Fresh off of the news from two days ago, where the Harley-Davidson Board of Directors settled the power-grab by investment group Impala Asset Management, we now see the first fruits of that agreement taking shape.
Taking decisive measures, fueled by the fallout from the coronavirus epidemic, the Harley-Davidson Board of Directors held an emergency voting session on Tuesday night, which saw the group lay out a massive restructuring plan the Bar & Shield brand.
John McGuinness is a pretty cool dude. You would know that if you spent some time with him. In case you haven’t though, here is you best chance, as British actor Andrew Shim is working on a project called “Inside the Passion” – the first episode of which covers McPint, in all his Average Joe glory.
The format is one part “day in the life” and another part “candid interview”…and there might be a couple fart and dick jokes in there as well. All in all, it shows McGuinness to be the down-to-earth fella most fans know him to be, and most racers aren’t.
At over 20 minutes long, there are also some fun cameos from riders like Lee Johnston and Conor Cummins.
Chances are that if you are a regular Asphalt & Rubber reader, that means you are a pretty tech savvy person. So first of all, congratulations on your choice to get your motorcycle news and opinions in digital form, rather than waiting three months for the print guys to get their act together. Huzzah!
Of course, this also means that you have had to suffer through the endless onslaught of “Top 5” lists that have inundated motorcycle “journalism” the past year or so. I’m pretty sure that in a few years, we will look back at the whole BuzzFeedification of news as the second worst idea to hit motorcycle journalism, right behind the idea of a content paywall — but I digress.
That being said, I did want to share with our A&R readers five apps that I use on my iPhone everyday, that maybe you haven’t stumbled upon. So in the interest of better living through technology and all that jazz, I’ve created my own little Top 5 list — Yes, I’ve died a little bit on the inside because of this article.
Hopefully though there are couple apps on my list that you haven’t heard of, which will cause the overlap of your Venn diagram of “motorcycles” and “technology” to grow just a little bit more, and those make my personal ethical sacrifice worthwhile.
I realize in advance that this list leans towards iOS users. I’m hoping commenters will leave a few apps in the comments section that I might have missed (especially on other platforms), so we can spread the love around.
As it currently goes, I merely need to adopt the correct lifestyle aesthetics in the form of bikes and apparel and I can be part of the “club”; the actual identity of what it means to be a “rider” is devoid of the qualities that make us human and participants in society.
There are Harley riders, BMW riders, customs riders, leather-clad sport bike riders, and hipster cafe racers. In each of these demographic fragments, the specifics of what the person is riding matters more than the political, social, and/or economic standpoints of the riders themselves.
This consumerist mentality relegates the means for participation to the choice of how to exercise my purchasing power. Dominant motorcycle culture emphasizes the bike as the expression of the identity of the rider.
An apathetic culture that is centered around fetishization of commodities will reach limits to growth. Sure, motorcycles will get faster, lean better, safer, and smarter than the ones available to us. However, the market is already saturated with choices without enough reasons to pick one choice over the other.
Imagine, however, that being a motorcyclist meant more than just having two wheels spinning between your legs.
The “hipster” – legitimate cultural phenomena or overused punch line? As the young and the over-caffeinated discover ever more banal and superficial means of self-expression and fronting authenticity, the rest of society looks on in disgust.
Current trends indicate that the proliferation of hipsterdom has spurred on a parallel industry of bloggers, commentators, and inspired cynics to reaction. The quantity of rolled-eyes and judgmental stares is proportionally tracking the sales in raw denim and aviators.
“Bullshit Hipster Bike Videos” is a relative newcomer to the cacophony of grumpy social critics incensed at the sight of the displaced café lumberjack. Since its inception in August of 2013, the author of the blog has excoriated these neo-café racers, amateur moto-philosophers, and urban aesthetes with their penchant for “classic” metal.
