November, 2010 - Level Five Graphics

Transcription

News, Clues & Rumors
BMW’s latest competition-killer: a six-cylinder
autobahn missile. Photo courtesy of BMW’s
cheerful propaganda ministry.
Contents:
Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Product Review: Scala Q2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Ural sT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Tech Preview: BMW K1600GT/L . . . . . . 13
Jay Leno’s Garage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
CB160 Cafe Racer Project . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Vintage Yamaha XS650 Touring. . . . . . . 18
Shop Stop: San Jose BMW. . . . . . . . . . . 20
The $1,000 Motorcycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Scotty Storey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Maynard Hershon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Dr. Gregory W. Frazier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Ed Hertfelder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Tankslappers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
AFM Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
CityBike Staff:
PO Box 10659 Oakland, CA 94610
phone:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415/282-2790
e-mail: . . . . . . . . . . . . info@citybike.com
Find us online: citybike.com
News ‘n Clues: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Staff
Editor-in-Chief:. . . . . . . . . . Gabe Ets-Hokin
Senior Editor: . . . . . . . . . . Robert Stokstad
Chief of the World Adventure
Affairs Desk:. . . . . . . . . Dr. Gregory Frazier
Staff Photographers:
— Robert Stokstad
— Gary Rather
Art Director: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alan Lapp
Advertising Sales: . . . . . . . . . Kenyon Wills
Publisher: . . . . . . . . . . . . .EHW Partnership
Contributors:
Brenda Bates, Dan Baizer,
Craig Bessenger, John Bishop,
John Burns, Joanne Donne,
John D’India (RIP), David Edwards,
Mike Felder, Dr. Gregory Frazier,
Will Guyan, Joe Glydon (RIP),
Brian Halton, Maynard Hershon,
Ed Hertfelder, Harry Hoffman,
Otto Hofmann, Jon Jenseon,
Patrick Moriarty, Lary Orlick,
Bob Pushwa, Gary Rather, Curt Relick
Mike Solis, Ivan Thelin, James Thurber,
Adam Wade.
CityBike is published on or about the 15th of each
month. Editorial deadline is the 1st of each month.
Advertising information is available on request.
Unsolicited articles and photographs are always
welcome. Please include a full name, address and
phone number with all submissions. We reserve the
right to edit all manuscripts.
Web hosting and design by mojotown.com
©2010, EHW Partnership. Citybike Magazine is
distributed at over 150 places throughout California
each month. Taking more than a few copies at any
one place without permission from EHW Partnership,
especially for purposes of recycling, is theft and will be
prosecuted to the full extent of civil and criminal law.
quality and fit—including leathers, body
armor, gloves and
accessories are
supplemented by
its line of Daytona
boots and other
motorcycle-related
items. There’s a
reason you’ll see
that distinctive
Helimot logo on so
many racers at West
Coast trackdays as
well as amateur and
professional race
events; it’s very good
CityBike contributor discovered what must truly be the world’s best
stuff. Zooni leathers
bicycle shop, located in Northern Italy. As he doesn’t speak Italian, he
offers hand-made,
has no idea why it’s been named so profanely.
low-volume quality
with high-volume
DO YOU SMELL ERRATA?
pricing. Check them out!
We do! Our “Made in USA” story from
Helimot: 408/298-9608 helimot.com
October, 2010 was rife with errors and
omissions—wouldn’t be a CityBike article
Zooni: 408/313-9638 zoonileather.com
without them, would it?—but we’d like to
point out one or two in particular. First,
we mistakenly credited Bob Stokstad with
writing Will Guyan’s zesty story about his
love for his Aerostich riding gear, and this
made both men very angry. While Bob was
happy somebody thought he could write
that well, Will’s feathers were ruffled, as he
was in danger of losing his Motojournalist
cred down at the local topless bar, which can
cost upwards of $30 (all in singles)
to restore.
Elsewhere in the story, we printed the
wrong phone number for Superior Sound
Technologies, makers of custom-fitted
earplugs and earbud speakers. The correct
number is 707/863-7431. We also reported
that the plug-mold material takes 15
minutes to set, but Michael Pordes of SST
points out that it really only takes about
five. We still like their products (Editor
Ets-Hokin has a set of SST in-ear speakers
that work very well for this kind of thing),
even if they pointed out our flaws. Visit
superiorsoundtechnology.com to see
everything SST sells.
ride followed by an Avila Beach Bonfire
on Friday night. Saturday was the big day
which featured a vintage motorcycle show,
a large swap meet with many motorcycle
accessory vendors, a new motorcycle raffle,
(this year they gave away a new 125cc
Genuine Buddy scooter with all proceeds
going to charity), and an awards ceremony.
There were also motorcycle games, a
catered lunch, and featured speakers such
as Craig Vetter of Windjammer fairing
fame, Marty Dickerson, Grand Marshall
AMA Hall of Fame recipient, the World’s
Fastest Indian presented by the Hensley
family, 1998-1999 AMA Hall of Fame
recipient ex-racers Joe Leonard and Eddie
Mulder.
But clearly, the highlight of the weekend
was the numerous vintage bikes and
their enthusiastic owners. We saw and
photographed some of the finest British,
Japanese, European and American vintage
motorcycles on the West Coast. Best of all,
Photo: JJ Cerilli
On The Cover:
PHOTO OF THE MONTH
SLO RIDE
JJ Cerelli tells us about his recent weekend
in San Luis Obispo:
many of these had plates on them and were
ridden as well.
If you need more, you can always visit the
Vintage Motorcycle Museum in nearby
Second Annual SLO Vintage
Solvang, which we did on Friday. This is
Motorcycle Weekend
definitely another place you need to check
Our other notable error was one of
out if you are in the area. They have many
In
2009,
my
VMOL
partner
and
I
ventured
omission. We didn’t mention the products
rare and historic racing motorcycles from
to
the
East
Coast
for
the
vintage
weekend
of two of the Bay Area’s best-known
1900 onward featured at this small but
at
Barber
Motorsports
Park.
While
that
manufacturers of racing leathers, Helimot
very well-organized museum. See more at
event
and
venue
was
fabulous,
this
year,
and Zooni. Helimot’s products—some
we decided to stay local and try something motosolvang.com. It was a great weekend
of the best you can get anywhere on
with superb weather and scenery. For
different. This event was sponsored by
earth, unmatched for protection, material
information about next year’s event, go
the Central Coast
to centralcoastclassicmc.com or email at
Classic Motorcycle
cccmotorcycleclub@hotmail.com.
Club from October
7-10 in the historic city
—JJ Cerilli edits Vintage Motorcycles Online
of San Luis Obispo.
(vintagemotorcyclesonline.com) and has also
The rally headquarters produced a beautiful 2011 calendar of his favorite
was the Marriottvintage bikes; see the ad on page 5.
Courtyard, just off the
101 and the service and SLOWER RIDE: GIRO!
accommodations were The CityBike Armored Magazine Carrier
great. Over four days,
bounced its way through the Santa Cruz
there was a variety of
Mountains in support of participants of the
activities including a
2010 Giro D’California (Oct 3-5), picking
vintage display at the
up a surprisingly small number of failed
weekly Farmers Market mid-century Italian machines. Limited
on Thursday night and to pre-1957 two-wheeled contraptions
Editor Ets-Hokin has had his Helimot leathers since 2005 and says
a Highway 1 scenic
they’re the best around. You should buy a set, too.
Photo: T. Sanchioni
Volume XXVIII, Issue 9
Publication Date: October 27, 2010
November 2010 | 3 | CityBike.com
whenever possible, and can
tell by the glowing eyes
people have on such smalldisplacement machines
that there is more to one’s
motorcycle life than the
latest technology and large
displacement. A motorcycle
one step removed from a
bicycle can be a challenge
of an entirely different sort.
More at girodcalifornia.
com—these bikes are
out there, and this is an
annual event, if you’ve been
looking for a challenge.
CityBike Publisher Wills assists Deb Welch as she evaluates
Munroe Motor’s Matt Prentiss during the skills test. “Well, they
only do a classified ad, so tack on a 25-point penalty...” Giro
Photos by Craig Howell.
EYE OF THE TIGER
From our friends at
MotorcycleDaily.com:
Feast your eyes! Triumph
has decided to release
with engine displacement under 175cc,
official
photos
of
the new Tiger 800 and
the event caters to what would seem to
Tiger
800
XC
in
advance
of the official
be a pretty narrow demographic, but
unveiling
next
month.
The
photos show a
Mid-1950s Italy had something like 50
narrow
and
apparently
light
dual-purpose
different motorcycle manufacturers,
machine,
with
the
road-oriented
version
and the number of choices available is
featuring
a
19-inch
front
wheel
and
the offtherefore impressive, if obscure. There are
road oriented version featuring a spoked
a surprising number of people who have
the inside line on, and are passionate about, 21 incher. The beefy frame looks overbuilt
(particularly the welded-on subframe)
these bikes, and this was their weekend to
to deal with the rigors of off-road riding,
re-cycle various petrochemicals together.
touring, passenger and luggage.
Entrants ranged from 75cc to 175cc, the
smallest machine having a jug and top end This bike has generated tremendous
about the size of a large grapefruit. All were interest, but the photos are all we have at
this point. All of the official specifications
air-cooled and pretty obviously Italian in
will be released later, including pricing and
origin by styling and color: mostly red.
This event is a timed course, where a rider’s availability information.
time is noted at checkpoints on a card that The large-displacement dual-purpose
they carry, and points are added for being
category is certainly becoming more
too early or too late, the object being to
popular here in the United States (it is
get through both days with as few points
already popular
added to your card as possible. Variables
in Europe). This
include a few “secret” stops that are not
lighter, moreon the course (to discourage burning up
nimble version of
the road and then waiting around the
Triumph’s
corner from the checkpoint) to time your
appearance, a skills test where one must
navigate a short coned course, and other
things such as whether you decided to
check your machine before you left home
or not.
CityBike encourages you, the reader to be an
active participant in our community. Events
are fun! NCR certainly enjoys deploying
the CityBike trailer that we purchased from
our advertising partners at Road Rider
Tiger looks set to be a big hit, both here
and abroad. We are pleased to see Triumph
decided to put a 19-inch front wheel on the
street version, similar to Suzuki’s V-Strom.
This will give the bike a touch of off-road
capability together with the ability to suck
up bad street surfaces. Brakes, fit and finish
all appear to be top-notch. The bike should
certainly be quite light for the category,
given the big head start Triumph had with
the sportbike-based engine.
675R
Speaking of a sportbike-based engine,
we’ve also poached this leaked picture of
an upgraded Daytona 675 variant called
the 675R. As reported by Spain’s Solo Moto
magazine, the new model is based on the
407-pound, 124-horsepower Daytona, but
improved with Öhlins suspension, racespec Brembo monobloc brake calipers,
carbon-fiber fender and some cosmetic
touches. There’s scant information in the
story, but lighter wheels and premium tires
would be logical add-ons as well. We don’t
expect the motor to be different, but you
never know.
We also don’t know if this is really a
production model or if it’s just a showpiece
for a line of accessories, or if it’s going to
make it to the USA, but if it is a stand-alone
model, it will be significant. Usually, only
the Italian manufacturers offer higher-spec
versions of their sportbikes. This package,
with premium brakes and suspension,
shows Triumph has matured enough
to offer a credible high-end product to
trackday enthusiasts and club racers. The
Japanese factories generally just offer one
spec level for their sportbikes.
liquid-cooled V-Twin mill first seen in the
early-’80s Honda VT500 lives on, zombielike, in the “new” NT700V sport-tourer)
as the limited differentiation of Japanese
products requires massive innovation
every few years to stay competitive. How
long will Triumph be able to milk its
sexy-sounding, free-revving middleweight
Triple? A long time, we hope.
If the 675R is a production model
(rumored to be officially revealed at the
Milan EICMA motorcycle show in early
November), we’re likely to see it in the
USA, at a $3000-5000 premium over the
$10,499 standard Daytona 675.
TO THE DIAVEL WITH
YOU, THEN
Just a week or so to the big EICMA show
in Milan, where Ducati will show its Diavel
power-cruiser to the public (which we told
you about last month). Ducati confirmed it
will have the Testastretta motor and weigh
in at 456 pounds (tank empty, we’d guess).
That will give it a power-to-weight ratio far
in excess of any so-called “power” cruiser
on the market today.
It’s also the first cruiser Ducati’s built since
the Diana fiasco of the late ‘80s. This bike
looks like it will be more interesting, with
much more performance and some serious,
original styling. Teaser photos show lots
of carbon fiber (or, as we like to call it,
“Italian Chrome”) and billet wheels that
look suspiciously like Roland Sands Design
items.
In fact, several years ago, “News, Clues”
was having lunch with some Ducati bigwigs (yes, we are that important) when
Looks like Triumph is taking a lesson from then-Ducati North America CEO Michael
the Ducati playbook—if you’re going to be Lock took us aside and told us that a famed
a low-volume manufacturer, make as many southern California motorcycle customizer
models as you can to satisfy as many niches was working with Ducati on a project. This
as possible. A modular design, like the 675 must be it.
Triple, can be offered in a myriad of motor/
THE SKY IS FALLING,
chassis combinations—think how many
2010 EDITION
Ducatis models have used the venerable
air-cooled two-valve 90-degree L-Twin
Speaking of Lock, there’s an outstanding
since the early 1980s—satisfying multiple interview with him by the LA Times’ Susan
communities of enthusiasts with
Carpenter. He’s working for plug-in electric
minimal tooling and development
vehicle maker Think, and since he’s freed
costs.
himself of the insular, marryin’-yer-cousinis-okay world of the motorcycle industry,
Contrast that to the Japanese
he can speak his mind.
business model where a new
motor/frame combo is developed
We remaining in the industry are hosed, he
for most new products (with some
basically tells Carpenter. The USA market
notable exceptions—the three-valve is built around Harley-Davidson, and when
H-D gets a cold, we all die of cholera. A
perfect storm of aging baby boomers, lack
of consumer credit and shattered consumer
confidence means sales will keep dropping
(he said September sales were down 39
percent from September 2009, itself the
worst month for years) until we’re at early
1990s levels, a quarter of what it was at the
peak of the market in 2005-2006. Yikes!
Read the full story on the LA Times blog:
latimesblogs.latimes.com.
SERIAL DUI DRIVER/
MURDERER SENTENCED
Another reminder to make sure justice gets
served on a silver platter to Felica Stenson
(who maimed scooterist Astrid GunterMolzer while driving drunk in January
2009): 33-year-old Sacramentan Rebecca
Vela, already with four other convictions
for drunk driving, was sentenced to 15
years in state prison for killing Stanley
Spaeth, Jr in January, 2009. Spaeth, 54, was
stopped at a traffic light on his way home
from his second job as a security guard
when Vela rear-ended him at 70 mph,
killing him instantly.
Vela will be in prison for at least 15 years
(unless she is paroled early, which is
unlikely) but “News, Clues” wonders why
repeat drunk drivers are allowed to keep
driving. Vela actually spent a year in jail
after her fourth offense, and then stayed
sober for eight years before relapsing
and drinking again. An interlock device
(which we mentioned in “News, Clues”
not long ago) wouldn’t have worked; Vela’s
designated driver started the car and then
stepped out of it, prompting Vela to get in
the driver’s seat and take off. Human scum
like this will always find a way to do bad
things, but re-licensing them, even when
they are “cured,” should never happen, and
the DMV computers should go crazy with
sirens and bells if they ever try to register a
vehicle or apply for a license.
State law allows four DUI convictions
before a license is permanently suspended.
NCR feels the correct number should be
three—or maybe even two.
Stenson’s next hearing in her
interminable case is at 850 Bryant on
Friday, November 19 th.
WEST COAST CHOPPERS
SHUTS DOWN
End of an era? Word on the street is that
Jesse James is shutting down West Coast
Choppers, destroying the hopes and
dreams of millions of Wal-Mart shoppers
of ever owning a Maltese Cross T-shirt.
According to TMZ.com, James wants to
focus on a new shop he’s started in Texas.
STOP CHOPPING AND
BUILD A CAFE
The replacement for the chopper-building
T.V. show? How about a cafe-racer-building
T.V. show? Maybe one hosted and coproduced by Cafe Racer magazine Editor
Mike Seate? “News, Clues” has watched
two 30-minute episodes of his show “Cafe
Racer” and we declare it good, with great
high-definition videography, interesting
characters and plotlines beyond grumpy
guys yelling at each other while they grind,
paint and weld. It’s on the HD Theater
channel on Wednesday nights; go to
caferacerTV.com for exact times and to
watch some teaser clips.
Will the cafe-racer trend replace the
chopper-building trend? We hope so. The
cafe racer is all about handling, braking
and going fast, all with a dash of style. We
are, in fact, building our own CityBike
Honda CB350 cafe racer, with help (okay,
he’s doing most of the work) from Charlie
O’Hanlon at Charlie’s Place (415/2550316, charlies-place.com). Look for an
upcoming feature documenting the build
process. Or just build one of your own.
brand). Prior events were filled
with scantily clad hotties,
beer, barbeque, lots of tire
smoke and a very interesting
collection of bikes that
showcase the kind of quirky
industrial creativity San
Franciscans are known for, at
least inside San Francisco. Go
to dirtbagchallenge.com for
more information.
STUNT YOUR GROWTH
Speaking of T.V, if you don’t have enough to
watch, check out “Inside XDL,” which airs
on Tuesday nights on the Versus network.
It covers all the drama, crashing and
you not in the know, the Dirtbag Challenge
mayhem of the XDL Sportbike Freestyle
is a custom bike build-off with simple
Championship.
rules: you can’t spend more than $1000
on bike, labor and materials, and you can’t
START BUILDING, DIRTBAGS!
It’s official: the 2010 Dirtbag Challenge will use a Harley-Davidson (not that there is
be on Sunday, November 14th. For those of anything wrong with that fine and storied
STOCKTON MILE
This year’s Stockton Mile
flat-track event was another success, despite
a rained-out Sunday and slightly lower
attendance than last year’s inaugural race.
The event, the only mile-long flat-track
race in the Western U.S, was attended by
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accept credit cards, and starting in 2011,
maximum time allowed will be increased.
huge community ride-ins and festivals,
events replete with everything from fashion
shows, book signings with Oakland’s own
“News, Clues” remembers how it used to
Sonny Barger, musical performances and
be; if you got to the downtown motorcycle Oakland Police Department drill team
parking after 8:30 am on weekdays, there agility riding demonstrations.
were no spots to be found, making it
difficult for residents and visitors alike to In 1994 the Dron enterprise was named the
use two-wheeled transportation during
nation’s number-one dealership by Dealer
the week while a small number of motoNews magazine. The firm accumulated
commuters gorged on nickle-an-hour
substantial industry accolades, winning
parking. Of course, if you were one of
the Harley-Davidson Motor Company’s
those lucky few people you may look at
Gold Bar and Shield eight times, the Silver
that as the good old days. Let us know
Bar and Shield two times and Bronze two
times.
Should it be required how the City should solve its parking
here? There’s no doubt problem: info@citybike.com.
Henry Wiles sliding into second place on his Ducati flat-tracker.
The space also allowed Dron to showcase
in our minds it would
Photo: Dave Bickle
examples of his motoring passions—hot
save lives and reduce BOB DRON RETIRES
rods, race cars and custom Harleys. Dron,
over 6500 fans—a little less than last year’s
the cost of insurance, After selling Harley-Davidson and other
an avowed motorhead and member of the
7000-plus. However, 71 riders showed
but the more libertarian of you out there
motorcycles to thousands of Bay Area
Grand National Oakland Roadster Show
up, more than 2009, and competition
may disagree. What are your thoughts?
riders over the last 30 years, Bob and
Hall of Fame, owned 47 cars by the time he
was fierce. Pro riders Sammy Halbert
Send them to info@citybike.com.
Tracey Dron have hung it up, selling their
and Henry Wiles—with Wiles riding a
dealership on
METERING ANGER
Ducati—had a fierce race, with Halbert
Hegenberger Road
edging out Wiles for the win.
in Oakland. The
Not long ago, CityBike reader Chris
new owner of the
Warden
emailed
us
complaining
that
his
Local riders and fans were disappointed
almost brandbike
got
a
parking
ticket,
even
though
the
when the amateur program was rained out
new, 45,000 sq.
meter
wasn’t
accepting
coins.
e
wondered
on Sunday. Let’s hope next year’s weather
ft. dealership is
if
this
was
happening
to
a
lot
of
S.F.
is more cooperative, but in the meantime
Fremont’s Faultline
motorcyclists, so we sent an email to the
look for an in-depth story on the Mile in
Harley-Davidson.
DPT
(now
part
of
the
S.F.
Municipal
the December issue.
Transportation Agency, or MTA) asking
This means
MANDATORY RIDER TRAINING about the meter in question.
that two H-D
IN OREGON
dealers have shut
Incredibly, SFMTA P.R. officer Kristen
down in the last
Holland got back to us in hours with a
On January 1st, 2010, Oregon became
month—Peninsula
phone call, both to us and Warden. Seems
the third state in the U.S. that requires
in Redwood
there
has
been
a
rash
of
vandalism
of
the
new riders to complete an approved
City closed in
moto-meters.
