In Cafe Racer magazine’s all-new April/May issue, we continue our coverage of working motorcycles and the fascinating ways riders make a living on two wheels. While attending a few new streetbike press launches over the years, we became mightily impressed by the razor-sharp traffic control and group riding techniques displayed by one Jim Faria of So Cal’s Premier Motorcycle Escort team. Jim is a former CHP officer who leads a team of a dozen or so of the most skilled motorcycle riders we’ve yet seen. The men and women who risk their safety keeping packs of oftentimes overzealous test riders between the curbs have some fascinating stories to tell and their years on the roads makes working with Premier a real treat.
Faria has ridden alongside some of the world’s highest-profile public events as his motorcycle provides a moving platform for camera operators. In addition to providing escort duty for popes and presidents, Jim has ridden at an impossibly slow and steady pace alongside Olympic marathon runners, professional bicycle racers and other distance athletes whose exploits captivate millions of Tv viewers.
During my 35 years piloting test bikes at launches around the globe, I’ve attended events that were crazed, adrenaline-fueled free-for-alls where knuckleheaded passes, unnecessary risk-taking and ego-driven riding make for a harrowing day (or two) on the road. At one launch held in busy, traffic-clogged London a few years back, I had the unfortunate luck to be lumped in with a throng of over-eager throttle-jockeys from countries where left0side lane use and complex, multi-entry-point roundabouts were unknown. With only a single “control’ rider flowing through the rowdy, uncontrolled pack, several of the testers roared into a roundabout headed in the wrong direction: that no one was seriously injured or worse, is still an unexplained miracle.
After riding under the guidance of the Premier team during several launches, I’ve yet to witness a [press launch degenerate into this sort of mayhem, which says lots about how well these folks do their job.
Check out the whole story, along with some amazing photos from Jim’s globe-trotting riding crier in the new issue, on sale now at www.caferacermag.com
