Now that I’ve been a Long Islander for just about 20 years, I find that it can be challenging to keep the local Long Island motorcycle ride excitement fires stoked.
Having ridden motorcycles in many different states, and places like the Alps, the American West, the mountains of the south, what I have found over time is that “fun” is all about mindset.
So, when I don’t leave Long Island for a day ride on my motorcycle, it is common for me to go out and do a bit of local exploring. I seek out things like interesting roadside attractions, historical points, or photogenic views.
With this frame of mind, the old adage it’s not the destination, it’s the journey is turned on its head. The ride becomes about the destination. Sure, the ride itself is enjoyable, it is riding after all, but the big payoff is often what’s waiting for me at my planned stop.
Long Island Motorcycle Ride – Photo Inspo
While not typically known for its street art or murals to the same degree as our 5 borough neighbors, Long Island does have some excellent pieces.
In my local travels around the Island over the last few months I’ve been seeking out inspiring works both for myself to enjoy, and with the hope of sharing them.
This collection of photos is of a mural found in the town of Huntington by Long Island artist Phetus88. His monsterous expressionism is such an explosion of color and character you simply can’t tear your eyes away from it.
The first time I saw this wall, my eyes lit up. I just love it!
Visit this Phetus88 Mural in Huntington, NY
If you’d like to visit this awesome Phetus88 mural yourself, it is located on the back side of the Huntington Arts Council building. You won’t be disappointed!
The muffler man of Mentone, California stands watch over the desert valley from behind a fence in someone’s front yard. The plaque on his middle, like an ersatz giant belt buckle says “Outboard Inn, Mentone Beach.”
With his baseball bat at the ready it seems like he’s ready to rough any wayward trespassers up. Doesn’t he look like the type of guy that might tell someone they’re “cruisin’ for a bruisin’“?
Look at him! You just know he tells dad jokes. Or maybe lights his own farts on fire with a lighter. You can totally see that, right? It’s the stifled, sly smile.
No?
Moving on…
The hot desert sun has bleached this poor fellas irises to a rusty orange tone. Either that or he’s really seen some stuff. It was 2020 when I visited, after all.
The Buyan spends his time amongst other interesting Mentone Beach-dwellers like a soldier in the Giant Chicken Army on the roof (naturally) and a Statue of Liberty head. Not to mention a bevy of outboard motors, antique car wheels, and a mountain of other yard junk.
If you take a look at the Google Maps streetview, you can get an idea of what’s doin’ in that yard. It’s quite something!
Though it was very tempting to try to get a peek over the fence, I heard dogs on the property so I opted to keep my distance. I’m sure they get plenty of visitors stopping for a look, but I wasn’t interested in being mauled. And when visiting these types of private home stops, even though they are a spectacle, I feel it’s important to respect their space.
Thank heaven for the weirdos. They keep life colorful.
Whether you are a new moto blogger or an old pro, the question “what should I blog about?” always comes up. You could create a motorcycle blog post about travel, maintenance, or simply the motorcycle lifestyle. The options are limitless!
If you need a spark of inspiration, here are 100 Motorcycle Blog Post Ideas to kickstart your creativity and get those wheels turning.
Easy Motorcycle Blog Topics
Your 5 favorite motorcycle memes
Your first motorcycle
Describe your first motorcycle road trip
Your favorite motorcycle of all time
The best road you’ve ever ridden
Why you like to ride alone
Why you don’t like to ride alone
How you discover new roads to ride
What it’s like riding with a group
The most interesting rider you’ve ever met
What it’s like riding different styles of motorcycle
How you learned to ride
Are you a ride planner or do you fly by the seat of your pants?
A review of your favorite motorcycle-related book or movie
The best piece of riding advice you’ve ever received
The most recent motorcycle photo on your camera roll
Your favorite motorcycle Instagram accounts
Your opinion on the motorcycle wave
Wheelies – Awesome or stupid and reckless?
