Interview: Richard Backus

Richard Backus is the editor of Motorcycle Classics (est. 2005), the bimonthly US magazine for lovers of older bikes. You can also read his thoughts in the Black Side Down blog and when he’s not writing, he’s riding his beloved Laverda RGS. What was the first motorcycle you bought with your own money? A 1971 Kawasaki 125 scrambler. It belonged to an older guy who kept it strapped to the front of his motor home. I was 18 and it was five years old. If I remember, it only had something like 300 miles on it because he never rode...