“One of the things I love about motorcycles is the variety of people who are fanatics about them—you tend to have this idea of a motorcyclist as either a super trendy tatted café racing hipster, or a Sons of Anarchy denimed-up gangster.

But the truth of the matter is that people who love escaping into the hills on motorcycles are about as varied as they come,” reveals Maxim Deputy Editor Nicolas Stecher, who also happens to be co-author of Assouline’s new uber-luxe The Impossible Collection of Motorcycles coffee table book. “That means that the type of motorcycles that were built to appeal to these passionate riders over the past 150 years are about as varied as Ben & Jerry’s.”

For the second edition of The Impossible Collection of Motorcycles, Stecher and co-author Ian Barry added ten new 21st-century bikes to the hundred they collected for the first edition, which focused on the previous century.

Featuring only the rarest, coolest, and most pivotal motorcycles since 1900, this new edition adds to Assouline’s vaunted Impossible Collection series, which has previously shined a light on everything from wines to Patek Philippe timepieces to even Formula One cars—which also happens to be included in our Ferrari F1 feature in Maxim’s September/October issue.

And these aren’t just routine coffee table books, mind you. They’re massive in scale (16 x 19 inches), and boast beautiful time-consuming and rare printing techniques such as hand-tipped images and hand-binding; the 170 images come presented on thick, archival-quality cotton paper with a PVC clamshell case and metal plaque.

With Barry’s pedigree designing and building museum-level custom bikes under the Falcon Motorcycles marque, and our esteemed editor’s long history in automotive journalism, the hundred bikes assembled here are each a gem worthy of the book’s title. Consider Evel Knievel’s famed Harley-Davidson XR750 on which he leapt over the Caesars Palace fountains, breaking countless bones upon impact when his jump fell awry.

Or early unicorns of engineering, such as Glenn Curtiss’s iconic 1907 V8, for which the famed aviator impossibly bolted a massive 4.4-liter V8 engine onto essentially a glorified bicycle frame to create a true spectacle of mechanical force. Hitting 136 mph, the Curtiss V8 shattered the land speed record and held it for decades.

But which is our deputy editor’s favorite? “That’s a tough one,” Stecher struggles, seemingly running through the hundred motorcycles in his mind. “I’d say my two favorites are the BMW R7, which graces the cover—an unbelievable one-off specimen of German engineering and art-deco design that was thought lost for nearly 70 years until discovered in 2005 in a BMW warehouse. What a story, and what a bike. And maybe the Britten V1000—a superbike entirely designed and built by a New Zealand madman in his garage, which beat factory teams with infinitely deeper wallets. That’s another thing: I really dig the visionaries behind these bikes, all of them the best kind of rogues and renegades this planet needs.”

Of course, a tome of this rare scale and quality boasts a $1,400 price tag to match. Find The Impossible Collection of Motorcycles (2nd Edition) at Assouline.com.

This article originally appeared in Maxim’s September/October 2025 issue. Follow Deputy Editor Nicolas Stecher  on Instagram at @nickstecher and @boozeoftheday.

From its iconic ride beneath Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 in Terminator 2 to its appearance in Sons of Anarchy and many updates over a 35-year lifespan, the Harley-Davidson Fat Boy has long been arguably the most iconic hog. Fitting then that H-D is giving the Fat Boy an Icons Motorcycle Collection treatment, arguably making the musclebound cruiser with a factory-slammed suspension look better than ever for a limited-edition run.

Then again, the genesis of the seminal 1990 Fat Boy—the one that Arnie rode through Los Angeles spillways into pop culture’s vehicular pantheon—was sparked by aesthetics. According to H-D, executive Jerry Wilke spotted a Softail platform variant called “Lowboy” that had been created in 1987 by the brand’s Montreal dealership. He had an example, which featured a slammed suspension, aluminum disc wheel, fiberglass fender and wide handlebar, shipped to HQ in Milwaukee, where it was used as a reference by a styling team headed by Willie G. Davidson and Louie Netz to create the first-gen Fat Boy.

“On the 1990 Fat Boy model, the wheels are the defining characteristic,” wrote Davidson in his book 100 Years of Harley-Davidson. “The idea was to create a distinctive look using solid-cast disc wheels. We pushed this distinction further with a silver monochromatic paint job and silver powder-coated frame. Since the entire bike was silver, we needed something bright to set it off. I added yellow trim to the rocker boxes, the derby cover, the timer cover, and the ignition switch. We built a Fat Boy prototype, and I took it to Daytona so we would get one-on-one feedback from the riders.”

“The original Fat Boy model took the look, proportions, and silhouette of a 1949 Hydra-Glide and completely modernized it for a new generation of riders,” added Brad Richards, Harley-Davidson’s creative director and vice president of design whose own custom bike recently made it into the pages of Maxim. “Those riders appreciated our post-war design DNA but also found themselves drawn to the clean simplicity of contemporary industrial design.”

