Movies and TV shows sometimes depict motorcyclists as lone wolves traveling into the sunset. But in reality, most riders are highly social and seek to become part of a group. Traditionally, groups focused on motorcycle type, the rider’s age, or riding style, but today social groups can be a diverse mix of physical riding groups […]

KTM’s smartphone connectivity platform, KTM MY RIDE, available on a large number of its Street range increases in functionality for 2018, with the Phone and Music functions bolstered with turn-by-turn navigation and route planning, powered by a dedicated app. Living in a connected world, KTM began introducing the possibility for users to connect their smartphones with […]

“At Clinton I was nearing Chicago, within 150 miles of it, and on the morning of June 18, when I left Clinton, Iowa, at 6:30 a.m.  I hoped to reach it before noon on the following day. Shortly after leaving Dixon. about two miles, I crossed the ‘Father of Waters’ and was at last east […]

It appears suddenly and without warning over my right shoulder, punching through my peripheral vision like a locomotive, which is not a simile because it is in fact a locomotive. Actually, it’s three locomotives hauling automobiles and whatnot across the Nebraska landscape at 70mph. The Zero is silent (of course) so I can hear the […]

I was in Laramie, WY, last night with a full tank of electrons (thanks KOA—charging the bike cost a whopping $1.17!) and had three choices. One, find a place to stay in Laramie. Two, jump on 80 and get to Cheyenne. Three, take the long way to Cheyenne via WY 210. It was 7:45 p.m., […]

  -First Man to Motor Across the Country- If your idea of a good time is chasing the horizon until your bladder forces you to take a break, you should. After all, this fellow is our Ferdinand Magellan, our Charles Lindbergh, our Lewis and our Clarke. This guy is our Homer (and I don’t mean […]

Winter can kill a man. No, I’m not talking about the single digit cold—that’s what wool is for. What I’m talking about is the sheer, unmitigated boredom of winter, when the short days and the icy roads and the salt and the sand conspire to ruin every apex within a hundred miles. Months without counter-steering […]

“How am I going to tour on this thing?” I think to myself, as I look at the single seat 2015 Indian Scout. The bike has no pillon, no rack, and no means to mount a tailpack or saddlebags. To be honest, I know exactly what I was thinking…“OMG that thing is HAWT. I wanna […]

While I like the visual drama of an approaching summer thunderstorm as much as the next guy, I hate getting caught up in one. Even worse than that is the thirty miles of, “Should I put the rain gear on or shouldn’t I?” which is often followed by, “Oh my heavens it’s like a sauna in […]

With a sound that is decidedly un-potato-potato-like, Harley-Davidson has surprised the motorcycle world and legions of faithful with the first electric motorcycle by a major manufacturer.* Well, it’s not quite a production motorcycle yet, it’s more of a prototype or trial balloon; what Harley-Davidson is trying to do here is gauge whether or not the […]

This is the second pair of Aerostich Darien Light Pants that I’ve had. The first set was purchased at the end of the last century (or thereabouts) and withstood well over a decade of regular use. They were (and are) great pants to wear over a pair of slacks, and they’re cut quite conservatively. From […]

There must be something in the water, because 2014 is already shaping up to be the year of the Heads Up Display, and we’re not even there yet. Hot on the heels of the Skully P-1 comes the NUVIZ Ride:HUD, a HUD that you can add to your existing helmet (as long as that helmet […]

A couple of weeks ago I posited that the Sony RX10 was the perfect motorcycle travel camera. I’ve changed my mind; the Nikon 1 AW1 is the ultimate motorcycle travel camera. And no, Nikon didn’t pay me to say that. Let me explain… For the past year I’ve been doing a lot of shooting with […]

Sony has recently introduced the DSC-RX10, a super zoom camera that may well be the perfect motorcycle travel camera. Just what does it take to be the ideal image- capturing device for motorcycle touring? Excellent image quality during the day. Very good performance when the sun starts going down. A nice lens that is wide […]

There used to be a time when we thought of motorcycles as escape vehicles from the hum drum of the same old everyday. And indeed, some of us still view them that way. But modern life is finding ever more insidious ways to embed itself into our escapes, from Bluetooth headsets and GPS navigation to […]