June 2015 - CityBike

Transcription

June 2015
RIDE THE LIGHTNING
CityBike tested: Lightning LS-218, The World’s Fastest Production Motorcycle
News, Clues & Rumors
OFFERING STAY AND PLAY
SPECIAL PRICING:
Standard Room:
Sun-Thurs $155 + tax
Fri-Sat $180 + tax
Deluxe Suite:
Fri-Sat $365+tax
Junior Suite:
Fri-Sat $265 + tax
Rooms Include:
$50 Casino Play
$25 Dining Credit
Volume XXXII, Issue 6
Publication Date: May 25, 2015
On The Cover:
GoGo riding the lighting.
Photo: Bob Stokstad..
Contents:
NCR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
New Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Lightning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Hail To The V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Knee Paul McCartney . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Fast Chances At CityBike High . . . . . . 20
Maxi-suit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Devine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Doc Frazier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Maynard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Hertfelder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Slappin’ The Tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Texas MC Club Dining Guide . . . . . . . . 33
Find us online at:
CityBike.com
Facebook.com/CityBikeMag
Twitter.com/CityBikeMag
Instagram.com/CityBikeMag
CityBike Staff:
PO Box 18738
Oakland CA 94619
Phone: 415.282.2790
Editorial: [email protected]
Advertising / Business: [email protected]
Editor in Chief & Jackass of All Trades: Surj Gish
Master of Puppets: Angelica Rubalcaba
Art Director: Alan Lapp
Senior Editor: Robert Stokstad
Contributing Editors: John Joss, Will Guyan,
Courtney Olive
Chief of the World Adventure Affairs Desk:
Dr. Gregory Frazier
Staff Photographers: Robert Stokstad,
Angelica Rubalcaba
Illustrations: Mr. Jensen
Operations: Gwynne Fitzsimmons
Road Scholars:
J. Brandon, Sam Devine, Jeff Ebner,
An DeYoung, Max Klein
Contributors:
Dan Baizer, Craig Bessenger,
Blaise Descollonges, Dirck Edge, Julian Farnam,
Alonzo Fumar, Will Guyan, Brian Halton,
David Hough, Maynard Hershon, Ed Hertfelder,
Otto Hofmann, Jon Jensen, Bill Klein,
David Lander, Lucien Lewis, Larry Orlick,
Jason Potts, Bob Pushwa, Gary Rather,
Curt Relick, Charlie Rauseo, Mike Solis,
Ivan Thelin, James Thurber. Alumni (RIP):
John D’India, Joe Glydon, Gary Jaehne,
Adam Wade
Back Issues: $5, limited availability
Archived Articles: We can find stories and send you scanned images for
$5/page. No, we will not mail you our last copy for free just because your
buddy Dave was on the cover. Please know the name of the story and the
year of publication...at least! If you say something like, “it was about this
cool bike I used to see at Alice’s and I think it was in CityBike in 1988...
or maybe 1994” we will buy a cheap latex adult novelty and mail it to your
grandkids.
For back issue and archive requests, please mail check made out to
CityBike magazine to PO Box 18738, Oakland, CA 94619 or send money
and request to [email protected].
CityBike is published on or about the third Monday 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 manuscripts or use them to wipe our large, fragrant
bottoms.
©2015, CityBike Magazine, Inc. Citybike Magazine is distributed at over
200 places throughout California each month. Taking more than a few
copies at any one place without permission from CityBike Magazine, Inc,
especially for purposes of recycling, is theft and will be prosecuted to the
full extent of civil and criminal law. Yeah!
CityBike magazine is owned by CityBike Magazine, Inc and has teams of
sleep-deprived, coke-addicted attorneys ready to defend it from frivolous
lawsuits, so even if you see Lucien Lewis doing one of his wheelies on
the cover and decide you want to do that too and then you hit a parked car
and your bike is wedged under a van and it catches fire and the Vallejo FD
has to come and extinguish the resulting blaze and four cars and your bike
are melted into slag and you suffer permanent trauma including a twisted
pinkie, sleeplessness and night terrors, it’s not CityBike Magazine Inc.’s
fault and we don’t have any assets so just suck on it. You know better.
June 2015 | 2 | CityBike.com
Photo: Surj Gish.
Pic of the Month: Life Of Mud Pi
Shave your head. Or just deal with it. Your
hair doesn’t look all that great anyway,
Fabio.
Super smart guy and maker of good
decisions, Editor Surj—for some unknown
reason—thought our Triumph Tiger
“My bike isn’t good for commuting!”
XCX’s pseudo-knobby tires would be
ANY bike is good for
perfect for toodling across the
commuting. Stop making
muddy hole in the ground
excuses!
formerly known as
Lake Isabelle, on his
“Traffic is scary!”
way to the Trona
Yeah, it is. You
Pinnacles. As is
know what’s
often the case,
scarier? Pissing
things didn’t
away your life
go as planned,
sitting in traffic,
and he ended
(hopefully)
up snapping
resisting the urge
this picture with
to
surf the web on
his phone before
your phone.
attempting to drag the
unfortunately heavier
Seriously. Get on your
than a proper dirtbike Tiger
bad motorscooter and ride
out of the mud.
to work. Monday, June 15th. And
every day, damnit!
In spite of the Tiger’s dual sporty-ish tires
being pretty unsuitable for such malarkey, - Surj Gish
it’s a great bike—stay tuned for our full
Win a $100 Aerostich Gift Card
review in our next issue.
That’s the July issue, in case you’re one of
those nerm-nerts who’s dumb enough to
ride a middleweight adventure bike into a
muddy lake bed wearing the stock tires.
On CityBike’s Facebook Page
We’re sweetening the Ride To Work Day
thing just a bit by giving away a $100
Aerostich gift card. How do you win?
Ride to work on
Ride To Work
Day. We can’t
So ride to work, damnit!
really check
this, but if you
Seriously, we don’t understand why y’all
lie to us, we’ll
don’t ride to work every day. Let’s address
find out, and
some of the reasons folks take the cage or
we’ll find you. It
buses / BART (bigger cages) to work:
ain’t gonna go
“I have to wear nice, clean, unwrinkled clothes well from there.
at work. I’m a professional!”
Take a picture.
Change your clothes when you get to work. It’s gonna be tough to get a picture of
Wear a ‘Stich. Or get a new job—that place yourself actually riding to work, so we’re
you work sucks anyway.
gonna be pretty flexible here. Take
a picture of yourself in gear, or your
“I hate helmet hair!”
motorcycle, or something like that, on
Ride To Work Day. Extra points for funny,
stupid, goofy… hell, everyone gets extra
points!
Post your Ride To Work Day picture on
our Facebook page. If case you’re one of
almost all our readers that don’t know about
our Facebook page, it’s at facebook.com/
CityBikeMag.
That’s pretty much it. If you need more
details, you might be able to get ‘em on
our Facebook page. Maybe. We’ll pick a
winner—and a winning picture—and get
him or her a hundred bux in cold, hard,
electronic gift card cash to spend with our
pals at Aerostich. Hell, maybe we’ll even
throw in a ShittyBike shirt.
All you gotta do is ride to work. So RIDE
TO WORK, DAMNIT.
- Surj Gish
CityBike Reader Delivers, Pony
Express Style
We received a note from one of our pals at
Aerostich HQ in sunny Duluth, telling us
that one of our readers, Isaac Wilson from
San Hoe, had ridden all the way to Duluth
on his V-Strom, to check out the Aerostich
open house and deliver the latest copy of
CityBike by hand, “in case they hadn’t seen
it yet.”
Ride To Work Day Is Monday,
June 15th
Wow. Ok, so the real story may be more like
“Isaac was doing a long ride to visit family
and decided to stop off at the Aerostich
open house and pick up a new Roadcrafter
R-3 and happened to have the latest issue
We can probably
solve this “no KTM
E-bikes in the US”
problem by simply
setting up an online
petition, like those
clever millennials
are using to solve all
other problems of
the world.
Isaac, in the classic
Aero-pose.
Photo: Aerostich
The Double-edge Sword of AB 51
L
ast month, I talked about the need
for activism, and my frustration
with the surprising lack of interest
and engagement from some segments of
the motorcycle community. This month,
I want to discuss a specific issue: AB
51, the bill that would explicitly codify
splitting in California.
Photo: Alan Grinberg.
Marking Their
Territory
Motorcycle clubs
are often under the
microscope for illicit
on him,” but we think our version sounds
activities—at least
cooler, and certainly more epic.
according to Sons Of Anarchy. Running
guns, dealing drugs, you know, gangsta
Either way, huge props to Isaak: you’re a
badass for carrying the magic of CityBike to shit.
faraway lands. Shoot an email to editor@
Well, the East Bay Rats don’t play those
citybike.com if you’d like a CityBike shirt
games but they are getting some attention.
to go along with that new ‘Stich.
A dead whale washed up on a Pacifica
- Surj Gish, with a little help from Kyle at Aerostich
beach and was allegedly defaced by
members of the club.
Why the allegation? Since the former seafaring mammal is now a rotting billboard
displaying the words “East Bay Rats
Motorcycle Club”, the media from far and
wide have started pointing fingers.
Whatever the extra dollars are for, Zero
will be matching it with $1,009,220 of
their own money, making over two million
dollars for that research, development and
assembly.
This is confusing—isn’t Zero already
paying for research, development and
assembly with their own money? And
Now, we know a handful of Rats, and this
couldn’t they just say, “Yeah, we’ll totally
seems a bit out of character for them. Our
match that million dollars. It’s in the
best guess is that at one of their fight nights,
bank!”?
a prospect was instructed to “go tag The
Wall”, meaning the iconic meet up spot up Maybe this is some kind of tech-gnarlin the Berkeley Hills.
ology economics that we just don’t
understand.
Due to an uproar from the crowd, the
prospect heard “the whale” and did not
From the press release:
question the order.
“The California Energy Commission
Or maybe the prospect was told to go “tag
is focused on promoting efficiency and
a whale” and took it literally instead of
conservation, supporting cutting-edge
the intended idiom for “making love to a
research, and developing California’s
Rubenesque lady of the evening”. Anyway renewable energy resources. Zero is
you look at it, this was not the first time that committed to using the CEC grant to
the MC has been accused of channeling
expand its production capacity through
their inner Captain Ahab. Back in 2003
improvements in its manufacturing line,
a similar act took place, presumably by
production efficiency and engineering
another confused prospect.
processes.”
- Max Klein
Why Sell Motorcycles When
The CEC Will Just Give You
Money?
The California Energy Commission
announced in May that it will give, err,
grant, $1,009,220 to Zero Motorcycles,
to help drive the company’s continued
research, development and assembly of
100% electric motorcycles.
Why couldn’t they just give Zero a million
bux? What’s the extra $9,220 for? Pizza
parties for the dev guys when they work
long hours? Extra tires for the jerkface
moto-journos who are always doing
burnouts for photo shoots, because it’s so
damn easy to do?
We presume some of the money will also
be used to bring the price of Zero’s bitchin’
SR down to less than $10,000, thereby
silencing all the “electric bikes are too
damn expensive” peanuts in the gallery. We
can’t wait!
- Surj Gish
Since We’re Talking Electric
Bikes: Freeride E-SM!
KTM—maker of some of the bad
assinest machines on the road, has
announced the Freeride E-SM.
In case you’ve been living under
an internal combustion-powered
rock, this is a supermoto version
of the glorious, not available in the
US, Freeride E. In other words, it’s
an electric supermoto, based on an electric
dirtbike. Made by KTM.
Details are skimpy, but we’re betting that
the Es will continue to be non-US models.
Don’t shoot the messenger—we want this
thing as bad as you do. Assuming you want
it pretty bad, which we do.
This is in contrast to Dr. Rice’s latest
analysis which is summarized as:
- There was no meaningful increase
in injury incidence until traffic speed
exceeded roughly 50 MPH
- Motorcycle speed differential is a
stronger predictor of outcomes
But lane splitting is already legal! Yeah,
- Speed differentials of up to 15 MPH
it is. I doubt many
were not associated
have said that more
with changes in injury
than me. But as you’ve
occurrence
(hopefully) read in these
- Above that point,
pages in recent months,
increases in speed
specifically legalizing
differential were
splitting would let
associated with increases
the CHP and other
in the likelihood of
organizations educate
Photo: Angelica Rubalcaba
injury of each type
riders and drivers again,
and would also likely
“Traffic speed” means
remove the gray area we have around
the speed of surrounding traffic, and
fault when a rider crashes while splitting. according to this, we can hypothetically
These are valuable goals, perhaps worth
split at up to 65 MPH—50 MPH traffic
compromising for.
speed plus a delta of 15 MPH.
I’ve been working with a handful of
dedicated folks on AB 51: Budman from
BARF, Nick Haris (AMA Western States
guy), and a handful of other passionate
riders. We’ve met with Assemblyman
Quirk, the author of AB 51, several times,
even dragged Dr. Tom Rice, the Berkeley
/ SafeTREC lane splitting study guy into
it for a meeting or two.
Early on, we told Quirk that we wanted
to explicitly “legalize” splitting without
limiting it, that we didn’t want to give
up the flexibility we have now for a law.
The first version of AB 51 was at odds
with this goal, essentially codifying the
CHP lane splitting guidelines. These
were excellent guidelines, and they
worked, according to the trends that
were starting to show up in the OTS lane
share surveys, but I—we—didn’t want
to see these numbers as absolute limits
enshrined in law. We were very vocal
about this from the beginning; we told
Quirk that he should talk to Dr. Rice, and
use Rice’s analysis to inform the limits in
the bill.
Quirk and his staff repeated this mantra
over and over: Quirk is a scientist, who
values data, and that we could trust he
would take the data into account and
amend the bill accordingly.
When Quirk received an early summary
of Dr. Rice’s most recent analysis (which
should be public shortly after this issue
prints), the bill was amended to increase
the delta to 15 MPH, but limit speed
of the splitting rider to 50 MPH—
essentially limiting splitting to cases
when surrounding traffic is at speeds of
35 to 40 MPH or so.
So even though Quirk doesn’t seem to be
honoring Rice’s data as he promised he
would, Quirk and his staff believe that
their bill, amended as per the mockup,
will be good to go as-is. We’re at a
crossroads: we have to either oppose the
bill, or accept the compromise of 15/50.
