Cycle World

Safe to say in 1962, when founding Cycle World publisher Joe Parkhurst started the magazine, he hadn’t envisioned how big a truly independent motorcycle publication that served the reader first might become. And before his death in 2000, could he have envisioned how the next 20 years would change publishing? No, 2000 was not 1962, and 2020 definitely isn’t 2000. Yes, the changes have been remarkable, and I am thankful that our mission to bring the best writing and testing to motorcycle enthusiasts has remained constant. Our mission remains inspired by what Joe Parkhurst wrote in the first issue, published in January 1962: “Cycle World is dedicated to the cycle enthusiast, no matter what he rides. Whether they be full-size motorcycles, scooters, or minibikes, they are within our realm of interest—motorized…

Before Cycle World Vol. 1, No. 1, in 1962, motorcycle magazines were just mouthpieces for the industry network, but Joe Parkhurst changed all that. As Peter Egan once said, Cycle World was finally a magazine “for those of us who wanted to buy motorcycles rather than sell them.” Parkhurst put it simply in his later years: “I was just a guy who worked on magazines, loved motorcycles, and could never find anything worthwhile to read about them.” He had been art director at Road & Track, long our sister publication, and was editor and art director at Karting World, the first high-quality magazine on that subject. “Editorial integrity and quality, though essential to the success of a magazine, were not readily accepted by an industry that had never ever heard…

Here I am, writing the last print “TDC” column of a series that began by accident 38 years ago in the exasperation of the late Phil Schilling. In 1982, he planned a set of new monthly columns for Cycle magazine, to be written by staff in rotation. No one in the office wanted the tech column, “TDC,” so it just wasn’t getting written. As planned, it was deadly dull: “Maximizing the Life of Your Battery” or “Prepping Your Bike for Winter Storage.” Useful, maybe, but dull as simonizing Dad’s car. I had begun to write occasionally for Cycle when editor Cook Neilson asked me to write about my 1972 project to go AMA roadracing with an English rider on my homebuilt Kawasaki H2R 750 triple. Response to the article was positive,…

One thing you have to say in favor of COVID-19—if you’re semiretired and somehow still among the living—is that it gives you a lot of extra time, not only to ride motorcycles, but also to practice guitar. I was noodling around on my ancient Gibson ES-335 electric in the garage-band corner of my workshop the other day and, as usual, gazing across the room at my latest two-wheeled acquisition. It’s a 2020 Royal Enfield 650 Continental GT I bought last spring, done in a paint scheme that Enfield calls “Black Magic.” This is essentially a cafe-racer-style motorcycle with low bars, gold trim on the tank, and an optional solo saddle. I also added a set of Enfield-exclusive S&S mufflers, made in Viola, Wisconsin. Yes, Wisconsin-made pipes on a motorcycle from India, a…

The defining engine of American motorcycling for more than 100 years? The Harley-Davidson V-twin. The form of this engine we know today is as expressed by the Milwaukee-Eight Big Twin—still a large-displacement 45-degree V-twin turning on rolling bearings and covered with the fins that define air cooling. Despite these traditional features, which have been retained over many years to satisfy the preferences of those who own and ride them, these machines meet the same standards for noise, emissions, and in-service durability that apply equally to the most recent of designs They are the product of 84 years of adaptation of product to ever-changing conditions of use. When the beloved “Knucklehead,” or EL, of 1936 came into being as Harley’s first OHV design, effectively doubling available power, many miles of America’s highways were…

The Hayabusa made you consider things you’d never considered before. Take the definition of “corner.” We all know what that means, right? We find them on winding back roads, or at intersections with other roads. But is there really a corner on the freeway or interstate? No, you say? The 1999 Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa said yes. Let me explain. At the 1998 press launch for the 1,298cc copper-and-gold beast, it seemed impossible that Suzuki wanted us to spend an entire day at Circuit de Catalunya in Spain, followed by a day of “touring” on the road. Further to this, we even had a track session in the morning before our, um, tour. This was a 550-pound missile sent to kill the Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird and crush the previous king of speed, the…