motorcycles

Road Geekery

The histories and mysteries of roads and highways! From the Hartford Courant, this was way fun to research.

Ride of a Lifetime

In the summer of '06 I set out on a cross-country motorcycle trip, from Brooklyn to Seattle and back, on a Moto Guzzi California Aluminum, making rendezvous with my golf clubs at selectively-placed courses along the way, and Vic Williams of Fairways and Greens kindly let me put together this road trip story.

Profiles in Helmets, part 1

Profiles in Helmets, by Ray Tennenbaum and Martin Kozlowski

Martin Kozlowski drew the cartoons for these biker portraits as part of the Hartford Courant's annual summer motorcycle feature in 2003.

Profiles in Helmets, part 2

Profiles in Helmets, by Ray Tennenbaum and Martin Kozlowski

Baby You Can't Drive My Bike

Body: 

It bothers me when people say "drive" a motorcycle. Because you don't drive a motorcycle, you ride it, just like you ride a bicycle. In a way it would make sense to refer to “driving” a bicycle, since you actually provide the motive force for it -- but no one says that, probably because the sense of "drive" is really more about steering and controlling the vehicle’s speed and handling. On the other hand, if no one ever suggests you “drive your bicycle to my house" why do people so often say "drive your motorcycle"?

Riding to Vermont

Originally published in Continental Profiles (September 1995)

Head Case

It really used to rile me that the AMA had this position where they endorsed helmet use, but opposed helmet laws. I used to complain about it all the time because it was so transparently a way for them to have it both ways. Read this Newsday op-ed from July of 1998 to see me completely destroy their whole position logically, and even besmirch them with the legacy of slavery and the Confederacy! OH YEAH!! Ask them if they care. Please??!!

So you want to be a biker?

How to get started motorcycling: a primer, originally published in Investor's Business Daily in June, 1995

Family Squabbles

Just because the AMA has done a lot for motorcyclists doesn't mean they can't be a whipping-boy for an enterprising essayist with an axe to grind. From the Hartford Courant (June 15, 2003)

Subscribe to RSS - motorcycles