For many, the winter time represents the long hours our bikes must sit idly by in their garages, waiting for the snow and ice to thaw so we can once again use them to embark on our two-wheeled wanderlust. For some, the time is meted out with other pursuits or interest, and for others the time is spent in the work shed, modifying, creating, building. This video is for the latter group, the ones who have oil in their blood, and a passion to create.
A short film by Cale Glendening, Blood & Oil is “about wanting to create, be more awake and to be more alive.” With dark beats and subtle prose, there is some good meat to digest here from Glendening, and the film is filled with emotion. What that emotion is will probably vary from viewer to viewer. Let us know how it touched you in the comments.
Though the trailer to Why We Ride has been around for some time now, we have been getting emails about the two-wheeled documentary ever since its limited screening at the AIMExpo in Orlando, Florida. Encompassing every form of the motorcycling lifestyle, all accounts we have heard about the film say its a feel-good movie with a positive message about motorcycles. Think of it as a recruitment film for future motorcyclists.
Screenings of Why We Ride are limited though, with the movie set to debut in New York and Los Angeles, and with future screenings being held in the Southern California area. Hopefully the Why We Ride team can add other locales to the list. If they want to have a screening in San Francisco, Asphalt & Rubber is down to help with that. The trailer is after the jump. Enjoy!
“Stories of Bike is simply about the sharing stories of riders and their custom bikes. Motorbikes aren’t only a machine from which we derive a basic pleasure in riding, but rather something which connects us to many things: friends, family and our environment both urban and natural…It is these connections, these stories, I wish to share with your fellow riders,” writes Cam Elkin on the Stories of Bike website.
Based down under in Sydney, Australia and feeding of the area’s café racer scene, Elkin has put together a budding web series that focuses on individual motorcyclists and the unique machines they ride. It won’t take you long to realize that there is a clear moto-hipster vibe that’s going on with the Stories of Bike series, which to be honest gets old pretty quick if it’s not your thing (it’s not ours).
But, at the end of the day the video series is all about motorcyclists talking about their bikes, and the stories thus experienced from the saddle — so, what’s not to like about that? Five episodes deep so far, we have to say that the production and storytelling here is some of the best we’ve seen. Enjoy the episodes after the jump — we did, despite the skinny jeans.
I stumbled across this simple graphic ages ago, presumably on Tumblr if the file name is any indication, and only rediscovered it tonight while I was going through some old thumb drives. I think for many motorcyclists, it sums things up nicely in a succinct sort of way.
Congratulations and welcome to 2013. We imagine that there are a few of you who aren’t firing on all your cylinders yet today, so we will ease you into a new year of motorcycle news with a nice little video, which was made by the folks at Skateboarder Magazine. No, your hangover is not making you see things, we are in fact talking about skateboarding on a motorcycle site.
You see, there is an interesting intersection between the skateboarding and motorcycle subcultures — something about the desire to go one’s own way, to engage in some activity of questionable safety, and to enjoy life in the present, much to the chagrin of everyone else. The crossover may no be as obvious in practice, but it’s there.
For instance, when Harley-Davidson finally figured out that it needed to start appealing to consumers under the age of 40, the first demographic it targeted (with some success) was the skateboarding crowd. Take a look at some of the earlier Harley-Davidson Forty-Eight ads, and see if you can’t pick up on the LBC living, Airwalk wearing, grinder vibe that’s going on there.
So as we already said, for your viewing pleasure today we have a nicely done video by the folks at Skateboarder Magazine, which covers their motley crew riding and skating through Vietnam. The whole piece is a great example of what it is like to travel in Southeast Asia, and puts a lot in perspective as to just how massive the market is there. The traffic is a bit insane as well, especially for these novice riders.
Are you a European youth with a propensity to get your track day or wheelie on? If you said yes, then KTM might have a bike for you. Unveiled at EICMA yesterday, KTM has brought out two concepts that are designed to engage teens into motorcycling. Based around a KTM 125cc enduro platform, the KTM 125 Race Concept (above) and KTM 125 Stunt Concept (below the jump) have only 15hp, but pack plenty of style and attitude. More details on the concept and photos after the jump.