Miscreants
(are
they
bitter
rider-training course before they get a
September, and
motorcyclists?)
have
been
jamming
the
motorcycle endorsement on their licenses,
was 23. A native of the sleepy Sacramento
coin slots, and the meter doesn’t recognize Faultline has moved from Fremont to
River town of Isleton, he exhibited an early
the old Dron (say “drone,” not “drawn”)
it’s broken, so DPT parking officers think
skill in shaping sleek street customs and
dealership to become Oakland H-D.
it’s functioning when they write the
radical two-wheel rides.
Moving into such a huge, modern facility
citation.
In the ‘70s, he took custom motorcycle
should be great for Faultline and its
Holland (herself married to a motorcyclist) customers, with room for hundreds of bikes design to its wildest frontiers, forming
walked us and Warden through the
his own company, American Chopper
and a giant service department.
ticket-protesting procedure. Go to sfmta.
Enterprises, and creating bikes like the
CityBike wants to thanks the Drons for
com/cms/penf/13441.html for more
rakish Cycletron.
their past support (with intermittent
information, but the gist of it is that you
Never wavering from his love of custom
have a right to protest your parking tickets, advertising in our pages since 1985) and
cycles, in 1990 he collaborated with
wishes them a long and happy retirement.
and you even have a right to appeal if
What follows is an interesting and readable industrial designer Don Varner and custom
your protest is turned down. Eventually
coachwork builder Steve Moal of Oakland
account of the Drons’ career provided by
you can see a traffic commissioner at 850
to create the Heritage Royale, a landmark
their publicist, Michael Dobrin.
Bryant, which should negate some of the
show motorcycle that incorporated
tendency for self-interest you may perceive
“Dron’s contributions to the industry are
sweeping rear wheel vent accents. In 1992
(Holland strongly refutes the contention
legendary. In the early ‘80s—among the
the Heritage Royale was winner of the
that DPT has any incentive to adjudicate
darkest days in Harley-Davidson’s then
Grand National Oakland Roadster Show’s
in their favor to increase revenues). If
77-year history—he and Tracey purchased Slonaker Award for Technical Excellence,
you report a meter broken, DPT will
an aging, moribund Oakland Harleya first for motorcycles. His Heritage II and
check maintenance records to see if it was
Davidson dealership and began focusing
Hot Rod Royale custom bikes followed.
reported broken or damaged during the
on customer relations, merchandising
time in question. Warden reports his ticket
Dron also owns a sleek, channeled ’32
the company’s motorcycle clothing and
will be dismissed.
Ford roadster built by Moal on a race-bred
accessories and expanding parts and
chassis.
service hours.
The SFMTA has also recently lowered
“most” motorcycle meter rates at the 1129
What’s next for the Drons?
Former Harley Sales VP Jerry Wilke said,
metered motorcycle spaces in the City. The
“When considering a controversial new
“Well, I’ll never tire of my love affair with
new program is part of “Sfpark,” designed
product or dealer program, I’d often ask
rubber tires and fast motors,” said the
to adjust parking rates depending on
myself, ‘What would Dron do?’ And that’s 66-year-old entrepreneur.
demand. That means as spaces go empty
because I respected his insight into the
(detected by wireless sensors), prices go
Dron maintains a collection of vintage
customers’ mind and imagination.”
down, and as spaces become harder to find,
racing machines on his ranch near his
rates go up. The underlying idea is that
In November, 1993, the Drons opened
hometown on the Sacramento River. He’s
public parking spaces are a public good
what was then the world’s largest Harleyalso taking on the role of gentleman farmer
and should be priced to encourage public
Davidson dealership, a 20,000 sq. ft.
and has recently installed a flourishing
use—not just benefit the few lucky saps
emporium in Oakland that allowed the
cherry orchard.
who found free spaces while hundreds are Drons to set breakthrough standards for
For Bob and Tracey Dron, the ride isn’t
circling the block. Rates will go up at six
store design, innovative merchandising
over—they’re just taking the next fork in
percent of the spaces where there is high
and inventory displays. The expansive
the road.”
demand, stay the same at 18 percent, and
complex also allowed the Drons to stage
drop at 76 percent. At least the new meters
starting with riders
under 21. The
program will be
expanded to riders
under 31 this coming
January 1st. By 2015,
all new riders will
have to take the Team
Oregon Basic Rider
Training course.
Riders who are
already licensed will
be exempt.
STYLING PROFILING?
Ets-Hokin: diesel fuel doesn’t work in twovalve Ducati motors so good)—may use
Another one for the why-you-should-jointhe new blend, causing expensive engine
the-AMA files. Seems like there’s a federal
damage to motors not designed to run
grant for law-enforcement agencies to
the hotter-burning high-ethanol-content
target just motorcycles. Modeled after
(called E15) fuel.
a New York State Police program that’s
been in effect for a couple of years, the
The AMA belongs to ALLSAFE,
grant will provide $350,000 in funding to a coalition of vehicle and engine
five select agencies.
manufacturers and gasoline retailers (not
refiners) that wants a slower, more careful
The New York checkpoints stopped
introduction of biofuels to the marketplace.
all motorcycles (apparently near large
ALLSAFE is opposed to EPA allowing
motorcycle rallies and gatherings) and
higher-ethanol blends without thorough
checked registration, insurance, license
testing.
endorsements and helmets. Sound like a
good model to you? Sounds like a Fascist
“News, Clues” is as eco-conscious as the
police state to us. If they tried to do it to
next entity, but believes that corn-based
just SUVs or only pickups with gun racks,
ethanol is kind of a scam. It uses industrial
there would be open rebellion.
corn that uses billions of gallons of
petroleum-based fertilizer and pesticides
Several congresspersons have signed a
to grow. According to a USDA study, it
letter to U.S. Transportation secretary Ray
yields 1.24 units of energy for
LaHood at the behest of the AMA. Let’s
every unit used to produce
hope the program gets squished and the
it(some studies find
DOT spends the money on paper clips and
it
non-dairy creamer.
actually takes more energy to produce than
it yields)—hardly the answer to our energy
needs, although it’s making a lot of big
agri-business corporations vast amounts
of money. Join the AMA today (800/
AMA-JOIN) and then bug your elected
representatives about passing legislation
to create sensible agricultural and energy
policies for our country.
Clues” he has one in stock right now and
has in fact sold several in the last few
weeks. He told me he was told that with
22 horsepower and 40 ft.-lbs. of torque, it
has the “torque-to horsepower ratio of a
Yamaha VMAX.” We’re not sure what that
means exactly, but the bike looks like fun.
Get your tweed jacket, pipe and Irish setter
ready and look for a ride report soon.
ROYAL ENFIELD ANNOUNCES
CALIFORNIA LAUNCH
INFINEON SCHEDULE
Indian-built Royal Enfield motorcycles
are now available in California. The
seven debut dealers include our very own
Munroe Motors. Mark at Munroe told
“News,
IT’S A GAS, GAS, GAS
Our friends at Infineon (Sears Point to you
old timers) Raceway in lovely Sonoma have
released the schedule of events for 2011.
We heartily recommend the West Coast
Moto
Jam AMA Superbike weekend,
and it wouldn’t be too weird
to get good and likkered up
and watch some NASCAR,
would it? What are you, some kind
of elitist snob? Get more info by
dialing 800/870-RACE or going
to infineonraceway.com.
West Coast Moto Jam – May
13-15
Sonoma Historic
Motorsports
Festival – June 4-5
Still more evidence of the AMA looking
out for you; On October 15th, the U.S. EPA
agreed to allow up to 15 percent ethanol
in blended gasoline, saying it’s
safe for cars and light trucks—not
motorcycles—built in 2007 or later.
Pumps will have to be labeled,
but since the mix will be slightly
cheaper, unwitting consumers—
who tend to ignore labels on
gas pumps and just go for the
lowest price (tip from Editor
Toyota/Save Mart 350
NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series – June
24-26
NHRA Division 7 Drag
Races,
presented by Korbel –
July 22-24
FRAM Autolite NHRA
Nationals – July 29-31
Indy® Grand Prix of
Sonoma – Aug. 26-28
Classic Sports Racing Group
Charity Challenge – Oct. 1-2
NEW STUFF: BOOKS!
Book Reviews: Grand Prix Motorcycle
Racers: The American Heroes by Norm
DeWitt and Ring of Fire, The Inside Story
of Valentino Rossi and MotoGP by Rick
Broadbent
Hundredths, thousandths of a second.
Inches, millimeters.
Winning, glory, life; injury, pain, death.
That’s how racers exist, in tiny increments
of time/space, pleasure or pain, paid (often
hugely) to do things they love, at the
limit of control, at up to 200 mph. These
activities are accessible only to few: life on
the edge, embraced whenever a champion
rides—in practicing, in races and especially
in qualifying. No letup. No excuses.
As we learn (again) in these two radically
different works, motorcycle racers are
abnormal: top one percent in vision
and reflexes; supremely fit; mentally
tough, able to focus for sustained periods
in superhuman ways; devastatingly,
destructively competitive, driven to win
at any cost; able to recover magically from
adversity. For some, life is the price.
Broadbent, an experienced sportswriter
(The Times, London) alternates between
current contenders, focusing on Rossi
but including all the principal racers in
MotoGP and the classic struggle between
Mike Hailwood and Giacomo Agostini 30
years earlier and Hailwood’s extraordinary
spirit. Broadbent had that journalistic
essential: access to key people, willing to
talk. He writes with lyrical ease (but no
photos).
DeWitt lets his American racers speak for
themselves in frequent quotes, back to the
epoch of Kenny Roberts Sr. and his effects
on MotoGP. He writes utilitarian and spare
prose, but his characters have much to
say and say it well. His photos are mostly
portraits.
Both books describe men, scenes and
records familiar to most MotoGP, SBK and
AMA race enthusiasts, with the welcome
addition of rich anecdotal insights that turn
these men into flesh-and-blood humans.
Both deserve your attention.
—Review by John Joss
Grand Prix Motorcycle Racers: The
American Heroes by Norm DeWitt $27,
272 pages,
Ring of Fire, The Inside Story of Valentino
Rossi and MotoGP by Rick Broadbent,
$27, 352 pages.
Both books are published by
Motorbooks. motorbooks.com or
800/458-0454.
Every Friday night ‘till Thanksgiving:
TT and Short Track at Sand Hill Ranch
5:00 pm to 10:00 pm: Get out to
Sand Hill Ranch (50 Camino Diablo,
Brentwood, CA 94513) with your
dirt-tracker and ride under the lights.
Cushion track, knobbies work best.$25
for motorcycles, $25 for PeeWees and $5
for spectators. sandhillracing.com or call
925/240-6247.
Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki
Suzuki & Yamaha Motorcycles
Apparel, Tires,
Parts & Accessories
Tire Mounting
NOW
OPEN
Y
SUNDA
636 Alfred Nobel Dr.
Hercules, CA 94547
510-741-3700
888-799-5445
By Bob Stokstad and Alan Lapp
Sunday, November 14
All day: 119th annual Dirtbag
Challenge (dirtbagchallenge.com or
dirtbagchallenge@yahoo.com) 1023
Revere Street, S.F. Music, barbeque, and
groovy bikes to ogle. $20 to enter, bikes
must be non-H-D, be rideable to the
show, cost less than $1000 to build and
be built in one month.
Third Monday of each month
(November 15, December 20)
Every Saturday: $7 All-you-can-eat
Bacon and Waffles at Godspeed!
10:00 am to 3:00 pm: Godspeed
Oakland, 5532 San Pablo, Oakland,
510/547-1313, godspeedoakland.com
Seriously, what more do you need to
know? $7 gets you a mimosa and all the
bacon and waffles you can hold, although
if you get too greedy and pass out, they
might tattoo “piggie” on your forehead.
Watch motorcycle racing on their giant
TV or play pool or video games.
First Saturdays of each month
(November 6, December 4)
Mission Motorcycles (6292 Mission
St. Daly City, missionmotorcycles.
com 650/992-1234) has Brown
Bag Saturdays: 15% off all parts and
accessories you can stuff into a brown
paper sack.
Full Service On
Scala Q2 Bluetooth Intercom System
EVENTS November
Third Sunday of each month
(November 21, December 19):
Moto-Sketch at Tosca Cafe: come and
sketch a live model draped over a custom
bike. $7 to sketch, free to just watch.
Tosca Cafe, 242 Columbus Ave. in S.F.
First Monday of each month
6:00-8:00 pm: NORCAL Guzzi Bike
Night at Applebee’s in Milpitas (84
Ranch Drive, off N. McCarthy Blvd.).
All motorcycles welcome! Call John
510/377-5575 or check pastariders.com
for more details.
First Monday of each month
6:00 pm: American Sport Bike Night
at Straw Hat Pizza in San Leandro
(14680 Washington St.) Bring
your Buell and hang out with likeminded riders. All brands welcome!
amricansportbikenight.net
Tuesday through Sunday 9:00AM to 6:30PM - Closed on Monday
CaSportTouring.com
6:00 pm to 10:00 pm: East Bay Ducati
Bike Night at Pizza Antica (3600 Mount
Diablo Blvd., Lafayette, 925/299-0500)
Bike parking on the street right in front
of the restaurant, indoor and heated
outdoor seating, excellent wine list.
All moto brands welcome. Bring your
appetite and a smile, be prepared to make
new friends.
Saturday, November 20
7:30 am: RKA Luggage Ride to Infineon
Raceway Thanksgiving food drive.
Meet at RKA Luggage (930 Shiloh Road,
Bldg. 41-C, Windsor, 707/836-7659, rkaluggage.com) for coffee, rider meeting at
8:15 am, leave at 8:30 am. Annual ride to
Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. At 11:00
am there will be a donation ceremony.
Donate five cans of food or more (or a
minumum $10 cash donation) and you
will get “a few laps” around the track. You
must have a ticket showing you donated
to ride the track! Pick up your ticket
at RKA Luggage or Santa Rosa BMW
Triumph (800 American Way, Windsor,
707/838-9100, santarosabmw.com).
Friday, November 19-Sunday
November 21
Friday 4:00 pm-9:00 pm, Saturday 9:30
am-8:00 pm, Sunday 9:30 am-5:00 pm:
San Mateo Progressive International
Motorcycle Show at the San Mateo
County Event Center, 2495 S. Delaware
St. San Mateo, CA 94403.
Check out the latest bikes and schwag,
attend seminars on motorcycle-related
topics, check out the vintage bikes,
custom bikes, and there may or may
not be a SupermotoUSA race event
held at the fairgrounds in conjunction
with the event. Also, the vendors there
sell sausages served on a bun that is
essentially a doughnut. Doughnut-you
miss out!
Saturday, November 27
Time TBD: Mission Motorcycles, 6232
Mission Street, Daly City, CA 94014 Toy
Drive for the victims of the San Bruno
fire. Drop off donations of clothing and
toys and then go for a ride, followed by
a barbeque. Call Mission Motorcycles
for more information: 650/992-1234,
missionmotorcycles.com.
“I want short wave radio
I want TV and a phone
You know I got to talk to my baby
When I’m riding alone...”
Chat Room on the Road
done in your living room before using
it on a trip. Mount the microphone and
speakers in your helmets and try out all
—Chuck Berry, “No Money Down,” 1955 the situations described in the manual.
You’ll discover that the mounting of the
Talking to his baby when she was riding her headset on the helmet is rather easy (We
own motorcycle isn’t exactly what Chuck
used the removable, screw-clamp mounts
Berry had in mind when he wrote these
rather than the glue mount) and that the
lyrics, but he was clear on the concept—
placement of the speakers inside the helmet
good communication is the basis of a good is the trickiest and most important of all the
relationship, and a great ride.
possible adjustments.
The speaker has to be
For example, let’s say you’re riding along,
directly opposite your
listening to your favorite album on your
iPod, and your stockbroker urgently needs ear canal.
to talk with you. Your cell phone rings
There are four push
and interrupts the music. You take the
buttons on the headset:
call without pulling over and, when your
on/off, connection
broker’s finished and you’ve cashed in, the control, volume up and
music comes back on. Or maybe it’s the
volume down. Once
voice of your buddy on his GSX-R1000 a
familiar with their
hundred yards ahead that breaks in to point location and function,
out a black-and-white lurking on a side
it’s not hard to operate
road. Even a simple request to the rider up the last three of these while riding, and
ahead to pull over for a bathroom break can even while wearing winter gloves. The
be delivered much more easily and safely
microphone is easy to position with the stiff
over a bike-to-bike intercom than by the
but still-flexible wire that connects it to the
usual hair-ball pass and flailing arms. There headset clamp. The microphone works best
are a thousand situations where being able inside a full-face or flip-up helmet because
to talk hands-free to another rider in your
the chin guard provides protection from
group, or to your passenger, can tip the
the wind. The system is comfortable to use
scales from frustration and risk-taking to
in that you almost don’t notice its presence.
satisfaction and safety.
You can reposition the microphone if
it’s not in use for a long period, and the
This is all true provided the sound you
speakers do not press uncomfortably
hear is clear and easily understandable.
against the ears. The headset is “water
The surprising thing is that this clarity
resistant,” meaning that it can be used in
is possible even inside a helmet on a
a moderate rain but not in a deluge. You’ll
motorcycle doing 75 on the freeway, in a
need to recharge the batteries after (up to)
cross wind, in the rain. We tested Cardo’s
Scala Q2 multiset Bluetooth system under eight hours of talk time or a week of standby operation.
all these circumstances and were frankly
amazed by how well it all worked.
One of the big questions in my mind was
how the system would work in conjunction
Here’s what the two-headset Scala Q2
with earplugs. We both use earplugs
system offers:
religiously, as wind noise is painful if you’ve
■ Bike-to-bike communication, or
managed to protect your hearing enough so
you can still feel pain. The road test showed
■ Bike-to-passenger communication
that the helmet speakers provide adequate
■ (or both of the above, with a third
volume and relatively undistorted sound.
headset for the passenger)
This was the most important test as each
■ Bluetooth connection to
of us would give up on an intercom system
your mobile phone
before quitting using earplugs.
■ GPS audio navigation instructions
The next question was sound quality in
(via Bluetooth)
bike-to-bike communication on the road,
and the system passed this test, too. So
■ FM radio with station presets
long as the Bluetooth wireless connection
■ MP3-player speaker system
was good, the quality of the voice coming
(via wire connection).
from the other end was excellent. Wind,
From the start, when you first open
and noise from an aftermarket pipe on one
the box, you’ll be impressed with the
bike, did not prevent a comfortable backquality that has gone into this product.
and-forth communication. The system is
No chintzy plastic package to slice open
“full duplex” meaning you don’t have to
with a pocketknife: the pieces come in an
say “over” when you’re done talking; both
attractive and durable box for organizing
persons can talk and hear the other at the
and storing everything.
same time.
The manual is well written, which is
important because all this functionality
requires learning which buttons to push
how many times and for how long to make
it do exactly what you want. That’s best
was a hillside between us. The sound
quality deteriorated a little, but we could
still understand each other. If there were
two turns between us, though, we lost
communication. On a freeway, we found
that the maximum distance over which
the two headsets could still function was
several hundred yards, consistent with the
manufacturer’s claim of a quarter-mile.
That distance would shorten, however, if
cars began to block the
line of sight.
Long range
communication
between two headsets
while riding is possible
via a cell phone to cell
phone connection. For
this to be practical,
however, both cell
phones should have
voice-activated dialing.
The volume required to initiate a
conversation varied from normal speech
when off the bike to a shout or a whistle
when riding. That’s because the system
adjusts both the volume and the voiceactivation threshold to the ambient
circumstances, so that wind noise doesn’t
constantly trigger it.
What didn’t work: according to the
manual, there may be some particular
Bluetooth GPS device and cell phone brand
combinations that won’t work together.
The Scala headset can connect with only
one Bluetooth device at a time, so the
cell phone has to connect via the GPS,
then to the headset. In our case, the GPS
connection worked but the headset would
not accommodate communication from
the cellphone via the GPS.
An annoyance: when listening to the MP3
player, the volume can be adjusted only
with the MP3 player, and not with the
volume-up, volume-down buttons on the
headset. This is because the MP3 player
is connected directly to the speakers and
means you have to stop riding when, for
example, you want to lower the MP3
volume after exiting the freeway and
entering a town.
What we’d like to see in the future:
besides a headset volume adjustment for
the MP3 player, a slow ramp up in volume
when the player comes back on after a 30
second hiatus in voice communication.
With the present full-off to full-volume
turn on, you can be startled if the music is
loud when it returns.
Overall evaluation: This is an excellent
motorcycle communication system. It’s
the quality of the sound, the excellent
mechanical design and construction, and
There is a definite hierarchy for the levels of the extensive functionality it offers which
communication. An incoming cell phone
earn this rating. We could communicate
call or audio communication from the
with face-to-face ease, even at freeway
GPS interrupts a conversation in progress. speeds and using earplugs to suppress wind
Initiating a conversation will interrupt the noise. Taking an incoming cell phone call
FM radio. The MP3 player has the lowest
while riding was a piece of cake, and when
priority; only after both headsets are quiet nothing else was going on there was the
for 30 seconds does the system revert to
MP3 player to enjoy all day.
stand-by mode or the MP3 player.
