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2012 Ducati Panigale S

Is the Ducati for Everyone?Actually, it seems to fit a 6-foot-2 big guy not so bad at all…

That’s what the ad for Monza Junior 160 asked in 1966, years before the little factory in Bologna would turn out its first V-Twin. In those days, Ducati was already marketing itself against the Japanese onslaught with “quality craftsmanship,” the “skillful attention” it paid to every detail and bragging about [...]

Suzuki Falcorustyco

Days of Future PastTomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…and then one fine morning we’ll wake up and say what did ever happen to that beautiful future, anyway?

Call them what you will—show bikes, concept bikes, future bikes, whatever—they’ve been around for a long time. Sometimes they point the way to the future, most of the time they should wear a sign that says DEAD END. But the fun part is that nobody knows for sure at the [...]

Crocker Motorcycle Company Ressurected

Crocker Motorcycle Company ResurrectedThere’s even an actual motorcycle, you’ll just have to wait for your T-shirt.

After nearly twelve years of hassles, legal setbacks, a change of countries, and one nasty recession, a brand-new Crocker Big-Tank motorcycle has emerged from a hangar in SoCal. Michael Schacht is at no loss for words in describing the ordeal he’s overcome to reach the point of turning a key, [...]

MV Agusta GP 500

MV Agusta GP 500Everything old is new again.

In addition to their great contributions to the development of the new 675 F3, HRT engineers Ezio and Maurizio Mascheroni and Enrico Sironi created a perfect copy of Giacomo Agostini’s world-title-winning three-cylinder GP 500. Every detail is perfect because Sironi was a member of the legendary MV Agusta technical team and still has [...]

Evolve Motorcycles Xenon light bike

Evolve Motorcycles Xenon Light BikeA Light Cycle you can ride?

If you’re a motorcyclist and saw either the original Tron (1982) or the more recent Tron: Legacy (2010) movies, you can’t help but want to get on a Light Cycle and show the “programs” how to ride. You’ll never live your life on a circuit board, but if you want to [...]

Otto Cilindri: Moto Guzzi V8 Grand Prix Racer

Otto Cilindri: Moto Guzzi V8 Grand Prix RacerFast, fragile, flawed and fantastic, the Moto Guzzi V8 of the 1950s should have ruled Grand Prix racing. But it didn’t…

The Guzzi V8! If you dabble the least bit in motorcycling history, you have heard of this complex and ambitious machine, built in 1955 to dominate 500cc Grand Prix racing. At its best, the V8 had the numbers to do it. In 1957, when Gilera and MV were making no [...]

Jeff Decker's Vincent Black Shadow

The Church of VincentIs Jeff Decker’s polarizing “Black Lightning” such a sin?

The recent “World’s Coolest Bikes” profile of sculptor Jeff Decker and his Vincent “Black Lightning” proved controversial with CW readers, some of whom objected to the desecration of a Vincent motorcycle, while others were predictably pissed off by Decker’s attitude toward that hallowed name. Like the man, Decker’s tweaked Vincent [...]

Zaeta Flat-Tracker

Zaeta: Flat-tracker, Italian StyleDoes the world’s coolest flat-tracker come from Italy?

Passion drives us all, and after getting excellent drives, how ironic these two Italian gentlemen’s lines should converge at a 2007 Daytona short-track race, of all places. Once back home in the land of love, music, fashion and history, Paolo Chiaia and Marco Belli turned their serendipitous path-crossing into Zaeta, [...]

Enduro Tool Kit 101

Enduro Tool Kit 101Ten must-have items for your fanny pack.

Don’t let a tipover or minor crash strand you in the middle of nowhere. By packing a few key tools in a fanny pack or backpack, experienced riders are usually back on the trail in no time. Here are our top-10 must-haves. 1. Spare tube (21 inch): If you only [...]

Trackside with Eraldo Ferracci

Tuners: The Men Behind the MachinesCarruthers, Kanemoto, Johnson, Leonard, Ferracci, Doyle, Houseworth, Ludington, Mathers, Muzzy, Bazzaz, Fasola...

I’ve been fortunate to have had conversations over the years with some of roadracing’s top builders. At Talladega in 1974, all of the factory Yamaha TZ750As were violently unstable in Friday practice; I saw Don Castro’s bike throw his boots right off the footpegs as he passed start/finish on the [...]