I’m an IT professional in my 40s and I came to motorcycling in my mid-30s. I bought my first bike in March 2002, a brand new Triumph Bonneville America. Since then I’ve designed and fabricated a few parts, tried out lots of gear and accessories, put on a custom paintjob and racked up about 52,000 miles (as of 03/2011). I’ve been to British Columbia several times, I made the obligatory Sturgis trip in year one, toured all over western Montana and Idaho, and taken longer trips to southern California, Prescott, AZ and Seattle, WA.

All of the content prior to 2009 was originally posted on my personal blog at JohnBedard.com, and migrated over here where I will posting all future motorcycling related content. I will constantly be evolving this site over time. I don’t believe in “the big launch.”

My nickname was given to me by a friend and fellow motorcyclist the first day I had my bike home. Basically, the formula goes something like this: fat guy + British motorcycle = “Friar.” He said if I bought a Japanese bike it would’ve been “Buddha.” Somehow the nickname stuck. As nicknames go, it ain’t bad.

In 2011 I inherited BonnevilleAmerica.com. I’ve been involved with this site in various capacities since 2002 when it was started by fellow Triumph motorcycle enthusiast, Robert Wade. Late in 2010 I took a much more active role in running the site, being promoted from moderator to administrator. When Mr. Wade expressed a desire to pass the site off to someone who could take a more active role than he had been able to in the past few years, I jumped at the chance. The homepage has been replaced with an all new WordPress installation and the forums are due to be upgraded.