Musings from one who writes, and rides…
Originally published in Motorcyclist Magazine. For a someone restoring an old motorcycle, it was the most egregious sin: there, affixed to the down tubes of my lovingly reconditioned 1969 Triumph Tiger, were four, black plastic zip ties. To the cognoscenti, it was as if I had spit in Edward Turner’s eye. To the ghosts of the…
Originally appeared on Motorcycle.com. The scene repeats itself dozens of times each day. My passenger, a professional photographer named Mjrka, yells into my helmet. “Stop here, on the right!” I pull over, and he scrambles up the adjacent slope to get a better view of the oncoming Tour du Rwanda bicycle race. I wait. At first,…
Photos by Randy Wilder. Article originally published on Motorcycle.com. Not long ago, Santa Cruz County was the perfect place for a weekend shop crawl. You could find every major motorcycle brand within a few salty blocks of the ocean: Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Harley-Davidson, BMW, Yamaha, and Hinckley Triumph. There were multiple incarnations of Ducati and…
Note: This article originally published on Motorcycle.com. Photos by Randy Wilder. Robb Talbott is late. We agreed to meet at the site of his forthcoming motorcycle museum in Carmel Valley, but the guy is nowhere in sight. Just then, a late-model pickup comes rattling up the drive, towing a trailer. On the back is something you…
It’s a cool June morning at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. A vintage Volkswagen bug ambles across the pits, but there’s no telltale air-cooled boxer rattle coming out the back end—only the sweet sound of an electric motor doing its thing, moving the world forward one less hydrocarbon at a time. Nearby is an assortment of…
This story was originally published in City Bike Magazine. We like to say that motorcycle restorations are like archaeological finds. History is revealed beneath every layer of dirt and dust—a thousand stories told in the arcane language of slapping pistons, worn valve guides, and multicolored wiring bodges. That’s not just a cute analogy for this…
This story was originally published in VeloNews. Jock Boyer, the first American to ride the Tour de France, looks a little bewildered. He’s just flown in from Rwanda — a trip that takes almost two days — to attend a special screening of the movie about his life and team, “Rising from Ashes,” on Google’s…
Note: this is an excerpt from my book, Team 7-Eleven: How an Unsung Band of American Heros Took on the World – and Won. Published by VeloPress. For the first weeks of the ’88 Tour of Italy, the sun had cast long shadows across the roads, the riders comfortable in their shorts and Lycra. Meanwhile,…
This article was originally published in Rider magazine. I am a motorcycle commuter, and so carry the emblems of that profession: a somewhat tatty Aerostich suit, which fits neatly over my business clothes; well-worn, waterproof boots; messenger bag with laptop computer; and of course, an unerring eye for disaster. I am festooned with so much…
Note: this is an excerpt from my book, Team 7-Eleven: How an Unsung Band of American Heros Took on the World – and Won. Published by VeloPress. In 1980, there were exactly four professional bike racers in America. This was not surprising, given that there were no professional events for them to compete in. While…