If you’d been born to gypsies and grew up in a carnival – and also happened to like motorcycles – you might have felt right at home at the 69th annual Daytona Bike Week.As the traditional opening to the spring riding season, this year’s event was staged from Feb. 26 to Mar. 7, and again lived up to its billing as a freewheeling street party, a virtual circus and a place to pose and/or gawk all rolled up in one. The moto-culture spectacle went forth pretty much full-steam-ahead, despite temperatures ranging much of the time from the high-30s to mid-50s with a few brief afternoon periods up to the low-70s.
The shrill screech of seagulls served as my wake-up call as the airborne seabirds hovered in the swirling winds outside my third floor balcony. I wondered why they wouldn’t leave, worried that I was destined to be the unwilling star in a remake of Hitchcock’s The Birds. I would find out later that some idiot two floors above me was feeding them bread scraps, inciting them to a frenzied feeding state. Begrudgingly I drug myself out of bed and made haste to the Daytona Beach Hilton for the annual breakfast held by the AMA and the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum.
The heart and soul of the motorcycle industry, pioneers who helped forge and mold our industry with their grit, guts and determination had congregated  … Details & Pictures
One of the special things about Bike Week is the opportunity it provides to see and sample almost every motorcycle manufacturer’s new models all in one place. At the Midway you could start with a spin on a Triumph Bonneville, walk over to the Harley-Davidson display and jump on a Sportster to do an instant riding comparison, and if you’re brave enough, follow that up with a heart-thumping demo on a V8-powered Boss Hoss.
It also serves as a platform for up-and-coming companies to debut their work. One of these companies is Zero Motorcycles, who elected to use Bike Week to introduce … Details
Yamaha has just unveiled the new Super Tenere 1199cc – a big brother to the 660 Tenere and a direct challenge to BMW’s R1200GS and GS Adventure. Gizmag was at Phillip Island, Australia, to cover the launch of this highly anticipated new adventure sports motorcycle