I’m asking a lot by putting folks’ faces on the internet, so as a show of good faith I’ll add mine first.
It’s my belief that shaving your beard might make you faster, but I’m always in a full-face. I like owning bikes that are unique in little ways. Someone once told me that living in the PNW without a dual-sport means missing out on half the fun, so a part of me has lately been trying to realize what I’d been missing.
But I’ve spent most of my city-dwelling without off-street parking and having more than one bike under those conditions has always felt like a stretch.
Where the gravel ends at Dixie Mtn Rd and Skyline Blvd, northwest of Portland. (PC: Brent Bunger.)
I’ve been riding motorcycles since 2014. And have been pining after them for much longer.
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Every bike I’ve had prior to 2024. A collage I made to show my students in Korea a little bit about my hobbies.
Growing up in LA (“the south side of Eagle Rock,” if we’re getting specific,) that’s where I learned how to ride a bicycle, how to drive, and, eventually, how to moto. I’ve also been hit while walking, while on my bicycle, while driving and — as you can probably guess — on my first motorcycle.
But the headlight fell off at midnight on the 405 a few days before, the plunger choke had stuck and it’d been running rich for a week, and I would be off to boot camp before the end of the month. All in all, it was the least-bad way to have experienced a catastrophic auto collision.
But those are musings for another time.
Portland has been home on and off since 2009, with a stint back in LA and, more recently, two post-pandemic years in Korea.
My 1981 Honda CM400C. Is it still called being “T-boned” if contact is right behind the footpegs?
My experience in the military was short-lived (read: long story) but time as an Anti-Tank Missileman on a CAT team was enough to set me up as a lube tech at Toyota of Portland, where I outgrew a lot of the initial worry that come with bolt turning.
Still, I often feel like I either know nothing or don’t have the space to do anything. No transmission swaps in Autozone parking lots for me— though I do enjoy watching old episodes of Roadkill on Youtube.
There have been some clear indications that words are more “my thing.” Five years in as an educator feels like an overly-generous way to contextualize my experience, but there are at least hundreds of currently-or-previously young people who knew me as Mr. Z.
Words have meaning, expression means something, and we, ourselves, and our time here, mean nothing without connection. There, that’s my hot take. Besides, I’ve got to do something with that liberal arts degree and the folks that want to hear about how Aristotle codified rhetoric as an art are few and far in between.
During my first parent-teacher conference, when I was still in pursuit of my Master’s.
In truth, enough time has passed that I’d have to study up myself before I could explain those sorts of philosophies.
Made in Italy, number 181 of 1000. A unique bike tends to attract conversation.
In 2025, months after returning from Korea, I’d found myself speaking more freely with folks at brand-demos, coffee shops, trail turn-offs, and particularly at the Portland Cars & Coffee events in Sherwood, OR.
Maybe people just want to ask me how much I paid for my bad Moto Guzzi, but I’ve enjoyed getting to know other folks who ride.
Community isn’t something I’d felt like I had access to for the first half of my riding career.
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In fact, half the draw to riding a scooter (오토바이) in Korea was putting on my helmet. It was the only time I could move around without being stared at as a waegook, or a foreigner.
I was like anyone else on the road - particularly because my Honda PCX125 and aluminum topbox were a most common setup for the ubiquitous chicken delivery driver. That, like so much else here, is a story for another time.
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Hopefully the stories conveyed through this project offer something of value, whether insight, humor, or a sense of community, for any who stumble upon them.
https://open.spotify.com/track/5eQxML6gZi4oX3QW0PjYRS?si=8e085583e5434011