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It’s early in the 1980s. Rider magazine is beginning to show promise as a motorcycle monthly devoted to the touring market. I’m working a...

Riding 740 Miles in 2 Days on a 34-Year-Old 250

“What?! You’re crazy, son. I can’t believe it,” said my dad after he heard my story. He should know. He’s owned and customized 1,000cc Kawasaki...

Inspiration from an Old Gent Driving a Buick

In western Connecticut, State Route 20 curves around the northern end of Barkhamsted Reservoir and down to Riverton. Traffic is scant, the scenery sublime...

Safe Post-Ride Entertainment in the Time of Covid

Over the years, I have penned many Rider articles about entertainment opportunities that can enhance great rides. I’ve written about riding to a Pearl...

A Safe Place to Rest Your Head: Lodging in the Time of Covid-19

In these strange times, close human contact is a risky proposition. Covid-19 restrictions have rendered many hobbies and activities off-limits. However, motorcycling is an...

To Ride, or Not to Ride? That is the Question….

As I write this in early April 2020, the effect of the novel coronavirus on the planet is evolving daily. Currently entire countries are...

Spring Training: A Good Reason to Dust Off the Bike

Spring (training) has sprung in both Florida and Arizona. As big leaguers work out the kinks of the offseason, motorcyclists can do the same...

Backing Up Science With a ‘Sanity Escape Loop’

When winter comes and your motorcycle is parked in the garage with the cover on, and you have not been on a ride for...

E-Bikes: What Are They and What Do They Mean for the Motorcycle Industry?

It’s official: e-bikes (bicycles with a small electric motor that kicks in to assist the pedaling action) are a thing, and they’re here to...

Honda Celebrates 60 Years in America

With just eight employees and three models, Honda began selling motorcycles in the U.S. 60 years ago, in September 1959. To celebrate the milestone,...

2019 BMW F 850 GS vs. 2009 F 800 GS: Time to Upgrade?

Dang! Just when I thought my first-year F 800 GS was perfectly set up I spent a week on a 2019 F 850 GS...

Requiem for the Kawasaki KLR650 (1987-2018)

Here we are, at the beginning of a new year and the end of an era. After a 32-year run (1987-2018), Kawasaki has ceased...

Have Your Dog and Ride With Her Too

At the end of a 10-day motorcycle trip south from New Orleans, my husband Greg and I arrived at Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, where we...

Reflections on the Moonshine Lunch Run

Snow fell gently on my motorcycle. The temperature had finally climbed into the mid-30s and the roads, though wet, were clear. I kissed my...

A MotoFantasy in Central Oregon

Life has a way of throwing us unexpected curves. As motorcyclists we often live for that moment on the road; lean and believe! We...

EarthRider 04: More Setup Tips for Adventure Riding

Editor’s Note: The EarthRider blog series focuses on adventure/off-road riding skills. If you haven’t read it already, check out our previous installment, EarthRider03: Control...

The 50-Mile Rule

The Lonesome Weirdoes Motorcycle Club taught me the 50-Mile Rule. It’s not complicated: you must ride 50 miles before breakfast. The Weirdoes informed much...

Renaissance Riding: Local Roads and Shakespeare Out West

I was pleasantly surprised a couple of years back when I wrote a travel piece for Rider called “Chasing Shakespeare: An Elizabethan Tour of...

EarthRider 03: Control Lever Setup for Adventure Riding

Editor’s Note: The EarthRider blog series focuses on adventure/off-road riding skills. If you haven’t read it already, check out our previous installment, EarthRider02: Stop...

EarthRider 02: Stop Anticipating the Stop

Editor’s Note: The EarthRider blog series focuses on adventure/off-road riding skills. If you haven’t read it already, check out our first installment, EarthRider 01:...

The Pleasure of Enforced Slowness

Lately I have been spending a lot of time on my 1974 Honda CB750. I enjoy the sit-up-and-grin riding position, the languid feel of...

The Seminal Motorcycle

Recently I visited one of my favorite cafés, a short ride up the Pacific Coast from my Santa Cruz, California, home. Called Downtown Local,...

EarthRider 01: Meet Laine MacTague

Welcome to EarthRider, a new blog series about off-road riding. Here at Rider, we focus on street-legal motorcycles, including dual-sport and adventure bikes that...

Exclusive Tour: Vance & Hines Factory

The adage, “mighty oaks from little acorns grow,” could also describe how cold, hard steel has, over the years, helped Vance & Hines grow...

Motocicletas en Cuba: The Havana Moto Culture

I step onto Cuban soil knowing full-well that I’ll see American classic cars in all their mid-century glory. What I am not prepared for...

Road Rage, And How Not To Deal With It

There’s a video that’s been circulating around social media and news outlets over the last couple of days, generating predictable amounts of outrage, judgment,...

Keep Calm and Ride On

Pity the poor drivers plodding along all around us, stuck in their cages, always in a rush but constricted by their mass and sheer...

Fiddling with My Petcock

A leaky petcock. It makes my wife giggle every time I talk about it, but the condition is no laughing matter. First your petcock...

Ride in Peace, Nicky Hayden: From a Normal, Everyday Fan

I never met Nicky Hayden. Never even got close…although I did see him in the paddock at a MotoGP race once. From like 40...

Six Weeks in Europe on a Bonneville T120, Two-Up

I have been my husband Bill’s pillion rider for 30-plus years, riding a variety of bikes on trips as short as just around the...

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