Under The Influence

Professional motorcycle test rider Jeremy Haynes…his job may soon be in jeopardy   Time was when new streetbike model launches were fairly straightforward affairs. Motorcycle manufacturers would issue invitations to journalists specializing in testing and analyzing motorcycles and we’d do our level best to wring the living snot of of said machines until we learned…

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A Bonneville Worth Building

Blake on our original Project Bonneville, circa 2010 We’ve long been of two minds concerning the first-generation Hinckley Triumph Bonnevilles. The air and oil-cooled parallel twins were introduced in 2001 at a time when the retro cafe racer craze wasn’t exactly tops for most motorcycle manufacturers. The 865cc machines weren’t exactly designed to set any…

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Memories of Ride-In Shows Past

We maintain a healthy archive of images from all 12 of our previous Reader’s Ride-In Bike Shows and deep within we find some stirring examples of unique machines that you, our faithful readers have built for the show. It still amazes us that mechanics and fabricators will specifically target the August event with their projects,…

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Something Fishy Here…

  One of my favorite parts of traveling by motorcycle is the strange cultural sites that appear by the roadside. Over the past 40-odd years of riding two-wheelers, I’ve come across some sights that make for excellent post-ride bull sessions with some of the sights in question provoking fond memories and belly laughs many years…

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Collecting Or Hoarding?

In an upcoming issue, we’ll be profiling several motorcycle enthusiasts who share  a common malady: they can’t bring themselves to sell any of their motorbikes. It seems that everywhere we travel, we’re told of people who have amassed enormous, multi-bike collections and the stories behind these assemblages of high-performance metal are as fascinating as the…

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Paint Your Wagon

  One of the most exciting parts of planning any custom project bike involves selecting a paint job. Alongside the giddy (and often wallet-flattening) process of choosing which components are to comprise your dream ride, the art of selecting, well, art for a motorcycle seems to be everyone’s favorite. And why not- in most instances,…

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Bad Editor, Great Writer

  A good two decades past, my wife worked in a high-end motorcycle dealership. The shop, located in a suburb of Pittsburgh, was also home to the U.S. Bimota importer and just visiting her at work exposed me to all sorts of exotic European motorcycles I’d never heard of before. These sleek, high-tech roardacers attracted…

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What Becomes A Legend Most

  Legends are strange phenomena. Human beings are endlessly fascinated by objects for the oddest of reasons and one motorcycle- or brand of motorcycle- that’s genuinely captured the imaginations (and dollars) of many wears the vaunted Vincent label. I’ve long lusted after a big-bore Vincent twin just like many riders and fans of classic British…

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Classic Racing In Kansas

  One of the happiest means of measuring our nearing the end of the ongoing Coronavirus shut-down is the recent deluge of announcements about upcoming motorcycle events. Many of the weekend meets, races and custom shows that were cancelled in 2020 are gloriously springing back to life for this coming summer, including AHRMA’s Classic Moto…

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