The Scala Q2 multiset comes with a oneThe FM radio capability has six preset
year manufacturer’s warranty. Prices for
stations, and you can scroll through them
this two-headset system varied from about
by tapping one of the buttons on the
$375 at local dealers to an MSRP of $396
headset. Establishing the presets requires
on the Cardo Systems website. Cardo offers
a higher level of button pushing, one that
less expensive two-headset systems for
I’d be tempted to skip while riding. If you
rider to passenger (only) communication,
enjoy listening to music on the road, we
or a more pricey but longer range
would recommend using an MP3 player
system (up to one mile) for bike-to-bike
rather than relying on the FM radio.
conversation. Find a dealer near you by
visiting cardosystems.com.
Our road test revealed that Bluetooth
even works around corners. Although it’s
best over a “line-of-sight” path, we could
still communicate on a twisty road when
one of us was around a corner and there
2010 Ural sT
Words and Photos: Courtney Olive
I
magine a motorcycle designed around
the values of rugged simplicity,
versatility, and individuality—sound
like the classic American ideal of what a
bike should be? Well maybe we could learn
a thing or two from the Russians and their
new Ural sT.
The sT is former Soviet motorcycle
manufacturer Ural’s first true “two
wheeler” designed specifically for use
without a sidecar (not counting the Wolf,
a limited-production cruiser Ural built
in what it called an “unconventional
union” with a Russian motorcycle
gang). The new sT is derived from Ural’s
“T model”entry-level sidecar rig, a nofrills machine available in any color you
want, as long as it’s black (whether the
Henry Ford connections are intentional
or not I couldn’t tell). To create the sT
Ural did far more than just remove the T
model’s sidecar. They graced the new bike
with beneficial handling upgrades like
Marzocchi forks (complete with a stout
aluminum brace), Brembo discs on both
ends, and Progressive springs over Sachs
shocks. Changes were made to centralize
the engine-mounting position, and the
bike was given a lower stance. Then Ural
whipped up an “a la carte” menu that
allows customers to pick from a medley of
practical accessories to suit their fancies—
Versatility is Standard
and, voila, the new sT! The base price is
$6999, which gets you a flat-black model
with a single “tractor seat” (yep, that’s the
beautifully-honest name they’ve given it)
and a disdain for chrome. In other words,
nearly perfect. responded to the feedback with immediate
improvements! Ah, the benefits and
charms of a small motorcycle company.
still in the picture, I assumed it’s par for
the course. The Ural folks later confirmed
this and, sure enough, the rattle never
increased, decreased, or changed tone
through three days of riding—part of the
charm.
Upon hitting the rainy streets of Seattle I
Indeed, the minute you lay eyes on the Ural immediately notice the rear brake is soft.
How soft? Well, I decide to find out by
sT you realize that charm is clearly one of
its strong suits. This is
not a retro-styled bike, it
The prototype I rode had a few more
fineries, as fineries go in Ural’s world. Most is retro. The centerpiece,
in this author’s humble
noticeably, it was finished in “gloss red.”
opinion, of the Ural’s
Unlike the T model, the sT is available
historic aesthetic is the
in various colors but, rest assured,
tractor seat (which leaves
Ural’s penchant for straightforwardness
the lovely rear fender
continues in the no-nonsense color
exposed) and the classic
names: gloss black, gloss white, gloss
look further includes
maroon, and gloss woodland green
a tank with knee pads,
(seemingly named with flourish only to
18” spoke wheels, twin
avoid confusion with one of the available
flat colors, flat green). My bike also featured shocks, upright bars,
and of course, a round
a two-up seat, Givi windscreen, stainless
cylinder guards, upswept pipes, passenger headlight.
grab handles, a center stand (you read that
There can be no mistake
right, Maynard!), and a tastefully-sparse
about the retro roots of
A pair of passing bicylists demanded a photo of them on the Ural.
chrome package. These items brought the
the engine. It’s largely
price to $8179.
the same beefy unit Ural
abandoning my training of favoring the
has been making since before the dawn of
Ural has been testing and tweaking its
front and attempt a few rear-only stops. If I
time (read: 1939 BMW R71 technology
prototype sT since the summer of 2009,
really concentrate, contort my foot around/
that the clever Soviets reverse-engineered
even loaning the bike out to journalists
under the carb, and manage to press with
and used to battle the Nazis). But don’t
and a few trusted Ural owners for
all my might I can just barely get the rear
be fooled, the engine benefits from a
feedback. And, get this, they’ve actually
to lock…on wet pavement. At my first stop
lifetime of improvements, particularly
(a Seattle coffee shop, go figure) I inspect
since 1998 when Ural ceased to be a
the rear brake and find the pads appear
state-owned company. These include
well-worn—certainly part of the problem.
tightened quality control and machining
In a post ride tech-talk with Ural’s R&D
tolerances, a stronger crankshaft,
folks it turns out they’re well aware of the
increased compression, needle bearings
problem and the rear brake is a work in
for the rocker arms and camshaft, betterprogress. Apparently the Brembo unit
flowing intake and exhaust ports, and
was too powerful and touchy when the
a completely new valve train (from ’08
prototype bike first took shape, so they’d
forward) with hardened seats and stiffer
backed way off on its adjustment (that’s
springs. All backed with a confident, twowhen I rode it) and have been trying
year unlimited-mileage parts-and-labor
different brake pedal configurations as
warranty.
well. So they’re “on it” and, assuming
there’s a move back towards the powerful/
And, with its Keihin carburetors,
responsive end of the scale, the end result
Nippondenso alternator (yes, alternator),
should be adequate. As for the front
Domíno controls, and the Marzocchi,
brake, it more than makes up for the rear’s
Brembo, and Progressive bits mentioned
growing pains. A Brembo four-piston unit
above, it’s no wonder Ural representative
with a braided stainless hose, it provided
Madina Merzhoeva proudly refers to the
smooth, progressive feel and sufficient
sT as an “international motorcycle.” In
short, the sT employs tried and true engine power under all conditions I encountered.
technology, modern quality control, and
Having gotten accustomed to the rear
judicious outsourcing of component
brake, the Ural’s many other charms
systems from reputable suppliers. This
began to take over my riding experience.
combination works quite well over all,
The engine is a noble workhorse that’s
albeit with a few kinks to work out.
wonderfully versatile. It has excellent
low-end grunt and provides solid, steady
I picked up the sT on a rainy morning at
power delivery from just off idle all the way
Ural’s North American distributorship
to cruising speeds of 70-75 mph. The fuel
on the east side of Seattle. Pressing the
delivery and ignition are near flawless, the
starter button, the bike immediately
motor starts easily whether hot or cold and
leaped forward—ah-ha, no neutral safety
has no trouble idling smoothly from the
lock-out! No problem, I’m fine living
word go. To be sure, the jetting is a smidge
without dummy devices (but could have
on the lean side, but not tragically so (it
done without the embarrassment of being
does require riding with the choke on for
proven a dummy). Past that hurdle and in
neutral, the bike chugged easily to life and the first few minutes on cool mornings and,
when cruising at sustained, slight throttle
immediately settled into a happy idle at
full choke. A slight and steady rattle tickled openings I experienced a hiccup on one or
two occasions). forth from the valve train. With pushrods
Sixty-plus years of “marriage”
between the engine and
four-speed gearbox have
worked out well. Even with
only four to choose from,
the gear ratios make perfect
use of the engine’s power
whether creeping along a
trail to the campground or
passing family trucksters
on the freeway. The gearbox
also serves as a reassuring
reminder of Ural’s rugged
military roots—it shifts
with authority and, at lower
speeds, the whine of the
heavy gears can be heard
over the exhaust note.
A standard bike in the truest sense of the
term, the sT has a very familiar and natural
riding position. The bars keep you upright
in the seat and provide seamless leverage
and control over steering. Controls are all
easy to operate and of quality construction
to be expected from Domíno. The only
quirk is the speedo gauge (not a Domíno
unit), which begins to wag at you like
a disapproving finger from around 65
mph on up. The optional two-up seat was
wonderfully comfortable, albeit several
style points shy of the tractor saddle.
traffic is nearly effortless thanks to
the well-mannered motor and low
center of gravity. Then, for lunch,
a cruise to the café manages to
draw at least one admiring, “Man!
I used to ride a bike like that in the
‘70s” comment. Which is only the
beginning—at a bike-friendly bar
that evening, the sT becomes the
talk of the parking lot. Waking up
early Saturday, lashing a bedroll on
with tiedowns, then blasting out
of town on the freeway for a bit.
Exiting the interstate, the rest of
the day is spent among the curvy
two-lane hills of the Hood Canal
and Olympic Peninsula, roads
where the sT feels quite confident.
on gravel roads. Although the shaft drive
produces a noticeable lurch between shifts,
it’s not unsettling and just reminds you that The next day, looking for the really
the bike is meant to do many things, but
long way home, I find a gravel road that
drag racing isn’t one of them.
Riding can be done at a brisk pace thanks
largely to the Marzocchi and Brembo
combination on the front end. However,
the rear shocks are the limiting factor
and allow a definite wallow when pushed
on long, fast sweepers. But, again, peg
dragging (though attainable with the right
tires) isn’t the bike’s focus. As Merzhoeva
says, “it’s not a spacecraft” (and I’m no
cosmonaut). The name of the game
The intuitive riding position and the willing for the sT is versatility rather than high
motor make the sT an easy and fun ride. At performance.
441 pounds, it’s lighter than the Triumph
On that note, I’ll leave you with some of
Scrambler, a likely competitor. And the
the diverse delights that I found possible on
weight hangs low, so the bike feels firmly
my three-day weekend adventure aboard
planted—making it especially surefooted
the sT. In the morning a dice through city
SPECIFICATIONS
2010 Ural sT
Importer: Irbit MotorWorks of America,
Inc. 425/702-8484, imz-ural.com
Displacement 745cc
Engine type ohv air-cooled 2 cylinder
4-stroke “boxer” (flat twin)
Valve per cylinder 2
Bore and stroke 78mm X 78mm
Max output (hp) 40 @ 5600 rpm
Max torque (ft-lbs) 38 @ 4500 rpm
Compression 8.6:1
Fuel system Carbureted,
twin Keihin L22 AA
Ignition Full electronic CDI
Starting Electric & Kickstart
Clutch Dry, double-disc
Transmission type Manual, four speed
Gears ratios I 3.60, II 2.28,
III 1.56, IV 1.19
Frame type Double loop
steel tubular frame
Front suspension 40mm Marzocchi
telescopic forks
Rake steering head (deg) 26.0°
Trail (mm) 65
Front suspension travel 4.3 inches
Don’t forget the tractor seat.
Courtney Olive makes his home in Portland, OR,
a good place to be for people with a fondness for
keeping old stuff alive. He has been going on 70 ever
since he turned 17.
Bad things can happen
to good motorcyclists
I
f bad things happen when you’re on a motorcycle,
our legal system and the people in it aren’t always set
up to understand the difference between a
motorcyclist and everyone else.
I’m Scotty Storey and I ride motorcycles.
I know the obstacles motorcyclists face
when moving their claim or case
forward and I know how
to best overcome
those hurdles for
you to achieve
the best
outcome
for your
situation.
shock absorbers 5-position adjustable
Rear suspension travel 3.9 inches
Wheels 2.5 X 18 painted steel rims
with steel spokes
Tires Duro HF-308, 3.5 X 18” front,
4.0 X 18” rear
Accidents, Personal Injury, Criminal Defense, Traffic Citations, License Issues:
We keep bad things from getting worse after the fact.
Front brake Single 295 mm full floating
disc, four-piston fixed Brembo caliper
Call us when you need us.
We’re here 24 hours a day,
7 days a week to help you.
You will speak to a real live
attorney, not a call center.
Rear brake Single 245 mm fixed disc,
2-piston fixed Brembo caliper
Fuel grade 91 Octane,
Fuel tank capacity 5 gallons
Reserve (approx.) 0.8 gallons
Final drive ratio 3.89
Estimated fuel economy 47 mpg
Wheel base 58.7 inches
Range 235 miles
Seat height (unladen) 30.3 inches,
(laden) 29.9 inches
Estimated top speed 90 mph
Dry weight 441 pounds
That array of possibilities is the sT’s
specialty—versatility and charm in flat
black, maybe even with hand-drawn red
pinstriping if you ask.
Rear suspension Double sided swing-arm
with two Sachs hydraulic spring
Primary drive (rear wheel) Driveshaft
Ground clearance (unladen) 6.7 inches
doesn’t connect anyone to anything and
give every corner my best flat-tracker
impersonation. Later, the bike and I are
casually and comfortably picking our way
down an old two-track jeep trail to discover
the perfect view spot for lunch. Back on
the pavement and feeling flush, cranking
through the corners, it’s tempting to drag a
peg or two on the way back to civilization.
Rejoining the inevitable interstate, it’s
smooth sailing home.
Max permissible weight 841 pounds
Alternator Denso, 55 Amp, 770 Wt Denso
MSRP $6,999
800-264-4379
Free legal seminars held weekly!
See our website for schedule and details.
www.twowheellaw.com
New for 2011
By Gabe Ets-Hokin
C
an you feel the energy and
excitement? That’s because it’s
new-bike season. And this time, it’s
really exciting (no, really!), because there
is a flood of new product (compared to last
year, anyway), as hopeful manufacturers
anticipate greater demand for heavyweight
motorcycles. Here’s the latest hype from
the Cologne INTERMOT show, but by
the time you’re reading this, you may also
have heard about new models from other
manufacturers—Honda, Aprilia and
Ducati, no doubt—at the stylish Milan
EICMA show in early November.
ZX-10R
The big news is the ZX-10R. Since BMW
launched its 200-plus horsepower, drippingwith-electronics, shootout-winning and
media-wowing S1000RR superbike for
2010, there has been deafening silence from
the Japanese Big Four. Suzuki’s GSX-R1000
has remained the same since 2009, Honda’s
(outstanding) CBR1000RR has only
gotten minor updates (including ABS)
since 2008, and Yamaha’s YZF-R1 has also
been static since its introduction in 2008.
So it’s no surprise that Kawasaki—proud
of its reputation for always having the most
powerful superbikes—stepped up first with
its Beemer-slayer.
Kawasaki claims this is an all-new machine
from the ground up. The motor—though
it has the same 76mm by 55mm bore-andstroke numbers—is all new, with larger
intake valves, polished ports, higher-lift
camshafts, higher
13.0:1 compression,
lighter conrods, a
secondary balancer
and pistons with
even shorter skirts
than the last-gen
ZX-10R. The
injectors grow to
47mm from 43mm, and
the airbox gets an extra liter of capacity.
The new cassette-style transmission was
also redesigned to make it more compact
and to centralize mass. The back-torquelimiting clutch is actually adjustable. There
is no word from Kawi about power, but
the rumor mill is churning out claims of
200-plus horses, which wouldn’t surprise
me at all.
much-complained-about LCD bar-graph
tachometer. Hooray!
Tech Preview: BMW K1600GT/L
Suzuki GSX-R600 and GSX-R750
The new Gixxers are significant, especially
when you consider Suzuki’s lack of new
It’s not all about performance. Kawi has
product in the USA for the last two years.
lowered the seat a little, the tank is more
The GSX-R600 is mostly new, with
compact, the clip-ons are angled down less
significant improvements over the old bike,
and the footpegs are adjustable, meaning a
more-comfortable riding experience. And a which is no slouch—it’s been a favorite
lot of attention has been paid to styling—the for club and professional roadracers alike.
The new bike boasts a new, lighter frame, a
bike looks small, compact and aggressive, a
no-nonsense WSBK machine for the street. 41mm Showa Big Piston Fork, radial-mount
The chassis is also completely new. The
Brembo (oh Suzuki! You and Tokico were
frame is now a simpler seven-piece design.
But Kawasaki is clearly very proud of
so happy together!) calipers and lighter,
It’s lighter, with fewer welds for a neater
the electronics package. Called “Sportrestyled bodywork. The motor is essentially
look. The very good Showa Big Piston
Kawasaki Traction Control” or S-KTRC
the same, but with lighter internals,
Fork (that works so well on the ZX-6R),
(“skit-rick?”) the new system differs from
improved FI and a lighter exhaust system.
in a 43mm size rides up front, and Kawi’s
the system on the Concurs14. Instead of
These improvements (and plenty of others)
loyal old Uni-Trak suspension—which
simply cutting power when the rear wheel
make the new bike about 20 pounds lighter
holds the shock vertically—is thrown
starts spinning, it reduces power when
than the old model. That puts it at a feathery
under the bus for a “back-link” system that
wheel slip gets out of control, using “complex 410 pounds gassed up.
locates the shock and linkage horizontally
analysis to predict when traction conditions
above the swingarm to make room for
So what happens when you bore and
are about to become unfavorable,” doing
a big catalyst-equipped exhaust prestroke a 600 to 750cc? You give it a lot
200 calculations per second in the process.
chamber. The shock itself gets high and
more power without adding a lot of
The S-KTRC has three levels of traction
low-speed compression damping along
weight. That’s just what the new 2011
control—track, intermediate and slippery
with the other requisite adjustments.
conditions—and is designed to work with a GSX-R750 is. It’s pretty much the same
Front brakes are four-piston radial-mount
bike as the 600, with all the updates,
separate “power mode” selection function.
calipers and 310mm petal-style rotors.
except with a different exhaust system
The rider can select full power. Medium
Claimed wet weight is 436.6 pounds, 22
(hence the extra weight) and 148
mode mimics the low-power mode under
pounds less than the 2010 (which was
50 percent power, and the low power mode crankshaft ponies instead of the 600’s
seven pounds heavier than the BMW).
123. That means 125-ish rear-wheel in
is...low power, I guess. Not as complex as
a 416-pound package...all for just $400
the BMW and Ducati systems, but some
Racers should appreciate features aimed
more than the $11,599 GSX-R600. I
at improving track-only performance. The of us appreciate simplicity. We’ll see if it
titanium headers have similar specs as race- works as well as those systems on the track... haven’t had a ride on a GSX-R750 since
2006—but it could be 2011 will be the
hopefully soon. The pricing reflects my
only components, and the exhaust preyear I get back on one.
chamber can be removed so the wheelbase favoritest part about a quasi-Depression:
deflation! At $13,799, the new ZX-10R is just
can be shortened up to 16mm (over half
Kudos to Suzuki for coming back to the
$800 more than the old one.
an inch). The mirrors, turnsignals and
sportbike market in such a big way. We’ll see
license-plate bracket are all
if consumers respond.
This new ZX-10R has probably been in
designed to be quickly
development since before the S1000RR,
removable. There’s
Triumph Speed Triple
and is also heavily influenced by the needs
even a racetrack mode
of the WSBK program, but it does tell us a
You may have seen some glimpses of the
for the instruments
thing or two about Kawasaki’s place in the
new Speed Triple on the Internet last
that displays the gear
global motorcycle market. It’s upping the
month, but here’s what the whole bike looks
position where the
horsepower and weight ante while giving its like. As speculated, the frame is all new.
speed usually is,
customers the sophisticated race electronics It’s got a lighter and slimmer appearance,
and re-introduces
they’re clamoring for. Global recession?
although the bike’s claimed wet weight
us to Kawasaki’s
What global recession?
has actually crept up to 481 pounds. Rake
has also softened, to 22.8 degrees, and the
wheelbase has also increased by .4 inches
to 56.5 inches. The bodywork is also new,
as are the headlights—we imagine Speed
Triple fans will bemoan the loss of the round
lamps, but I think they look good with the
optional flyscreen fitted. Without it, they
look, um...different. The motor seems largely
unchanged, although Triumph claims
torque increases by seven percent, to 81 ft.lbs. at 7500 rpm.
More weight? Only a small boost in power?
Funny-looking headlamps? We know this
will be a great
bike to ride, but
it may not be
the
hit Triumph
hopes—these days, a bike had better have
some ground-shaking new features to get
people into showrooms. That may be the job
of the yet-to-be-officially announced Tiger
800. There is no word yet on USA pricing,
but we’d expect to see the new Speed Triple By Will Guyan, Editor-atLarge
in dealers in the next few months.
here’s been a lot of
Ducati Superbikes
press about the new
six-cylinder BMW,
Just so Ducatisti wouldn’t feel left out of the
the
replacement
for the K1300
party, Ducati announced the changes to
line.
No,
don’t
worry,
all you hooligans
its Superbike lineup. Most notable—aside
craving
Gold
Wing-slaughtering
power;
from the 2011 848EVO, which was released
this
machine
will
not
disappoint!
Having
earlier this year (see NCR, September,
the
bike
in
person,
and
heard
it
just
seen
2010)—is the new 1198 SP. It’s replacing the
1198S and supplanting the 1198R, which is revved to redline by the BMW Chief Of
New Model Anticipation
discontinued for 2011. So it’s basically last
(now, that’s a job I could
year’s S model with some race-kit goodies,
do…) in the rarefied
like a Ducati Performance slipper clutch,
aluminum fuel tank and an Öhlins TTX rear atmosphere of Jay Leno’s
garage, I can tell you the
shock. Also new is a Ducati Performance
bike will be something quite
quick shifter (called DQS) to smooth fullpower shifting. The good news is you get the special indeed. The Six has been
BMW’s mainstay in the auto line
improvements—probably a few thousand
for many, many years, and Bimmer fans
bucks worth—for $21,995, just $200 more
love the configuration for its unlimited
than the 2010 1198S. Love that deflation! I
wonder what would happen with stagflation? torque, gorgeous sound, and silky-smooth
character. Who wouldn’t?
$9995 Desmosedicis?
