Cycle World Podcast

In this week's episode, Cycle World Technical Editor Kevin Cameron and Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer talk about racers and crew chiefs and how their seeming supernatural powers relate to their humanity. Also, we have learned so much from these talented, intelligent people and share many stories about some of the greatest road racing riders and tuners of all time, how they win and how they progres...

Hey, there are more than 2000 bikes, and Kevin and Mark picked so many bikes for the first episode of the 2026 Mecum Las Vegas motorcycle auction that they wanted to keep going! Honda NSR400 to Vincents to one sweet Yamaha TR-2 350cc roadracer, it's another good time with some amazing bikes.

Hybrid power can bring the best of electric and combustion power together, but does it make sense for motorcycles? Benda recently showed a hybrid prototype and Kawasaki has already taken the plunge. Technical Editor Kevin Cameron and Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer discuss hybrid power, including diesel electric trains and a Canadian company doing similar work on semi-trucks and a diesel hybrid pickup...

Kevin and Mark pick their favorite bikes from the MASSIVE Mecum Las Vegas Motorcycle Auction. Of course, Kevin picked technically interesting and historically significant bikes, and Mark picked "stuff he liked"! There are great bikes here and plenty of stories to go with them. Harleys, Hondas, a Buell and stuff you may not have heard of. Join us on the ride!

Harley-Davidson debuted the Knucklehead in 1936 and millions of subsequent Big Twins built in its image continue to "potato-potato" down the road! Technical Editor Kevin Cameron and Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer talk about the origins of Harley-Davidson's EL and journey through the Panhead, Shovelhead, and up to the modern era. Think of it as the engine that grew with the American highw...

As Technical Editor Kevin Cameron likes to say about aircraft, they have to be light enough to fly and heavy enough to make it to the destination reliably. This drove innovation in design and metallurgy in aircraft that made it all the way to motorcycles, of course! Roller tappets for camshafts? Check! And so much more. Kevin and Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer talk about the flow of technology and des...

The new Norton debuted a full line of new bikes recently as parent company TVS finally pulled back the curtain after 5 years of work. Cycle World's Kevin Cameron and Mark Hoyer start about 125 years earlier, at the beginning of the company and its reputation for remarkable singles and following racing success. Isle of Man TT! Norton Manx! Up through Commando and the demise of the company in th...

Kevin and Mark take a look at new motorcycles from EICMA, the huge annual show in Milan, Italy. The guys talk about Chinese motorcycles, the Indian-made Nortons, and, of course, Honda's electric-supercharged V3R and, as always, "more." Visit cycleworld.com/eicma so see all the bikes and read about these interesting new models.

Long before the Ducati Panigale V4 the American Ducati importer convinced Ducati and legendary engine designer Dr. Taglioni to build a 1200cc V-4 that made 100 hp in 1962. It was designed to chase after sales in the lucrative police bike market in America. It was a 90-degree V-4 with four carburetors and very American styling. Join Technical Editor Kevin Cameron and Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer as t...

American racing hero Dan Gurney's exploits in auto racing and car construction are legendary, but Dan was also mad for motorcycles. So much so he built his own feet-forward machine (the Alligator) with a few different production engines modified to his specs. But he also got his company All American Racers to design a compact 1800cc Twin that was projected to make 280 hp with perfect smoothnes...

Soichiro Honda visited into Isle of Man TT in 1954 and was shocked to see how high Italian and German racing machines revved. The company got to work! By 1958 when the Honda Cub and its 50cc four-stroke debuted, its engine made peak power at 9000 rpm with great reliability. Honda went on in racing to develop Grand Prix engines revving beyond 20,000 rpm. This expertise led to street bike 350 twins...

How does your motorcycle exhaust system help your engine make more power, be more efficient, and sound amazing? Like many parts of the motorcycle, there are near-infinite variations. For exhaust systems Technical Editor Kevin Cameron and Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer discuss: length and diameter of the tubing, collector size and shape, how long each element of the system is, overall length, silencer...

