Our guest on Episode 53 of the Rider Magazine Insider Podcast is Darryl Cannon, a photographer better known as Killboy. If you’ve ridden the Tail of the Dragon in Tennessee, then you’ve seen Killboy banners along the road where he and his team of photographers capture motorcycles in action. Killboy went from being a factory worker who enjoyed riding his motorcycle on the weekends to teaching himself photography and building a thriving business. Our host, Rider’s Editor-in-Chief Greg Drevenstedt, tells the embarrassing story about his first encounter with Killboy during his first press launch back in 2008.
Following the success of the first partnership between BMW Motorrad USA and Backcountry Discovery Routes in 2022 with the Wyoming BDR, the two groups have announced a second partnership for a route in Oregon. The new route will be officially launched Saturday, Feb. 4, at the premiere screening of the ORBDR Expedition documentary in Portland and other select locations around the nation. For more information, read the press release below from BMW Motorrad USA.
BMW Motorrad USA is excited to announce its second partnership with adventure motorcycling nonprofit, Backcountry Discovery Routes (BDR) on their newest route – Oregon. This is the second BDR route on which BMW Motorrad has collaborated, the first being the Wyoming BDR, released in 2022.
The ORBDR represents the organization’s 12th route for adventure and dual-sport motorcycle travel, with free GPS tracks, travel resources, and a Butler Motorcycle Map scheduled to accompany the film’s debut.
Luciana Francisco, BMW Motorrad USA head of brand and marketing, said BMW Motorrad is proud to partner with Backcountry Discovery Routes for the second time in two years.
“In 2023, BMW Motorrad celebrates its 100th year anniversary and also marks 43 years of BMW GS motorcycles,” Francisco said. “This is the perfect time to share our passion for the adventure and dual-sport riding communities and show our continued support for the BDR organization and what they stand for. We look forward to both new and experienced off-road enthusiasts being inspired by the scenic routes of the ORBDR.”
To launch of the new Oregon route, Backcountry Discovery Routes and BMW Motorrad will kick-off with a film premiere event in Portland, Oregon, and selected BMW Motorrad dealer events on Saturday, Feb. 4. Additionally, over 70 film screenings are planned through spring 2023, hosted by dealers and clubs around the country. More information on the film screening locations is available at the Backcountry Discovery Routes events webpage.
The ORBDR expedition film features members of the BDR team and special guests from BMW Motorrad USA, Mosko Moto, and Edelweiss Bike Travel as they take a first run on the all-new ORBDR. Starting in the high desert landscapes of Southeastern Oregon and exploring North into the Cascade Range, the crew tests their endurance, riding cross-state through 750 miles of lava rock, silt, sand, and steep mountain roads. Highlighting the state’s many natural wonders including hot springs, pyroducts, caverns, buttes, and glaciated volcanoes, the route and film showcases why traveling by motorcycle is one of the best ways to discover the backcountry of Oregon.
Story continues below trailer for ORBDR Expedition
Bryce Stevens, Oregon Route architect & BDR co-founder grew up in the Pacific Northwest and said he has “always been fascinated by volcanoes.”
“The ORBDR is a route filled with natural wonders of the volcanic kind. We designed the ORBDR to show off different regions of the state and keep the route ever-changing,” Stevens said. “Oregon has vast high desert in the southeast, sparse pine forests in the central part of the state, and densely forested mountains in the Cascade Range. It almost feels like three BDRs packed into one.”
Joining the expedition team in Oregon was Ricardo Rodriguez, lead motorcycle instructor at BMW’s U.S. Rider Academy in Greer, South Carolina. Ricardo is a graduate of BMW’s rigorous International Instructor’s Academy and has been teaching on-road street survival, adventure off-road, and authority riding skills since 2010.
“The BDR Team has set out on a fantastic mission, helping keep public lands accessible to the adventure community,” he said. “I am very proud and excited about the relationship between BDR, BMW Motorrad, and the BMW U.S. Rider Academy. Having the opportunity to be a part of the Oregon BDR has helped build my experience as a rider and a coach. Overcoming the challenges along the ORBDR reinforced to me the value of the skills we teach daily at the US Rider Academy.”
Rodriguez continued to say that Backcountry Discovery Routes offers properly trained riders an opportunity to put their skills to the test.
“The Oregon BDR is a challenge and reward riding adventure.”
We’ve all seen the commercials where the Most Interesting Man in the World says, “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis.” Likewise, Arai doesn’t often release a new helmet, but when it does, it gets it right. More than 70 years of experience went into the development of the new Arai Contour-X.
As we’ve written about in previous reviews and in our “The Why Behind Arai Helmets” feature, Arai maintains a steadfast commitment to building helmet shells with a smooth, strong, round shape. As repeated experience among MotoGP, World Superbike, and other racers has shown, Arai helmets are designed to “glance off” objects, allowing them to maintain sheer integrity, resist deformation, and spread impact energy over the widest possible area. Every exterior feature of an Arai helmet is designed to break away so that the helmet itself will not catch on anything during an impact or slide.
