Motorcycle Features: Bikes, Blokes, Culture and Beyond
In this section you’ll find motorcycle-related feature articles including biographies, technical endeavors, historical spotlights and other articles that focus on interesting aspects of motorcycling culture. If it’s not news or a road test, gear, rally, blog or tour article, you’ll find it here!
Motorcycles at the Audi Museum
Greg Drevenstedt
October 29, 2012
When German car manufacturer Audi purchased Italian motorcycle manufacturer Ducati last April, many motorcyclists scratched their head in confusion. Ducatisti wept, concerned that the automotive giant would impose Teutonic rigidity on their beloved, flamboyantly Italian marque. The hand-wringing wasn’t... Read more »
Wandering the Hallowed Halls of the Harley-Davidson Museum and Factory
Jim Petersen
October 9, 2012
I am old school, which may explain why I am lost. When you ride a Harley you don’t need no stinking GPS, no dang MapQuest, no thumbtwaddle smartphone. I rattle through the deserted, impersonal industrial section of Milwaukee in search of the Iron Horse Hotel. I pull over to ask directions from a guy... Read more »
2012 Quail Ride and Gathering
Clement Salvadori
August 9, 2012
If I could use only one word to describe the Quail event, it would be “friendly.” This is not one of those high-zoot, highly competitive “Concours d’Elegance” affairs, but rather a showcase for a lot of good-looking (mostly) motorcycles parked on the immaculate grass of the Quail Lodge Golf... Read more »
Motorcycle Ride with Ride Ottawa Canada
Debbie Macdonald
May 16, 2012
Eight of us were invited to Canada by the Ottawa Valley Tourism Association, Go Ride Ottawa and Trillium Motorcycle Tours to explore the promise of their spectacular province’s slogan, “Yours to Discover,” by traveling the Ottawa Valley and Algonquin Provincial Park. So, after a long day of individual... Read more »
Going Loopy for New Mexico: Motorcycle Travel Feature
Bill Stermer
April 2, 2012
At an overlook near Cumbres Pass (elevation 10,022 feet) north of Chama, New Mexico, I parked the 2011 Victory Cross Country to take a break. Soon I was joined by a man in a cowboy hat who had climbed out of his pickup truck to stand on a granite outcropping and peer through binoculars. He explained... Read more »
Writers and Riders: Meeting Melissa Holbrook Pierson and John Ryan
Greg Drevenstedt
October 4, 2011
In his 1929 short story, Chains, Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy hatched the idea of six degrees of separation, whereby every person on earth could be connected to every other person on earth through a “friend of a friend” chain with six or fewer links. Nearly seven decades later, in 1997, American... Read more »
Indianapolis MotoGP & XR1200 Series Weekend
Rider Contributor
August 31, 2011
by Jim Petersen V-Rod drag racer and two definitely not in drag. “How far’d you ride?” My interrogator is a goateed man in an orange Harley-Davidson T-shirt with Shit Happens emblazoned on the chest. In case that shit happens he has a Leatherman in a holster on his belt, next to a similarly sheathed... Read more »
How to Handle the Four Most Common Road Emergencies
Bill Stermer
May 13, 2011
You’re on a sport-touring journey and suddenly your bike has a problem. You’re dead in the water. What to do? Fortunately, the four most common road emergencies can usually be prevented by regular inspection and maintenance, but here’s what to do when that doesn’t work. Out of Gas Run out of... Read more »
Motorcycle Camping 101
Mark Tuttle Jr.
March 13, 2011
photography by Rich Cox For some the idea of a night in the wilderness, or even at an established campground, is simply unthinkable. How do you survive without a solid roof and hard floor, not to mention TiVo, the Dux bed and all of your stuff? What about insects, wild animals and hot running water?... Read more »
Bonneville To Bonneville: Running the Time Traps at the 2010 BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials
Clement Salvadori
January 1, 2011
The eerie thing about the Bonneville Salt Flats is exactly what makes them so good for high-speed runs—-their flatness. I’m sitting on my 2006 Triumph Bonneville T100 in the prestaging area, very glad that I’m the second bike in line, not the first, because I’m not sure where we’re supposed... Read more »
