#Classic

Forecasts predict that Internal Combustion Engines will be all but extinct within the next 20 years, so where will we get the fuel for our classic bikes and how much will it cost?

If there’s a piece of apparel most associated with motorcycling, it’s undoubtedly the leather motorcycle jacket. The leather jacket is part of our uniform, but even non-riders search the bins for cowhide when it’s time to dress up for Halloween, or down for any occasion that calls for cool. No matter what you ride, the best leather motorcycle jackets are versatile enough to look at home nearly anywhere, and on nearly anything. A premium leather jacket will never go out of style, and the more you wear a quality one, the more comfortable it will feel – there’s just something about leather that other materials can’t match. Bountiful and ubiquitous, with seemingly endless options to choose from, it would be impossible for us to feature every single jacket out there. So here we’ve gathered a small sampling of the best leather motorcycle jackets the market has to offer, listed in alphabetical order.

Every time it comes time to write one of those “Great Motorcycle Developments of the Future” deals, some form of cooling tech always makes it to the top of the list. Usually it’s an air-conditioned helmet. Indian decided to attack the heat problem from the other direction with its ClimaCommand Classic Seat, retro-fittable onto all Thunderstroke models back to 2016.

From the moment that the Kawasaki Z1-inspired Z900RS was announced in October of last year, enthusiasts have been saying they wanted the model to go even further into the retro-racer styling. Just a month later, large portions of the rest of the world received the word that their dreams had been made real in the form of the Kawasaki Z900RS Cafe. Naturally, riders in the U.S. market wanted to know why they weren’t going to be allowed to own this strikingly-styled version of the RS.

The 9th Quail Motorcycle Gathering took place last weekend, and I was finally lucky enough to attend for the first time. Despite the cold weather, the event more than lived up to my hopes, even if I only had two hours to wade through 350 motorcycles. Our stringer, Geoff Drake, covered the event and the winners that were chosen by people who are experts about historic motorcycles, so you should definitely check that out. This article includes my subjective favorites from the Quail, purely the result of my quirky mechanical tastes. So, let’s see what tickled my fancy.

I adore my 1992 Ducati 900SS and 1968 El Camino SS396. They stimulate me in deep and visceral ways, both dynamically and aesthetically, and they share more things in common than simply occupying space in my garage and driveway.

Triumph’s new generation of Bonneville models gets expanded to four with the introduction of the T100 Bonneville, and we were one of the first publications on the planet to take it for a spin.

Saturday, May 14, 2016 will mark the eighth annual Quail Motorcycle Gathering at the Quail Lodge and Golf Club, and while we’d rather be riding than looking at motorcycles, we have to admit, “The Quail” is a really cool event. We recommend you make the journey to Carmel to attend, especially if you’ve never been before. With less than a month to go before the event, let’s take a look at what you can expect at The Quail.

Here’s another rare old beast that never made it to America, not officially anyway. Produced from 1981 to ’83, the CB1100R was Honda’s first “homologation” special, meaning a bike that had to be made available for sale to the public to qualify for racing. According to various sources, 1050 were produced in 1981 (CB1100RB), followed by 1500 in 1982 (RC), and a final 1500 more in ’83 (RD). The bike pictured above, owned by our friend and top geezer Grant Hellinger, is CB1100RC number 1500 – the last one to roll off the line in ’82.

Wow, this is sort of dangerous ground Triumph is treading with its new Hi-Torque-engined Street Twin: Its all-new bigger, more modern, liquid-cooled 900cc parallel-Twin actually makes, ahhhh, less peak horsepower than the previous generation 865cc unit. That’s why they insisted we journalists ride the bike before the tech presentation, and kept the cocktails flowing the night before. Savvy marketing on their part. Triumph claims just 54 horsepower (at 5900 rpm) for the new motor, which is at least 10 hp less than I’d have estimated from my butt-clench dyno after a day’s spin around Valencia and environs on the new bike.

Located in the heart of Los Angeles, arguably the car capital of the world (sorry Detroit), the iconic Petersen Automotive Museum has undergone a massive and comprehensive renovation. First opened on June 9, 1994, the museum’s mission, as set by founders Margie and Robert E. Petersen, was to showcase automotive culture from around the world while celebrating Southern California’s rich history within it. The museum has done a respectable job of accomplishing this mission, but as the automotive landscaped changed over the last 20 years, the museum has stayed largely the same. Obviously that had to change.

Serge Bueno made the trans-Atlantic move from France to California to open an upscale motorcycle restoration business that is making a big splash in the SoCal scene.

What’s a scrambler? In decades past, a scrambler was a street motorcycle stripped down and optimized for off-road use by way of swapping-in high-pipes, wider handlebars, semi-knobby tires, and differently styled fenders, seat and tank. Sometimes, it was an unmodified street model given a scrambler or street scrambler designation. In essence, it’s a cool name meant to convey agile sportability regardless of the bike’s dirt or street intentions.

Grab a hat, sunscreen, sunglasses and a cold beverage. It is Australia Day weekend over here and the biggest classic bike event Down Under is on. Time to soak up the atmosphere and fumes of the largest historic motorcycle racing festival in the Southern Hemisphere.

Miles south of the Vegas strip, the South Point Casino and Exhibition Hall rises from the desert like a giant sandstone monolith. At first sight, just one word, despite its constant misuse and triteness, comes to mind: Awesome.