LAT's Sue Carpenter goes back to motorcycles... for the Register

You might remember the motorcycle column that Sue Carpenter began for the Los Angeles Times in 2006. At the time I called it the coolest beat at the paper. It folded around the time that the contracting Times did away with its driving section, and before losing Pulitzer-winning automobile critic Dan Neil to the Wall Street Journal. Since then, Carpenter has been writing various kinds of features. But now she's leaving to write about bikes and cars again as part of the Orange County Register's ongoing staff expansion. Here's the in-house memo at the Times from this morning:

From: Short, Alice
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 11:51 AM
Subject: Sue Carpenter

Sue Carpenter has done a great many things during her 14 years at the L.A. Times. She has worked as a reporter, a columnist and an assigning editor and has been a major contributor to the paper’s car and motorcycle coverage. Indeed, for several years she served as the Times’ motorcycle columnist; some of the videos she hosted during her tenure are among the most watched on our website. Sue also worked as an entertainment writer, and in recent years immersed herself in the world of Young Adult fiction and green/eco living . Her bylines have appeared on a wide variety of stories, ranging from coverage of the Los Angeles Auto Show to a feature on raising chickens, and she has contributed to seven L.A. Times blogs.

Sue is leaving the Times and will soon start a job at the Orange County Register, where she will once again be involved in coverage of two of her favorite things: cars and motorcycles. Her last day is Friday, Oct. 19, and on that day we’d like to say goodbye and celebrate her career here at 4 p.m. – outside the Travel conference room on the second floor. Please join us.

Alice Short
Assistant Managing Editor, Features