The group I’ve been working with
is in opposition to the amended bill.
But I worry that if we oppose it, and
successfully kill it, we abandon an
opportunity to get a decent lane splitting
law on the books.
There’s no way in hell we’re going to get a
bill that says we can split at up to 65 MPH
to go anywhere—making an argument
for splitting at that speed to non-riders is
a dead end. So by demanding that, we’re
essentially taking a hardline approach
that means we’ll never get a bill that we’re
happy with.
All the work I’ve done with
LaneSplittingIsLegal.com over the last
2 ½ years has been about getting riders
to abide by the CHP guidelines, be good
ambassadors for the riding community,
and split safely and smartly. I believe
there’s tremendous value in having a law
on the books, and as I wrote in here just
a few months ago, the speed limit in the
law almost doesn’t matter—enforcement
is likely to be nearly impossible.
Check out KTM’s
E-minisite at
ktmfreeride-e.com
for inspiration.
Better than porn,
and work-safe to
boot!
- Surj Gish
Too Bad—We
Could Use
Some More
Electric Bikes
KTM may have
to bring us some
E-bikes, and
other bike makers
may have to start
thinking a little
more green,
according to
Governor Moonbeam. Well, that’s not
exactly what he said, but he did say that
California needs to get it’s act together on
curbing greenhouse gases, in an executive
order issued April 29th.
California Über Alles, after all.
- Surj Gish
The Rattler Returns: Dirtbag II
Fans of the Dirtbag Challenge may
have (hopefully) seen Paolo Asuncion’s
The order adds an interim goal to the legal documentary (“Dirtbags on Film” –
requirement to reduce greenhouse gases by December 2013) of the 2009 Dirtbag
80%, as compared to 1990 levels, by 2050, Challenge, simply called Dirtbag. If you
haven’t, well, you suck.
when we’ll all be dead anyway.
To make sure we get to reap some of
the benefits of all these damn Pri-tards,
Governor Brown created a “halfway
there” milestone for 2030, when some
of us may still be kicking around. So
rejoice, Californians, by 2030, we’ll
(hypothetically) have 40% lower
greenhouse gases.
Brown said, “We’re sending the signals to
the private economy to create, to innovate,
and to make the kind of response that will
enable Californians to live in compatibility
with the environment. We can do it.”
Sounds like “how about more of these
bitchin’ electric bikes?” to us.
AB 51, if passed as amended, would
codify lane splitting in a reasonable way,
and open things up for the CHP, OTS,
and other organizations to educate riders
and drivers again, which would be a really
good thing. I think it’s worth accepting
the compromise to make that happen.
Let’s ride.
Paolo has just given us a special private
screening of his latest work, Dirtbag II: The
Return of the Rattler. We’re moto-media
royalty, whattya expect?
In that esteemed capacity, we’re calling
it “Rattler Productions and Vargas Films
most recent film ever!”
High praise, indeed.
Paolo says the film is a “full circle kind
of thing,” in which Paolo and team see
if what everyone said in the Dirtbag
documentary—“Anyone can do this”—is
true, by building their own chopper. If you
were at the 2014 Challenge, you know the
answer to this. If you weren’t, well guess
what, you suck too—but check out our
January 2015 issue at citybike.com/backissues.html to redeem yourself.
CityBikes to whoever brings bikes back to the (presumably assembled on a Friday
bay. Not that bay. The Monterey Bay, ok?
before a three-day weekend) are being
recalled because of a missing rear reflector
- Surj Gish
Dirtbag II: The Return of the Rattler is
assembly. Yes, the same rear reflector
named after The Rattler, the short film that
assembly that gets tossed in the dumpster
Might As Well Be Clutching At
led to making the Dirtbag documentary.
once you get your new whip home—unless
Straws
Paolo’s shooting for a June 1st release date,
it’s chrome, then that bling stays.
so he can submit the film to this year’s
We may have mentioned before that we are
Motorcycle Film Festival.
Maybe what really happened is that 9,000
not cruiser guys, so this next bit is gonna
riders got out of fix-it tickets for this
probably
seem
a
bit
biased.
We
don’t
seek
Want to stay tuned on the film’s progress
missing part by telling the fuzz, “It came
out
recalls
to
cover,
H-D
just
kinda
keeps
and release? Go to Facebook, search for
this way”, and this recall isn’t on Harleyus supplied with material.
“Dirtbag II” and like that shit.
Davidson’s oil-covered hands. Any way you
The matter at hand: it seems that 45,901
- Surj Gish
look at it, H-D is replacing this reflector
Harley Davidson’s from 2014-2015 have
assembly for free, but if you have the option
clutches that will not fully disengage.
No Bikes On That Bay
to buy a chrome one…
If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard Clutch problems seem to be the herpes of
- Max Klein
anything about Capitola Bikes On The Bay the Bar and Shield. Back in September of
this year, here’s your answer. It’s cancelled. last year they recalled a bunch of bar-nMission Incompetent
shield
bikes
for
a
wonky
clutch
master
It’s no secret that regular folks think
The Capitola-Soquel Chamber of
cylinder, and the current recall is centered motorcyclists are short on brains, and long
Commerce told us that the Chamber has
on stupid. The truth is there are a quite
lost money on the event the last two years, around the same part.
a few riders, or at least people who like
because of lack of sponsorships. As a nonThe wording of the recall is about as
motorcycles (riding ability unknown) that
profit, they can’t afford to lose money on
efficient as the clutch itself: “When the
are straight up goddamn morons.
the event.
engine is running and the motorcycle
is in gear, if the clutch cannot be fully
Take these two clowns that broke into
Wait… they’re a non-profit, and they’re
disengaged,
the
motorcycle
may
move
A&S Motorcycles (A&S BMW for you old
losing money. Non… profit… hmm.
unexpectedly,
increasing
the
risk
of
a
Whatever.
crash.” Much like that sentence, you will
Fantasy
Anyway, the event became more of a
lurch along like a first-day MSF, oops, MTC
swap meet type thing—not the original
student until you get your clutch system
purpose, which was to showcase beautiful flushed and fixed.
old bikes. Apparently, BOTB wasn’t
Your bike was not involved in that recall?
getting enough interest.
Fret not, Harley did not stop there.
The Chamber has no plans to resurrect the
It turns out that when you’re putting
event, but wouldn’t be opposed if someone
a motorcycle together, you need to
else wanted to take it over. So… Capitola
use all of the pieces. Just shy of 9,000
readers, are you in? We’ll send a stack of
Harley Davidson XG500’s and XG750’s
up finding the keys to a couple Ducatis.
But The Fuzz had arrived, and things got
downright Three Stooges, according to
Sergeant Philip Mancini of the Roseville
PD.
“It was definitely like a scene out of a
Hollywood movie. One of them busted
through the showroom door on the
motorcycle.”
Dipstick and Numbnuts took off on their
shiny new Ducatis, but one of them—
we’ll say it was Numbnuts—clotheslined
himself on a chain at the entrance to the
parking lot. Dipstick made it to South Sac
before being arrested.
The lesson here is that if you’re too stupid
to realize that a motorcycle dealership with
a pile of BMWs, Triumphs, and Ducatis
stacked up in side probably has an alarm
system and maybe some other security
precautions in place, then you’re probably
also too stupid to learn anything from
CityBike, so we won’t bother.
- Surj Gish
Reality
dainese.com
agv.com
timers) up the road a piece in Roseville.
We’ll call them Dipstick and Numbnuts,
to avoid using their real names and thereby
contributing to their fifteen minutes.
JOIN THE
D-STORE SAN FRANCISCO CREW
and watch the 2015 MotoGP™ season
Moto2 at Noon, MotoGp at 1pm on all Sunday race days.
D-STORE SAN FRANCISCO
131 South Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94103
+1 4156265478
[email protected]
DaineseDStoreSanFrancisco
These Kickstarter Campaigns
Are Getting Out Of Hand
In general, yes. Seems that every dummy
with internet access is crowd-funding
Good old Dipstick and Numbnuts wanted their dumb ideas by taking money from
a couple bikes, and figured what better way dumbasses who are too dumb to care if
to get ‘em than to break into a bike shop
they actually get the half-ass “products”
and just take ‘em, right? So these two jokers being “developed.”
climbed up on the roof of A&S, presumably
Yikes. Someone’s jaded.
found a skylight or something they could
pry open, and went in for their new rides,
We were actually going to talk about
rappelling down a rope into the showroom. one very specific, very dumb idea: the
Note to Sacramento’s Fox40, where we uh, electric kickstarter. The logical break here
is that the “Kick Electric” from Esteves
borrowed this story from. It’s rappelling,
Motorcycle Design isn’t crowdfunded—
not repelling. You report, we decide that
but if you’ve read this rag before, you know
you’re idiots with lower-than-CityBike
that the facts rarely slow us down when
standards. Sad.
we’re on a rant.
Anyway, Numbnuts and Dipstick run
Anyhow, the Kick Electric will bolt up to
around the showroom, trying to start
your 1993-2015 Sportster. Details—as
bikes with a screwdriver (really?) and end
always—are skimpier than a Twin Peaks
waitress’s “girl next door charisma” outfit,
but it sounds like this thing triggers the
electric start of the bike when you kick it.
Or something.
Are their legit uses for this thing? Sure.
Maybe. Probably not. Seriously—
Sportsters have electric start. Press the
damn button and be on your way.
- Surj Gish
injured, and close to
200 hundred bikers
were arrested. Or
160, or 170, or
whatever—hard to
say, since apparently
no one in the media
or law enforcement
in Texas can even
count.
Gear = Heels & Jeans?
According to an
NCOM (National
You may have noticed a bit of noise being
Coalition of
made on the web recently by Gear Up
Motorcyclists)
Every Ride, a Motorcycle Industry Council
press release,
campaign whose mission is to “inspire
the “rumble”
a fundamental shift in the way riders
actually started as
think about their gear, and create a new
Confederation of
paradigm that encourages riders to express
Clubs meeting at
themselves and the independent spirit of
the oh-so-cleverly
motorcycling through their gear, while
named local
making educated decisions about the gear
breastaurant, Twin
they wear when they ride.”
Peaks:
New paradigms. Educated decisions.
“A motorcycle club
Awesome.
that was NOT a
Photos: Max Klein
member of the
Turns out the new paradigm looks a lot like
Confederation of
the old one. Check out gearupeveryride.
Clubs arrived with over 50 people and
org, the Gear Up Every Ride website, and
attacked members of the Confederation.”
if you’re using the big, beautiful photos as
a guide for what you should be wearing on
Over at agingrebel.com, Donald Charles
your bike, you’ll see that jeans and those
Davis called the event a “police massacre”
stupid, insulting high-heeled “riding boots”
and said, “When about 30 Bandidos,
that some companies seem to think are
Cossacks, Scimitars and other bikers
what women should be riding in constitute
spilled into the parking between the
“gear.”
Twin peaks and the Don Carlos Mexican
Look, there are serious conversations to be restaurant next door, the police were
had about how much gear is required, how waiting for them. The scuffle became a
knife fight and several men were stabbed.
the ATGATT mentality may discourage
When one of the combatants produced
widespread adoption of utility riding, and
a gun the SWAT team opened fire with
what the hell “proper gear” even is.
automatic weapons. Multiple sources have
But if you’re an organization that hopes
told The Aging Rebel that all of the dead
to be taken seriously in its quest to get
were killed by police.”
people to wear appropriate gear, and
Folks in the MC world are claiming that
even better, you’re an organization that is
all nine of the dead were killed by police,
funded by industry interests who make
at least one of them “execution style.”
money selling, among other things, gear,
Even the mainstream media is reporting
please, for the love of God, motorcycles
and the American way, have the good sense a lot of things that call into question the
original statements that this was a criminal
to not to use photos that perpetuate the
stupid dichotomy in which gear for men is gang meeting. Most of those arrested,
and four of the nine dead didn’t have
reasonably sensible and protective, while
criminal records in Texas. The “thousands
gear for women is more about looking hot
of weapons found on scene” claim seems
on or near a bike.
to have been an extreme overstatement,
Please, and thank you.
and the restaurant’s video recordings,
released to the Associated Press but not
- Surj Gish
made public, reportedly don’t jive with the
police’s account of the situation. The lack of
video (other than the Twin Peaks footage)
is also surprising and suspicious.
A lot of the talk coming out of the MCs
could easily be dismissed as conspiracy
theory type stuff, for example, calling the
arrested bikers “political prisoners.” There’s
also a whole lot to question in the official
accounts.
What the hell really happened? Hard to say
right now, but we’re deeply saddened by
the deaths and troubled by the situation.
We here at CityBike dislike and distrust the
ongoing militarization of the police, and
are often horrified by law enforcement’s
seeming overzealousness for deadly force
in way too many scenarios.
Hopefully, by the time you read this, there
will be more clarity about what happened
in Waco, and what happens next.
- Surj Gish
Pit Stops
The Flattest Of Bills
We at CityBike appreciate all types of
motorbikes, but let’s be honest. Supercross
Waco = Biker Wounded Knee?
We love to poke fun at the MC guys (and
pretty much every other stereotypical
rider group) and the SOA playacting that
some of them engage in, all in good fun, of
course—many of those guys are friends
of CityBike. When we cracked wise last
month (“Of Course, If You Don’t Want To
Be Profiled…” – News, Clues and Rumors,
May 2015) about how if bikers don’t want
to be profiled, they should stop acting like
criminals, we had no idea where things
would end up this month.
It may surprise you to hear that CityBike
does not have a staff reporter stationed in
Wacko, so we’re getting our “facts” from the
internet like the rest of you poor saps. As
we write this, the internet is ablaze with the
story of the “biker gang rumble” in Wacko,
Texas. Nine are dead, nearly twenty are
is a broccasion where brofessionals
broexist.
Now, don’t get me wrong—we’re not
hobrophobic, we just like our hats with
bills that curve, and with anything but a
Fox logo on them. We also own shirts with
sleeves and can spell the word “militia.”
But motorbikes are still motorbikes,
and racing is still racing, so I braved the
bronami and headed to Levi’s Stadium for
the Santa Clara Supercross.
Here is brotographic evidence.
- Max Klein
RIDE
look of the
AFM paddock,
and he took it
to a personal
level with
“Anatomy of
a Motorcycle
Accident”. In
“Anatomy”
Martin tells
the story of his
own crash with
handwritten
words and
photos of scars
and rashed
gear.
