A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to wrench on an older bike, a 1969 Triumph T100. An acquaintance had asked if I could help him get it running again. He had told me the bike would kick over after some tickling and kicking (it’s still a full kick-start), but not stay running more than about 30-40 seconds. Conceding that I am no master mechanic, yet interested in seeing if I could bring it back to good health, I agreed to take a shot at it…
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Some 20 years ago a riding buddy asked me, “If you could own any one road bike for trips, around town, day riding, whatever, what would it be?” I gave that some thought, then replied, “I think I’d choose the Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail Classic. I just love the American tradition meets modern in that bike.” I found myself on a 1998 Yamaha Royal Star Tour Classic for many years, that brand’s answer to the Heritage, and loved it, but the H-D Heritage was always the original to me. My father later bought one, a 2003 100-Year Anniversary edition in silver/black, and he rode it with my mom all over the Southeast USA until his age and health forced the sale of the bike. I had a garage full at the time, but regretted not buying it from him. Such a beautiful, smooth, cool machine. Motorcycle Americana at its best.
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After we published our story on “Lawrence of Arabia and the Motorcycle Helmet”, a reader sent us the link to a chapter out of Lawrence’s book, “The Mint”, recounting his years of service as an enlisted cadet and airman in the RAF following the First World War. Lawrence entered service under the alias T.E. Ross, due to his world fame, and went to work in the daily grind of the military in post-war England. Yet he developed a love for all things fast and dangerous- namely, airplanes and motorcycles. He became a skilled mechanical engineer, but continued writing, keeping memoirs of his time in the service in his tome entitled “The Mint.” While most of this work is dry journaling, the chapter called “The Road” is stunning, a vivid account of a motorcycle ride at dusk that is both exhilarating and harrowing. It’s one of the most incredible descriptions of the feeling of riding a motorcycle, and the raw sensation of open air speed, that I’ve ever read. The descending dark, the rough roads, the throbbing beast beneath him, no helmet, no eye protection, no armored riding gear, poor suspension, lousy brakes, a side-mounted hand shifter, a near tank-slapper at speed, and an RAF Bristol fighter overhead- see if you don’t visualize and feel the ride yourself as you read Lawrence’s account.
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Jones recounts the first time he ever landed a job writing for a major motorcycle publication, and moved to L.A.- “I walked into my first day at a full-time gig as a motojournalist like an excited purse dog, wagging my tail rapidly and nearly leaving a trail of pee on the carpet. I had been hired due to the chance vacancy of the entire editorial staff of a popular motorcycle magazine in the late 1990s.”
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I recently ran across a fascinating story of a legendary hero, whose tragic death paved the way for the development of the motorcycle helmet. Being a bit of a history buff, I just had to share this bit of motorcycling trivia that led to the not-so-trivial safety gear we all (hopefully) utilize every time we throw a leg over and throttle out on two wheels.
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The 10th-annual international Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride for men’s cancer and mental health was back on for 2021, having moved to Sunday, May 23 worldwide. I joined in on the Atlanta ride, among hundreds of like-minded and dapper-dressed men and women riders. A great ride, among great people, astride great motorcycles, for a great cause. And it was a perfect, beautifully sunny spring day in Georgia, USA. It doesn’t get much better than that.
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MV Agusta just pulled the wraps off their updated exclusive RUSH 1000 for 2021, with styling cues and performance upgrades over last year’s debut of the bike. First revealed as a limited edition 2020 model, the 2021 Rush offers the same 998cc inline four powerplant in the tubular trellis frame that their Brutale 1000RR rolls with, but sports a rounded LED headlight, trimmed and reshaped tail section, and a cool rear disc wheel, among many other improvements. Each bike will be sold with a numbered certificate of authenticity as well.
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I still remember the first time I viewed the movie, “Easy Rider”. The grand, sweeping scenery, the memorable soundtrack, and those motorcycles piloted by Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, absolutely captured my imagination. Riding through wide open spaces has since become a joy I’ve experienced myself many times over the years. For all of the movie’s faults and foibles, those two motorcycles took on personalities themselves in the minds of riders everywhere, as much as their riders did in the film. “Easy Rider” effectively captured the essence of the 1960s hippie culture, as well as it’s bitter end. The movie has since grown beyond cult-classic status to downright movie icon, at least in the motorcycling culture.
But whatever became of the famed “Captain America” bike in the film?
There is a group of motorcyclists in our area, known as the Night Riders, who enjoy carving up the country roads outside of town after sunset. I hear them many warm, spring-summer evenings, their sport bikes howling through the dark, engines revving, clicking up and down through the gears as they slice their way along the curvy blacktop that snakes around our north Georgia home. Sometimes I just stand outside and listen, trying to count how many there are, guessing which roads they are running- and occasionally, wishing I were riding with them.
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