Arai Contour-X in Snake Red (rear view)
The Contour-X offers excellent protection, comfort, ventilation, and aerodynamics. It features a new Peripherally Belted Complex Laminate Construction (PB-cLc2) shell that’s thinner and lighter thanks to a new fiber material and resin, yet it is just as strong as other Arai shells. The medium-size Contour-X tested here, even with the optional Pro Shade visor and Pinlock anti-fog insert installed, weighs just 3 lb, 9 oz – the same weight as the top-of-the-line Corsair-X.
Like the Regent-X, the Contour-X’s shell flares out 5mm around the opening to make the helmet easier to slide on and off. The bottom of the shell also features Arai’s Hyper Ridge, which improves strength and shock absorption and was reshaped for flatter sides to facilitate easy mounting of a comms system.
Testing the Arai Contour-X on a Honda CB500X. (Photo by Nikolaus Wogen)
Arai helmets have always been a pleasure to wear, and the Contour-X goes even further with a new odor-resistant, brushed-nylon interior that’s removable and washable and features adjustable Facial Contour System (FCS-2) cheek pads that can be released to ease removal during an emergency. Inside, there are speaker pockets and a new neck-roll wire pocket for a comms system. Through short rides, long rides, and repeated donning and doffing, the Contour-X required no break-in and was comfortable at all times.
Arai Contour-X in Face Fluorescent Yellow
Arai Contour-X in Face Fluorescent Yellow (rear view)
Ventilation is fantastic. The new system includes a total of seven intakes, all of which can be closed as needed: a 3D Arai logo vent in the forehead, two F1-derived tear-drop intakes on the crown, two brow vents in the faceshield, and a chin vent. There are also six exhausts: one in the spoiler, two on the sides near the back, and three in the neckroll area. Arai says the Contour-X offers better ventilation than the Corsair-X at street speeds, and I concur.
The round shape of Arai helmets helps them slip through the air smoothly, and the new XGR exhaust/spoiler pulls hot air out of the helmet while also enhancing stability and reducing buffeting at speed. I wore the Contour-X on a variety of bikes with and without windscreens, and it remained steady and comfortable.
Arai Contour-X in Blue Frost
The Arai Contour-X is a fantastic lid in every respect. It’s available in sizes XS-2XL, and pricing starts at $739.95 for five different solid colors (Blue Frost, Black Frost, Diamond Black, Diamond White, and Light Grey) and $889.95 for two graphic options (Snake Red and Face Fluorescent Yellow).
If you refuse to be deterred by the weather when it comes to winter motorcycle riding (but are perhaps stymied by the tech – or lack thereof – on your small bike), check out this Exhaust Note feature from “Moto Mouth” Moshe K. Levy that originally appeared in Rider‘s February issue.
Winter doesn’t stop the author from getting out on his 2021 Honda Trail 125.
Sales of small motorcycles have been booming in the U.S. Their low prices, excellent fuel economy, playful aesthetics, and sheer riding pleasure make minibikes irresistible. My 2021 Honda Trail 125 is so addictive that I find myself hopping aboard its spartan solo saddle not just for local chores but for longer weekend trips as well.
However, all that fun eventually collides against the limitations Mother Nature imposes on those of us who suffer cold winters. Normally, on my big bikes, I just plug in my 12-volt electric jacket liner and gloves and keep on going. But on small bikes like the Trail, there simply isn’t enough electrical capacity to run a full suite of heated gear.
Since parking the bike for the season is never a serious consideration for me, I developed a solution that is relatively low cost, readily available, functionally effective, and applicable for virtually any motorcycle with a marginal electrical output.
First, you need some battery-powered heated gear, which is abundant in today’s marketplace. I’ve had excellent luck with Warm & Safe’s Long Sleeve Heat Layer Shirt, which is powered by a 7.4V, 7.8Ah lithium-ion battery. For gloves, I like Klim’s battery-powered Hardanger HTDs, which operate on 7.4V, 2Ah lithium-polymer batteries. Both products feature multiple heat levels that allow the rider to adjust temperature as necessary, and they have held up well over multiple seasons of abuse.
Indeed, heated gear is the only thing permitting your faithful, winter-hating Mediterranean columnist to survive arctic riding – at least until the batteries deplete! And therein lies the rub: To stay out all day in the cold, we need continuous power. Here’s how to get it.
First, we need spare batteries for all the heated gear we use. Manufacturers generally offer spares, as does Amazon. Always try to get at least as high an Ah (amp-hour) rating as the original battery – preferably higher. The higher the Ah rating, all else equal, the more run time you will get.
Next, we need to keep these spares continuously charging so they can be swapped in when the original batteries run down. We can accomplish this with a basic square-wave DC-AC inverter and a wiring harness to connect the inverter to the bike’s battery.