For the Icons Motorcycle Collection, H-D introduces the Fat Boy Gray Ghost, designed to shimmer in sunlight as if it “was machined from a solid alloy billet and polished to a mirror finish.” To create such an exceptional burnish, H-d employed a metal-treatment method favored by fine watchmakers called physical vapor deposition (PVD). Also known as thin film coating, the process involves vaporizing solid material in a vacuum and deposited onto the surface of a part, in this case the fuel tank and motorcycle fenders. Following the deposition process, the part is painted with a standard clear coat finish. Chrome plating is traditionally how customizers achieve a similar sheen, but PVD offers significantly more corrosion resistance to meet H-D’s quality standards.

Classic Fat Boy style cues include a round air cleaner, yellow accents on the lower rocker covers, powertrain covers, and tank console insert. Additional details—such as a leather seat valance with lacing and tassels, and a black leather tank strap with laced edging—add an extra hit of nostalgia, as do the 3D fuel tank medallions replicating the iconic winged graphic from the original Fat Boy. A commemorative tank console insert is etched with the bike’s unique serialization number, while the Icons Collection medallion is positioned on the rear fender. On the power front, the new Milwaukee-Eight 117—named for the eight total valves in its 45-degree V-twin and the 117-cubic-inch (1.9-liter) displacement—develops 101 horses and 122 pound-feet of torque, a slight increase in output over the Fat Boy 114.

Priced from $25,399 and limited to 1,190 examples globally, the Harley-Davidson Fat Boy Gray Ghost is available to reserve now.

If you want to buy an electromod-style bike straight from the factory, Royal Enfield has you covered. The historied India-based motorcycle maker revealed the notably retro, all-electric Flying Flea. And much like the Harley-Davidson LiveWire, that’s the name of a new sub-brand, not just a model.

Unlike the LiveWire, though, the design ] is heavily informed by heritage. As BIKE EXIF points out, the original Royal Enfield Flying Flea was a feathery 125-cc moto that was compact enough to air-drop into Europe alongside paratroopers during WWII, hence the new parachute logo.

Royal Enfield enthusiasts will certainly see the new, electrified Flying Flea S6’s resemblance to the OG, especially in-profile. The original’s girder fork has been recreated from modern forged aluminum, the same material used to make the frame. The battery is enclosed in a magnesium case, and the silhouette line created by the faux gas tank and 1900s-style floating seat is among the most stunning and convincing homages to classic motorcycles that anyone has seen in some time.

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Royal Enfield crafted the look as thoughtfully and carefully as they crafted the technology in-house. According to BIKE EXIF, 28 patents have been filed to cover the Flying Flea S6’s various components in the last six months alone. Other details haven’t been revealed, but if you register interest here, you’ll likely be the first to get the skinny on output, range, and all other relevant performance specs.

The previous-gen Ducati Panigale V4 already verged on perfection. Its 1,103-cc “Desmosedici” V4 engine—so named for the desmodromic valve-timing system first implemented by Ducati in the 1950s to achieve more uniform power delivery—was developed from a prototypical race-only MotoGP powerplant. At the hands of rider Álvaro Bautista, the Panigale V4 has won the past two titles in the Superbike World Championship, the pinnacle competition series for production street bikes. It’s the two-wheeled equivalent of a Ferrari SF90 Stradale—a thoroughly race-bred machine that will test your ability at a track and then carry you home on public roads. In late July, Ducati announced the new seventh-generation Panigale V4. And the early consensus is that, even with a seemingly immaculate pedigree, the superbike has somehow gotten even better.

“Ducati’s mission is to enrich people’s lives through technologically sophisticated motorcycles characterized by sensual beauty,” declared Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali when presenting the bike during the Ducati World Première. “The new Panigale V4 continues a history of successes and unforgettable models, which represents the maximum expression of our values of style, sophistication and performance.”

This is the first Ducati in 30 years to employ a double-sided swingarm, which is arguably the most substantial change when compared to the preceding Panigale V4’s single-sided swingarm. There was something undeniably cool about seeing the rear wheel almost float in the space beneath the tail when viewing the old model on its throttle side, but as the RideApart site points out, MotoGP bikes employ double-sided swingarms in pursuit of ultimate performance because, among other reasons, they’re lighter. Indeed, this new Ducati Hollow Symmetrical Swingarm, connected to MotoGP-derived suspension linkages, helps shed 8.4 pounds off the rear. Thanks to the weight loss and a 37-percent decrease in lateral stiffness, the new swingarm should improve traction when exiting corners and increase feel under acceleration.

While the swingarm’s performance benefits may be obvious, many are contending that aesthetic value has suffered. Perhaps Ducati anticipated this gripe, as press materials cite the Ducati 916—widely praised for being one of the most beautiful motorcycles ever—as having inspired the new Panigale V4’s design. The similarities can best be seen in profile, where the balanced horizontal line, created by raising the Panigale V4’s front and lowering its rear, becomes most apparent. The rear-view mirror supports were mounted inside the fairing to further accentuate this line, while the rear LED unit’s “double C” shape and narrow tank are two more elements evocative of the 916.

