Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2024 i Motorcycle Mojo Magazine

Well, the news made headlines but seems to have been pretty quiet since the December 19, 2023, announcement by the Canadian government that all new vehicles sold by 2035 must be electric. Of course, my first thought was, “What will happen to the motorcycle industry?” It’s common knowledge that, at least with today’s battery technology, a motorcycle simply cannot carry enough battery energy to cover long distances. I’ve heard horror stories of riding just from Toronto to Montreal with an electric motorcycle. Many of us prefer to travel significant distances by motorcycle during our limited riding season. With a couple of today’s electric motorcycles, even going for an afternoon highway ride limits you to a claimed 172 km on Zero’s highest range motorcycle, or a claimed 112 km on the…

While fondly looking through old racing photos for a #throwbackthursday social media post, I realized there was a commonality in many of the shots. Consistently in the background, stable and reliable; behind motorcycles and tools; behind spare parts and rain tires; amidst exhaust smoke and surrounded by smiles, greasy hands and laughter, was the minivan. The minivan — or converted ambulance, transformed hearse, repurposed food truck, or rebuilt camper — is so much more than just a cheap, janky vehicle. These race vans represent determination, drive, courage, and a willingness to risk everything to follow a dream. Privateers understand this deeply; professional racers will likely remember when they first started chasing their dreams in similar vehicles. While there’s a comfort and allure to arriving at a race in a purpose-built…

So, you’ve outgrown your CBR600RR. Perhaps it was a GSX-R600. Maybe Team Green’s 636. Hell, it could even have been a R6, though Yamaha hasn’t built a street-legal version of that speedster since 2020. Whatever the case, you’ve left the supersports world behind. Maybe it’s a bad back. Could be wonky knees. Just as likely your wrists can’t handle the constant pressure anymore. I know your pain. I’ve got all three. And, if you’re anything like me, you resisted for as long as you could. Muscle relaxants gave adequate — but fleeting — solace; bar risers just delayed the inevitable. It was time to leave the motorcycles of your youth behind. But, my Lord, you miss the twitchy steering, the scream of stratospheric redlines and the feeling of one-ness with…

The heat was killer. Even as the sun sank behind a treed horizon, the thick air clung like a wet quilt. Wilting and spent, the three riders circled up around their intended wild campsite, looked at their feet, and someone — the sane one — spoke up: screw frugality, we’re looking at heat exhaustion, time for an air-conditioned motel. It was immediately unanimous, and a cheap room (split three ways) never felt so good. For me, this was part of a long-term test ride of the new Suzuki V-Strom 800DE, an inspired and spirited adventure bike that, with a wink of understatement, we’d named Suzette. I was excited both for the mode and the road. Each of us — Cliff on his 2008 BMW F650GS, Gary on his 2011 Suzuki…

A racetrack in rural Wales, the Anglesey Trac Môn Circuit, just became the first in the United Kingdom to ban electric vehicles. More important, at least to this column, is that Anglesey’s ban will also include battery-powered motorcycles, but also hybrids like the new Ninja 7 Kawasaki is bringing to market. Although the track has released no specific reason for the new dictum, the problem would seem to be safety, namely that battery-powered vehicles could pose a fire risk that small tracks, like Anglesey, are unwilling to accept. Now, before anyone starts protesting that I’m being unfair to electric vehicles, let me state that fires in gasoline-fueled vehicles, be they two-wheeled or four, are much more common than conflagrations fueled by lithium-ion. Perhaps even as much as 50 times more…

This photo is of Hughie Joseph MacDonald, my great grandfather. It was taken, we think, in 1946. He lived in Selkirk, P.E.I. and there is now a road where he lived named after him (Hughie Joseph Road). He used to deliver the mail on this Indian, and apparently shortly after this photo he got a car. I can only imagine how the ride was on that old Indian. I guess that’s where I get my love for motorcycles. I found this photo only two years ago. SUBMISSIONS TO REMEMBER WHEN? ARE ALWAYS WELCOME. IF YOUR PHOTO(S) IS PRINTED WE WILL SEND YOU $25.00 HIGH RESOLUTION DIGITAL PHOTOS ARE ACCEPTABLE AS WELL AS PRINTS. IF YOU WISH THE PRINT BACK PLEASE INCLUDE A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE. SEND TO: EDITOR@MOTORCYCLEMOJO.COM…