T
The Joy of Six
compression ratio was selected for
improved fuel economy. The gear box is
stacked for packaging and centralized mass
reasons. The engine has the same forward
tilt as the K1300 series:
55
degrees. The
intake
system was
particularly
engineered for
optimal flow. Get this:
Before I get into pure technology, I’d like
The 1198 keeps its $16,495 pricetag,
the cams are hollow steel tubes
to set the pace for this introduction by
but it also gets some added goodies.
with compression-molded lobes added and
glossing over a few of the state-of-the-art
The DQA is standard, as are the Ducati
are 2.2 pounds lighter than conventional
Traction Control and the downloadable components of this amazing new machine. camshafts. Seventy percent of the torque of
There is a Multi Controller on the left hand
data analysis (DDA) features usually
the diminutive six is available at 1500 rpm.
found on the 1198S. More deflation? Or grip that looks just like the thumb wheel
on the 2010 R1200RT, but it operates
The engine puts out 160 horsepower at
are the folks in Borgo Panigale just in a
many
devices
in
one
easy-to-access
control
7750 rpm. The torque figure is 129 foot
charitable mood? Who knows? If you’ve
wheel,
like
a
BMW
car’s
iDrive,
allowing
pounds at 5250 rpm. The 1649cc engine
been waiting to buy a Ducati superbike,
you
to
scroll
through
a
variety
of
on-screen
redlines at 8500 rpm. Ride by wire, as in
2011 seems as good a time as any.
menus by twisting, pushing and clicking.
the ground-breaking S1000RR, allows
Kawasaki W800
Roll it up or down. Push it left or right.
for a mode switch for three riding
Push
it
in,
and
it
accesses
a
staggering
array
modes: Rain, Road, and Dynamic. The
So what else won’t we get? A new take on
of
options
heretofore
undreamed
of
in
available Dynamic Traction Control
a retro classic, the Kawasaki W800. It’s
motorcycling.
I
suggested
the
bikes
come
and its angle sensor can be completely
basically a bored-out W650—available
with a DVD explaining the myriad features switched off manually for those gnarly
accessible by the Multi-Contoller, as the
Infineon track days.
thing boggles the mind. It controls a fullThe instrument
color dash display which is exceptionally
panel of the K1600
bright, easy to read and somewhat of a
models comprises
challenge to navigate if you’re technoa circular
challenged like some of us.
speedometer and
Just 10 years ago, this engine would
tachometer and
not have been possible. Thanks to
a 5.7-inch
recent inroads in metallurgy it
TFT color
in the USA for just a few years and now
is now 22 inches
a collectible cult classic—which was
wide, weighs
itself a remake of Kawasaki’s venerable
226 pounds and
W1 from the late 1960’s, that company’s the cylinders are
first big four-stroke motorcycle. The W1 a scant 5mm
was an improvement on the Maguro
(2/10ths of an
(which Kawasaki purchased in the ‘60s) inch) apart.
K model, which was a license-built BSA That makes the
design. To quote Woody Allen, it all
engine about
becomes clear when we realize George
1.5 inches
Eliot was a woman.
wider than
Anyway, the W800’s tangled back story the current
four-cylinder
doesn’t take away from its interesting
and stylish design. It’s nicely finished and K1300 mill.
The 12.2:1
dripping with cool touches like a bevel-
drive four-valve head, spoked aluminum
wheels, Smiths-ish instruments and
gaiter-equipped front fork. A 31-inch seat
and 480-pound curb weight should keep
it manageable and fun to ride.
So we won’t get it for 2011, but there’s
hope; Kawasaki responds to letterwriting campaigns and public demand,
so drop Team Green an email or a
postcard and let them know if they build
it, you will buy.
display, which enables the
presentation of text and
graphics on screen. The
Multi-Controller is part of an
integrated operating concept.
In addition to audio system
control, the K1600 models
also have a menu for operating the comfort
functions and on-board computer.
It has the most advanced audio and
communication systems on the market.
iPod inputs, USB stickreceptacle for your own
mix of music, MP3,
satellite radio and
Bluetooth are
standard on the
GTL. The Garmin
650 GPS is available
and is dash-integrated,
yet easily removable.
The GT and the GTL are
very different motorcycles.
The K1600GT replaces the
current K1300GT. Weights are 703
pounds for the GT and 767 for the GTL.
The machines give 47 and 46 mpg and hold
6.3 and 7.0 gallons respectively. They’re
available in standard and low seat heights.
The GTL has lots of chrome and the GT
has areas of darkened paint instead. The
integrated, removable luggage is locked
and unlocked with one button—no more
fumbling with keys in the dark. The
headlamp has the distinctive “corona
ring” seen on the BMW cars. The LED
turn signals are stacked and have a very
cool appearance. The riders of the K1600
models will have three different engine
characteristics available at the press
of a button on the right
handlebar, to be able to adapt
to different uses; touring,
riding in the rain and sporty,
spirited motorcycling.
Available as a factory
option, the traction
control
function is combined
individually with the
different modes and fully
integrated with them to
provide maximum riding
safety.
Jay Leno’s Garage
The new bikes also offer
Electronic Suspension
Adjustment II as an
option. With this system,
the rider can press a button
to electronically adapt not
only the rebound damping
properties of the front and
rear spring strut but also
the spring preload of the
rear spring strut as well as
the latter’s spring rate and
therefore the “hardness”
of the suspension. The
additional adaptation of
BMW K 1600 GT, BMW K 1600 GTL
the spring rate allows the
damping settings Sport,
nighttime riding safety. The new systems an anti-theft system for the navigation
Normal and Comfort to be spread more
could make nighttime a reason to ride— system, which cannot be removed with the
widely in ESA II, giving them clearly
something I never dreamed I’d be saying, windshield in starting position (I still won’t
perceptible characteristics during riding.
park mine in the Tenderloin!—ed.).
because on our curvy local roads, you
So in Sport mode, the K 1600s are even
simply cannot see where you’re going in the
The GT has an extensive range of standard
more dynamic and precise. And in Comfort
dark. I narrowly missed a coal-black cow on
features consisting of xenon headlamps,
mode they are more comfortable—while
the Jenner grade last month.
heated grips and seat, cruise control and
still retaining excellent stability.
Particular attention was paid to optimum on-board computer. This motorcycle
The first ever “Adaptive Headlight” is
seemingly leaves nothing to be desired as
wind and weather protection . A good
available as an option as a supplement to
example of this is the electrically adjustable far as the sport-touring rider is concerned.
the standard xenon headlamp. In addition
The touring GTL’s rider and passenger
windshield with automatic memory
to pitch compensation, the light of the
function, developed in wind tunnel tests. benefit from a relaxed, upright seating
main headlamp is also balanced in relation
position geared for long distances. The
But the windshield not only protects
to bank angle. This produces significantly
the rider and passenger: it automatically standard top case and backrest round
improved illumination of the road when
off the range of comfort features for the
returns to the starting position when
cornering and an enormous increase in
passenger. Like the GT, the GTL has
the ignition is switched off, acting as
The Grand Canyon of Man Caves
T
an extensive range of standard features,
including a carefully conceived storage
concept, a standard audio system and
numerous design elements making the
GTL the flagship model among the BMW
touring bikes.
The price is to be determined, but expect
it to be reasonable, as is the S1000RR,
making it very competitive in its segment.
Prepare to be surprised, say BMW’s people.
I hope they didn’t mean shocked!We’ll
report on the ride when the bike is released
to the press in March, 2011. The bike will
arrive at the dealerships in late Spring 2011
as a 2012 model.
Can’t wait to ride one!
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Jay was completely animated when
explaining his toys to Han Solo, AKA
he choice of launch pads for
Indiana Jones, right before our eyes.
the BMW K1600GTL was
sheer luck and Roy Oliemuller’s His rapid-prototyping machinery can
create in minutes what it used to take a
(BMW Motorcycle Communications
draftsman and a machinist days or weeks
Manager) amazing circle of friends.
to accomplish. The computer-molded resin
Jay Leno, a self-professed “Harley
prototype is ready to be cast, machined
guy,” has a mind-bending collection
and installed into his Bugatti racer! His
of cars, motorcycles, steam engines,
1000 psi water jet cutter sits massively in
memorabilia, art, and more than one
can take in, really. Rarely seen in person the machine shop area, where everything
needed can be made in-house. There are
by anybody other than his inner circle
untold millions
invested, poured
into this rich
kid’s toy room.
Seeing him
surrounded by
the machinery
he loves, moving
from Bentley to
Lagonda, from
Duesenberg
to the newlyplaced K1600,
makes you smile.
And all this in
BMW’s Roy Olliemuller and motojournalist Ken Freund watch as Jay
the midst of
lovingly caresses his giant balls.
a completely
nondescript
(which has a huge circumference), the
industrial warehouse zone just a minute
industrial space is the home of some
from Burbank airport. The man said the
of the rarest and most precious wheels
overhead noise made the rent cheaper. As if
ever built, from the age of steam to
Jay Leno cares.
the present day. Jay is completely the
A few of his machines stand out among the
enthusiast/collector and is a skilled
tool-wielding mechanic in his own right. hundreds in the collection. The 16- foot
His knowledge of everything contained long solo-seat Bentley aluminum race car
with long, undulating side exhaust and
in the 17,000 square foot bunker is
complete and astonishing. He’s the real hand-formed masterpiece body work;
the pair of perfect Lagonda racers with
deal; a regular guy who cracks great
jokes and made a fortune, who loves all their anthropomorphic sweeping body
things mechanical and has an indulgent curvature and tear-creating beauty;
the heart-stopping Duesenberg almost
wife. He knows the history, the details
and how to operate all his toys. He’s one restored with the newly-cast cylinder head
that cost $45,000 alone, its engine block
big, happy, rich kid. And he opened his
painted brilliant green; the Swiss-made
doors to BMW for the launch of their
latest and greatest bike. I was among the Egli Vincent café racer with stainless steel
frame, Ceriani racing fork and the aspect
few invited guests, happily.
of the ultimate classic motorcycle engine
Take his collection of restored steamin black molten glass coating; ad infinitum,
powered engines, with massive eightamigos! The collection would stop the
foot flywheels that spin in concrete
heart of a stone cold Tower of London
pits (powered by a massive modern
guard! Simply jaw-dropping.
commercial steam generator). Jay’s
The bikes—early 20th-century iron,
restored-in-house antiques are marvels
th
original patinas, oily drip pans below,
of late-19 century technology,
dark with baked-on oil and the rust of a
complete with rpm-governed cam
century. Beautiful, almost religious objects
timing; as rpm’s increase, the balls
these, demanding reverence from gapers
on the governor shaft spin faster and
in a museum where you can touch the
outward on their linkages. Jay tells his
guest Harrison Ford (also invited to the unobtainium. The men of history rode
BMW launch—he rode his own bike!), these machines, after all. Modern bikes
live here too. Like the recently-gifted R1
when things are reaching their limit in
when Yamaha held an event here, complete
the steam genre, the machine is going
with Spies, Edwards and Lorenzo. Soon
“balls out.” And I thought the familiar
phrase meant something relating to the he’ll have the newest, most powerful K bike
ever produced. Did I mention the long line
ol’ wedding tackle.
of Vincents? Bikes I’ve not even seen in
Will Guyan, words and photos
Yes, this is Jay’s garage...part of it, anyway.
history books, all on Jay’s paint-bubbling,
oil stained concrete floors.
heaven to the aged kids who’d soon be
leaving, forever.
And the walls! Huge 12-by-12 foot
Hollywood movie-poster paintings of
old racing events and long-gone fabled
marques lined every wall in the premises.
Everywhere the eye focused brought a
spectacle akin to Willy Wonka’s candy
Did I mention the Egli Vincent?
I have photos of it all. It was one of the
most moving, other-worldly gear-head
experiences of my entire 62 years. I have
to go now, the cops are all at Dunkin’
Donuts and I have new, sticky tires on
the 100 horse backroad killa-cycle...
CB160 Cafe Project:
Notes From the Underground, Part 1 of 3
Words and Photos by David Lander
I
am a sick man….I am an angry man.
I think my brain is diseased. Yes, yes,
I know that may sound a bit strong,
but my brain drives me to hopeless, absurd
endeavors—endeavors for which, it seems,
only a diseased brain could be culpable.
I’ll spare you the gory details of such past
episodes and force you to listen to only
say this with the utmost respect, mind
you) who sold me a rusted, but running
and mostly complete heap of a bike for
a meager few hundred dollars (poor as
I am, I had to borrow some money to
pay him this “meager” amount!) The
wheels were irreversibly set in motion—
racing had become impossible. With
chuckle at the image of these antiquated little did I know that I was going to
the last of my remaining “disposable
pipsqeaks being tossed aside by a rush
have to hold on tight, as if to a runaway
income” (a phrase no doubt coined by a of modern, high-displacement road
locomotive.
racer with an
burners like
ironic streak) rowboats
I consoled
scattered by
myself with
the bow wake
a track day at
of a battleship.
Thunderhill.
But when, later
It was there,
in the day,
on that hot
one of those
November
little buggers
day, that my
passed me on
life was to take the inside of
an unexpected Turn 4, I had
zag.
to reconsider.
A story of the sunken workshop
and of the peculiar, parallel twin
engine’d motorcycle therein.
At the
traditional
trackday
morning rider
meeting a
wildly excited
one…if you’ll permit me that much. But
man—trim,
goateed,
and
grey-haired
why should you listen to the rantings of an
(but
with
the
zest
of
youth
about
admittedly diseased brain? “Why?” indeed!
him)—took the floor to announce
You see, gentleman, what follows is the
100 percent factual and painstakingly
chronicled account of the events
surrounding the revival of a forgotten
motorcycle. But it is more than that,
it is also the sad age-old story of the
struggle of man versus machine. A
no-holds-barred match to the death. A
motorcycle version of John Henry—but
with an ending yet to be written. We
have yet to see who will be victorious!
Where to begin? Oh, what does it
matter…one spot is as good as another,
I suppose. Then I shall start here: I
wanted to go racing. I dipped my toes
in the sport, but as my lean accounts
were quickly depleted even a hardheaded man like me had to admit club
The strange
man was Craig
Haggart,
an itinerant
160 barker.
He gave me
When I eagerly took delivery of the
a guided tour of the handful of bikes
bike, the engine, as had been promised,
in the pit area he and his colleagues
lit on the second kick, fuel gushing
shared; the naked simplicity of their 160
from the left carb. This had also been
“promised.” The fact that the bike
turned over was the its main selling
point. In my mind, the anti selling
points (can I call them that?) had been
what kept the price low enough for me
to afford to make the purchase, so really
I should salute them! Where to begin
with my little heroes? Oh, there was
the scourge of putrid ancient grease,
crystallized gasoline reminiscent of
Superman’s icy Fortress of Solitude,
colonies of spiders and pill bugs, both
living and dead, and other such secondracers was compelling and beautiful in rate foes, but first things first (or worst
things first, if you will)….
a way that rang true with me. Thrilled
with my mounting enthusiasm (another Dastardly, merciless environmental
fly caught in the web!), Craig steered me attacks had pitted and gouged every
to a close-to-home 160 cult member (I ferrous part and coated the bike from
tip to tail, from stem to stern, with rust.
It was an adversary of the utmost worth
and villainy (and a protagonist is only
as heroic as his nemesis is villainous—if
he is victorious, that is!). The rust had
nearly as much character as the bike
itself (and more than some people I
know, I dare say); it was light in color
and almost downy in spots, thick and
dark in others, and crisp and scaly
in yet others. If I presented you the
footpegs you might guess they were
relics recovered from the wreck of the
Titanic. Even the hearty, impenetrable
chrome of the rims and forks had
been breached, and in some places
fully overtaken, veins of dusty orange
running as deep as you like. In the face
of this onslaught I comforted myself
...there was the scourge of putrid
ancient grease, crystallized gasoline
reminiscent of Superman’s icy Fortress
of Solitude, colonies of spiders and
pill bugs, both living and dead, and
other such second-rate foes...
that he and his dozen or so middleaged companions would be keeping to
the outside of the track, clear of faster
riders. Why? Because they were riding
‘60s era Honda CB160s. I had a bit of a
with the thought that removing rust
was free, which fit my modest budget
exactly. I would later discover that “free”
may have been a slight overstatement,
or cranny that had made the grave
mistake of being located too close to
the ground (which is to say, anywhere
below the grips). In places, the dirt was
calcified into
a thick slab of
blackened, oilsoaked mud
that clung so
fiercely to the
bottom half of
the engine it
took blows—
sometimes
repeated
blows—with a
heavy hammer
and the
business end
of a flathead
screwdriver, to
discriminate
between the
for believe me, gentlemen, I paid dearly two. This despicable Dirt joined in an
for each slow, small victory.
unholy union with its companion Rust
to form a façade so off-putting as to
Running a close second to rust in a
competition of insidiousness was its less repel all but the most foolhardy comers.
Fool that I am, I was not put off, but
glamorous brother, dirt. You see, the
rather I was pulled in. It was a challenge,
bike (I admit) wasn’t, in fact, an actual
CB model, the designation of the street and this challenge I readily accepted; I
was to roll up my sleeves and show that
version, but rather the “off road” CL
that snatched me from my
apartment and shuttered
me up in the dank, cramped
laundry room beneath it.
To understand me, and my
160, you must understand
our underground lair, my
home away from home.
My bunker workspace
measures seven feet by five
feet, and is crisscrossed
with spider webs. Rain
seeps up through the
cracked concrete floor and
occasionally forces its way
down through the ceiling.
Between rough pressboard
shelves and towering stacks
of cardboard storage boxes
I have eked out just enough
room for the bike and a
small perimeter barely
large enough for me to
circumnavigate it…so long
as I crawl on my hands
and knees in places. Down
here I have been left to my
own devices, more or less,
one particular stink-eyed
neighbor excepted. I have
shed a few pounds down
here, as well as a few friends,
I’m afraid. But let me not
get ahead of myself—I am
easily distracted, you see. Here is a case
in point: I began this whole missive
talking about my diseased brain and see
where I have gotten? Lost friends! Keep
me on task, gentlemen, I beg you.
But you protest, “you promised us a
story but have given us only drivel!” I
can see why you’d be irritated, it seems
I haven’t delivered much. But you see,
now with the stage thus fully set, and
the characters in place (I’m counting
myself, the 160, and yes, my lair too)
I can truly unleash the full fury of the
narrative, driving it ever closer to its
thrilling denouement. Gather round,
gentlemen, away we go! And so it began.
In a dizzying intoxication, overwhelmed
with possibility and novelty, I rolled up
my sleeved and threw myself into my
new project.
It was a disaster from the word “go.”
Next: Watch our intrepid narrator pitifully
navigate tragedies—and enjoy glorious victories.
pile who was boss. To the challenge
I said “Yes,” simply, defiantly, and
steadfastly. “Yes.”
It was against this bleak backdrop
that my journey began—a journey
it works!
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I would later discover that “free” may
have been a slight overstatement, for
believe me, gentlemen, I paid dearly for
each slow, small victory.
model. The previous owner clearly took
this distinction to heart as evidenced by
the staggering amounts of dirt packed
into engine cooling fins, mounting
bosses, and any other conceivable nook
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1433 El Camino Real • Santa Clara, CA 95050 • 408-280-7277
Vintage Yamaha XS650 Touring
Words and Photos by John Bishop
I
n spite of our Editor’s previously
published advice (“What Not to
Do,” April, 2010), Kiwi Greg and I
took a pair of 1981 Yamaha XS650s on a
month-long tour of the western U.S. this
summer, nearly 5600 miles. XS650s...
buzzy, yes, heavy, certainly, even known
to have a fairly long list of weaknesses
well-documented by the large community
of XS enthusiasts. But Greg squinted back
at the TX650 he had long ago through a
particularly roseate lens, and we had other
criteria: cheap, simple enough to fix on the
side of the road, cheap, identical, and cheap.
The No-Timetable Tour
Greg’s bike Lulu, a registered Craigslist
runner, was picked up for $1250 in
Oakland. My Tracker was a $500
incomplete project I got, as Kevin Kling
says, “from a guy who’s still my friend,” and
a couple hundred more got a pile of spare
parts including a pair of shop manuals.
“They gave them names: how precious,”
you might say (if you weren’t the profane
bastard you are). Yeah, well, I’m not much
for naming a motorcycle myself, but I’ll
admit it’s useful when you’re talking about
two bikes of the same year and model in the attacks of non-operation. We’d already
had to get an alternator rotor rebuilt
same place. So bite me.
before leaving, and on Day 2, crossing
I didn’t know much about these bikes
the Mendocino National Forest on a
to start with, but there is a lot of free
forest road the map said was paved (but
information online in several good fora,
Greg called “shingle”), Tracker quit—at
one specialist vendor (MikesXS.net) that
noon on a 90-degree day with little shade
will sell you damn near anything you’d ever and a construction delay ahead that we
need to keep one running, and of course
hoped to sneak through while the crew
eBay. That list of the model’s foibles was
was at lunch. After finding, replacing, and
good warning but it didn’t stop us from
re-blowing the blown ignition fuse, and
having light brushes (a pun for XS650
waiting for Greg to realize he was riding
owners) to full confrontations with nearly alone and come back, we rolled it back
all of them. We worked on one or both
to one of the few trees, took everything
bikes every day of the trip.
off (tail bag, side bags, tank bag, seat,
fender) and pondered. “Did you pack the
The electrical system is weak at its base
manual?” “I thought you packed it...”
and laden with opportunities for sudden
we jumpered around the relays (“Daisy,
Daisy, give me your...an..swer...do.....”) and
damned if it didn’t start. The headlight
wouldn’t come on, either, but that was a
problem for later. And, later, we jumpered
around all of the relays on Tracker,
preserving the headlight but not any of
the safety features. Not even the neutral
light (which only helped me kickstart
the loaded bike into a full Arte Johnson
tipover in a Boulder hotel parking lot once
before we figured out how to fix that).
