Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2019 i Motorcycle Mojo Magazine

5,000,000 The number in dollars that are finally being put forward to start the restoration of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, the world’s land speed Mecca. Another $45 million is hoped to be added to the restoration project over the next 10 years. 25 The time it takes in milliseconds for the Alpinestars Tech-Air airbag system to fully inflate after detecting a crash, and in most cases, even before impact. The system uses airbags to protect the shoulders, kidney area, chest and upper abdomen, and has been in use since 2009 in the MotoGP. 1949 The year that Triumph invented the street-legal scrambler category with its TR5 Trophy model, so named after winning big with the company’s Speed Twin at the 1948 ISDT event in Italy. -52 That’s the…

The town of Maspalomas on Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands has a one-two punch to sweep any motorcyclist off his or her feet – a small but very entertaining race circuit right next to the ocean, and some of the most amazing mountain roads imaginable just a few kilometres inland. What better place for the worldwide launch of Ducati’s new-for-2019 Hypermotard 950 and Hypermotard 950SP? The cost of entry for the bike is $15,295 ($18,795 for the SP) – getting to Maspalomas is all on you. Ducati bills these bikes as being made for hooligans, but I might counter that the bikes are even better at turning riders into hooligans, as much as they cater to existing rabblerousers. Ever since someone had the bright idea to bolt road-race rolling…

The fall weather was perfect when I illegally parked my dusty Harley by the main entrance to the Pipe Shop, a 929-square-metre venue on the waterfront in North Vancouver. I was pretty sure that this was going to be a great weekend. Forty-something choppers on display, food, beer, music, tattoos, art, beer, hammocks, custom patch-making, and hundreds of bike lovers from places as far-flung as Oregon, New Jersey and California made for a heady mix that filled my old heart with joy. Being old enough to have been around when bikes like these were first invented created some real anticipation. Loserpalooza 2018 took place during the third weekend of October. We don’t often see shows like this here, so I asked organizer Becky Goebel (@actuallyitsaxel) how she came to be…

editor@motorcyclemojo.com SHORTER ISN’T ALWAYS BETTER I read “Chasing the Setting Sun” in the March MMM. You say in Fast Facts that the Crowsnest Highway is the shortest highway connection between southeastern Alberta and the B.C. lower mainland. I live in Lethbridge and have ridden many times to the west coast and Vancouver Island. Believe it or not, Highway 1 over Rogers Pass to Kamloops and Hwy 5 south over the Coquihalla to Hope is slightly shorter than the Crowsnest Highway. The difference is less than a hundred kilometres but it is shorter. The Crowsnest Highway twists, turns and zigzags every which way across southern B.C. When you are westbound, there are a couple of places where you are headed east. The scenery over Rogers Pass and down the Coquihalla is…

We tend not to think of volcanoes much, especially here in the Pacific Northwest – until, of course, they start weeping copious amounts of steam or, even worse, popping their plug with devastating consequences. These sleeping giants tell us much about the origins of the landscape here: a landscape that is likened to a thin phyllo pastry crust sitting atop constantly shifting dinner plates. It’s the by-product of earth building that has been ongoing since the dawn of time. Two of these magmatic goliaths, Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens, are part of a chain of active volcanoes in what is known regionally as the Cascade Volcanic Arc, and globally as the Ring of Fire, a 40,000 km horseshoe-shaped region of considerable seismic activity that stretches from New Zealand up…

I remember when my mom enrolled me in Irish dance class – I was excited, yet there were so many other things to do. Like riding a dirt bike. She would squeeze my feet into small leather shoes and watch every class. I hated it at the time, but I became good enough to compete and I won many medals in the 10 years I danced. That was until my teacher pulled me aside one day after class and explained to me that I was very good, but it was too risky for me to continue dirtbike riding and dancing competitively. That was the day I quit Irish dancing. I couldn’t tell if my mom was upset or delighted that I had decided to quit. She put so much time…

HARLEY-DAVIDSON FXDR You may or may not have picked it up in its name, but the 2019 Harley-Davidson FXDR 114 is inspired by drag racing and powered by Harley’s Milwaukee-Eight 114 cubic-inch V-twin. This low-slung brute looks badass, and in the next issue, we’ll tell you how it rides. TEXAS VARIETY There’s as much good riding in the Texas hill country as there are interesting places to stop and smell the roses. Maybe listen to conspiracy theorists discuss the JFK shooting, learn about the rich history of the state or get twisted on the famous Three Sisters route.…

Entire Field of MotoE race Bikes Wiped Out by Fire A massive late-night paddock fire destroyed all 18 electric race bikes that were to compete in the fledgling FIM Enel MotoE World Cup electric motorcycle race series. The fire broke out in the specially built temporary E-Paddock at Circuito de Jerez, in Spain, at about 12:15 a.m. local time on March 14, during the second MotoE pre-series test to be held at the circuit. According to a press release issued by Dorna Sports, the governing body of MotoGP, the fire “destroyed the majority of the material.” No injuries were reported. The Enel MotoE World Cup was announced last year as a support class during MotoGP events, with five races on the schedule for 2019. The first race was to take…

Crossover cars are becoming ever more popular, as passenger car platforms are increasingly used to create a multipurpose vehicle with the space and practicality of an SUV, but the comfort and handling of a sedan. The same thing with bikes – the most obvious example being BMW’s succession of best-selling GS models, or Honda’s NC750X and CB500X, all attempting to deliver the best of both worlds without one compromising the other. But now Triumph has delivered a pair of crossover models that seek to answer a different question: how to combine retro cool with modern functionality in a dual-purpose motorcycle. Call it a crossover Crossover. That’s the conundrum that faced Triumph’s chief engineer, Stuart Wood, and his R&D team three and a half years ago when they began work on…

The sun sank behind the horizon as the rain grew heavier. I could only see the red glow from the taillight of the bike ahead and the meek scope of illumination that my bug-plastered headlight offered. A silhouette appeared from the ditch and crept onto the road. The bike ahead blocked my vision of the creature until it was too late. I could hear the sounds of sliding rubber and could feel it vibrating through my bones as my wheels locked up, and I felt a crushing impact on the front of my bike. I tried to scream, but all that came out was a distorted whimper. I knew instantly what I had hit; I didn’t want it to be true. My heart racing, I looked at the front of…

During a long weekend last May, I was invited by some new friends to go dirtbike camping. “Dirtbike camping? Such a thing exists?” I asked. The next thing I knew, my two kids (aged six and nine) and I, along with some great friends, were heading to Nickel Mine for three nights of camping and dirtbike riding. I was in heaven and I was being introduced to a world that I never knew existed, and learning about the long, complex history of dirt biking in the area. The Hope Nickel Mine Riding Area is a network of riding trails near Hope, B.C., that has been maintained by the Fraser Valley Dirt Riders Association for the past 30-plus years. Enjoyed by motorcycle and ATV enthusiasts alike, it’s made up of forest…