My typical setup inside my Trail’s top box is shown in the photo below:
1. Sinloon waterproof cigarette lighter harness, available on Amazon for $9.99, which connects directly to the motorcycle’s battery
2. BMK 200W square-wave DC-AC inverter, available on Amazon for $25.99, which plugs into the Sinloon harness and converts the 12V DC from the bike’s battery to 120V AC
3. AC-DC battery chargers, included with the heated gear and plugged directly into the inverter, which convert the 120V AC output back to 8.4V DC to charge the spares
4. Spare lithium-ion battery for my W&S Heat Layer Shirt
5. Spare lithium-polymer batteries used in my Klim heated gloves
Both the harness and inverter are generic, and it really doesn’t matter which brands you use. (Some riders might already have the wiring harness in place, e.g., for a Battery Tender.)
Everything is secured in my Trail’s top case so things don’t shake around too much. All I need to do is flip the inverter to “on” to continuously charge the spare batteries while riding. Yes, it’s inefficient to convert power from the bike’s 12V DC to 120V AC and then back to heated gear’s 8.4V DC charging voltage, but this setup gets the job done with common, inexpensive components and requires no fancy wiring.
Total draw on this setup is only about 32 watts, including inverter losses. That’s only about one-third of the draw of my 12V DC Warm & Safe jacket liner, so minibikes and even many older bikes with limited electrical capacity should be able to handle this load with ease. Mission accomplished!
Depending on the ambient temperatures and settings of the heated gear, I typically pull over every one to four hours to swap the dead batteries for freshly charged ones, allowing me to stay out all day in the cold – long after most other riders have parked for the season. For a true addict, there is no other choice!
Our guest on Episode 52 of the Rider Magazine Insider Podcast is former Army paratrooper Perry Steed. He was interviewed by Rider’s associate editor, Paul Dail, who wrote a feature about Steed titled “Riding for Light” for the October 2022 issue of Rider. On April 24, 2012, Steed’s good friend, Sgt. Kristopher Cool, took his own life. In May of last year, Steed departed North Carolina on his BMW R 1200 GS on a 48-state trip covering more than 15,000 miles to pick up Cool’s ashes and take them to Fort Bragg to spread on Sicily Drop Zone as a “rally cry for support” for the epidemic of veteran suicide. In this episode, Steed talks about how he got into motorcycles, his “Ride for Light” mission, and the nonprofit he created to support fellow veterans, Operation: Purpose. We owe a debt of gratitude to all veterans for their service, and we owe it to them to support veteran causes.
If you or someone you know is in danger because of suicidal thoughts or actions, seek help immediately by calling 911 for an emergency or 988 for the nationwide suicide hotline, which has counselors available 24/7.
On Day 1, riding the “Goat Road” (A-4050) through Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama Natural Park on our way to Granada.
Every international motorcycle tour is special, but none is as memorable as your first one. For my wife, Carrie, and me, our first international tour was in 2010 – a two-week tour of Spain and Portugal with IMTBike, a motorcycle tour and rental company based in Spain with office locations in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Málaga, and Lisbon, Portugal.
Carrie and I have had the good fortune to go on many international motorcycle tours together. Riding two-up, mostly on a big BMW GS, we’ve explored a dozen countries in Europe, as well as Canada and Ecuador. We got engaged at the top of Stelvio Pass in the Alps and spent our honeymoon on a tour in Norway. But for that first tour, our guides were Scott Moreno, IMTBike’s founder and CEO, and “Super” Chano Lorenzo, IMTBike’s longest serving guide, who’s been with the company since 1998.
Like old friends, Scott and Chano shared their unabashed love and deep knowledge of Spain and Portugal with everyone in our group, treating each one of us as special and taking time to get to know us so they could tailor the tour experience to our particular needs or desires.
Chano is part toro.
Wake-Up Call
Of all the tours Carrie and I have been on, our most embarrassing moment happened on Day 1 of that first tour in 2010 – before we had even gotten on the bike. While enjoying ourselves at the festive welcome dinner the night before, we imbibed a bit too much vino tinto. When we got back to the hotel, feeling the effects of jetlag and the wine, we decided to wake up early to pack and get ready for the tour. I set my alarm, and we went to bed.
With the curtains drawn to block out the city lights of Madrid, I was jolted awake by the phone. It was Chano. “Buenos dias, Greg! It’s nine o’ clock, and everyone is on the bus, waiting to go. Are you ready?”
Mierda! I had gotten the a.m./p.m. mixed up on my phone’s alarm.
“I’m soooooo sorry! We overslept!”
“Don’t worry, that means you were relaxed! Scott will head over on the bus with the others and start the bike handover. I’m downstairs with everyone’s luggage in the van. I’ll wait for you.”
Hungover with throbbing headaches, our pulses racing, we threw everything into our luggage and suited up in our riding gear as fast as we could. Carrie and I are both fastidious Type A people, and we hate being late. We did the walk of shame out to the van, only to find Chano with a big smile on his face as he reassured us, “Is no problem!”
