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TwoWheelsGood.us is a sampling of works by John M Flores, a freelance motorcycle journalist and photographer. Email me.
Click for photo samples on Flickr Or check out my resurrected blog, highlighting some of my own photography but more importantly, some of the great motorcycle photography on Flickr. |
December 2009 History Lessons in Central Europe Morning arrives. We leave Novy Jicín and ride like shadows in the mist, the fog pooling in the low lands and hollows. We wander along quiet back roads, past rolling fields wet with morning dew and through quiet Czech villages. We raise our visors to avoid fogging and brace against the unmistakable autumn chill of late September. The sun breaks through just in time to highlight a field of vivid yellow rapeseed and a short while later the peaked spires of Bouzov Castle. It’s a picture postcard, the rough-hewn stone towers and red tile roofs of the castle rising above the thick forest just beginning to show its autumn colors. My second trip of the year was pretty special - Central Europe with Edelweiss Motorcycle Tours. A trip that I will not soon forget... September 2009 Small is Beautiful My trip begins next to an 11-foot-tall green frog. On a spool of thread. On a bridge. Seriously. In the Connecticut town of Willimantic that’s how they commemorate a peculiar bit of colonial history. One night in 1754, a terrible racket woke the local citizenry, and fearing an Indian attack, the men gathered, muskets in hand. Once day broke, they discovered the source of the din – hundreds of dead and dying bullfrogs that had been croaking their last notes because their pond had dried up. "Small is Beautiful" a touring story in Eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island is published. Click here for a preview. My ride for this story was the Piaggio MP3 500, one of their funky 3-wheeled scooters. It was immensely stable and after 5 minutes you forgot that there was an extra wheel up front. One Flying Goose Don’t mistake the Moto Guzzi Griso 8v for a gentlemanly cruiser or a weekend toy for podiatrists and pretenders with more dough than go. Moto Guzzi, the stereotypes suggest, is a lifestyle brand long past its sporting prime, coveted by riders more interested in heritage and logoed t-shirts than riding fast and cornering hard. And at the local watering hole, the Griso looks stylishly butch reclining on its sidestand, inviting second glances and cell-phone paparazzi wherever it goes. So while you probably wouldn't be alone in your curbside assessment – you'd be wrong. "One Flying Goose," a review of the 2009 Moto Guzzi Griso 8v is published. Click here for a preview.While reviewing the bike, I stop by the local Italian cafe and snap some quick shots as the cafe owner and some regulars come out to oggle the Italian bike. The cafe owner is over the moon when I show him the magazine. It made my day. Joe Rocket Airborne
Finally, I needed to take some product shots of a Joe Rocket Jacket Airborne that I was evaluating and nobody was around. I set up the tripod in the backyard and set the Pentax K20d to interval mode - shooting a photo every 5 seconds or so. Then with my cheap aviators and the bushes as the background, I struck a pose or 40. These are the best and they still make me laugh - my first modeling gig LOL! Click here for the review.