The XS650 alternator brushes are another
weak spot in that system, and when
Tracker crapped out on a downhill right on
California Highway 36 outside Bridgeville
it was a bad brush. For want of a brush the
charging was lost, for want of a charge the
voltage dropped, for want of some volts the
ignition quit...fixed once again on the side
of the road and we carried on.
Yamaha designed the XS with a handful
of safety and convenience systems: usual
things like the relays that cut the juice to
the headlight while the starter cranks, or
the supply to the starter once the engine is
running or the sidestand/clutch/neutral
combo isn’t just right. They also have
self-canceling turn signal systems, and my
favorite: the relay that detects whether one
of your headlight filaments is burned out,
turns on the other one, and lights a light on
the dash to let you know. You can almost
hear it saying “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I
can’t do that” in an emotionless monotone.
The problem this time was a short in one
of those safety relays that stopped the 12
volts from getting to the ignition box, so
Tracker also has a fuel condition that
makes it run on when the throttle is
closed, especially when warm, and really
a problem heading into any downhill
corner, especially with weak brakes. Still
haven’t figured out the fueling problem,
despite tearing the carbs down, cleaning
and checking and not finding much...but
we improved the brakes and I learned not
to push it into those corners.
We found that the rider of whichever bike
was disabled felt awful until it was fixed, but
the other guy was unworried and helpful.
Greg was very concerned when Lulu quit
running outside Fredonia, Arizona. I wasn’t
troubled, even though it was because of me,
the result of not enough clearance between
the new blade-type ignition fuse and the
seat pan that nudged it partially out of the
holder I had installed. We still swapped
coils to try to diagnose it. Later, when the
poor crimp job I had done on the ignition
connector caused Lulu to miss again, Greg
fixed it for good in the Wells Fargo parking
lot in Escalante, Utah.
After a relatively fast, long, tailwindassisted run into Green River, Utah,
Tracker sputtered again: dry battery, not
charging. Adding moisture didn’t help and
the next day we found the (newly-rebuilt)
alternator rotor had fried. Greg figured out
that we could bypass the charging system
and I could run total loss off the battery,
and we ran that way for the next 3000
miles. We replaced the battery in Grand
Junction, Colorado, and each day I’d run
in front with no headlight to use as little of
Battery A as possible (I had abandoned the
electric starter before starting the trip) and
during Speed Week (see sidebar) with our
worst mechanical issue.
A crack developed in Tracker’s gas tank
and we stopped at an auto parts store in
Vernal, Utah, to see if we could patch it.
A fine sunny day turned to a tremendous
soaking thunderstorm in the time it took
us to unload the whole bike and take off the
seat and tank. We Keystone-copped the bags
and parts to the leeward side of the store and
stepped inside, dripping. Twenty minutes
later the storm had passed and we crammed
the epoxy patch in around the bracket while
the gear dried a bit in the sun. The leak was
slowed down to a manageable seep.
There were other issues, like the leaking
fork seal that moistened the right side of
“Did you pack the manual?”
“I thought you packed it...”
Lulu would charge Battery B. This led to a
fun ride up to McClure’s Pass in Colorado
in the dark, closely following the lights of a
motor home towing a boat.
Tracker or the dribbling clutch rod seals
that kept the chains increasingly oiled
and thereby the rear wheels filthy through
the whole trip. Both bikes had severely
worn swingarm bushings which made
handling...entertaining. We adjusted
valves every third day or so. The final blow
was Tracker’s shift lever, which may have
had a couple of splines when we started
but on the last day had none. I cinched
down on the bolt on three occasions and
got some miles down the road each time,
but the last cinch broke the bolt. We
clamped on a pair of vice grips and while
the last 30 miles was done in 2nd gear, we
made it home under our own power.
In Grand Junction, while searching for a
parts store, we paused for lunch at a funky
downtown coffee shop called Roasted.
Having no smartphones or laptops we
actually had resorted to looking in a
borrowed phone book (like animals!—
ed.), and a fellow who saw by our outfits
that we were not cowboys asked about
the trip. He was currently a Gold Wing
rider with a multiple-bike past, and he
directed us to an excellent independent
shop in town where we got the battery and
a chain for Tracker, and didn’t mind that we Greg would like to ship Lulu back
worked on it in the lot.
to Christchurch but it turns out that
transport and government import fees
That was just one example of the
make it too expensive for a low-end
experiences we had the entire time: we
motorcycle. He’s looking for one locally,
met nothing but nice people. From the
no luck so far, and prices there are a bit
campground maintenance (H-D builder)
high. I had serious doubts about XS650s
guy in Jacob Lake who loaned us vice grips,
before the trip, but by the end Tracker
to the camp hosts and park rangers, to the
won me over with its low-end torquey
friends we stayed with along the way (Ernie
chugging out of corners and starting on
gave me a gel pad for the flat track seat and
the first kick every time. I decided to
literally saved my ass, Eric hosted us for
keep it and ride it daily...once I give it the
two days, led us on two great rides, and
attention it deserves for carrying my butt
swapped for a good brake rod for Tracker),
on the best vacation I could imagine.
to the people that just walked up to ask
You can’t tell it from his bikes, but Mr. Bishop is a
what the hell we were doing on those old
mechanical engineer. He lives in western Sonoma
junkers and say they used to ride a CB350
or had a scooter. The topper was the fellow County, so every day he rides on roads lots of riders
visit on weekends.
we met when we happened to land by sheer
dumb luck at the Bonneville Salt Flats
Guy Warner’s Rolling Garage
After a long blast on I-80 (short for “I-f’n-hate-80), we parked at the entrance to the
Flats, and Greg noticed that his swingarm pivot shaft was hanging out about four
inches, the threaded end having broken off somewhere on the freeway at 70 mph.
Sobering, that. We hammered it back in and eased back along the access road, but
when he saw it was working its way out again he rolled to the side, stopping by pure
chance beside the camp of one Guy Warner and his dog, Buddy. When Guy lost his
garage years before, he packed it into an enclosed trailer and pulled it behind his old
motor home to race events, just in case somebody might need it. We needed it, and
we borrowed the tools and parts to drill and tap the pivot shaft to bolt it back in place.
Guy refused any kind of payment, just insisting that if we saw somebody in need we
should stop and help. He didn’t have any visible wings but he was an angel for us that
day, and the repair held for another thousand miles, all the way home.
Reliable, timely service at
reasonable rates on
all makes of motorcycles
890 Second Ave.
Redwood City
CA 94063
92
280
84
101
880
237
85
HOURS:
Tuesday–Friday 9am-6pm • Saturday–9am-5pm • Sunday & Monday–closed
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AREAS OF SPECIALTY
CA Licensed (#32551)
Professional Mechanical
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Former NHTSA Associate
Multi-Time Motorcycle
Roadracing
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EPM Engineering
Edward P. Milich, P.E.
PO Box 5, Torrance, CA 90507
310. 710. 4708
epm@epmengineering.com
www.epmengineering.com
SAE Motorcycle Technical
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Legal Consultant
Accident Reconstruction
Vehicle Analysis and Testing
Component Design Service
CNC/Rapid Prototyping
Professional Mechanic
20 Years Motorcycle Experience
SERVING SOuThERN AND NORThERN CALIFORNIA
Shop Stop: San Jose BMW
Who’s your dealer?
By John Joss,
Photos By Gary Rather
C
hris Hodgson, proprietor of
San Jose BMW, still retains the
joyful enthusiasm of his youth.
You can see it in his eyes and smile, in
his body language and gait, in the way he
sits at his desk in the window just inside
the dealership front door, accessible and
available, in how he greets his visitors—
many are old friends.
Hodgson knows who he is, what he does,
how he does it, where he has come from,
where he’s going. He’s comfortable in his
skin. He has come a long way, through
thick and thin, and it feels good. He
radiates decency and goodwill.
What does it mean?
Why does it matter?
Sensible bikers don’t just buy a motorcycle.
They buy a system based on the right
machine for the kinds of riding they do,
sold to them at a fair price. That system
must include reliable service support and
parts supply, a lubricant and tire source, the
provider of helmets and gloves, boots and
suits, options and accessories.
However alluring the bikes or competitive
the prices, in this era of more complex
technology—advanced diagnostics, ECUs
and EFI, ABS and self-leveling headlights,
and more—unless owners are trained
technicians, they must rely in the end on
their dealer.
If that dealer cares enough to do it right, it
all works. If not . . . Chris Hodgson cares,
and it shows.
dealership is an endeavor in which getting
rich is improbable, challenges arise daily
and survival is never assured.
How has he done it? It’s that word
again: enthusiasm. He can’t imagine
doing anything else. He’s not just in the
motorcycle business. It’s his life, including
innovating with his own imagination,
energy and technology, plus plenty of
racing and record breaking.
Roots
The history speaks for itself. Let him tell it.
“I’m a local Northern California boy, born
in San Mateo, raised in Aptos. I went to
Cabrillo in Aptos and Gavilan in Gilroy,
then spent time in Colorado to get a B.A.
in aviation management with a minor in
mechanical engineering.” He smiles and
digresses: “Isn’t it curious that so many
motorcycle enthusiasts are also flying buffs?
“I came into this very dealership just out
of school to get a throttle cable for my R75
and ended up working here for four and a
half years. I became service manager and
ran the racing programs before I quit in
1981. That’s when I started my motorcycle
mail-order parts business in Los Gatos,
supported by my wife Kathleen, and ran
it out of my house for ten years. I found
myself supplying race parts for BMWs all
over the country and starting to succeed.
Kathleen and I bought this dealership in
1992. Now my son Willie, 27, works here
and will take over eventually.
The racing bug
“I’d been interested in racing since high
school and I haven’t been able to get it out
of my system. I got involved with the Dick
Mann ‘Yankee’ bike, with its remarkable
Hodgson goes back more than three
frame, to help make it into a road racer.
decades as a Bay Area BMW specialist.
The engine was built up from two Spanish
He started out of college as a tech at the
Ossa 250-cc two-stroke cylinders, side by
predecessor dealership, right where the
side on a single crank—a 500 parallel twin.
operation is located to this day. He and his
I designed and fabricated the expansion
wife Kathleen have endured in a business in
chambers and put a BMW /5 drum brake
which a costly, capitalized facility, endless
on the front. It was an interesting project.
optimism and genuine enthusiasm are the
minimum admission fees. A motorcycle
“It was 1977 and I was still working for
the BMW dealer, right here. He was
supporting a local AFM racer running
an early R100RS. Butler and Smith, the
U.S. distributor with a big BMW racing
program, called and offered us a year-old
race R90S. The bike started to do well,
so BMW owners started to come in and
ask for parts. I found local shops to make
all sorts of go-fast and handling bits to
my designs—fork braces, reinforced
swingarms, dual-plug heads. That’s when I
went out on my own.”
The business
“Though this has always
been a BMW dealership,
we had Vespa scooters
back in the ’70s, like
today. Suzuki was added
in 1981-82 for a couple of
years, then back to BMW
exclusively. Adding
KTM in the mid ’80s
was too much to handle,
but in 2005 I brought
back Vespa, made by
the Piaggio group. Since
they also own Aprilia,
we started bringing in
the RSV4 in a small way.
AFM and AMA racer Brian Parriott is
racing our stock RSV4.
“I guess we’ve delivered over 2000
BMWs and 500 Vespas since I took over,
and serviced thousands of bikes. But
the business end has changed since the
Internet. We can compete on parts prices
but we get killed with the 9.25 percent
California sales tax.
“A lot of excellent techs want to join us
here at San Jose BMW because we have
a machine shop and do racing. They’re
enthusiasts, too, and see it as an interesting
shop, not just a place where you replace
parts—if they wanted just to change
parts I guess they’d work for a Toyota or
Lexus dealer. They’re a strong part of our
competition programs.
“Today we have a big payroll, a staff of 11
divided between five in service, three in
sales, two in the parts department and a
full-time accountant. Meeting a payroll,
month in and month out, is the test of a
business owner, but I feel that my biggest
challenge is running a business without it
feeling like a business. Maybe that’s why
I’m drawn to racing and speed records.
”We have customers who’ve been coming
here for years, some all the way from
Marin County, from the East Bay, from
Watsonville. They know we’re here for
them—not always perfect, but always
willing to go the extra mile.”
Racing and record breaking
Hodgson turns to his enthusiasm: racing
and record-breaking. He saw success
with Brian Parriott running his R1100S
in the Boxer Cup, then an R1200S, then
the HP2. A display above the showroom
commemorates one of the bikes and a few
of the trophies.
But Bonneville seems just as important to
him. He explains how it happened.
“Bonneville is difficult—old school and
traditional in how they run the event. But
I love it there. It’s addictive. Some guy
brought a Moto Guzzi in 1998 and went
142 mph, and I said to myself ‘we can do
better.’ So we put a BMW airhead together
and went 154 the following year. We
couldn’t stop. In 2000 we brought a 750
airhead, without fairing, and it ran 130.
These were all class records.
“Our K1200R, bone stock, managed 164.
So this year (2010) we’re taking four bikes:
an HP2 to run in the FIM classes, our old
750 to win back the record the Guzzi rider
regained, a faired 1,000cc airhead and a
stock S1000RR. The ‘stock’ criterion is
interesting: it must ‘look’ stock and the
exhaust outlet diameter must be stock.
Frankly, it’s hard to do much to the S,
because it has been so well developed by
BMW.”
Enthusiasm is the bedrock. Hodgson has a
wife who stands with him and a son ready
to continue the business. Everyone in the
shop is involved. That’s the bottom line
with San Jose BMW.
Since the article was written, San Jose BMW racing
has returned from Bonneville with two new land
speed records.
The Economic, Social
and Aesthetic Appeal of
the $1000 Motorcycle
(or Gentlemen Prefer Piles)
up from time to time. Keep an eye on your
eople occasionally ask, “What’s your local bike classifieds and you might be
favorite motorcycle?” My standard surprised at the opportunities presented
there.
answer is, “Anything $1000 and
Italian.” Now, the aesthetic appeal of Italian The utilitarian economic elegance of a
design generally should be apparent to
good $1000 ride should be obvious. Cheap
anyone with at least one good eye. Why the bikes, however, aren’t for everyone. If you
$1000 qualifier? One of my current daily
don’t know what you’re buying, you could
riders is a Y2K Ducati
also easily get taken
Monster 750 Dark with
by a sleaze-ball seller.
only 8500 miles on
If you’re in doubt as to
it I found for next to
the seller’s honesty, or
nothing in Hollywood.
the machine’s integrity,
Il Mostro Cheapo took a
just walk away. There
little elbow grease to get
are always more deals
on the road, but after a
out there. Also, if your
few evenings of fiddling
lack of mechanical
I was rewarded with a
skills makes you feel
practical ride that looks
uncertain when you
good from 10 feet away,
enter your garage, you
makes all the right noises and pounds the
should consider a more refined mount.
pavement like a 55-horsepower pile driver. If you’re at least somewhat mechanically
Despite marketing departments’ insistence inclined, though, you might be only a suck,
that American consumers exalt all things
squeeze, bang or blow away from starting
new and shiny, resourceful riders can still
up your new heap and sharing with your
have a lot of fun on a motorcycle for a
neighbors your appreciation for reverse
thousand bucks.
megaphone
duets, trios
The major
or quartets.
benefit of a
With the right
$1000 bike is
tools, skills and
you won’t be
attitude, $1000
heartbroken if
motorcycles
it falls over in
are also a great
a parking lot,
opportunity
gets dropped
to learn about
by a visiting
motorcycle
rider or gets
service and
gently backed
maintenance.
into curbside
by some jackass
I have come
in a Range
full-circle in my
Rover. With a
bike chasing. I
$1000 bike you
started out riding a decent $1000 Honda
can easily shrug off the psychic baggage
CB650 I bought from my shop teacher
each new ding generates. One is thus
with high school graduation money in
free to concentrate on the ride instead
the 1980s. After my moto-masochism led
of mindless bike-worship. Thus, a $1000
me to more spendy machines, including a
bike might bring about a Zen acceptance
Daytona Moto Guzzi and YB10 and DB2
of the universe’s chaotic forces. Where
Bimotas, I have returned to my roots and
else but in motorcycling can you achieve
now chase junkers exclusively. In short,
true enlightenment for a measly thousand I’ve learned I’d rather have 15 different
bucks?
$1000 bikes than a single $15,000 bike.
I’d dent, damage or destroy the nice one
The $1000 bike market will differ
soon enough anyway. Having a stack of
depending on your location. In the
Italian piles around keeps things much
Midwest, where exotic bikes are in short
supply, $1000 often can buy a 1970s-1980s more interesting.
Japanese bike. In bigger bike markets such Where else but in motorcycling can you achieve true
as Los Angeles and New York, there is
enlightenment for a measly thousand bucks?
enough froth that $1000 mildly crashed
Monsters and other interesting rides turn
By Ed Milich
P
People occasionally
ask, “What’s your
favorite motorcycle?”
My standard answer
is, “Anything $1000
and Italian.”
If you do decide to get your own $1000 pile off of Craigslist, Ed
generously wrote up this handy guide. Clip it out and tape it
next to your computer.—ed.
All Original—I never fixed any of the stuff the factory screwed-up.
Dealer Maintained—I spent way too much cash on maintenance and I expect to
make up the majority of it out of your wallet.
Fresh Gaskets—I was halfway into an engine rebuild, got scared and then slapped it
all back together.
Garage Kept—This machine would immediately corrode into its component
elements if I left it outside.
Highway Miles—I rode the living bejeezus out of this bike. I have, further, worn out
or broken the most seemingly indestructible of parts as a result of those miles. The
guys on the one popular discussion board for this model mention my name with a
mixture of fear and awe.
Immaculate—I was too scared to ride this overpriced, sputtering, difficult-steering,
spine-hammering hardtail chopper, so I just put it in my entry room and hung coats
on it.
Includes Jacket and Helmet—If you look closely, you can still see the pucker mark
on the seat from my 90-mph tank slapper. I will immediately buy golf clubs with the
proceeds of this sale.
Low Miles—Right after I purchased this bike, all my buddies bought boats.
Needs Paint—Needs to be thoroughly stripped, blasted, sanded, primered, painted,
buffed out and waxed. Buying this visibly dilapidated machine instead of that nicer
one for $200 more will cost you a minimum 50 precious hours of your life and an
increased chance of lung cancer from breathing paint particulates.
Never down—Hardly ridden.
New Rear Tire—Performed frequent burnouts.
No Dreamers, Bring Cash, or No Talkers—My high-paying job at the hot pretzel
booth at the truck stop precludes me from spending too much time discussing the
bike. When you come to view it, kindly flash me a large wad of Franklins through the
peephole if you want my slightest cooperation.
Or Best Offer—Please get this heap out of my sight as soon as possible.
Rare—All the other bikes of this year and model have been crashed, blown up or
abandoned.
Runs—(Barely) runs.
Runs good—As long as you warm it up for 20 minutes beforehand, keep it under 60
mph and take left-hand turns really slow. And don’t use fourth gear.
Take Over Payments—I can’t wait until this bike and its monthly payment equal to
20 percent of my salary are long gone. Please rescue my family and my credit rating as
soon as possible.
Too much to list—Too much worthless, extraneous crap such as stock exhausts and
extra reflectors to list.
service
parts
performance
Adjustable Triple Clamp for Ducati 916 to 1198
Race proven and endorsed by World Champion Doug Polen (gopolen.com)
Be a Man of No Convictions
scotty
(At Least When it Comes to Traffic Tickets)
Part I of III: How to handle the initial traffic stop.
as he or she stepped out of the vehicle. It
also helps lower the stress level of citing
officer. If at any point the officer asks
you to stop doing whatever you’re doing,
follow the officer’s directions immediately
even if your intentions are the best.
S
ee red flashing lights behind you?
The first thing to do is safely merge
over to the right shoulder of the
road and come to a complete stop. If you
consider trying to get away or outrun the
law enforcement officer because you’re on
a motorcycle and you have mad skills and
can easily get away, don’t do it! That is
the most sure-fire way to escalate a simple
infraction to misdemeanor evasion, per
California Vehicle Code §2800.1 or to
felony reckless evasion, California Vehicle
Code §2800.2. The significant difference
between an infraction vs. a misdemeanor
or felony is going from having to pay a fine
to the likelihood of serving jail time.
e
If you have asserted
your Fifth Amendment
right against selfincrimination and
the officer persists
questioning, just
say these four little
words: “I want my
attorney.”
If you consider trying to
get away or outrun the
law enforcement officer
because you’re on a
motorcycle and you have
mad skills and can easily
get away, don’t do it!
off your helmet, keep in mind that you
don’t know why the officer stopped you at
this point. You and your bike may match
the description of an armed suspect and
therefore any movement you make with
The following is not often at issue for
motorcyclists, but I recommend that all
motorcyclists be aware of the fact that the
Fourth amendment of the Constitution
provides that they shall be free from
unreasonable searches and seizures.
