One of the great disadvantages to running a motorcycle website all by yourself is the fact you’re, you know, running it all by yourself. I have to do all the things.
That means I’m not able to lean my head out of the office and shout: “You! Underling! Edit that video we shot up in Scotland so I can include it in my review of the 2018 Ducati Multistrada 950.”
Well, I mean, I am able to do that, but the only one around to hear it will be my greyhound, Jerry, and I’ve found he’s not very good at those sorts of tasks. He prefers to stick to things like eating, sleeping, farting, and plotting the deaths of all the cats in Wales.
If you’ve read any of John Burns’ recent columns, you’ll know that creating and editing a motorcycle review video is a huge time suck, eating as many or more hours as the act of writing said review. And since it’s just li’l ol’ me doing both things, I missed my self-imposed deadline on Tuesday and had to publish the review sans vid.
I then pulled an all-nighter to make sure the video got done, finally uploading it late Wednesday morning. You will now find it embedded in the Multistrada 950 review, but I wanted to make sure I drew attention to it because… well, golly, I put a lot of work into it.
I feel I’m getting better at this video thing, though wholly acknowledge that there remains vast room for improvement. Part of the issue is that I am limited by the tools I have at my disposal. The whole thing was shot with a GoPro HERO4 Session and a Google Pixel phone – somewhat outdated tech. But you work with what you have.
One day the site will make loads of money and I’ll be able to spend it on fancy cameras and drones and microphones and mounts, and maybe a course that can teach me how to use Photoshop properly, so I can make a half-decent title image. One day…
Despite its amateur nature, I hope you dig the review. Huge thanks to my friend, Cam, who piloted the camera bike (his own 2018 Triumph Tiger 800) when the two of us were visiting the Scottish Borders.
Dancing the Polka 