The powertrain has also been improved—the base Panigale V4’s standard alternator, oil pump and gearbox drum come from the hardest-core performance-minded variants of the previous Panigale. Most of the engine remains largely unchanged; it’s still a stressed element of the chassis, and it’s got four camshafts that move 16 valves. The U.S. version’s power output changes negligibly, with a peak 209 horsepower coming at 12,750 rpm and 89.5 pound-feet of torque at 11,250 rpm. However, several new pieces of MotoGP-inspired componentry have been brought aboard, one of which is Ducati Vehicle Observer. According to Ducati, this algorithm “is able to evaluate a high number of kinematic and dynamic parameters that influence bike behavior and calculate acceleration, forces on the tires and the maximum torque that the vehicle can support.” This capability further enhances the Panigale V4’s comprehensive rider-aid suite, which includes traction control, slide control, wheelie control, launch control and engine brake control.

The all-new dashboard is also lifted straight from Francesco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini’s MotoGP bikes. The 6.9-inch screen, which was optically bonded to ensure readability in all conditions, features a “Track” display that shows a series of new parameters. Among them are “g-Meter,” which indicates the g-force value when leaning, accelerating and braking; “Power & Torque,” which displays the percentage of power and torque delivered in any given moment; and “Lean Angle,” which shows the instantaneous lean angles alongside the throttle level and the pressure exerted on the brakes. A time-split table, with T1, T2 and T3 icons indicating the performance obtained in different sectors of a track, uses the same white, gray, orange, and red colors seen in MotoGP.

Perhaps the single most promising piece of data provided by Ducati is that the Panigale V4, priced at $25,995, is one second quicker than the outgoing model around the company’s test track. And that’s just the base bike: For $33,895, the Panigale V4S offers even racier features, like lighter alloy wheels and an upgraded electronically controlled Öhlins NPX/TTX suspension, ensuring more milliseconds will be dropped from lap times. The next-generation Panigale V4R, the ultimate expression of the Ducati Corse racing program in a road bike, will likely be announced at some point in the near future. Who knows? This generation of Ducati Panigale V4 just might bring about superbike perfection

“My love of motorcycles was born when I was 3 years old and my father threw me on a three-wheeler,” W. Robert Ransom tells Maxim. Unlike many arguably overeager fathers, Ransom’s dad wasn’t even particularly interested in motorsports—rather Wayne Robert Ransom Sr. gifted his kid a motorcycle for a reason as old as time itself: as a scheme to get his girl back.

“My parents were actually divorced at that point and he needed a way to get my mother back to the house,” Ransom Jr. recalls with some amusement. “So he said, ‘I’m going to get this kid a three-wheeler and then he’ll have to be brought to my house, and I’ll get to see my ex-wife!’ It was a ploy that worked out in my favor.”

Unfortunately for Wayne Sr. the Trojan horse Yamaha TriZinger YT60 strategy failed in getting his ex-wife back full time, but it did succeed in sparking a love of motorcycles in his son that would define the course of his life. “It’s crazy,” Ransom remembers wistfully, “when I ride by the dealership that’s no longer there, I can still see where it was sitting the day he took me to pick it up. That memory is that vivid.”

While buying a 3-year-old a 60-cc two-stroke trike notorious for their ease in flipping over might seem mind-boggling for 21st-century parents, the auspicious gift accelerated a prodigious aptitude for all things engineering and innovation. When Wayne Sr. passed away only four years later, suddenly Wayne Jr. was burdened with the responsibility of caring for and maintaining his own motorcycles—gapping spark plugs, cleaning air filters, and changing the oil. By the age of 12 he’d begun customizing his bikes, and at 19 opened his own service and light performance shop in south New Jersey.

These skills grew until lightning struck at the age of 24. At the time he had not yet practiced any motorcycle fabrication, nor knew how to shape sheet metal. He didn’t know how to TIG weld or engineer a chassis, either. But he envisioned a new motorcycle concept, and through seven months of hard work and self-learning, Ransom taught himself how to build one from the ground up.

Obsessed with speed, The Serpent was built on the concept of optimizing a motorcycle’s ability to translate power to the asphalt. In other words, allowing a sport bike’s Herculean torque to transfer to the tires and stay planted in order to experience the full head rush of torque without flipping the thing over. So Ransom extended both the front and back wheels, stretching out the entire chassis and dropping the engine for a super low center of gravity and seat height (only 17 inches).

