What I want: Honda Valkyrie (aka Honda F6C)
Here comes the sexyI'll warn you now: this post is a meandering one...I am fond of pondering the When It All Goes Horribly Wrong scenario. This is a what-if scenario that started showing up in my usual...
View ArticleWhat I want: Honda NC750X
Honda NC750XI try not to look at the stats for this blog too much. I've been blogging in one form or another for a decade now and experience tells me that wandering too deep into the dark woods of blog...
View Article28 months before
The simplicity of the Triumph Speedmaster"I wonder if I could put together £8,000 within 28 months," I find myself asking.That's how long I have until my 40th birthday, which, I keep telling myself, is...
View ArticleA small request
Hey, all y'all with motorcycle-related blogs: Can you please not have white text on a black background? I mean, it's pretty much every single one of you. Clearly, it's a look that a lot of people like...
View Article20 things I've learned about motorcycling
Aliona and meToday marks exactly six months since Aliona came into my life. That's not all that much time in the grand scheme of things, but she is, of course, my first motorcycle. So, a lot of things...
View ArticleI think we may actually be better
Why wouldn't you outlaw this?I've spent a lot of time thinking about this: if I'm ever riding in Minnesota and find myself in a situation where I deem filtering to be appropriate, I'm just going to go...
View ArticleThe wind, the fear and the ridiculous
You know that advice they always give about riding with a passenger? "Take it easy," they say. "Make everything as gentle as possible. Don't frighten your passenger."They have obviously never met my...
View ArticleThe strange and sudden decline of RideApart
RideApart now churns out crap like this.If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll have likely picked up by now that one of my favourite motorcycle websites is RideApart. Or, rather, was...
View ArticleOh, uhm, Merry Christmas, by the way
Sunset on Bodmin Moor.Things on the ol' blog have been relatively quiet these past several days because Jenn and I were out in the wilds of Cornwall. Which is about as wild as one can get in the...
View ArticleGear review: Corcoran Jump Boots
Corcoran Jump BootsI think I may daydream about motorcycle gear almost as much as I do about motorcycles. That's sort of the thing about motorcycling: it gets into the blood and soon you find yourself...
View ArticleWeighing the options: Middleweight sport tourers
Technically, the Honda CBF600SA is a sport tourer.Not too long ago I started the process of thinking seriously about my next bike, which, at this stage, consists of little more than saving money (a)...
View ArticleChecking the mirrors
Today marks the 1-year anniversary of this blog. Only one year, mis amigos. Wow.In many ways it feels as I have been doing this for longer, because so much has happened in that year. And in another...
View ArticleEndurance
Elspeth Beard rode a beat-up BMW around the world.In addition to daydreaming about which motorcycle I'd like next, one of my favourite things to do when stuck indoors is stare at a map and imagine the...
View ArticleTall in the saddle: Middleweight 'adventure' motorcycles
My favourites in previous categories.Let's not go any further before we tackle the issue of the word "adventure." When discussing adventure machines, it's ridiculous. Adventure bikes are the SUVs of...
View ArticleRobert Pirsig was right
John Sutherland and Robert Pirsig holding Chris Pirsig.If you're in to motorcycles it's a good bet you've tried to force yourself to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance at some point. And,...
View ArticleGear review: Oxford HotGrips Premium Heated Grips
Oxford HotGrips Premium Touring Heated GripsSaint David, patron saint of Wales, famously said: "Gwnewch y pethau bychain." Do the little things. Fond of spending several hours standing naked in cold...
View ArticleBullet points
Things have been pretty dead around here lately. And by "dead" I mean "wet." It has been raining nonstop for weeks. On top of that, it's been cold and I've been working long hours, which means the only...
View ArticleGear review: VikingCycle Hammer motorcycle jacket
An interesting thing about this particular gear review: I didn't pay for the gear myself. Normally that's not the case; in previous reviews, the stuff I've talked about is stuff I bought with my own...
View ArticleStuff I don't know: suspension settings
Random unrelated cool motorcycle pictureI may have mentioned before that I am a fourth-generation journalist. My great-grandfather was editor of a newspaper in Concho County, Texas, my grandfather was...
View ArticleDaydreaming my next bike: A real motorcycle
The goal...Not too long ago, my wife and I were talking about setting goals. In trying to inspire my imagination on the subject, she asked me what bike I'd like to have. I danced around in my head for...
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