There are many exceptions to the Fourth
Amendment, and most of those are on
the grounds of officer safety. The three
essential points to remember are: 1) never
consent to the search or seizure of your
person or property; 2) the officer can give
you a pat down search to ensure that you
are not carrying any weapons; 3) If the
officers are violating your rights, now is not
the time to fight back. You will likely be
cited for a violation of Penal Code section
148, resisting an officer, and be arrested for
misdemeanor.
ER
H
T
A
E
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E
FRE
ASE
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O
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(Retail V
Once the officer is alongside, ask
if you could take off your gloves
to locate your driver’s license,
your vehicle registration, and
proof of insurance. Make sure
that you maintain a polite and
respectful demeanor. Ranting
and raging against the officer will
serve no benefit to you and only
make the process more
painful in the end.
Whatever the question presented by
the officer is, whether its “Do you know
how fast you were going?” or “Why were
you doing X?” respectfully decline to
answer. Remember, you have the Fifth
Amendment constitutional right not to
incriminate yourself. These questions are
specifically designed for you to provide
inculpatory evidence against yourself. I
do not recommend providing an answer
to the question of one’s speed with, “I was
going with the flow traffic” because if the
flow of traffic was exceeding the speed limit
you just unwittingly admitted to speeding.
The Supreme Court recently held that
an individual must affirmatively assert
one’s Fifth Amendment right against selfincrimination/the right to remain silent. If
you have asserted your Fifth Amendment
right against self-incrimination and the
officer persists questioning, just say these
four little words: “I want my attorney.”
So once you safely pull over to
the right shoulder, make sure that
any moves you make are done
very slowly and with exaggerated
movements so the officer can
clearly see what your intentions
are. (Keep in mind that while
you know that this is a routine
traffic stop of a non-threatening
individual, the law-enforcement
officer does not.) Once you have
your bike at a complete stop
I recommend turning off the
motorcycle and putting down the
kickstand. You may wish to take
the added step of removing the
key from the ignition and slowly putting
your hands out to the side with your keys
between two fingers and drop them to the
ground. This will clearly display the officer
you have no intent try to get away as soon
r $150)
If you are wearing a full-face helmet you
may consider slowly and deliberately
removing it before the officer arrives next
to your bike to further illustrate that you
have no intention of trying to get away
as soon as the law enforcement officer
becomes a pedestrian. I recommend that
you wait to do this until the officer directs
you to do so for several reasons. The first
reason is quite simple; you don’t want to
make too many movements which are out
of the officer’s field of view. ( If the officer’s
vehicle is stopped behind your bike, as
soon as you start to loosen the chin strap
there isn’t a clear view of what you are
doing with your hands.) While you may
have the most earnest of motive in taking
your hands that are out of the officer’s field
of view could make the officer very anxious
indeed. The second reason not to take off
your helmet is should you decide
to fight your ticket later and the
officer did not ask you to take off
your helmet there may be proper
identification issues at trial. How
could the officer properly identify
you as the individual in the
driver’s license if you are wearing
a full face helmet, which covers a
significant portion of your facial
characteristics?
exclusively on the defendant’s confession,
the traffic court commissioner may not
have the same belief.
s
Purcha
y
n
A
With er $500!
Ov
At this point the officer will often
ask the rider, “Do you know why
I pulled you over?” The answer to
this is an unequivocal “no.” Unless
you’re telepathic you do not know
why the officer pulled you over. At
best you can speculate as to the
reasons you are being pulled over
but you won’t know why you are
pulled over until the officer tells
you why the he/she pulled you
over. The only reason for this line
of questioning is that the officer is
looking for an admission of guilt.
You may unwittingly make an admission
of guilt of something that the officer did
not even witness. Even though the Corpus
Delecti Rule is alive and well in California,
the rule that precludes a conviction based
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Whether you received a citation or not, be
sure that you merge into the flow of traffic
obeying all traffic laws.
Next installment: What to do when you
receive a citation.
Scotty Storey is a Bay Area motorcyclist and
attorney (and CityBike advertiser) with years
of experience in criminal defense. Check out his
website (twowheellaw.com) for information
about his free seminars on moto-related criminal
and civil law.
maynard
The chain was corroded, its side plates
etched. The black rear sprocket? Rusty.
Both the left side engine covers, bronzeanodized electrical gear covers, had been
sloppily spray-painted. Lots of nuts, bolts
and fittings on the bike’s left side had
rusted. One lovely polished aluminum
passenger peg hanger was
stained.
Part II of the ZRX Saga: The Bike Itself
away or in a dark garage, the bike looked
wonderful. Bright red paint, perfect
muffler, stunning ZRX style. At 7000
miles, it should be pristine, right?
I wondered about the wisdom of buying
a bike, sight unseen, as a surprise gift for
In search of passenger legroom,
a friend with long-developed tastes in
the previous owner lowered the
motorcycles. If I decided I didn’t want the
rear peg hangers with hardware- bike, how could I unroll the sale? Or should The bike had been ridden in Iowa winter,
store nuts and bolts and red-painted steel
I do what I could over the winter to make it evidently, on salted roads. The owner
straps. He stripped one of the nuts welded a nice bike again...and sell it in the spring?
had not rinsed it afterward. As the good
to the bike’s frame. A chain guard bolt was
mechanic reinstalled the pieces, he coated
missing. The mismatched tank-mount bolts My pal Jim and I changed the oil and filter. them lightly with grease. He buffed the rust
We scrubbed the chain and sprocket with
had mismatched spacers under them. The
off the end of the axle nut. Better.
chain cleaner and flooded the chain with
battery-box cover, toolkit and manual...
I went for a careful ride, scrubbing-in the
lube. We removed the scrap steel footpeg
gone.
spacers and the shockingly Mickey Mouse new Michelin. The red bike ran great, had
The running-in sticker on the tach was still piece between the repositioned peg hanger all its gears and made more power than
there, baked onto the glass after six years. I and the muffler. I washed the bike and tried anything I’ve ever owned. On that ride,
spent two or three hours with Goo-Gone,
easing the throttle on and off and shortto polish away superficial rust. I ordered
scraping the sticker off with my thumbnail. one engine cover, the choke cable and a
shifting, I had to switch to reserve at 135
The clutch and brake levers were
miles from full....
dozen small parts.
mismatched. The fork seals leaked. The fuel
More next month.
I acted like a guy in love with his bike. But I
line between the vacuum petcock and the
carburetors had a non-stock shutoff valve in was still not sure what to do.
it. I replaced the O-ring in the petcock.
HERSHON
L
ast month, you read that my friend
Phil sent me across town to check
out a for-sale bike on his behalf.
He wanted a perfect ZRX, he said, and
had found one here in Denver, Colorado.
If I thought it looked great, he planned to
fly here from California and ride it home.
Phil had come into some money and was
enjoying a few luxuries he’d missed in his
just-getting-by decades. He was also doing
nice things for family and friends.
I called him from the seller’s garage to
describe the bike to him. He told me I
was looking at my red, 7000-mile, 2004
Kawasaki ZRX1200R. Phil had already
paid for the bike and sent the seller
an envelope of cash to give me—so I
could afford to pay registration fees, buy
insurance and the new front tire the bike
needed...and make the bike right. Pretty
cool, huh?
I took it to a good independent shop. The
mechanic replaced the tire and fork seals,
tapped the stripped captive nut and flushed
the suspicious-looking rear brake fluid.
Removing the front axle nut took a threefoot breaker bar with a fork tube slid over it.
As the big Allen nut came loose, the groan
made your stomach churn.
The choke cable had broken in the middle.
Don’t cables always break at the ends?
Oh, and I had never used fourth or top
gear. I had to assume they worked. You’d
understand if you’d seen the front tire.
Let me repeat: It was a 7000-mile bike. I
The seller had recently traded a Camaro for
feel sure Phil paid stand-up money for it.
the ZRX, then hardly ridden it. He’d hoped
He, remember, had never seen the bike,
to ride on the street again without fear after
only photos on Craigslist. From 10 feet
a traumatic crash years before. But he’d
immediately been afraid. Or so he said.
He had what looked like a nice old Yamaha
XT600 leaning against the side of his
garage.
Is that Yamaha running?, I asked.
No, he said, I left it out in the rain with the
spark plug removed. Now it needs engine
work.
He told me he buys everything he can from
wrecking yards, especially tires taken off
totaled bikes. Much cheaper.
As he backed my new bike out of his dimly
lit garage, I put on my helmet to ride it
home.
Wary, but not nearly wary enough, I asked
him, “Air in the tires?”
“Sure,” the lying son of a bitch said. “Hey,
I’ve been ridin’ the thing.”
On the way home, two urban miles, the
bike would not turn. It would wallow. I
could barely stay in a lane. I thought it
would kill me and at the same time I hated
myself for feeling ungrateful. My God, it
was a gift, a free bike. But I was scared all
the way home, where I discovered the 20
psi in the front tire and 10 psi in the rear.
Not 36 and 42.
In daylight you could see that exposed
metal items low on the left side of the bike
were corroded. The front axle’s sleeve nut
was rusty over half its visible area. So were
the bolts attaching the front brake rotor
holder to the hub. And the little rod that
adjusts the shift-lever height. And a steel
chain guard bracket.
When I proposed this test to a fellow
moto-journalist he said, “Nope, it’ll never
happen. These press intros are to schmooze
us into reprinting their hyped media kits
fully loaded, as did the BMW. It excelled
while doing a little riding mixed with a
on the off-road tracks or trails where the
lot of fine eating, swilling and telling lies
BMW would have been wallowing. On
to each other. Ten to 15 of us crashed on
the downside, the KLX250S’ suspension
one day when some unexpected snow
and small luggage rack had no capacity
gave us a real-life survival test and that
for a sitter toilet on the back. While toilets
was on unloaded motorcycles (“Cult of
were not a problem for my knee in 90
Personality,” May, 2010). I can’t see that
percent of America, taking care of business
manufacturer allowing us to fill the side
in the bush of Alaska or sagebrush of
boxes with 30-50 lbs of gear, another 20-30
Wyoming was nearly the same as squatting
pounds in the top box and tank bag, then
in Southeast Asia. If I did want to carry a
As an adventurist I read shoot outs of
sitter on the KLX250S it would have had to adventure motorcycle comparisons, lusting putting a Kohler or fold-up camping toilet
on the back.”
have been one of the “Outdoor Adventure for the all-around adventure motorcycle
Toilets” sold in
I pondered the missing elements of the
that the testers
camping stores, the
Adventure Shoot Out concept where test
rated. When the
three-legged fold-up
manufacturers invited riders were pampered while the ultimate
things that weigh
journalists for a two- consumers found reality in far-away places
less than a couple of
like the bush or tundra between Coldfoot
three day adventure
pounds and collapsed
and Deadhose in Alaska. There, unless
test I noted most
to the size of a
they could time a call of nature to the one
often the journalists
sleeping mat. With my
rest station in between, it was tundra, trees
were housed in
bad knee I would also
or bush for toilets. I concluded the tests
upscale facilities
have to carry a cane,
were insightful but limited if one wanted
and regular stops
maybe two, to get up
to carry a toilet and not be “at one with
during the testing
and off the camping
day were planned for nature.”
sitter.
them to visit toilets.
I knew the reality of my adventure travel
What I wanted to
My 600cc and
and what one finds in various places on
see was a real-life
650cc adventure
the planet. While I am not a hygienic-analexpedition test where
motorcycles both
extremist ‘round-the-world traveler who
the journalists were
had highly modified
inspects the restaurant kitchens where
faced with survival
suspensions and
his food is prepared, I know my knee and
riding, truly testing
carrying capacity. The
suspect there are other older adventurists
with similar afflictions.
dr. gregory w.
B
MWs, Hondas, Yamahas, and
Kawasakis, all on/off-road
motorcycles, gave me a good taste
of what I liked and what I did not over the
last year. I rode everything from a fully
farkled BMW 1200 to a basic Honda 250
and traveled from Deadhorse, Alaska to
Java, Indonesia over those months. I came
away with a sense of what worked best for
me, but wanting more.
The BMW R1200GS Adventure was
ideal for carrying capacity. In the jungles
of Indonesia where all the toilets were
squatters and not sitters, I wished for the
porcelain toilet I could have carried on the
back of the Bavarian behemoth.
I needed a new knee, the result of hard use
over the years, and squatting on two slabs
on the floor with a hole in between often
found me nearly unable to stand up after
finishing my business. A western-style
sitter made the process much easier. For
travel through those areas I longed for the
BMW. With it I could carry a full load of
electronic gizmos, spare tires, a portable
kitchen and an American Standard sitter
with the holding tank on the back. The
BMW even had enough carrying capacity
to hold two or three gallons of water to fill
the holding tank for flushing.
Photo: Dr. Gregory W. Frazier
The Honda 250 Tiger and XRs I used to
do some jungle work and Rocky Mountain
passes were only able to support a roll or
two of toilet paper on the back, neither
having a luggage rack. Both were barely
able to support the one bag I carried and
a small tank bag on the equally small gas
tank. When I needed a toilet for more than
watering plants or rocks while using these
motorcycles I often sought out trees or
larger rocks to lean back against and then
use for hand holds to push upward when
finished.
Toilet Adventure Rider
Yamaha Tenere had a sturdy rear rack that
supported aluminum panniers as did the
Happy Trails modified Kawasaki KLR650.
Both could have carried a toilet on the
My most extreme adventures last year were back, but not one of the high-end porcelain
done on a Kawasaki KLX250S. It took me Kohler or American Standard models.
and all the gear I needed to Deadhorse,
What the Japanese mid-range adventure
Alaska, then on to hunting bear on the
models were better able to support would
remote island of Kodiak. It also carried me have been one of the $85 plastic models
on private lands in the middle of Wyoming, made in China, an “econo-flush water
20-30 miles from the nearest road or house. saver.”
The KLX did most of the same type roads,
One lady I traveled with in Europe,
for mostly cultural reasons (she was
American) would absolutely, 100 percent,
the motorcycles in environments like some never use a squatter, no matter how much
pressure she was under. Once we had
adventurists know and many wannabes
thought was out there on a real adventure. stopped three or four times before she
found a sitter, wasting the better part of an
Demand for toilets would be close to the
top of the list of test elements and a simple hour while she would go inside, make her
rating of how the motorcycle would handle inspection and then come out and say, “no.”
a Kohler versus the camper fold-up sitter on Had I known the motorcycle could have
carried porcelain or even a plastic toilet
the back could tell old hands and newbies
on the back we would have likely covered
whether the motorcycle was a poseur
another 500 miles of perfect motorcycling
model or had real potential.
roads in the Italian Alps during the time we
wasted finding her a sitter.
I once saw a photograph of a German
couple on motorcycles headed into some
country with their supply of toilet paper
on the back, stacked about 1 meter high.
Whether the picture was posed or not, the
fact was that the aspect of adventuring
with a motorcycle involved the seldomaddressed area of toilets.
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I believe the next time I am asked by
one of my American adventure-seeking
acquaintances, “what’s the best adventuretouring motorcycle?” I am going to add
the Toilet Carrying Factor, whether the
motorcycle can carry the porcelain throne
Americans are used to or whether it is going
to leave the adventurer leaning up against a
pyramid in the desert of Egypt. For them,
if they are physically toilet challenged like
me, it might be a purchasing factor, but
that’s just my opinion. Maybe with a new
knee I would have a different opinion.
To see the reality of adventure riding by the
first ‘round the world adventure rider, Carl
Stearns Clancy in 1912-1913, look for Dr.
Frazier’s new book Motorcycle Adventurer at
motorcycleadventurer.com.
ed HERTFELDER
listed to the nearest tenth of a mile followed
by a plus sign is where it’s best to stop
following tire tracks and start looking for
recent staples in tree bark—where an arrow
used to be.
Gary was probably disappointed when I
managed to start my motorcycle without
high-siding myself off the kick starter as I
usually do, because a 600cc Single filled
with fresh oil can be, as the British say,
somewhat recalcitrant.
Y
ou have to admit that those world’s
funniest home video shows can
tickle your funny bone from both
sides at the same time. Here we sit in our
homes, watching our neighbors make
complete fools of themselves, and we can
laugh out loud without worrying about
getting a face full of knuckles.
It’s sort of like looking through a keyhole
without getting that annoying draft that
makes your eye water and everything look
blurred.
At the Leon Dube Cystic Fibrosis Benefit
Trail Ride, the Merrimac Valley Trail
Riders (MVTR) decided to bring a video
camera and follow me, the world’s worst
dirt rider, in hopes of getting enough
comical tape to win the billion-dollar
world’s funniest video prize. Some of the
fortune would go to cystic fibrosis research,
some to the marvelous New Hampshire
State Park folks, none to me.
Making a national-level fool of myself on a
motorcycle didn’t bother me much as I’ve
been doing just that for various local groups
for a long time now.
Gary did think my cold-start drill was
still good for a laugh, however, and shot
a close-up as I knelt down alongside the
motorcycle, then reached in to lift the
choke on the top of the left carburetor
and snapped an alligator clip on to hold it
World’s
Funniest
up. I explained to Gary that I’d removed
a perfectly good control cable and lever
that used to lift the rod simply because it
was mounted on the left handgrip. Since
I was accustomed to riding a Husky, the
Honda XL’s handgrip, with a clutch lever,
a compression release lever, a gadget we
use to hold the clutch released, a high/low
beam switch, a turn signal control, a horn
button plus that choke lever made me feel
like I was learning to play the saxophone.
Gary was surprised when the engine
started on the second kick; I wasn’t,
because it sometimes starts on the first, and
it’s a good thing it does, because you have
to dispose of a goodly number of calories
on each attempt.
think there was anything happening that
would make me a world’s funniest video
contender unless it was the contortions I
made getting the valve stem through the
hole in the rim.
Too soon I found out that the Merrimac
We rode out on the trail, and Gary surged
Valley Trail Riders funniest-video entry
ahead to get some tape of me floundering
was the look on my face when I realized the
across a few rocky water crossings. I really
tire pump was buried in the dirt, still hosedisappointed him because I didn’t fall or
clamped to the handlebar of an upsideget sideways on any of them. Then the front down motorcycle with no front wheel!
tire went flat.
Check your local listing for the time and
This is not a problem for me because I
station.
always carry a good BMW tire pump
For a copy of Ed’s latest book, 80.4 Finish Check,
clamped to the handlebar’s crossbar, plus
send $29.95 with suggested inscription to Ed
tire irons, spare tubes and insect repellent. Hertfelder, P. O. Box 17564, Tucson, AZ 85731
The latter is essential, because a stopped
and sweating dirt rider can attract
mosquitoes from miles away, and its not a
good idea to slap at the things when you’re
holding a tire iron in each hand.
Gary filmed me as I lined up my tools
and the new tube and then flipped the
motorcycle over onto its handlebars
because I’ve never found a safe way to hold
it up and get the wheel back on! Lining up
a threaded axle shaft while holding a loose
speedo drive on one side and a spacer on
the other, then wiggling the brake rotor
between the disc pads and threading it
into a fork tube that rotates is easier when
you’re not worrying about a 300 pound
motorcycle slipping off a wet rock.
Gary made rude remarks as he filmed the
old tube coming out; it had pulled the
stem. The new tube went in easily, next he
started laughing a lot—a whole lot. I didn’t
Gary Girolman was the designated
cameraman, but he missed the opening
act. As I was rolling my big 600 Honda
single out of my van, my steel ramp slid
sideways on the slippery early morning
dew. A terrified pull on the front brake lever
resulted in my front knobby tire pulling
rug layers two and three right along with it,
making the back of the old Ford look like a
whale with its tongue hanging out.
Gary was half serious in suggesting I
re-stage the acrobatic performance, and I
was three-quarters serious in suggesting a
re-staging of Gary’s conception—but with
fewer dogs.
Watching the first few feet of tape that
Gary shot might be funny to some, but it
sure wasn’t to me. At the Dube, rolled-up
route sheets are issued to riders as they sign
up. As Gary’s camera whirred away, I duct
taped the lead edge to the take-up reel on
my holder and started rolling it in. And
rolling it in, and rolling it in—until I got a
cramp in my left hand. The proper way to
do the job is to wind up the sheet tail first
so that when you’re done you’re ready to
ride. The way I did meant I had to rewind
the whole thing—all 56 inches of it. When
you have a cramp in your fingers it feels like
56 yards!
The only nice thing about doing it that way
was that I could read all the instructions
that were written in red ink and thus get
a good idea where I (and everyone else)
would get lost. Anyplace where a turn is
$14.99 + $5 shipping
Sizes S-XXL
Email us: info@citybike.com
or by mail:
City Bike Magazine
PO Box 10659
Oakland, CA 94610
TANKSLAPPERS
motionpro.com or call your local motorcycle
shop) holds that bead in place (without
using your foot) while mounting a new tire,
and K & L makes the “Tire Tamer” (P/N
35-9264, klsupply.com, contact your local
pricing that helps you move that
shop for pricing)
stubborn rear dirt tire out of the way to
mount the all important rim-lock. I’ve not
pinched a tube in years since discovering
these tools and the Melco wide tire irons.
NICE GUYS FINISH LAST?
