The unique content on Jalopnik is a result of skilled collaboration between writers and editors with broad journalistic, academic, and practical expertise.
In pursuit of our mission to provide accurate and ethical coverage, the Jalopnik editorial team consistently fact-checks and reviews site content to provide readers with an informative, entertaining, and engaging experience. Click here for more information on our editorial process.
The frenetic dirtbike races taking over baseball and football stadiums known as Supercross are a blast to watch on their own, but this year the sport promises to be particularly hot. The two riders who claimed all eight titles between 2010 and 2017 have retired, leaving a highly competitive field to put their mark on the championship.
Frustrated up with dearth of passing, confusing rules or just a general lack of excitement in your motorsports series of choice? Then it’s time to check out MotoGP. The new season kicks off this weekend, and all signs point to it being another amazing one.
The newest top-of-the-line Ducati Panigale V4 sportbike unveiled at the the 2017 EICMA Motorcycle Show has some familiar features: it oozes with Italian style. It looks fast even when it’s standing still. And it’s red. The sea-change lies beneath the bodywork: The bike is designed around a new V4 engine, a massive break with Ducati’s twin-cylinder tradition.
Yamaha brought something interesting for the Tokyo Motor Show, and it’s a bizarro three-wheeler sportbike. Surely it’s too early for it to be some sort of elaborate April Fool’s joke, right?
The Honda Gold Wing and I are both headed into our 43rd year. Unlike me, the Gold Wing keeps getting lighter, sportier and more efficient.
Kalashnikov, the Russian conglomerate best known for the AK-47 assault rifle, is getting into the electric motorcycle game. The details are sparse, but it’s my sad duty to report that it doesn’t look like the bikes will come with banana-magazine range extender batteries.
While crashes in motorcycle racing can be spectacular, we love crazy saves the most. Watch Kawasaki rider Anthony West come off his Kawasaki in last weekend’s MotoAmerica race in Pittsburgh and then cling to side the bike while bringing the machine to a halt.
No need to swing a leg over the new Kymco Spade—just go ahead and walk up from behind and plop down on the 28-inch seat. Crank up the engine, twist the throttle wide open and let the engine fly through the gears. In your mind you’ll be burning up a race track. In reality, you’ll barely be in danger of breaking the speed limit. What’s not to love?
The Tennessee Knockout is billed as the toughest extreme enduro race in America. For good reason. Riders manhandle their bikes up impossibly steep hills, through creeks and over logs and mossy boulders. All at breathtaking speeds. I was exhausted just watching.
There’s nothing inherently difficult about riding the Confederate P51 Combat Fighter. But the $135,000 price tag that is never too far from your mind as you rev the colossal 2,163 cc V-twin engine. It’s hard to concentrate on much else when you’re repeating a mantra of “Do not drop this bike!” into your helmet.
I never knew I wanted an electric kick scooter until BMW unveiled its new X2City. With a range of up to 21 miles at speeds of up to 15 mph and a folding steering column, you can zip around town and then stow it in the trunk of your car without breaking a sweat.
James Hillier looked like he was headed for a fifth-gear wipeout at the deadly dangerous Isle of Man TT when his bike got sideways on a jump early in the race. Incredibly, Hillier was able to hold on and steady the wildly bucking motorcycle (extra points for the leg wave) and continue on its way.
Until Nicky Hayden showed up in MotoGP, there was little anybody could do about Italian legend Valentino Rossi’s dominance on motorcycle racing’s biggest stage. But the kid from Kentucky with the aggressive riding style honed on the dirt tracks of middle America managed to halt Rossi’s five-year winning streak in 2006.
The 1980s and ’90s rivalry between Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz was one of the greatest in the history of motorcycle racing. With his hot lapping days behind him now, he instead runs the MotoAmerica series, where he wants to see the same fierce competitive energy in up-and-coming riders. And it’s starting to look like he’ll get his wish.
The GSX-R 750 was a revolutionary motorcycle when Suzuki introduced Japan’s first race replica in 1985. It was lightweight, air-oil cooled and fast as hell. And unlike Italian counterparts of the era, it was reliable. The conservative, upright Universal Japanese Motorcycle’s era was ending and this full-fairing sportbike looked like the future.
Former world champion Kevin Schwantz’s parents owned a Yamaha dealership, so his mom was cool with riding motorcycles as a kid. But she only had one rule: Don’t ever race them.
Honda’s Marc Márquez isn’t interested in letting anyone else in on his MotoGP dominance at the Circuit of The Americas. After a morning that featured the Spaniard dumping the bike twice in practice, Márquez grabbed his fifth consecutive pole position for the fifth-ever running of the race.
The word’s top motorcycle riders are descending on Austin, Texas, this weekend for MotoGP’s fifth annual Grand Prix of the Americas. Even if you don’t normally follow motorcycle racing, here’s why you should make some last-minute arrangements to hit the road for Texas—or at least watch it on TV.