I tuned in to view the Triumph Virtual Launch of their 2021 Bonneville models, enthralled by the variety the British brand is offering in the legendary lineup this year. Standards, a cruiser, a bobber, and all the farkles available to make your Bonney your own. These are truly “modern classics”, evoking the rich history of the model and its maker, as well as offering all the modern tech expected by today’s riders.
Read MoreHarley-Davidson pulled the shroud off the much-anticipated Pan America, via a virtual launch across the web. As with their 2021 model reveal in January, the video production was outstanding, evoking emotion, calling upon history, and pointing to the future the brand will pursue.
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Erik Buell himself has no affiliation with the brand carrying his namesake, focusing his energies instead on an electric motorcycle and bicycle enterprise known as Fuell. Kind of strange, we agree. But, we’re glad to see the return of a legendary American sport bike company, and we wish them the very best. The Buell name has always been synonymous with innovation, cutting edge design, and of course, speed. We look forward to seeing and sampling their machines in the coming months and years.
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So what’s with all these baggers, tourers and all around bad-@$$ bikes with tall handlebars (AKA) “Apes”? Why would anyone want any other bar (height or width) on a bike other than the stock bar? Well, for me it’s about leverage and making the bike “fit” me better. I’m on my second Harley touring bagger (a Road Glide) and I couldn’t wait to put some 12” bars on it. After I bought a Street Glide in 2017 a family member asked me what I was going to do to make it my own. I wasn’t sure what he meant. A few months later when riding with a group of buddies I noticed one of the guys had installed 12” KST Kustom bars on his Road Glide and I had to ask, “So what’s the big deal – is this just so you can look cool or like a ‘Real’ biker?” My buddy (an engineer by trade) didn’t punch me in the nose for my wise-cracking question, but rather came back with a more technical, and I must say legitimate, response.
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Despite Covid, contentious elections, and civil unrest (or maybe because of these), the powersports industry actually experienced incredible gains in 2020, across moto-genres. The Motorcycle Industry Council recently published a report on the previous year, detailing the sales successes across 2020. It would appear hopping on a motorcycle, trike, or four wheeler became a preferred mode and method of social distancing and escaping the endless stream of negativity swirling around us.
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Last year, in the midst of a pandemic, Royal Enfield launched a groundbreaking initiative called “Build. Train. Race.” The program was designed to involve women in building and racing their own custom flat track motorcycles, using the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 platform. They would then be trained by pro racers and teams, would procure sponsorships, then race their creations in selected American Flat Track rounds.
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Somewhere in the dark garage of our motoring minds is the enduring idea that tucked behind one of those clapboard walls and buried under decades of dust and neglect, is an ancient motorcycle of great worth. All it needs is a fresh battery, maybe a little oil and a good, solid kick and it will roar back to life.
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No one will argue that it takes guts to race any motorcycle. Modern motorbike racing continues to excite and thrill in a way that no other sport can match. Even the most hardened Formula 1 or NASCAR fans will concede that those who risk life and limb on board these two-wheeled rockets are of a different breed.
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I got word that Dale Walksler, the founder and president of the wonderful Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley, Tennessee, passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer. Dale was 69 years old. The news struck me hard, as several of us Road Dirt guys were just up there back in September, touring this famous museum of American motorcycling. I’ve visited the museum 5-6 times since they first opened in 2002, and have always marveled at not only the vast collection of American motorcycle history they have amassed, but how every bike in the collection actually runs. Yet best of all was Dale’s personal touch. Until his health prevented it, Dale was often out on the floor, meeting patrons and discussing bikes, history, great rides and fond memories, a precedent the rest of their staff continues to practice. Wheels Through Time truly is, “The Museum That Runs.”
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