It probably goes without saying that I like
motorcycles. I not only race with the AFM,
but I am also on the board of directors and
when not on the track I am out there with
my camera.
So when I heard about the RIDE art show
in Oakland my interest was piqued. When
I heard it would feature some of my fellow
racers, I knew I had to go. I mean photos of
my friends that I don’t have to edit? What’s
not to love?
The event was put on by Trenton Fister
and Christian Diegelman and held at the
Roll-Up Oakland, a deceptively large multi
level room with, you guessed it, a giant rollup door as a point of entry. As I pulled up a
guy on a DR was doing the slowest wheelie
I had ever seen, so I knew I was in the right
place. Well, that and the giant roll-up door.
Inside there was plenty to focus on, even if
you didn’t like photography. Recent AFM
races were being shown on a large screen, a
DJ had the tunes pumpin’, and there was a
fairly well stocked bar.
Photo: Max Klein
In The Dirt. Both collections were shot by
Michael Emery and captured the feeling
of riding and racing off-road using candid
photos and powerful words.
Frosty Lagunitas in hand, the first exhibit
I saw was a series of behind-the-scenes
photos from this season’s Supercross series,
“Defined”. I then made my way over to
From there I checked out the “Racers”
“Weekend Warriors”, photos from A Day
gallery. “Racers”, shot by Martin
Repair & Service
Diegelman and Sophie Butcher, was a
unique look at ATGATT racers off the
track and in a field overlooking the track.
Martin Diegelman, the brother of
organizer Christian, didn’t stop there. His
“Race Track” series featured an artistic
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Tue–Fri 10–6 Sat 9–5
Having seen all
of the exhibits
I met up with
Christian and
asked why he
got involved
with the show.
According to
him the goal of
RIDE at RollUp Oakland was to bring folks from all
corners of the motorcycle family together
with the art community for a night in
Oakland.
“The photography exhibited at the show
was intended to highlight the people and
moments that make riding and racing
what it is,” he said, “Roll-Up Oakland and
Roll-Up Brooklyn hope to help foster
strong ties between the art and motorcycle
communities on the east and west coasts,
from the Bay Area to New York City.”
With any luck this will be an ongoing thing.
It was a great excuse to get out and talk
bikes while taking in a bit of culture. Not
that I really need an excuse…
- Max Klein
Unchained: Becoming
A Man In L.A.
I’ve earned my paycheck from the bicycle
industry since 1991, when I managed a
Schwinn dealer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Eight years later I was working for Huffy
in Dayton, Ohio, and got my first itch
for a motorcycle. Like any respectable
person, I asked ‘What Would Maynard
Do?’ and contacted my pal Hershon, who
was living in California. I had my heart set
on a vintage Norton or Triumph, but he
eloquently convinced me to consider a mid
Seventies BMW airhead. I found a 1975
R90/6 in CycleTrader nearby for $2,400,
and rode it for eight years before various
circumstances prompted me to sell it to a
gent from Oakland on the eve of the 2008
financial crunch (for $2,600, I might add).
The throttle bug bit me again in late
December 2013, and I picked up a 2004
Moto Guzzi California Stone for $3,400 off
SF Craigslist. I knew of CityBike because
of Maynard’s longtime contributor status,
but hadn’t read a copy in years. My boss
mentioned a fella named Gabe Ets-Hokin,
who I emailed in September 2014 about
possibly writing a column for Bicycle
Times, the magazine I edit. We spoke a few
times, and finally met at Alice’s Restaurant
for lunch in late January.
Mission accomplished: 800 miles, two
bikes, two days, one big smile. I left
Mountain View a boy, and returned from
Los Angeles a man. Hey Surj! Consider me
your go-to transporter again, okay?
- Gary Boulanger
Gary J Boulanger is the Editor In Chief of Bicycle
Times magazine, and is morphing into someone
more comfortable wearing leathers than Lycra.
New Stuff
Vintage Looks,
Modern
Safety: Rev’It!
Bellecour
Jacket
By An DeYoung
Clearly, the
ATGATT nerds at
CityBike HQ were
Gabe had handed the reins to Editor Surj in After getting the chef’s tour of downtown
a bit concerned
mid-2014, but recently mentioned that, due Orange (where Tom Hanks filmed “That
about my latest
to some unforeseen circumstances, Surj
Thing You Do!” with Liv Tyler and Steve
vintage motorcycle
needed a runner to return the big green
Zahn), we landed at Mickey’s shop off
jacket acquisition,
H-D Ultra Limited (featured on the April
Miraloma Avenue in Placentia. Mickey—
cover) to Southern California, and return
not the professional boxer turned mobster, a 60s-era Bates
with a new Triumph Tiger 800 XcX. I said but the 1998 AMA Tuner of the Year for his jacket that lacks
yes without hesitation, despite never having efforts making a Triumph T595 Triple haul the latest safety
technology (“What’s
ridden to Los Angeles and back, let alone
ass for AMA Pro Thunder winner Curtis
Old Is Badass,” May
ridden a Harley. I was confident saying yes Adams—now handles press vehicles for
because my Goose is a fairly big cruiser,
Triumph, and was very cordial and helpful 2015), and soon a
brand spankin’ new
and I’ve ridden it 8,000 miles all over the
while I waited for one of his employees
REV’IT! Bellecour
Bay Area.
to show up on the Tiger XcX. Paperwork
jacket arrived on my
signed and dated, and I was off to visit my
I rode the H-D home from Editor Surj’s
brother and his young family in Echo Park. doorstep begging to
place on March 28, and took a ride on it
be reviewed.
Social creature that I am, I spent an hour
with my lady friend Jean: 280 to Cañada
with my 3-year-old nephew (who I gave a
Road and back, followed by a nice jaunt up
copy of “The Mouse and the Motorcycle”)
Hwy 9 to Skyline and down 84 the next
and 1-year-old niece before heading toward
day. The Ultra was duly broken in and
Ventura on 101.
ready for my maiden voyage to L.A. Before
the sun rose on March 30, I fired up the hog Los Angeles traffic is awful, unless you
and pointed it toward Pacheco Pass and the happen to be behind the windshield of a
long haul on I-5.
Tiger. I was getting about 200 miles from
a tank full of 91 octane, but the hellacious
Six hours and 367 miles later I pulled
head and sidewinds along California State
into the Harley Fleet Center, called my
Route 1 and 101 dropped my fuel efficiency
co-worker Steve who lives in Orange,
considerably. I laid on the tank, ducking
and headed for Hollywood Boulevard for
my head behind the tiny windshield for
some well-earned sushi and a few hours of
a little windy respite, and it worked to
standing in line to see Van Halen play seven
a degree. Due to my delayed departure
songs on the Jimmy Kimmel show.
from Placentia, I missed my opportunity
I’ve been a Van Halen fan since their debut to have a late lunch with world traveler
and moto journalist Clement Salvadori
album in 1978, but never saw them live.
in Atascadero, but we plan to meet at the
The prospect of seeing Diamond David
Quail in mid May.
Lee Roth and Eddie on the same stage
heightened my enthusiasm for landing
Sustaining on dried mangoes, mixed nuts
in L.A. The band from Pasadena didn’t
and water, it was time to get some coffee
disappoint, launching with “Panama”, and
and something baked by the time I hit
including my all-time fave “Unchained”,
Paso Robles. Amsterdam Coffee House is
which is my iPhone’s ringtone. Hollywood
my place of choice, the mocha and orange
Blvd. was packed, VH rocked, and I
scone taking care of my craving. I layered
discovered how unfunny Jimmy Kimmel
up under my Vanson perforated jacket,
is as we watched the live taping of the
which served me well in hot, hot, hot L.A.
show from the huge monitors prior to the
earlier, but as many have experienced on
concert.
101, once that sun starts setting behind
the ridge, temps drop considerably.
My plan was to stay at Steve’s place in
Unfortunately the swirling winds did not,
Orange, which is a mere eight miles
but with Mountain View in my sights and
from Mickey Cohen Motorsports where
a determination to sleep in my own bed, I
the Triumph was waiting the following
made it home by 8 p.m., visions of Eddie
morning at 9 a.m. Although we had a late
dinner at El Chavo on Sunset, we still made Van Halen shredding his EVH Wolfgang
time to watch Rossi slay the MotoGP field on Hollywood Boulevard still dancing in
at Qatar before calling it a night in Orange, my head as I pried my chilly fingers off
with Steve’s Ducati Monster parked outside the Triumph’s grips in the comfort of my
garage.
my bedroom like a sentinel.
Unfortunately, Gary was too busy rockin’ to get any photos of the band. Photo: Gary Boulanger.
Note: Rev’It would probably like me to
follow their brand guidelines and type
REV’IT! every time, but I’m just gonna do
it once. Well, twice. Because it looks like
I’m shouting REV IT GODDAMNIT!!!
all the time, which I’m known to do, but
generally not in print.
I opened the box and jumped around the
room a little. This is a nice jacket! I was
Photo: Surj Gish.
The detailing is nice. A diagonal zipper
with an inside flap gives it an old school
style, with modern safety seams to keep it
together in a crash. Leather pull-tabs on
the zippers are easy to grab with gloves
on. There are two
straps on each side to
adjust the fit around
my waist, and a
small narrow strip of
leather running up
the first seven inches
or so of the front to
protect the tank from
the metal zipper—a
nice touch.
The jacket includes
a short connection
zipper for use with
Rev’It pants (plus the
other half to sew to
other pants), as well
as a “jeans loop”—
designed to attach
the jacket to your jeans. There is CE-rated
SAS-TEC armor at the shoulders and
elbows, and an internal pocket with Velcro
closure ready for a back protector. The
sassy-tech armor is interesting stuff. Rev’It
says it offers “progressive absorption,”
meaning it stays soft in lesser hits, but
hardens up when hit with a sudden impact,
creating more of a protective shield.
On my first ride in the Bellecour, I was
pleasantly surprised by the length—it’s
built a little longer, so the sport classic-y
riding position of my Ducati Sport Classic
doesn’t leave my ass hanging out in the
cold. My fellow riders will be thankful.
All Roads Lead To Sidi: All Road
Gore-Tex Boots
The sleeves are long enough that they
don’t ride up to my elbows when I grab the
bars, yet not so long I can’t slip on a pair of
gauntlets over them. At freeway speeds the
diagonal zipper and
flap arrangement keep
the wind out.
I’ve had several pairs of Sidi’s longrunning On Road Gore-Tex Boots. I was
excited and nervous when I heard there
was a replacement in the works. Excited,
because Sidi makes killer boots (I own five
pairs) and nervous, because replacement
products don’t always keep the mojo and
awesomeness of the original. I’ll admit
that I was a bit crestfallen when I heard
the replacement, the All Road Gore-Tex,
was a textile-based boot. This wasn’t
based on any particularly thoughtful
examination of leather versus textile /
synthetic boot construction; in fact, my
daily commuter boots (one of the five pairs
of Sidis mentioned above) are synthetic,
and they’ve treated me well. But I’ve always
really liked the simple, classic leather boot
that the On Road was.
Microscopic useless
pockets are a pet
peeve of mine with
women’s wear, but
Rev’It has avoided
this misstep—the
Bellecour has pockets
I can actually fit my
hands into, all the
way even! And the
internal chest pocket
will actually hold my
phone, maybe even
a small credit card
wallet!
There is one small
pocket on the inside flap, behind the main
zipper, that I admit I haven’t figured out
yet. It’s only visible when the jacket is
unzipped. Might be perfect for a bike key,
bridge toll, maybe some lip balm or half
a pack of Mentos. Fresh breath will be
important when people ask me about my
foxy new jacket.
$479.99. Get more info find your local dealer
at revitusa.com.
We’re back,
small but mighty!
By Surj Gish
Soles are the same workboot-esque lug
affairs found on the On Roads. Upper
construction is textile (Cordura?) and
Sidi’s own leathery looking synthetic
Techmicro. These materials achieve a
magical balance of stiffness and comfort,
and are substantially lighter than the On
Roads they replaced. My size 48 All Roads
(size 13 for you Real Americans) weigh in
at 2.43 pounds each, versus 2.97 pounds for
the same size On Roads. That half pound
difference has gotta get me another MPH
or so at the top end, right?
There’s Gore-Tex for breathable
waterproofiness. If you haven’t worn a
Gore-Tex boot in a downpour, well, I’m
sorry for you, son. I like my feet to stay
dry, and Gore-Tex makes that happen.
They stand behind their “keep you dry”
guarantee, too. My last pair of On Roads
had been abused worse than our “justice
system”—they had over 40,000 miles on
them, and looked like relics from World
War II when they started leaking after
I shouldn’t have worried. Right out of the
about 5 years. Gore-Tex sent me a new set,
box, it’s clear that the All Road boot is
made for serious riding (and that’s just what with nary a protest of “Seriously? What
have you done to these things?!?” Nice.
they’ll do).
In many ways, these boots are an
interpretation of the On Road, in modern
materials: a simple and straightforward,
mid-calf boot without much flash. Like
the On Road, there are two straps on the
lower part of the boot, and a bigger closure
on the calf—all Velcro or hook and loop or
whatever the kids are calling it these days.
The lower straps feature an ingenuously
toothy, red addition to the lower straps,
designed to keep the straps from loosening
up. For some reason, I’m predisposed to
distrust such innovation, but it works quite
well—in my experience with the All Roads,
those toothy little dealies keep the straps
exactly where I put them. And they’re easier
to tighten up than the double loop system
on the On Roads. I prefer simple boots that
are easy to put on—my Sidi Adventures
push the limits of my patience with all those
buckles. No such issue with the All Roads.
I mentioned comfort—I put them on for
a photo shoot, and within an hour was
confident I could wear them all day with
zero issues. They’re basically ready to go,
right out of the box—no break-in period
required.
I almost always wear my boots inside my
pants, so I appreciate that the All Roads
are quite svelte. They fit nicely inside even
snug, Euro-style riding pants.
Sounds all good, even great, right? It
is, with two caveats. First, if you’re a
closed-minded, increasingly grumpy old
silverback like me, you’re likely to have a
hard time with the space age materials.
They’re not crazy-looking like the neon
MX boots Sidi also makes, but they don’t
look like classic moto boots to my eyes.