Seems like Leo Durocher (the
legendarily acerbic manager of the
Giants—AKA Leo the Lip) was wrong
about nice guys. Maynard seems to
disprove this in his most recent column.
Dr T, Franktown
Leo may be vindicated by this month’s
column...
Grass Valley, CA
On the Road
Call dealers? That sounds suspiciously like
real journalism.
✯
✯
✯
DON’T PINCH YOUR TUBES
Hope this gets to Tankslapper. Just finished
reading your October 2010 issue (spent
49 years in the city, now living in the Gold
Country—motorcycle nirvana for dirt or
street) and have two points to make.
(408) 354-4999
OFF THE PARADEEP END
Dear Sir,
I’d purchased a City Ride from one of your
dealer in Barmer, Rajasthan on 05.11.2009.
Now, I’m transferred to Paradeep, Orissa
and there are some technical problems
being observed now a days in my bike. So,
please let me know your dealers address
and contact number in Paradeep/Orissa so
that my problem can be sorted out.
1: Hey, Gabe, in your HD vs Victory test,
Bluto never drove the parade float marked
“Eat Me”. D-Day drove it and Bluto was
busy getting a half nekkid girl into a caddie
Regards,
convertible while wearing a pirate costume.
Dipankar Mukherjee
Thing 2: Loved Gutter Mechanic, but there
are two more tools you should have to
Mob: 7894411807/7894400118
make tire changes even faster (been doing
this for 40 years): Motion Pro’s “Trail Bead May we suggest a shorter phone number? That
Buddy” ($11.25, P/N 08-0388: more info at could be the problem right there...
!
E
B
I
R
C
SU BS
MARIN COUNTY’S
BIGGEST, LITTLE
GEAR SHOP
***City Bike Reader Special***
DISCOUNT PRICING ON ALL TIRES
we match internet pricing *
***some restrictons apply***
1345 E. Francisco Blvd. San Rafael, CA 94901
415-457-MOJO (6656)
MONDAY - SATURDAY 10-6
www.proactionathletics.com
* on $100 purchase, one per customer
Same Owner Since 1964
ProAction Athletics
C’MON, YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT.
Just send a check for $30 to:
PO Box 10650
Oakland, CA 94610
be sure to include your name,
address, & phone number!
or use Paypal!
paypal@citybike.com
FREE!
ORIGINAL PARTS
SERVICE AND REPAIR
FOR BMW MOTORCYCLES
Oakland’s Boot Camp for Women
DAVE GARDNER
Certified Technician
Repair of all Motorcycles,
including BMW & Harley-Davidson
ADMISSION & RIDE OUT
Sacramento Drive-In – Sacramento, CA
JANUARY 16, 2011
(800) 762-9785 • WWW.TOPPINGEVENTS.COM
Classes Monday-Friday
6am, 7am, 9am, 5pm & 6pm
415-209-9860
HELIMOT
• Valve Seat & Guide Replacement • Race Prep •
• Porting • Polishing •
Suits, Gloves, Back Protectors
Made in San Jose CA, USA
1141 Old Bayshore Hwy
San Jose CA 95112
408-298-9608
Tue - Fri 10-6, Sat 9-2
The Buffalo Pro
• Deerskin
• Repairable
• Crash Tested
• Nearly 4-Season
www.HELIMOT.com
1054 First Street in Novato
www.cycletown.us
1064 REVERE AVE. S.F., CA
MON-FRI 11:00 TO 7pm (415) 822-2041
Cylinder Head
Specialists
In Business Since 1978
All Makes
All Models
All Years
ENGINE DYNAMICS, LLC
Phone 707-763-7519
Fax 707-763-3759
www.enginedynamics.com
• Flow Bench Testing • Competition Valve Jobs •
CityBike:
Sweet
✯
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Eric Von Bickel
PARTS REPS ON CRACK?
I need to dispute your “Hard times for
Hard parts” piece (NCR, October) in
the October issue. I think the author
either mistakenly switched hard parts /
soft goods or the industry rep they spoke
with is on crack! I rep for one of the big
distributors and it is the exact opposite of
what’s stated. Soft goods are in the shitter
and consumables and hard parts are doing
quite well—relatively speaking for today’s
economy. Call some dealers and ask—I
speak the truth.
Marketplace
2040 Petaluma Blvd. N.Petaluma, CA 94952
CLASSIFIEDS
CLUB LISTINGS
Hyosung owners unite! I’m trying to organize a ride. Email me
if interested: bayareamoto@gmail.com.
TRI-VALLEY MOTO
This 2002 BMW R1150R sold in less than 24 hours! While
we can’t guarantee it, we’ve been selling nice consignment
motorcycles quickly. We have the staff, the customer base and
the resources to make it happen fast and hassle free for YOU!
Call Tri Valley Moto today for a “no obligation” quote. 925583-3300 www.trivalleymoto.com
HATTAR MOTORSPORTS in ambrosial San Rafael is
located within spit wad range of San Francisco, Oakland, or
(with a stiff tailwind) Santa Rosa. Getting here is easy from
anywhere in the Bay Area, in other words. And once you’ve
easily arrived, you’ll find an award winning showroom that’s
teeming with bargains on new and used motorcycles and
apparel. And a staff that welcomes you like family on the first
day of a Thanksgiving get-together hours before your sloshed,
bitter, Neanderthalistic uncle brings up politics or religion in
vitriolic fashion. And plenty of free parking, too. Lots to like,
in other words.
Ducati has some promotions in place meant to help clear out all
remaining new 2010 models pretty much right now. Huge cash
incentives or miniscule interest rates, whichever you find most
titillating. It applies to all remaining Monster 696, Monster
796, Monster 1100 and 1100S, 848 and 1198 Superbikes,
as well as Streetfighter and Streetfighter S models. While
the factory does not permit advertising any of their wares for
anything other than MSRP, the overall savings occasionally
come to within a gnat’s fart of the total GDP of Zimbabwe. A
whole lot of dosh, in other words.
We have many, many new 2010 Triumph motorcycles in
stock that must yield space to their younger variants lest our
showroom be featured on that TLC television show about
hoarding. It would be a bit cumbersome to list every new
Triumph that must find new homes at once, profit be damned,
so I will instead offer up a few to whet your appetite. You
may own a new Triumph America 900 that once carried
an M.S.R.P. of $8,599 for a lousy $6,999 (I.D. #45966) if
you A. want to own this bike and, B. have a spare $6,999
plus fees (or the ability to get a loan for this amount) laying
around. The 2-time Cruiser of the Year (as per Cycle World
magazine) award-winning Thunderbird 1600 that’s tagged
at an impressively low $12,499 can be yours for $2500 less if
you’re not beaten out to it by a bargain hunter who’s fleeter
of foot. You can even finance it for a rate as low as 0.9% if you
qualify! We have but 1 (I.D. #28209) so doddle at your peril.
The darling of the motorcycle press known to you and me as
the Triumph Street Triple 675 (I.D. #35284) can be had with a
FREE Arrow 3 into 2 performance exhaust system worth $999.
This system makes the already glorious-sounding triple sound
so good you could put it on a stage and charge admission. It’s
also way lighter than stock so the already sublime handling
is even more sublimer. This is a must-have upgrade and is
totally FREE if you hurry the hell up about it. Even Triumph’s
iconic Bonneville T100 is in on the savings parade. We have
a gorgeous one in a resplendent claret/silver color motif that’s
a cool $1000 off its $8799 M.S.R.P. (I.D. #86379). Or maybe
you’d prefer your Bonneville in Cafe mode, ala Thruxton 900.
You could buy a whole lot cafe with the $1200 savings from its
$8799 M.S.R.P., can you not, Jittery Jim? Only 1 available at
this ridiculously generous offer (I.D. #24452). Many of our
new Triumphs are available with rates as low as 0.9% APR.
Give us a shout and we’ll tell you more about this low interest
offer you should have a high interest in (Lord, it’s fun to play
with words!). It’s a great time to buy a new Triumph, in other
words.
HATTAR MOTORSPORTS has been arming itself with
some choice, late-model, super-clean used bikes lately and
our inventory is bigger than ever. These fine machines are
thoroughly inspected by our beloved gaggle of techs and
reconditioned as needed. A 30-day warranty accompanies
our used bikes so if any mechanical maladies pop up, we’ll
unmaladize it A.S.A.P. (or sooner, if possible) at no expense
to you. Here is a partial list of what’s available at this precise
second in time:
2010 HARLEY FXDX FAT BOB in phenomenal condition
with 7.9k miles for $13,999. 2007 HARLEY V-ROD
that’s like new and loaded with extras for $11,499. 2008
TRIUMPH TIGER 1050 with 7.5k miles, a smattering
of extra-cost goodies and a low price of $7,999. 2006
DUCATI MULTISTRADA 1000S with super low miles,
many big $$$ extras, and as shiny and sparkly as the day it
was born for $9,499. 2004 BMW K1200GT with only 6.7k
one-owner miles and in lovely condition for $8,999. 2010
DUCATI 1198S in white with a smidgeon over zero miles
and in showroom condition for $16,999. 2006 HONDA
CBR600F4i with a mere 4.9k miles is a mere $4,999. 2009
TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE SE with just 1.9k miles is just
$6,799. 2007 HARLEY XL1200N NIGHTSTER with
2.3k miles and in perfect condition is perfectly priced at just
$8,499. 2006 DUCATI ST3s-ABS in pristine condition
with a very reasonable 9k miles and sporting a melodious set
of Termignoni silencers (the best!) is an equally melodious
$9,499. 2008 DUCATI DESMOSEDICI (only the coolest,
most exotic bike on the planet) with a mere 1000 miles
and 100% perfect is $50,000 , and a bargain at that. 2004
HARLEY XL1200 CUSTOM with lots and lots of trinkets
and upgrades and just 3.7k miles is in new condition but
with a distinctly un-new price of $5,999. 2008 DUCATI
GT1000 with 3.5k miles and lovely of countenance for a
miserly $7,999. 2006 APRILIA SCARABEO 500 in superherb condition with 8k miles is but $4,299. 2010 DUCATI
STREETFIGHTER S with nary a mile and in glistening
shape for $14,999. 2008 HARLEY ROAD KING CLASSIC
that’s loaded and in showroom condition for $16,999. 2005
DUCATI MULTISTRADA 1000 with just 6k miles, freshly
serviced, and sporting some extra-cost goodies for $6,499.
2007 DUCATI S2R1000 with 7.5k miles and fitted with the
best exhaust kit available (Termi’s, of course!) for $7,999. 2007
HARLEY FXSTB NIGHT TRAIN with 6.7k miles, plenty of
upgrades, and in showroom shape for $13,499. 2005 DUCATI
749R with 2k miles and well over $7k in extras is only $12,000.
Remember, people in the real world, this is just a partial list of
what’s on hand. Contact us at once if you wish to know what
other gems are here in exchange for meager amounts of cash
or your signature on a loan contract. We’ve got a seemingly
endless supply of fine used bikes, in other words.
And, speaking of loan contracts, HATTAR MOTORSPORTS
has more lenders at our disposal who are eager and able to
make loans than anytime in recent memory. If you’ve got gold
**censored** and want a stupid-low rate, we’re your 1-stop
shop. If you’ve got bronze **censored** and want a decent
payment, we’ve got you covered. If your **censored** are made
of rusty pot metal but you want to re-establish some good
credit history, we’re here to help you do just that. Regardless
of the metallurgical make up of your **censored** we have
financing just for you, in other words.
HATTAR MOTORSPORTS not only pays top dollar for nice
trade-ins, we also purchase bikes of all types (notice all the
Harleys we have for sale?) and sizes, paid for or not. We offer
fair and fast real money without the empty promises of most
consignment schemes. We can arrange to pick up your bike,
too. If you’re ready to sell your bike, bring it in for an inspection
and a prompt cash offer. You’ll be mighty glad you did. Umm,
you know..., in other words.
HATTAR MOTORSPORTS is situated at 601 Francisco
Blvd East in San Rafael. We are here with arms outstretched
awaiting your arrival from 10 AM to 6:30 PM, Tuesday
through Friday and 10 AM to 5:30 PM on Saturday. Our
website (that features many of the used bikes you read about in
this here ad) is at www.hattarmoto.com. You may reach us by
way of email at sales@hattarmoto.com. We have a multitude of
ways to be contacted, in other words. Used Bikes:
2006 Honda Shadow Aero 750—U1088, Looks and
performance of Classic Cruiser Styling From Days of Old,
$5499
2004 CRF250R — U970, Newly rebuilt motor! Only $2999
2008 Kawasaki ZX10R — U1049, «Willie D. Custom» With
Lots of Goodies, only $8999 with this CityBike Ad!
2007 Kawasaki ZZR600 — U1059, Great Commuter With
GIVI Top Case, $5999
2007 Kawasaki Ninja 250R— Great beginner motorcycle
and commuter! Runs great! Some cosmetic issues. $2299
2007 Kawasaki Ninja 500R — C431, Fun, easy, manageable
first sportbike, 6 miles! $4099
2008 Yamaha TW 200— Fun commuter for San Francisco or
on the trails. 1140 miles, $2999
(925) 969 7818
Zero Electric Motorcycles available here At Mission
Motorcycles. Call To Schedule A Demo Ride - (650) 992-1234
See all of our bikes online at www.missionmotorcycles.com.
Prices do not include government fees, taxes, dealer freight/
preparation(new vehicles only), dealer document preparation
charges or any finance charges (if applicable). Final actual sales
price will vary depending on options or accessories selected.
MUNROE MOTORS
SAN FRANCISCO’S OLDEST AND BEST MOTORCYCLE
SHOP—SINCE 1958
USED BIKES
2001 Buell Blast $2,495 Great city/beginners bike. 500cc
single thumper. With only a 27 inch seat height, it’s also great
for those who likes it low. With only 6.3k miles on the speedo,
this bike is priced to sell!
2008 Honda CBR1000rr $8999—only 1500 miles
burgundy/silver
MOTORCYCLES!
2006 Kawasaki KX450F $3999—adult owned, clean and
well maintained
2007 Honda Shadow 600, 4360 miles, blue, V-Twin! $4095
2007 Honda Shadow 600, 1010 miles, silver, low seat! $4095
2007 Honda Shadow 600, Just 60 miles! blue. $4295
2007 Hyosung Avitar GV650 3148 miles on this smooth,
powerful middleweight V-Twin! Only $3688.
2009 Kawasaki Ninja 500R, Blue, low-seat, reliable sportbike,
8114 miles, $3849
2002 MZ RT125, 2502 miles, Rare 125 streetbike, just $1788
2008 Suzuki DRZ400SM hard-to-find supermoto! 4052
miles, $4695
2007 Suzuki LS650 Savage S40 Easy-to-handle low-seat
thumper-cruiser. 4259 miles. $3199
2007 Suzuki GS500F Silver, full fairing, liked by CityBike!
4473 miles, $3695
2005 Yamaha YZF-R6 Best year for the R6—just ask MiniMike. 26,400 miles, $4595
2010 Yamaha XT250 Rare street-legal mini-thumper! Only
104 miles. $4295
SCOOTERS!
2004 Honda Reflex 250 Son of the Helix! Great commuter
$2495
2010 Moto Guzzi Griso $11995 This was a press bike from
Moto Guzzi USA. Comes with all the goodies, termi pipes, soft
bags. Only 5k on this testarossa.
2010 SYM HD200 Cross-country rally scoot! Call for pricing.
2010 Moto Guzzi V7 classic $7,495 A Moto Guzzi press bike
with only 2.7k. This black beauty is tricked out with leather
bags and high touring screen. Take a road trip in style!
NEW:
2006 Ducati Monster 620 $4,795 This dark monster has
only 2.3k. Been parked lost and looking for a good home.
We checked everything through and put on a new tire, chain
service, and fresh fluids. Great first bike! Who said you can’t
have a Ducati for a first bike?
2009 GT250R, fuel-injected, better than the 250 Ninja!
$3799.
1993 Ducati 900ss SP $4795 Loaded with Carbon Fiber, this
classic is a must see. Hard to find a SP this clean! We just did
the 12k service on this rossa, but it only has 6k. That means
valves, fluid, and belts. Thumpin’ air cooled L twin!
412 Valencia St. S.F. 415/626-3496 www.munroemotors.com 255 8th Street at Folsom in San Francisco: 415/255-3132,
www.sfmoto.com. Located in the SOMA (South of Market)
neighborhood in San Francisco, California we provide the
bay area with new and used motorcycles, scooters, service,and
gear. We have an overflowing inventory of used sportbikes,
cruisers, supermoto, and scooters. Lots of options for financing
as well. Our Service department has INCREASED operating
hours. Every weekday morning service now opens at 8:00 a.m. What’s New:
Service hours have INCREASED! Every weekday morning
service now opens at 8:00am. We are getting fantastic response
from all of you on this one THANK YOU!!
Our Service Department will check your tire pressures for free
whenever you bring in your motorcycle, scooter, or ATV for
servicing or repairs.
Find our page on Facebook to find out which bikes we just
bought, and will soon be coming to market. We’ll see you there!
2009 Ducati Monster 696 $7495 Here’s your chance to buy
a Ducati and save thousands. Like new condition! 7.5k service
was performed here at Munroe Motors. We also just installed a
new set of tires as well. 8.7k miles on this hot white monster!
In the Service department:
Any Parts or Accessories in stock are 15% off the marked price!
One bag per customer, so get in as much stuff as you can and
have fun while saving money!
Sign up on our mail list to get NEW INVENTORY
NOTIFICATIONS in our weekly e mail newsletter.
2007 Honda Shadow VLX 600 $4499—like new with
windscreen
NEW:
6232 Mission Street Daly City, CA 94014. 650/9921234 or 415/333-1234 missionmotorcycles.com
1 Saturday of the month is BROWN BAG Saturday! Get it in
the bag and Get 15% OFF!
2003 Yamaha YZ450F $2799
2007 Hyosung GT250 10,797 miles, standard-styled 250!
$2195
MISSION MOTORCYCLES
st
The SYM SYMBA is now available in California, and we have
limited stock on hand for you to see & feel. Come down and
meet your new buddy the SYM SYMBA!
2007 Hyosung Avitar GV650 16,003 miles: only $2895.
We want you to protect your pumpkin! For October we are
having a MAJOR HELMET SALE. Come in and find out first
hand why SF Moto is the best place in the San Francisco Bay
Area to buy your Motorcycle or Scooter Helmet!
www.eastbayace.com
industry so we can answer all your questions without the BS. If
we can’t get you financed, no one can.
1998 Suzuki Bandit 1200S—C420 Very low miles, Great
condition. 1005 mile, $3999
SF MOTO
ACE MOTORSPORTS has the largest selection
of Used Motorcycles in the Bay Area. We offer
Financing on all our pre-owned inventory.
provide the safest way for you to get cash for your motorcycle
or scooter.
Now we have a direct phone line into the service dept:
415/861-7196
A new tool just arrived from Europe that allows us to make a
working copy of your Vespa or Ducati key EVEN if you LOST
your MASTER KEY! (red key)
The Sales department says:
We buy used motorcycles and scooters, we can also help you
sell your ride with our no cost consignment program. Bring
your bike, title, owners handbook, and keys. It’s okay if you still
have a loan on your bike; we can still take care of you. We will
2002 MZ Moskito, 6172 miles, 50cc, just $750
2007 Vespa LX150, 71 (really!) miles, blue, new low price!
$3095
Hyosung!
2010 GV250 Aquilia Fuel-injected 250 V-Twin Cruiser, all
colors, just $3899
SYM! 2009 Mio 50 Tops the Vino and Vespa. Go green with a
100-mpg four-stroke! Sale: $1999!
2009 SYM HD200, pick your color, freeway legal, SALE!
$3399!
2008 SYM RV250 Tops the Helix and Reflex, freeway cruiser,
save $1400! Call for pricing.
2009 SYM Citycom 300i Fuel-injected, freeway legal, ride in
style! $4699.
FREMONT HONDA KAWASAKI
2000 Ducati 996 $6999—clean, well maintained 7k miles
2005 Yamaha Road Star Midnight $6499—2 windscreens,
Vance & Hines exhaust plus stock pipes, Corbin seat w/
backrest, crash bars and more. black
2006 Suzuki M109 $7499—low 15k miles, Corbin seat
2002 Yamaha 650 V-Star Custom. $2799—great first bike.
rear rack w/backrest. clean
Never worry about theft, vandalism, weather damage or
parking tickets. DUBBELJU MC RENTALS, San Francisco’s
oldest motorcycle rental shop, offers safe storage for your bike
in our shop at 689A Bryant St. Not only is it a great shop to
store your motorcycle but we have cool rental bikes as well;
BMW, Triumph, Harley, Honda, Suzuki, and even Yamaha
scooters. Keep us in mind when your bike is in the shop or you
have a friend come in to town. Be sure to check out our web
site: www.dubbelju.com and see all the things we have going
on. 415/495-2774.
ADVANCED CYCLE SERVICE
2008 Honda VT750 Spirit C2 Only 958 miles !!! $7999—
$3000 in custom extra’s. Tons of chrome. Saddle bags,
Mustang seat, windscreen, Honda digital MP3 sound system,
back rest w/bag, custom pegs and grips, more chrome, tank belt
with pocket for MP3 or iPod and did I mention chrome?
call Bill Keys 510-661-0100 ext.115 or E-mail
bill@fremonthondakawasaki.com
SCOOTERLAND!
