Motorcycle magazine titles continue to close, as the market consolidates and print titles struggle to adapt to a rapidly changing media landscape.
The latter was the bigger issue for Motorcycle Consumer News, which closed its doors officially at the start of this month.
Motorcycle Consumer News was in business for 50 years in the motorcycle industry, and distinguished itself as being 100% subscriber supported and advertisement-free.
The future for motorcycles racing at Pikes Peak is under question, according to local reports about the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
The news comes from the Colorado Springs Gazette, which says that Executive Director Megan Leatham told the city and US Forest Service in an email after the crash that she thought the race would be the last for motorcycles on the mountain.
As one would expect, the discussion about the future for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, and whether motorcycles would continue at the event, is far from a definitive conclusion, but the possibility of the motorcycle race ending is very real.
It is the end of an era, as we get word from Dealer News that Motorcyclist Magazine will cease its print production after its July/August edition.
Going forward, the fabled print publication will shift to a purely digital medium, focusing on its website, social media channels, and video productions.
This move comes just two and a half years after Motorcyclist switched to a six-issue per year format, as the brand tried to re-gear itself as more of a lifestyle offering for two-wheeled enthusiasts.
For a while now, we have been getting requests for our family of podcasts to be on Spotify, and today your requests have been answered.
That is right, you can now listen to the Brap Talk, Paddock Pass, and Motorcycles on the Record (MOTR) podcasts on Spotify (those links should open your player), and any smart speaker device that can use the audio service. Booyah!
If you do listen to these shows, and you have Spotify, be sure you click the “Follow” button on their profiles, so you get notified when a new show is uploaded.
The Bonnier Corporation continues to be the place where motorcycle publications go to die, as we get confirmation now that the Hot Bike magazine has already delivered its last magazine issue to newsstands.
Shut down effective immediately, Hot Bike joins a list of growing titles at Bonnier that have been closed (Dirt Rider & Sport Rider), or have been substantially revamped in format (Cycle World & Motorcyclist), as the media landscape changes in both format and funding.
Episode 82 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and in it we see Neil Morrison & David Emmett on the mics, as they discuss the recent British GP at Silverstone (or the lack thereof).
For a race that didn’t happen, there is a surprising amount of ground to cover in the show. First, David and Neil explain the circumstances and events from Sunday at the grand prix, and how Dorna and IRTA came to the decision to cancel the day’s races.
Then they discuss how the rain affected the Silverstone circuit, what options were available to the teams and riders, and what can be done for the future of the British Grand Prix…if there can even be one next year.
From there, the show turns to other news in the paddock: the creation of the Petronas SIC Yamaha; the 2019 calendar and how we won’t be racing in Mexico next year, after all; and the silly season contract news surrounding the various available test rider positions.
As usual, the show finishes with our winners and losers from the weekend, which you won’t want to miss.
As always, be sure to follow the Paddock Pass Podcast on Facebook, Twitter and subscribe to the show on iTunes and SoundCloud – we even have an RSS feed for you. If you like the show, we would really appreciate you giving it a review on iTunes. Thanks for listening!
If you haven’t heard of “On Two Wheels” then you have been missing out on one of YouTube’s best motorcycle shows. The hosts Ari Henning and Zack Courts are some of the best riders in the business, and the show takes an informative and fun approach to talking two wheels.
Graduating to the big leagues now, Ari and Zack are headed to the Motor Trend Group (self-described as the largest automotive media company in the world), with a new show that will be featured on the Motor Trend On Demand streaming service, as well the Motor Trend Network TV channel that will debut in the fall.
The new show, which is using the working title of “Uncaged” (a nod to Motor Trend’s car-heavy content) is expected to continue the “On Two Wheels” formula, with Ari and Zack doing their usual moto-adventures and reviews – Spenser Robert also continues the adventure, in his role as showrunner.
