The real cycle you’re working in is a cycle called yourself. A field guide to bike building personality types, shed psychology, and the subtle gravity of unfinished motorcycles. The Beginning In the early 2000s, for myself and many like me, something quite important happened. Born in the 60s and 70s, we grew up with Wes Cooley’s AMA-winning GS1000, Barry Sheene’s Heron Suzuki RG500, and the Californian Highway Patrol, but we don’t talk about that. You could find a Ford Escort Mk1 RS parked in the street, and kids were still asking Jim to fix it for them. Without realising it, … Continue reading →

From the Throttle to the Hobble Youth In the 1980s, in my teens, I wanted nothing more than a Suzuki Katana, all angles and attitude. By twenty I had my first taste of the barely civilised excess of a Suzuki GSX-R750. Back then I was convinced horsepower was a kind of secular grace, bestowed not on the meek but on the mechanically devout. If you understood it, if you respected it, it was meant for you. The rest of the world simply had not been initiated. I did not just love horsepower. I thought it belonged to me, as if … Continue reading →