Every month I post links to the most recent research into motorcycle culture, subcultures, clothing and identity, along with the biggest events in the motorcycling calendar. Here’s what caught my eye this month — almost all of it from a packed May events calendar, with one notable IJMS announcement on the academic side.
The 2026 Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride
15th anniversary, Sunday 17 May. Riders in over 100 countries and more than 1,000 cities, dressed dapper, raising funds for men’s mental health and prostate cancer research through Movember. Triumph Motorcycles in its 15th year as official partner; Movember in its 10th year. Hard to think of another single-day ride that pulls comparable cross-country participation.
https://gentlemansride.com/
Bike Shed Moto Show 2026
15th edition, Tobacco Dock, 22-24 May. The London custom and café-racer fixture continues to do what it does best: hundreds of curated custom builds, the Custom Build Challenge, food and music programming, a settled three-day rhythm. Now a fixed point in the global custom calendar alongside Born Free and Wheels and Waves.
https://bikeshedmotoshow.com/
Paul d’Orleans announced as 2026 IJMS keynote
Posted 10 May. The 13th International Journal of Motorcycle Studies conference in Shelton, Washington (16-19 July) will have Paul d’Orleans giving the keynote. D’Orleans is editor of The Vintagent and one of the more durable cultural-historical writers on motorcycling — a useful signal of how IJMS is currently positioning the field for a non-academic readership.
https://motorcyclestudies.org/volume-22-2026/announcing-keynote-speaker-paul-dorleans-for-the-13th-annual-ijms-conference/
See also coverage of DGR 2025 in the May 2025 post and Bike Shed Moto Show 2024 in the Q2 2024 quarterly.
That’s it for this month. If you’ve come across research I’ve missed, feel free to email me.