A how-to for a motorcycle maintenance task
A motorcycle you had a love-hate relationship with
Your dream motorcycle road
Photos from a motorcycle show you attended
Your favorite motorcycle bloggers
How you deal with other people’s motorcycle-related negativity
Your favorite motorcycle youTube Video
What the Sunday Ride means to you
Post a photo of your motorcycle at the “Welcome to…” sign at a state border
A story about overcoming a motorcycle-related fear you had
What being part of a motorcycle community means to you
A great piece of gear you purchased
What inspired you to start riding
A motorcycle experience that stunk at the time that you now look back at fondly
Your best riding buddy
10 places you’d like to visit on your motorcycle
The motorcycle that “got away”
Why a motorcycle would be the perfect zombie apocalypse vehicle
A piece of gear that didn’t live up to the hype
A great helmet selfie
Your next motorcycle
Top 10 reasons why women riders are badass
A motorcycle cliché that makes you cringe
Your thoughts on tiered licensing
What it’s like to attend a large motorcycle rally
What you would do differently as a new rider, based on what you know now
Something that you never thought you’d do on your motorcycle, but did
What its like riding with your significant other
Post a photo of your bike with a cool mural in the background
Tips for motorcycle camping
The best motorcycle gift you’ve ever received
Riding with your dog – cool or no way, dude!
Tales of commuting by motorcycle
Tips for being a year-round rider in a cold weather state
The best chain lube
Top 10 reasons why motorcycles are better than (the opposite sex)
The most inspiring motorcyclist you know
A photo tour from around your town
5 reasons why motorcycles blogs suck
Deal’s Gap Tail of the Dragon – Is it worth the hype?
The most “famous” motorcycle road in your area
The longest ride you’ve ever taken
Lessons learned from a motorcycle mishap
Souvenirs you collect from motorcycle trips
Motorcycle packing tips
How to stay comfortable when riding in hot weather
A story about an elderly relative who rode motorcycles
Photos from a motorcycle trip to a National Park
Group riding etiquette tips
Where to meet people to ride with
Your favorite new farkle on your bike
Recommendations for phone apps you use during motorcycle rides
Your favorite motorcycle podcasts
A piece of advice for newer riders
Experiences with motorcycle roadside service or towing
A motorcycle trend you think is awesome
Recommendations for a helmet intercom device
Earplugs while riding
A video introduction of yourself and/or your motorcycle
A history of all of the motorcycles you’ve owned
Which do you prefer – single or multiple bike ownership
Your unpopular motorcycle opinion – if loving X is wrong, you don’t want to be right
What do you think of motorcycle social media influencers?
Introduce your readers to a great motorcycle hangout spot
Photos from your most recent day ride
What makes a good ride report
Your experiences riding a motorcycle during a pandemic
That time you considered giving up riding
The coolest motorcycle event you took part in
A list of the states and countries you’ve ridden a motorcycle in
Why you love small/big displacement motorcycles
That time you thought you were cool on your bike but…
Post photos of your motorcycle just because you love it
The best motorcycle songs
Favorite motorcycle riding celebrity
Your next motorcycle trip
How you see yourself as a rider in the next 5 years
Ride More, Write More
Hopefully you’ve found one or two motorcycle blog post ideas from this list. Riding your motorcycle often is the best way to inspire your blog writing. The more you ride, the more you can write about it. It’s a win-win.
If you are new to blogging, rest assured that it gets easier over time as you find your voice.
Sharing is Caring – Tell Us About Your Posts
If you’ve written a post or two with any of these topics, leave a comment with a link to the posts so that we can enjoy what you’ve written.
A motorcycle blog is a great way to share your passion for two wheels with the world. Maybe you’ve been kicking the idea around but don’t know how to start. Well? It’s as easy as riding a bike.
Plus! Motorcycle bloggers are the sexiest bloggers of all of the writing niches. It’s science. (Don’t look it up, just take my word for it.)
How to Start a Motorcycle Blog
Step One: Ride a Motorcycle
Are you ready for some earth-shattering wisdom on the road to becoming a motorcycle blogger?
Riding a motorcycle or at least being interested in motorcycles is step one.
I know! Crazy, right?!
Step Two: Write and share photos of your motorcycle experience
So, you’ve made it passed the first hurdle. Congratulations! Now it’s time for you to put your motorcycle experiences on the page.