And it wasn’t. As embarrassed as we were, Chano and Scott just rolled with the situation. Our blunder was the source of playful ribbing throughout the tour, an inside joke we still share to this day. And we learned our lesson – in nearly 100 days we’ve spent on overseas motorcycle tours since that first morning, we have not been late once, and we’re often the first people on the bikes in the morning, ready to go.
A Very Good Year
The rolling hills in the Andalusia region are covered with millions of olive trees. (Photo by Carrie Drevenstedt)
Like all motorcycle tour companies, the pandemic was a gut punch to IMTBike. Covid restrictions meant the company couldn’t run tours for more than a year, but Moreno kept his team on the payroll, and they used the downtime to refresh, refine, and expand their tour offerings. IMTBike specializes in tours of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), but it also offers tours in France, Italy, the Alps, and Morocco, as well as MotoGP tours (Catalunya, Jerez, and Valencia) and tours in Turkey, Thailand, Japan, and New Zealand.
IMTBike resumed its tours in 2021, the same year it earned a coveted Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best award. In 2022, IMTBike celebrated its 25th anniversary, and Scott personally invited Carrie and me to join him and Chano on the Southern Spain Andalusia tour.
As much as we were looking forward to getting the band back together for a reunion tour, a family emergency precluded Scott from joining us. Chano served as head guide, and our consolation prize was Paolo Pezzoli, a young, energetic Italian who was new to the IMTBike team.
The Southern Spain Andalusia tour hits the sweet spot – not too short or too long, not too easy or too challenging, and just right in terms of daily mileage, choice of roads, scenery, sightseeing, and accommodations. The tour is nine days, with six riding days, one rest day, and travel days on each end. It starts and ends in Málaga, a city on Spain’s Mediterranean Costa Del Sol (Sun Coast), and includes stops in Granada, Córdoba, Seville (rest day), Arcos de la Frontera, and Ronda.
Carrie and I arrived a day early to shake off our jetlag and spend a day exploring Málaga, which was founded in 770 B.C. and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. IMTBike booked a modern, stylish hotel that’s a short walk to the heart of the city. We visited the 19th-century Atarazanas Market, the 14th-century Cathedral of Málaga, and the 11th-century Alcazaba, a Moorish palatial fortress perched on a hill overlooking the city and coast.
The Renaissance-style Cathedral of Málaga was built between 1528 and 1782 but is technically unfinished since the tower on the right is incomplete.
After our walking tour – which included a stop at a busy sidewalk cafe for tapas, sangria, and people-watching – we met the tour group in the hotel’s bar. Over beers and wine, we met Lonny and Linda, a couple from Idaho; Kobus and Magda, a couple from South Africa; Bernard, a solo rider from Canada; and Oliver, a solo rider from Dominican Republic. Each of us took turns telling the group a little about ourselves, and Chano gave us an overview of the tour and rules of the road in Spain.
To keep us connected, IMTBike set up a group on WhatsApp so we could send text messages, live locations, photos, and more via Wi-Fi. We also received links to the tour’s daily routes on Google Maps and to a Google Drive folder so we could upload and share our photos.
Following the briefing, we walked to dinner. Spain is known for its afternoon siestas and late-night dinners, and in the evenings, the streets of cities we visited were bustling with locals and tourists, young and old and everything in between. Our tour was in October, with mild days and cool nights – ideal for strolling on cobblestoned and tiled sidewalks that are hundreds of years old, their surfaces worn smooth by millions of footsteps. Our welcome dinner was at a restaurant handpicked by IMTBike, and Chano got us started by ordering Iberian ham, cheese, and wine for the table. Everyone was in good spirits as we broke bread and got to know each other.
Up, Up, and Away
Our crew (plus Paolo behind the lens) enjoying a short break overlooking Arcos de la Frontera. We stayed in a historic Parador situated on the edge of the cliff in the background. (Photo by Paolo Pezzoli)
Carrie and I woke up early, enjoyed a decadent breakfast at the hotel, brought our luggage down, and walked outside to find two R 1250 RTs, three R 1250 GSs, and an F 850 GS lined up on the sidewalk. IMTBike is an official partner of BMW Motorrad, and it owns the world’s largest fleet of BMW motorcycles (more than 200 at last count). Bikes available to rent range from the G 310 R to the K 1600 GT, and all are outfitted with a top case and side cases; a GPS unit is optional. Our group was followed by a support van that carried luggage and a spare bike.
Grazalema is one of the many Pueblos Blancos (White Towns) tucked into the mountains of Andalusia.
On our first tour in 2010, Carrie and I described Spain as “California with castles.” The coastal areas of Southern Spain and Southern California have mild Mediterranean climates as well as rugged mountains that rise dramatically from the sea. Within minutes of leaving Málaga, we climbed up, up, up into the mountains on a tight, steep, endlessly curving road that kept us on our toes. After a midmorning coffee stop, we rode back down to the coast to have delicious paella right next to the beach. We ascended into the mountains again on a narrow lane carved into the rock known as the “Goat Road,” arriving in Granada in time to explore the city’s old quarter before meeting up for a gourmet dinner at one of the best restaurants in the city.