ScooterLand US is leading the transition to newer, greener
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USED MOTORCYCLES:
2003 KTM 200 MX/C. Low hours, bought new in 2004.
Garaged, well maintained, needs nothing. Only $3300 for this
wicked dirt bike. Call 707/578-6686.
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Come check us out
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Serving Marin, Sonoma, Napa & Mendocino Counties
707-537-5212
SAN FRANCISCO AND BEYOND:
DAVE’S CYCLE TRANSPORT
www.advcycles.com
REACH OUT TO THE MASSES! Run your classified in
CityBike and communicate with thousands and thousands of
Bay Area motorcyclists, just because it’s the right thing to do.
For $15, we’ll run your ad ‘till sold, and probably even months
after that, as our classified ad department is a cesspool of fear
and despair, marked by binge drinking and questionable health
and safety practices, so culling aged classified ads is the least
of their problems. Tell us about your meeting with the Dalai
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or advertise your new business selling “Pet Rocks.” Subscribers
get a free ad every month! Maybe you should subscribe,
cheap-o.
DUCATI SUZUKI KAWASAKI
YAMAHA HONDA
Custom Design Studios
1984 Honda V-65 Magna: Garaged, well maintained. Many
new parts, runs strong, easy restoration or just ride. $1250
OBO. Call J.C. 707/373-3914.
2003 Suzuki SV1000S, silver. One original owner, still on first
set of tires! Just 3000 miles, like new. Other items available.
$4500. Ask for Otto: tthrnndz@yahoo.com
The Old Man
The Old Truck
Dave is working
2001 Honda Reflex Scooter: 250cc, 8100 miles, new tags in
May, $1999. Call Jess in Belmont: 650/593-6763
1999 Yamaha R1, blue, 4.6K miles, Ohlins, Race Tech, Graves
rearsets, V&H slip-on: $3950. Also, ‘97 Aprilia RS250 & ‘99
R6 track bikes: prices negotiable. 408/343-0381/921-9689.
1999 Kawasaki Concours: 40k miles, plus upgrades, never
crashed. $2345 or ? Auburn 530/823-8480
Dave’s Cycle Transport
Mind-Blowing Custom Paint Since 1988
Visit Our Showroom!
V-Twin Service, Repair, Parts, & Fabrication.
Harley Factory Trained Tech. 415 382-6662
56 Hamilton Dr. # A
Novato, Ca. 94949
1955 Zundapp 600cc: Restored to perfection. National award
winner. Black. $25,000. Serious inquiries only. 415/781-3432
2007 KTM 990 Superduke: Orange and black, 7500 miles.
Great condition. $8900 707/971-0306
*The only northern California dealer to receive the 2009
“Honda Counsel of Excellence” Award.
Three Trials Motorcycles for Sale! 70cc, 250cc and 350cc.
Call 415/781-3432
Service dept.- If you have your bike serviced and live within
the tri-city area, we’ll pick your bike up and deliver it back at
NO charge. While we are an OEM Honda- Kawasaki service
center, we do offer service on all makes and models. Our tech’s
all average over 25 yrs. in the industry [one over 40] so you
know the job gets done right the first time.
2006 Yamaha FZ1: Under 13,000 miles, excellent mechanical
condition though will need tires soon. Everything else is
excellent: just some cosmetic wear saddle bags / seat bag
included $5000 or offer 831/917-2227.
Sales dept.- Great inventory on new Honda and Kawasakis as
well as used. We buy used bikes or can just help you sell yours.
If you’re buying your first bike, and you recently completed the
MSF class, bring your certificate of completion in and we’ll
deduct your tuition from the cost of your new bike. We buy
used bikes or can just help you sell yours. If you’re buying your
first bike, and you recently completed the MSF class, bring
your certificate of completion in and we’ll deduct it from the
cost of you new bike. Our sales staff all have 35-40+ yrs. in the
MOTORCYCLE STORAGE AND
RENTALS IN SAN FRANCISCO
2005 Kawasaki ZZR1200, 33000 miles $5999—Factory
bags, Euro touring screen, bar risers, frame sliders, Sargent
seat. This bike is perfect.
510-661-0100
Parts dept.- Since Fremont Cycle Salvage moved in next door,
we’ve combined all new accessories into one dept. Same old
smiling faces and personality as well as the brand names your
looking for. Arai, Icon, HJC, Joe Rocket, Alpinestars, Speed &
Strength and still get your tires at 20% off MSRP. Mounting
and balance is free when you bring wheels off bike.
SERVICE
2009 Kawasaki KLR650 $3999—clean, progessive fork
springs, rear shock. red
2002 Moto Guzzi LeMans: 7000 miles, Champagne gold,
factory titanium cannisters, factory ECU chip, Corbin Gel
Seat. $6000 Clay 510/758-7564, bmwclay@prodigy.net
41545 Albrae St. Fremont, CA 94538
THE UNDERTAKER: Motorcycle towing system. No trailer,
no tires, no tags. No parking or storing. Check it out at www.
TowYourBike.com. 925/413-4103. Dirt Bike or Cruiser. 24 Hour Service
(415)824-3020/www.davescycle.com
WHEELS AND DEALS
ACCIDENT OR INJURY?
Call 415/999-4790 for a 24-hr. recorded message and a copy of
the FREE REPORT
MOTO TIRE GUY
EBAY SALES
eBay sales. Specialist with vehicles, 12 years experience, and
4000+ positive feedback rating. Flat listing rate. I can produce
auctions with 20+ large format, gorgeous, high quality pictures
with my dealer account and pro-grade camera. Dr. Hannibal
Lechter reminds us that «we covet what we see.” Let me show
people what you have and why they should pay top dollar for it!
Interested in larger lots of identifiable, good-quality motorcycle
and car parts to buy as well. imperialist1960@yahoo.com or
415/699-8760.
PARTS AND ACCESSORIES
For Sale: Complete 2008 Harley 96” top end. Cylinders,
pistons, cams, heads, valves, pushrods, throttle body, tuner.
Fair price at $500. Call 831/475-0353 or email dorseys8@
sbcglobal.net
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AFM Report: Round 7 at Thunderhill Raceway Park
By Mike Solis,
Photos by Gary Rather
A
t the start of the Formula Pacific
race at Thunderhill—the final
round of the seven-race AFM
season—it was Chris Siglin taking the
holeshot on his Boulder Motorsports
Ducati, desperate for a win with a 20-point
deficit to championship points leader Jeff
Tigert. Siglin’s lead was short lived as the
field engulfed him soon afterward, with
James Randolph, David Stanton, and
Michael Earnest all slipping past early in
the first lap. Together, the three at the front
immediately put a gap on Siglin and the
rest of the field, with Earnest charging up to
second by the end of the first lap.
It wasn’t long until Earnest made his way
past Randolph and into the lead, looking
strong at the front on his EDR Motorsports
Suzuki. Riding his Mach 1 Motorsports
Yamaha, Stanton also made his way past
Randolph in pursuit of Earnest, eventually
taking over the lead when Earnest
experienced a false neutral on the brakes
in Turn 14. In the meantime, Siglin saw his
championship hopes evaporate as he lost
touch with the front runners, struggling to
but I just couldn’t do it.
I think everyone else
chose a softer tire, while I
went with a harder one. I
could see the guys moving
around, Michael was
definitely moving around.
I just didn’t have anything
for him—my hat’s off to
him.”
Formula Pacific—1. Michael Earnest 2. David Stanton
3. James Randolph 4. Ricky Corey 5. Chris Siglin 6.
Martin Szwarc
CT Racing Open Superbike—1. David Stanton 2.
Martin Szwarc 3. Scott Wilson 4. Gabriel Santa Coloma
5. Chris Siebenhaar 6. Mathew Orange
750 Superbike—1. Lenny Hale 2. Jesse Carter 3. Kevin
Nekimken 4. Brian Stone 5. Matt Presting 6. Nick
Hayman
With two race wins earlier
in the day on his KTM
RC8, many thought
Randolph would be the
man to beat in the FP
race, despite injuring
his shoulder almost two
months ago at the last
round.
Pacific Track Time 600 Superbike—1. Lenny Hale 2.
Tyler O’Hara 3. Berto Wooldridge 4. Sebastiao Ferreira
5. Jason Lauritzen 6. Matt Presting
450 Superbike—1. Thomas Dorsey 2. Dave Moss 3.
Vlastimil Kotyza 4. Mark Elrod 5. Aleksandr Anatichuk
6. David Wallis
250 Superbike—1. Peter Le Duc 2. Richard Capps 3.
Alex Florea 4. Charles C.J. Weaver 5. Brian Bartlow 6.
Mark McKinney
“I feel like I’ve made
a full recovery, my
shoulder feels great,” said
Randolph. “I’ve been
riding the bicycle a lot, I
weigh a few pounds less
now. I wanted to have a
little bit more for David
The Track Club Open Production—1. Gabriel Santa
Coloma 2. Jesse Carter 3. Ken Casey 4. Sam Verderico 5.
Anthony Manciu 6. Tim Scarrott
750 Production—1. Lenny Hale 2. Sebastiao Ferreira
3. Kevin Nekimken 4. Jason Lauritzen 5. Brian Stone 6.
Ricardo Vizcaino
“The level of competition just
seemed crazy; you had 5 or 6
guys who could win it on any
given day...”
keep Ricky Corey and his well-developed
Graves Motorsports Yamaha behind him.
A little further back, Honda R&D rider and
current WSMC Number One Jeff Tigert
calmly watched the action unfold on his
CM Motorsports-tuned Honda, playing it
safe with the championship in his sights.
After losing the lead to Stanton, Earnest
quickly gathered himself for one more
charge, making his way back into the lead
with two laps to go. Stanton looked for a
way to counter but was unable to make it
happen, as Earnest went on to take his third
Formula Pacific victory of the year. Stanton
finished second, with Randolph third.
AFM Round 7
October 2-3, 2010
Thunderhill Raceway
Unofficial Results, Top 6 per Class
Keigwins@theTrack 600 Production—1. Lenny Hale
2. Tyler O’Hara 3. Berto Wooldridge 4. Jason Lauritzen
5. Sebastiao Ferreira 6. Thomas Montano
SV650, Sewell struggled on the little Ninja,
spending most of his race dicing for fifth
with novice racer Nick Grice. At the front,
Brian Bartlow put a small gap on the rest
of the field, while championship points
leader Kirk Korenko ran well off the pace
in fourth, borrowing a street bike from one
of Bartlow’s mechanics. Bartlow went on to
take the win, with Mark McKinney second
and C.J. Weaver third. Sewell—unable to
make his way past Grice—was forced to
settle for sixth.
and Michael, and in some
places I did—but I’m just
happy to end the year with
a podium.”
Despite finishing well
down the order in 7th,
Tigert finished the season
with his second AFM
number-one plate, with
301 points to Siglin’s 285.
“It’s been an amazing year,
there’s a lot of tough guys
up here,” said Tigert, “I
only won two of the seven
races, it’s not like I’m
Michael Earnest (26) leads James Randolph (2) and Dave Stanton (53) through T-Hill’s Cyclone.
“I talked to Dave last week, and said I
up there winning every
was looking forward to racing with him,”
time. I had to do it with
In a rare occurrence, three different riders “I knew Avansino was going good, since he
Earnest stated after the race. “I told him,
consistency, tried to ride
did that 55.4 in the 650 Twins race—best
‘it’s me and you, we’re going to go for it.’ It’s smart most of the year, taking my chances took victories in the three “SV classes” at
I could manage was a 56.1 or somewhere
Thunderhill.
In
650
Production
Twins,
been a little while since we had been able to when I had to. The level of competition
around there,” said O’Reilly, who picked up
Dan
Sewell
took
the
win
on
his
Twin
go together like that. My EDR Performance just seemed crazy; you had 5 or 6 guys who
his Suzuki from AFMer-turned-mountainWorks
Factory
Suzuki.
In
650
Twins,
GSX-R1000 was going great, it was a great could win it on any given day—that just
bike-racer Ian Gillies earlier this season.
Sewell’s
team
mate
Jay
Avansino
took
race. And I’m just happy to finish off the
made it mean all that much more to me.”
“It’s a little different from a 600 to ride,
the win on another Twin Works Factory
year with a win.”
Once again, Lenny Hale wrapped up the
and competitive for sure. You gotta keep a
Suzuki. In Formula 4, a new face finished
With two wins and two second-place
year by dominating the middleweight
in front, as former 600 racer Neill O’Reilly rhythm going all the time, and be perfect
finishes, Stanton seemed happy with the
classes. Riding his EDR Performancetook his first win since returning to racing with all your lines. On the 600s you can
weekend, despite coming up just short of
tuned Yamaha, Hale took decisive victories earlier this season. Despite being forced
get away with it a little, but on these you
his second Formula Pacific victory of the
in 600 Production, 600 Superbike, 750
misjudge a corner and it kills your drive.
to bump start his bike just moments
season.
Production, 750 Superbike, and Formula 1. before the green flag, O’Reilly got a solid
It’s a pleasure racing it, and financially a lot
easier to manage than the 600.”
start
from
his
second-row
grid
position,
“When Michael made that mistake going
“It’s been a good year, I just hope I can
methodically working his way forward
into 14, I couldn’t believe it,” said Stanton, find some more sponsors for next season,”
The 250 Production race also drew some
before going on to take the win. Jay
who split his weekend between his Mach
stated Hale. “I want to do more nationals,
attention, with number-ten plate holder
Avansino finished second, with Dan Sewell
1 Yamaha and a BMW S1000RR. “He got
but I can’t pay for it myself. I like the level
Dan Sewell showing up on the grid on
third.
by me with about two to go, and I tried to
those guys ride at.”
one of the Feel Like a Pro rental bikes.
get him a couple of times on that last lap,
Despite a countless number of wins on his
“I think it went really well, it was a good
opportunity to give up-and-coming riders
an affordable way to come out and ride on
a competitive motorcycle,” said Bartlow,
when asked about his first year running the
Feel Like a Pro racebike rental program.
“It’s like a big party, everyone just gathers
around and shares information. We have
suspension guys, tire guys, and even data
acquisition on the bikes. It’s just great to
have a bunch of people around, and great to
be with the AFM.”
CityBike Magazine congratulates Dave Stanton
for taking the CityBike Open GP title for 2010.
Kudos also to Martin Swarc (second) and Scott
Wilson (third).
CityBike would also like to thank the AFM, its staff
and officers, the racers, their fans, supporters and
(especially) the sponsors for providing Northern
California with the most exciting and competitive
club-level roadracing in the United States.
If you’ve ever thought about testing your mettle at
roadracing, now is the time. The grids are smaller,
racebikes are cheap and everbody will be happy
to see you on track. Find out more by visiting
afmracing.org or calling 510/796-7005.
650 Production Twins—1. Dan Sewell 2. Thomas
Dorsey 3. Alan Cunningham 4. Stephen Smith 5. Patrick
Murphy 6. Charles Almy
Formula 40 Heavyweight—1. David Stanton 2. Patrick
Blackburn 3. Ron Bunten 4. Patrick Corcoran 5. Mark
Hindman 6. Mark Henry
250 Production—1. Brian Bartlow 2. Mark McKinney
3. Charles C.J. Weaver 4. Kirk Korenko 5. Nick Grice 6.
Dan Sewell
Formula 40 Mediumweight—1. Nick Hayman 2.
Thomas Montano 3. Kelly Barnett 4. Roi Holster 5.
James Hendricks 6. Garry Bannister
CityBike Open Grand Prix—1. James Randolph
2. David Stanton 3. Martin Szwarc 4. Gabriel Santa
Coloma 5. Scott Wilson 6. Jesse Carter
Formula 40 Lightweight—1. Dan Sewell 2. Jay
Avansino 3. Robert Campbell 4. Jay Kinberger 5.
Thomas Dorsey 6. James Strauch
Scuderia West Formula 1—1. Lenny Hale 2. Jesse
Carter 3. Berto Wooldridge 4. Matt Presting 5. Greg
McCullough 6. Jose Flores
Formula AFemme—1. Christie Cooley 2. Zoe Rem
3. Jennifer Lauritzen 4. Kathy Reilly 5. Sara Probert 6.
Stacy Menas
Formula 2—1. Brian Hoffman 2. Michael Altamirano
3. Erik Kolstoe 4. Sergio Galvan 5. Andrew Duafala 6.
Andre Benguerel
Tag Team Heavyweight—1. Tim Scarrott, Eric Morris
2. Ron Bunten, Richard Stanco 3. Martin Ayala, David
Hutton 4. Jesse Carter, Harley Barnes
Formula 3—1. Peter Le Duc 2. Phillip Krenn 3. Jayson
Uribe 4. Gwyn Lewis 5. John Kreidle
Tag Team Middleweight—1. David Ben-Jamin, Sam
Richards 2. Robert Brown, Bobby McCourt
Formula 4—1. Neill O’Reilly 2. Jay Avansino 3. Dan
Sewell 4. David Raff 5. Jay Kinberger 6. Scott Lesniewski
Tag Team Lightweight—1. Jonathan Forman, Thomas
Dorsey 2. Alan Cunningham, Brad Gyger
Desmoto Sport Open Twins—1. James Randolph 2.
Chris Siglin 3. Steve Metz 4. Patrick Blackburn 5. Eric
Gulbransen 6. Shane Turpin
Super Dinosaur—1. Spencer Smith 2. Roosevelt
Charles 3. Paul Rico 4. Andrew Clay 5. Eric Thompson 6.
Ed Haazer
650 Twins—1. Jay Avansino 2. Neill O’Reilly 3.
David Raff 4. Dan Sewell 5. Robert Campbell 6. Scott
Lesniewski
Vintage—1. Timothy Silva 2. Brian Mitchell
500 Twins—1. Leonard Barker Jr 2. Vik Anderson 3.
Robert Clifford 4. Brian Bartlow 5. Richard Appel 6.
Chris Barbour
Formula Singles—1. Richard Capps 2. Peter Le Duc 3.
Alex Florea
Clubman Heavyweight—1. Ian Oss 2. Richard Stanco
3. Blaine Bessler 4. Michael Aaron Cohen 5. Brian
Woodiwiss 6. Aleksandr Anatichuk
Clubman Middleweight—1. Mike Nigliazzo 2.
Cameron Hart 3. Aleksandr Anatiychuk 4. Eric Hobbs 5.
Micah Larson 6. Yusaku Sako
Clubman Lightweight—1. Rory Kamper 2. Mitch
Joseph 3. Brad Gyger 4. Frank Shermoen 5. Stephen
Smith 6. Aleksandr Anatichuk
CityBike Rack Locations
Now, you have no excuse.
The new locations are as follows... (24) = available 24 hours a day*
SAN FRANCISCO
BMW Motorrad
Community College San Francisco
(12 Cloud Circle, 24)
Cycle Gear
Desmoto Sport
Dianese D-Store
Pi Bar (24)
Red’s Java Hut (24)
Lombard @ Leavenworth (24)
Irving @7th (24)
EAST BAY
Ace Motorsports in Concord (24)
Berkeley Honda Yamaha (24)
College @ Bancroft in Berkeley (24)
Contra Costa Power Sports in Concord
(24)
Team Graphics in Alameda (24)
Scooter Importer in Alameda (24)
Cycle Gear in Hayward
Hayward Cycle Salvage
Harley Davidson of Vallejo (24)
Fremont Honda Kawasaki (24)
MotoWrx in Livermore (24)
Tri-Valley Moto in Livermore (24)
Unlimited Motorsports in Livermore
Mach 1 Motorsports in Benicia (24)
The Junction B.F.E. (24)
Lanesplitter Pizza
West Berkeley, Temescal,
Emeryville, Albany, Lakeshore
MARIN/SANTA ROSA/101
BMW Motorrad in Santa Rosa (24)
Cal Moto in Mountain View (24)
MojoTown in San Rafael (24)
Hattar Motorsports in San Rafael
Top Shelf Motorcycles in San Rafael (24)
Cycle Town in Novato
PENINSULA
Bob Reed’s Service Station
(110 & 112 gas) San Mateo (24)
Mission Motorcycles in Daly City
Honda-Suzuki of San Mateo (24)
Dudley Perkins Harley-Davidson
in South San Francisco (24)
Old County Deli in Belmont (24)
Paul’s Country Corner
in Menlo Park (24)
Peninsula Honda Ducati
in Sunnyvale (24)
Battlescooter Corporation in Sunnyvale
Alice’s Restaurant
4 Corners on Skyline (24)
Skywood Trading Post
4 Corners on Skyline (24)
SOUTH BAY
Pacific Coast Powersports in Santa Clara (24)
Santa Clara Cycle Accessories in Santa Clara (24)
Just Leather in San Jose (24)
San Jose BMW (24)
Helimot Leather Works in San Jose
Santa Clara Cycle Salvage in San Jose (24)
Road Rider in San Jose (24)
SANTA CRUZ
Moore & Sons (24)
GO get it.
*CityBike is available at almost every motorcycle shop in the SF Bay Area.
Tales from Over the Edge
A Madcap Collection
of Memoirs from Marin
County California’s
Sunday Morning Ride
Rereleased for the Amazon
Kindle Reader, & Free Kindle
Reader for PC, Mac, & iPad
bulletpress.com
From 3:14 Daily
Valencia @ 25th
415-970-9670

November, 2010 - Level Five Graphics

Transcription

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