510-473-7247
addictionmotors.com
Offering Motorcycle/Scooter Service & Classes on Repair and Maintenance
Join the Addiction Motors MeetUp Group to
stay informed of upcoming events!
Thanks again for all the support and well wishes.
Second, and more importantly, the
All Roads are light on protection, just
as the On Roads were. This didn’t
stop me from piling the miles on the
On Roads, and it won’t stop me from
doing the same in the All Roads, but
if your idea of “safe boots” includes
Terminator-looking joints and armor
everywhere, the All Roads will
disappoint you. These are basically
touring boots—the toe box is nice
and stiff, there’s a bit of ankle armor
and some padding in the shin, but
nothing that’ll stop your ankle from
being turned into a boot full of meaty
pudding if you put your leg between
a rock and a hard place. Or a bumper
and a bike.
That said, the Sidi All Roads are really
great for utility and touring riders
looking for a waterproof boot. And
get this—at just $325, they’re actually
less than the On Roads they replace. I
found them easy to get on my tootsies,
flawlessly waterproof, thanks good old
Gore-Tex, and crazy-comfy from the
git-go. Hell of a deal.
$325. Get a pair or find your local dealer at
motonation.com.
1445B South 50th Street
Richmond, Ca 94804
Featuring Ted & Tony of
They’re so damn comfy, though, that
I’m coming to terms with that “issue.”
stoked with the nice deep brown vintage
leather and soft, olive green lining—like
me, it’ll age well.
Air To The Throne: Shoei GT-Air
Helmet
By Surj Gish
We riders often talk about the shape of our
noggins in terms of what brand fits. I’ve
got a Shoei head, and while other brands
also fit me well, I’ve been a Shoei devotee
of sorts since I started riding on the street.
Well, once I started wearing a helmet on
the street, that is. I know, I know… you’re
surprised (and perhaps disappointed?) that
I’m still here. But enough lecturing—as
An says, we’re pretty well on the ATGATT
side of things here at CityBike, what with all
the riding fast and taking chances. We like
to protect what’s left of our brains, and as
such, we take helmets very seriously.
The Shoei GT-Air is a serious helmet,
with serious features for serious riders.
Seriously. While it’s not as conservatively
shaped as an old school spaceman RF200,
it—thankfully—eschews the complex and
overwrought angularity of many newer
lids, with just one significant contour in the
shell on either side of the top vent. The rest
of the exterior is pretty, well… organic.
Maybe it’s the “organic fibers” Shoei mixes
in with the fiberglass, to make it “incredibly
strong” while still “extremely lightweight.”
The size large I tested weighed in at 3
pounds, 10.6 ounces, with the chin curtain
and Pinlock insert installed. Really light
helmets come in under 3 pounds so I’m
gonna say not quite on the “extremely” part
of lightweight, but since I wear a Neotec
with a Sena hanging off of it most of the
time, the lightweigh-tness admittedly feels
pretty extreme to me.
In any event, it’s light enough to be comfy.
The GT-Air gets the air in via two vents—
one on top, and one on the chinbar—and
lets it back out via a single exhaust vent
just above the built-in spoiler in the
helmet because it’s gotten funky helps
justify the significant outlay of cash
required for a helmet of this quality.
Speaking of quality, the paint on my helmet
is top notch. The “Shine Red” color is
brilliant and bright, almost high-viz, as you
can certainly tell in our bitchin’ black and
white photo. It’s quite impressive.
Interestingly, the GT-Air is of course
DOT standard compliant, but there’s no
Snell sticker. It’s not an issue for us here
at CityBike, but some people may balk at
dropping this much cash on a non-Snell
helmet.
We say “whatever” to that. The GT-Air
offers a very high level of fit and finish in
line with its price, and is an outstanding
choice for general purpose street riding,
from commuting to weekend jaunts in the
twisties to touring. Highly recommended.
$549.99—more if you want fancy paint,
fancy boy. Get more info and find out where to
buy at shoei-helmets.com.
Coming Soon!
back. The vent mechanisms are easy
to use with gloves on, and provide very
good airflow without a lot of noise—an
improvement over my Neotec, which has
an audible hissing sound when the vents
are open, even with custom earplugs in
my earholes. On a naked bike, opening the
vents on a GT-Air results in only a nearly
imperceptible difference in road noise—no
hissing to speak of at all. It’s a very quiet
helmet.
The removable liner and cheekpads are a
big deal—I ride a lot, and my helmets tend
to get kinda gross after a while, well before
they’re worn out. A completely removable
interior allows me to wash the padding to
get rid of that “not so fresh feeling,” and
replacing the liner makes it feel like a brand
new helmet again, a couple years in. As
with the inclusion of the Pinlock insert, not
having to replace a perfectly serviceable
A sample of the New Stuff we’re currently
abusing in the name of bringing you the
truth about motorcycle gear:
❍❍ Sena’s Prism Bluetooth action camera.
❍❍ Icon’s new Raiden rally / adventure gear.
❍❍ Innovv’s C3 camera / remote DVR
setup.
❍❍ Plus, luggage, books, and whatever else
we can get our grubby paws on!
A chin curtain and breath guard are
supplied, but I’ve always found that the
breath guard actually contributes to more
fogging of my glasses, rather than less.
Fortunately, real anti-fog tech is included
for the shield, in the form of a Pinlock
insert. Kudos to Shoei for including
Pinlock-ready shields and inserts with their
helmets—this system works, and at $549
and up, the inclusion of this stuff helps to
dull the pain of emptying your wallet at the
bike shop.
Visibility out of the CNS-1 shield (same
shield used on the Neotec) is good. The
eyeport is not as wide-open as an off road
lid, of course, but the edges of the shell
don’t intrude too much. If you’re a foureyed rider like me, you’ll be happy with
how easy it is to wear glasses with the
GT-Air.
The internal sun-shield is easy to engage,
and a real boon when heading into the sun.
It’s far enough from your face that if you’ve
got a thing for chunky glasses, they’ll still
fit. At least mine do.
Comfort and fit are first rate—I do have
a Shoei head, after all. The padding is
luxurious, yet firm. The removable interior
offers excellent padding around the base of
the helmet, helping to block out noise and
providing a solid, positive fit. Cheekpads
are available in different thicknesses to
allow customization of fit. There’s an
emergency release system to make the
helmet easier to remove in the unfortunate
event of a significant crash.
Recycling is the ONLY legal way to dispose of
used oil and filters. Check out RidersRecycle.com
for more information plus FREE discount coupons
on motorcycle parts, service and gear!
EVENTS June 2015
1st Thursday of each month: Bay Area
Moto Guzzi Group Monthly Dinner
(6:00 PM, Giovanni’s, 1127 N. Lawrence
Expy, Sunnyvale) Members, interested
Guzzi riders, persons disillusioned by
their current mode of transport and
other motorcycle riders always welcome.
For more information, contact Pierre at
408.710.4886 or
[email protected].
2nd Sunday of each month: Santa Cruz
Scooter Club Monthly Group Ride
(11:00 AM, Fin’s Coffee, 1104 Ocean
Street, Santa Cruz) We meet at Fin’s
Coffee on Ocean Street in Santa Cruz, and
depending on who shows, the weather,
and how much time folks have, we plan a
route for the day. Rides will be cancelled
due to rain. Get more information at
santacruzscooterclub.com.
3rd Sunday of each month: Northern
California Moto Guzzi National
Owners Club Breakfast (9:00 AM,
Putah Creek Cafe, 1 Main St, Winters)
MGNOC members and interested Guzzi
riders meet for breakfast and a good
time. The Putah Creek Cafe is located at
Railroad Avenue. For more information,
contact Northern California MGNOC
Rep, Don Van Zandt at 707.557.5199.
May 30, 2015: The Sacramento Mile
(Cal Expo, Sacramento)
Big time flat track action (flat trac-tion?)
starts early this year—the Sac Mile has
Ducati Bike Nights!
The reason for getting these events
started was to provide a fun, social
atmosphere for Ducati owners, folks
that want to become Ducati owners, and
folks that don’t yet know that they want
to become Ducati owners to sit, eat, talk,
walk around and look at other Ducatis.
All brands and models of motorcycles
are welcome. Get more information at
NorCalDoc.com.
1st Monday of each month: Mill Valley
Join us from 6:00 to 10:00 PM on the
first Monday of each month at The
Cantina, 651 E. Blithedale Ave, Mill
Valley. For more information, call
415.378.8317.
1st Wednesday of each month: San
Francisco Ducati Bike Night
Santana Row, #1065 San Jose. For more
information, call 408.557.8373
3rd Wednesday of each month:
Emeryville
6:00 to 10:00 PM on the third
Wednesday of each month at Hot
Italian, 5959 Shellmound Street, No. 75,
Emeryville. For more information, call
510.652.9300.
4th Monday of each month:
Sacramento
6:00 to 10:00 PM on the fourth Monday
of each month at Hot Italian, 1627
16th Street, Sacramento. For more
information, call 916.444.3000.
4th Monday of each month: MidPeninsula
5:00 to 10:00 PM on the fourth Monday
of each month at Sixto’s Cantina, 1448
Join us from 6:00 to 10:00 PM on the
first Wednesday of each month at Pier 23 Burlingame. For more information, call
Seafood Cafe, Pier 23, The Embarcadero, 650.342.7600.
San Francisco, CA 94111. For more
4th Friday of each month: Concord
6:00 to 10:00 PM on the fourth Friday
1st Sunday of each month: North Bay
of each month at Lazy Dog Café, 1961
Join us from 6:30 to 9:30 PM on the first Diamond Blvd, Concord. For more
Sunday of each month at Benissimo, 18
Tamalpais Dr, Corte Madera.
4th Saturday of each month: Novato
2nd Monday of each month: South Bay 6:00 to 10:00 PM on the fourth
6:00 to 10:00 PM on the second Monday Saturday of each month at Boca Pizzeria,
454 Ignacio Blvd, Novato. For more
of each month at Pizza Antica, 334
June 27-28, 2015: Bungee Brent’s
Backroad Bash (Long Barn, CA)
The 2014 BBBB was a CityBike favorite
(“Out and About: Bungee Brent’s 7th
Annual Backroad Bash,” September
2014). We’ll be there this year, and you
should be too. Seriously.
oaklandmotorcycleclub.camp9.org/
events
June 18-20, 2015: Reno Rendevous
(Reno, NV)
The newest big (read: Gold Wings)
thing in motorcycle touring events is
coming to beautiful (really?) Reno,
Nevada. renorendezvous.org
Don’t have a dual-sport bike for
the BBBB? Head over the Sierra to
Carson City for two days of motor
officer competition. And maybe some
gambling.
facebook.com/
events/1511545135792369
July 3-5, 2015: Hollister Freedom
Rally (Hollister, duh)
Free as in no cost and Freedom, in the
“Birthplace of the American Biker,”
the Hollister Freedom Rally is the
largest of its kind in California and
one of the top ten in the United States.
hollisterfreedomrally.com
September
18-20, 2015:
30th Annual
Autumn
Beemer
Bash
(Quincy,
CA)
Central
Cal BMW
riders invites
you to the
30th annual
Beemer Bash,
featuring famous
and free CCBR coffee,
beer garden, Saturday night
BBQ , two Continental breakfasts, GS
ride, poker run, vendors, and speakers
(Editor Surj). Great camping on grass and
hot showers, wonderful mountain rides in
the Sierra! ccbr.org
Want your event in our calendar? Send a
note to [email protected] with details
June 19-20, 2015: 15th Annual
like who, what, when, where, why and we’ll
National Antique Motorcycle Show & add it. We need your info at least 45 days in
Swap Meet (Dixon Fairgrounds, Dixon) advance—more notice is better.
Lightning Motorcycle’s
Scary-fast LS-218
June 27-28, 2015:CCSO Extreme
Motor Officer Challenge (Downtown
Carson City, NV)
July 18, 2015: OMC Three Bridge
moved up a couple months in the AMA
Run (OMC Club Hall, 742 45th Ave,
schedule, which means the Sacramento
Oakland)
heat won’t be so brutal. There’s even free
motorbike parking!
The original Three Bridge Run is a poker
run that starts at the OMC Clubhall, tours
Tickets start at $29; grandstand seats are
San Francisco and Marin and returns to
$60. sactomile.com
the OMC Clubhall for prizes, music, and
dancing. Entry is $20.
June 15, 2015: 24th Annual
oaklandmotorcycleclub.camp9.
Motorcycle & Scooter Ride to Work
org/events
Day (Everywhere, fool!)
If you don’t ride your
motorcycle to
work, we hate
you. Here’s
your chance
to redeem
yourself—
ride to work
on Monday,
June 15th.
It’ll make
your Monday
awesome, and you
can preach to your
coworkers about how
much better than them
you are. ridetowork.org
Greased
Frightening
Fort Sutter Chapter of the AMCA
brings you two days of moto-goodness
in Dixon. Gates open at 7:00 AM. Swap
space is $45 for two days—must be an
AMCA member, but you can join at the
gate. For additional details, call Jim at
530.622.6531 or Mark at 925.288.0174.
take out for a 200+ MPH joyride
down I-5. Who needs high speed
f you’re like many motorcyclists, you’ve rail to El Lay?
been casually dismissing electric
Wait… forget we said that. The
motorcycles as “not viable”—not
last thing we need is some overenough range, too heavy, too expensive,
financed, entitled brat pulling a
and so on.
chunk of his trust fund, buying
But maybe you’ve perked up your ears a bit an LS-218, hauling ass down
The Five with news choppers
of late, as the tech continues to get better,
capturing every minute of it, and
less expensive, more “viable.” On the Isle
of Man, top TT Zero lap speeds have been then saying “But CityBike told me
steadily increasing, with John McGuiness’s to!” in the interviews afterward
lap speed hitting 117 MPH in 2014, not too after daddy’s lawyers bust him
far behind Bruce Antsey’s outright top lap out of the hoosegow. We’re not
taking the fall for that one, sport.
speed of 132 MPH in 2014.
Back to the matter at hand.
So maybe you’ve heard of Lightning
The LS-218 is fast. Here are the
Motorcycles, maybe you haven’t. Maybe
our tongue-in-cheek “Ride The Lightning” numbers:
cover blurb just had you saying “Metallica, ❍❍ 200 horsepower.
Lightning’s support van, complete with solar panels for charging.
