The Studio · The Barrage

Conversations with the
people who ride

Intimate profiles of riders, builders, and wanderers, short cuts and long-form sit-downs about the machines that move them, and the reasons they keep turning the key.

Recorded in barns, paddocks, and the quiet hour before a long ride.

Featured Conversation

The long sit-down

Helga Brandt with their BMW R75/5 "Toaster Tank"
48 min · Long Form
A motorcycle does not forgive a lie. You can fake confidence at a dinner table, but the road reads every bolt you were too lazy to torque. So I tell the truth in the garage, and the bike tells the truth on the autobahn.

For thirty years she has been bringing dead airheads back to life in a barn that smells of two-stroke oil and pine. We sat with her between two half-finished boxers.

Helga Brandt61

BMW R75/5 "Toaster Tank"

Bavaria, Germany

VintageRestorerAirhead

The Sessions

Every rider has a reason

Short cuts run four to nine minutes. Long-form sessions run thirty to sixty. All of them are honest.

Mara Quinteros with their Royal Enfield Himalayan
Long Form52 min

Mara Quinteros34

Royal Enfield Himalayan

Ushuaia → Prudhoe Bay

Everyone asks if I was afraid, alone on the Dalton at midnight. I was. But fear is just the engine telling you it is still running. The day you stop feeling it is the day you should sell the bike.
SoloLong-DistanceAdventure
Theo Nakamura with their Kawasaki Ninja 400 (race-prepped)
Short Cut6 min

Theo Nakamura17

Kawasaki Ninja 400 (race-prepped)

Sonoma, California

My friends are chasing lap times in video games. I am chasing them at turn eleven, knee on the ground, where the only respawn is an ambulance. That tends to focus the mind.
TrackRacingJunior
Desmond Achebe with their Honda RC30 (ex-works)
Long Form41 min

Desmond Achebe68

Honda RC30 (ex-works)

Coventry, England

I tuned engines for men who became legends and men who became gravel. The crowd only remembers the trophies. I remember the sound a motor makes the lap before it lets go.
GPMechanicHeritage
Priya Venkatesh with their Converted Honda CB350 (electric)
Short Cut8 min

Priya Venkatesh29

Converted Honda CB350 (electric)

Bengaluru, India

People mourn the exhaust note like I murdered the soul of the thing. But silence has a texture too. Now I can hear the chain, the wind, my own breathing. The bike did not lose its voice. I just learned to listen differently.
EV ConversionTinkererBuilder
Luca Ferri with their Triumph Bonneville T120 (custom café)
Short Cut5 min

Luca Ferri45

Triumph Bonneville T120 (custom café)

Bologna, Italy

A café racer is a confession. Every welded bracket, every shaved fender, it tells you exactly who the rider wishes he were. Mine says I am still nineteen and slightly out of my mind.
Cafe RacerBuilderVintage
Nadia Sørensen with their Yamaha Ténéré 700
Long Form37 min

Nadia Sørensen38

Yamaha Ténéré 700

Lofoten Islands, Norway

I left a marriage and a mortgage and a very good salary. The accountant in my family thinks I am broken. But I have watched the sun refuse to set over a fjord with sand still in my boots. Tell me who is richer.
AdventureWandererOff-Road
Marcus Webb with their Harley-Davidson Road Glide
Short Cut7 min

Marcus Webb52

Harley-Davidson Road Glide

Route 66, Arizona

My doctor gave me a number, a year, maybe two. So I gave him one back: the mileage I intend to put between me and that exam room. Every dawn on this road is a sentence I get to keep writing.
TouringCruiserWanderer
Ji-eun Park with their Suzuki SV650 (street tracker)
Short Cut9 min

Ji-eun Park26

Suzuki SV650 (street tracker)

Seoul, South Korea

In a city of ten million people, the bike is the only place no one can reach me. Helmet down, the notifications die. For twenty minutes between work and home, I am gloriously, completely unavailable.
Street TrackerBuilderUrban
Bashir El-Amin with their Ducati Monster 900 (1995)
Long Form44 min

Bashir El-Amin49

Ducati Monster 900 (1995)

Marseille, France

I bought her broken and abandoned, the way my father bought our first home. You do not restore a machine like this. You apologize to it, slowly, with a torque wrench, for everyone who gave up before you.
NakedRestorerTwin

The Barrage Is Open

Tell your story

Everyone who rides is carrying something. If your machine has a story worth sitting down for, we want to hear it. No polish, no script, just you, the bike, and the truth.

We read every pitch. We answer the ones that move us.