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ART BEHIND BARS
01.30.2007
Adam Willey, a self-described die-hard Cycle World reader, is locked up in Florida undergoing treatment for drug addiction. It's the pits, he says. To pass the time, he draws. A lot, apparently. Earlier this month, he submitted an illustration of a Yamaha repli-racer that he sketched free-hand while in jail.
“It took me eight hours to draw using only a #2 pencil that I had to sharpen with my disposable razor,” Willey writes. “I used twisted-up toilet paper to get my shading—no wonder it's the s@*t! I would love to get your advice on my artwork. If you like, I will send a picture every month.”
Not bad, given the circumstances. Doubt I could even hold a pencil without my morning cup of coffee.
CHINESE INVADES AMERICAS
01.28.2007
You may have heard that the Chinese are coming; in most sectors of retail they've already made their presence well known. But the predicted invasion of cheap, Chinese-made scooters and motorcycles has yet to hit our streets in the same way that other products from the Far East have hit the shelves at Wal-Mart.
At last year's Indianapolis dealer show, the Chinese were out in full force, with more companies present than ever before. But so far seem to be missing on America's highways in discernable numbers. So where are they?
I can tell you exactly where they are—and it shouldn't come as much of a surprise—Mexico. Recently, while on vacation in Mazatlan, I discovered that the country is chocked full of Chinese-made motorcycles and scooters. It makes perfect sense in an economically developing country like Mexico; cheap transportation that is easy to keep running is a home run.
Cruisers, standards, scooters and even quads are everywhere you look. It's only a matter of time before the Chinese invasion hits in force, but brace yourself, because it's already ashore south of the border.
SPECTACULAR ISLE OF MAN VIDEO
01.25.2007
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| John McGuinness won the Superbike, Supersport and Senior TT classes, setting set an absolute lap record of 129 mph on his Suzuki GSX-R1000. Those wins gave him a total of 11th career TT victories, making him the third-winningest rider in the event's 100-year history. |
Unquestionably, the world's most dangerous and challenging roadrace is the legendary Isle of Man TT. Held in late May and early June each year on the tiny island off the west coast of England, the TT is run entirely on the same public roads used for 35- to 40-mph commuting by Manx citizens the rest of the year. Each lap of the TT course covers 37¾ miles, much of it on bumpy, narrow asphalt, and it threads competitors through more than 200 corners, with elevation changes ranging from sea level to 1300 feet.
No matter how fast you are as a street rider or how wild your Sunday-morning rides might be, all of it pales in comparison to the blinding speeds and impending danger that loom around every corner and along every straightaway in the TT. Rock walls, iron fences, brick buildings, power poles, dense forests and sheer hillsides line the course, some so close that riders' shoulders and helmets barely miss them by a few inches, often at more than 150 mph. The speeds through some sections are even more unimaginable, exemplified in 2006 by rider Bruce Anstey, whose Superbike-spec Suzuki GSX-R1000 was clocked at 206 mph on a two-lane straight lined with trees and buildings. And whereas turning a lap at an average speed of 100 mph was once a benchmark that all riders aimed for, John McGuinness this past year set the absolute lap record at just over 129 mph on a Honda CBR1000RR Superbike.
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| Backward-looking camera on Paul Hunt's Yamaha YZF-R1 shows the extreme lean angles achieved around city corners with curbs, buildings and spectators just a few feet away. |
The TT will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year, and were it not for its long-standing tradition, this race—and any other even remotely like it—could not exist in this day and age.
If you've never been to the TT, you can get a much better idea of the event's incredible speeds and dangers by watching a free 51-minute streaming video now available on Google Video. Just click here, then sit back and enjoy. The quality of the video is not hi-def, but its content, both visual and aural, will likely evoke expletives even from the most pious churchgoer. More than once.
SCHWANTZ STAMP
01.24.2007
While I appreciate the thought that everyone at the Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School put into creating their annual Christmas card, the coolest part wasn't the card; it was the Schwantz autograph stamp on the mailing envelope.
Apparently, anyone of legal age can go to www.stamps.com, an approved United States Postal Service vendor, and design his/her own personal stamp. According to the website, the monthly service charge for a new account is $15.99.
For the Schwantz stamp, KSSS Managing Director Marnie Lincoln tried several ideas before she finally decided to use Kevin's signature. It incorporates his racing number, 34, which was retired by the FIM when he officially hung up his leathers in 1995 and now serves as the basis for his accessory and clothing line, Brand 34.