Paella, made with rice, saffron, seafood, and chicken, is one of Spain’s most emblematic dishes.
From Granada, we got full use of our tires and leaned deeply through the curves of a shaded canyon before popping out into the high plains, where we got a bird’s eye view of the village of La Peza from an overlook. We rode through endless olive groves and visited the Núñez de Prado organic olive oil factory in Baena, where the olives are crushed by enormous stone mills to extract the “flower” and first cold pressing of extra virgin olive oil.
Large cone-shaped stones are used to crush olives at the Núñez de Prado olive oil factory in Baena.
After lunch in the Baena town square, we rode to Córdoba, home to more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other city. It was a hot afternoon, so we cooled off in the rooftop pool overlooking the Guadalquivir River and the city. We explored the narrow, cobblestoned streets and visited the stunning Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba. At an outdoor cafe, Carrie and I joined Lonny and Linda for sangria, and then we enjoyed a family-style dinner with the group at a local restaurant.
Inside the incomparable Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that blends Moorish and Renaissance architectural styles.
On our third day, we rode from Córdoba to Seville on a series of backroads that seemed tailor-made for motorcyclists. Spain is a motorcycle-mad country, and you can’t help but think that civil engineers said to themselves, “Let’s make these curves flow with a nice rhythm. We’ll give them a consistent radius, good banking, and smooth pavement. Riders will love it!”
After winding through farmland with rolling hills filled with oak and cork trees, herds of sheep, and black Iberian pigs (the source of highly prized jamón pata negra), we rode over the Sierra Morena mountains and back down into the Guadalquivir River valley and the magnificent city of Seville.
Plaza de España in Seville.
We arrived with a few hours to unwind, relax, and explore before dinner. We walked from the hotel to an old restaurant decorated with bullfighting memorabilia, and we enjoyed vino tinto and plates of jamón, queso, ensalada mixta, and other delicacies, all topped off with a variety of diet-busting sweets and little glasses of house-made liqueur.
Caves, Coffee, and Cava … IMTBike Style
After a rest day exploring the wonderful city of Seville and a mesmerizing flamenco show, we continued our meandering lap around Andalusia. We rode through rolling hills of olive trees and passed several of the region’s iconic Pueblos Blancos (White Towns), where all the houses and buildings have whitewashed walls and terra cotta tile roofs. We stopped for lunch in Setenil de las Bodegas, a town built along a small canyon with houses and shops built into the hollowed out limestone caves on both sides of the river.
Houses and shops in Setenil de las Bodegas are built into limestone caves along the river.
Next up was the most impressive road of the trip, an Alps-like climb from the valley to 4,452-foot Palomas Pass. We descended an equally winding and scenic road and made our way to Arcos de la Frontera, an old town built high on a limestone promontory. De la Frontera means “on the frontier,” so named because Arcos was on the frontlines of Spain’s 13th-century battle with the Moors. Perched on the edge of the cliff overlooking the Guadalete River, our hotel was a Parador, one of roughly 100 hotels managed by Spain that are in buildings of historical, artistic, or cultural interest.
The winding road up to Palomas Pass reminded us of the Alps.
Leaving Arcos de la Frontera, we rode under the flying buttresses of the cathedral and descended steep, narrow cobblestone streets made damp by overnight rains. We continued our ride along La Ruta de los Pueblos Blancos (Route of the White Towns) where whitewashed villages on the mountainsides stand out like large polka dots on the green landscape. We rode into Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park and wound our way up to El Boyar Pass on our way to our morning coffee stop in a bustling town square.
In Arcos de la Frontera, we stayed in a Parador across from the 15th-century Basílica de Santa María de la Asunción. Its flying buttresses tower over the narrow road that leads into the town’s old quarter.
Every day, we rode up and down on small mountain roads and through idyllic agricultural plains. Traffic was minimal, and the rugged, old-world scenery was enchanting. On our fifth riding day, we enjoyed more fast and fun roads in the afternoon as we made our way to Ronda, a city perched high on both sides of the Tajo gorge carved by the Guadelevin River. We stayed in a Parador on the edge of a cliff overlooking the “new” 300-year-old bridge over the gorge (the old bridge was built during the Roman Empire).
Our second clifftop Parador of the tour was in Ronda, overlooking the “new” bridge and the Tajo gorge.
We started our last day of the tour with a beautiful sunrise over Ronda. We rode east into the rugged granite mountains of Sierra de las Nieves Natural Park, winding our way through canyons and over passes toward El Burgo.
Sunrise over Ronda.
It was Saturday, and we stopped for coffee at a popular meet-up spot for motorcyclists, its tables abuzz with riders and its parking lot full of bikes. The final highlight of the tour was a ride up to El Torcal de Antequera, a mountain ridge covered in unusual karst rock formations that reminded us of Joshua Tree National Park seen through the eyes of surrealist painter Salvador Dalí.
