Riding High

Actor, director, and motorcycle fanatic EWAN Mc GREGOR models the coolest looks of the season

- Hannah Elliott

McGregor hasn’t ridden a motorcycle in weeks. Not because he can’t get to one: The Scottish actor owns dozens—including a 1956 Sunbeam S7, an Indian Larry chopper, and “one of the most beautiful bikes ever built,” he says, a 1972 Moto Guzzi V7 Sport. He’s stashed those and others in garages around the Highlands and at his home in Los Angeles. “You’re getting away with something riding a motorbike,” he says over a cup of black coffee at the City Cafe, an American-style diner in Edinburgh. He’s in town shooting the sequel to Trainspotting, the darkly comic tale of clever, handsome heroin addicts that launched his career in 1996. But he hasn’t been on a bike since filming started. Miramax’s production insurance won’t allow it.

In the past, McGregor would have ignored that part of the agreement. “They stipulate that you’re not meant to parachute, scuba dive, ski, snowboard, all of these things. One of them says that you won’t race motorcycles—I always used to tick that box,” he says with a conspiratorial grin. “I used to just ride because I didn’t care and thought, ‘Whatever.’ But the truth of the matter is that if you fell off and broke your arm or leg or worse, and the production had to shut down for five months while you recuperated, then you’d be split f---ing open for that. Plus, with age and responsibility and children ...” McGregor shrugs.

The word “responsibility” may sound odd coming from an actor who’s spent much of his career—almost 60 films in the last two decades—playing likable rogues and loners who get in over their heads. But it’s his newest adventure behind the camera that’s inspired newfound respect for that pesky “no riding” clause.