Motorcycle & Bikers Blog

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...

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...

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,...

RiderErnée 2003Harry Everts Son of four-time world champion Harry Everts, Belgium's Stefan Everts built a record of ten world titles between 1991 and 2006, a tally never matched since. Crowned at eighteen in the 125 class on a Suzuki, he went on to win in 250 with Kawasaki then Honda, took the 500 crown on a Yamaha and dominated the premier class until 2006. His 101 Grand Prix wins have since been surpassed by Jeffrey Herlings. What remains is the shifting names of the classes — 125-250-500, then MX1-MX2-MX3 — the Ernée feat of 2003 where he won three Grands...

Six world crowns, Norton then Gilera, a one-piece leather suit stitched by a tailor from St Helens and a strike paid for with six months' suspension: Geoff Duke invented the modern rider's trade.