Expedition: Sierra Nevada

Ever since I moved to LA, I’ve been scheming any way possible to explore the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Topography maps promised a web of trails and rarely used Forest Service roads, so pavement or respectable cell reception wasn’t an option. I’d also managed to talk KTM into a long-term loan of the 990 Adventure equipped with proper knobby Dunlops. Going by myself, I figured I’d just take it easy, nothing too crazy. Besides, what could possibly go wrong on a solo trip into the harsh wintery alpine back country on a heavily loaded adventure bike traveling on unfamiliar trails? Click below for the feature.

Grant Ray. March 6th, 2012 - Permalink - Comments (60)

Jumper: Matt Wadsworth

Like the avatar on his custom helmet, Englishman Matt Wadsworth is blind as a bat. From what I understood overhearing him describe the sensation, the accomplished lutenist sees only vague impressions of light when looking at the sun. Regardless, he is determined to set a 100-foot world record for distance jumping on his Honda CRF450R. Together with his trainer, two-time AMA Motocross Champion Micky Dymond, the two have developed a simple system of communication that already has Matt reaching just over 60 feet. There are no training wheels, no fancy balancing devices, no computer-assisted guidance system for the bike, just Matt and Micky talking over a two-way radio. Watching a few feet from the massive earth mound as they practiced, I felt like I was a kid in the ’60s witnessing some strange guy named Evel do the impossible for the first time. Click below for the feature.

Jumper: Matt Wadsworth

Grant Ray. January 20th, 2012 - Permalink - Comments (33)

Builder: Erik Buell

I had a chance to sit down with Erik Buell some time ago at Pro Italia’s annual Cafe Desmo event, where not only was Erik showing the incredibly exotic carbon 1190RS, but a client had brought their own freshly delivered 1190RS as well. Several of EBR’s first machines had just gone out and Erik’s enthusiasm was boundless, regardless of the Great Recession. Maybe a future of fast and beautiful American motorcycles isn’t so dim, after all. Click below for the feature.

Builder: Erik Buell

Grant Ray. January 10th, 2012 - Permalink - Comments (36)

Racer: David Roper

David Roper is the first and, until last year, the only American to win at the legendary Isle of Man TT. As Team Obsolete’s primary rider, the list of exotic machines he’s raced over the past three decades is longer than his beard. If he’s not racing, then he’s working on bikes to go racing on or, at the very least, talking about racing. I spent a morning at his Long Island home and, while he obligingly answered questions about ultra-exotic machines like Redman’s RC166 Honda and Pasolini’s 250/4 Benelli, he spoke of them all with a mild indifference. Unless, of course, he was talking about the Isle.

Click below for the feature:

Racer: David Roper

Grant Ray. January 25th, 2011 - Permalink - Comments (25)

Racer: Don Emde

Don Emde beat Mike Hailwood, Paul Smart, Gary Nixon, Gene Romero, Cal Rayborn and just about the entire cast of On Any Sunday. He won the Daytona 200 in 1972, 24 years after his father won it on Daytona’s beach using an Indian. I set out to talk to him about racing Daytona’s step-sister, Talladega, but he ended up giving me a first-hand account of American racing and living out of a van in the early ‘70s. Click below for the feature.

Racer: Don Emde

Grant Ray. December 19th, 2010 - Permalink - Comments (20)

Expedition: Labrador

104,000 square miles, 26,000 people, one gravel road. That should be enough, but being accessible from the East Coast — just 1,000 miles from Brooklyn — makes Labrador’s call almost impossible to refuse. At least it was for Wes and I. Equipped with a BMW R1200GS, F800GS and some loose idea which way north was, we went there. Here’s the story of that journey.

Expedition: Labrador

Grant Ray. October 26th, 2010 - Permalink - Comments (36)

2010 MV Agusta F4 Vs. Monticello Motor Club

When the all-new 2010 MV Agusta F4 first debuted, we balked at numbers that suggested it was actually a step backwards from the previous generation. MV’s case wasn’t helped by a restyle that, in those original press photos, looked nearly identical to Tamburini’s original. Just another transparent grasp for the wallets of the super wealthy? After spending two days riding it around the ultimate rich man’s racetrack, New York’s formerly members-only Monticello Motor Club, we don’t think so.

Click below for the feature. 2010 MV Agusta F4 Vs. Monticello

Grant Ray. August 27th, 2010 - Permalink - Comments (6)

New York's Fastest

You’ve seen the video. 192mph on an S1000RR on public roads on Long Island. Sustained and GPS verified. The guys responsible? New York’s most notorious, and fastest, crew of riders. We took them out for drinks and tried to figure out what the hell is wrong with them.

Click below for the feature:New York’s Fastest

Grant Ray. August 2nd, 2010 - Permalink - Comments (401)

Michael Czysz: reaching the future

Michael Czysz is something of an enigma in the motorcycle world. Often criticized for failing to live up to his lofty ambition, he nevertheless pushes ahead with ideas that are so far beyond conventional practice, they seem unbelievable, fantastical even. That’s made him the target of mockery for people more interested in reliving the motorcycle’s past than they are in realizing its future. His very public failure’s haven’t helped. There was the MotoGP bike that never raced, then the ambitious electric racer that broke down. But today, he won and in winning fundamentally altered what a motorcycle can be. Two weeks ago, we visited Michael at MotoCzysz’s Portland HQ just as his team was putting the final touches on the 2010 MotoCzysz E1pc. Here, in his own words, is Michael Czysz.

Click below for the feature:Michael Czysz: Reaching the Future

Grant Ray. June 10th, 2010 - Permalink - Comments (51)

Aprilia RSV4 Factory Vs. NJMP Thunderbolt

The company’s first ground-up, in-house superbike, the Aprilia RSV4 Factory is smaller than an R6 and more powerful than an R1. “Factory” denotes the top-of-the-range model, fitted with Ohlins suspension and adjustable engine mounts. Max Biaggi is using his to mop the SBK floor with 2010′s other brand-new superbike, the BMW S1000RR. But can racing success make the only current V4 liter bike stand out from the race replica crowd? We took it to the Thunderbolt Raceway at New Jersey Motorsport Park to find out.

Click below for the feature.2010 Aprilia RSV4 Factory Vs. Thunderbolt

Grant Ray. May 4th, 2010 - Permalink - Comments (55)

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