Adventure Motorcycles Aren't Great...Or Are They? In This Week's Beyond Cars Roundup

I put my beloved BMW F800GS up for sale last week. I bought it nearly a year and a half ago for the same reason anyone buys an adventure bike: That dream of one day getting out there, away from everything, just you and your steel horse against the lush, green world. - Amber DaSilva Read More

The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General announced on Tuesday that Boeing overcharged the U.S. Air Force by almost $1 million for a dozen spare parts for the C-17 Globemaster III. The most egregious markup was 7,943 percent on an undisclosed amount of aircraft lavatory soap dispensers. Yes, the Air Force spent around $151,000 on soap dispensers that should have cost $2,000. In fairness to Boeing, it really needs the money right now. - Ryan Erik King Read More

Voyager 1 remains humanity’s furthest outpost, hurtling across interstellar space at 38,210 miles per hour. However, NASA lost communication with the beloved space probe on October 19. The space agency reconnected with Voyager 1 five days later using a radio transmitter that the probe hadn’t used since 1981. - Ryan Erik King Read More

My colleaguge Amber DaSilva announced to the world yesterday that she is done with her BMW F800GS and adventure bikes in general. In her case, she’s probably right to go for something different. If you aren’t happy with your bike, you should get something else. No one forces you to get your motorcycle license or ride, so you deserve to ride something you truly enjoy. That said, I’ve been riding a Honda Transalp for the last several months, and Amber has left me no choice but to defend its honor. - Collin Woodard Read More

A replica of Ferdinand Magellan’s flagship the 16th-century sailing ship, the Trinidad, drifted into a bridge in St. Augustine, Florida on Monday. The crew of the Nao Trinidad reported losing control after losing power to both of its engines. The replica wasn’t damaged, unlike the original Trinidad, which was destroyed by a storm in Indonesia. - Ryan Erik King Read More

Despite helping NASA first reach the Moon in 1969, Boeing could be tapping out of NASA’s upcoming return to the lunar surface and space entirely. The aerospace giant is considering selling its space division amid its struggles to get the Starliner certified to fly. The spacecraft’s fault-riddled crewed test flight stranded two astronauts in space into next year and scrapped its use in upcoming missions for the foreseeable future. - Ryan Erik King Read More

Tesla recently revealed its idea of a robotaxi — a two-seater with no controls that will take you anywhere you want to go, only cost $30,000 and will go on sale in 2026. No one with a second brain cell actually believes that’s going to happen, but plenty of people are willing to believe it’s possible eventually and at a higher price point. And yet, as Adam Something points out in his latest video, it’s going to be hard to convince anyone who was paying attention that this event was anything more than a desperate attempt to boost the stock price. - Collin Woodard Read More

“Out with the old, in with the new” is a popular thing to say around this time of year. While it might usually be in reference to fresh starts, new season clothing or even a neat little bargain you picked up on Black Friday it can also apply to shipping cranes, apparently. At least, it does in Taiwan where a ship delivering new cranes to a port hit and destroyed the old one. - Owen Bellwood Read More

China has had astronauts in space since June 2012, when the Shenzhou 10 mission docked with the Tiangong-1 prototype space station for the first time. Since then, the country’s presence in orbit has grown and now it operates a station that’s roughly a fifth of the size of the International Space Station. - Owen Bellwood Read More

The 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing released its command investigation on Thursday into how an F-35B fighter jet crashed with its transponder off and went missing in South Carolina last year. The report concludes that the pilot incorrectly determined that the F-35 was out of control and ejected from the plane too soon. The jet flew for 11 minutes and 21 seconds after the ejection before crashing.

The pilot attempted to land the F-35 at Joint Base Charleston using instruments during a heavy thunderstorm on September 17, 2023. The ejection happened during a climb-out after a missed approach. The Marine Corps found that an electrical malfunction occurred during the flight, causing the helmet-mounted display and panoramic cockpit display to shut off at least three times. This malfunction also took out the tactical air navigation system, the instrument landing system, both radios and the transponder. However, the USMC deemed the plane was still flyable. A release summary states: - Ryan Erik King Read More