Having fun during a coffee stop.
We descended more narrow, twisty roads back to Málaga, where we turned in our BMWs at IMTBike’s warehouse and toasted a celebratory glass of cava. After drinks and laughs on the hotel’s patio, we enjoyed a festive farewell dinner at another wonderful restaurant.
Admiring the view from El Boyar Pass in Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park. The Mediterranean Sea is visible on a clear day.
The week went by fast, a sure sign of how much fun we had. Chano and Paolo were a constant source of charm and good humor, and they did a lot of work behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly. Our small group bonded quickly, and even months after the tour, we still send messages via WhatsApp to stay in touch.
Lonny and Linda, a delightful couple from Idaho, enjoy a scenic ride through Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park.
If you love good roads, good food and wine, and nice accommodations, as well as history, architecture, and rugged mountain scenery, this tour is for you. Just try not to oversleep.
On the last day of the tour, we rode through El Torcal de Antequera, a natural reserve that protects a mountaintop covered in unusual rock formations.
The 2023 Southern Spain Andalusia tours run March 11-19, April 15-23, and Oct. 14-22. Visit the IMTBike website for more info.
The Continental RoadAttack series are sport-touring tires that strike a balance between performance and longevity. They’re ideal for sport-tourers, standards, street-biased adventure bikes, and moderately powered sportbikes.
With each generation from Continental, the carcass, compound, profile, and tread design have evolved. When the first RoadAttack debuted in 2005, it introduced Continental’s ZeroDegree belt, a continuous steel wire that runs radially around the tire carcass in the same direction as travel, which enhances stability.
In 2010, the RoadAttack 2 introduced TractionSkin, Continental’s proprietary “pre-scrubbed” tread surface that doesn’t require slippery mold-release agents and all but eliminates a break-in period for the tires. The RoadAttack 2 also featured MultiGrip, whereby a single compound is heat-cured in a progressive fashion to provide better wear in the center of the tire and more flex and better grip on the shoulders. MultiGrip provides a smooth transition between zones rather than the abrupt transition that can occur with multi-compound tires.
Photos by Killboy
In 2013, the RoadAttack 2 Evo featured RainGrip, a high-silica compound designed to deliver optimal performance in wet conditions. Four years later, the new RoadAttack 3 came with EasyHandling, a specialized alignment between the contours of the front and rear tires said to result in neutral handling behavior, especially in hairpins and during slow cornering.
All these technologies go into the new RoadAttack 4, with the addition of Continental’s latest trick: GripLimitFeedback. The unique combination of the tire’s carcass construction and tread compound provides improved feedback to the rider when the tire approaches its traction limit.
The RoadAttack 4 features a new compound and an updated tread pattern that, according to Continental, boosts wet weather performance, offers faster warm-up times in cold and wet conditions, and provides dry grip on par with many sport tires.
A new silica-rich compound improves wet grip without sacrificing mileage, a new blend of resins makes the tire more sticky even when cold, and the entire rubber stew has been optimized for use with modern ABS and traction control systems. Continental describes the RoadAttack 4 as a “hyper-touring” tire intended for today’s 150-plus hp sport-tourers, adventure tourers, and sportbikes.
Where the Rubber Met the Road
To test some of those claims, Continental invited us to the BMW Performance Center in Greer, South Carolina, which is across the street from the factory where all BMW X-Series SUVs are built. The Performance Center offers automotive and motorcycle training, and the grounds include a closed-course circuit, a large skidpad, and various off-road obstacles and trails.
A wide range of BMW motorcycles were fitted with RoadAttack 4 tires. I saddled up on an F 900 R, which has an 853cc parallel-Twin that, based on our last test in 2020, makes 88 hp and 58 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheel.
BMW’s instructors started us off with some basic exercises, such as a slow ride using just the clutch to control speed, as well as fast and slow cone weaves. We moved on to swerving and braking exercises at speed, and I quickly gained an appreciation for the RoadAttack 4s’ grip and handling.
When we were instructed to accelerate from a dead stop to 30 mph, pass between two cones, and then close the throttle and apply maximum braking, the F 900 R came to a quick halt. When our target speed was increased to 50 mph, I neglected to stand on the rear pedal when I grabbed a handful of front brake lever. The F 900 R has ABS, but I was in Dynamic mode, which reduces intervention at the front wheel. The front tire provided reassuring grip as the back wheel raised up into a graceful, unintentional stoppie, the likes of which I’ll probably never replicate.
In the afternoon, we embarked on a spirited ride on cold, damp backroads, and we ended the day with a game of cat and mouse on the track, where we pushed the tires to their limits. Regardless of conditions, the RoadAttack 4s warmed up fast, provided confident handling on a variety of road surfaces, and clung tenaciously to the tarmac.
