Exit the Ogre

Exit the Ogre

UP FRONT

David Edwards

A MAGAZINE IS A FUNNY THING. PUT IN the base, bottom-line terms of business, it is a consumer product, something manufactured for sale to the general public. But a magazine’s building blocks are not nuts and bolts, or mortar and bricks. Each month blank, lifeless pages are filled with the thoughts, opinions, conjectures and criticisms of the people who put out the magazine. Items essentially taken from thin air.

In 1977, Senior Editor Ron Griewe traded in a safe and secure career with the city of Riverside, California, to join the staff of Cycle World and start filling in those blank pages. Desert racer, avid off-roader, trail-side mechanic without peer, self-taught machinist, Ron was brought on board to shore up the magazine’s dirtbike coverage at a time when other motorcycle publications were in the process of converting to all-street or all-dirt formats. Somewhere along the way, Ron picked up “Ogre” as a nickname, probably because of his gruff garage critiques. Circling a shiny, just-delivered off-road bike, puffing on a cheap cigar, he’d say, “The forks are junk, the shock won’t last 10 minutes, I’ll bet the engine is a joke. I wouldn’t let my worst enemy ride this pile.” This was before dirtbikes had evolved into their current state-of-the-art form, remember, and the Ogre Analysis was usually spot-on.

Now, in a fitting twist of fate, Ron will be the one dropping off testbikes for examination. After 16 years, he is leaving Cycle World to become partowner of ATK America, a new company formed after the buy-out of ATK Motorcycles, makers of Rotax-powered, built-in-the-U.S. dirtbikes. The new company will be based in Bountiful, Utah. Ron will be in charge of R&D, a task he is perfectly suited for. We’ll miss His Ogreness around here, but look forward to testing the worldclass American dirtbikes that will result from his departure.

Taking over Griewe’s duties will be CW's newest staff member, 24-yearold Jimmy Lewis, who starts as Assistant Editor next issue. Jimmy’s riding credentials are impeccable. Winner of four gold medals in ISDE competition, 1992 AMA Amateur Athlete of the Year, three-time AMA National Hare & Hound class champion, threetime AMA National Reliability Series class champion, eight-time holder of AMA District 37 number-one plates, he is one of the most talented off-road riders in the country. Jimmy’s writing credentials also are in order. He has a B.A. in Communication Arts, interned at Dirt Bike magazine and was a contributing writer for Cycle News.

Next month’s masthead also will reflect some intra-staff movement. John Burns, 33, has been promoted to Feature Editor. John worked at Cycle for three years before that magazine’s demise in 1991. We took him on as Shop Foreman-and as sort of an inhouse freelancer-hoping that no other magazine would be smart enough to hire him before a full-time editorial position opened up at Cycle World.

Also assuming a new title will be Jon F. Thompson, who moves from the features desk to become Senior Editor. Fifty years old, Jon has 22 years’ experience reporting for newspapers and editing magazines, and 40 years’ experience on two wheels, starting with a Powell motor scooter right up to his current Ducati 851.

The rest of the staff remains intact, but a brief rundown is in order. Mitch Boehm, 30, has been Cycle World's Managing Editor since last August. He came to the magazine from American Honda, where he spent three years in the product-planning department. Prior to that, he was a road-test editor at Motorcyclist magazine.

Technical Editor Kevin Cameron joined CW after 23 years as a contributor and columnist for Cycle. A Physics major at Harvard who did graduate work in anthropology, Kevin, 50, has that rare gift of being able to explain the inexplicable, to make simple the complex. He files his stories from the wilds of western Massachusetts, where he and his family live in an old, isolated farmhouse.

Editor-at-Large Peter Egan, 45, files his stories from the wilds of southern Wisconsin, where he and wife Barb live in an old, isolated farmhouse (a trend?). A talented, multi-award-winning writer, Peter has a collection of bikes that ranges from a 1967 Triumph Trophy to an 85,000-mile BMW R100RS to a Harley Electra Glide to a 1992 Ducati 900SS.

Don Canet and Matthew Miles both joined Cycle World two years ago as Associate Editors. Don, 31, is a former full-time roadracer who had several national endurance wins and a fourth overall in WERA’s unlimitedclass Formula USA series to his credit before making the successful jump to journalism. Besides his writing duties, Don is in charge of gathering the performance data for our testbikes.

Matthew, 26, came to us by way of Indiana University, a Cycle summer internship and a nine-month stint at 3&4 Wheel Action magazine. When not weight-lifting or fiddling with his RZ350 Yamaha, Matt coordinates our long-term tests, project bikes and product evaluations.

Production Editor Robyn Figueroa, 44, shepherds articles along the convoluted route from computer screen to the art department for layout. Previously, she was managing editor at Rider and press-relations coordinator at American Suzuki.

Once in the art department, the stories become property of Art Director Elaine Anderson, 43, whose impressive résumé lists time on the staffs of Inside Sports, Flowers& and Powder, a ski magazine. She is aided by Assistant Art Director Rich Baker, 28, owner of a 90,000-mile Honda Nighthawk S before recently trading up to a VFR750.

To put out a good magazine, you need good people. To put out the best magazine, you need the best people.

Cycle World has those people.