Columns

By Bob Rosen “Ride to eat and eat to ride” is our motto and Roadfood.com has a seemingly endless collection of destinations. Indexed by state on this page, each of the hundreds of eateries has their own page with reviews and a few pictures of popular items. The emphasis is definitely not on …

By Bob Rosen The Federal Highway Administration has put together a list of 150 highways that have been designated either National Scenic Byways or All-American Roads. The America’s Byways website is searchable by state and each selection provides maps with highlights of interesting and historic destinations along the roadway. Finding a scenic byway …

By Bob Rosen Billy Joel has been playing with motorcycles even longer than he’s been playing the piano and singing for his supper. A while back he decided to share his collection of over 70 bikes with the general public.  Under the name 20th Century Cycles, Billy has put his collection …

By Bob Rosen The website Gear Patrol has a section devoted to The 50 Most Iconic Motorcycles of All Time. Any list with this title is bound to cause some controversy. Whether or not you agree with the models chosen, this group of bikes makes for some interesting viewing. Maybe you’ve even …

An enormous black-and-white photo showing the inside of the BMW motorcycle factory in Germany as it was in November 1923 adorns an end wall of Peter Nettesheim’s private museum on Long Island. In the picture, perched atop wooden tables and surrounded by serious-looking workers clad in overalls, are early R32 models …

Riding through Olympia Pass in Peru Rene Cormier jokes that the 2003 BMW F650GS Dakar that he no longer rides has been “put out to stud.” It’s still on the road, though, being trailered to speaking engagements so that it may be seen by other envious motorcyclists – riders who wish …

By Bob Rosen Since starting RKA Motorcycle Luggage in 1985, Kathy and Richard (center and right in the picture) have continuously expanded their offerings of well-made, American-built Cordura luggage to feature an exceptionally diverse collection of products.  Their products application page lists just about every popular brand of motorcycle. Those in need …

By Steve Smith “Ride like you are invisible.” This sage advice has been around a long time and is still relevant today. Out on the road, it sure seems like we are invisible. Other drivers look right through us or 

Lee Ann Sullivan with her collection of motorcycles As a children’s author with 23 titles to her credit, Lee Ann Sullivan of Salisbury, CT is accustomed to researching before sitting down at her laptop to write. It was an assignment a decade ago for what would eventually became the 2004 book …

Most activities have expressions and sayings that are associated with them. For instance, in golf, there’s the line “never up, never in” to describe a timid putt that fails to make it to the hole. In cooking, there’s the old favorite that “a watched pot never boils,” which can be …

  Here in the Northeast, there is an 800-pound gorilla that enters the room every November – the weather. It has an enormous impact on every dealer, and there isn’t a single thing the dealers can do to change the temperatures or precipitation levels that are headed their way. They can, …

Nathan Muscaro of New Hartford pops a wheelie on his 2014 KTM 500 EXC.  Winter is the time when most of us put our bikes into storage and stuff our riding gear into the closet, although there are a few hardy street riders who don’t mind a little salt on the …

By Bob Rose With the unlikely name of Dad’s Vintage Ads, you will find this Tennessee based mail-order company to have a veritable treasure trove of old bike info in the form of vintage motorcycle ads and magazines. The site is organized by brand and features a lot of way-cool …

  How does the dealer decide what to charge you for repairs and maintenance on your bike? If you’ve been to a dealership a few times, you probably think you have a pretty good idea of how things work. But, there’s a lot more going on that isn’t obvious to the average …

Dave Rosen and his Thruxton at New York’s IMS When the January/February 2014 issue of “Motorcycle Classics” magazine arrived recently, I immediately noticed the full-page Triumph advertisement on the back cover. It shows a customized Thruxton model being ridden on the Bonneville Salt Flats by pro motorcycle racer Jason DiSalvo, its …