Looking Forward 2020

Read one founding editor's experience with The Quail Motorcycle Gathering in 2018 and his hopes for future motorcycle rides.

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by Richard Backus
A spectacular Dunstall Norton at the 2018 Quail, the bike I most wanted to ride back to San Francisco if I wasn’t on the Scrambler.

When I first got into motorcycling, a major draw was the solo nature of riding, the opportunity to head out on my own to discover the world around me. I was already in love with riding on two wheels — my first job in junior high school was at a bicycle shop — and the self-powered part of the equation just made the proposition that much sweeter. What I didn’t appreciate when I first got into motorcycling was the incredible community of motorcyclists I’d get introduced to, the folks who make this the coolest corner of the universe, a place filled with talented, interesting people driven by a shared passion for motorcycles.

You get to see that passion in action at the hundreds of shows held across the country every year, dynamic reminders of the singular nature of our community. Unfortunately, so far in 2020 there have been no shows, and we all know why. Although I’m sure there are small, unofficial gatherings happening here and there, all the shows and races I look forward to every year have been cancelled. And even the ones scheduled for later this year have a big question mark hanging over them. Right now, I should be in Monterey, California, walking the manicured lawn of the Quail Lodge and ogling the incredible bikes always on hand at The Quail Motorcycle Gathering.

My last visit to Quail was in 2018, when Jean Denney, editor of sister publication Fermentation, and I rode from San Francisco to Monterey and back on a borrowed Ducati Scrambler (thanks Stewart Ingram). The Scrambler’s probably not the first bike you’d tag for a two-up ride down the California coast, what with its highish saddle and, at least stylistically, offroad pretensions. But beggars, as the saying goes, can’t be choosers, and although I’d never ridden a Scrambler before, I had ridden a Ducati Monster two-up from San Francisco to Half Moon Bay for the late and deeply lamented Legend of the Motorcycle event (thanks again Stewart; do you see a pattern here?), so I was pretty certain we’d have a good time, regardless of how the bike worked for our trip.

It was a spectacular trip, and the Scrambler proved to be an incredibly competent machine, for my money far more fun than the Monster (a decidedly uncompromising proposition in terms of ergonomics), carrying the two of us with absolute aplomb. The 803cc twin feels more powerful than it actually is, with gobs of torque and surprisingly good throttle response, thankfully lacking the abrupt, just off idle light switch-like throttle response of many modern drive-by-wire fuel injected bikes I’ve ridden. Frankly, it exceeded my expectations, proving itself equally at home whether riding up and down the steep streets of San Francisco or diving into the twisties heading down La Honda Road from Alice’s Restaurant toward San Gregorio and the coast.

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