“We’ll just say for the record, I took it out to an unnamed location in Mexico and I ran it up to 150 miles an hour,” Ransom laughs, shaking his head. “I was sitting there—it didn’t hit me until I got back to my facility because the bike did it so effortlessly—that I’m a 24-year-old kid, no formal education in engineering or metal shaping fabrication, and I’m looking at this bike and I’m like, I cannot believe that I just did 150 miles an hour on something that I built in a 600-squarefoot facility with minimal hand tools! And my mind just started to go wild with possibility.”

With zero empirical or academic engineering or construction knowledge, the idea of a super sport bike’s tidal wave of power unleashed onto a homemade chromoly steel chassis seems like the recipe for home cooking a 150-mph roadkill mash. But it worked. Moreover, at the time Jesse James and the revival of American choppers were all the rage, meaning bikes centered around big American V-Twins. Naysayers seriously questioned, if not mocked, his use of a Suzuki GSX-R1000 powerplant. But Ransom committed wholeheartedly to his vision and didn’t waver, despite the overwhelming contemporary trends. “I always just had an innate ability to know what would work,” Ransom marvels, “and what wouldn’t.”

Roughly a dozen one-off bikes later and Ransom Motorcycles has grown from a workshop the size of a walk-in closet to a serious manufacturer, building motorcycles for wealthy fanatics spread across the globe. The trilogy of its series starts with the Valiance Collection, the “entry-level build” that launches with the Archangel—a spiritual prodigy of the earlier Serpent bike. Designed for an orthopedic surgeon, the weekend track racer found himself riding way too fast on streets. So he commissioned Ransom to build a bike that would still challenge him, but at lower speeds than he’d have to push his sport bike. Ransom imagined a two-wheeler with a fat rear tire and increased front rake, one that would slow down velocity but still engage the rider in corners like they were racing twice as fast.

“So I took The Serpent and stylized it, squashed it, stretched it, and that’s where we end up with the Archangel,” Ransom explains. Other clever touches include a hidden headlight, cantilevered engine and pneumatic suspension with its air reservoir concealed in the swing arm.

Then there’s the Legacy Collection, which launches this summer with the world’s first all-titanium motorcycle, the Titanium Transcendence (more on that below). As next level and mind-blowing as that creation might sound, Ransom aims to supersede even that with the Majesty line.

“It’s no holds barred, no budget needed, as big and as exotic and as luxurious as we can go,” the ambitious builder promises. More than simply a two-wheeled vehicle, Ransom sees the first edition of the Majesty Collection, Reign, as a piece of museum-level sculpture that electronically transforms into a rideable motorcycle. So far requiring a simply ludicrous 10,000 hours to build, the solid bronze–bodied work resembles a polished gold Anish Kapoor sculpture that unlocks and transforms on command like the star of a Michael Bay blockbuster.

“I’m a sculptor by creed,” Ransom reveals when asked where the vision came for such a singular eye-warping piece of machinery-meets-art. “Sketching is very difficult, but sculpting for me is like breathing.”

Ransom’s Titanium Transcendence Puts Pedal To The Metal

If the proposal of an all-titanium motorcycle sounds unnecessarily challenging, that’s because it is. Highly sculptural body work or fairings in the motorcycle industry are usually made of fiberglass or composites, rarely metal. And never, ever titanium. Why? Titanium is not only incredibly expensive, but the low-density, high-strength metal makes welding notoriously difficult, and its thinness is unforgiving—planishing out flaws or errors can be both arduous and time-consuming. Overall one can expect labor to be three to four times more complex over steel or aluminum.

“It really exposes all the flaws that you have as a shaper,” W. Robert Ransom admits. “The artistry is making the metal look like it was molded.” His justification for the added challenge is simple: Ransom sees the Legacy Collection as prioritizing performance, acceleration and straight-line speed over the sculptural emphasis of the Majesty Collection, while the Valiance Collection plays the Goldilocks Solution bridge between the two.

Throughout the Transcendence build the New Jersey workshop detailed the process on Instagram, and Ransom found followers fascinated by the titanium craftsmanship. “They were wondering if I had a background in aerospace, because normally you’re not seeing the work being done by people who shape titanium online. They’re getting paid by places like Lockheed Martin,” Ransom says of fans DMing him on IG. After all, titanium is usually reserved for aerospace and spacecraft work done behind the secretive veil of nondisclosures.

Ransom estimates that 95 percent of his inaugural Legacy offering is crafted of titanium—the entire chassis, swing arm, exhausts, fuel tank, side pedal, upper cal and body work—all titanium. About the only parts other than the Suzuki Hayabusa engine not fashioned from titanium are its carbon fiber wheels.

So it’s extremely light for its gen-two 1,340-cc, inline-four Hayabusa engine, once the powerplant for the fastest production motorcycle on the planet. Weighing in at a svelte 375 pounds dry, that should make the Titanium Transcendence not just a gorgeous objet d’art to admire but also a terrifyingly fast two-wheeler to ride. “This one’s for guys at the red light,” Ransom muses, smiling. “It’s gonna blow away all other bikes.”