Sounds crazy but early engines ran on "city gas," generated by roasting coal. Liquid fuels like gasoline improved our lot in Combustion Life, but there have been many experiments to get the most out of it. How close are we to perfect combustion? How do we get liquid fuel--which will not burn--to turn to vapor that will burn? So many questions that Kevin and Mark set out to answer. Let&#3...

How "Ninja" came to define Kawasaki and what it means to the company. The bikes that built this brand within the brand started in the early 1970s and Ninja just put a name on it. What's "it"? Listen as Kevin and Mark of Cycle World talk about where the Ninja ethic began and where it's taken Kawasaki, from screaming two-stroke triples to supercharged 1000cc sportbikes.

This week Kevin and Mark are getting MORE MOLECULAR than usual! We know, it's awesome, right? The motorcycle mostly started with iron, then steel and some bronze, and then we got aluminum, titanium, beryllium and more, plus all kinds of composites. Despite getting molecular, it's a big topic, so join us on our epic journey.

Yamaha is a passionate racing company but recent success has eluded the tuning fork folks. Technical Editor Kevin Cameron and Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer dig into Yamaha's new V4 MotoGP racer that debuted at Misano and is under continued testing. Will the V4 solve all the company's problems? Will rides love the new engine and bike? What are the advantages and disadvantages of V4s and inline...

Kevin and Mark dive into what's holding back the ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE of your motorcycle. What could be changed in the engine or with aerodynamics that could help us hit 250 mph? What are the tragic shortcomings and amazing strengths of motorcycles today? Jump in the slipstream and take the ride with us on the Cycle World Podcast.

Engine vibration...does it eat horsepower? How do we control it? Where does it come from? What's secondary vibration vs. primary? Technical Editor Kevin Cameron and Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer discuss the many types of vibration in engines and the various schemes used to control it or let those vibes we love come through.

The little step-through that changed transportation around the globe and helped Honda achieve Grand Prix Racing success, technical dominance, and massive wins in automobiles, the 1958 Super Cub hit a target for buyers no one had yet considered. Technical Editor Kevin Cameron and Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer discuss how Soichiro Honda and Takeo Fujisawa helped conceive of this little motorcycle to fu...

All we've ever wanted is complete control of combustion in our motorcycle engines and we are closer than ever. Find out how cleaning up emissions has enhanced power, running quality, engine life and more as Technical Editor Kevin Cameron and Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer discuss the combustion process and all the tricks used to move ever closer to stoichiometric. What's that? Listen and find...

Barn finds, garage finds, yard finds and alley finds, that abandoned old motorcycle isn't going to start itself! Technical Editor Kevin Cameron and Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer run through the steps and tricks to get an old carbureted or fuel-injected motorcycle running. Two-stroke oil in a four-stroke? Yes! De-rust a gas tank--we have a way! Listen as discuss the smell of old gas and getting a...

Concept bikes can be crazy weird looks at a possible future or be hints about new models to come. Some are even intended as near-production but never make it. Technical Editor Kevin Cameron and Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer run down a list of 10 concept bikes that might have been and one that actually made it to the streets of America. Hybrids, superchargers, inline-sixes, alternative front suspensio...

If every combustion event in your motorcycle engine was the best it could be, power and efficiency could rise by as much as 20 percent! Find out how engineers and designers work toward this optimal goal and how chaos just keeps getting in the way. Technical Editor Kevin Cameron and Mark Hoyer talk about all the things that influence how the charge lights off in the cylinder of your motorcycle engi...

Leave it to Technical Editor Kevin Cameron to start in 1862 with the first guy who conceived the four-stroke combustion cycle. KC proceeds with Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer on the journey to the combustion chamber we have today and why it's shaped how it is, flatheads to hemis, two valve, four valves and more valves! There's so much to cover in such a small space. Join us!

Motorcycle manufacturers made some strange experiments as they looked for new customers or that novel idea that would create a new type of machine. Technical Editor Kevin Cameron and Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer go down a list of odd and wonderful machines that made it to the market--sometimes not for very long. Did you know about the two-wheel-drive dirtbike? The cruiser with the fabulously expensi...