Episode 84 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is out, and in it we talk a lot about new riders to motorcycling. But before we get into that, we get some news out of the way, namely the Triumph Scrambler 1200 that will debut in October.
Getting into the meat of things, we talk extensively on the show about how we became motorcyclists, and the challenges we faced as new riders. We also talk about the troubles with riding in groups, and how to approach your first track day.
The show isn’t a how-to for new motorcyclists per se, but it covers a lot of the issues that new riders will face on the road and track, and gives them something to chew on as they get some miles under their belt.
You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well.
We hope you will join the conversation, and leave us some audio comments at our new email address: twoenthusiasts@gmail.com.
Episode 83 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is out, and in it we talk mostly about Harley-Davidson’s big fat new bike road map announcement.
Before we get to that though, we talk some news: Triumph North America losing its COO, MV Agusta’s new Moto2 race bike, Aprilia’s rumored parallel-twin sport bike, and emission concerns in Europe & Japan, as well as California.
The conversation then turns to news from World Ducati Week 2018, as well as a recap from the Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race in Japan.
From there, we talk about Harley-Davidson – its ADV bike, its streetfighter, its custom model, and its electric lineup. We also talk about the company’s business plan going forward, and what we see in Harley-Davidson’s future.
There is a lot of ground to cover in this show, but thankfully we had plenty of caffeine to help us through it. Enjoy!
You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well.
We hope you will join the conversation, and leave us some audio comments at our new email address: twoenthusiasts@gmail.com.
Episode 82 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is out, and in it we talk mostly about track days, new riders, and the mental process of going fast on a motorcycle.
The show isn’t so much of a how-to for track days, as it is more of an hour-long philosophical discussion about riding motorcycles around a race track.
From there, we finish up with some news items, like Dani Pedrosa’s retirement, Yamaha’s mid-sized Niken, the lack of a Triumph Daytona 765, Ducati Streetfighter V4 rumors, a duo of new Kawasaki sport bikes (ZX-6R & ZX-10RR), BMW’s new superbike, and some racing gossip.
Lastly, we remember William Dunlop and James Cowton, who lost their lives road racing recently. Our thoughts are with their family and friends.
You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well.
We hope you will join the conversation, and leave us some audio comments at our new email address: twoenthusiasts@gmail.com.
Episode 81 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is out, and it is a marathon show – right at 2.5 hours in length. Because of that duration, we cover a huge range of topics, the first of which is a little news about Harley-Davidson, and the growing American trade war.
From there, we move to Jensen’s recent trip to Italy, where he rode the new MV Agusta Turismo Veloce 800 Lusso SCS, which features a new auto-clutch for sport bikes, made in partnership with Rekluse.
Jensen’s travels then took him to Milan, where he visited Pirelli’s world headquarters and testing facility, which was a unique experience in seeing how tires are evaluated and produced.
Lastly came a trip south to Sicily, to visit the Metzeler/Pirelli R&D testing facility, where Jensen rode the entire Metzeler tire range up a volcano…no seriously.
Back home in the USA, Quentin was doing a bit of racing, as he lined up on the grid in OMRAA’s 250 Ninja Cup. He then played on the other side of the wrench in his travels to Pikes Peak, spinning wrenches for Michael Woolaway, who raced a custom Ducati Hypermotard up the Colorado mountain.
At the same time, Jensen was in Laguna Seca for the World Superbike weekend, and the following Pirelli track day. There, Jensen got to ride two very unique motorcycles: the Kramer HKR EVO2 and the BMW HP4 Race. A short review: they did not suck.
Since Quentin recently also got a chance to ride the Kramer, the two trade notes on the show about this interesting single-cylinder motorcycle, and how much fun it is to ride smaller-displacement motorcycles on the track.
Like we said, it’s a marathon show, but we think you will find all the topics not only interesting, but the stories entertaining.
You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well.
We hope you will join the conversation, and leave us some audio comments at our new email address: twoenthusiasts@gmail.com.