Great-looking bike, huh? I wrote about just such a critter in the December '07 issue. My first streetbike, a Honda CB175. It taught me many things, including how to corner.
"Armed with a teenager's sense of immortality, I learned how to drag the centerstand in corners, then the footpegs, then the mufflers," I wrote. "I learned that a 20-horsepower ohc Twin would do an indicated 90 mph, but only if your used the passenger pegs and crouched low like the leatherclads in the magazines. Downhill straights were bliss, God's own nitrous-injection."
I went on my first moto-date on the li'l 175, too. A pretty girl and a shiny motorcycle, what more could a 16-year-old want?
Reader Brian King read my column and sent in the above photo: "Here is my 1969 Honda CB175 K3 model, Candy Orange, just like the one you had when you were a kid," he began. "The '69 CB175s are very rare and there is not much information about them on the web. It's taken me three years of tracking down parts to make it into a beautiful bike. I do take it to shows but mostly I burn up the backroads of my hometown. This baby only makes 20 horsepower but when it's spinning past 11,000 rpm, it makes a mean howl. I can imagine how much fun you had or yours when you were a kid."
I wonder where Kathy McCoy is these days...
—David Edwards
HAYDEN RIDES DUCATI IN SPAIN "I'm not sure what they pay Casey, but it's not enough; they need to double it!" 10.28.2008 | Photo by Mark Wernham
Outgoing MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner will not lose much testing time to new Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden when he goes under the knife to fix his left wrist originally broken five years ago. Series rights-holder Dorna has cut winter testing to just two outings: Jerez, Spain (November 26-27), and Sepang, Malaysia (February 5-7).
Stoner and Hayden had their first outing on the new carbon-fiber-framed GP9 this week at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit near Valencia, Spain, and site of the Australian's runaway end-of-season victory. On the first of two days of scheduled testing, Stoner led the field, while Hayden posted the 12th-quickest time. The factory pair was joined by GP8-mounted Alice satellite riders Mika Kallio, Niccolo Canepa and Onde 2000-backed Sete Gibernau, the Spaniard returning to the MotoGP paddock after a self-imposed two-year layoff.
Hayden, accompanied in Spain by older brother Tommy, now has some experience on Bridgestone tires; up to this point in his MotoGP career, he has ridden exclusively for Michelin. Hayden, clearly excited by his new challenge, "didn't have any trouble getting out of bed" for his inaugural ride on the Ducati but admitted that 800cc V-Four is "a bit of an animal." He noted, "When I came in the first time, I told my brother, 'I'm not sure what they pay Casey, but it's not enough; they need to double it!'"
Day Two of testing at Valencia was largely a wash due to rain. Newly crowned world champ Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and Stoner were no-shows. Always the iron man, Hayden went out mid-afternoon and completed 20 laps, further familiarizing himself with the Ducati and also Bridgestone's new rain tires.
—Matthew Miles
BLOG CABIN Bagger Boys: On the road with Peter Egan. 10.23.2008
As Organizer-in-Chief for CW's recent Battle of the Baggers shootout, it was up to me to arrange lodging for our motley crew of 10. Vegas was the first night's stop. After an all-day, 115-degree crossing of the Mojave, checking into a cheesy neon barracks on the Strip was a non-starter, so I booked us individual rooms at the exclusive Green Valley Resort, just outside of town in Henderson.
Swank digs, as they should be for 300 clams a night, a figure well outside our company's Travel & Expense guidelines. My excuse is that I was going for cost-averaging. The next night we'd be bunked down in the wilds of northern Arizona at the much more bucolic Jacob Lake Inn, two to a room, with one unlucky soul relegated to a sleeping bag on the floor.
Things started off a little rocky at Green Valley, though. Because we arrived late, some of our rooms had been given away. It looked like Peter Egan and I would have to share. Now, I like Peter's company but I wasn't happy. What good was a reservation, I crabbed to the poor girl on the reception desk.
"Well. Mr. Edwards," she offered, "I have you and Mr. Egan in the Mediterranean Suite, and (lowering her voice) that usually goes for $2000 a night..."
Yes indeed! Two large bedrooms separated by a central salon that contained a foyer, an office, a wet bar, a 10-person dining table and a modular couch whose cushions no doubt had stories to tell. In all, some 2000 square feet of marble-tiled, plush-toweled, HD-TV'd luxury. High-roller heaven!