YEAH!” Or maybe you said to yourself,
❍❍ 168 foot-pounds of torque.
“Yeah, I’d like to ride that 200 HP beast.”
(That’s not a typo. We
❍❍ 100 mile average range with the 12
back. Both ends are adjustable for preload,
Doesn’t really matter, anyway—if you’re
double-triple-checked.)
kWh battery pack. Presumably worse
compression, and rebound, with the rear
reading this, you’ve now heard of Lightning
in practice since no one who rides one
also getting a ride height adjustment.
❍❍ 10,500 RPM “redline”—if that’s even
Motorcycles, and their LS-218, claimed
will be able to keep their throttle hand
Swingarm is billet aluminum.
relevant.
to be the “world’s fastest production
in check.
Brakes are Brembo, wheels are Marchesini
motorcycle.”
❍❍ 218 MPH top speed, with high speed
The bike weighs 495 pounds, and comes
forged magnesium. Transmission? None,
gearing and fairing.
Now, we’re wont to be rather skeptical
with a RaceTech fork, upgradable to
thank you very much. Direct drive for
of such claims, and maybe you are too.
Öhlins, and an Öhlins TTX shock out
And anyway, one could argue that being
the fastest production bike is a dubious
claim in a world where speed limits top
out at 70 MPH. One might also argue that
Lightning isn’t really making “production”
motorcycles—they’re just a handful
of folks in Palo Alto, essentially handbuilding these things.
By Surj Gish
Photos: Bob Stokstad
I
36th Anniversary Sale!!
Whatever. These are all moot points.
As Eric will tell you shortly, the bike is
ridiculously fast. His first words to me after
riding it: “The bike is an animal. Fastest
thing I’ve ever ridden.” Remember, this is a
guy who goes by the nickname “GoGo.”
Before Eric tells you about the ride, let’s
talk about the tech. Set the stage, if you
will.
Again, Lightning calls their LS-218 the
world’s fastest production motorcycle,
electric or not, and backs up that claim
with a video of the speedometer on the bike
hitting 218 MPH at Bonneville.
Let that sink in for a moment. This is a
bike you can buy today, starting at under
$40k—less than Kawasaki’s H2R—and
25% to 50% off
stock items, excluding Forcefield Armour.
June 1st - June 30th
We stock a large selection of heavy duty jackets , pants, chaps, & bags.
Custom garments and accessories. We repair, alter and clean
leather products. Our leathers are guaranteed against defect for life.
1833 Polk St. (@ Jackson) San Francisco - johnsonleather.com
(800) 730-7722 • (415) 775-7393
Forcefield Body Armour, The world's
leading “Soft armour technology”
Body-protection system specialists.
We make
custom 1 & 2 piece
leathers!
direct results from the
liquid cooled motor, in
speedy fashion.
Charge time is 30
minutes on a fast DC
charger, 120 minutes
on a level 2 charger.
If you’re an internal
combustion person,
these designations will
be meaningless, but the
important thing here is
that neither of these are
standard wall outlets. A
level 2 charger, though,
is a pretty standard
upgrade for the electric
car crowd, requiring just
a 240-volt source. You
didn’t need that clothes
dryer anyway, right?
Area. I leered at half-built bikes on stands,
just waiting to be finished; carbon fiber
body panels in various states of completion
sitting patiently on racks; techs meticulously
forming parts one sexy, sweeping curve at a
time.
This is like the conversation a dad has with his
So I know what all you
daughter’s prom date. “I will kill you…”
cheap-ass, excuse me,
frugal, CityBike readers
are saying right now. We
like to ride. I was lucky enough to ride one
said it too. This is an expensive bike. Forty recently in the city, on the highway, and in
grand will get you a couple of fast street
the mountains—the perfect test.
bikes, a couple dirt bikes, maybe even a
project bike or two, and a crappy old truck I went into this experience a blank canvas:
I had never even seen a Lightning LSto haul ‘em in. Good times, right?
218. I knew nothing about it. Richard
The point here is that Lightning is doing
Hatfield, Lightning’s Founder and CEO,
some magical stuff, out on the edge of
met me at the door with a welcoming
electric motorcycle technology, with
smile and talked me through a quick tour
impressive performance in various events
of the company’s Palo Alto
from Pike’s Peak to road racing.
headquarters. He’s
clearly done
I commuted on a Zero for a couple weeks
this before; I
in 2014, and while I’m a lifelong gearhead,
imagine it’s a
who grew up with grease-stained hands
daily routine.
and gasoline for cologne, I’m excited by the
dawning of this new age of electric bikes.
It’s pretty
You should be too.
cool to see a
motorcycle
Riding The Lightning
being built right
here in the Bay
By Eric “GoGo” Gulbransen
I’ve been conscious of electric motorcycles
for years now. I’ve filmed them at
the Bonneville Salt Flats, and at
Laguna Seca. I’ve interviewed their
engineers, their riders, and I’ve
even pushed them around the
pits. But I’ve never ridden
one. Never that is, until
the Lightning LS218. It’s a beautiful
motorcycle, but
you don’t need
me to tell you
that.
The business end of it fascinated me—just
how do you start
something like
this? The technical
side overwhelmed
me—apparently
there’s a lot more
to electricity than
plugging a toaster
in the wall. But
curiosity tugged
relentlessly at the
back of my Vanson
jacket like an eight
year old at an
amusement park,
“What’s it like to ride
this thing?!”
Finally, with my leg
over the bike and
helmet sliding over
my head, Richard went through his preflight checklist of riding instructions with
me. As my faceshield went down I cringed
a little for him.
Imagine what it’s like putting some
stranger on your most prized creation, and
aiming them both for the technical, bikeeating mountain roads around Alice’s.
Richard led us out of Palo Alto driving
the Lightning support van. It only
took me about a hundred feet to feel
comfortable on the LS-218—
it’s easy to ride. With
all the talk about
electronics, power
delivery and
re-gen, I
What you
might need me
to tell you,
though, is
what
it’s
welcomed how natural the bike felt once
underway.
That seems to be one of the most
compelling traits of electric motorcycles:
infinite adjustability. If you want more
aggressive power delivery, you can have it.
Less? You can have that too.
Inside the
Lightning
factory.
I don’t own an electric car, but I’ve seen
them around enough to know they are
whisper-quiet. I’m also a motor-head—I’ve
raced open class twins for decades. For
me, power comes in the heart pounding
rhythm of twin cylinder war drums.
Lightning’s LS-218 is not quiet. This bike
whines its way up to speed. The faster you
go, the louder it gets—makes sense to me.
What doesn’t make sense is how much
power it makes. Apparently this machine
is such a wild stallion that it can’t even be
strapped to a dyno without burning the
rear tire to shreds. Engineers had to build
a special assembly for the dyno to measure
the Lightning’s 200+ horsepower. I was
told all this at the factory but I don’t weigh
such claims and numbers with much
enthusiasm—I’m a seat of the pants guy.
And I’ll tell you right now: my pants say
this is the most powerful motorcycle I
have ridden.
Take any
standard
motorcycle out
there, roll it
at mid-speed,
mid-throttle,
and then
quickly twist
its throttle to
the stop. What
happens at first
isn’t all that
exciting: the
motor gasps
for air, the pipe
resonates a
low drone of
exhaust, the
chain draws
tighter and tighter as you wait for
it all to get faster and faster and
louder and louder.
Where do
I put this
thing?
Inertia is the resistance of an object in
motion, to change in its motion. Imagine
trying to stop a free-rolling freight train by
reaching out and grabbing the last car. It
could take miles to slow down even though
it’s not under power. That is inertia.
The LS-218 uses this same inertia to
recharge its batteries as you ride—every
time you roll off the throttle —by
capturing the motion of the rear wheel,
instead of just letting it freewheel. Again,
the intensity of this function is adjustable.
The more aggressive the regenerative
setting is, the farther you can go on
a charge. Right now the Lightning
travels about 100 miles on a charge;
surprisingly far.
The other surprise about the Lightning is
its “wet” weight—just 495 pounds. That’s
not much more than many leading inlinefour Superbikes on the market today, which
is remarkable.
To me, the idea of an electric motorcycle
has always seemed like a novelty, an
interesting idea to play around with. But I
never took them seriously.
Do the same on the Lightning,
and you better hope you did your
homework last week.
First of all: the sound. I’m not
exaggerating when I tell you that
the sound it makes echoes off the
pavement below you like an F-22
Raptor launching from the deck
of an aircraft carrier. It’s intensely
thrilling and intimidating—
because the wild stuff comes
before you get there. If a standard
sportbike’s motor screams once
you’re running flat out, the
Lightning’s motor screams a
warning: “You better be ready for
flat out!”
I stand corrected. The Lightning LS-218
is not a toy; it’s one very serious machine.
In fact, I left the Lightning factory that day
wondering what it might be like to race
one, against the best of the rest—the gaspowered sportbikes.
Aw come on. What are motorcycles for, if
not to dream.
GoGo is one of CityBike’s go-to fast guys. When
we need someone that’s actually fast and skilled
enough to really understand a fast bike, we turn
to Eric.
I’ll admit, I never ran flat
out on the Lightning.
The world we were in
was just too small.
I rode back and forth
through a string of
esses so we could get
photos. This was a great
opportunity for me to
focus on the Lightning,
and on first two passes,
I gently leaned it in and
out of turns. The next
few runs I set it free,
faster and faster each
pass. This is how I get to
know a bike.
The Lightning holds its
weight slightly higher
than a traditional
sportbike, yet it’s
surprisingly easy to
throw around. No
surprises on the brakes,
they’re right on with
anything at this level.
The LS-218 likes to
turn, yet it’s stable—a
good pairing. The riding
position is aggressive; it’s
bred from racing. I felt at ease approaching
turns, I felt at ease and confident
approaching and executing turns, and I
loved powering up and rocketing toward
the next one. This is a solid, well-designed
machine with tons of potential.
When you roll off the throttle, the bike
goes into a regenerative mode. This is
the bike’s way of using motion to create
energy.
In its present state, the steering stops offer a
limited range of turning ability. While this
is appropriate for the track, it’s not ideal for
the street—you need that extra steering
lock to navigate slow-speed stuff like
parking lots and U-turns. Richard told me
they already have plans to offer more lock.
Victory Cross Country
way the bags and fender flow to the rear is
downright sensuous, and at the same time
tough and masculine.
By Surj Gish
Photos: Angelica Rubalcaba
W
e gotta be careful—we’re riding
a lot of big American iron this
year. We’re gonna develop a
reputation. Thunder Roads, watch yo’self!
Beyond that, the details are pretty standard
Victory cruiser business. Big, chunky
metal, and swooping lines. Simple dash,
smallish mirrors, low screen on the
batwing-ish fairing. Our bike had a Klock
Werks screen that was a bit bigger than the
stocker, but unfortunately, it smacked me
around like Holyfield should have done
to Romney the other night, pretty much
no matter what position I put myself in,
compromising or otherwise.
Just kidding, of course.
But CityBike is basically the village
bicycle—everyone gets a ride. Or we ride
everything. Or something.
That joke didn’t really work. Surprise,
surprise.
Anyway, Max picked up the Victory Cross
Country, terrorized his (former) neighbors
(see below) and then handed it off to me.
I decided I’d give a real bagger experience,
the old (didn’t go to) college try, so I loaded nicknames on the front, a couple days of
it up in a truck, took it to Reno, and rode it stubble, the whole deal. Their bikes were
to a strip club wearing jeans.
parked perpendicular to the curb outside
a restaurant where the Master of Puppets
No shit.
and I happened to be grabbing some chow,
I know, I know, lots of people actually
and when they returned to their bikes, I
ride these things. Like the three dudes
figured it was gonna be loud. My hearing’s
on Victory baggers that Angelica and I
pretty shot, but I still dislike my meal being
ran into up in Sac. These guys had the
interrupted by someone else’s idea of “cool
full-on Wild Hogs thing going—vests
sounding exhaust.”
with pseudo-club patches on the back and
Speaking of compromising positions,
the stock seat is rather limiting. In spite
of being quite large and potentially
comfortable, it’s deeply scooped, and
Not to worry, though. One of the dudes
kept forcing me into a single spot on
actually apologized before they started their the expansive vinyl. Even worse, the
bikes, “Sorry, this is gonna be kinda loud.” floorboards put me in a legs-up position
But the bikes weren’t even loud. We’re
that slowly pushed me back into that spot,
talking quintessential sewing machine
and the padding on the seat is lacking,
stock exhaust. Maybe because they weren’t meaning I could feel the underlying plastic
revving the piss out of their bikes.
pushing into my bum-side.
I just realized that’s a terrible example of
Bummer.
people actually riding their motorcycles.
The aluminum frame and 43 mm inverted
But you do meet the nicest people on
fork (yep, for real!) are burly, and increase
Victories.
the coolness of
Anyway, back to
the bike in a way
the bike. Here’s
that isn’t usually
the rundown. The
associated with the
Cross Country
cruiser world. That
is basically the
frame stretches
mid-level model in
the wheelbase out
Victory’s bagger
to 65.7 inches—
lineup, coming in
not exactly short
at $18,999 before
and sporty—but
you start adding
also offers an
stuff.
extremely low
seat height of just
Your almost26.3 inches, which
twenty K gets
contributes to the
you big locking
manageability of
hard bags, cruise
the bike, in spite of
control, ABS,
its husky stature.
Kicker premium
speakers, and
Fuel capacity is 5.8
“factory custom
gallons, but both
paint” which sounds like oxymoronic
Max and I were filling ‘er up at under 150
bullshit, but let me tell you, our bike had a
miles without fail. I’m sure that was partly
sweet paint job, that our lowbrow newsprint because we were both really whacking the
treatment is just not gonna convey real
throttle—the Freedom V-Twin’s 106 foot
well. Sorry ‘bout that.
pounds of torque makes that too much fun
Our Cross came to us in “Two-Tone
Suede Sunset Red over Black,” and the
combination was just beautiful. Mind you,
this “beautiful paint” comment is coming
from some who cares so little about how
bikes look that his own bike hasn’t been
washed (other than by the rain) since it
rolled out of the dealership 3 ½ years ago.
Seriously, the combination was nice, and
elicited compliments wherever we went.
to abstain from. Victory says the tank is
“long range” but maybe we have a different
idea of what that means.