I wonder if our corporate bean-counters in New York would go for a Team CW stamp.
LIGHT & LITHE
01.22.2007
It is hard to pinpoint the beginning of my streetbike obsession. I loved the '83 Suzuki GS1150ES and the '82 Katana. Not long afterward, the '84 Kawasaki Ninja 900 blew me away. But I was too young to ride on the street at the time and even if I'd had my license, I didn't have the cash. It was always smaller motorcycles that caught my real attention, first because they were cheaper and second because they somehow seemed more attainable, approachable and “right” for a kid learning the rules of the road. So it was a new Yamaha RZ350 that I wished for, and when I turned 16, a used RD400 that I could afford to buy. It was small, simple, light and sporty. And it meant I could go places and have fun getting there or simply riding to nowhere.
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| Ours has become a four-stroke world. Prototype Cagiva Mito 500, powered by a big Husky Single replacing the old 125cc two-stroke mill. Coming to a showroom near you? |
It was that sort-of expectant mindset, that longing for riding that those bikes brought about which came welling up again recently. I went to the Cycle World International Motorcycle Show in Long Beach, where Cagiva USA unveiled the Mito 500. The big news here is the powerplant, a 60-horsepower Husqvarna Single. It's stuffed into the old Mito two-stroke's chassis with its Ducati 916-inspired bodywork. Weight is said to be in the 260-pound range, and if the bike were ever to reach production and make it to the U.S. market, projected target price was between $7000 and $9000. At the moment the bike is just a prototype, and when we had it in our studio to photograph, I got a good, up-close look. It basically appears as though some enthusiasts back at the factory in Italy took a seized Mito and tossed the engine, called up the Husky department for a big one-lunger and applied some spare time. The engine looks like a pretty good fit, and I have to admit the bike is irresistible to me. Singles have been a hard sell on the street in the States for a long, long time, but I have always been a big fan.
Even though I can ride most anything I want, this type of light and lithe machine is a vivid reminder of the simple, initial pleasure of my first sporty bike and the fun and freedom it represented. Cagiva USA set up an e-mail address, mito500@cagivausa.com to receive comments about whether or not to build the little Single. I'm going to tell them to build it. If only for selfish reasons.
IF IT AIN'T BROKE…
01.18.2007
At the onset of a new project, just before the opening carnage, my Pops normally offers this sage piece of advice, “If it ain't broke, don't fix it.” A great pearl of wisdom, but unfortunately in conflict with what is muttered once a project is underway, “Well, since I'm there…”
The conflict of these two statements came to mind recently as I sat in my garage re-tracing the wiring harness of my 1970 Triumph T-100C for the 20th time and wondering why my newly installed super-cool electronic ignition system was producing no spark, when the not-so-super-cool original dual-point ignition had been doing so just fine.
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| Lucas strikes again! After a mere 37 years of conducting electricity, the original splice was done. With replacement installed, the Triumph is once again good to go, back doing what it does best, touring the countryside at a relaxed pace. |
It all started about 500 miles into my ownership of this little purple slice of heaven. All had been working great, until things took a slight turn for the worse. The tank had been resprayed by the previous owner but not sealed. Rust had found a home inside and little flakes had made it into my Amal. Simple fix, really. With my newly acquired Whitworth spanners, I removed the tank and dropped it off at my buddy Rick Doughty's Vintage Iron shop (www.vintageiron.com) for sealing. Back in my garage, gasket kit in hand, a simple carb rebuild was performed. All seemed right.
Not having the tank back from sealing yet gave me time to think—never a good thing in my case. Several people had suggested that a Boyer electronic ignition was the way to go for British bikes that you want to ride. But remembering Dad's advice, I thought, “It ain't broke, I don't need to fix it.” But a beer later it occurred to me that since the tank was off and everything was right in front me, “Well, since I'm here…”
Though the directions were a bit confusing, after a few reviews (and possibly another beer) I got the general gist and the ignition installation went forward without a hitch. And, sadly, without a spark. Some four hours later, I was still sparkless and completely dejected. About this time, Doughty called to report the tank was ready for pick up. With a swallowing of pride, I explained my sparkless conundrum and asked for his council.
“Well, the Boyer is the way to go, and the instillation is straightforward, but, damn, the instructions can be confusing,” Rick stated on the other end of the phone. “Bring it into the shop and we can take look at it when you pick up the tank.” I loaded the bike and headed to the wilds of Yorba Linda, certain that the problem was the result of my own stupidity.
