While Italy just wrapped up their annual EICMA motorcycle industry showcase, England’s NEC Show unfolded with its share of surprises for the two-wheeled fraternity this past week. Chief among the jolts of great news concerning the United Kingdom’s burgeoning motorcycle industry is the re-emergence of BSA, a vaunted brand that’s been dormant since…

It’s been a good five plus years since the TV series known as Cafe Racer wrapped its last episode on Discovery’s Velocity motorsports network. Much has changed since then, with teh global cafe racer phenomenon only moving from strength to strength as more riders, builders and manufacturers feed energy into the ton-up motorcycle genre. We…

  The era of classic British transport cafes is often romanticized on this side of the pond and for good reason. The roadside eateries were among the few places where the original Ton-Up boys and girls could congregate in a very uptight mid-century England and the high-speed antics that took place on the adjacent roads…

We’ve written extensively about the re-birth of the Norton Motorcycles Company, featuring their Donnington Park production facility on the cover of Cafe Racer’s 7th issue. After test riding their 961 Commandos several times and finding the air-cooled retros to be quick, well-styled machines, we figured all was well with the re-born British brand. However, just…

  Back when I was a yoof, my bedroom walls were plastered with images from my favorite motorcycle magazines. Anytime I encountered a particularly sharp image of a new bike or one of those cheesy Dave Mann centerfolds popular in the pages of “Easyriders” magazine, out came the box of thumb tacks and onto the…

  With the current Moto GP season quickly (and some would say very, very quickly) drawing to a conclusion, many pundits are lamenting the pending retirement of Italy’s Valentino Rossi. The onetime wunderkind of professional motorcycle racing is now in his 40s, and the insatiable drive that led Rossi to an amazing nine world championships…

Summer is motorcycling’s best season what with copious rallies, events, races and seemingly endless warm, sunny days to enjoy the sport. However, I’ll let you in on a secret: fall is even better. Living in and around Pittsburgh for most of my life, I’ve come to appreciate the change of seasons and the difference that…

  History has  a strange way of disproving the latest trends. Take print magazine, for example. In this smartphone-obsessed nation, magazines are rapidly becoming relics of  a less hectic past and are vanishing faster than brains free of Internet influence. Ah, but the same used to be believed about vinyl records which have, some 30…

  In my humble opinion, Ducati’s original Multistrada was one of the homleyest motorcycles ever produced. It’s certainly the least lovely machine ever to roll on the road wearing the vaunted Bologna firm’s livery, having broken all tradition of Italian motorcycles before it. Sure, the all-purpose ‘Strada more than achieved its goal- that is, to…