May 2009 Around the Greater Lake “I love this state. When I was in the Marines, I couldn’t wait to come back here,” says the state trooper as he hands back my license. Thankfully, that’s all he’s handing back – no reprimands, no strings and no tickets attached. Pulling over quickly must have helped. My cold, tired face probably helped too. But maybe, just maybe, he held off because I told him this was my first visit to the state, and the lake that bears its name, and that I’ve been blown away by the sheer scale and beauty of it all. "Lake Michigan - Around the Greater Lake" is published. Click here for a preview. Kawasaki was kind enough to loan me a Concours 14, their continent-shrinking super-tourer. With the motor from the vaunted ZX-14, power was never a problem. March 2009 Deliciously Frantic: Four Days, Three Islands Day 1: Bacolod City. It's close to midnight and I'm sprawled across my thin hotel mattress utterly spent. A naked ceiling bulb throws flat light on the bare walls, the air conditioner wheezes like a pack-a-day smoker, and road gear is strewn about as if a pannier spontaneously exploded. I should be asleep – we have a 6 a.m. ferry to catch – but the adrenalin of the day is still coursing. Finally, overwhelmed by fatigue, I pass out… The Philippines story "Deliciously Frantic: Four Days, Three Islands" is published. Click here for a preview. Philippine Moto Adventures supplied Kawasaki KLR 650s for the tour. They were the kings of the road! November 2008 Living History From the weathered mountaintops of the Appalachians to the bountiful sea, stories of a native people and a young democracy are tucked away in the quiet villages, small towns and country roads of New England. The New England tour story "Living History" is published. Click here to read a preview. My mount for this trip was a Honda Silverwing, a very very capable maxi scooter. September 2008 Three's Company It takes a lot to catch the jaded eye of a typical New Yorker. But here we are in the metropolis astride Piaggio’s second wave of funky 3-wheeled MP3 scooters, drawing long stares everywhere we go. One urban hipster eyeing the passel of Piaggios exclaims, with just the right amount of mock irony, 'Are you guys from the future?'... RoadRUNNER publishes my coverage of the new Piaggio MP3 400 & 500 "Three's Company". This is the first time I go to a moto event without my own camera - I'm told that they'll have a pro there. I wish I had brought my own - even a pocket camera, because I wasn't in love with the final shots. Oh well, lessoned learned. Click here to read a preview... July 2008 Solo Solstice Angry clouds unleash a summer storm worthy of the evening news, toppling power lines and causing flash floods. I'm on an Aprilia Tuono (Italian for thunder, ironically), protected by a gas station canopy in Masonville, New York. I'm not alone though, as other riders have sought shelter here in the only dry place for miles. I set off when the storm subsides, and two bolts of lightning strike in the direction I'm heading. It's going to one of those trips… The Catskills/Leatherstocking story "Solo Solstice" is published. Click here to read a preview. Aprilia was kind enough to loan me an Aprilia Tuono, a great naked twin. May 2008 My Life as a Motorcycle Marshal Inspired by the exploits of Tour de France legend Greg Lemond and other Americans racing in Europe, I was a rabid, but not very rapid, cyclist in the 1980s. It was exotic stuff to me – wiry cyclists battling over impossibly brutal Alpine passes, the frenzied crowds threatening to swallow them whole, and then in the last possible moment, a motorcycle-mounted race marshal would part the masses, like Moses parting the Red Sea, to create a small gap for the stream of racers. With those memories in mind, I set off on my motorcycle on a cold September morning to assist in the Tour de Pink and see what it's like to ride in the company of cyclists. The Tour de Pink story "My Life as a Motorcycle Marshal" is published. Click here to read. I used my brother's scintillating Honda GB500, one of a series of great small-motored Hondas from the late 80s. This particular model evokes 60's era British bikes. Sadly, the GB500 is no more, the victim of a collision with a car:
The short of it - I was cut off while riding to work. Rest in Peace, GB500, you were a lot of fun to ride. April 2008 Into Thoreau's Woods The biggest, wildest state in New England, Maine is also the first state in the union to catch the light of the rising sun. As a September dawn wakes me in Kennebunkport, the nearby routes along this storied coast exert a very strong pull – nearly 3,500 miles of beaches, bays, inlets, and harbors – but I have other intriguing plans for the day. My Maine story, "Into Thoreau's Woods" is published. Get a sneak peek here. Kawasaki loaned me a stealthyfast black ZX-14 for this trip. With around 180Hp at the crank, power was never a problem, yet it was as docile as a tiger hit with a tranquilizer gun on Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. March 2008
Recently returned from a completely mind-blowing trip to the Philippines. Click here for pictures, and wait for the story in an upcoming issue of RoadRUNNER! February 2008
December 2007 I have a couple of small product reviews in the latest issue of RoadRUNNER magazine, an HJC carbon fiber helmet and a Bags Connection tailpack. Click on the links to see. October 2007
September 2007
June 2007 RoadRUNNER publishes review of the Piaggio BV500 - a 500cc scooter! Pick up a copy at Barnes & Noble or subscribe. Here are some photos from the review, on Flickr.
OneWheelDrive.net publishes a review of the Boblbee Meg Aero, a hardshell backpack that is also a certified back protector. Check out the story. Ane here are some photos. March 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006 October 2006
June 2006
April 2006
2005
2004 "The Scenic Route" story is now online |
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