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2024 issue of Maxim magazine.

Follow Deputy Editor Nicolas Stecher on Instagram at @nickstecher and @boozeoftheday.

The first motorcycle that registered a core memory in my head was the hog that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 rode in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, the sequel to my favorite movie of all time. Even with a hulking, repeating shotgun-wielding cyborg in its saddle, that Harley-Davidson Softail Fatboy still looked like an absolute unit, especially as the pair soared through the air and bounced between L.A. spillway walls during the film’s famed chase sequence.

Even if I’d never seen T2, I of course would have known about H-D. That orange-outlined bar and shield is emblazoned on more motorcycles in the United States than any other logo. Brand recognition is pervasive to the point that people automatically associate the word “Harley” with “motorcycle” and vice-versa. But the T2 scene is so ingrained in my memory that upon revving my bike or hearing the “thunk” as I shift from neutral to first, my mind’s eye is liable to involuntarily generate a scene starring me, not Schwarzenegger, on that Fatboy.

Aside from the fact that I’m nowhere near as handsome or jacked or tall or badass as Arnie, the most glaring incongruency in that fantasy is my motorcycle: an Indian Scout Bobber Sixty. In my five years of riding, I’d never had the pleasure of helming a model from the brand that formed my first motorcycle memory until H-D sent me one to test on a trek to its Milwaukee headquarters. The bike shipped to my hometown dealership (shoutout to the fine folks at Zylstra Harley-Davidson) was the 2024 Street Glide, a full-fledged tourer that’s among the best-equipped and most powerful models in Harley’s fleet. What’s more, the Street Glide just underwent the most significant year-to-year redesign since its introduction in 2006.

For one, this is the most powerful version yet. The model retains its massive “Milwaukee-Eight 117″—named for the eight total valves in its 45-degree V-twin and the 117-cubic-inch (1.9-liter) displacement. But by enlarging the airbox by 50 percent, lengthening the throttle body’s diameter from 55 to 58 mm, and bumping the compression ratio up from 10.2:1 to 10:3.1, among other tweaks, maximum output increases to 105 horsepower (up 3 percent) and 130 pound-feet of torque (up 4 percent). It’s also 18 pounds lighter than the 2023 model—7 pounds alone are shed by the fork’s new triple clamp.

Suspension travel also takes a substantial hike from 2.1 to 3 inches, and all analog gauges have been eliminated in favor of a sole 12.3-inch touchscreen that handles displays and infotainment. This techy update in particular has been heralded by multiple outlets as pushing the Street Glide into the future, bringing with it four ride modes, Apple CarPlay (and limited Android compatibility), and native headset connectivity—the Street Glide also gets more powerful on-board speakers for the headset-less. Driving that futuristic feel further is a “media drawer” hiding a USB-C connection point. Harley even revised the Street Glide’s most iconic visual feature; the famed, fork-fixed “batwing” fairing—first introduced on the Electra Glide in 1969—now boasts an “Omega-shaped” headlight and linear, laser-like “eagle wing” turn signals.

That batwing is what caught me initially as I eyed the Street Glide for the first time in the dealership parking lot. It wasn’t love at first sight, as I’m naturally partial to my fairing-less bobber. However, I immediately appreciated the tear-drop tank—another signature bit of Harley design—which is somehow more supple than my Indian’s, despite being almost twice its capacity at 6.0 gallons. The upgraded Sharkskin Blue-over-black trim was perhaps the most elegant motorcycle color scheme I’ve seen in-person. And the saddlebags, which you couldn’t pay me to put on my Indian, looked right at home on the Street Glide. They close with a satisfying latch, and they’re entirely waterproof, as tested under a stream from a pressure washer.

This was my first experience with a bagger, so my first concern was its size. I’m 5-foot-9 (and a half!), but my in-seam is 30 inches because my legs are disproportionally short. That worry was alleviated as soon as I sat in the seat, which is a mere 26.1 inches off the ground. I reckon someone with a 29-inch in-seam could still get both feet down without issue. Coming from my 550-pound Scout Bobber Sixty, I immediately noticed the 775-pound Street Glide’s heft, but it didn’t keep me from comfortably executing my first few sub-10-mph turns.

A dealership worker described the ride modes. Rain Mode features the most subdued throttle response and engine mapping, as well as the most aggressive cornering-ABS and traction-control settings. Sport mode puts full power on-tap, maximizes throttle response and minimizes rider aid intervention, while Road Mode middles between Rain and Sport. A fourth custom mode allows you to fine-tune all rider aids, throttle response, engine braking and torque delivery.

I was advised by that dealership worker to stay in Road mode for my first few rides. Instead, I immediately pulled onto a county road, stuck it in “Sport,” and ripped it. By god, this bagger moved. In service of more power and speed, my Indian Scout Bobber Sixty has an aftermarket exhaust, air intake and tune, but I will concede that the bone-stock Street Glide felt marginally faster. That’s a grand feat considering its weight and touring focus.

