#DukesDen

This was my third consecutive year of reporting from the world’s largest motorcycle show, EICMA, held annually in Milan, Italy. It’s a cornucopia of everything related to motorbikes, and it’s the premier event for unveiling all the new machines preparing to be shipped to dealers around the world.

I recently did something on a motorcycle that I hadn’t done in a preposterously long time. I rode with no intended purpose, traveling nowhere in particular.

Those who have read my words over the years understand my love for wheelies. I’ve been doing them on a bicycle since I was a kid, and I’ve been pulling them on motorcycles for decades. The physical sensations and the talent challenges of doing wheelies are simply irresistible to me. While impossible to accurately sum, I must be past the 10,000 mark by now.

Watching the motorcycle business of Polaris Industries evolve over the past few years has been compelling, and, as the corporation balances how Victory Motorcycles coexists with Indian Motorcycle, it’s now well on its way to becoming fascinating.

Journalists are trained to avoid hyperbole, but it’s a fact that sportbike enthusiasts have never had a better choice of amazingly fast and competent superbikes than those available this year – no hyperbole necessary!

In April I passed my eighth year working as Ed-in-Chief of the online moto publication you’re perusing, and I’d like to thank you for your attention to the thousands of articles MO has published since then. Lots of hard work has gone on behind the scenes to deliver all the latest news and reviews of motorcycles at a level of quality that puts us ahead of anything that can be found on the web. Hell, with the current roster of amazingly versatile and talented editors, I’d rank us up there with the best moto content to be found anywhere, let alone the internet. I’m blessed with my exceptional crew. So are you.

In recognition of National Motorcycle Awareness Month, I’m going to link to my editorial from 12 months ago because I can’t think of much else to say about it.

I’ve been testing factory-supplied motorcycles for more than 20 years, and I’m proud to say only a few of the 700-odd press bikes I’ve sampled have ever been placed improperly on the ground, i.e. crashed.

Freedom is likely the most oft-used word to describe the feeling of riding a motorcycle. For most, the first real taste of that sense of freedom was experienced while riding a bicycle, which, almost universally, was as a child. I loved the feeling of taking off on my bicycle to see and experience new things as I explored the exciting sensations of freedom on two wheels.

Ah, the year 2007 was a momentous one, marking my arrival at Motorcycle.com after years toiling at other publications. I was headhunted from another dot-com to lead the charge at MO, which was newly under the auspices of Verticalscope.

One day I’ll write an editorial about the grueling and arduous aspects of my job as MO’s Editor-in-Chief. This isn’t it. This edition of DD highlights what are the high points of any sport-minded motojournalist, including myself: a press launch at a world-class racetrack. But my history on roadracing circuits began much less glamorously.

From the URL currently showing in your browser, I think it’s a safe bet that you understand and appreciate the wondrous benefits of traveling on two wheels. Cars are merely dynamically inferior conveyances.

I’m really anxious to drive the new Slingshot Polaris recently launched. With 170 horsepower in a 1725-lb package with side-by-side seating and an open top, it promises to deliver a fun factor unlike almost any other machine currently in production. But it’s not a motorcycle.

I’m often asked which motorcycle is my favorite, which is actually impossible to answer without a for-what-purpose addendum. But during a conversation last week, an acquaintance put a different spin on the question by asking: Which motorcycles are most memorable to you?

The definition of “sport-touring” depends on a rider’s individual perspective.