Zack Courts

California

Senior Media Lead and Editor at Common Tread

Co-Host at Highside / Lowside: Motorcycle Podcast

rider/writer. motorcycles save lives.

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Articles

The race that wasn’t: Matchless G50 vs. Drixton Honda at Barber

1 month ago | revzilla.com | Riding StyleAdv |Zack Courts

There’s a special kind of dread that a rider feels when their motorcycle stops working. About a mile into my first race on Team Obsolete’s famous 1958 Matchless G50, I felt it — the rattle and crunch of an engine eating itself, and the hopelessness soon after. My earliest memories of the bike I had just ruined go back 30 years, maybe more.
2025 Suzuki DR-Z4S first ride review

1 month ago | revzilla.com | Riding StyleAdv |Zack Courts

Everything in motorcycling is more extreme these days. Superbikes are faster, cruiser engines are bigger, and dirt bikes are more capable than ever. Sometimes it seems like every motorcycle is trying to be the best at one thing, just to be considered for anything. Not the new DR-Z4S. When Suzuki’s DR-Z400S landed in showrooms 25 years ago, motorcycling was different. Fuel injection and anti-lock brakes were still only trickling in.
Gas versus electric: Honda Grom and a Zero S on a 500-mile road trip

1 month ago | revzilla.com | Riding StyleAdv |Zack Courts

Setting out on a CTXP adventure, we often assume we’re going to suffer. But, not like this. When we took off across Wyoming trying to avoid paved roads, we knew there would be some curveballs in our route. And when we pointed two homemade motorcycle motorhomes toward the Grand Canyon we knew things would get weird at some point along the way.
A 'round town review of the 2025 Kawasaki Ninja 7 Hybrid

Mar 21, 2025 | revzilla.com | Riding StyleAdv |Zack Courts

I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. A true hybrid motorcycle. And considering all of the hype in my head, the Ninja 7 from Kawasaki already had big shoes to fill. It’s a properly complex machine, as we covered in the first ride article, but what it’s trying to capture as a motorcycle is pretty simple.
2025 Ducati Panigale V2 S first ride

Feb 18, 2025 | revzilla.com | Riding StyleAdv |Zack Courts

Motorcycles are too fast. There, I said it. Maybe you’ve noticed that oftentimes the second-most powerful machine for sale from any given company is the better choice for most of us. And that being the case, it seems like if a manufacturer made its second-fastest machine even smaller and less powerful it would be even better. Ducati decided to give it a shot.
Inside a SuperMotocross semi truck: Everything needed to make motorcycles fly

Feb 5, 2025 | revzilla.com | Riding StyleAdv |Zack Courts

Riders in the SuperMotocross World Championship fill stadiums around the country, soaring off massive jumps in a chase for glory and a million-dollar check. It's fair to say that they live a special life on two wheels, and the way their motorcycles travel is also a little different. In the case of the Progressive Insurance ECSTAR Suzuki team, two full semi trucks carry all of the things the group of mechanics and staff need to get through a weekend.
2025 Honda Dax 125 first ride review

Jan 29, 2025 | revzilla.com | Riding StyleAdv |Zack Courts

“Is it fast?” the young girl asked, raising her eyebrows. The “ha!” came out so fast I surprised myself. “No…not really.” “Well, it looks cool,” she said. In some ways, I could end the Honda Dax review there — no, it isn’t fast and yes, it looks great. Then again, there’s a whole constellation of reasons that the new-to-America Dax even has that kind of kickstand presence and why that gal, too young to have a driver’s license, thinks it’s cool.
Retrospective Review: 1924 Harley-Davidson Model J

Dec 9, 2024 | revzilla.com | Riding StyleAdv |Zack Courts

I guess I’ll never truly know what it’s like to ride a motorcycle 100 years ago, because I can’t go there. But, even if I don’t have a machine to take me back in time, I was able to find the next best thing — a Harley-Davidson Model J, circa 1924. Then again, you don’t just “go.” Getting up to speed on a motorbike from 1924 is a layered process, and pretty foreign for an average enthusiast. A quick walk-around tells you that the Harley J is not going to be like most motorcycles.
European motorcycles made in India: Good or bad?

Nov 18, 2024 | revzilla.com | Riding StyleAdv |Zack Courts

I ended up in an argument with a KTM representative recently about manufacturing motorcycles in India. They believe the bikes are good and I said no, they are not. Here’s the thing: I think we’re both right. This is an issue I’ve been grappling with a lot lately, having ridden and reviewed Aprilia's RS 457 as well as the KTM 390 Duke and Triumph Speed 400.
2025 Ducati Panigale V4 S first ride review

Sep 16, 2024 | revzilla.com | Riding StyleAdv |Zack Courts

I am sore. My hands are slightly blistered, my upper arms are tender, and my lower back feels strained. It feels like I tried an extreme sport for the first time, or got in a fight, but it wasn’t that. I used a motorcycle to do this to myself. I spent a day at a racetrack with the new Ducati Panigale V4 S. I know what you’re thinking and no, I didn’t crash the thing. It’s just hard to ride a powerful, modern showroom superbike as fast as you can.