I took a few days to get better acquainted with the Street Glide in-town before making the 360-mile trek from central Iowa to Milwaukee. I paired my Cardo headset to Harley’s Skyline operating system and booted up Apple CarPlay, which laid out my iPhone’s interface on the Harley’s touchscreen. This capability is great in-theory, but for whatever reason, Siri quit responding to my voice commands. I thought maybe it was a problem with my in-helmet microphone, but when I unpaired the Cardo from the Harley’s OS and re-paired it to my phone only, Siri worked just fine. After multiple troubleshooting sessions, I decided to pair the Cardo to my phone but use Harley Skyline’s native navigation.

I’d recently upgraded from the Cardo PackTalk Edge to the newly released PackTalk Pro, Cardo’s most advanced headset yet. I’d been using the PackTalk Edge on every single ride for the past year, and I previously raved over how it turns a helmet into a motorcycle-safe infotainment and intercom system. The PackTalk Pro builds on a fantastic platform with welcome extra features, including automatic power down/power up (which saved my battery more than once), a brand new Crash Detection System, and larger 45-mm JBL in-helmet speakers. If you like to ride your long road trips, a Bluetooth headset can stave off boredom, and I can personally vouch for two of Cardo’s.

When time came to embark, I loaded up a small duffel bag, a laptop bag, a pair of shoes, a spare visor and a rain suit in the two saddle bags. About 20 minutes into the ride, I glanced at the navigation display at precisely the wrong time and hit a 4×4 piece of wood at 60 mph. This was the largest piece of debris I’d ever blasted on a bike, and I barely felt it on this two-wheeled tank. I pulled over, saw nothing wrong with the tires or wheels, and continued.

With five hours of riding ahead of me and the middling “Road” mode engaged, I began to really appreciate the Street Glide’s long-haul pedigree. Between the buffeting-preventing adjustable air vanes, the bump-consuming suspension, the buttery smooth shifting, and the sheer mass, the Street Glide feels secure and planted on the highway. In fact, the sensation of high speed (not acceleration) is almost nuked. I unintentionally crept well over the speed limit multiple times because 80 mph and 100 mph feel exactly the same—a testament to the way the Street Glide directs air around its rider. It’s also surprisingly agile, as I discovered while ADHD-pinballing between the edges of a single-lane construction zone in crawling traffic.

There are probably several great touring bikes that, like the Street Glide, make long-haul riding a breeze. What takes this bagger to the next level are the thoughtful little features you see on the showroom floor and think, “Who gives a shit?” That retracting media shelf can be opened and closed at highway speeds, and it can hold a wallet, an iPhone, a backup battery for the iPhone, and the keys—the Street Glide features keyless ignition. The headlight is fantastically bright. Cruise control can be canceled by simply holding a button instead of tapping a brake. And if you’re on a hill, you can hold either brake to engage “Vehicle Hold Control,” which automatically applies the brake and keep the bike from rolling backwards, allowing the rider to focus entirely on working the clutch and throttle. None of these features are necessary, but after many miles, you realize how glad you are to have them.

Mind you, I was riding a mostly standard model. The 2024 Harley-Davidson Street Glide and Road Glide, which is almost identical to the Street Glide except for its frame-mounted “shark-nose” fairing, both start at $26,000. For maximal features and luxury, you can order either as a CVO model, the acronym being short for “Custom Vehicle Operations.” Sure, it’ll run you a cool $44,500, but you get lots of weight-saving carbon fiber that was designed in a wind tunnel, a larger Milwaukee-Eight 121 Engine that develops 115 horsepower and 145 pound-feet of torque, an upgraded suspension and exhaust, dual-disc Brembo front brakes, Rockford Fosgate audio, and more exclusive and complex color schemes, among other premium add-ons.

Wearing full gear in 90-degree heat, I was greeted on the outskirts of Milwaukee by start-stop rush-hour traffic. Normally that’d be a drag, but I felt so cool riding my pretty Street Glide, I was happy to peacock for a captive audience of lowly automobilists. Clearly enamored with H-D already, I then spent a half a day at the Harley-Davidson Museum—part of the 20-acre Harley-Davidson campus—where American history and gearhead fascinations collide in a very cool way. Motorcyclist or not, it’s a must-see Milwaukee sight.

Between riding the most powerful version of a lineup-leading model and the pilgrimage to H-D HQ, it was one hell of an introduction to the storied American motorcycle brand. But did my time on the Street Glide help me inch a little closer to fulfilling the Terminator-channeling fantasy that had been planted in my head over two decades ago? Affirmative.

Josh Dun will definitely be taking his time on his new ride this summer. The drumming half of genre-blending alt-rock duo 21 Pilots is the latest subject of Indian Motorcycle’s Forged web series, which celebrates the all-American bikes as a platform for fender-to-fender customization.