Anyway, back to my real bagger story. I
loaded the Cross Country into my old
F150, which coincidentally happens to be
painted a similarly reddish color—ooh,
matchy matchy!—and headed up Eighty to
Reno, planning to do the “cruising around
town, looking bad” thing for the weekend.
The slick paintjob jives nicely with the lines That’s how it’s done, right? Truck it, then
of the bike: swoopy, sexy, curvy, BIG. The ride it?
rear end is particularly curvaceous—the
So people find the bike attractive. Like I
said, it’s a beaut.
Once in Reno, I unloaded the CC from
the truck, figuring that it’d be too easy for
someone to hotwire Old Fancy (the truck)
and drive off with the whole thing. To keep
the bike safe, I performed a particularly
assholish parking job, placing the bike on
the sidewalk right in front of the hotel and
dropping a $20 with the valet crew. “Keep
an eye on my baby, fellas.”
That only worked for the first night.
Assholish parking jobs are frowned on in
Nevada, too, turns out.
The next day, I put on my jeans and leather
jacket, and mean-mugged around town for
an hour or so, looking for prime photo shoot
locations and feeling like a badass. The bike
does that to you. Or to me, at least.
But back to the bike, again. The Cross
Country is a blast, once you’re in the
groove. I found myself wishing the screen
and seat were better—these two niggling
pains in my ass (well, one of ‘em) were the
only thing keeping me from riding it back
to Oakland, instead of trucking it. Well,
that and the snowstorm the next day.
Victory Is Mine!
(For A Week Or So…)
By Max Klein
I really need to start
letting Editor Surj finish
talking. I let him get as
far as “Hey, Max, do you
want to ride…” before
I cut him off and say
“Yes, yes, for the love of
baby Jebus, YES, gimme
gimme gimme!!!”
By now you have
heard that the writers
and riders of CityBike
are not really cruiser
guys. Maybe that’s
We ended up doing burnouts in front of a
why I, one of the
particularly classy-looking strip club, which newest contributors,
turned out to be across the street from WAR keep getting the giant
Customs, where we met Shane, a super nice American Iron between
Harley builder with amazing metalworking my legs.
skills, who showed us the projects in his
Phrasing.
shop and hung out with us for a bit. We
talked about lane splitting, bikes, and hid
Anyway, I got tricked into riding the
from the crazy woman in the space next to
Victory Cross Country, and I ain’t even
his, who we’d somewhat seriously thought
mad. Partly because it was a pretty damn
was luring us in to murder us earlier that
fun motorcycle, and partly because I
afternoon. Reno, man.
had to ride it the week Mrs. Klein and I
were packing up to move. I really had no
choice but to skip packing and go on daylong rides. I am—first and foremost—a
dedicated journalist.
It was very comfortable at a spirited pace
all day.
The miles melted away in a fair amount
of comfort. Cruise control, audio system,
Compared to the Green Giant, the Harley and a couch-like seat come standard. The
that was parked in my garage a few weeks
cruise worked fine, but it is still a foreign
before (“H-D H2O: Harley-Davidson Ultra concept for me on a motorcycle. The stereo
Limited” – April 2015), the Cross Country was fairly loud but lacked a Bluetooth
was downright
connection. There was an iPod cable in
manageable. Sure
the sidecase so I dusted off my ten-year-old
it’s still 700+
relic and listened to The Matrix Trilogy
pounds—760 to
Score on repeat. Stop judging me, it was the
be exact—but it’s
best part of the last movie!
very well balanced.
The couch-like seat was better than some
I did all my usual
bikes that I have owned, but not customriding—freeways,
level comfy. There was a considerable
lane sharing,
amount of buffeting from the short screen
backroads, and
atop the fairing that seemed to get worse
city riding—with
when I had a passenger. That might have
confidence.
been due to her screaming about how
Righting the
damn windy it was, but who knows.
Victory from the
The exhaust was not standard. Victory’s
side stand did not
optional exhaust (we’re not sure if it’s
require feats of
legal here in the Golden State, as the bike
strength followed
is from Minnesota) was a touch louder
by the balance of
than the Harley’s stockers, making the
a tightrope walker
last departure from my old neighborhood
like the H-D did.
that much more satisfying. Nothing says
This is likely due
“Suck it, evil drug-dealing neighbor,” like
to the lack of a Geo
bouncing a large v-twin off the rev limiter
Metro sized primary, and after putting in
with Roy Rogers’ “Happy Trails” blaring
a couple hundred miles on the CC, it was a
from the speakers. I really need to update
welcome design “feature.”
my iPod.
On the same ride I decided to play “squidWhen it is my time to ride off into the
chaser” whenever a pack of mohawksunset, it will probably be on a giant bagger
helmeted, t-shirt and armor-vested jokers
and the Victory Cross Country could be in
would whiz by. It’s not an easy task, but you
the running.
can throw this big’un through the canyons.
BMW Motorrad
USA
Authorized Dealer
©2015 BMW Motorrad USA, a division of BMW of North America, LLC. The BMW name and logo are registered trademarks.
Hail To The
Along the way, I got lots of approving nods
from dudes in cars and trucks, including
one comedian in a Prius that kept doing
the arms up, twisting the throttle thing,
mouthing “YEAH!”
The Ultimate
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Adventures in Shifting: Riding Nepal
Water buffalo in Chitwan National Park. Photo: Douglas Knowlton.
to the area where Bön
was practiced, he just
folded their rituals into
Buddhism and said, “It’s
all good!”
Doug with wet
boots in Jomson.
Photo: Hugh Milne.
On the way to Muktinath. Photo: Douglas Knowlton.
By Douglas
Knowlton
W
hen
Wolfgang
Taft (of
Dubbelju Motorcycle
Rentals in SF)
suggested a trip to
Nepal, with Himalayan
Roadrunners, I didn’t
realize that shifting
would be such a major
aspect of the journey.
The Royal Enfields
that we would be riding
have a reverse shifting
pattern: up for low, with
the lever on the right.
mechanic on vacation,
it doesn’t get any better
than that.
Peter Gordon on the way to Muktinath.
Photo: Douglas Knowlton.
Hugh Milne crossing a stream on the way
to Muktinath. Photo: Douglas Knowlton.
Bandipur at dawn. Photo: Douglas Knowlton.
You’ve heard about old dogs (Dougs?)—
ditching forty years of riding habits would
take some flexibility. Having ridden the
Enfields on two previous trips, I mistakenly
thought it would be no problem. Wrong!
with the brake, and “downshift” into a
higher gear.
My friend Peter Gordon, who has less than
two years of riding under his belt, also had
some trouble the first day or two. Driving
on the wrong side of the road (although
people tend to use all of the road, all of
On the first day of the ride, we set off for
the time), reversed shifting and brakes,
Bandipur, in the foothills of the Himalayas. and kickstart-only bikes (for him, a totally
Sure enough, I found myself trying to shift new experience)… Peter was shifting to
Tour owner Rob
Callander’s 1974
BMW in Jomsom
hotel courtyard.
Photo: Douglas
Knowlton.
something new in a lot
of areas.
It reminded me of my
father teaching me to
swim. Deep end… toss.
Happily, as the
days went on, we all
adjusted to the archaic
technology and started
to enjoy the ride more.
Adjusting under
pressure, hopefully, tends to make you
choose the correct path.
Shift number two: horns. In the good
ol’ US of A, beeping the horn means,
“You bastard, you just did something
that deserves the wrath of almighty God
brought down upon thy useless head.”
After a while, you just use the shoulder and
continue on your merry way—no drama!
There doesn’t seem to be much in the way
of rules, but it seems to work somehow. We
never saw an accident during our fourteen
In Nepal, horns are constantly going meep- days of riding.
meep, but it just means, “I’m coming up
One day coming down a nasty section
on your right side, left side, the sidewalk,
of two-track in the mountains outside of
shoulder, passing the truck that’s passing
you, blind corners, alleyways, and I see you Muktinath, we came around a blind corner
and found a bus was blocking the road.
on my side of the road passing that bus.”
A jeep was stopped in front of the bus,
In Nepal, the horns, the people, everything changing a tire in the middle of a stream. In
was always very polite. There were epic
Nepal, not an issue—we simply moved our
traffic jams and I never saw anyone get
mirrors in and squeezed by.
pissed off or use a horn in anger.
Shift number four: cultural views on
animals. I have never seen so many
seriously mangy dogs, and at the same
time, so many beautiful roosters, chickens,
and goats. Rush hour with elephants is not
to be missed. If you are an animal in Nepal
and you don’t have a job, you are on your
own—not unlike being poor in a red state.
Shift number five: assumptions about door
and ceiling heights: Some of the hotels and
guest houses we stayed in were old, and I
The final shift is the one that this trip
generated for me: the shift out of my own
fabrication, the idea that the small world I
live in is the only way to live, eat, think and
pray. It’s not.
Get out there and have your own adventure
in shifting. If you need some inspiration,
give Wolfgang a call at Dubbeju. He always
seems to have a couple of interesting trips
in the works.
Doug has ridden over 200,000 miles. He
started riding in 1968, racing motocross
in 1969, and working as a mechanic—
I’d always wondered why Tibetan
on Bultacos!—in1974. If you’ve had
Buddhism is so radically different from
Chinese or Japanese Buddhism. It turns wrenching done at Motorcycles Unlimited,
out that the great sage Padmashambhava Marin Cycleworks, or most recently, the
recently deceased Mission Motorcycles, he
journeyed through Nepal and Tibet,
may have had his hands on your bike.
converting the locals. When he got
Peter Gordon, still truckin’ towards Muktinath.
Photo: Douglas Knowlton.
Shift number three: getting used to seeing
buses, trucks, tractors, cars, motorcycles,
scooters, cattle and of course elephants
coming at you in your lane.
Shift number seven:
religions are way more complicated
than we can ever know. We went south
to Lumbini to visit archaeological
sites related to the Buddha. We got a
personal tour from archeologist Basanta
Bidari, one of the leading experts on the
Buddha’s life in Nepal, who has worked
at two of the major sites there for thirty
years. He shared a fascinating history of
the Buddha, at a site where a monastery
that his father, the King, built for him
and his followers.
Nepal is a crossroads
of Hindu India and
Buddhist Tibet. You see
temples with Buddhist
images on the exterior and
Hindu gods inside. Ask
a local if it was a Hindu
or Buddhist temple, they
say, “Yes!” Being open to
different ways of thinking
seems to be part of the culture in Nepal.
Nice.
think the average height of a Nepali a few
hundred years ago must have been about
5’4”. I have never smacked my 6’4” head so
many times in such a short period of time.
I felt like Gandalf visiting Frodo in the
Shire. Towards the end of the trip, I got it
and stopped smacking my head. Aversion
Therapy works like a charm.
Shift number six: not having to work on
motorcycles: It was a real joy to not have to
worry in the slightest about the machinery.
The Himalayan Roadrunners team took
great care of the bikes and us, working hard
to make sure we had a good machines to
ride each day. Our machines were often
pretty battered at the end of the day,
but every morning the bikes were clean,
prepped and ready to go. For a professional
Ride Assertively, Embrace Contingency
Doesn’t exactly glide off the tongue, does it?
By Surj Gish with a little (ok, a lot) of
help from CityBike readers.
W
e printed a couple of letters in
Tankslapper (“Ride Fast? Sure.
Take Chances? Maybe…” –
Tankslapper, April 2015) a couple months
back, sort of a pros and cons of our longrunning motto / slogan / raison d’être
or whatever we’re calling it. Let’s go with
motto, for now, to keep it simple.
In case you missed it, here’s a recap: our
‘Ride Fast Take Chances’ motto has been
the subject of much scrutiny for many
years. Even here at CityBike HQ , we have
deep, philosophical conversations about ye
olde RFTC. For reals.
These two letters basically took the two
sides of the Ride Fast Take Chances
discussion. Rick, from Potter Valley, took
the pro-RFTC side, saying, “Ride fast, take
chances! I do, it’s a habit that I haven’t been
able to break, since about 1968.”
We pointed out that we don’t advocate
stupid riding—in fact we’re big fans of
always increasing your skills—but taking
chances is part of riding motorcycles. And
we like riding fast. We also asked all y’all
think about this.
Boy did we get letters! Around that time
the slogan was coined by me, and the
t-shirts created, which sold well.
I think what has happened since that era
is
This unleashed a flurry of letters,
emails and even phones calls,
100% in favor of keeping
Ride Fast Take
Chances (sorry
Paulo Alto),
with some
even taking
offense
at our
recent
Guy calls, asks if this is CityBike. Yes,
yes it is. The caller informs me that
he’s from out of town and that he’d just
grabbed CityBike for the first time and
was appalled, shocked to see the RFTC
slogan. Funny thing was, this was done
a little bit like Foghorn-Leghorn—
pretty over the top, but I could
tell that he was upset and
was trying his best to do
the conservative talk
show thing where
much ado is
made about
very little.
I asked
him to
hang
on to
On the other side, Paul from Palo Alto
(Paulo Alto?) said, among other things,
“Taking chances on your bike is dumb and
juvenile. If your magazine had been available
when my two children were growing up, I
would have removed or obliterated the ‘Take
Chances’ headline.”
tonguein-cheek
takes on
our own
motto, like
“Ride Slow Look
Cool.” Apparently,
some of our readers
thought CityBike’s sacred
motto was at risk, that we were
going to bow to some invisible hand
of safety-ism and political correctness.
That’s understandable—there have
been some changes around here in the
last year—but I’m not gonna make you
wait. Ride Fast Take Chances isn’t going
anywhere.
To understand why, let’s start at the
beginning, with CityBike’s founder, Brian
Halton:
The term “politically correct” first
surfaced in CityBike, as I recall, in the
early nineties.
The term kind of said it all. So we
immediately set our sights on it. Set out
to satirize everything it stood for...and
we did.
answer
two
questions.
Question
#1: Have you
ever exceeded
the speed limit on
a motorcycle? Caller
admitted that he had, on
occasion, done so. I asked if
that meant that he’d ridden “fast”,
and he agreed.
that
despite our relentless lampooning
of “political correctness” and it’s
embarrassing temerity—it has clearly
triumphed as the new way. The hyper
cautious path is decidedly in vogue.
Question #2: Do you think that riding
motorcycles is as safe as riding in cars,
planes, or trains? Caller guffawed and
hesitated because he knew where this
was going, then agreed that motorcycles
are not as safe as other conveyances.
