Anders Carlson
Contributor
- Title: Contributor
- Email: anderscarlson@icloud.com
- Location: Chicago, IL
- Social Media Links: Linkedin Instagram
- Pronouns: He/Him
Expertise
- Topics of Expertise: Motorcycle travel, Vehicle restoration & repair, Electric bikes, Side-by-sides, Off-road recreation
- 20
- 500+ products, 1,000+ hours
Experience
One of hundreds of people laid off from an Austin, Texas ad agency in late 2007, Anders used his severance to fix his old motorcycle and see America. His goal was to ride 350 miles a day and drink with two complete strangers by night. This two-month adventure became his first travel piece, published in Motorcycle Classics.
In later years, Anders still wrote boring ad copy by day, but spent nights building, repairing, riding and racing vintage and modern motorcycles for the purpose of making unlikely things happen. Then writing about them. His work eventually caught the eye of the oldest motorcycle magazine in America, Motorcyclist. As Midwest contributor, he covered industry news, trends and reviewed motorcycles, both electric and conventionally-powered.
In 2024, Anders quit advertising for good and focused exclusively on transportation journalism. And fixing old vans and Volvos. Long story.
Most recently, Anders was editor at UTV Driver, a sister publication to Motorcyclist and Cycle World. Based in beautiful eastern Tennessee, in Knoxville, he oversaw reviews, tests and general coverage of the burgeoning world of side-by-sides and ATVs.
Currently based in Chicago, Anders pretends that crumbling infrastructure and potholes are Tennessee trails and mudholes.
Career Highlights
- Sort of mastering the famous Corkscrew at Laguna Seca race track
- Waiting 30 minutes to flip a side-by-side my first time behind the wheel
- Breaking three ribs to win $2 in a minibike race behind a Milwaukee bar
- Cross-country honeymoon on two 50-year old Honda motorcycles
- Surviving 20 years in advertising
Education & Certifications
- Education: BA Comparative Literature
- Years of Writing: 15
- Certifications: N/A
- Club or Association Memberships: American Motorcycle Association, American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association,
- Awards or Recognitions: N/A
- Previous Publications: Motorcycle Classics, Motorcyclist Magazine, Cycle World, Thunder Press, UTV Driver
Personal
As a contributor to GearJunkie, I bring 16+ years of experience writing and editing for the dearly departed UTV Driver, Motorcyclist and Cycle World, along with the still-kicking Motorcycle Classics. Always a fan of offbeat travel and educational misadventure, I wrote my first piece about a 5 week motorcycle road trip I took on a 1973 Honda. Half the fun was breaking down in unexpected ways.
Although my career in advertising was both entertaining and terrifying, I found a refreshingly different type of terror in restoring, racing and reviewing motorcycles. Most recently, I was editor at UTV Driver, based in Knoxville, Tennessee. Our offices were in an old diesel truck repair facility. Perfect for accumulating new projects and resurrecting old ones.
