DWJ Highlights 2021

2021 – the inaugural year for the Dual Wheel Journey blog has just come to an end – or perhaps you’re still waiting? Either way – what a year it has been. There’s been a lot of figuring out to do, but I’ve had a lot of fun in the process. To look back on the past year I thought that I’d share my personal highlights of 2021 – as well as a quick peek at what’s coming up in 2022.

You have to start somewhere, and what better place to start than with the very first blog post I made – not just for 2021, but for this whole blog. While I’ve improved a lot since this post, I loved writing about this topic – almost as much as I loved making the T-CLOCS interactive checklist.

This was my first attempt at recording a podcast episode, and as such, it was a bit uncomfortable at first – something which my voice reflects a little bit. Even so, it was an educational experience, and I’ve learned plenty of things along the way, particularly sound editing and doing voiceovers. It’s also interesting that this is the only podcast episode so far that has come close to the 30-minute mark, even though my podcast is called “30 Minute Motorcycling.”

Considering that this is a very local topic, I’m amazed that this blog post has attracted such an international audience. Either way, I loved writing about the Swedish Moped Class 1 and 2 – mainly because it’s a topic that’s not as common knowledge as you might think. There wasn’t much detailed info about this topic outside of a very helpful YouTube video from Motovlog of Sweden (which I relied upon heavily as a guide). In my opinion, the Moped Class 1 and 2 should be as common knowledge as “give way to the right” – hence why I made this blog post and an accompanying podcast episode. And again, just like the blog post, the podcast episode has attracted an international audience for such a localized topic – I’ve had listeners tune in from as far away as Los Angeles and Wellington, New Zealand.

Since these two posts are so similar, I decided to feature them in the same spot. It’s kind of weird that even though I know a great deal about it, I’ve never taken the Hazard Perception Test officially – in either the UK or Australia. The only experience I had was through two cell phone apps I had downloaded from Google Play. Even so, I felt that I had learned a few things worth sharing with people who were taking this test in real life. Case in point – these two posts.    

The idea behind this one was to create a short blog post containing trivia about a motorcycle, moped, or scooter topic. But instead of regurgitating information most people already knew, I wanted to go the extra distance and dig up some lesser-known facts. And that’s where the 7 Things You Didn’t Know About Puch post came from. Not only that, but I also made an accompanying Car Throttle-esque video which I was very proud of – especially considering that it was my first video.

Original image by MotorbikeTireShop.com

The Dual Wheel Journey isn’t just about motorcycles – we also cover other two-wheelers, such as scooters – including the Vespa. I always thought that the Vespa had a fascinating backstory which more people should know about – this is where I got the idea for this blog post. My favorite part of the entire post was easily the Vespa 150 T.A.P – it’s one of those things that seems unreal when you hear about it.   

Let’s conclude this list of Dual Wheel Journey highlights for 2021 with the blog post I made about motorcycle engine layouts and the differences between 4-stroke and 2-stroke. Were you ever confused by what a “stroke” was? I know I was. Once I did figure it out though, I felt compelled to share what I had learned in a “the best way to learn is to teach” kind of a way. And that’s when this blog post saw the light of day. But I didn’t just stop at explaining engine strokes – I also covered the most common motorcycle engines, their design, and pros and cons. Not only was this fun to research – in the end, I learned more about engines, and I hope you did too.  

But the end of one thing means the start of something new – 2021 may be over, but what’s happening in 2022? For example, April 30 marks the 1st anniversary of The Dual Wheel Journey. To celebrate, we’re going to take a look at every issue of “Puchjournalen” – a Swedish moped magazine from the 1970s and the 1980s.

Between April 30th and May 4th, 2022, there will be a total of 5 blog posts – each one covering between 4-5 issues of this magazine.