As my contemporary at the time, John
Ulrich of Roadracing World, observed to
me: ‘Today’s generation’s idea of taking
a chance is eating in a restaurant that
hasn’t been reviewed yet!’
So—if motorcycles aren’t as safe, then by
riding one, one assumes greater risk, or
TAKES CHANCES, am I right?
“Kind of nailed it, didn’t he?!
Keeping it in the CityBike alumni vein,
publisher Kenyon shared this story:
After a moment of silence, the pretense
of self-righteousness, piousness, and
mock indignation were dropped and
he agreed that he was guilty of it just as
much as anyone.
This is why we ride. We take a ‘chance’
just throwing a leg over. Ride fast? Hell
yeah. Just ‘cause we ride fast doesn’t
mean we are reckless.
While “riding fast” is the science which can be
measured in mph, lean angles and g-forces, it is the
art of “taking chances” that we remember. The art of
calculated risk, and its inevitable stir-and-shaking of the
soul, is what makes all the science of speed worthwhile.
My comment here, after getting
occasional pressure and feedback
about the slogan for five years, is that
we all take chances. At whatever level
we deem acceptable, but we do take a
chance getting on ANY motorcycle. It’s
a fundamental truth, and part of why
we ride. To say that this should not be
acknowledged, even in humor, seems
hypocritical to me. Anyone who obeys
every speed limit to the letter has a
position to take on this topic, I suppose,
but that sort of behavior is pretty unAmerican, so it’s a small bunch that
actually can claim that one.
therefore, lies in self-justifying one’s
position. I believe that personal
responsibility is paramount. Our everrestrictive society seems to disagree,
looking instead for a parent figure to
make their decisions for them. But that’s
a different rant.
which can be measured in mph, lean
angles and g-forces, it is the art of “taking
chances” that we remember. The art of
calculated risk, and its inevitable stirand-shaking of the soul, is what makes all
the science of speed worthwhile.
No doubt there are people who don’t
Regarding the CityBike slogan: It’s a
think this way. And they don’t read
marketing phrase, not a philosophical
CityBike. But for those who do, please
mandate. Those who don’t appreciate the
stay true!
humor in RFTC probably won’t enjoy
the contents. I could get all mystical and Allan Slaughter proclaimed:
say that, in addition, changing the slogan
“Ride Fast, Take Chances!” What else
would have an inevitable effect upon the
has City Bike’s allure ever been?
content. Gradual, persistent and almost
“Ride Far…” puts you in the genial genus
Who among us obeys every posted speed
unnoticed at first; kind of like the frogs
of Bob & Patti Carpenter or even the
limit, everywhere, always?
in that old B-movie.
trimmed-down Clem Salvatori with
RFTC is the moto-editorial equivalent
Dewayne Harkov from Ripon (that’s in the
“101 Road Tales” to ennui, working up a
of Elvis swinging his pelvis and making
Bay Area, right?) pulled no punches:
plea of “Who, me??” for the manaclers of
crotchety old people think that such
Atascadero. And today you’re baiting the
I hope you guys don’t knuckle under
things promoted promiscuity.
profilers with gun-slinging Stocktonites
to the whiners / PC crowd with the
or even the ATGATT with taste!
removal of the “Ride Fast Take Chances”
Anyone who’s really hanging it out
While Peter Franzen—Clint Eastwood
logo on paper and T-shirts. WTF?? The
dangerously on the road didn’t get there
knockoff—gets strafed by 3 menacing
contributors are always stressing their
reading CityBike—CityBike is NOT an
Honda jocks in Finland (yet!) Come on;
independent non-conformist attitudes
enabler of such behavior, grandpa.
that classy masthead of May AM won’t
so why would you even entertain any
crumple beneath any Amy-Holland
And here’s what readers had to say.
thoughts of changing?? I’m an old fart, 62
cry of “Me too!” to blow any clutch in
Frequent emailer AFM Ex-Pres Kevin
and have been riding over 40 years with
Friction Zone.
Smith sent us a poem. A POEM. Awesome,
2000RT and 20008 GSA in the garage.
right? Check it out:
Thanks for a great paper which is hard to
Keep the old banner! Both Brian and
find in the valley.
There was a young man who rode.
Gabe took on the milquetoasts—and
He didn’t listen to what he was told:
won.
Jay, another of our golden years readers,
“Stop riding so fast.
said:
And finally, Richard Rosen wrote in to say:
You’re being an ass;
I say keep Ride Fast Take Chances. Don’t
Keep it up and you’ll never grow old.”
I think the motto should be addressed as
buckle under to political correctness.
two separate statements.
Ride Fast Take Chances was what he had
This is why we ride. We take a ‘chance’
read.
First: Ride Fast.
just throwing a leg over. Ride fast? Hell
A phrase that drilled deeply into his
yeah. Just ‘cause we ride fast doesn’t
To begin, I seem to remember when
head.
mean we are reckless.
studying for my written New York
“It feels good to go fast.
State motorcycle license, in 19 aught
For what it’s worth, I’m 60. Every ride is
I want it to last.
sumthin’, the study guide recommended
a thrill, but if I don’t hit 100 somewhere
To go slow, I’ll stop riding instead.”
staying 5 miles above the flow of traffic.
on my ride, well, it’s a slow ride. Keep it
“CB is what I would follow;
Why would they recommend that?
coming!
Without it my life would be hollow.
Presumably for purposes of safety. I
Weston Headley said:
I’m gonna go fast,
have thought about this ‘wisdom’ over
Don’t wanna be last
the years. If you drive faster than the
On the question of whether the tagline
And I still plan to be here tomorrow.”
prevailing flow of traffic, you are forced
of your ‘zine should remain true to
to perceive traffic as a series of particles,
its journalistic history and Bay Area
“You’re crazy,” they said.
traveling in roughly the same direction.
motorcycling legacy: a resounding YES!
“You’re gonna be dead.
Separate, and unpredictable. This is as
If you don’t stop now,
Your April 2015 (dear God, I hope it’s
it should be. Heavy, possibly dangerous
While you still know how,
just temporary) tagline is the perfect
particles, with spaces in between. Staying
You’ll be painting the pavement in red.”
example. In many parts of the country
in between these particles, as opposed to
where roads run straight, “riding slow
under or on top of them, is pretty much
Ride Fast Take Chances was all he could
and looking cool” is the rule. Ditto
the goal. Sitting in a line of cars traveling
see.
for the many people who think of
at, oh, let’s pick some arbitrary number,
“The paper don’t lie,” he rode wild and
motorcycling as some monoculture
like 55 mph, and expecting them to travel
free.
of leather vests and wannabe Sons of
at a constant velocity and direction, as if
Go slow he would not,
Anarchy.
you are riding on train, is to invite very
More speed he still sought,
unpleasant surprises. So ‘fast’ is a relative
And now he’s the king of GP.
But here in NorCal, where twisties roam
term. If traffic is moving at 55, and you
free like antelope and motoculture is a
In case you couldn’t tell, I think you
are moving at 60, you are perceived as
wonderful cocktail of urban hooligans
should keep the phrase.
riding ‘fast’. Seems logical to me...fast is
and backcountry billy-goats, riding fast
good.
There are valid points to both sides of
is the name of many motorcyclists’ game.
any good discussion. The challenge,
And while “riding fast” is the science
Second: Take Chances.
Well, if you don’t take chances, you
stay home and pray for something good
to happen. The American Heritage
Dictionary I have on the bookshelf, gives
as a first definition of chance:
‘The abstract nature or quality shared by
unexpected, random or unpredictable
events; contingency.’
Kinda sounds like life to me. Let’s face
it, riding a motorcycle is taking chances.
The key is weighing the contingencies.
Like I said, Ride Fast Take Chances isn’t
going anywhere, but it’s good to hear that
you all have our back on this.
We often find ourselves walking a strange
and very thin line, talking about and
promoting “motorcycle safety,” the idea of
managing risk—the chances we take—
by being good riders in both a mental /
strategic sense as well as a physical / skills
sense. We truly believe that we should all
be working on being better riders, all the
time.
So we can ride faster, and take those
chances, and still make it home.
Track Day Special
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I’ll Have The Works: Dainese Custom Works Suit
By Max Klein
G
sam DEVINE
Devine Goes To The Drags
They’re not kidding. Photo: Surj Gish.
lorious.
That is the only
word I can come
up with to describe what it
was like when I picked up
my Made 2 Measure (now
Custom Works) Dainese
Suit.
Y
I got the email on the way
back from lunch.
ou and your buddies are all
thwumpin your chests, claiming
that your bike is faster. So the group
heads down to the beach and lines up, until
a pretty Betty drops her hanky. You cob the
shit out of the throttle and pull ahead of the
pack. But some drunken frat boy goes long
for a frisbee, crossing your path and causing
a fiery collision that kills you all. And that’s
how the song “Dead Man’s Curve” was
written.
“Your suit arrived today.”
The suit in question was
my Dainese Custom Works
suit (“Nothing But FitNet:
Sizing Up For A Custom
Dainese Suit” – March
2015), and I honestly was
not expecting it for at least
another two weeks. It was
coming all the way from
Italy, after all. I was so
excited that I almost leapt
from a moving vehicle...
foolish, since I didn’t have
the suit yet!
Max’s suit in its natural habitat.
Photo: Tomas Covinha.
This is Max’s happy face. Photo: Surj Gish.
I rode over to the D-Store after work, my
emotions vacillating between excitement
and nervousness. Excited, because, duh,
custom suit, and nervous because I’d
started working out and lost 10 pounds
since the fitting—thanks for noticing.
Shelli—master of the D-Store—greeted
me with a smile (as usual) and within
minutes I was all up inside my new
armored epidermis. She gave me a onceover and asked me some questions about
the fit. She then had me hop on a bike in
the showroom, apparently kept around for
just this purpose, checked me out again,
and asked some more questions about how
it fit.
Glorious.
The measure twice (sometimes three
times, in a total of twenty-four places) and
cut once approach paid off. As I became
one with the leather I remembered how
poorly the non-bespoke onesie fit. Too
short here, too narrow there - all of that
was gone. All of the armor was in the right
place, nothing pulled, nothing bound,
nothing stopped me from complete
comfort in a full tuck.
All of the Laguna Seca suits incorporate
some pretty fancy (and patented)
technology. The microelastic inserts not
only allow for greater range of motion;
they also eliminate potential failure points
to get CityBike
delivered to your door
by the meanest, most
psychotic, well-armed
branch the Government
has to beat you with.
by reducing the number
of leather panels and the
amount of stitching needed
to complete a suit. When
you combine that patent
and the and the biaxial
stretch panels you get,
well… comfort. The suit is
designed to be comfortable
even when the temps
rise thanks to perforated
leather panels that include
the speed hump.
On the track I was
immediately comfortable (see above for
reasons why), and was dragging knee by lap
two my first session out. No, I did not crash
test it, nor do I plan to—knock on wood. I
am very confident that it will hold up and
protect me if I decide to outride my talent,
Max in full crouch inside
the SF D-Store.
Photo: Surj Gish.
or am taken out by one of my similarly
misguided trackmates.
Why the confidence? Dainese made my
suit to the extremely rigid CE Category 2
certification, which means all that titanium
is not just for show.
The bad side of all this awesome? I am
completely ruined when it comes to offthe-rack gear. Wearing my normal textile
commuter gear takes me back to junior
high school when everyone else on the
basketball team had Jordans and I was out
there rockin’ my Chucks. I don’t think I’ll
ever be able to go back to a non-custom
suit for the track, and I now find myself
eyeballing custom textile options for the
Highway 4 meatgrinder that makes up half
of my daily commute.
That’s right! we’ll send the man
to your mail hole once a month
for an entire year delivering the
latest issue of CityBike.
Just send a check for $30 to:
PO Box 18738
Oakland, CA 94619.
Can you blame me? It is impossible to resist
the phenomenal customer service from
the D-store and the near perfection of the
finished Custom Works product.
be sure to include your name,
address, & phone number!
or use Paypal!
[email protected]
Get more information and find out when the next
Custom Works event is coming to the San Francisco
D-store at dstoresanfrancisco.com/fitnet.
But seriously, you and your friends want to
know how fast your motorbikes actually
The technical requirements on their web
go. There’s a pretty darn safe way of finding site are confusing, so here’s what it boils
out.
down to:
Welcome to the Wednesday Night Drags
Riders must wear a leather jacket (sorry
at Sears Point Sonoma Raceway, which
ADV riders and vegans, no textiles) and
takes place most weeks from spring to fall. a Snell approved helmet. You also need a
Competing costs $25. Attending is $10. If
real pair of motorcycle gloves with sliders
your bike is street legal, you can probably
or kevlar lining and solid footwear that
drag it. Everything from cruisers to sport
protects the ankle. Jeans are just fine unless
bikes, minivans to cop cars to hot rods are you’re going to be pulling speeds above
all given a crack at the strip.
120mph, then you’ll need a full racing suit.
It’s Wednesday night, and I’m lined up for
my turn at Sonoma Raceway. There’s a guy
in a red polo shirt and radio headphones
standing in front of a line of bikes. “Stay
calm, stay calm,” I think, but I’m definitely
not calm. People are watching, engines are
roaring and I’m about to try going as fast as
I can—at least it’s just in a straight line.
If your bike is more or less stock, it’ll
most likely be able to run. If it’s heavily
customized or an extremely fast model,
they’ll want to start going down the
technical checklist. The only bike I
saw denied was a Hayabusa that didn’t
have a tethered killswitch (required for
bikes faster than 10.99 seconds). I called
about the petcock on my sportbike being
inaccessible and was assured that as long
has the bike has a fuel shut-off system it will
be fine.