Hey, are you and your bike ready for your first spring ride? Just getting on the bike should be fine for me, since I have been keeping active hiking and riding snowmobiles, but I know of friends who have strained inactive muscles by just getting on their bike, so maybe a few stretches are in order. Most people just jump on their bikes and make the first spring ride their warmup and practice. Now, I’m not saying that you’ve forgotten what the clutch does or where first gear is, but how fresh are your collision avoidance skills? I haven’t been on a bike for a few months and I know my skills are rusty, so my plan is to find a nearby parking lot to put myself through some riding…

Here’s the thing about time: It only moves forward, never back. But such is life. With that in mind the past few years, and having become a senior citizen against my will, I was ruminating over how much I missed the ability to go off-road and explore, and to also do some rough camping. My Street Glide was a thing of beauty and I loved riding it, but I really was developing an itch to go in the woods for days wearing the same clothes and not showering. My ever-tolerant wife, Janiebelle, was not in favour of this. So I needed to do some thinking. I almost pulled a muscle… Ultimately, I decided that the Street Glide had to go. I can always get another one, right? Right? And I…

The numbers added up to a spectacular first-ever Motorrad ADV-X backroad adventure in the wilds surrounding the Sun Peaks ski, golf and mountain biking resort near Kamloops, B.C. in mid-September of last year. BMW partnered with Enduro Park Canada, an off-road rider training company near Victoria, B.C., to organize the event. The riders for this GS-only event came from across Canada and ranged from off-road newbies to advanced bushwhackers. One of the relative newcomers was Tanya Cassells, who came with her husband Cameron Cassells from nearby Coldstream, B.C., for the ride. Although Tanya had ridden a small dirt bike as a kid in Alberta, she said she didn’t return to motorcycling until she turned 50 and did so because it is an activity she and Cameron could share. She bought…

Envy that has been simmering for more than four decades is the cause of my latest two-wheeled purchase. When I turned 14, I bought my first motorized two-wheeler, a well-used, non-running Motobecane 50V moped. I’d earned the $100 to buy it stocking grocery-store shelves. Once I did get it running, it helped me expand my universe considerably. It also sparked a love affair with motorcycles. Quebec law back then stipulated that anyone 14 years of age or older could ride a moped, on the street, without a driver’s license (basic training is now needed). Back then, mopeds were categorized simply as having functioning, bicycle-like pedals, and an engine displacing less than 50 cc. Because of that law, mopeds were big in Quebec (figuratively speaking) in the late 1970s, and kids…

Do you ever catch a glimpse of your motorcycle and see yourself embodied by the machine? I do, and I’m happy that we still have an emotional connection to the bikes that we ride — we thrive when we ride the bikes we love, which better our soul. Many of us don’t buy bikes based purely on performance, fuel consumption, or price point. We also heavily factor in the emotional benefit and enrichment they add to our lives. In my opinion, long gone are the days when we felt like that about cars. When you look at classic cars, you can see personality formed from a piece of metal, as if part of the soul of the creator resonates within the machine. The efforts put into styling, the clean lines,…

On a map, Route 100 becomes Route 105 just six kilometres south of Lake Memphremagog in northern Vermont. But it’s the same road, just the signs change. So, pardon me if I begin my journey at one of my favourite hangouts: the Newport marina on the south shore of the lake just a bit south of the Canadian border, in case someone has an issue with my not riding the entire 355 km of asphalt that stretches down the entire length of Vermon With my Wingman of the Road strapped to the luggage rack on the back of my Triumph Bonneville, I passed the Rt. 105/Rt. 100 sign and rode south just as the sun peeked over low verdant hills to the east. The trees still had that bright green…