This build comes courtesy of Roland Sands, the founder of Long Beach’s Roland Sands Design (RSD) who helped make the make the racy Indian FTR even racier with this year’s limited-edition, Super Hooligan series-inspired livery. What Sands did for Dun’s one-off Indian Scout is significantly more dramatic.

“We’ve always taken cruisers and turned them into sport bikes, more or less,” Sands says in the reveal video. Accordingly, Dun’s bike is a mashup of the Scout and the FTR: the 17-inch forged wheel wrapped in Dunlop Q5 rubber, the fork’s triple-clamped neck, and swingarm were all also used on the aforementioned Indian x RSD Super Hooligan. Dun’s bike also has front and back dual-disc brakes, a custom flat track-style tail, and a custom Saddlemen seat.

But there were two other touches in particular that elicited the strongest reactions from Dun. Upon seeing his ride, he exclaimed, “This thing’s perfect”—the black-and-yellow color scheme just so happens to perfectly match the album art for 21 Pilots’ Trench, although Sands had penned the design before he knew that Dun would be the recipient. Then, after firing up the engine, an ear-to-ear smile formed as soon as the musician heard the V-twin’s diabolical belt through the RSD-fabricated exhaust.

Sands and RSD fabricator Aaron Boss go on to explain that the design was largely inspired by dominant old-school Indian racer Ed Kretz. As a tribute, they emblazoned Sylvester the Cat on the tail’s underside—according to Sands, Kretz printed the cartoon on his business card with the quote, “Take your silly-ass problems down the street.”

“What makes an RSD bike is taking the performance of the machine and elevating it,” Sands added. “Right when you look at this bike, you go, ‘Oh, that thing’s high-performance for sure.'” Head to Indian’s website for more on the Forged series.

The Ducati DesertX only arrived this decade to nearly universal acclaim. Two expert reviewers at Cycle World have sung the adventure bike’s praises, with one writing, “the DesertX [is an] excellent solution for those ADV riders who want the most performance they can get in the dirt.” It stands to reason that the new Discovery trim will be similarly well-received.

On- or off-road, the DesertX Discovery has a few extras that set it apart from the base model. Bolstering its durability on punishing terrain are reinforced hand guards and additional protection for the water pump, radiator grill and oil sump—three components that absolutely need to stay operable throughout a hard day’s ride. Should something go awry, the Discovery features a fold-down center stand to facilitate quick repairs in the field. And when it’s time to take the trek back home on paved roads, the Discovery’s heated grips and enlarged touring-style windshield are welcome creature comforts, especially in colder temperatures.

The DesertX’s 937-cc liquid-cooled Testastretta L-twin engine still produces 110 hp and 68 pound-feet of torque. To help the rider manage that output, there are three modes dedicated to road use and two for off-road riding. According to Cycle News, the tubular steel frame, fully adjustable KYB suspension and off-road specific 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wheels clad in Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR tires are all also carried over from the standard DesertX. Finally, the DesertX Discovery is available in a trim-exclusive “Thrilling Black” livery—not that there’s anything wrong with the classic Ducati Red scheme, which is also still available.

Priced at $2,000 above the DesertX, the 2025 Ducati DesertX Discovery will cost $20,000 when it arrives at dealerships in the fall of 2024.

The story of Royal Enfield is a wild and circuitous one. In the 1950s and ’60s the British manufacturer was the preferred choice of café racers and gentlemen rogues who made that era in motorcycling one of the most influential ever.

But like most British marques from the 20th century, Royal Enfield struggled to compete with cheaper—and regrettably more reliable—Japanese bikes that poured into Europe and America in the, ’60s and, ’70s, eventually leading to the company’s shuttering in 1971.

Except it didn’t, really. Across the globe in one of the British Empire’s former colonies, Royal Enfield had planted a seed that survives to this day. You see, in 1954 the government of India commissioned a huge order for Royal Enfield’s Bullet model to supply its troops along the Himalayan border with longtime rival Pakistan.

This is where the highest roads on the planet exist, at celestial low-oxygen altitudes that test even the best engines. For this reason, India hand-picked the Bullet as its chosen steed because of the single-cylinder, stamped-steel bike’s ability to function reliably at these incredibly high altitudes, where the engines of most other motorcycles failed to operate consistently.

To build the Bullets at volume while minimizing costs, Royal Enfield licensed their badge and engineering to a factory in India, where the Bullet has been steadily produced ever since—making it the longest continuously produced motorcycle model on the planet.

And which today brings us to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where one Bobby Fuego has taken the form of a modern Royal Enfield Interceptor and elevated it to the next level. Or rather, time-warped it into the past. The career photographer/videographer made waves recently with his Rollin Machine Interceptor, tapping his social media skills to ripple his creation from the remote Malaysian city to the centers of cultural chic worldwide. He then uses the reaction and clout his bikes receive to gauge if a design was successful.

