The price of gas being what it is, a motorcycle could help you beat the pump and cut a dashing figure at the same time. Plus, with your helmet you won’t be tempted to talk on your cell phone.
Baby Boomer bikers dominating their growing pastime with $15,000 road bikes are finding doses of needed nostalgia in Motorcycle Classics. It’s become a hit with its spreads on scores of icons from yesteryear, such as the 1971 Honda 100 and 1981 Yamaha 550, modest favorites of their day. Articles and photos extol the beauty and mechanical virtures of other classics such as the 1921 Indian, the 1934 Husqvarna and the beloved 1975 Norton Commando. Vintage bike auctions, the magazine reports, are the hottest sector among motoring collectibles, for example $6,500 for a fixed-up 1974 Honda 350, one of America’s most popular starter bikes of its time.
At last we get the answer to how motorcycle riders cope with bug splats. Some people who are curious about motorcycles but who have never ridden one have perhaps thought about this uncomfortable issue. Sport Rider’s Jeff Buchanan tells us, “There will be bugs.” Also, a feature on the Japanese father of the sport bike, Tadao Baba, takes readers into Honda’s heyday. Baba is a bike rider/engineer and used to personalize bikes off the production line with “happy riding” notes. This month’s edition squares off Ducati and Triumph with a surprise victor in performance.
Motorcycle Cruiser is a California-based title offering just what you’d expect from this magazine category. There are endless machine reviews, comparisons of the latest helmets and a buyer’s guide on bike-to-bike communication: apparently gesturing to friends isn’t high tech enough. If you’re into the scene, though, you’ll no doubt enjoy the cover story comparing two unique models, the Harley Switchback and the Victory Hard-Ball. Winner: The Hard-Ball, for reasons we can’t fathom, since reviewers loved both.
Cycle World appears aimed at an older crowd with its blocky layout and several pen and ink drawings of bikes. Editors try to ascribe human qualities to their bike reviews and in one roundup they decide to define a set of bikes with character. Each one gets a little strap with a photo of a film character that most expresses the bike’s qualities. The Ducati Diavel Carbon is “Batman Dark Knight’s ride of choice.” The Triumph Scrambler is Steve McQueen trying to escape from prison, and Indiana Jones is Ural M70. Each bike gets marks for badassness, crowd magnetism, bang for buck, escape artistry and Union Jack of all trades, whatever that means. Wait, did we say this title is for grown-ups?
New Yorker wonders what President Obama would do if he is re-elected. He could find a model in Ronald Reagan, whose advisers worked hard to shape his legacy. Speaking of leaving a footprint, a Tupelo, Miss.-based broadcaster named Bryan Fischer wants to make bias against gays the official stance of the Republican Party. He wants the next president to criminalize all abortions, wants schools to be able to teach intelligent design and seeks to make contraception available only to married couples. Elsewhere, an anecdotal history of the Supreme Court seems to have no purpose other than to offer the less-than-profound observation that “What people think about judicial review usually depends on what they think about the composition of the Court.” In other words, when your guy is in charge, you like judicial review.
Time offers a profile of Justice Anthony Kennedy, who could be casting the deciding Supreme Court vote on Obamacare, gay marriage, affirmative action and juvenile sentencing. Also under the microscope is the global economic crisis, though the story is hard to take seriously when it opens with not one, but two, references to Lady Gaga lyrics. Then comes a look at Elon Musk, an emerging leader in space exploration by a private company. Golfers may enjoy an article on Masters champion Bubba Watson that raises the question of whether he could fill the void left by Tiger Woods’ fall from grace.
Newsweek still believes we are British subjects. Tina Brown’s British slant is very apparent in the new edition featuring a cover story on Queen Elizabeth’s 60-year Jubilee. Fortunately, there is more here than the Jubilee. A feature on Penn State outcast Mike McQueary, who exposed alleged child molester Jerry Sandusky, helps illuminate the whole saga. Columnist Paul Begala offers a convincing argument on the hypocrisy of businessmen who call for the government to reduce the deficit, and then ask for subsidies. The big feature is on how Obama came to embrace drone strikes. Seems a little late to the game. Locally, Newsweek profiles the likely 2016 Democratic presidential primary race between Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Andrew Cuomo.
Ducati, President Obama, Norton Commando, Tadao Baba, Supreme Court, Honda, Motorcycle Classics, motorcycle, Ducati Diavel Carbon
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