Off the Reservation: Lessons from a Lifetime of Restoring…
John Morrison Batchelder Jr. is not going to friend you on Facebook. He isn’t going to like your posts or watch your latest YouTube video. He isn’t going to answer your calls when he’s on the road. If...
Greatest 1980s Motorcycles: Iconic 80s Bikes
The 1980s served up more than big hair and synthesized pop music, it was a rad time for motorcycles, too. Before digital dashboards and traction control, motorcycles were raw and mechanical with a personality all their own. They...
Eyes on the Line: A Rookie’s Crack at Bonneville Glory
It’s 85 degrees out here in the California desert – not bad for 7:30 am in June. I’m standing amongst about 25 other folks, drinking some coffee and holding my camera. All is usual except for one thing:...
A Look Back at Our Favorite Auction Bikes
We’ve chronicled countless auctions over the years, giving us a front-row seat to some of the rarest and most significant motorcycles in the world going under the hammer. We revisit some of our favorites.
There’s a unique electricity in...
Period Incorrect: A 1950s Sunbeam S8 Restomod with a Twist
Built by one man in a small garage in the UK, this rare Sunbeam S8 is part restomod, part quirky custom.
There’s a magic to shed-built motorcycles. Sometimes it’s in the obscurity of the machine itself; other times, it’s...
Last of Kings: In the Saddle of Norton’s Big 850 Commando
The year was 1975, and the writing was on the wall for the Brits. Decades of industry dominance were coming to a close in the blink of an eye as multi-cylinder options from Japan proliferated. Honda had rewritten...
Revisiting the 1951 Ariel Square Four
‘Now that it’s out and running, be sure you run it,’ the 1951 Ariel’s owner said with a wink before sending me on my way, but I was feeling out of my element riding the Ariel Square Four....
Boosted Beginnings: How Kawasaki Landed the First…
Few motorcycles capture the sheer recklessness of late-1970s performance culture quite like the Kawasaki Z1-R Turbo. Born at a moment when horsepower wars were escalating faster than brakes, handling and emissions laws could keep up, the Z1-R TC...
Harley-Davidson XLCR: The Harley XLCR Cafe Racer
The 1977 Harley-Davidson XLCR is often described as a failure, which is technically correct and intellectually lazy. It didn’t sell well, it confused the dealer network and it landed with a thud in a marketplace already dominated by...
Kawasaki KR500: A Two-Stroke Monocoque Monster and the…
Kork Ballington occupies a rare space in Grand Prix history, the kind reserved for riders who combined speed with mechanical sympathy and timing that bordered on prophetic. Born in Rhodesia and racing under the South African flag, Ballington...
