, I’m an unapologetic word nerd. So, in my mind, this difference in word usage raises the question of

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BMW R 20 Concept Motorcycle at Villa d’Este

After a long absence, BMW Motorrad has presented a concept motorcycle at the stage of the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d’Este. In addition to the big boxer engine, the brightly-colored tank was the focus of the R 20 roadster Every summer, the park of Villa d'Este

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Should You Warm Up Your Bike Before Riding?

Many of us are in the habit of irritating our neighbors by warming up our engines before we leave for a ride. Much like an athlete warming up before competition, it only makes sense that our engines require the same treatment. Allowing the engine components to heat up and oil

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Interview with Alexander Buckan—BMW’s New Head of Design

Alexander Buckan—born 1974 in Erfurt, Germany—took over the direction of the BMW Motorrad Design from Edgar Heinrich on January 1, 2024. After working at Mercedes-Benz and a freelancer, he joined the motorcycle department in Munich in 2003. I sat down to chat with the fresh head designer to

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Pen to Production—Interview with KTM Designer Gerald Kiska

Austrian designer Gerald Kiska has been responsible for designing KTM models for more than three decades. Since Husqvarna and Gas Gas joined the same group, his portfolio has extended to these brands as well. Kiska has never been afraid to provoke with his designs. I sat to chat with him

The Motorcyclist's Guide to the Galaxy Premium Content

Mirrored Infotainment Systems

The visual user experience when riding (or driving) has evolved in the last few decades to have two main areas of interest. There’s the primary screen—a dashboard with critical gauges, such as the speedometer, tachometer, and engine warning lights—and a secondary screen for infotainment, featuring a media

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Don't Overlook Basic Motorcycle Maintenance

Unfortunately, you can’t just hop on your bike and ride without performing proper maintenance and checks. If you do, you shouldn’t. Pilots check their aircraft before takeoff to mitigate any chance of an unscheduled landing. Motorcycle pilots should be no less diligent. A catastrophic failure on a motorcycle

The Iron Boys Premium Content

Iron Boys Part 3: Meeting the Guys

Most people can recall a time when they could just kick themselves for being so dull or self-absorbed. I have four of them and they all involve famous racers. The first was when I was 21 and living in Georgia. It began with my brother’s 1956 Harley-Davidson Panhead chopper.

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Iron Boys Part 2: Minibikes and Shoeburners

The greatest movie of all time, On Any Sunday, is about those blonde-haired, blue-eyed, godless boys of sunny Southern California. Now, just hear me out. It’s not that we didn’t like the movie, up there in the black culm hills of northeastern Pennsylvania. We loved it, we idolized

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Iron Boys Part 1: The Iron Boys of Northeast Pennsylvania

These cobalt blue skies of September, so typical of Colorado, are much rarer an occurrence in the northeast of Pennsylvania between Scranton and Carbondale. Still, they transport me back to the days of riding motocross bikes with the iron boys. We, that piloted them, were the grandsons of Ellis Island

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Interview: Markus Flasch, Head of BMW Motorrad

Markus Flasch, born in 1981, took over as the head of BMW Motorrad on November 1, 2023. He succeeded Markus Schramm, who had been in charge of the company since 2018. After studying automotive engineering, this Austrian manager’s career got off to a flying start at engineering service provider

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The Meaning Of It All

The following is a transcription of a handwritten letter that arrived at the RoadRUNNER office in early March. The letter caught us off-guard with its directness and honesty, and while our original plan was to only respond to the writer, we thought you might also want to hear his story.

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Fantastic Plastic

Acerbis, a motorcycle components manufacturer and pioneer in plastic fuel tanks, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with an entry in the Guinness World Records. The company’s founder Franco Acerbis took me on a journey through time during this interview. Ever heard of a motorcycle with a 28-gallon fuel tank?

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Motorcycles and 3D Printing: What to 3D Print For Your Bike

Modern 3D printing technology is opening new doors not just for motorcycle manufacturers, but also for riders. As I detailed in the Dec ‘22 issue, these once-futuristic machines have become so accessible and affordable that practically anybody can buy one. A 3D printer can turn your garage into a mini

Letter from the Editor Premium Content

I Remember My First Road Trip—A Letter From Marisa

I've been riding motorcycles since I was a young child. That said, it wasn't until college that I started traveling on one. In the first few months of being out on my own, I made several weekend moto camping trips with friends, but nothing too far

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Moto Morini: Up from the Ashes

The year was 1914. Italian teenager Alfonso Morini had just opened his motorcycle repair shop when World War I broke out and the youth was whisked off to serve in Italy’s 8th Motorcycles unit in Padua. After the war, Morini got back to his passion job and, in 1925,

Speed The Wheel

Motorcycle Smells

Of the five primary senses, smell enjoys a privileged connection with the brain, capable of drawing up memories with unnerving clarity. Marcel Proust, the esteemed French stream-of-consciousness writer, once commented that it was “by taste and smell alone” that the memories of his childhood came rushing back. His novel, In

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Vanson Leathers: From Versailles to Fall River

Back in the mid-1900s, most any gathering of motorcyclists would be dominated by leather clad riders. Leather offered warmth, abrasion protection, and style. The epicenter of Euro-centric leather motorcycle style was the Ace Cafe in London, where ton-up boys on their BSAs, Triumphs, and Nortons wore now-iconic leather jackets. Starting

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Speed the Wheel: A Father, a Son, and a Motorcycle

The object of my adolescent desires and unflinching obsession was the Honda Trail 70. A photo collage of the bike adorned the wall above my bed. But how were I to acquire the funds needed to purchase said motorcycle at the age of 12? My father solved that puzzle by

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A Life of Design: Heinrich Full Interview

Edgar Heinrich worked at the BMW Motorrad Design Studio, apart from a short interruption, since 1987. At the end of 2023, he decided it was time to retire from his leading position and handed the design department’s reins over to Alexander Buckan. Without any conspicuous image cultivation, at his

Shop Talk

Keep Your Bolts Bolted

It’s truly a marvel that the clockwork cacophony of motorcycle parts—all designed, manufactured, and arranged so precisely—hold together and continue to function for thousands and thousands of miles. However, something as simple as one bolt coming loose can absolutely wreck your engine or other critical system on