Question 1: JP, please introduce yourself a little bit, where are you from, where do you live and what do you ride ?
My name is Jean Pierre Kathoefer but everyone calls me JP. Born and raised in Germany and moved to NYC about 5 years ago. I am 37 years old and motorcycles and filmmaking are my passions. I am riding a Suzuki DRZ400 for Dual Sport and Supermoto action, a 2014 Ducati Multistrada (www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcofmgjTZ6I) for long distance trips, a Yamaha SR500 (if it’s running) to show off at a coffee shop or you can see me on my customized Supe73 electric bike (www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPOsyUhzgmE&t=2s), bouncing around the city.
Question 2: Can you tell is why do you ride ? When did you start ?
I was about 10 years old, when I was riding a motorcycle for the first time. I think it was a little Yamaha PW80, no clutch, 3 gears. A friend of mine got the bike from his parents and we were playing around on an open field. ..I can still smell the gas and feel the wind in my face when I talk about it. I think this is the feeling I am chasing ever since. It sounds very cliché but the freedom and feeling you can go wherever you want to go is beautiful.
Question 3: Why do you think communities are important, especially in the motorcycle world ?
I am lucky being able to travel different countries on two wheels and everywhere it is the same. Motorcyclist have a bond, sharing the same passion and seeing a common feller in another motorcyclist. I can tell you so many beautiful stories about the motorcycle community, how they help and support each other or come together for a good cause. I produced a short documentary about the motorcycle community last year, showing Vincent Nicolai, a top fundraiser with more than 100k donation, having a fatal accident when his Garage explodes, when he was in there and lost almost half of his skin.. The documentary has been shown at several film festivals by now and it is available on amazon (https://amzn.to/2Cqm58p). If you are not in the US or UK, you can watch it on my YouTube channel too. (https://bit.ly/2OHL6y2).
Question 4: Tell us a bit more about your filmmaking passion ! My passion for film making started when I moved to NYC.
I was inspired by the NYC vlogger Casey Neistat. I bought myself a GoPro and after a while I found my nish and put two wheels and filmmaking together. I started a company two years ago and now we are focusing on two- and four-wheels content, based in NYC. Recently, we worked with Magnus Walker, a famous Porsche collector and produced the Big Apple Outlaw (https://youtu.be/zpK_qp2KJTo). Showing him driving a Lancia Bastarda in NYC what shocked a lot of his fans, not seeing him in a Porsche. Feel free to visit my website to find out more about johnnypuetz Productions (www.johnnypuetz.com/) or visit the YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/johnnypuetz), where I post most of the projects.
Question 5: What is the best motorcycle trip you did ?
I’ve done a lot of motorcycle trips in my life and it is very hard to pick the best one. Every trip has some special about it and has usually an unique story to it. That is what it makes it so special to me. Something unexpected happens every time and dealing with it make it unpredictable. But if I had to pick one, I would always go again with my girlfriend to Utah and get lost for a few days and see what the world is throwing at us. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqEbcKBwVyA)
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