Volume 10, Issue 2: Fall 2014

Sihnya Kimura and his riding partner Yoshimasa Niimi work on their 1915 Indian at Stage 8 of the Motorcycle Cannonball Cross-Country Endurance Run from Junction City, KS to Burlington, CO., USA. Saturday, September 13, 2014. Photography © 2014 Michael Lichter.

This issue of the International Journal of Motorcycle Studies marks a transition in the editorial leadership of the journal.  Suzanne Ferriss and Steve Alford are passing the torch to a new editorial team.  Without Suzanne and Steve the journey would never have started and the ride cannot continue without their mentorship and support.  To both of them we all owe our gratitude and most heartfelt thanks.  Christian Pierce and Charles Johnson will now co-edit the journal.  Sheila Malone will handle the book review section while John Sumser will handle submissions.  Tim Fransen will serve as the journal’s webmaster.

In this issue we take a close look at the influence of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance on its 40^th anniversary in a Roundtable edited and introduced by Thomas Goodmann. Graham Priest offers a philosophical approach in “Reflections on Philosophy & Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.”  Craig Bourne and Emily Caddick Bourne discuss the role of fiction in their “ZAMM and the Art of Philosophical Fiction.” Christian Pierce then discusses technology and Zen in his “Less Zen and More Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.”  Barry Coleman offers his thoughts in “Drinking (just a little) on the fault line.”  Finally, Andreas Schroeder discusses the work’s importance in “ZAMM and the Art of Shelf-Life Maintenance.”

In the Reviews section Christian Pierce takes us into the world of daredevil stunt riding with his review of Leigh Montville’s Evel:  The High-Flying Life of Evel Knievel.  Jonathan Boorstein’s review of Hogs, Blogs, Leathers and Lattes:  The Sociology of Modern American Motorcycling by William E. Thompson takes us on an introductory tour of sport’s complex human dimension.  And in the world of cinema Ramona Marinache examines the recent documentary Why We Ride directed by Bryan H. Carroll.

Mark your calendars for July 16-19, 2015!  We will gather at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama for the next IJMS Conference.  Access the Call for Papers here.

Click here (or on “Current Articles” at left) for the latest issue’s articles and reviews.