Calculating the top (most-clicked-on) stories of 2021 is fraught with technical difficulties. Stories posted early in the year have a marked advantage over a story posted in December. Stories that are “Updates” include tag-along readers from the original story (so I haven’t counted them unless the original story appeared in 2021). Finally, web browsers are getting mighty stingy revealing clicks (and I’m fine with that because I don’t monetize or track my readers) so I could have a story with way more eyeballs on it than I’ll ever know.
Even with all these issues, reviewing the year gives an idea of what stories struck a nerve, enlightened or entertained. So without further ado, the most-read stories of 2021.
E-BIKES
This category blows the Moto, Cycling and Running When Parked sections off the charts. If my goal was to maximize traffic (it’s not), I would dump the other sections and devote all of Jimmy Mac On Two Wheels to e-bike stories.
The top e-bike story of 2021, a drum roll please, Look For The Label: Why Your New E-Bike Needs UL Certification. I couldn’t be more stoked. Most of my e-bike postings point out troubling issues facing e-bikes and e-bike riders. This positive story reveals a solution to many of the issues e-bike owners face. I can only hope people continue to link to it and it finds an even bigger audience. Sad to say, the runner up to my top story was Specialized Bikes Warns Of Possible E-Bike Fire Hazard.
CYCLING
This story has fascinated me since I first read the company’s pitch back in 2019 for their baseball-cap-sized bicycle helmet that would fold and tuck into a water bottle cage. Their claim was revolutionary, and in my opinion, preposterous. It is now 2022 and the saga continues.
The story, Park & Diamond Invents A Helmet Standard And Hopes Backers Fall For It, pushed the Cycling section above the Moto section for the first time. I feel sorry for the people who invested in this project.
MOTO
The biggest Moto story of 2021 was The Passing Of Another Friend And Thoughts On Mortality. Mike Bell was a popular motocross racer and motorcycle/cycling industry executive. The lesson from this story is time is short and to make every day count. I’m trying.
The runner-up story wasn’t posted until November, so it came out of the gate hard. The Edison Dye Lifetime Achievement Award Presented To Mark Blackwell features a bunch of moto friends and of course, Mark Blackwell, a guy I owe a great deal to for his support and friendship over the years.
RUNNING WHEN PARKED
I don’t get it. People are always saying, “Hey Jimmy Mac, love the running-when-parked bikes.” You wouldn’t know it from the numbers. This section lags behind the others. Not that I care. I have a lot of fun searching them out and giving my opinion.
The most-read Running When Parked (RWP) this year wasn’t even a Running When Parked! The bike is a runner. I called it the Frankenstein Mini. It still shows up for sale and I’m honored to say the owner changed his listing to “The Frankenstein Mini.” How’s that for influence?
OUT OF LEFT FIELD
There were only two postings in 2021 that didn’t have anything to do with Two Wheels. One was about the Santa Paula Cruise Night because it is a cool place to hang out during the summer. The other story was about spotting Les Claypool on the local news. This story shot up my charts with a bullet. Hate to admit it, but it was the second biggest story in 2021 (only the UL story beat it). Maybe I need to add a “Music” section?
HAVE A GREAT 2022
Thanks for checking in on Jimmy Mac On Two Wheels from time to time. You can always drop me an e-mail at [email protected] unless you are pitching me on optimizing the website to get better Google results.