When I had accumulated some basic experience as quite a young man, I realized there were clear national styles in motorcycle engines, but in this new century, I see such diversity receding in favor of a new international style. I saw that British des

In 1980, Cycle World dubbed the four-valve Suzuki GS1100 “the best all-around superbike in history.” It turned the quarter-mile in 11.39 seconds at 118.42 mph. It was arguably the finest-handling Japanese production motorcycle of the time. It was pra

Gather round, meine Damen und Herren, because we’re about to explore one of the most fascinating motorcycle backstories of the 1980s: how a Japanese company hired a German wunderkind to design a motorcycling icon of the Blade Runner era—Suzuki’s orig

You can go farther on many bikes, and faster on others. There are many motorcycles that would also give you greater comfort and convenience. But, I ask you, are you here to ride free on comfort and convenience? Nice to have, sure, but we are here for

There’s a buzz within Cycle World headquarters lately. The hum of electric motorcycles charging during the workday can be heard in the halls as staff members have plugged into the merits of two-wheeled EV transportation. Whether zapping to and from w

In the male-dominated world of motorcycling, protective-gear makers largely approached designing for women by using either the stereotypical “pink it and shrink it” approach, or simply adding rhinestones, fringe, or prints depicting floral designs or

It took quite a bit of time plus many wasted shots to get local Irish road-racing hero Derek McGee just where I wanted him in the narrow gateway. Most people are familiar with the Isle of Man TT races, but Ireland hosts over a dozen races that take p

In the mid-1980s, the Castiglioni brothers, Gianfranco and Claudio, owned the Cagiva Group and had established excellent ties with the leaders of the major Italian political parties. They liberally used their connections to financially strengthen the

The word “spring” usually applies to an intentionally created elastic element, such as the helical coil springs used in vehicle suspension or engine valve trains. It can also apply to the compressibility of gases, as in the pneumatic valve springs us

Like the rest of the world, we went from planning things, working, and living our lives to a great screeching halt. The rapid spread of the novel coronavirus meant the time between being out on the road with our testing crew to hiding out at home mos

The safety bicycle, which exploded into a popular craze around 1895, can be regarded as a confluence of technologies that matured at that time—the ball bearing, pneumatic tire, seamless-drawn steel tubing, roller chain and sprocket drive, and super-s

My normal day job is shooting all manner of car racing around the planet. From Formula 1 in Monaco to the Le Mans and Nürburgring 24-hour to the Indy 500, I’ve shot it all. I enjoy car racing, but I adore bike racing. In fact, my professional photogr

The first motorcycles had no formal suspension, front or rear. Suspension allows the wheel to independently move up and down over bumps, supporting the chassis and rider through a spring or other elastic element without transmitting all its motions t

It’s a magical, almost surreal feeling to slipstream three-time world champion and grand prix icon Freddie Spencer aboard the 2020 CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP, the long-awaited redesign of Honda’s open-class superbike. But while tucked behind the bubble

The first switch to find its way onto a motorcycle was the ignition system’s mechanical contact breaker. Send current into a primary coil to create a magnetic field, then suddenly stop that current. The magnetic field collapses, inducing a high-volta

When a stunning new model appears, wouldn’t you like to know how it came to be? Honda’s new 2020 Fireblade CBR1000RR-R is my current example. Why did Honda launch this 214 hp bike, with MotoGP’s racy 81.0 x 48.5mm bore and stroke, in a time when sale

This story starts with a bang, or perhaps with a break. Just a few months after moving to New York City, Max Hazan had a bad one in an enduro race. Sentenced to six months of going nowhere fast, he started heading out to his parents’ shop on Long Isl

For decades, Jerry Branch was known for his remarkable race-winning tuning related to cylinder heads, airflow, and engine building. Branch’s work was instrumental in steering Harley-Davidson to many racing victories starting in the 1960s, and his exp

At the end of 2018, rumors began to swirl that Triumph Motorcycles was working on a new Rocket 3, the company’s biggest and most powerful motorcycle. This caught the attention of 11-time motorcycle drag racing champion Rickey Gadson. He knew about th

The full-face helmet is only about 50 years old. And not to be too obvious, but before that, not one person ever used one on a motorcycle. Today many riders wouldn’t ride with anything less. Could wearable air bag protection in your riding jacket or

Like other motorcycle companies, BMW Motorrad is vigorously planning for the future. Boomers are aging out, and young people are not grabbing the bars as much as their forebears did. These phenomena, paired with lingering effects of the 2007–’10 fina

At 28 years old, Monster Energy Honda’s Rickey Brabec won the 2020 Dakar Rally, making history as the first rider from the United States to win the famously difficult race. In Dakar’s 41 years, just a few Americans have challenged for an overall vict

Little children staring out the windows of the family car amuse themselves by learning to recognize the makes, models, and years of passing cars. My youngest son, when he was quite small, would look at an illustration in a book and ask, “What’s that

www.cycleworldart.com Photography is the backbone of modern journalism — immediate, dramatic, and compelling. For more than a half of a century, Cycle World has published some of the most iconic images from history’s most important two-wheeled moment

Perhaps it was somehow appropriate that as I tried this morning to ride my 1974 Norton 850 Commando to work, it failed to start. I’d stopped in the middle of some maintenance work and left it on my lift far too long. So even though I’d drained the ca

In one of my phone conversations with Brian R. Nicholls—“Nick” to all who knew him—a few years before his death in 2015, I asked how old he was. “Eighty, and I feel every damn minute of it.” Always the gentleman, it was a rare but special moment in o

On December 22, 1938, Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer spotted an unusual fin in a pile of discarded waste fish on a dock in East London, South Africa. Latimer, a local museum curator, didn’t know why the 127-pound deep-blue fish to which that fin was atta

Maestro Massimo Tamburini’s first Ducati was the 1986 Paso, its sleek styling and perfectly balanced chassis making it the most “after 1950” motorcycle ever for the marque—and modern at the time by any standard. So, while the Paso is not the nearly m