Less Than Hog Wild
It would have been nice had The Art of the Harley-Davidson Motorcycles (2014) arrived in time to be included in the winter round-up featured in Issue 187. It would have Continue Reading
Red Horse, Ready Rider
If the brutal truth be known, I wouldn’t even last ten seconds as a despatch rider. Quite odd, really, since The Rider’s Digest was started some seventeen years ago by Continue Reading
Globe Girdlers Six
Hard to believe, but circling the world on a motorcycle goes back more than a hundred years. It did not start with Ted Simon, despite what many still believe (Simon, Continue Reading
Beginnings: Fits and Starts
Where, oh where, to begin discussing Ashes to Boonville by Geoff G. Thomas? I could begin with why it wasn’t reviewed in November as originally planned. Or I could begin Continue Reading
Culture ~ Jupiter Travels, Jupiter Co-Brands
Fascinated as I am by motorcycles and popular culture, I shouldn’t have been surprised. But I was. I opened my mailbox and found the first of the fall J.L. Powell Continue Reading
Book Review – Che Sera Sera
On several occasions, I’ve pointed out that even if two motorcyclists travel the exact same route, they won’t have the exact same trip. The bikers will have different adventures, meet Continue Reading
Culture ~ The First Annual Motorcycle Film Festival
It’s been about a century since the first motorcycle movie, Mabel at the Wheel (1914), hit the screens. And the 60s and 70s spawned a sub-genre of bikesploitation films at Continue Reading
Culture – With an Eagle on the Back
Sometimes I think my life is ruled by synchronicity. Synchronicity is a concept developed by Carl Gustav Jung in the 1920s, although he didn’t devote an entire paper to the Continue Reading
Book Review – Of Tourists and Travelers
As I sat down to write this month’s selection of fun and forensic book reviews, George Zimmerman was found not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin. The verdict sparked a handful Continue Reading
The Art of BMW Photos
Here are some of the luscious photographs that we couldn’t fit into Jonathan’s review
Book Review – The Blunting of the Snark
The two books this month raise questions of when to be or not be contentious. One goes out of its way to be controversial as it can be, but comes Continue Reading
Motorcycles and Popular Culture
The IJMS Conference Comes to London By Jonathan Boorstein Ever want to hear Chris Hodder talk about the myth of riders’ rights? Or how about whether dispatch riders and cultural Continue Reading
The Ace Cafe, Café Racers, and Racing Aces – Book Review pt. 1
It is doubtful that there is anyone involved in the world of British motorcycling whose life is not touched directly or indirectly by the Ace Cafe. A visit here, an Continue Reading
The Ace Cafe, Café Racers, and Racing Aces – Book Review pt. 2
The world of the contemporary café racer in the United States is more properly addressed in Seate’s Café Racer: the Motorcycle (2008). For the past five or so years Seate Continue Reading
Book Review – What did happen to the British motorcycle industry?
British motorcycles – British iron, or Britiron as it is known by many – possesses a legendary, near sacred, status in my country. The craving for Britiron was once so Continue Reading
Book Review – Of Tarmac and Tourists
A young African-American in leathers snaps a photograph of his KTM alongside a Triumph and a Suzuki parked on Jones Street in Greenwich Village. He is probably unaware that he Continue Reading
Book Review – Riders and Roadcraft (Part II)
Whenever I examine a book about riding motorcycles, the image of a beginning rider with the book resting on the handlebars comes to mind. When the rider comes to the Continue Reading
Book Review – Riders and Roadcraft (Part I)
One of the great pleasures of collecting and reading old motorcycling books are the glimpses into riding in years, if not decades, gone by. The Rudge Book of the Road, Continue Reading
Book Review – Books and Bikesploitation
Before we begin to ride, we imagine ourselves riding: in the dirt; to a far off place; as fast as we can; or even just across town. Perhaps it started Continue Reading
Book Review – Spies and Samurai
Critics and reviewers get asked a lot of questions. The range goes from the absurd – do you actually read the books or see the movies you review? (Yes) – Continue Reading