Motorcycle & Bikers Blog
Iconic models, brand histories, legendary riders, circuits and maintenance guides: 197 articles on everything that runs on two wheels.
Motorcycle culture, from the fifties to MotoGP
Whether you ride a café racer, dream of a Vincent Black Shadow, follow MotoGP Sunday after Sunday, or mostly want to tension your chain properly, you are in the right place. This blog covers the iconic models — from the Ducati Monster to the Suzuki RG500 Gamma — and the histories of the manufacturers, from BMW Motorrad to KTM.
It also follows the legendary riders and the races that shaped the sport: Marc Márquez, Marco Simoncelli, the 500cc Grands Prix, the Motocross of Nations, the Baja 1000, and legendary circuits such as Spa-Francorchamps.
And because a motorcycle needs as much upkeep as storytelling, we publish how-to guides: cleaning, adjustments, riding gear, choosing equipment — with buying advice so you gear up without a misstep.
Worth exploring
The women who rode first: motorcycling's pioneers
CultureVan BurenBessie Stringfield From Clara Wagner, disqualified in 1910 despite a perfect score card, to Beryl Swain, stripped of her licence after the 1962 Tourist Trophy, one and the same story links the women who rode when the rules shut them out. The Van Buren sisters crossed 1916 America on their Indian Power Plus machines, Beatrice Shilling moved from the Brooklands banking to the carburettors of the Rolls-Royce Merlin, Theresa Wallach rode London to Cape Town, Bessie Stringfield criss-crossed the segregated South and Anke-Eve Goldmann imposed her one-piece leather suit. Contents Before 1920: riding when the road does not exist...
The Perfecto: how a leather jacket became the biker's uniform
CultureSchott NYC1928 Created in 1928 by Irving Schott in the New York workshop his family had founded in 1913, the Perfecto was first a work garment sold over the counter of a Harley-Davidson dealer on Long Island. Its off-centre zip, its belt and its horsehide answered the wind rather than fashion. The name comes from a cigar shape. In 1953, The Wild One and Marlon Brando's silhouette turned it into a badge of rebellion, before New York's punks took it up. Nearly a century later, in everyday French the word denotes any leather jacket with an off-centre zip. Contents A...
The bosozoku: Japan's biker gangs and their outsized machines
CultureTokko-fukuKaido racer Born in 1950s Japan under the name kaminari-zoku, the « thunder tribe », the bosozoku motorcycle subculture peaked in 1982 with 42,510 members recorded by the Japanese police. The term itself was forged in the press between 1962 and 1973. Their machines pushed modification to the extreme, from the rocket cowl to the three-tier seat and takeyari exhausts, while the embroidered tokko-fuku completed the outfit. The legislative crackdown of 1978, then 1982 and 2004, brought numbers crashing down; the aesthetic legacy lives on among the kyusha-kai and the kaido racers. Contents Before the bosozoku: the « thunder tribe...
The motorcycle land speed record: the quest for the fastest flying kilometre
RaceAck Attack1948 From the beaches of Ormond Beach to the salt flats of Utah, the quest for the fastest flying kilometre tells a century of engineering and daring. The rule of two runs in opposite directions was born with it. Ernst Henne streamlined his BMW, Rollie Free stretched out in swimming trunks on a Vincent in 1948, then the American streamliners took over, from Don Vesco to Dave Campos. The duel between the Ack Attack and the BUB Seven ended on the average of 605.697 km/h set by Rocky Robinson in 2010, still unbeaten. Contents The two-run rule: why an...
The International Six Days (ISDE): the oldest off-road event in the world
RaceISDT1913 Founded in 1913 around Carlisle, in England, the International Six Days are the oldest off-road event still being run. Their format has barely shifted: a daily loop to be covered within a set time, time checks, timed special tests, parc fermé every night and a rule unlike any other, with only the rider allowed to work on the machine. Around the World Trophy and the Silver Vase came in turn British pre-war dominance, the 1939 interruption at Salzburg, the long Czechoslovak then East German hegemony, the change from ISDT to ISDE at the turn of the 1980s and Italian,...
FAQ – About the motorcycle blog
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What does this blog cover?
Five main families: motorcycle culture and heritage; the models that became icons; the histories of the manufacturers; riders, races and circuits; and practical guides to maintenance and riding gear.
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How often are new articles published?
The blog grows in themed waves: several articles appear together whenever a subject is covered in full. The most recent posts always appear at the top of this page.
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Do I need to be a mechanic to follow the guides?
No. The how-to guides start from the gesture itself, explain which tools are needed and flag what is better left to a professional. The culture articles need no prior knowledge at all.
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Does the blog also cover the shop products?
Yes. Articles link through to the matching departments — riding gear, accessories, home decor, jewellery — and buying advice helps you choose by use and budget.
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How do I find a specific article?
The themes above filter the blog in one click, and the full list of subjects is shown in the right-hand column. All 197 articles remain reachable from the blog title.