On Day 2, I selected an R 1250 RT for a longer test ride on some of the most serpentine roads in the southern Appalachians. At 615 lb, the RT outweighs the F 900 R by 144 lb, and its larger engine makes an additional 37 hp. The performance of the RoadAttack 4s was even more impressive on a larger bike that placed greater demands on the tires. We didn’t get a chance to test the RoadAttack 4s on wet roads, so we’ll order a set soon and report back.
Continental RoadAttack 4 tires are available in a variety of sizes, with 17-inch and 19-inch fronts, 17-inch rears, and a GT version for heavyweight bikes.
Melissa Holbrook Pierson, author of “The Perfect Vehicle” and other books.
In 1997, Melissa Holbrook Pierson published The Perfect Vehicle: What It Is About Motorcycles, a delightful book that chronicles her love affair with motorcycles as well as the unique cultural and historical landscape of the two-wheeled world. In 1998, while struggling my way through graduate school in Philadelphia, I bought a motorcycle and learned to ride.
Within the first year of my own love affair with motorcycling, I read – no, I devoured – The Perfect Vehicle. Not only did Pierson artfully articulate the full spectrum of emotions, sensations, and experiences that are familiar to any motorcyclist and evoke the “ride to live, live to ride” credo, she educated me about the exciting new world I had come to inhabit.
When I read Pierson’s account of buying a Moto Guzzi Lario from a small European bike shop called The Spare Parts Company tucked away on a narrow street in the Old City section of Philadelphia, an area I explored regularly on late-night pub crawls and weekend wanderings, I felt an even stronger connection to her book. I had been to the shop before, and my then-girlfriend was friends with the proprietor.
On the 25th anniversary of The Perfect Vehicle, considered one of the best books ever written about motorcycles, we reprinted a review published in the August 1997 issue of Rider and which can be found on our website here. We also reprinted Pierson’s introduction to the Spanish edition of the book, which was published in 2021 by La Mala Suerte Ediciones, the first and only publisher devoted to motorcycle books in Spanish.
Flashback to August 1997, the issue that featured our review of Melissa Holbrook Pierson’s “The Perfect Vehicle”
Introduction to ‘The Perfect Vehicle’ Spanish Edition
By Melissa Holbrook Pierson
Twenty-five years have elapsed between the time I began writing The Perfect Vehicle and the moment you are reading these words. The impetus for writing was, quite simply, unbridled joy. Why had no one ever told me motorcycles were so transporting? Why didn’t everyone know how affecting they were, how they enriched and condensed experience? How they were a powerful force for personal good?
So I attempted to say in my book every last thing I could think of to say about these machines that both capture and express the human imagination. But no amount one can say about something that’s essentially infinite can comprise “everything.” Even I would go on to find more things, and more things, to say. I wrote articles and poems and another book about bikes. I’m not finished yet. The meaning of the ride is never-ending, which is why we ride: to taste immortality in the form of the resounding now.
A quarter of a century is a long time. Time enough for everything to change – governments to rise and fall, species disappear, cities spread, new technologies revolutionize daily life and rewire our brains. In that long span, I can now report, much has changed about motorcycling. And very little. There have been technical advances in the bikes we ride – fuel injection, ABS, “ride by wire” (explained to me half a dozen times to no effect), things once visibly mechanical now directed in the dark by computer chips. No longer for me long garage bullshit sessions among friends, where I would marvel at the ingenious arrangement of parts mirrored in the minds of people who are to me equal marvels of nature: they manage to comprehend the way complex systems, the motorcycle’s biomes, flow together and apart.
I always knew my bike had a heart, but now it has a separate brain. In its advanced evolutionary state it may only be attended to at the office of the appropriate neurologist, I mean, dealer with the codes. This has put an unhappy distance between the soul of the machine and its rider, but the tradeoff is performance well beyond the imagination of the last century.
There are concurrent changes in the types of people who ride. The so-called adventure bike has become hugely popular, along with global journeys on it that once were rare but are at this moment being undertaken by astonishing numbers of people of every age, nationality, and gender. The percentage of riders who are female has more than doubled since I started riding, and these women are often pursuing it in cultures that openly disapprove. They don’t care; they do it anyway. That’s how powerful the allure is: we risk death to do it.
Much verbal handwringing has materialized, in the United States at least, about the “graying” of the motorcyclist, and the sport’s diminishing hold on youth who are reputed to care more about virtual life than the real thing with its weather and difficulties and the 360-degree view onto a disappearing but still gorgeous planet. Economic factors are often discussed. But that is in the small corner from which I write. Shift the scope to India, which has emerged as the world’s biggest motorcycle market, and see (as I recently did for myself) throngs of young people enthralled by riding and the places it takes you. I’m not worried about the demise of the motorcycle. The planet itself will be destroyed long before the peculiar happiness riding confers.
I, too, have come closer to my end. Going toward it on my bike is the only reasonable mode of travel through these years.
