Who is Fred Rau?

About Fred…

Fred Rau has been a professional motorcycle journalist for over 35 years, beginning back in the 1970s as a freelance writer for several regional and national motorcycling magazines. In 1987, he became the editor of Wing World magazine for the Gold Wing Road Riders Association (GWRRA), serving there until he became the Managing Editor of Road Rider magazine in 1990. In 1991, Fred and his mentor, Bob Carpenter, started up Motorcycle Consumer News (MCN), where Fred served as the Editor, and later, Senior Editor, for the next 15 years. In 2005, Fred went back to his roots as a freelancer, writing for Friction Zone, Backroads, Roadbike, RoadRunner, Robb Report Motorcycling and Motorcycle Online, while serving as the Editor for the MRF Reports for the national Motorcycle Riders Foundation.
Along the way, Fred received the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Award for “Excellence in Enthusiast Press,” and the MVP Award from the American Motorcyclist Association as a “Most Valued Person in Motorcycling.” He also edited and helped publish David Hough’s “Proficient Motorcycling” books, which earned the American Library Association Gold Seal Award, and received a Writer’s Guild Award for “Best Editorial Writing.”

During these years, Fred racked up over one million miles on two wheels, testing and evaluating over 200 different motorcycles, and helping to evaluate hundreds of various motorcycling-related products. While doing so, he also arranged a half-dozen tours for his friends and business associates, taking them for three-day to week-long tours on his favorite roads throughout Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. After moving to New England to help a friend start up a new motorcycle rental and tour agency, he then began to arrange the same tours for his new Eastern friends, and soon began to realize that setting up and leading tours was the thing he enjoyed doing most of all.

So, though he is still actively writing for a half-dozen motorcycling magazines, Fred and his wife, Cherrie, have moved back to Southern California and started their own company, “Fred Rau Adventure Tours,” to spend the rest of their days leading like-minded touring motorcyclists on tours around the Southwest, and even to more exotic locales like New Zealand.
We hope you can join us!