Motorcycle Is Broken. This Is How We’re Going To Fix It.

When was the last time you read something that made you want to get on a bike? Go ahead, I’ll wait. I won’t blame you if you can’t come up with any stories that made you want to get on your motorcycle, or start riding one. That’s the problem.

Motorcycle is broken. It’s too closed off, too dominated by ex-racers turned writers, too cozy with manufacturers, too unoriginal, too centered around high-end extreme performance bikes and “SUPERBIKE SHOOTOUT!” comparison tests that have little or no relevance to your average rider — or someone new who wants to get into riding.

Worse, motorcycle seems entirely centered around the deeply flawed American idea that motorcycles are just toys, that they begin with Harleys and end with 1200cc crotch rockets for our country’s future organ donors. (That’s the perception, anyway.)

That’s the wrong way to look at motorcycles. Bikes have so many advantages that cars don’t. They’re cheap, they’re easy to maintain, and they’re anathema to today’s tech-laden appliances that further dilute that intimate connection between human and machine. Sick of fake engine noises and bad electric steering on cars? Get on a motorcycle.