The next night, Peter and I shared half of a 1930s cabin in the woods, no television, no phone, no Internet access. Cost all of $85 for the night.
Do I have to tell you which setup Egan liked more?
—David Edwards
FASTEST MOTORCYCLE DRAG RACER ON THE PLANET Hogan simultaneously became only the fourth member of drag-racing's elite MTC-sponsored "Five Second Club" with a 5.96-second pass... 10.20.2008
Gotta hand it to my buddy, Korry Hogan. The Denver resident made history this past October when he became the first person to run more than 250 mph in the quarter-mile on a motorcycle. During a solo pass in second-round qualifying at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, Hogan posted a personal-best elapsed time of 5.95 seconds with a jaw-dropping top-end speed of 250.97 mph.
Hogan later went 238 mph at the same event on his 1400-horsepower, nitromethane-burning MTC-backed AMA Dragbike Top Fueler, but he was unable to back up the 250.97-mph pass. Previously, the all-time fastest pass in motorcycle drag racing history was held by eight-time AMA Dragbike Top Fuel Champion Larry "Spiderman" McBride at 248 mph. McBride still holds the "backed-up" national speed record at 245.36 mph.
Hogan missed the first four races of the eight-race 2008 AMA Dragbike season while team owner Mike Dryden was finding more performance from his motorcycle. Since returning to competition, Hogan has been on a tear, taking his second overall win by beating McBride in the final of the Orient Express U.S. Motorcycle Nationals at Atco Raceway in New Jersey and simultaneously becoming only the fourth member of drag-racing's elite MTC-sponsored "Five Second Club" with a 5.96-second pass.
You can catch Hogan in person November 7–9 at the final round of the AMA Dragbike series at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Valdosta, Georgia. To learn more about Korry Hogan and his team, visit www.hoganspeed.com.
—Matthew Miles
FROM NORTON TO SNORTIN' Kenny Dreer goes drag racing. 10.14.2008
What do you do if after eight years of toil and tribulation, your dream of resurrecting the Norton Commando goes bust? Well, if you're Kenny Dreer, you return to your roots and go drag racing.
Pretty serious kit Kenny is running, too. A Pro Mod-style bike with a Koenig F-16 chrome-moly drag chassis on a 70-inch wheelbase, not including wheelie bars. Engine is Kawasaki KZ-based, 1428cc, with 40mm Lectron carbs, makes approximately 175 hp on gas, more when the 60 shot of nitrous is working properly.
Got an e-mail from Kenny the other day, filling us in on the latest news:
"Hey, guys, the season is over for this year, I made a lot of progress, most of it in the last couple of months, but it's all good and every bit helps to add to experience and knowledge base. This photo (by Sean Coker) was taken at a test-n-tune at Woodburn about a month ago. Finally got the NOS working, and did my best run to date, an 8.12 @ 157 mph.
"Then, two weeks ago, of bunch of us North West Drag Racers went to the West Coast Challenge in Sacramento. It turned out to be a great weekend of racing after more than a fair share of frustration. You'll never know how much anguish a $2.49 part can create! After suffering some really off runs, (8.30-8.40, how slow!), we found the problem in the above-mentioned $2.49 part and I agreed to a "grudge match' race with the top qualifier in Top Gas. This wasn't an index run, it was head-to-head, time to man up!
"My compadres from NWDB helped stage me with the burnout, and got me lined up straight as string. We did a little staging duel but after we both got in, I tree'd him with a .022 to .028 reaction time—not by much, but in this game it all adds up. His 1500cc Vortex-powered Kawi nipped me at the 1/8th, but my NOS was going 100% by then, I became a onion peel on the bike and just nipped him at the stripe, 8.11 @ 162 to his 8.13 @ 163, no doubt he was coming hard. I was on a nitrous high for two days!!!"
The bodywork on Kenny's Kawasaki pays tribute to his late friend and mentor Barney Li, another hopeful revivalist of a great British marque, Vincent. Painted on the "gas tank" are the words, "As Barney would say, 'You know what I like best about motorcycles? Ridin' 'em!'"
There's another telling inscription on the rear fender: "60 Going On 30"
"Who knew this would turn out to my fountain of youth!" says Dreer.
