Poker as Metaphor for Riding Technique
It’s 2 am. It’s live No-Limit Hold-‘em – not that online garbage – and I’m heads-up. There’s loadsamoney on the table. I’ve got a pair of aces (hearts/spades), but I’m Continue Reading
Gail “The Catlass” Richards – 23rd August 1970 ~ 25th May 2013
At 6:43pm on the last Saturday in May my phone pinged to let me know a Facebook notification had arrived. From the brief intro on the screen I could see Continue Reading
Motorcycles and Popular Culture
The IJMS Conference Comes to London By Jonathan Boorstein Ever want to hear Chris Hodder talk about the myth of riders’ rights? Or how about whether dispatch riders and cultural Continue Reading
From the editor ~ 178
It’s interesting that Oldlondog should choose a Steinbeck reference to illustrate an article about his local bike shop because the American Nobel Laureate was very much to the forefront of Continue Reading
Riders’ Lives – Paul Nicholas Blezard (aka Blez)
1.What was your first motorcycling experience? Aged 13, hiring a 50cc motorcycle and riding it on the streets of Rimini for an hour without mastering the clutch, but also without Continue Reading
Paddy’s Perspective
Which Way Now? It’s something to ponder: Where’s the Bike Industry going? Chasing a GP dream or embracing environmentalism? Are the marketing men leading, or are consumers demanding change? Is Continue Reading
Two Wheels to the End of the World – Alpine Argentina
The border crossing between Chile and Argentina at Portezulo de Puyehue is the last paved crossing for several thousand kilometres. As the border is high in the mountains the arrangement Continue Reading
BREAKOUT
It’s rush hour in downtown Marseilles and I’m filtering through the seafront traffic on Harley Davidson’s new Breakout. It’s been an interesting day and one that challenges my preconceptions as to Continue Reading
ACAB (or are they?)
I caught a flash of orange ahead and gave my GT250 a little extra, shaving a few more percentage points off my margin of error as I rode west along Continue Reading
Meet and greet the police (the painless way)
When PC Graham Pierce rang me to talk about writing a regular column in the Digest, I saw the appeal immediately. As laudable as his stated mission to cut down Continue Reading
Riding Out The Recession
Ed Ricketts, the real-life marine biologist immortalised as Doc in Steinbeck’s Cannery Row, evolved a theory of how everything is connected in the natural world. He observed that the sea Continue Reading
Secondary Effects
I read other motorcycle magazines somewhat regularly. I’m more interested in their letters-to-the-editor than I am in their latest shoot-out between six identical motorcycles. I don’t care about elite Continue Reading
Funky Mopeds
There was a time, many years ago, when some of the contributors to this august journal had long hair, pimply faces and flares, when there existed a sub culture Continue Reading
The Ace Cafe, Café Racers, and Racing Aces – Book Review pt. 1
It is doubtful that there is anyone involved in the world of British motorcycling whose life is not touched directly or indirectly by the Ace Cafe. A visit here, an Continue Reading
The Ace Cafe, Café Racers, and Racing Aces – Book Review pt. 2
The world of the contemporary café racer in the United States is more properly addressed in Seate’s Café Racer: the Motorcycle (2008). For the past five or so years Seate Continue Reading
From the Editor ~ 177
As many of you will be aware, I tend to leave me editorial until the very last thing. This is partially to lend it a degree of immediacy in recognition Continue Reading
Paddy’s Perspective
Commercial interests? It’s often the case that legislation emanating from Europe appears to have a commercial interest. You may remember that compulsory ABS on all bikes and scooters was something Continue Reading
Two Wheels To the End Of The World: Chile – The end of the Highway
The border crossing from Bolivia to Chile is simple, efficient and ever so civilised. The staff seem to be under little or no pressure and as soon as they realise Continue Reading
An upbeat farewell: in a motorcycle hearse…
Have you ever wondered what sort of people make their final journey in a motorcycle hearse? Before I first spoke to the Reverend Paul Sinclair, way back in 2006, I’d Continue Reading
Playing Blackjack
Back in the 1960s, I had an Isetta ‘bubble car’ made by BMW, which was great fun but I wrote it off on black ice, so I moved on to Continue Reading
Paul Sample: The Interview ‘Everyone chooses their own destiny; mine’s a bike’ – OGRI
Whitchurch is one of those places that encapsulates the essence of Englishness with all its half-timbered houses, red bricks and stone-built churches. It’s a theme I want to explore with Continue Reading
Book Review – What did happen to the British motorcycle industry?
British motorcycles – British iron, or Britiron as it is known by many – possesses a legendary, near sacred, status in my country. The craving for Britiron was once so Continue Reading
Book Review – Of Tarmac and Tourists
A young African-American in leathers snaps a photograph of his KTM alongside a Triumph and a Suzuki parked on Jones Street in Greenwich Village. He is probably unaware that he Continue Reading