#JohnBurns

Indian summoned the moto-press to San Diego a couple of weeks ago to introduce another new model that’s embargoed until about April. One of the most interesting parts of this particular junket were the remarks by Reid Wilson, Indian’s 37-year old Marketing Director. Before coming to Indian three years ago, Wilson worked as a brand manager for Miller/Coors, and before that he was riding Briggs & Stratton-powered minibikes from the time he was a toddler. I corralled him at the bar for further explication.

A few MO commenters are always encouraging me to keep my politics to myself, which I do as much as I can because I understand people want to read about motorcycles and look at pretty pics when they come here to get away from it all. The problem for me is that if you’re paying attention to your life, including motorcycles, politics can’t be avoided any more than you can just ignore the family of bears who just decided to share your campsite. Politics affects my bottom line.

Because a video’s worth at least 2000 words…

Dear MOby,

What’s up with Hyosung? The Korean bike builder just seems to do things its own way. If there’s a marketing department, it’s a secretive one that’s careful not to divulge sensitive information. When there’s a new model, it sort of just arrives… the new GD250R did make an appearance at last November’s EICMA show, but we must’ve overlooked it? Is this thing from North or South Korea? Is it a threat to national security? And what is GD acronyming anyway? Grand Douring?

Hey, if Brasfield can get away with it, why can’t I? In the good old days, a big-time professional such as myself would be accompanied by an also professional photographer, but that’s so 2010. Luckily, thanks to the geniuses at Canon, anybody who can push a button can now get decent results. Here are my favorites from the last few years. (In case you don’t already know, clicking on MO photos makes them not just bigger but usually also sharper. No one knows why…)

Dear MOby,

Dear MOby,

Whenever he gets a chance, John Burns likes to ramble on about how much he likes Buell motorcycles. The old ones, the new ones, it doesn’t matter. He’s a fan of Erik Buell’s vision and its execution. Case in point? JB’s review below of the 2004 Buell XB12S. A self-proclaimed lover of the XB9S, riding a bigger, better version of the XB-S around Road America left a big smile on his face. Hell, he still speaks fondly of it today. Check out what he has to say about it below, and for more pictures of the bike be sure to click on the photo gallery.   

How many new Triumph Bonnevilles are we up to now anyway? The Street Twin came first, just about a year ago. We liked the sweet little runabout instantly, and it proceeded to come out on top of every comparison test we threw at it, usually by quite a lot. Wait, Maybe it was only this one:

One interesting phenomenon I’ve noticed over the years is the seeming inability of the non-motorcycling public to read. Inevitably, when whatever motorcycle I’m riding draws a layperson’s attention, they’ll ask, ‘What kind of motorcycle IS that?’ And it doesn’t matter how large VICTORY or HONDA is written on the gas tank. The sole exception is Harley-Davidson. Then the comment is always ‘Nice Harley.’ And if some casual observer says ‘nice Harley’ when you’re on a Japanese cruiser trying to hide its identity, you know the Japanese have won another skirmish but are destined to eventually lose the cruiser war.

Dear MOby,

With the unfortunate news of Polaris shutting down Victory Motorcycles, it only seemed right for this week’s Church feature to be about Victory. Oddly, despite Victory’s beginnings in 1997, it took a few years – and a new millennia – for MO to get its hands on one. We’ve featured some of those models already in past Church features, so for this week we’re going with the oldest Victory review we have yet to showcase: the 2003 Victory Vegas. Ridden and written by Eric Bass, sit back, relax, and enjoy this early road test review of what might become a collector’s item in 20 years. Oh, and for more pictures, be sure to visit the photo gallery.

This week’s Top 10 comes to us courtesy of Miguel Galluzzi. Mr. G is best known for designing Ducati’s original Monster and starting the modern naked-bike movement, but before that he also penned Ducati’s early ’90s 900 Supersports. He’s been a busy man ever since, and is currently director for PADC (Piaggio Advanced Design Center), in Pasadena, CA, where he – together with another design team in Noale, Italy – cooks up new Moto Guzzis, Aprilias and other Italian delicacies. —John Burns

Dear MOby,