Introducing Beau Allen Pacheco
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When it comes to motorcycles and motorcycle journalism, Beau Allen
Pacheco's experience is long and deep. In the 1920's, his grandparents
emigrated from Kansas to Colorado on a Harley-Davidson with a wicker
sidecar. It was one of those land auction deals not unlike the great
Oklahoma land race and the sidecar rig was fast enough for his
grandparents to get a piece of land.
Pacheco's parents both rode motorcycles starting with Indians after WWII, and ending up with Beemers in the early seventies. Pacheco's brother owns a stable of bikes including a vintage BMW, a Kawasaki Eddie Lawson replica and a Harley Springer with a Perewitz paint job. Pacheco's met his wife, the former Vicki Tabor of LPGA fame, at Sturgis where she had ridden her motorcycle from Texas. She now rides a Suzuki GS 500 sport bike. |
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The first real Motorcycle Pacheco owned was a spanking new...Tote Gote! That slow tree climber was followed immediately by 1962 Honda Super Hawk, then a Honda 305 Scrambler. His next bike was a '63 Harley Panhead dresser, then a '65 Ironhead Sportster. After the college years came a Honda 450, then a Honda 750, and then a Suzuki 1000. And those are the highlights-there were more over the years. The first career move in motorcycle journalism for Pacheco was the Rider Magazine group. He was the 'Voice Of The Ralleys' at all of the Rider Rallies, while contributing feature articles to Rider Magazine. He won a Maggie award for his feature article of A Tale of Two Harleys, in which he rode around L.A. for two days as a badass, then cleaned up and rode those same streets as a Bike Cop on a Police Harley. |
 Beau in High School |
 Beau's Sportster |
From there, he was editor-in-chief of Cycle World's Big Twin Magazine for eight years. He had a close working relationship with the Harley-Davidson Motor Company as well as the best customizers from around the world. The big glossy magazine set the standard for photographic and journalistic quality, and its copiers still flourish today.
From Big Twin, Pacheco then assumed the helm of Cycle World's Travel & Adventure magazine, a publication whose photo and journalism standards were so high, the magazine was often compared to National Geographic. Editing Travel & Adventure was the dream job with motorcycle rides that: Followed the great wall of china on Zhing Chiang motorcycles; rode through Bolivia, Chile and Peru to Machu-Picchu; followed Patton's invasion route through Sicily; toured Norway; witnessed firsthand the post Soviet Baltics in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, then on to Russia, Belarus, Czech Republic and Poland; played tag with a moose on the Denali in Alaska; crashed mightily in the Canadian Rockies; rode to the depths of Copper Canyon in central Mexico, and followed exactly the famous Route 66 from the starting point in Chicago to the terminal monument in Santa Monica, California. For the eight years he was editor of Big Twin, he rode from California to Sturgis with customizing immortal Arlen Ness.
Along with these exotic trips, Pacheco has ridden through 31 countries, criss-crossed America 25 times, raced flat track (in his youth) attended untold numbers of factory junkets, press conferences, hosted tattoo contests, fashion shows, was thrown in jail in Daytona, and created his own ride, Thunder Over Dixie.
 Broken down in China |
 Peru |
 St. Petersberg, Russia |
 Morocco |
 Denali Road in Alaska |
 Carcassone, France |
On top of all that, he's a certified Motorcycle Safety Foundation instructor, and regularly teaches motorcycle safety at Baylor University.
Pacheco is still a regular contributor to Cycle World Magazine, Cycle World's Sport Bike Magazine, American Rider, Enthusiast, HOG Tales and more.
