North Cascades Pass Highway 20 opens in early May if we are lucky, when the snowplow coming from the east meets the snowplow coming from the west. For a few brief months during the summer the gates to heaven open. It is seventy miles between dots of civilization so if something goes wrong, you are on your own. This is the Pacific Northwest, remember.
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Donni Reddington is one of us. A passionate, highly skilled motorcycle rider, Donni has collaborated with Road Dirt on several stories over the life of our little publication and community, contributing photography, riding stories, bike/gear reviews, and lots of laughter. We love her, and are thankful to know her.
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If I showed you a picture of my uncle Gary’s motorcycle you would conjure up the image of the stereotypical risk-taking sport bike rider. You know them: road rashed leathers, surgical scars, pointy collarbones punctuated from fractures, two bum knees and an endless list of speeding tickets from multiple states stapled to stories of hooliganism. You would not picture Gary Edwards, a tall, athletic basketball player with a high IQ and a closet of neat suits. But oh how he loved his machines. Most of all, his 2001 Honda VFR.
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To Gideon Litchfield and his article for Bloomberg magazine titled “The Allure of The Motorcycle is Stalling Out,” I say come. In his article the author celebrates his new US citizenship by embarking on a three and a half week, 5000 mile ride across America. Stating that his primary sensations were discomfort and boredom, Litchfield asserts motorcycling is pointless, perilous, impractical, the least freeing form of transportation there is and it is a bad idea in general. The only reason to do it, he says, is that it is “sexy”.
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We test tires because you just never know. Bikes are different, riders are different, seasons are different and as we are finding out, tires are different. Much, much different. We test tires by attempting to control for everything- riding the same bikes, at the same time, with the same riders and same fuel loads following each other all season. We even order the same coffee, all in the name of accuracy. Sometimes the results are predictable and other times, as in this test, the results are shocking.
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Riding motorcycles in my youth, I idolized moto-journalists and dreamed of being one. Odd really, probably born from me spending too much time absorbed in motorcycle magazines in my formative years, which took way too long to form. What a cool job they must have, I reflected, getting to ride the latest machines, talking to famous people, testing the latest gear, traveling the country. My house was forever littered with bike periodicals. Like sand from the beach they were everywhere, well-read, pages dog eared, covers worn, food spilled on them. One day that will be me, I thought, one day…
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He cared about us, even though he never rode a motorcycle. He took us in, our ragged group of foul traveling misfits, and covered us with kindness, overflowing in sincerity, abounding in grace despite not understanding the machines we rode.
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While all motorcycle tires are round and black, they are not the same. Even with technological advances one would think that modern sport touring tires are all very similar, but there are differences. A few years ago we here at Road Dirt Motorcycle Media started a quest to find those differences and pass that information on to you.
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Older things made of simpler elements have charisma.
Chrome, rubber, steel and glass, basics of so many classic motorcycles of decades past, carry stories with them in their porous surfaces, either building shine or dulling patina as the pages of the calendar flip. Those of us in love with old metal find solace in bikes built with steel and chrome instead of plastic and carbon fiber.
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