More than a decade ago, Fuego’s first two-wheeled creation was a scooter he personalized with a slick custom paint job, loaded with speakers and other fun accessories. “The main objective was I wanted my bike to look different from others, outstanding with cool design,” Fuego tells us about catching the builder bug.

“That’s where it came from, the idea of customization.” The young craftsman wasn’t alone in Kuala Lumpur. He shares how the classic bike scene has exploded among the capital’s youth. While on trend, Fuego laments that many still might lack knowledge about the history, culture, guidelines and parameters of the international custom bike scene.

“That’s [when] I decided in 2016 that I wanted to share my enthusiasm with others, so I launched the brand of Rollin Machine. At first it was just a bunch of riders wearing leather jackets, riding classic/custom bikes, taking pictures, just doing the video scene,” Fuego explains. “But with the rise in demand of custom bikes, we got set up and decided to do custom builds for others.”

Now after a pandemic-induced sabbatical, Rollin Machine rises once again with this winsome, impeccably crafted ode to retro Grand Prix racing. And while Fuego namechecks other brands Rollin Machine likes to customize, including Triumph, Moto Guzzi and Harley-Davidson, there are reasons why Royal Enfield stands out from the crowd. In fact, the attraction blossomed when Royal Enfield first hired him for a freelance photo and video job in 2021.

“The thing with Royal Enfield is its simplicity of pure motorcycling. With the design, not much modern technology, the price, tough build, durability—it amazes me right away,” the Malaysian customizer continues. “It’s like riding with no hassle, just pure steel. And that’s what I want: to have a bike that goes for simplicity, yet powerful and with a tough-looking engine.”

As for the Interceptor, what struck Fuego first over Enfield’s other models like the Continental GT was its gas tank. With its clean geometric shape, the Malaysian customizer could instantly see how the fairing should flow. “That’s the reason why I choose the Interceptor: it is one of a kind.”

While the young builder had a vision for the Interceptor since 2021, Royal Enfield gave him a heads up that an updated model was coming in 2023, with a new LED headlamp, panel indicator, aluminum switch cube, gas-charged twin shock and more. So Fuego waited until this past August and bought the 650cc parallel twin-cylinder model as soon as he could. “More than enough for me,” he admits.

Obviously the most salient component of the build is the fairing, which Fuego admits was the most difficult part to construct, taking more than three weeks. Initially aiming to craft the piece from steel or aluminum, he soon discovered carbon fiber was a superior solution, as Rollin Machine could sculpt a mold and then quickly and easily stamp more fairings.

Other highlights include the diamond-stitch Alcantara seat with embroidered Royal Enfield logo, bookended by a carbon fiber seat cowl. Then there’s the handmade racing-style muffler, built from scratch to improve both performance and aesthetics. Lastly the livery: beige and brown for a retro styling, then gold leaf for the logo, and black and white for the racing number, all hand brushed.

“The main goal is to make it look like it’s racing on the track, a true retro GP racer,” Fuego shares proudly. “I studied and researched a lot about the bikes from that era, just to get the vibes perfectly suited for the style.”

This article originally appeared in the May/June 2024 issue of Maxim magazine.

If you’ve ever wanted to ride a motorcycle with the engine displacement of a Honda Civic, pray that the BMW R20 Concept comes to fruition on the production line.

To be fair, the largest touring bikes have engines that are similarly sized to this fantastical moto’s 2,000-cc—or 2.0-liter—two-cylinder “Big Boxer.” In fact, that’s just 200cc more than what you get in the production R18’s version of the same Big Boxer, which reigns as the largest engine ever implemented in a BMW motorcycle.

But nothing on Earth with that large a powerplant looks anything like the BMW R20. The pink tank—a nod to 1970s-era Beemers—almost jumps out of the provided art and is color-matched to the cylinder head covers, belt cover, aluminum air intake covers, Paralever strut, footpegs, and brake calipers.

The minimal “roadster” styling also evokes thoughts of aggressively bobbed cruisers. Fairings, a windshield, and a passenger seat/pegs are decidedly absent. BMW even incorporated the taillight into the floating single seat, eliminating the need for any bodywork.

Continuing the minimalist theme is the exposed driveshaft, a signature focal point of the R18, which has been shortened for integration into the roadster architecture.

“The R20 concept is a bold interpretation of the BMW Motorrad DNA,” says Alexander Buckan, Head of Design at BMW Motorrad. “It combines modern technical elements with a classic roadster design. Its oversized proportions and minimalistic aesthetic make it an unmistakable character.”

Assuming the R20 concept makes it to production, it won’t quite have the stripped down aesthetic, as mirrors, a license plate holder and turn signals are required by all transportation departments, as Forbes notes. Still, who wouldn’t want to see this “bold interpretation of BMW Motorrad DNA” on the streets.