Now, maybe you’re not a rider yet. That’s okay. How about documenting your journey towards learning to ride?
Or, maybe you never want to actually ride and you just like snapping photos of motorcycles parked or seen around your city. Great! People love looking at photos.
Maybe you’re a commuter, or you spend all of your free time riding, or you’re an industry insider who has a unique insight. I dunno! Your motorcycle experience is unique to you! Tell the world about it.
Step Three: Enjoy fame and fortune
Just kidding.
Chances are the only thing you’re going to get from blogging about the motorcycle experience is connecting with other riders who read your posts, comments from your mom (who will always think you’re a superstar), and a passion project for yourself.
Sound discouraging? Surprisingly, it isn’t. As a long-time unpaid blogger, I can say that there is joy simply in the doing.
Of course the three steps I’ve outlined are tongue-in-cheek, but they’re not that far off. The rules are: there really aren’t many rules. Makes posts that relate to motorcycles. Have a good time doing it. That’s it.
You know, I have been at this blogging-thing for a pretty long time. I started writing about my rides back in 1998 on a Hometown AOL page. At the time, the word “blog” didn’t even exist but the core idea did.
We’re social animals, albeit in varying degrees. People seek like-minded individuals to whom we can relate. At our core, we want to be inspired and share common experiences.
And so, here you are, reading this motorcycle blog over 20 years after its first incarnation. I don’t make any claims about being a blogging “expert.” I’ve just learned a few things along the way that I’m passing along.
What is your blogging goal?
Okay, let’s get started! ::cracks knuckles::
When you begin your blogging journey, understanding what you want out of the process is important. Be honest with yourself.
Do you want to make money?
Do you want to write reviews and get free stuff?
Do you want to help people?
Do you want to be a part of a community?
Do you simply like to write and want to share your story?
Maybe you want all of these things, or… none of these things.
Knowing the why may help you to zero in on the how.
For example, if your main goal is to find a way to monetize blogging about motorcycles, your approach to writing, setting up your blog and marketing it will be in contrast to simply writing for your own pleasure.
Both avenues will be work, but one will be more like a job.
What does blogging success mean to you?
Measuring success when you are writing a blog isn’t one-size fits all. This goes back to the why of writing your blog.
If you are writing with the hope of making money or getting free gear and products to review – success might be something like a dollar amount, or being paid to contribute to other online motorcycle publications.
If earning some level of income isn’t your focus, success might mean x number of shares on a post, a million pageviews, or thousands of comments.
Sometimes, just getting positive feedback from one person will make your day.
Maybe for you, the ability to craft a post, or take some lovely photographs is it’s own reward. The success and pride is simply in the doing.
There is no right answer beyond what’s right for you.
How do you go viral or become popular?
Honestly? I haven’t the slightest idea how virality works. I’ve long since given up trying to understand what makes people like and share posts.
Often the posts I am most proud of don’t get any feedback. You have to learn to be okay with this reality.
There have been many times that I’ve read Top X Motorcycle Blogger posts, only to read the same blog names over and over again. And more often than not, I don’t find at least half of the blogs on the list very engaging.
What that tells me is that I am likely out of step with what most people find interesting or popular. Or, perhaps such posts and articles are nothing more than clickbait designed to make the people who are included share the post.
I’m guessing here – relatability or being helpful is likely the key to sharing.
Does it cost anything to run a motorcycle blog?
Yes. No. Maybe.
You have a lot of options with regard to spending on the nuts and bolts of creating a blog. The best part? You don’t have to spend any money to get started if you don’t want to.
Getting started: Pick a blog platform
If you don’t plan on purchasing your own domain name, and you don’t need your own hosting company, you can run your blog on a free service like WordPress.com.
Using WordPress is easy-peasy and highly flexible. There are eleventy-million different free plug-ins and themes to help you customize your blog. And they also offer a free phone app so that you can post on-the-go.
If you aren’t a technical person and you just want a place to log in and post, you can’t go wrong with WordPress. It’s simple and will grow with you.
