Fight Cabin Fever!

During the cold, winter months when you're pining for the warm sunshine in the Great Smokies, curl up with a good viewing of Why They Ride. It'll take you there.

And check out the latest review of WTR in the current issue of RoadRUNNER magazine. From their pen: "It offers lots of laughs, a few tears, and incredible riding footage in the beautiful Smoky Mountains."

Why They Ride: Worldwide

As of today, our motorcycle documentary has reached 38 United States, 7 provinces in Canada, 3 Australian states, 2 countries in the UK, and a university in Hong Kong. The feedback has been amazing, proving to us that the overall theme of Why They Ride is much more universal and far-reaching than its setting. Thanks everyone!

Above: Orange locations have purchased a DVD from the WTR website.

Now, as you can see in the map above (click on it to enlarge, if necessary), there are some states in America that have not purchased a DVD from the WTR website. If you have a motorcycling friend or family member from any of the absent U.S. States, tell 'em to check out our site and view the trailers! We'd appreciate it. :)

Thanks to all who write in with their thoughts. We very much enjoy hearing from fellow motorcyclists!

Wilkinson Brothers in the News

We're thankful to have been featured in the Indianapolis Star last month, click here to read the article. This pic was taken by our good friend and Indianapolis Star photographer, Steve Healey. In preparation for this article and for the Red Bull Indianapolis GP, we designed and screened these shirts the night before the photoshoot. :)

A big thanks to those who have helped us spread the word! Check out some of the folks who’ve put Why They Ride in front of tens of thousands of motorcyclists (click here to view the full WTR news release about this):

Casey's Article Featured in BMW Owners News Magazine

During the making of Why They Ride, Casey's BMW R1100GS was the pack mule. It hauled all of the camera equipment and even became a platform for me to hang off and film from while Casey piloted it. We remain indebted to its ample cargo space and sure-footed capabilities. So, as a member of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America, Casey penned an ode to his bike in a behind-the-scenes look at our moto-documentary. Click here to read the full story from the September 2008 issue...

MotoGP is Coming! MotoGP is Coming!

If you have seen our documentary, you'd probably guess that the Wilkinson Brothers would be fans of MotoGP. As motorcycle enthusiasts and fans of racing, how could we NOT be? As I've said to many, if you're a fan of the basic elements of good racing (varying road courses, rivalries, a lot of overtaking, intense speed, and the defying of physics), then MotoGP should get yer motor runnin.'

This is certainly a time when we are proud to be Hoosier motorcyclists. It should really be no surprise that the highest tier in motorcycle competition would want to make a stop at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but I'm sure dialing in the logistics between the organizers and MotoGP owners was no small task. We have to give a tip of the helmet to Mel Harder, the Senior VP at IMS for orchestrating what will, or has become one of the most historic invitations in motorcycle racing history. To boil it down: The oldest motorsport world championship in existence is coming to the Racing Capital of the World at the largest sporting facility on earth. Makes perfect sense to us. We're thankful for Mel's vision and hard work in seeing this through.

Living just minutes from the track, we've immersed ourselves in the excitement leading up to MotoGP next week. See our journey that started over a year ago...


Get used to seeing more of this: Bikes and the Circle City. It's sure to be a common sight in mid-September!


We second that "thanks." Thank you, thank you, thank you. This day, back in the summer of 2007, we rode in the Motorcycle Rally that led us to a lap around the famous oval. We parked our bikes in the infield, walked into a room and heard the official announcement of MotoGP at Indy. See our video and photo presentation of the whole experience by clicking here.



Somehow, some way...the Red Bull folks back some exciting motorsports. Rock on.


Casey's GS sitting proud in the plaza right under the Pagoda at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.



Then came the inaugural lap to be completed by 2006 MotoGP champ, Nicky Hayden, on April 7th, 2008. He would get a quick lesson in 1909 technology and ride this Indian around the new MotoGP course.

Corey riding his Tuono just past the yard of bricks. We were thankful to have been among the first 30 or so motorcyclists to make a lap around the new MotoGP layout at IMS. Yeah, we've pretty much completed more laps here than Valentino Rossi at this point, so...

Then came came the three days of testing this July (2008). See the pics below...







Here, the bikes would pass the start/finish line at 190-something miles per hour. I could feel it in my chest when they blasted by. It was amazing to see how soon they started hanging off the bike to begin the process of turning it into turn one.

The third day belonged to the AMA Red Bull Rookies Cup riders. The young teen racers show up to two semis full of bikes and an Alpinestars van carrying their leathers. These kids earn their rides and time on the bikes through a strict point system that involves their performance on and off the track.






Yep, it's a big deal to us. Indianapolis, MotoGP, the history, the motorcycles, racing...it's a special event in so many ways and we're gonna wallow around in it as much as possible! (And, yes, we have tickets to the Indy Mile as well...so much top-tier racing we've got to squeeze in in a few days, but we're up to the task.)

Oh, and if you're wondering where the vids are that we shot at the Speedway, here they are:

We've Gone Vintage

After our yearly visit to AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days at Mid-Ohio, we're usually itchin' to buy a nostalgic ol' bike. Well, this year we returned from Mid-O and took a spin through eBay, Craig's List and the other various listings, looking for a good deal and cool bikes. Craig's List ended up being the fruitful source and here's what we ended up with:


I found a 1972 Triumph Bonneville and Casey found a '73 BMW R50/5. You can't beat riding through rural Indiana on two vintage machines without being in a hurry, without being tempted to wheelie off from stop signs, and enjoying the comfort of early-seventies ergos. It's a frequent occurrence when we stop that someone walks up and asks what year the bikes are, then reminisces about bikes of their past. They're like time capsules being revealed to passersby, triggering memories of riding with fathers or buddies and what times were like back then. We dig that.

Back to the Gap 2008

Our annual trip to the Smoky Mountains fell on July 10th through the 13th this year. In the pic below, you'll see our bro-in-law, Chris, our dad, Darryl, myself and Casey. It seems like a short span of time but we crammed in hundreds of miles of beautiful mountain roads and definitely got our fix. It was great to see many of the people we met during the making of Why They Ride as well as some of the local characters we've known for years.

We were glad to see Ben and Jessica at the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort and it was a treat to see the brand new baby girl of Brad and Beth, owners of the Resort. Congrats!!! This will bump the population to 8 now? :) These folks are always very hospitable, helpful and offer a mean Dragon Burger (order the onion rings with it...mmmmm).

Of course, a ride through the Dragon wouldn't be complete without seeing Darryl Cannon and his team of Killboy photographers. When we stopped to talk with him, he had just taken a break from action photos to shoot pics of a fella proposing to his gal on the Dragon. (She said yes!)

We also stopped in on Francois at his new shop, Dual Sport Touring, in Friendsville, TN. It was great to catch up with him and check out his inventory. We tried on riding pants, rain gear, looked through catalogs, etc. He gives great advice and steers us motorcyclists in the right direction.

We're reminded of why we make the annual pilgrimage by how welcome we feel every time we go. Even a quick run-in with a Forest Ranger at high speeds ended with a handshake and a smile. While there will always be controversy and debate about the Dragon and Deals Gap, we'll always claim it as our motorcycling home away from home. There's just too many miles of roads, good people, and wonderful little towns sprinkled throughout those mountains to drown out skeptics who only focus on the minute negative aspects. I think I'll go watch the movie again to relive the scenes and trigger more moto-memories.