HELD SAMBIA GLOVES Words by Boris Mihailovic Images Half-light Photographic (Nick Edards) As you can see, I have been using these Held Sambia summer gloves since early spring last year. They have done a lot of miles. Why? Simple. They’re my go-to summer glove. To be honest, I pretty much exclusively wear Held gloves, and have for years. In my view, they are the best gloves money can buy – and this view is shared by all those people who hand out awards for these things. Held gloves have won every award there is to win in Europe and the USA.

WHO ARE YOU?BY TUG MCCLUTCHIN I’m not a nodder. There, I said it. Nor do I wave to other bike riders on the road. There are exceptions, of course. I’ll wave to people I know. Sometimes, if I’m in the absolute middle of nowhere, I might even wave to someone I don’t know. But that’s rare.

Here is a simple café racer preparation based on a Kawasaki Zephyr 550. The idea of the project was to make a pleasant cafe racer without making major and expensive modifications, to remain within an affordable budget (isn’t that the basic philosophy of the cafe racer?) It also comes from a barn, bought at a very low price, in a half-dismantled state.

THE DEFINITION OF STUPIDITY You’ve heard this definition of madness. It’s excellent. It’s a straight tooth-busting punch to the face kinda definition. And it goes: “Madness is repeating the same action over and over and expecting a different result.” I’m thinking you could easily replace the word “madness” with “stupidity”, and it would be just as apt. And it’s rather more applicable to the point I wish to make, because I know a lot of motorcyclists are not mad. But a shit tonne of them are stupid. Deeply, profoundly, and shamefully stupid.

Thousands of miles away in my soft, comfortable life, images of destroyed buildings, dead and injured civilians and outnumbered soldiers fighting for their country filled Internet news feeds and TV screens. It didn’t seem possible that in plain view of the world, Russia was targeting women and children with their bombs and missiles, seemingly intent on destroying every facet of Ukrainian life with this unprovoked attack.

BY NICK EDARDS The greatest concern for any WorldSBK fan, well maybe not so much the Ducatista, would be that 2024 turns into another year of let’s-chase Bautista whilst he hauls off into the distance on the Aruba.it factory Ducati V4. Make no mistake, the Spaniard deserves his back-to-back titles from seasons 2022 and 2023 but it’s also fair to say that being one of the smallest guys on the grid and being on the hardest accelerating bike has worked out very nicely for him and some of his race wins have seen him a long way out front which robs us of the battles for first place that make bike racing so dramatic.

IT BURNS BRIGHT WHEN YOU’RE TILTING AT THE GERMAN KING, BRING YOU’RE A-GAMEWORDS BY BORIS MIHAILOVIC – IMAGES BY KEOGH VISION Once upon a time, Triumph’s efforts in the big-bore Adventure bike category were less than optimal. Yes, of course it’s raining. Its Tiger range was big – in every sense of the word. As was its direct competitor, the niche-defining BMW GS. But the Germans had finessed their big gronkasaurus with electronics and Bavarian sorcery until, despite its size, it was quite a manageable animal if you knew what you were doing. And if you’re buying these big adventurous girls and throwing them down iffy dirt roads, best you know what you’re doing.

BMW’S INCREDIBLE M1000R IS BEYOND ME. IT IS BEYOND YOU. THIS MAKES IT ONE OF THE GREATEST MOTORCYCLES EVER BUILT.WORDS BY BORIS MIHAILOVIC – IMAGES BY NICK EDARDS The rock I was sitting on was hot. Rocks get hot in summer. It is the nature of both the season and the rock. I was hot too, and a little dry mouthed. But not from thirst. When your entire being has been fire hosed with adrenalin-powered endorphins, it tends to dry you out some. I wished I still smoked. It seemed appropriate.

ENERGICA ESSEESSE9+ RS RIDE IMPRESSIONBY TUG MCCLUTCHIN – IMAGES BY NICK EDARDS “ You’re afraid of change. I don’t know the future. I didn’t come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it’s going to begin. ” You’re afraid of change. I don’t know the future. I didn’t come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it’s going to begin.” Recognise the quote? It’s Keanu Reeves’ character Neo from The Matrix. I find it oddly comforting when I can think of a relevant movie quote for a story that comes from a movie with bikes in it. Serendipity.

This is an entirely fictitious story. It never happened. I made it all up. So help me God. Oh, and the opinions expressed in this fictional piece do not remotely reflect the author’s personal views. It’s fiction, OK? It’s just my imagination. Words: Boris Mihailovic I’m a filthy degenerate. No two ways about it. I speed every chance I get. I always have. I always will. My licence has been shredded more times than a Liberal senator’s meeting notes. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now. But some dogs can’t be trained. They remember when they were wolves. And now and again, that old primeval switch gets flicked in their brains, and they howl at the moon no matter how often you’ve tried to beat compliance into them.