“Everything looks correct” announced Doughty, surrounded by vintage motocross bikes in various states of restoration. “Great! At least I didn't do something stupid,” I said, feeling somehow redeemed, even though my bike was still dead.
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| No shortage of old junk at Chez Eastman means something is always waiting to break. Corey's '55 Chevy and VW dune buggy at rest behind the T100. |
The saga continued as we poked, prodded and tested. We replaced connectors and continued our search for spark. Finally, out of pure stupid luck we heard the crackle of electrical current while checking connections for the umpteenth time. A bad butt-splice from the electronic pickup to the brain. Simple and cheap—the Triumph was back in business.
Doughty helped me set timing on the mighty 500 and we took turns doing hot laps around the shop. I thanked Doughty and explained that in the future I was no longer going to fix what wasn't broken. He smiled knowingly as we loaded the bike and I drove away. I am fairly certain that he understands that leaving things alone when it comes to old bikes is far easier said than done. In fact, I'm guessing it's the backbone of his business.
ROSSI OFF THE WALL
01.16.2007
We should all be so lucky to have a wife as moto-friendly as Amanda Rosa. Husband Rolando is a Cycle World reader and big Valentino Rossi aficionado (who isn't?) and when he wanted to pay tribute to “The Doctor” in his own special way, an understanding Amanda pointed him in the direction of the family room and said have at it.
“Since my husband is such a fan of the MotoGP circuit and loves motorcycling, our family room has become the 'guy' room,” she wrote. “Being an artist and a very huge fan of Valentino Rossi, he decided to adorn our family-room wall with Rossi's picture. He is an art teacher so was off last summer—from July to August this is the transformation that took place; he worked a total of 80 hours from start to finish. It was done in acrylic paint right on the wall (if you zoom in a little you can actually see the electrical outlet by the back tire).”
Proud wife Amanda continued, “I am writing to you because my husband is a subscriber to your magazine and enjoys it very much. He is unaware that I am sending this e-mail along with the picture, but I just wanted to send it to you to maybe share with your editors and readers.
Affirmative on both counts, Amanda, and now that you've got Rolando's artwork “published” on the CW site, you should be expecting something really good from him for Valentine's Day.
CAPTAIN JAPAN
01.14.2007
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| The Captain himself, Chica, kicking back cool with his road-trip chopper. |
It was a nipple-cracking 39 degrees when I rolled my FJR1300 out of Whitworth Ranch this morning. I didn't want to show up on a touring bike wearing a red Aerostich to my appointment with Chica the custom builder in my old hometown of Huntington Beach, but when you are a poofter regarding cold, you have a hard time looking cool. Or is that “Kool”?
Chica set up his bike shop over here after bailing on his home country of Japan 11 years ago. “No one liked my style over there,” he said. Since then he has made his reputation on a string of killer custom bikes in the USA. It was I think in our inaugural “American Flyers” feature back in 1999 that I first saw his stuff, a Harley dubbed “Bauhaus Bobber.” Chica was ahead of his time in looking backward.
While I was there interviewing him about a bike for an upcoming issue, Chica was giving a tune-up to a very-LSD-1971-looking silver-metalflake chopper with a sparkling red diamond-stitch seat and mile-high sissybar. In my most insightful tone I remarked, “That is a cool bike.” He said he built it to celebrate his 10th anniversary with his wife and that they took it on a 500-mile road trip through Texas. It has a centrifugal auto clutch for ease of riding. Oh, yeah, Clutch-Glide…
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| Round fins and sectioned rocker boxes are a Chica specialty. Look close for spike nuts. Chainmail gloves recommended for regular servicing… |
Chica is a creative, funny guy, so he couldn't just build a bike to take a road-trip on. It had to have a proper theme. “I call the bike 'Captain Japan'—like Captain America (from Easy Rider), but with a Japanese flag! There are 95 spike nuts on it.” The bike was definitely looking very spiky. I told him I thought riding 500 miles on something like that was pretty rough duty. Chica countered, “When you put your wife or girlfriend on the back it is very comfortable. You have a backrest and armrests…” Depending on your wife or girlfriend, that could be quite cushy. Chica is living right, I tell you. Unlike Captain America's ending, Captain Japan is continuing to live the dream.
DITCH THE CAR
01.12.2007
It should come as no surprise that Chris Balish's entertaining and well-written new book, How To Live Well Without Owning A Car, devotes an entire chapter to motorcycles. A self-professed luxury SUV lover before going car-free several years ago, Balish now preaches that motorcycles (and scooters) are an economical way to get around town.
