Call for Papers, Presentations, Projects Motorcycle Studies
For the first time the IJMS conference will be held in land of fire and ice – Iceland. IJMS Conference 2025 will trek to the Motorcycle Museum (Motorhjolasafn) in the “Northern capital“ of Iceland, Akureyri. Keynotes, presenters and motorcycle enthusiasts will enjoy the dulcet tones of motorcycle theory amongst the extraordinary 2-wheeled collection of Heiðar Þ Jóhannsson.
Save the Date – 12th IJMS Conference
IJMS in Iceland, 2025!
For the first time the IJMS conference will be held in Iceland (Akureyri Iceland) at tThe Motorcycle Museum of Iceland- Motorhjolasafn. IJMS will venture to the volcanic island, land of rainbows, fjords, waterfalls, hot springs, and magical spirits.
Motorcycle Road Racing and the Development of Two-Wheel Culture in Contemporary Italy Wendy Pojmann
Just outside Austin, Texas, MotoGP pilots test the power of racing bikes on the Circuit of the Americas, a 5.5-kilometer track known for its challenging hairpin turns and a 41-meter elevation change. Fans cheer on their favorite riders, such as Spaniard Marc Marquez, Australian Jack Miller and the most recent Italian world champion Francesco Bagnaia. Enthusiastic spectators dream of the thrill of riding one of their machines by makers such as Honda, Yamaha, Ducati ...
Vivre Vite: Lou Reed, Tadao Baba, and Death Suzanne Ferriss
In November 2022, Brigitte Giraud, a novelist and short story writer, became only the thirteenth woman in 120 years to win the Prix Goncourt, France’s most prestigious literary award, for Vivre Vite (Live Fast). In this memoir, the author grapples with the death of her husband, Claude, in a motorcycle accident that took place in 1999, over twenty years ago. Stopped at a red light in Lyon, he took off when the light changed and must have inadvertently done a wheelie ...
Authenticity Roundtable – Authenticity Through Solo Motorcycle TravelJason Wragg
Building upon the other two papers, this autoethnographic narrative delves into the lived experiences of embarking on solo adventure travel by motorcycle. Departing from conventional academic discourse, this narrative offers a personal and evocative exploration of the captivating world of solo adventure motorcycle travel. The purpose of this autoethnographic narrative is not to present a definitive thesis or unwavering conclusion ...
Authenticity Roundtable – Two-wheeled Authenticity, or: Existentialism on a Motorcycle?Mathew Humphrey
In 2018, cultural historian Maiken Umbach and I published a book on ‘authenticity’ as an ideological concept. We explored the ideological appropriation of the idea of authenticity across discourse about the natural world, about industrial society, in leadership, and in the field of consumption. We had a few pages in there on authenticity and motorcycle subculture, and that potential connection between motorcycling and authenticity ...
Authenticity Roundtable – Authenticity in MotorcyclingSteven E. Alford
Significantly, motorized transport is often an element in an owner’s identity formation, from Ford Mustangs to Teslas, from Vespas to Harleys. What one drives or rides reflects the owner’s character, suggesting that there’s no small identity anxiety involved in the purchase and use of a motorized vehicle. Groups form around them, and then further distinctions are made among owners. In the world of motorcycling, distinctions are often made ...
Iron Horse Cowgirls: Louise Scherbyn and the Women Motorcyclists of the 1930s and 1940s Book Review By Sheila Malone
The story of Louise Scherbyn, the founder of the Women’s International Motorcycle Association (WIMA) is strikingly rendered in the forthcoming book Iron Horse Cowgirls: Louise Scherbyn and the Women Motorcyclists of the 1930s and 1940s by Linda Back McKay and Kate St. Vincent Vogl, McFarland Publishers (Fall 2023). The authors overlay the acts of writing with riding (driving) motorcycles ...
Identifying the barriers to a wider uptake of motorcycles as a primary mode of transport for commuting in the UKAlex Parsons-Hulse
A growing body of research indicates numerus benefits could be achieved from a modal shift in personalised transport from cars to motorcycles, or other forms of powered two-wheelers (PTWs). Benefits include a potential 40% reduction in congestion for all road users coupled with a 6% reduction in the emission cost of pollutants (Yperman, 2011). In most vehicle “use case scenarios” a reduction in lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions ...
Remembering Geoff CrowtherSteven Alford, Suzanne Ferriss, Christian Pierce & IJMS Friends
It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Geoff Crowther, one of the founding board members of The International Journal of Motorcycle Studies and the driving force behind our first international conference, held on the Isle of Man in 2007 to celebrate the centenary anniversary of the TT races ...
“The Constant is that Governments Regard Motorcyclists as a Problem”: Riders’ Rights Activists in the United Kingdom on Threats, Political Mobilization, and FreedomMathew Humphrey & Jessica Andersson-Hudson
In terms of transport choice, it is quite exceptional to be a motorcyclist. Around 0.8% of United Kingdom (UK) road journeys in 2019 were by powered-two-wheeler (PTW) (UK Department of Transport, n.d.). The 3.0 billion vehicle miles (bvm) covered by motorcycles in that year in the UK is less than the total mileage of pedal cycles at 3.5bvm. Like pedal cyclists, motorcyclists are classed as “vulnerable” road users ...
Chrome and Black and Dusty: Robert Pirsig’s Motorcycle HeritagePaul F. Johnston
Many people know Robert Maynard Pirsig (1928-2017) as author of the iconic 1974 volume Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (William Morrow, NY). Dedicated reader-riders may even remember that he rode a motorcycle across the Midwest to California and back with his son back in the 1960s. But virtually no one outside of his immediate family members know ...
