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We are NOT trying to incite another helmet flame war. What grates on MO more is the singling out of motorcycling as a supposedly dangerous and socially expensive pastime. We'd like to see real statistics on the per-capita accident rate of those bastion sports of the rich and influential: skiing and equestrian sports... --MO

Join MO Staff Writer Yossef Schvetz as he attempts to ride "Effie" over many mountains and just as many miles, er, kilometers.

On the other hand, this device can make life much easier for a female rider while on a long trip...

We're trials newbies, but that doesn't mean we can't give you a glimpse into the exciting world of trials aboard Bultaco's Year 2000 Sherco. Call it a Sherpa T for the new millenium...

Would this be the first biker soap opera? Heh, manly men watching a masculinized soap opera, your wives/girlfriends will all laugh!

But when it comes to punishing drivers who hit motorcyclist, the English don't seem to be any better than South Dakota...

The team's decision to remove Slight from his post comes after a World Superbike season filled with ups and downs, some of which led to speculation that Slight himself wanted to retire at the end of the year...

Small island in Asia? Where? Ashley had a CBR150RR in Thailand...

..but passed on anything bigger because they're too hard to get parts for, too big to whip through traffic and don't get 85+ mpg like the small motorbikes there do. And the CBR150 was made in Thailand so you don't have to pay the Thai 32% import luxury tax -- that is, if you import something (such as computers, TVs, any motorcycle beyond the limited 100-125cc scooter "motorbikes") that doesn't have a similar Thai-made item available, you have to pay the tax. She traded it in for a Honda Sonic 125, and had that converted to a trailbike -- and that's our recommendation for buying in Asai. Get a DP bike! Then you can blast around the zillion dirt roads/trails that crisscross Asia, split lanes with abandon -- Sonic 125s (and the CBR150RR sportbikes) are extremely narrow compared to an inline-four machine. The roads tend to be so poor, traffic so bad and petty theft so high (as a broad generalization, you personally will be safe from major harm in most Buddhist Asian countries but your posessions won't be -- get used to it or don't go) that it's best to get something smaller that you can actually ride, fix in a timely manner and replace without breaking the bank if stolen.

We're not sure why Gabe does anything, Sean rides for the thrill of it all, Fonzie likes to get out and go anywhere, anytime and Ashley is a somewhat toned-down middle ground of tooling around on scooters or blazing on dirtbikes (can't get arrested on either!). Why do you ride? Thrills and escapism seem popular these days @MO... --MO

BMW's reliability is legendary, and our own experiences back this up. KTMs powered by Rotax should be reliable, but we haven't tested a bike from that brand since 1997 (although that's changing, and the MO boys -- Sean, Gabe and Fonzie -- are all at a KTM intro as this is typed) so we'll reserve our opinion and pass this one on to any of you MOFOs who've owned either brand... --MO

MO contributor Yossef Schvetz checked out a prototype system at the recent Intermot show.

Wow! A must-see! --MO

Don't forget Honda's EXP-2 , Bimota's V-Due or the great hopes that Orbital Engine would get produced. Direct injection -- or in Pivotalspeak, "direct-to-chamber fuel delivery"-- street-legal two-strokes are a tough market. We wish them all the luck, a 1000cc twin two-stroke motorcycle would be an awesome thing!

There will be two incarnations: an affordable model and one sporting a price tag that would choke a starving Beluga whale...