The Last Word Archives - Motorcycle Mojo

Increase Your Riding Time

I think I’ve hit the trifecta. No, not the horses. Nor have I surreptitiously won the MotoGP championship, the WSBK title and Daytona 200. I’m a never-was when it comes to racing and I’d sooner...

BMW in MotoGP

As MotoGP “silly seasons” go, the last few days before we went to press have been the silliest we’ve seen in some time. Jorge Martin, fed up with Ducati’s dithering about who will join Pecco...

There Is No Autopilot

On April 19th, another “self-driving” Tesla killed someone. A Tesla Model S, whose owner, Carl Hunter, from Snohomish, Washington, had engaged Autopilot, failed to see a motorcyclist in front of...

Embrace Safety Technology

We motorcyclists are a hoary old lot. Oh, we revel in the latest outrageous designs and, my God, some of the graphics on helmets these days are worthy of George Clinton, funk impresario...

The Future of MotoGP?

Last year, I created something of a hullabaloo when I postulated that Honda or Yamaha — or, in a worst-case scenario, both — might quit MotoGP. Both had seemingly given up on racing, barely...

Electric Vehicle Ban

A racetrack in rural Wales, the Anglesey Trac Môn Circuit, just became the first in the United Kingdom to ban electric vehicles. More important, at least to this column, is that Anglesey’s ban...

Superbike History

It is almost axiomatic that the heyday of any technology dependent sport, particularly any form of motorsport that involves internal combustion, is its very beginning. No one, not even the most...

Out With The Old, In With The New?

It turns out that middleweight sport bikes didn’t die. They just got boring. To those of us bikers long in our years, one of the most glaring changes — besides the advent of 170-horsepower dirt...

Morality Play

So sorry to do this to you, but this month’s column will be a morality play. Like so much of today’s politics, sports are being divided by conflicting calls for equality and equity. Now, one...

Ego and Strife in MotoGP

It’s hard not to notice how badly Japanese manufacturers are doing in MotoGP of late. Suzuki, of course, has already abandoned ship, Honda has a motorcycle no one but Marc Marquez — and he, only...

Jump Control

Honda’s most recent technological announcement no doubt stirred up some serious controversy. Or, if you haven’t yet heard about Honda’s latest electronic safety nanny, it may be about to stir...

How Far We’ve Come

A little more than a month ago, an example of the world’s first gasoline-fuelled production motorcycle sold at a Bonhams auction. This particular 1894 Hildebrand and Wolfmüller, engine number 69,...