I fell in love with motorcycles when my dad first threw on Top Gun and I watched Tom Cruise speed along a taxiing F-14 Tomcat as the sun set behind them both. It stirred something inside of me that’s never left. But it left such a mark on my psyche that when I brought home my first bike—while my parents were on vacation just as I turned 17—it had to be a Kawasaki. Now, it was a 1987 Ninja 600, not the GPZ 900 Maverick rode, but it was close enough for me.
I tell you this story to show the love I have for motorcycling and because what I’m about to say may sound somewhat disconcerting to RideApart’s regular readers, but the site is going to start changing.
Now the love for all things two-wheeled isn’t going to go away or even take a back seat. No, RideApart has been a destination for motorcycle enthusiasts for over a decade, a repository for everything myself and the rest of the team treasure, including talking about MotoGP, the world of adventure bikes, builds we’d love to do, or those we’ve done ourselves, bringing newcomers into the fold, and never once gatekeeping. And I’m going to promise you that none of this will change. I wouldn’t let it.
What RideApart will become is far larger in scope, encompassing the whole of powersports.
The site is, honestly, due for a rebirth and reinvention, and now’s the perfect time to do just that. The shift comes at a time when the powersports industry has grown exponentially. Not only have motorcycle sales enjoyed the best years ever starting in 2020 and continuing into 2024—no clue what happened in those years—but so too have snowmobiles, jet skis, side-by-sides, and ATVs. Each saw their popularity skyrocket with the general public, so much so that even I, a motorcyclist through and through, bought a caged Can-Am Maverick X3 Maxx. There’s more interest in the powersports industry now than there has ever been before, and that’s why RideApart is going to start covering those segments going forward.
What you’ll see in the coming weeks, months, and years is a plan I’ve been working on for months now. Adventure stories, far-flung and close-to-home trips, gear and machine reviews, celebrity and industry interviews, head-to-heads, engineering deep dives, wild news, project introductions, updates, add-ons, and so much more. We’ll talk about Indonesian drag bike culture, the insanity of compound-charged snowmobiles, Can-Am’s wild new A-arms on the Maverick R, MotoGP’s wicked launch control, why I love my Garmin InReach Mini 2, how to get into off-road riding, the future of powersport EVs in the hunting space, countless cool histories about machines and tattoo cultures within the motorcycling world, weird and wonderful mysteries like what happened to that original Kawasaki GPZ from Top Gun, how fun fishing off the side of a jet ski is, and even why the Isle of Man is still an important thing to do, despite the dangers. That last one is a story I’ve been aching to write for years.
But what’s going to separate us from everyone else is that all of these stories, every article we publish on these pages, will have a single guiding ethos that I hope comes through every single time you open a link: that powersports are inherently cool.
Honestly, I think our little section of the media industry has forgotten that. They’ve succumbed to the almighty Google, pumping out bland, boring regurgitations of press releases and specs to feed the SEO machine behind the curtain. They’ll tell you all about how much horsepower the new Ducati Panigale makes, but not how it makes you feel to get behind the bars. Detailed descriptions will be done on Seadoo’s new supercharged jet ski, but nothing will be said as it tries to rip your face off.
I’m not scared of losing bots, as I know “Build it and they will come,” actually works. Actual human powersport lovers are the ones that’ll help make RideApart the destination website I know it can be. A place where pretense doesn’t matter, and specs take a back seat to experience. Where the joy of hopping onto, or into, a machine that’s already way cooler than we’ll ever be is the focal point.
I aim to make RideApart the shining beacon within the industry by telling stories and having fun. The site that every other media brand wishes they were and our readers devour. To make folks like Janaki, Earl, Enrico, and newcomer Robbie, stars in your eyes, while highlighting stellar freelance talent that makes everyone reading our pages say, “Fuck, I wish I had their job.” I want you to eagerly await our weekly newsletter, salivating in anticipation to read what adventures we’ve gone on, the lunacy we’ve dreamt up, and to trust our opinions on machines and gear more than you trust your own mother’s words.
Sorry, mothers of the world, you’re out.
Again, RideApart’s bones aren’t changing. I may talk about how snowmobiles, UTVs, ATVs, and jet skis will come into the mix. Motorcycles are still core to not just the site, but my own existence. I’ve got big plans to take our motorcycle coverage to staggering heights, including some seriously in-depth reporting on MotoGP technology and racing, stories about how teaching my 5-year-old daughter how to ride is going (she doesn’t have much love for Razor’s MX350 compared to Kawasaki’s Elektrode), and maybe, just maybe, a pit-bike championship race with the editors. I may or may not have already built the track in my backyard…
And there’s so much more I want to tell you right now, but all of those stories are to come. Right now, I want to convey that, yes, RideApart is evolving, but no one is being left behind. I was recently listening to an episode of Randy Newberg’s Hunt Talk Radio where he said something that I think is relevant here. Paraphrasing, there are two types of folks in the world: those who think in scarcity and those in abundance. Rather than thinking of this change as taking a piece of the pie away, consider this an expansion of that pie so that more folks get to enjoy RideApart.
All the writers are still lunatic motorcyclists, but their love for all things powersports shouldn't be quelled. And neither should yours or anyone else’s.
I’ve been living and breathing powersports since that Kawasaki all those years ago. I’ve hauled or towed all manner of motorcycles and UTVs, and currently live in the wilds of Utah where UTVs are street-legal and gravel roads are plentiful. I’ve ridden sport bikes, adventure bikes, dirt bikes, baggers, and even piloted a scooter through a monsoon down a mountain in Oahu. A long time ago, my dad and brother tried to follow my lead and jump a jet ski off a large wave only for them to fly off. And hunting has become a big part of my life recently, where UTVs, ATVs, motorcycles, and snowmobiles are necessary accessories to access the furthest parts of the backcountry.
Powersports are quite literally intertwined into everything I love, as well as the passions of the extremely talented writers already within, coming soon, and those that I hope to cultivate over the coming years. I would like to ask you for some patience and latitude as we ramp up all the truly awesome content we have planned over the next few weeks and months. I promise that if you stick with us as we find our footing, you won’t be disappointed.
In the meantime, I’d love to hear all your ideas of what you’d kill to see on RideApart with this new mission. So sound off in the comments below or email me directly, my line is always open: jonathon.klein@rideapart.com.
