ANOTHER ODD INDIAN Mystery prototype revealed. 07.27.2009
The Old Huckster himself, Floyd Clymer, first of the (many) Indian revivalists.
Funny how when you own an odd-duck bike like my 1970 Clymer Indian Enfield 750, you become an expert in the marque—if only because not too many other people care!
I've blogged about the Italian/English/American concoctions before, when reader Don Biltz sent in photos of his Clymer Velocette Indian. I opined that, "Maybe 50 of the Enfield versions were produced, while Indian Velos number perhaps 200. Rarest of the latter has to be Don Biltz's. Don sent an e-mail and snapshots of the bike: 'I purchased what I believe is the only Clymer Thruxton prototype. I believe there was also a Venom-powered one'," he wrote.
Now another reader, John McCoy, brings news of that very Venom-motored prototype: "The prototype Clymer Indian Velocette Venom bike ridden by Floyd Clymer in the attached photo passed to Sammy Pierce after the death of Clymer. Piece (a longtime Southern California Indian expert, now dead) sold the bike to the youngest person ever to be employed at the Springfield Indian factory, Tom Rose, who was a friend of our family. The bike eventually was sold to me. I rode it very little and then finally traded it to famous Velo collector Don Holton in Florida in the late 1980s."
The lead photo shows the Indian Velo at a time when McCoy had it up for sale. Gone are the braced MX bars that Clymer favored, replaced by more appropriate clip-ons. A good-looking scooter, no? Probably add one more zero to that $2500 asking price today.
"The bike was not finished as well as production bikes, with one chronometric and one magnetic gauge, seat bracket floating in the horsehair seat, and an odd mix of 6- and 12-volt electrics," continues McCoy. "Later bikes were less colorful than the prototypes."
Maybe someone should start a Clymer Indian registry?
—David Edwards
NORTON WORKS Get outta my head! 07.24.2009
The first piece of classic two-wheeled British hardware I ever bought was a low-mileage 1974 Norton 850 Commando Roadster. It had plenty wrong with it after its early years of being ridden hard and then put away slimy for more than a decade, but the first time I rattled down the street on it for a test ride near the seller's home, I knew I was hooked.
After learning what makes a Norton tick and fixing just about everything on the bike, I rode that black beauty for several years and thousands of trouble-free miles. Although I had to sell it quite a while back now, I've never been able to get the idea of owning another Commando out of my head. They have just the right combination of classic quirks and character, allied with great power, a nice-shifting gearbox, good handing (as long as the rubber-engine-mount "Isolastics" are in good shape) and day-long, smooth-running comfort. They sound fantastic, too. A most practical classic.
Well, a friend of mine recently lent to me a nice Commando (in red with silver pinstripes; check out a pic on our Classic Forum) that needs a little work, and I have it bad again. But after a conversation with Matt Rambo at Colorado Norton Works, the idea of a custom café version like the one pictured above has been driving me especially nuts! Luckily I am way too broke at the moment to consider a full build like he provides, but maybe an alloy tank might be a good place to start. And maybe a few other bits...
—Mark Hoyer
DYNO DIARIES Nearly too Big a Dog. 07.14.2009
Keep your fingers clear. Now that's a chopper!
Despite an uncharacteristic cool month of June delaying the onset of summer, the Dog Days (of sorts) were soon upon us, putting heat to our resourcefulness here at CW. We currently have a Big Dog bagger in our possession that is undergoing the full battery of performance tests. When it came time to roll the stretched, slammed and raked cruiser onto our dyno, however, the bike's 73-inch wheelbase proved a wee bit long.
Having recently dealt with a similar issue when dyno testing Honda's new Fury, I applied my MacGyver 101 technique of fully compressing the fork with a ratchet tie-down, thus shortening wheelbase. While that was a move in the right direction, the Dog's 250-series hind paw still wasn't resting fully on the dyno drum. I initiating Plan B and did what many CW readers have done over the years, soliciting input from Senior Editor Paul Dean, who authors our Service section.
Putting our collective noggins together, we came up with a solution. Temporarily removing the sheetmetal shroud covering the dyno room's cooling fan won a few extra inches of clearance so that the dyno's wheel chock could be cranked to its full forward position. While this Big Dog Bulldog model is the longest bike we've ever strapped on the CW dyno, the Wichita, Kansas-based manufacture builds some choppers with nearly 10 additional inches between the axles. Yikes!
