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A collection of 136 posts

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

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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

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Sidetracked

Pack Mentality—Gear

"I Was Only Going a Mile" We see it all the time. A pretty young lady riding across campus on a scooter, a bare-headed youth ripping through rush-hour traffic on a sportbike, T-shirt billowing over bare skin, or a middle-aged man, commuting to work on his cruiser. They

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Royal Enfield’s Project Origin

The company we know today as Royal Enfield began as Enfield Bicycle Company in the U.K. in the 1890s. As the 20th century dawned, Enfield engineers fitted a combustion engine to a bicycle-type frame and sent power to the rear wheel via belts and pulleys. In an unusual move,

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How Salvo Pennisi Shaped Pirelli’s World Class Tire Testing Practices

His business card reads: "Pirelli Head of Outdoor Testing and Technical Relations, Motorcycle and Bicycle." However, it’s impossible to explain Salvo Pennisi's job in one sentence—let alone who he is as a person. Perhaps a little anecdote, told during a dinner by the sea

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If It Ain't Broke...Give It Time

Murphy is alive and well, and he is nobody’s fool. Patient, cunning, and devious, he will get you when you least expect it … unless you’re prepared. We’ve been out here almost two weeks on the Idaho Backcountry Discovery Route. The sun is about to set and we

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Speed Limits in the US: Pin it on the Beaver!

Have you ever been frustrated by flashing lights in your rear-view mirrors? Did you feel as if you were singled out because you were on two wheels rather than four? Speed limits—whoever thought of such a thing? It is all just surreal. There are at least 10 production motorcycles

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E-Fuels: The (Potential) Fuel of The Future

We live in the e-age. We have email, e-books, e-commerce, and even e-bikes from the likes of Zero, LiveWire, and Energica. Soon enough, we can add e-fuels to this list. I can hear the confused whispering in the audience. How could liquid fuels be electric or electronic? Although the “E”

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Being a Part of the Show

I recently recounted my beginnings in motocross, which I shared with my best friend and next-door neighbor, Scott Johnson. We rode, learned, and raced together. Although I couldn’t afford to commit to racing, Scott stayed with it, moving from a beginner to a novice, intermediate, and then pro. In

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The Thunderstorm: Aprilia Tuono and I

I was struck by the world of racing at the age of 12 when the local motorcycle club organized the European enduro championship race in my hometown. All of a sudden, life came into the secluded world of the German state of Hesse on the edge of the Iron Curtain.

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A Motorcycle Reunion: Reviving a '75 Honda CB750F

When I was in college, say around 2006, my brother called me up and asked, “Do you want to buy a running motorcycle for $400?” Though I never had the chance to ride dirt bikes growing up, and I’d never ridden a motorcycle before, there was no hesitation as

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Honey, We Need to Talk!

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" my wife asked as she led me down the aisle of a ma and pa grocery store in Northern California. We were exploring the epicenter of the 1849 Gold Rush with a group of brisk riding friends. The morning had

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A Year In Review: Most Interesting Columns of 2023

If you're reading this email, then you understand that motorcycling can change the way you see and interact with the world. It can also change the way you think about things in general. The following stories, in no particular order, are some of our favorites published in 2023.

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Speed the Wheel: The Vanishing Art of Getting Lost

I tend to be slow at acquiring new-fangled electronic gadgets. Case in point, I have a four-year old cell phone and only recently started dabbling in social media. Although this could be mere stubbornness or laziness, I prefer to think I’m acting out of sentimentality, fearful that we risk

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The Photo

In 1972, I was 14 years old. The Buchanan family had recently moved into a home in Pacific Palisades, CA, on a street appropriately named Friends. The kid next door, Scott Johnson, was the same age as I. Once we discovered a shared love of motocross, with dreams of one

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Speed the Wheel: Like Seeing Heaven

Over our lives, most of us will witness a number of memorable atmospheric events. Nature is an engaging host, serving up beautiful sunrises, dramatic sunsets, violent storms, double rainbows, and surreal cloud formations. It’s not always calm and serene, but the natural ebb and flow of the Earth’s

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Highway Gothic: Vermont SR 100

I have never belonged to a motorcycle club, nor have I ever attended Daytona Bike Week or Sturgis. I like to roll to the rumble of my own machine. It’s the sum of the harmonics, the sympathetic vibration of the “whole,” as we say in Japanese archery. My archery

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A Professional Globetrotter: Royal Enfield's Paolo Brovedani

At the age of 63, when most of his colleagues are already enjoying their retirement, Italian engineer Paolo Brovedani packed his bags and moved from Peugeot in France to the Royal Enfield development center in England. After a successful introduction, he then moved to Chennai, India, in 2020 where he

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So Much To Be Thankful For

Dear Reader, Without sounding like a broken record, this year has really flown by. Motorcycles have come and gone, several sets of tires have been gloriously burned, and I added a Ténéré 700 to the garage again. I let go of my first one too soon, and then all my

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Sidetracked: Turkey Scout

"Be Prepared!" The Boy Scout motto is a good mantra to live by. Unfortunately, even as a bona fide Eagle Scout my adherence to the wisdom often undulates. "Flat again! Come get me." These words, texted to the rescue team (my wife), articulate a reluctant tossing-in

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Drive Mode Dashboard

Only a decade ago, our navigation options were limited to choosing between expensive Garmin or TomTom devices, or a free solution like Google Maps for limited point to point navigation. At the time, the latter required a data plan and lacked multi-waypoint routes and off-road maps. Today, the situation is