#EvansBrasfield

If you’re a motorcyclist, you’ve heard of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. With Sturgis being one of the largest motorcycle gatherings in the world, people think they know what there is to do when attending the event. However, when questioned, they mostly mention shenanigans that take place on Main Street – activities that are so numerous that they’ve long since spilled onto and taken over nearby Lazelle Street. Or perhaps newbies express their desire to attend the events at the famous campground, concert venue, and all around party central, the Buffalo Chip. While these two locations are essential to the Sturgis experience, so much more is available to riders who attend the rally.

Way back in 2013, Moto Guzzi said that the revamped California 1400 was the platform for a line of models, and we watched it grow from the initial pair of the California 1400 Custom and the hard-bagged California 1400 Touring to include in the 2016 model year the Audace and the El Dorado – though both fail to mention their California roots in their names. Into this family, Moto Guzzi lands the formidable MGX-21 Flying Fortress.

Once upon a time, OEM streetfighters weren’t a thing. Instead, streetfighter motorcycles were solely the province of riders who were forced by finances to become customizers, with many getting their start after plastic-grinding slides down the pavement. The cost of replacement factory bodywork being what it was (and still is), many young riders were challenged when it came time to fix their damaged rides. So, the bodywork came off, and their sportbike’s industrial underbelly was exposed for the world to see – the rougher the better – with the scars from tangles with the laws of physics displayed with pride. Eventually, streetfighters became something other than a repair option. Instead, riders began taking new bikes and stripping perfectly good components off of them. Custom parts geared towards this market mushroomed, and much like cafe racers, a grass-roots-inspired motorcycle class was born.

Even if you’re wearing fully-perforated or mesh riding gear, you’re going to get hot while riding in summer heat. The minimized airflow inside of less-than-fully-vented leather or textile jackets and pants only exacerbates the problem. However, no matter what protective gear you have on, your body will sweat during higher temperatures. The trick is getting air to flow over the sweat and cool your body through evaporation. Rev’It’s Oxygen Shirt and Pants aim to move moisture away from the rider’s body for a cooler, more pleasant ride.

What is it about motorcycles that makes riders immediately want to modify their bikes? Sometimes, they don’t even make it out of the dealership before some of the OE parts have been replaced with “performance enhancing” upgrades. Back in the days when tires seemed to made out of stone, swapping out the stock rubber for something stickier truly was a way to earn street cred (assuming you scrubbed off the chicken strips) and improve the bike’s performance. Of course, this was during the Pleistocene epoch, when aluminum was considered an exotic material, and swapping out steel parts was another easy path to a sportier motorcycle.

Walk around at any motorcycle gathering and count the bikes with limp, sagging chains. Often, the worst examples also are bone dry with rust and/or crud built up on them. Since you’re a MO reader and regularly clean/lube your chain, you’re ahead of the game. However, you still need to make sure that the chain’s slack is within specifications. If you lube your chain regularly, you will probably not need to adjust it every time you return from a ride, but as a chain nears the end of its usable life, you will need to adjust the slack more and more frequently.

Ever since Triumph announced its 2016 model line at EICMA, we’ve been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the updated Tiger Explorer line. As we’ve noted before, the Explorer models have been divided between the XR models, which receives more street-oriented cast wheels, and the XC models, featuring dirt-friendly wire-spoke wheels. All Explorer models are based on the same platform (meaning the same engine, basic suspension specs and wheel sizes) with the designations signifying trim packages. The Explorer XCA tested here represents the top of the Explorer line.

Riders on the European side of the pond are probably more familiar with the Swiss manufacturer iXS Motorcycle Fashion Apparel than those in the American market. However, don’t let the word fashion in the company name fool you. iXS produces motorcycle gear ranging from technical undergarments to race-ready one-piece leathers and everything in between. Since the company is looking to expand its presence stateside, the timing was perfect to sample part of the iXS vintage line of leather jackets. To my eye, the Flagstaff looked to provide an ideal balance between retro styling and real-world protection.

Your friendly Motorcycle.com staff has been there. Really. We all remember that moment when we decided we wanted to become motorcyclists. We will also never forget the day we threw a leg over our first street motorcycle. No moment in life – with the possible exception of parenthood – has so many hopes and fears associated with it.

Part of our jobs as editors at a motorcycle-focused publication is to model a variety of riding gear for our readers, as it gives visibility to a wider variety of gear than you might have access to at a local motorcycle dealership. So, while displaying a variety of gear options is part of our job, you’ll also discover, if you look closely, that every MO staffer has their favorite items that show up in more photos than others. In my case, for the better part of a year, you would have seen quite a few appearances of the Troy Lee Designs Apex Pro Glove.

We’ve ridden the Indian Chieftain a few times, and we’ve always been fond of its engine and power delivery. Still, the semi-secret, unofficial MO Motto is “More is more.” So, when the Indian PR folks asked us which model Chieftain Dark Horse we wanted to take home to cuddle up with, a stocker or one that had been blessed with the complete listing from the factory performance catalog, you can probably guess our answer. Then toss in the fact that, with the exception of the model-specific exhaust, all of these modifications could be made to any Thunder Stroke 111 engine, and we saw the opportunity to share our bounty with our readers.

Some may wonder why we’d bother to test a new motorcycle model that basically only includes stylistic changes from the one we tested previously. In the case of the 2016 Indian Chieftain Dark Horse, we last tested a Chieftain in November 2013 and felt enough time had passed that we needed to throw a leg over this Indian to remind ourselves what a great bike it is. Also, there was a battleship tour, in the form of the USS Iowa, involved as well as a chance to get out of the office for a ride.

Riders who prefer wearing tinted shields on their helmets instead of sunglasses tucked inside them are painfully aware of the conundrum: How do we handle the switch to a clear shield after dark?

In 2014 Indian released the Chieftain, and at that stage of Polaris’ reclaiming of the Indian brand, the focus was still very much on the heritage of the name. The styling was clearly inspired by Indians of the past, but great pains were taken to make the Chieftain a modern motorcycle through the inclusion of modern technology. However, the Indian brand has grown to include more modern motorcycles, like the Scout and the Scout Sixty, preparing the public for Indian to be a manufacturer with a clear vision of its past while still looking towards the future.

We all know the cliché: The motorcyclist who is intimately acquainted with all the parts of his motorcycle. His man cave may not have a TV, but it has a bike lift. Then there are the tools, cabinets of them. However, like most truisms, they are only partially based in fact. Yes, there are home mechanics who fit this description perfectly, but there are also tons of riders who never turn a wrench on their bikes. Is the distinction the difference between hobbyists and and dyed-in-the-wool enthusiasts? It would be easier if the answer were that simplistic, but the reasons people have for wrenching – or not – on their motorcycles are as varied as the people out riding bikes.