“When researching this book,” he writes, “I put out a request for motorcycle commuters to participate in an interview about biking to work. Within three days I had received so many e-mail messages, they filled my inbox and clogged my e-mail system for a week. That tells me there are an awful lot of people out there who are passionate about riding motorcycles as daily transportation.”
One of those people is Andy Goldfine of Aerostich fame. With Goldfine's approval, Balish reprinted the Roadcrafter inventor's “Top Eleven Reasons Not to Ride a Motorcycle to Work Addressed.” My personal favorite is the last: “It's too much work.” Goldfine's clear-cut response? “And sometimes it rains. Get over it. And get a rainsuit.”
Balish's book is available from Ten Speed Press. Read it, live it—if you dare.
TIME FOR TISSOT?
01.10.2007
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| Time on his side: Nicky Hayden’s growing popularity with European fans helped land the Kentucky native a personal sponsorship from Swiss watchmaker Tissot, the official time-keeper of MotoGP. |
I was supposed to be shopping for a Christmas gift for my wife. Instead, I found myself at Barnes & Noble thumbing through the December issue of InSynch, “the adventure magazine of the watch world.”
Okay, hold the “they pay those CW editors too much” forum posts: I'm not in the market for the featured A. Lange & Söhne Datograph Perpetual ($137K!). No, what caught my eye were the multiple images midway through the glossy, large-format book of MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden.
Turns out, Hayden is a “brand ambassador” for Tissot watches, official timekeeper of MotoGP. In addition to awarding a timepiece to the top qualifier at each round, the Swiss watchmaker went so far as to create a limited-edition model based on its quartz chronograph T-Race model to honor the Owensboro, Kentucky, native. The back-of-the-case medallion even wears Hayden's signature.
IS International Editor Keith Strandberg was a guest of Tissot at last summer's Spanish GP at Catalunya. He saw first-hand the massive crash at the start of the event, which took out a significant portion of the field and fundamentally led to Sete Gibernau's end-of-season retirement.
“The sound of these powerful motorcycles racing off down the straight and into the first turn was phenomenal,” Strandberg wrote. “It was a sound that got me in the gut.”
THAT WING MAN
01.07.2007
Despite what you might think, gentle reader, magazine photo shoots rarely are fun-filled, but they are almost always action-packed. That condition holds especially true if the shooter is freelance lensman Kevin Wing.
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| New for '07, the Vulcan 900 gets its Custom nameplate via bobbed fenders, cast wheels (the front a 21-incher), flatter handlebar and so on. List price is $7349. |
I've known Wing for more than 15 years, and every job we've worked on together he's had me ride in an obviously, profoundly and grandiloquently illegal and/or dangerous fashion. And if Wing is feeling particularly festive, he'll join in, usually in a rental car. He apparently leads a charmed life, as well, with a protective bubble that often covers his photo models. It's the only explanation that makes any sense.
Kawasaki's recent introduction of its Vulcan 900 Custom in Austin, Texas, provided another perfect opportunity to see Wing, arguably at the height of his powers, display his devil-take-the-hindmost insouciance toward traffic laws, photo models and more.
The first setup seemed simple enough: Using early-morning (rush-hour) light, it was a head-on action shot with the Texas state capitol prominently in the background. I'd wait for a break in traffic on Congress, then pull out and ride—slowly—directly at the camera, while Wing squeezed off as long a burst as he dared. Yes, I was going as slowly as possible, but I was aiming precisely for the camera just as Wing had instructed. Thing is, he was lying prone on the pavement, in the middle of one of the busier streets in Austin, during rush hour, and I was pointing the 900 Custom's 21-inch front wheel right at his head. And I didn't even graze him once.
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| Not just a city slickster: Custom's chassis dynamics are light and agile in slow-speed urban settings, yet remain reassuringly stable at more intemperate speeds out in the country. |
Another setup was a simple car-to-bike tracking shot over one of the many bridges Austin has spanning the Colorado River. Traffic complicated the shot, because it was right at end-of-the-day rush hour, and adjacent to downtown. There were three of us from three different publications, all on Vulcan 900 Customs. We took turns, with one in the far right lane getting photographed from the vehicle in the far left lane. The other two functioned as moving chicanes to block traffic, keeping civilians from coming up the center lane, and from possibly getting in the shot behind the subject. And, again, we're riding really slowly so Wing can get off as many frames as possible.