—David Edwards
OUT OF COMMISSION—AGAIN Maybe I'll be riding again in time for the annual pilgrimage to Daytona... 10.14.2008
What was likely my final motorcycle ride of the year came early, in mid-October, just a few days after I returned from Japan and the MotoGP race at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit. Less than 24 hours after pushing my long-term Kawasaki ZX-14 into the CW garage, I was lying on an operating table with an IV stuck in one arm and a surgeon's scalpel in the other.
It was completely intentional, of course. A similar surgery performed last year to fix the wrist I broke while riding dirtbikes in Australia didn't take ("Aussie Adventure," April, 2008). According to my doctor, I had two choices: 1) Proceed as if nothing was wrong and expect arthritis within five years; or 2) remove the existing screw and close the gap with a second screw and healthy bone mined from my radius. Given an 85 percent chance of a full recovery, I opted for a second surgery. Recuperation is as follows: three months in a cast followed by three months of physical therapy. Maybe I'll be riding again in time for the annual pilgrimage to Daytona in March.
I'm not alone. Reigning MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner is in a similar predicament—though he still manages to win races and I could barely perform a single pushup. Same goes for Gábor Talmácsi, the Hungarian-born 2007 125cc world champion. I sat next to Talmácsi and his Italian manager on the flight to Japan, throughout which the Aspar Aprilia rider rubbed a "special" cream on his wrist, pinned following his crash at Indianapolis. On Friday at Motegi, he could barely complete one lap at speed. Come Sunday, though, he not only managed to finish the 20-lap race, he somehow made it onto the podium!
Hey, Gábor, where can I buy some of that cream?
—Matthew Miles
ODE TO JOY The Sweet Screaming Songs of MotoGP. 10.06.2008
Think for a moment about the florid language used to describe the flavor of wine. Or if you remember your college literature classes, about the frustrations even our greatest poets suffered while trying to find the "right" words to portray the feeling of love. There are some things that defy description...or, at best, are thinned by it.
Such is the case with the symphony of deafening yet beautiful mechanical tones punched out by today's MotoGP bikes at redline.
So rather then bend the thesaurus in my head for the "right" way to differentiate these bikes from AMA Superbikes, or even the bike in your garage, I thought it best to shut up and listen...and turn on my hi-def stereo field recorder at the Laguna Seca MotoGP round.
I was standing where the paddock opens up to pit row, on an open stairwell beneath the long line of luxury suites lining the front straight. Immediately across the surprisingly slim front straight was the huge grandstand you've seen on TV, with its own mile long row of glass-case luxury boxes at the top. The result is a narrow, hard-surface canyon that amplifies and sharpens all the mechanical screaming.
The Yamaha has the deepest, flattest sound and the most invasive interrupt at gear changes. You can hear each shift punctuated by a flatulent burst. The Ducati and the Kawasaki sound very similar, despite differences in engine layout and valve actuation. The Suzukis were loudest to my ear, but I don't come with a built in dB meter. And the Honda machines sounded most like "regular" four-cylinder sportbikes with the pitch turned up to "11."
I invite you to listen and enjoy. And if you're like me, be grateful for all the intelligence, creativity and human ingenuity that went in to making each one of these spectacular tone-generators sing its special song for our entertainment.
TIRE TROUBLES "What if neither Bridgestone nor Michelin submit a proposal? What then?" 10.06.2008 | Photo by Don Emde
Ever seen history take place right before your own eyes? Former Daytona 200 winner Don Emde and I were standing in the Bridgestone hospitality tent at Japan's Twin Ring Motegi circuit this past September when Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta approached Hiroshi Yasukawa, director of the Japanese tire-maker's motorsports department. After a brief conversation, Ezpeleta left. I immediately walked over to Yasukawa and introduced myself. I asked him about rumors of a single-tire rule in MotoGP for 2009. "We stay," he said, smiling broadly. "Nothing change."
Next morning, however, everything had changed. The FIM released the following: "The Grand Prix Commission has decided unanimously that there will be a single tire supplier for the MotoGP class from 2009. Proposals to supply the tires must be handed to the FIM and Dorna by October 3rd at the latest. The final decision will be announced by the GP Commission by October 18th at the latest."
