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EDITOR'S LETTER

THE INDIVIDUAL SPORT ENJOYED IN GROUPS

Riding is like life. Keep your balance, stop for a nice meal once in a while, stand up, sit down, lean in, keep your eyes up but be aware of what’s behind you and what might come from either side, check your blind spot, don’t carry too much baggage, and keep a decent tool kit around. And a helmet never hurt anybody...

Riding is also perfectly emblematic of the human condition: We ultimately are alone but find reference, meaning, support, and growth through traveling together.

I suppose if you make your entire life in, I don’t know, gardening, perhaps you might write the same kind of sentence and say that gardening has brought the greatest, most creative people into your life and that you married your spouse and met your best friends because of it and look at these damn flowers! Which is probably all true no matter your favorite way of life, but we all know how much better motorcycling is than just about anything else. We also know that motorcycling generally attracts some very interesting, fine people, and, yes, I did meet my wife Jen in motorcycling. And most of our friends. And I do see a lot of flowers over all of these miles.

Most of the time I am sitting alone on a motorcycle or here at my keyboard, but the ultimate goal of my riding actions is to share those with the greater community of enthusiasts and, we hope, also to get new people interested in motorcycling.

Both points are why we’ve worked hard to evolve what Cycle World is, particularly over the past five years. Adding Associate Editor Bradley Adams, who is a great mix of traditional print and new-media digital expertise, has improved all of our work in all our channels. Sean MacDonald, whose love of a good story is only outstripped by his love of riding, is expanding his skill base and story repertoire while pounding out lots of cycleworld.com posts. Road Test Editor

Don Canet remains the fastest, most accomplished editor/tester the business has ever known, and Kevin Cameron’s work has been foundational to motorcycle journalism since the 1970s and remains so today. It’s a great mix of people, talent, and background.

Which leads me to the latest change in staffing: Senior Editor Blake Conner has moved on, taking a job with community riding smartphone app Rever. His new boss is Justin Bradshaw, who wrote “Enduro Escape” (page 52) in this issue. Conner has been an anchor of this staff since the day he signed up 10 years ago, an all-around rider who could do pretty much any job we asked of him. We are sorry to see him go (especially staff photographer Jeff Allen, who appreciates Conner’s photo skills and good attitude), but we are also glad that his experience in motorcycling remains in the industry, particularly at an interesting startup company like Rever. Still, that puts us on the hunt for a new staffer to carry us forward as we make more video and have even bigger adventures in print and online. I’d say if you are an engineer with a journalism degree and a professional motorcycle racing license in pretty much any discipline, you ought to get in contact with us. Motorcycle dealership experience is a plus, and the ability to ride any kind of motorcycle in pretty much any kind of condition with an impeccable safety record helps too!

We do have a selection of good candidates already and are looking forward to making more great stuff about motorcycles accessible in more places than ever. So add to the above list of qualifications that of video editor and on-screen personality, plus a strong sense of motorcycle community and a large social following. No sweat, right?

MARK HOYER

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

THIS MONTH’S STATS

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BRAKE LEVERS LOSTONTHE ADVENTURE RALLY COMPARISON TEST

40 HOURS IN TRANSIT FOR KEVIN CAMERON TO AND FROM JAPAN FOR THE SUZUKI GSX-R1000 TECH STORY

RECORD YEARS PETER EGAN HAS OWNED HIS BUELL ULYSSES