We made laps of Austin's bridges like that, temporarily blocking all three lanes, for more than an hour, and not a single person opened fire. Shucks, we hardly drew a harsh glance. Imagine doing that in other American cities—especially Los Angeles. There'd be the friendly warning shot through the temple, followed by enfilading small-arms fire.
A friend of mine—who's also worked with Wing for some time—reckons that when he retires, he'll have a special phrase embroidered on a jacket. It'll read: “I know I'll go to heaven in the next life, because I've worked with photographers in this one.” I want one too.
SPIRIT OF THE TRIUMPH
01.04.2007
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| A study in ice-blue and black, the tribute Triumph is now a few weeks away from completion. Thanks to frame tweaks, steering-head angle goes from 30 degrees to a more sporting 26.5, with wheelbase shortened accordingly. RPM's detail work is impressive. |
Just got back from our annual road trip back to Texas for the holidays—me and Peggy and Ned the Wonder Spaniel in the ol' 130,000-mile Dodge Dakota, formerly the CW shop truck, now part of the oddball Edwards motor pool.
Best Christmas present came three days late when I visited RPM Cycle in Dallas to check in on the T140 Bonneville café special that Keith Martin and crew are building for me. The Triumph belonged to my late brother Kevin, a $100 basketcase that he brought back to life on a thin budget and highly suspect application of Krylon paint.
Not long after his passing, I attended the Lake o' the Pines Rallye in north Texas, one of Kevin's favorite events, where over suds 'n' steaks his riding buddies and I decided it would be a grand thing to re-do Kev's old beater Bonnie as a tribute bike, best of everything. The man for the job was in attendance at the rally. Martin runs one of the few new Triumph dealerships (www.rpmcycletx.com) that also caters to the originals. An alumnus of Jack Wilson's famed Big D Cycle, Keith has a racer's heart, with numerous land-speed projects in the works and an impressive resume in classic roadracing.
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| Dallas pinstriping legend Alton Gillespie hand-painted the mini-mural (maybe 6 inches high) on the rear fender, complete right down to a favorite T-shirt and those damn blue barrels! |
Using knowledge gained in racing, Keith has come up with a set of mods for mid-'70s oil-in-frame Bonnevilles. Starting point is frame modification by Salt Flats Hall of Famer Ed Mabry, the man who cajoled the "Texas Ceegar" streamliner's twisted tubes back into shape after the bike's near-total destruction in the fire at England's National Motorcycle Museum. Mabry's T140 mods involve cutting and rewelding the oil-bearing backbone to tuck in the steering-head angle, plus additional tubes and gusseting for the rear frame section and swingarm.
This was the first time I'd seen the bike in paint—main color being the same metallic ice-blue as used on a certain beloved 1953 Triumph Thunderbird that our father sold in '55 in order to get the money to marry our mom. Surprise of the day was the inclusion of a discreet hand-painted figure of Kevin on the front portion of the rear fender. It shows him on the old T140 (including its infamous powder-blue cylinders) motoring along a Texas farm-to-market backroad. A perfect touch to what will be a spectacular rebuild.
Still to do: Fit the front fender, tank badges and mufflers (out for rechroming), plus some detail work and a thorough break-in before the bike is ready to make noise in the California sun. Can't wait.
NOT A NICE PAIR
01.02.2007
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| Canet found lapping Laguna Seca without golden-glove fit a mere discomfort. At least the leathers fit correctly. The "fruit" in too tight of the loom…that's when it's time to pull in! |
It was my first session lapping Laguna Seca Raceway at the press intro for the new 2007 Yamaha YZF-R1. For some reason, my left forearm and hand ached terribly after only a few moderately hard laps, and the R1's new smooth-operating slipper clutch wasn't to blame.
I had noticed the glove I was wearing on that hand had been rather difficult to get on and wasn't any easier to remove once the session ended. Turns out the brand-new Shift SR1 leather gloves I was wearing had been miss-packaged from the factory; a size Small left had been paired with a Large right in a package labeled as L. Of course, when I was pulling gear from our wardrobe rack back at the office, I tried on the right (wrong) glove. Still, it could have been worse however, and I would know…
A few years ago I flew all the way to Australia for a Suzuki GSX-R1000 launch held at the Phillip Island circuit. As we were suiting up to ride the bikes, I discovered that I'd packed two left boots in my gearbag. Okay, I'm an idiot! But how did that happen? Seems someone had set Sidi boots of like model, color, size and foot next to one another on CW's boot shelf.
A lesson to be learned here? Even if the shoe (glove or boot) fits, best try on the other one, too.
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