Just before Sunday's race, won by Valentino Rossi, who famously switched from Michelin to Bridgestone this season, I again met with Yasukawa. I reiterated our previous conversation, then asked his opinion of the announcement. "If we are to supply tires for MotoGP, fairness among teams is the most important," he replied grimly. "Tomorrow, we go back to office and make consensus."
So, what happened? Difficult to say, but it came to my attention that there were plans in place to put Honda on Bridgestones and Ducati (and possibly Kawasaki) on Michelins. If true, those plans were scuttled overnight. Question is, by whom? A factory? A large, influential sponsor? Here's another question put to me by Thomas Scholz, Bridgestone's MotoGP chief coordinator: "What if neither Bridgestone nor Michelin submit a proposal? What then?" As for Dorna's spec-tire plan, Scholz added, "What is the meaning of winning? Nothing."
—Matthew Miles
FOOD FOR THOUGHT "Dinner was a cool way to wind down from our trip and come to some conclusions..." 10.06.2008
CW Editor-at-Large Peter Egan (left) and Off-Road Editor Ryan Dudek mull over post-ride dinner options at El Matador.
It was really cool to make it back to Newport Beach. I mean, ocean-paralleling Pacific Coast Highway was 40 degrees cooler than the desert we crossed earlier that day. Just so happens that Editor-at-Large Peter Egan's favorite Mexican restaurant, El Matador, located in nearby Costa Mesa, was on our way back to the Cycle World offices. So Peter, Off-Road Editor Ryan Dudek and I stopped to share a meal and our thoughts about the Death Mongers M/C tour ("Kings of the Road," October, 2008).
The food at El Matador is always great, though the prices have gone up since the new bar was added. Ryan had a steak fajita, and Peter opted for the carnitas, heavily trilling the "R" when ordering. Negro Modelo? Of course. I went with the chicken tostada. The food was plentiful, and so was the conversation. Four days spent sweltering in the saddles of eight interpretations of the same solution left us wondering: How does one ever manage to carry all he needs for a road trip in those relatively small saddlebags?
Peter lives in Wisconsin, and it's not everyday we get to hang out with him, so dinner was a cool way to wind down from our trip and come to some conclusions. Hey, why not grab your favorite beverage, get some chips and salsa, log on to the forums at www.cycleworld.com and share your thoughts about your favorite bagger, Mexican restaurant, post-ride beverage or even salsa?
Mexican food, motorcycles and like-minded friends: one of life's finest combos.
—Mark Cernicky
PERSONAL TARGA FLORIO Following the trail of Juan Manuel Fangio and Sterling Moss through Sicily on a Honda Transalp 10.01.2008
I've done my fair share of motorcycle touring, traveling through the Alps, Dolomites and Pyrenees mountains in Europe. I've been to China and South Africa, as well. But some of the coolest roads (although not necessarily in the best condition) I've had a chance to ride are roads that I probably never would have found on my own. They're in Sicily, where the famous Targa Florio auto race was run from 1907 until safety concerns shut it down in the late '70s. Some of the greatest Formula One drivers ever competed there, including Juan Manuel Fangio, Tazio Nuvolari, Stirling Moss and Peter Collins.
A couple of years ago I had the chance to ride the Targa Florio route with Pirelli's head tester Salvo Pennisi, a man who knows every crack, bump and corner on the island. It was an experience I wasn't sure I would get to experience again. But recently I found myself back on the island with the chance to be escorted for the day over some of Sicily's twistiest roads by Sergio Di Prima, another one of Pirelli's official test riders. One of the company's primary test facilities is located on the toe of Italy's boot. Key to tire evaluations is the use of Sicily's roads for real-world testing.
One road—or should I say trail—wound its way to the top of a mountain overlooking the coastal town of Taormina. I can't imagine it's accessible by car or truck. The single lane road's surface was cobblestone and tile and had extremely tight, very steep hairpins that were just barely maneuverable on the Honda Transalp I was riding. At the top it turned to dirt and loose rocks; a perfect dual-sport destination. Later in the day we strafed a popular sportbike road that terminated halfway up active volcano Mount Etna, in a field of cooled lava next to an espresso bar: perfect! These two totally different but equally fun roads may have been only an hour apart, but seemed to be from opposite worlds altogether and some of the most entertaining I've ridden.