Motorcycles amplify all that is glorious about living. It is not an adjunct to waking up in the morning, or an occasional occupation. It explains everything, gives a purpose to being alive, and a place in both community and history, which still and forever unreels, like the road itself. I have lost dear friends, who happened to die doing the thing they loved most. But that was happenstance, not cause. Motorcycling has brought me the deepest friendships I’ll ever know, acceptance into a worldwide brotherhood, and the ultimate knowledge that love is real – love for an inimitable collection of parts that mysteriously opens a window onto the most vital of experiences, as well as love between two people brought together by what I can only consider a magical agent. Yes, motorcycles are even matchmakers for the lovelorn.
So much has changed in the years between then and now. So much has stayed the same. I still feel boundless anticipation and hope and desire and a fleck of worry every time I engage first gear. The world becomes new on every ride. But now I know a deeper secret, one I have both lived and witnessed, again and again. Motorcycles save lives.
Our guest on Episode 51 of the Rider Magazine Insider Podcast is Forrest Hobbs, who took a “purist” approach to completing the TransAmerica Trail. Hobbs lives in Denver, Colorado, and he bought a 1,200cc Yamaha Super Ténéré adventure bike, rode it 2,000 miles to Nags Head, North Carolina, rode the entire 6,200 miles of Sam Correro’s TransAmerica Trail, added a couple thousand miles along the way to visit friends and family, and then rode from Port Ord, Oregon, back home. Over 73 days, he logged over 12,000 miles. Hobbs used only roll charts for navigation and didn’t even have a GPS as a backup, and he camped on the trail nearly every night. Hobbs is a passionate off-road rider. He didn’t start riding motorcycles until he was 30, and he has competed in the Baja 1000, the Red Bull Romaniacs hard enduro, and the Idaho City 100 ISDE qualifier – and he’s done each race twice. Hobbs’ plan was to make the TransAmerica Trail as challenging as possible to test himself, to break himself down mentally and physically, and he prevailed.
With the growing popularity of Royal Enfield motorcycles in Brazil, which is predicted to soon be the second largest market for the bikes after India, the company recently announced the opening of a new CKD – or complete knock down – assembly facility in Manaus. With a CKD facility, the manufacturer ships the parts for a vehicle either from a single origin country or various countries, and the vehicle is reassembled in another country. Brazil represents the fourth such CKD assembly facility for Royal Enfield. For more information, read the press release below from Royal Enfield.
With plans to provide local assembly of all motorcycles in the Royal Enfield lineup, including the INT650 (pictured), the modern facility will cater to growing demand in Brazil.
MILWAUKEE –Royal Enfield began a new chapter Dec. 9 on its journey in the Americas region, specifically in Brazil, with the commencement of operations of its new CKD (complete knock down) assembly facility. This is a significant step forward in Royal Enfield’s plans in LatAm and reiterates the brand’s commitment to the region, as Brazil is a strong market for Royal Enfield. Located in Manaus, capital of Amazonas state, the new facility is the fourth Royal Enfield CKD assembly unit across the world – following Thailand, Colombia, and Argentina – in addition to its state-of-the-art manufacturing and ancillary facilities located in India.
With an assembly capacity of more than 15,000 units per year, the local assembly unit in Manaus is a modern facility that will cater to growing demand in the country. The facility will engage in local assembly of the entire lineup of Royal Enfield motorcycles, including the Classic 350, the Meteor 350, the Himalayan, and the 650 twin motorcycles, Continental GT and the INT. With this setup, Royal Enfield can now ensure seamless and quicker delivery timelines for motorcycles in Brazil.
Speaking at the inauguration of the new facility, Royal Enfield CEO B Govindarajan said Royal Enfield has been working extensively to grow the middleweight motorcycling segment globally.
The Manaus, Amazonas, facility is the third motorcycle assembly unit in the Americas region, and fourth across the world, outside of India.
“With markets like the Americas region, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific growing significantly, it has been our strategic intent to be closer to these markets and grow the business,” Govindarajan said. “We commenced on this journey a couple of years ago and have set up strategic assembly facilities in Thailand, and in Argentina and Colombia in LatAm. Brazil has been a very strong market for Royal Enfield, and is soon poised to be the single largest market for us outside of India.”
Royal Enfield CEO B Govindarajan cuts the ribbon at the all-new CKD assembly facility located in Manaus, capital of Amazonas state in Brazil.
Govindarajan said Royal Enfield has seen growth of more than 100% since 2019 in Brazil.
“We are very happy to launch our fourth CKD facility globally here in Brazil,” he said. “This is testament to our commitment to the region and the market potential, and to our growing community of riding enthusiasts in the market. We are confident that this facility will help us grow the mid-segment market here in Brazil while enabling us to efficiently cater to the growing demand.”
Brazil has been a critical market for Royal Enfield since the brand’s market foray in 2017. Having made significant strides in the country and across the entire Americas Region, Royal Enfield is now among the top five players in the midsize motorcycle segment in markets such as Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and North America. With a burgeoning consumer base and a significant retail network in the region, the new local assembly unit will be a critical boost for business growth in the LatAm Region.
