Chronicles
The Name Says it All
Touratech combines touring and technology of course, and rallies and racing into a very successful young company – one with a lot to offer, whether your tour takes you across the county or the continent....
Transalp Rally in Red Rock Country
When Honda introduced its unique "Rally Touring" XL 600V Transalp to the U.S. market in 1989, the reaction was a dispirited ho-hum. American riders didn't know what to make of the bike. Based initially on the rugged, rally-type motorcycles Honda built to enter in long-distance races, such as the Paris-Dakar rally, the Transalp seemed ahead of its time...
998cc Black Shadow - A fine motorbike
In our motorcycle-besotted, pre-license teen years, my buddies and I traded hyperbole like marbles. A Gold Star would do 90 miles per hour in first gear; a 650 Panther revved so slowly, it only fired once every streetlight; a 500 Velocette would pitch you over the handlebars if it backfired while you were kick-starting it. We knew these things to be...
The Passion Of Mark Jurus
It was simply love at first sight: the sensuous curves of the Italian beauty immediately captivated the recent college graduate with a degree in visual communication and graphic design. The year was 1992, the place was Boulder, Colorado, and Mark Jurus fell head-over-heels for Italian motor scooters. The design elements of these diminutive machines...
Leather or Synthetic?
"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes," Henry David Thoreau advised in Walden. It's unlikely Thoreau had motorcycling in mind, but as you're reading RoadRUNNER, you've probably decided to ignore his counsel anyway. So why do we need special clothing? If you have to ask, perhaps you wouldn't understand. Motorcycling is dangerous. When...
Secrets of Successful Baking
Head protection is one of the most important jobs of safety gear, and motorcycle helmets are high-tech products. Nolan, Europe's largest helmet manufacturer, gave our writer Oliver Ahrens a close look behind the scenes at their production facility in Bergamo, Italy....
Choosing a New Motorcycle
Choosing a bike used to be easy. If you wanted laid-back long-distance pleasure, you bought a Harley. For sportier riding, you bought a British twin. Beyond that, the field was pretty thin: mopeds, exotic but fragile Italian screamers, and stodgy, pricey German tugs. That was then and this is now. Dozens of manufacturers offer hundreds of models from...
The Copper Mountain Cycle Fest 2004
I had looked forward to the Suzuki Cycle Fest at Copper Mountain for over a year, ever since the first reports of the first event in 2003. But the weekend didn't start out sporting much a festival atmosphere. Here I was, at home in Denver, putting on every bit of cold and wet weather gear I had with me. Thursday had been great and I had taken advantage...
Staying Single
The design exemplifying the British motorcycle during its golden age in the 1920s and '30s was the overhead valve single of 350 or 500cc. Every major manufacturer made at least one, and it was usually their bestseller. Simplicity combined with an excellent power-to-weight ratio and (usually) nimble handling made such a machine an ideal mount for Britain's...
The Western Maryland
As we pull into Community Park in Thurmont, Maryland, on our modern-day Honda ST1300, my ears are immediately serenaded by the mesmerizing music of vintage motorcycles revving up. My wife Karen and I have ridden to this scenic area to attend The Western Maryland Motorcycle Association's 15th annual vintage motorcycle meet and tour, known as the "Nostalgia...
