News Feed
Moto Retro Illustrated is Out!
Moto Retro Illustrated
Moto Retro Illustrated, a new vintage/classic magazine focusing on the moto culture from 1965 and 1985, has released its first issue, which begins shipping to subscribers and dealers this week.
Conceived, written and published by long-time motojournalist and racer Mitch Boehm, Moto Retro Illustrated is a unique spin on the vintage/classic magazine. “Moto Retro covers a more recent slice of the classic landscape,” says Boehm, “the late ’60s, 1970s and early ’80s. As a result we feature a lot of Japanese bikes – streetbikes, dirtbikes and minis, the motorcycles most baby-boomers grew up with.”
Moto Retro Illustrated’s roots stem from the three issues of Motorcyclist Retro published in 2008, which Boehm edited for Source Interlink. “Motorcyclist Retro did pretty well for a start-up,” Boehm says, “selling more than 20,000 copies of each issue. But upper management closed it in December, wanting to concentrate on core products with the economy tanking. It was a bummer. But when I saw how popular it was, I decided to take the concept I’d nurtured and publish it myself.”
Moto Retro’s premier issue includes a wide array of back-in-the-day feature stories, including the “Eddie Lawson and the Replica” cover story, which covers the genesis of the ’82 and ’83 KZ1000R Eddie Lawson Replica, Eddie’s Superbike career on the green machines, and also the famed S1 production racer sold to privateers. “I’d wanted to cover that bike and Eddie’s racing connection with it for a long time,” says Boehm. “We shot Eddie and his personal ELR at Auto Club Speedway, and Kevin Wing did a great job on the photos. The story runs 12 pages, and included are vintage photos along with interviews with Eddie, Rob Muzzy, Superbike collector Brian O’Shea and ex-Kawasaki man Mike Vaughan.”
The issue also includes a story on Boehm’s first-generation CB750 for the 750 Four’s 40th Anniversary. “I’d written a piece 17 years earlier in Cycle World called ‘West By CB750’ about riding CB750s on Route 66,” Boehm says. “CW Editor David Edwards and I bought a couple of first-gen CB750s from a guy in Illinois via Walneck’s Cycle Trader, flew there and rode them home on Route 66. We had a pretty wild time; my bike holed a piston in Tulsa, and David’s bike holed a crankcase from a thrown chain in the middle of Arizona. I wanted to revisit that story and that motorcycle, and since my current first-generation CB750 is pretty close to the bike I’d bought back in Illinois, I figured now was the time.”
Also featured in the issue: A piece on Tom White’s amazing motocross museum and collection; a story on the 1975 Unadilla Trans-AMA motocross event by Dexter Ford; a piece on Yamaha’s first monoshock motocrosser; a short story on Hodaka’s Super Rat; a feature on American Honda’s 50 years in the U.S., complete with rare marketing images from the ’60s; and short pieces on Wes Cooley and Team Yoshimura from 1981, Darryl Bassani, Jeff Ward, and more.
Moto Retro Illustrated is pricier than your standard monthly bike book ($9.95 per copy), primarily because it’s oversized and printed on thick, luxurious paper, but also because the magazine’s business model doesn’t rely solely on advertising for revenue – as do the majority of other magazines, many of which are experiencing hard times in this down economy. “We’re relying on the reader more,” Boehm says. “We don’t need huge numbers to survive; just enough hard-core readers who’ll pay a bit more for a beautiful, glossy magazine jam-packed with good stuff from Motorcycling’s Glory Days.”
Yearly subscriptions (four issues) are $39.95, and single copies ordered via the website (which include shipping) are $12.95. Right now, subs and single copies can only be had via the website (www.motoretroillustrated.com), though dealers and shops across the country will eventually stock Retro.
“We’re all about a higher-end experience,” Boehm says. “So not only is the magazine thick and glossy, something you’ll want to keep, but we mail it in a protective polybag so it arrives as fresh as the day it came off the press. And with only about 15 pages of ads, issue one contains about 85 pages of great editorial, which we know our readers are gonna love.”
For more information:
Moto Retro Illustrated
310.849.1845
www.motoretroillustrated.com
mitch@motoretroillustrated.com
More Feature Articles
Umbrella Girls of the Week: Red Bull Indy GP
Andrew Northcott’s umbrella girl highlights from last weekend’s Red Bull Indianapolis GP.
Backmarker: Revisiting the Icarus myth. Really, that’s what this is about
On the news of Cycle News folding, Mark Gardiner examines the changing face of motorcycle journalism.
SLIDESHOW: Umbrella Girls of the Week, Red Bull Indy GP!
Andrew Northcott hones his talents Stateside with a grid-girls update from the past weekend’s Red Bull Indy GP.
Between the Races: Bill Savino
RRX checked in with American Honda’s Bill Savino in advance of Roger Hayden’s Moto2 adventure.
SLIDESHOW: The Red Bull Indy GP, by Andrew Northcott
Yesterday we featured EW’s artistic take on Indy, today it’s the high-speed, high-tech, nicotine-fueled magic of Andrew Northcott.
Moto Moments WALLPAPER: Ben Spies at the Red Bull Indy GP
With Ben Spies having scored the best MotoGP finish of his career at the Red Bull Indy GP, there was only one option for this week’s Moto Moments.
Read More Features
I believe that would be from 1965 TO 1985, not 1965 AND 1985!
Congrats, Davey, the Gang, and Mitch!
Got my first two issues and was immediately impressed with tactile and visual presentation I get other cycle magazines, these are more cycle accessories. I know I won’t be passing these along to my buddies, they can get their own! If your a “forty something” like me, the content will be right in your wheelhouse of cherished memories. The fact that these are such high quality products elevate them to “collectible” status if one is insightful enough to recognize it. Reminds me of The Rodders Journal. Try to find the first few issues of that! All I can say is it is most evident that Boehm clearly had a high end product in mind when conceiving this magazine and did everything needed to see it to fruition. Hope everyone tries it and keeps many years of it coming! Florida VmaxPat