Automated transmissions from Honda, BMW and Yamaha ask riders to trust the machine with a task they once performed themselves. Research on trust in automation suggests that change may be preparing riders for electric motorcycles, which have no gearbox at all.
October 2026 motorcycle culture roundup: Eric Hendrikx’s Motorcycle Life, a photo study of the Grampian Motorcycle Club, and European Bike Week.
Transport for NSW has crash-tested seven motorcycle airbag vests. The chest results are encouraging, but the neck protection four of the vests advertise was never assessed, and the neck data the testers recorded hasn’t been published.
Six studies, and a note on widening these roundups to be as comprehensive as possible: US airbag-suit data linked to fewer racing injuries, a twenty-year Arkansas helmet-law-repeal study, hazard-perception training in Thailand, and Brazil’s mortality transition.
Illinois has just written a careful, tiered, age-graduated licensing framework for electric bicycles and scooters. It has never written one for motorcycles. What the 2024 federal crash data says about unlicensed riders, and why the argument against doing something about it has aged badly.
Congress has introduced a bill to strip Washington DC of its motorcycle helmet law, sponsored by legislators from Wisconsin and Montana who represent neither the District nor its riders. What the repeal evidence shows, and which safety measures attract organised opposition.
September 2026 roundup of new motorcycle culture research: women riders in Türkiye, adventure ethnography, the IJMS conference and Sturgis.
Every technology that a major manufacturer would need to build a viable, extended range electric motorcycle already exists, just not at the price point that makes it a realistic commercial possibility.
A quiet month for new peer-reviewed motorcycle safety research. One study this time: a survey of 2,910 active riders in Thailand testing how risky riding and protective habits each relate to crash involvement, and which of the two weighs more heavily.
From the rein to the blind person’s cane to the tactile vests worn by military pilots: a history of trusting the world through an object, and what it means for the electric motorcycle.
