#BrentJaswinski

Harley-Davidson, the world’s largest and most iconic manufacturer of heavyweight motorcycles, announced yesterday its fourth quarter and full-year results for 2017, which saw a steep 82% decrease in Q4 net income to just $8.3 million compared to $47.2 million the year before. In addition to that announcement, the Motor Co. declared that it would be shutting down the Kansas City, Missouri manufacturing plant, leaving up to 800 H-D employees without jobs by July 2019.

Carey Hart’s Good Ride Rally hosted a special event at Fox Racing Headquarters where both the motocross and V-Twin industries got together to raise money on the behalf of our troops, and we had the privilege to attend. The Good Ride Rally is a series of rides, parties and events where all charitable donations go directly to America’s veterans, service men and women who have laid their lives on the line to protect our great country and freedoms.

What is there to say about the KTM RC 390? Well, for starters, it’s probably the lightest, snappiest and most sharp-steering scalpel of a bike the current small-displacement sportbike market has to offer. It’s no surprise why many junior and development race series like MotoGP’s ADAC, WSBK’s WorldSSP 300 class and MotoAmerica’s KTM RC Cup and now Junior Cup feature racing based heavily on the RC 390, who’s DNA is deeply rooted in Moto3 competition.

It’s hard to tell, but the outlook appears promising. By now, we’ve all heard that the motorcycle industry has been in somewhat of a stagnant rut over the last 10 years compared to the numbers it was enjoying during the late ‘90s and early 2000s, but I’m not here to beat a dead horse. Things are looking up. Or so it seems.

These two bikes aren’t your typical Craigslist deal o’ the day or backwoods barn finds – they’re the real deal – untouched, unmolested, unridden and unbelievable. What we have here is a 1990 Honda VFR750R RC30 and a 1991 Yamaha FZR750RT OW01, and both are just about as factory floor fresh today as they were almost 30 years ago.

Superstitions are a funny thing. Whether they actually have an effect on an outcome or not is still up in the air, but then again there’s no real way to prove or disprove they don’t, so I might as well keep on practicing mine because, well… because. That’s just what I do! Call it what you want to call it, but I like to think superstition works for me, mostly…

It was a sad day when I finally returned the 2017 Triumph Street Triple RS that I so fondly grew to love. I begged, pleaded and even threw a candy-aisle temper tantrum, kicking and screaming to no avail. No, not really, but handing the keys back over to Triumph was bittersweet, like dropping family off at the airport. All good things must come to an end, I suppose.

Currently, most of the country is under a blanket of snow, ice and freezing temperatures. Not Southern California, though – this past weekend saw temperatures north of 80 – I had to bust out my flip-flops and work on my foot tan!

Ahhh, Friday… One of my favorite F-words. It’s the one day, or night, that often feels the most lighthearted and carefree (once work is finished, of course) because the weekend is just starting and you still have another two full days ahead of you before starting the cycle all over again. Well, for most people, anyway…

Motorcyclists in California have been enjoying the fruits of lane-splitting for decades now. For a long time, lane-splitting (or the more PC and less abrasive sounding, lane-sharing or filtering) was a gray area in California law because it was neither legal nor illegal, so it was permitted, or rather tolerated so long as the practice was done safely. In 2016, however, lane-splitting became 100% legal – not without limitations, but legal nonetheless.

The idea of not wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle is one of those things that really makes me scratch my head, which I’m thankful to still have… thanks to, oh I don’t know, a helmet?

Amongst a slew of other racing series that kicked off this past weekend was Monster Energy AMA Supercross, and the display of racing provided that night did not disappoint. Anaheim 1, the famed opening round, is always suspenseful as riders often change teams/brands in the off-season, return to settle the scores of years past, reignite old rivalries and spark new ones all the same.

The 2018 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship is upon us. In two days, the gates will drop in Anaheim and racers aboard 250cc and 450cc bikes will compete bar-to-bar in an effort to edge each other out for a place on the top step of the podium. With no shortage of drama last year in both the Supercross and Outdoor National series, racing in 2018 should be as competitive as ever across both classes.

I can barely walk and chew gum at the same time, but one thing I’ve gotten a pretty good hang of is riding motorcycles. I’ve been doing it now for over 20 years (I’m 28 and three-quarter years old) and have picked up a few tips and tricks along the way that have not only helped me become a better rider, but a smarter rider as well.

The motorcycle industry may be facing hard times right now, but there’s never been a better time to be a fan. There’s a competitive racing series for every discipline and level of riding. From on-road to off-road, motocross and supercross to MotoAmerica and MotoGP, just to name a few. We also can’t forget about all the crazy new enduro series popping up all over the world, and quite possibly thee most exciting of the bunch: American Flat Track.