2024 marks Ultimate Motorcycling’s 20th anniversary, and I’m proud and happy to be involved. It’s been 11 years since I wrote my first review, and I’m still as excited to have, arguably, one of the lowest-paying yet highest-reward jobs any motorcyclist can have.
Editor’s Note: This month, we are celebrating Ultimate Motorcycling‘s 20th anniversary. We will be publishing reflections from members of the Ultimate Motorcycling staff and team. Ultimate Motorcycling Associate Editor Jonathan Handler reminisces.
It wasn’t always low-paying, but I missed the Robb Report MotorCycling era zenith of income, yet stuck around for the fabulous outcome. What moto enthusiast would want more than to be fed a steady stream of varied bikes to ride, gear to sample, and press launches to attend? The launches of new models that few knew about until we motojournalists rode and wrote about them were, and still are, a blast. These trips put together many of the best-known writers who became lifelong friends.
The story of how I became associated with Ultimate Motorcycling involves a bit of fate. I had written a piece for Motorcyclist about the passing of Ed Savko, the illustrious owner of our local Rock Store. Motorcyclist published it in their 100-year anniversary issue in 2012. That led to a conversation with Arthur Coldwells at the Rock Store. I had known Arthur since 2008, and we rode in the same Twisters group of riders. My memory has faded on how that conversation went, but I do remember Arthur saying something to me like, “Well, if you want to write reviews, I have a bike for you now.” It was the dual-clutch 2013 Honda VFR1200F DCT. The rest is, as they say, history. Hundreds of reviews and many launch trips later, I’m still around and kicking.
The team here at UM was welcoming from the start and has always been supportive of my interests and helpful in molding me into the journalist I’ve become. President Arthur Coldwells and Editor Don Williams have especially been wonderful and have become friends as well as co-workers. The rest of the team works well together, so it’s more like an extended family.
I was around long enough to catch the last few years when we were in print. Our magazine was coffee-table quality, but, alas, gone are most magazines and Ultimate Motorcycling eventually went the same way. In some ways, this worked out better than we thought it would, but I do miss the feel, smell, and presentation on paper.
How many of you have traveled to Europe and were back home in anywhere from 90 to 120 hours? That’s the way press launches work. It’s wild and quite exciting; you ride in Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, and more with like-minded pros who are serious about business and riotous in the off hours, or business class to Germany with only a cup of coffee at the airport on your credit card upon return. There were so many insider secrets to keep until the embargo release date rolled around and allowed us to tell the world what we saw and experienced. It has been a kick to be “behind the curtain” for all the fabulous things that happen within this industry.
Writing for Ultimate Motorcycling has been a life-changing experience and one that I am fortunate to have been given. I hope to last the next 20 years and experience what’s in store for the motorcycling community.