—Don Canet
DAINESE FASHION SHOW Save your hide with another! 07.01.2009
Let's face it, you've probably watched or have seen clips of runway fashion shows and wondered, who in the hell wears that crap. Many feature models strutting their stuff in over-the-top outfits that will never see the light of day, thank god! But when my wife Kathleen got wind of the fact that Dainese (the classy and classic Italian motorcycle apparel maker) was having a fashion show at a club in Newport Beach, California, I was committed, interested or not. Call it payback for making her sit through countless hours of MotoGP, World Superbike and Formula One on television.
But suffering wasn't in the cards, as watching a fashion show involving apparel that I'm actually interested in, modeled by easy-on-the-eyes models, all-the-while drinking beer, isn't too bad! Dainese was showing off its latest line of motorcycle apparel including its Tattoo leather racing suit ($3499) which has laser-cut Samurai and Maori patterns stitched on to create a three-dimensional effect like nothing you've see on leathers before. Also shown was the Tattoo Ykz jacket ($849) featuring the same layered construction.
As should be the case at any fashion show, there were plenty of ladies to gawk at, with models showing off the latest in female Dainese garb. The Dominia Professional suit ($1199) is a full-featured leather racing suit for the fairer sex, while the Bonn textile jacket ($279) and Trophy 08 jacket ($899) were also shown. As was lots of skin, which kept even those not so interested in cowhide smiling. For more information on Dainese's complete line of apparel visit, www.daineseusa.com.
RIDING LESSONS Dirtbiking tips from one of the world's great rally racers. 07.01.2009 | Photos by Jeff Allen
The Iron Mountain at Erzberg. Luckily, the hill we were trying to conquer was much smaller!
It had been two years since I did any real off-road riding. A couple of knee surgeries (and the caution brought about by such) kept me out of the saddle, but on my recent trip to the Erzberg Rodeo in Austria to see one of the world's toughest off-road races, it was time to get dirty again!
KTM hosted an off-road tour of the 1000-year-old iron strip mine in Eisenerz, naturally aboard the Austrian company's own serious dirt machines. Better than providing the bikes, though, was providing former Dakar Rally winner and current KTM factory racer Cyril Despres — fresh of a win at the Sardinia Rally — as a guide and impromptu riding instructor.
On our first gnarly switchback climb through trees and roots — made more complicated by a days of rain — he was the first guy to climb back down the hill to assist in extracting the inevitably crashed riders in our group of about 20, pointing to the good line and shouting technique tips. Then, later, on a large and steep hillclimb, the affable Frenchman helped again with technique tips in getting to the top. "If you lose speed at the bottom of the hill, it is an exponential loss at the top," he said. "One meter less of acceleration at the bottom might be 5 lost near the top, and 5 lost at the bottom would be more like 20 at the top." He also talked about gear selection and body position for the best attack, always with a big smile and genuine desire for the rider's success.
Unfortunately, I never made that particular hill because I was still tentative about my knees and rusty from being tarmac-bound, but I don't think I could have had more fun trying than with Monsieur Despres as a coach, and also as the prime helper in righting my bike mid-slope. Merci! I promise to be a better student next year and thanks for the thumbs-up anyway...
—Mark Hoyer
HE'S THE MAN AT THE ISLE OF MAN Steve Plater makes history on The Island. 07.01.2009
Jumper! Steve Plater flies at the IoM.
Are you kidding me? A 130.49 mile-an-hour average lap speed around the infamous 37.73-mile Isle of Man TT circuit?! Now that's incredible! In fact, the best ever, as Steve "PlaTTer" topped the IoM record set by teammate John McGuinness just last year.
Besides winning the Senior TT and recording that fastest lap 'round the 200-turn road circuit on his Dunlop-shod HM Plant Honda CBR1000RR, Plater also placed second in Superbike and finished fourth in the Superstock class. For his efforts, he received the inaugural Joey Dunlop Trophy for posting the best overall results at the event—this in just his third year of racing on the unforgiving public-roads course.
And how's this for good news—well, if you have a high-def TV, that is. This summer, HD Theater Channel is broadcasting nine one-hour segments on the 2009 TT races, Monday nights starting July 6. And better news is that HD Theater will be relaunched next year as a motor-themed channel called Velocity. No better excuse to buy that big-screen!
