Cycle World Magazine Gets A Full Rebuild

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uring the early 1960s, Joe Parkhurst reacted to the state of ­motorcycle publishing and the market. Cycle World published its first issue in January 1962. Within a decade, Joe, who’d hocked everything and made the first issue on his kitchen table, owned lots more motorcycles, a Ferrari Daytona, and a big yacht. And he was having the time of his life making the best ­motorcycle magazine in the world. It’s 2018, and Cycle World is ­reacting to the state of publishing and the market as the media world has changed profoundly. While I don’t have any visions of fancy cars or big boats, we do plan to make this heavy-duty, high-quality quarterly CW the kind of beautiful, library-­worthy print piece you’ll want to keep forever. Traditional stars like Kevin Cameron and Peter Egan along with new writers and photographers will help us explore with a new perspective the beauty and technology of the motorcycle inside and out.

I was so glad I got to know Joe. When I was hired at CW in 1999, he'd started working on a book about his time in the business. So he'd spend his days in the archives at our old building in Newport Beach. My office was actually in the CW archives. Joe and I shared big-time Transportation Enthusiast status and talked about cars, planes, motorcycles, and single malt. I carry those talks with me and work to keep that sparkle in Joe's eyes alive in these pages.

For our part, I hope the magazine design speaks for itself and helps us get inside the universal beauty of the motorcycle more than ever. On nuts and bolts, you'll still find Kevin's TDC column, but we've reworked the rest completely. Components leads off with Elements to give us a sort of love letter to the (yes) elements of the machines we love. Titanium is the first subject, and it's related to the main feature on the Ducati Panigale V-4. Origins celebrates ­landmark motorcycles from our past, and Fundamentals covers technical subjects related to the basic functioning of the machines we love. After that, it's great big beautiful features on motorcycles new and old, followed by Makers, dedicated to the people who design, build, collect, customize, or otherwise shape the motorcycle world.

Along with cycleworld.com, our social-media footprint, and live events, we share the same passion for motorcycling as you do, and will keep spreading the word through all our channels that the motorcycling life is the best life. Dirt, street, adventuring, commuting, in custom shops, at shows, and on factory floors, we will be there alongside you, ­continuing the ride of our lives.