Blog-related things that can cost money (but aren’t necessary):
How do you know when you’ve made it as a motorcycle blogger?
Do you have a motorcycle-related blog post published on the internet that people can read? Well, guess what? You made it! You are now a motorcycle blogger.
This kind of goes back to what you think success is. What does “making it” mean to you? Is it earning money from your blog, being on best motorcycle blog lists, getting lots of pageviews? Or is it when your friends say they loved your latest post when you meet for coffee?
Someone once stopped me at a traffic light in Virginia and told me they read my blog. I live in New York. That felt amazing and was my own personal “I made it” feeling.
It’s motorcycle blog but what should I write about?
Everything and anything!
Motorcycles are such a rich and engaging experience and touch so many parts of people’s lives the topics to write about are endless!
Commuting, travel, industry news, top 10 lists, other riders, racing, opinion pieces, picks, pans, rumors, lifestyle, gear, curated Instagram posts, daily rider experience – fuhgeddaboudit!
Remember, this is your blog. Do whatever the hell you want. For every rule you read, you’ll find someone who broke it and went on to succeed.
There is only one you and your view of the world is unique. Share it!
Do you actually have to write anything to be blogger?
Nope, you don’t.
Maybe your blog would be made up of motorcycle images, or reblogged industry news, or motorcycle memes. As long as you’re weaving the thread of motorcycles somewhere in there, you have tons of options.
If you aren’t confident in your writing voice yet, that’s okay! You’re not being graded. Be yourself and share your unique point of view.
Do you have to share photos on a motorcycle blog?
Do blogs with engaging images enjoy more pageviews and interactions? Probably. Internet readers are generally skimmers. So, the old adage about a picture being worth 1,000 words likely rings true.
So while it isn’t a requirement, you will likely find that posts with photos perform better.
Stuck? Pay homage to the motorcycle blogs you like to read
Think about the motorcycle blogs that you like to read. What makes them special to you?
They say great writers read a lot, and great artists steal. Pay homage to the people that inspire you with their blogging if you’re having trouble finding your footing at first.
You will evolve if you keep at it.
Will I be extra sexy If I write a motorcycle blog?
Yes.
How to Write a Motorcycle Blog – In Conclusion
So, while there are a lot of words on this page, the process is pretty simple.
Love motorcycles
Create a blog account somewhere
Write a post about motorcycles
Add a motorcycle photo or two
Publish it
Tell your friends
Welcome to the motorcycle blogging neighborhood!
My Favorite Motorcycle Blogs
Finishing this post up without providing examples of great motorcycle blogs would be a shame.
My two favorite motorcycle blogs continually inspire me with their heart, introspection, experiences and photography. These two gents continually knock my socks off.
On Tuesday nights, I try to meet up with friends to get out and get some air on the bikes. This usually involves a little riding, a little eating, lots of laughing and shit-talking. Burgerology in Huntington was a perfect fit.
Here on Long Island, we have tons of places that now offer outside dining. It’s unfortunate that it took a pandemic to push us in this direction, but I’m happy we’re here. We’ve been sorely lacking a thriving outdoor cafe culture for far too long.
Burgerology now offers sidewalk seating!
Now, I’m not usually one for posting food photos (donuts don’t count) but this mac & cheese bacon burger on a pretzel bun with truffle fries was really good and I thought you should know about it 🙂
The burger was so good in fact, that when I spotted it on the menu and said so out loud, someone immediately copied me and ordered the same thing.
As is my right by the ancient laws of restaurant dining, I made sure to tell the waiter that I saw it first and that I was indeed being copied. The waiter, caring deeply with every fiber in his soul, looked at me sympathetically. Or, it might have been the look of who gives a shit? It was dark out.
As if the Mac & Cheese burger weren’t enough of a reason to hit this place up ~ on the back-side of the Burgerology building, there is a knockout mural painted by Andaluz the Artist, featuring Baby Yoda holding a cheeseburger. Does it get any better than this?
Amazing food, great artwork and a ride on your motorcycle? A win all the way around!
Not only did my order get copied, but this guy cockblocked my photo opportunity! Man, with friends like this… 😀
