Bikes & Gear
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Introduction: 2026 Honda Rebel 1100 DCT SE
Honda must read Road Dirt and, unlike me in high school chemistry, actually listen and take notes. For 2026 they addressed the Rebel’s riding position, revised the dash with a new TFT display, smartphone connectivity and introduced a factory custom SE trim. The net effect of a series of small tweaks on a motorcycle can sometimes exceed their sum. Do the Rebel’s small tweaks improve the package? If so, how much? Would it be worth it to upgrade from the older model?
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1200 Miles on a Harley-Davidson Street Glide
“Oh yeah, I remember this well.”
Such was my reaction upon taking the 2025 Harley-Davidson Street Glide out for a check ride, once I got it back home. On loan from our friends at EAGLERIDER, the 2025 Street Glide would be my steed for our trip to the spring Thunder Beach Motorcycle Rally in Panama City Beach, Florida. Having ridden the 2024 model down at Daytona Bike Week back in 2024, I felt instantly familiar with Harley’s popular touring motorcycle.
Good thing too, evidenced by how our trip began the following morning.
First Impressions: 2026 Royal Enfield Classic 650
Pulling into our church parking lot Sunday morning, no sooner had I found a space and pulled off my helmet, when an elder gentleman (pony tail, braided beard- clearly a fellow biker) and his wife chatted me up. “That’s a beautiful old Triumph you’ve got there… oh wait, that’s not a Triumph!” he exclaimed. “A Royal Enfield! I haven’t seen one of those in years! What year is that?” I replied, “A 2026, if you can believe it.” It led to a pleasant conversation into the church building, about the beauty and nostalgia of so many motorcycles in Royal Enfield’s lineup, and particularly this gorgeous new Classic 650.
We’ve only had this motorbike for a week now, and it has elicited this kind of response everywhere we’ve ridden and parked it.
Freshen Up Your Riding Gear
Spring is definitely here. You know how I know? My morning rides are cold enough for a jacket and by the afternoon I’m cracking my visor at every stoplight just to breathe. It’s that awkward in-between where my winter gear suddenly feels like overkill, and my summer stuff still feels a little too optimistic. So how about some spring cleaning?
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Beautiful Bikes: Aprilia X 250th
Aprilia is actually producing a limited run of commemorative motorbikes, mostly for the American market, but a few to be offered worldwide. The Aprilia X 250th is a drop-dead gorgeous facsimile of the GP machines the Trackhouse Racing team are rolling, and for a cool $150K you can own one yourself. Of course, it’s not street legal, running a V4 65°, 1099cc mill with SBK racing specifications. It’s clearly meant to make the same technology developed in racing available to those who intend to compete at top levels in factory derivative series, or for those who want to own an RSV4 or Tuono V4 with top tier performance.
And who want to shout “‘Merica!” every time and everywhere they ride or display it.
First Look: Royal Enfield Classic 650
Studying up on this new machine, and talking with a few of my fellow moto journalist friends who attended, it seems that this outstanding powerplant has been refined even more, and placed within a beautiful, very traditional looking package in this Classic 650 model. The Royal Enfield R&D folks know better than to leave well-enough alone, fortunately.
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Life Saving Helmet Tech
Back in January, Fox 10 Phoenix covered a serious motorcycle crash in Arizona where a rider went down on a rural road and was completely hidden from view. He may not have been found in time if not for an automatic emergency alert triggered at the moment of impact. That same incident has since been featured in People Magazine, bringing national attention to how modern safety technology can step in when riders are compromised in a collision and can’t call for help themselves.
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National Cycle- Motorcycle Windshield Leaders
Willey came of age in the early 1900s, amidst World War I, the international flu pandemic of 1918, and the Great Depression. An avid pilot and motorcycle rider (clearly the adventurous type for his times), Willey saw a need among riders for quality accessories. He decided to start a company that would apply expert craftsmanship in manufacturing parts for use on motorbikes, and in 1937 he launched Nation’s Cycle Center in Maywood, Illinois, near metro Chicago.
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Beautiful Bikes: Ducati Formula 73
We recently wrote about some motorcycles debuting this year that caught our eye. Some we hope to ride, others are what we categorized as, “unobtainium”. Either way, all are beautiful, and we love beautiful motorcycles. This latest offering from Ducati is another example, both historic-looking and drop-dead gorgeous, as well as out of reach for the majority of us proletariat. Nonetheless, it caught our eye, so we felt compelled to share a little bit about the Formula 73, as the Italian motorcycle manufacturer has dubbed it.
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