“The gas is on. The gas is on,” I tell myself
as the mind runs over every checklist point
again and again. The lights change for
the bikes in front of us, yellow, now green
and… the guy on the Sportster drops his
Oh, yeah: no trikes.
bike. “Whew,” I think. “That really took the
pressure off. I won’t be the biggest jerk out Pulling around into the paddock, I fall in
with the only group of bikes amidst a lake
here today. Probably.”
of cars. I talk with a Dyna owner about the
Earlier that day I’m idling by the hightimes he hopes to pull. Turns out my cute
octane gas pumps next to the track and
little dreams of hitting a hundred were
wondering how to get in line. Can you
pretty far-fetched. I had figured that if my
just lane split to the front? I ride over to a
little Honda CMX 450 could hit 50 mph on
primer grey station wagon that’s speckled
a single city block, I should be able to pull
with stickers and ask what the deal is.
a bill in the quarter mile. Telling the Dyna
“Well, this is technical, where they check us rider my aspirations, he points to a GSX-R
and says, “I don’t know man, he barely
out,” says the driver. “It’s kind of a cluster
fuck. It’s supposed to be one line but there’s breaks a hundred.”
too many of us. So, you know, wherever…” Checking out the different bikes, I walk up
Turns out my lane splitting idea was more
or less correct. A biker group slips past the
cars and the race tech waves me in with
them. Besides checking for a Snell sticker,
the inspection consists mostly of making
sure the bike has two wheels. After almost
no talking, he takes out a white grease
marker, draws a number on my headlight
and walks away.
to the track staff standing in front of our
group.
Photo: Jonathan Costello
“Ok, but, I mean, when will we go?” I reply,
pointing to the bikes.
oversize fly swatter at me in warning,
smiling, saying, “Do you see this?”
“Hmm. Not sure,” he said. “But first, do
you know what type of Christmas tree
you’ll be on?”
Heading back towards the line-up, I swing
my right leg loose, laughing. And I wait to
go again.
Is this guy fucking with me? I imagine
grainy photos of drag racers, each glued to
red construction paper, hanging from pipe
cleaners on a fake pine tree. Nice. But all I
say in response is, “Nope.”
Sam is CityBike’s newest columnist. He lives in SF,
teaches motorcycling and kitesurfing during the
day, tends bar at night, and sports the closest thing
to ZZ Top-level facial hair of any of the CityBike
Wrecking Crew.
“See,” he says, pointing to the rows of
lights between two revving hotrods.
“Well, it doesn’t help for you to watch this
group because the lights are different for
motorcycles. But, you see how there are
two lights up top? That’s for positioning.
You’ll see it when you get up there.
“With the cars, there are three yellows and
then the green, see? But the motorcycles it’s
just: yellow then go. All three yellows light
up, then the green one.”
A few minutes later, I’m at the line.
Yellows…Green!!!
The throttle twists. The Dyna in the
left lane fades back for a moment. Time
to shift. Where’s the lever?! Looking…
Looking down?! Ok—foot in place now.
He’s still just to the left. I’ve got him!
Tuck! Tuck! Shift! Twist! Throttle! The
speedometer wobbles, springing around 80
as the wind screams and green hills streak
by. He pulls away…
The race is over. I lost, but not by much.
We engine-brake up the hill and curve past
the red and white striping of the turn. I lean
hard, scraping a foot peg as we zoom back
down towards the paddock.
“All right, both of yah!” yells the lady in the
“Hey, sorry to bother you,” I say, “but how’s little booth behind the track where we stop
this work?”
to get our times. “The speed limit on the
return road is FIFTEEN!”
“Well,” says an elderly and obviously
bothered man, “you’ve got your different
“Sorry,” I say as she hands over the print
groups, there’s the sport, the uh, comp rods, outs of our times. “Nobody told me
the gear jammers—that’s the stick-shift
anything. It’s my first time.” I stuff the
cars—and the high-schoolers who’ll race
printout into my glove as she waves an
the highway patrols.”
dr. gregory w. FRAZIER
Looking through a stack of motorcycle
magazines I recently took note of a
similar marketing ploy—today, much
is about adventure.
“The larger the screen, the greater
the adventure” (with “big thrills”)
screamed at me in a full-page ad
for a GPS. For $290 I could buy an
“adventure tank bag” and another
ad proffered “adventure-proven soft
luggage.” Another column profiled
adventure tires, while other fullpage ads pictured an adventure
touring seat and for “your ultimate
adventure,” a windscreen. Additional
ads offered adventure designed tire
bead breaker and tire irons, engine
guards and tool kits. To remember
the motorcycle adventure, one ad
selling an action camera said it was
“the eyes and ears of adventure.”
Next was the arena of adventure riding
gear like a carbon fiber helmet “made
for adventure,” then a full page buyer’s
guide offering adventure gloves, jacket,
pants, boots, knee brace, neck brace
and goggles. Another magazine offered
“for the adventurer” a pro style hat,
armored hoodie, backpack and titanium
flashlight. A product review proclaimed
a rally riding suit was “ready for
adventure,” and another riding suit ad
proclaimed with it you would “have no
boundaries to your sense of adventure.”
Approaching the realm of sex was a
full-page ad featuring a helmeted and
booted motorcyclist wearing only a pair
of “adventure” riding padded undies, to
Reliable, timely service at
reasonable rates on all
makes of motorcycles
Visit our new shop:
D
OL
HO
LLY
990 Terminal Way, San Carlos
Y
TR
UN
CO
ST
H
ere’s part two of my friend
Al’s observations, just as our
conversation developed. He
is a clothing and accessories salesman
at a multi-line (Triumph and Italian)
motorcycle shop.
“I’ve had customers
come in, try on a
jacket and just throw
it over the rack, try
an unboxed helmet
on and just hand
it to me instead of
putting it back on
the shelf. Like they
own the place.
RI
AL
101
L
NA
MI
TER
AN
ITT
BR
While Clancy may have hooked a
few moviegoers 90 years ago, writing
about adventure and sex in his film The
Adventurous Sex, I admit to participating
in a similar marketing ploy when my
publisher suggested the title for a book,
Motorcycle Sex. The book sold very well
but admittedly had little to do with sex
other than being a spoof on Sigmund
Freud and how he tried to somehow tie
everything we do to sex. Lacking much
hardcore sex in the book, we added some
simple coital drawings in a later print run
in response to the motorcycle magazine
critics who howled about the lack of sex in
the publication.
One page of motorcycle magazine ads
lacked the adventure marketing of today,
those ads for male enhancements like
page lay open, an ad to attend a motorcycle
rally that shouted “Be The Adventure.”
Here was the answer to the question
of what makes the adventure, be it the
motorcycle, the gear, the bling, the cap, the
tire, the bubble-wrapped guided tour or the
rider training? The answer was right there:
the adventure would be me if I attended the
rally, which I shall.
Before attending I may order some of those
male enhancement pills. As the author of
Motorcycle Sex, I would not want to appear
short in the eyes of the adventure seeking
public since I have not found the ADV
codpiece for sale, yet.
Dr. Frazier’s new all-color coffee table book,
DOWN AND OUT IN PATAGONIA,
KAMCHATKA AND TIMBUKTU, available
at mototorbooks.com, is the first-ever firsthand chronicle of a never-ending motorcycle
ride by “the world’s most cerebral motorcyclist.”
It is highly “recommended” by Grant Johnson,
horizonsunlimited.com adventure travel book
guru, and for dream riding armchair and keyboard
adventurists.
“I don’t want to lose
the sale, but people
can be tactless.
Remember, we’re
talking about cool
things to wear,
luxury stuff, not
keep-your-bike-onthe-road stuff.
Nothing. They don’t need gear. They
don’t want to wear a helmet.
“Riders of other brands are smarter
about safety. They want to be protected,
head to toe. Smart young guys wear
“The average Ducati that comes in: 10,000 armored stuff, but often it doesn’t look
miles or less. Whereas a BMW has 40,000 like riding gear. Boots that don’t look
on it. Triumphs too. Young Triumph riders armored but are, jackets that have pads
ride a lot, the older guys not so much. Some but don’t look technical.
older guys, guys who’ve been riding for
“Triumph riders and Ducati riders both
years, ride a lot.
care how they look, but they want to be
protected. A Harley guy… armor to him is,
like, a leather vest. That’s their perception.
Because it’s leather, they’re protected.
“And then they get too fat, and can’t
close the vest anymore, so they get those
chains that connect the front when the
buttons no longer will. And the chains
get longer and longer…
“You know, Triumph and Ducati, and
BMW as we know, demand that your
store has a certain look. It’s branding,
corporate branding. You walk into a
new Harley store, they look the same.
They’re big, they have chili eating
contests, girls in bikinis washing bikes,
you know.
“Harley is doing it and the other brands
are following suit. Your store has to have
a certain look so you get better margins
on the bikes. You can buy bikes at a better
discount—if your store has that look
they’ve come up with, probably from
studies with focus groups.
“They say: This works for us. Your store
has to look like this. You have to buy this
number of bikes. You have to buy this
amount of gear and parts and apparel.
A high percentage of the accessories
and apparel has to be our brand, not
independent brands. Then you get a better
discount on all of it than stores do that
don’t follow the pattern.
“They want you to walk into one of their
stores here or in Sweden, in Italy, wherever,
and feel the same. Like Pizza Hut, back in
the ‘80s. Red roof, PacMan machine next
to the door. Salad bar. All the same.
“That’s what these motorcycle companies
want to turn motorcycling into. They
don’t want it to be different. They want it
to be the same everywhere so they can sell
more product.
“I think that’s negative. It’s just a different
time, I guess. Motorcycling used to be
about rebellion, now maybe some of it is
getting away from that, becoming about
uniformity. And brand loyalty.”
Logo Magic
“Can you take the
tax off too?”
group parked their motorcycles and flew
Triumph for free advice before crossing
to a lodge deep in the Okavango Delta and Russia on a Triumph Tiger. Triumph told
looked at animals.
him the Triumph would not make the
trip, that it was a “street bike wearing an
Adventure-themed motorcycle
adventure frock”(Ashes to Boonville, Geoff
models have snuck into almost every
G. Thomas).
DU
HERSHON
“I’ve had people
scan clothing labels
with their phones,
hold the phone up to
my face and tell me
that this shop right
here is offering it
for $50 less, can you
beat that price? And
if I match that price,
the guy tells me
the other shop (in
another state - MH)
won’t charge him
sales tax.”
Artwork: Mr. Jensen
IN
maynard
“And when bikes come in used,
almost every BMW has super high
mileage. Those guys actually ride,
which is cool. By themselves. Coast
to coast and back home. Alone.
A great logo communicates: what does yours say?
Kw
T
he Adventurous Sex is a 1925 film
written by the first motorcyclist
to ride around the world, Carl
Stearns Clancy. He knew something about
adventure but the film had little to say
about sex, the marketing hook.
pills for “longer, thicker, firmer, men’s
lifestyle medications” and “gets you more
affection from women.” Given my global
If the adventurer was already
writing adventures in Motorcycle Sex and
loaded up on bling, farkle and clothing,
Clancy’s success with The Adventurous
then there were ads for tours in Costa Rica
Sex, the motorcycling ad executives
and Nicaragua, Cuba, the US West Coast
seem to be missing a marketing hook
(“small groups big adventures”), Peru,
for the advertised pills and personal
Antarctica (and the other six continents),
octane boost—they should add the
all offering adventure, with Mongolia
word adventure. If adventure-seeking
tagged as “the ultimate off-road adventure.”
motorcyclists are spending money for
For the newbie there was even “real world
adventure flashlights, goggles, pants,
adventure rider training” in Mexico’s
underwear, and cameras why not go
manufacturer’s product line. Some call
Copper Canyon.
their offering an outright adventure model, for the Freudian core of the adventure
seekers: motorcycles, sex and adventure?
Adventure tales caught my eye, like an
like BMW and KTM, while others offer
“adventure wedding in Death Valley,”
promotional tidbits saying adventure could While at it, why not add the ADV
or a “Southeast Ohio adventure at its
be had on their sheep in lion’s costume with codpiece or a Shakespearean-aged merkin
finest” and “A Classic adventure” on the
mane. One ad was for a Russian motorcycle for the man with the soft chin needing
olfactory enhancement?
Annual Three Flags Classic. One guide
with a sidecar, captioned “Expresso, with
and author of an African adventure article a splash of adventure,” parked in front of a
I threw down the pile of magazines; truly
wrote that the best part of his group’s
coffee shop. The classic of the adventure
flummoxed on where and how to best
motorcycle adventure was when the tour
guise was when Geoff Thomas asked
construct a motorcycle adventure. One
Consumption
Chief, World
Adventure
Affairs Desk
be worn—hopefully—under
riding pants or a suit.
12am
6am
12pm
6pm
12am
BEAT THE PEAK
Artwork: Mr. Jensen
“I have customers
who think that
someone should be rolling out that carpet
when they walk in. Fan them with a palm
branch and offer ice cold lemonade.
“Midlife crisis guys don’t ride that
much. They buy the bike, lots of gear
and trick parts, but they don’t ride. They
don’t join a club, don’t ride across the
“Oh, something just reminded me of BMW. country, don’t go to rallies. They go
“A BMW guy will want to talk about riding in their garage and look at the bike, I
gear. He’ll ask me questions that he already guess. They just don’t ride.
knows the answers to. He’s interviewing
“Some people are gonna ride all their lives,
me to make sure I know what he knows.
and some stop. Many think that starting
‘Cause he knows it all. And he always wants again is gonna turn them into someone
a discount.
different. But maybe they realize that it’s
just not in their blood. Does that make
“I will say, BMW guys are the most
sense?
armored of anyone. I guess that’s true of
adventure riders generally. They wear
the most gear. That makes them the best
customers for me.
Quality
Building
Lic. # 983946
“Lots of younger guys have recently
bought Harleys. It’s a looks thing. They
grow a beard. They want to be The
Sons of Anarchy, the bad-boy image.
But Harley guys don’t spend any money.
I’m Alan Lapp, a 30-year
veteran designer & illustrator.
Your logo is the symbol which represents
you and your company to your client.
It plugs directly into their visual cortex
and creates a feeling about you, your
company, your products, and your
personnel.
Managing your image is too
important to leave to your niece
who is “artistically gifted”.
Client communication begins
with a great logo.
Have a look at my portfolio, and
give me a call.
Great work to follow.
510-295-7707
www.levelfive.com
ed HERTFELDER
T
rying to explain the value of an
enduro trophy to the uninitiated is
a little like trying to explain water
to a Texan.
Why would anyone pay twenty dollars
trying to win a seventy-five cent block of
wood holding a crude casting of a man
sitting on a 1936 Harley?
‘Wolfy’ Kruse once showed me a piece of
the most expensive kindling wood in the
world. It was a short piece of branch that
had cost Wolfy over five thousand dollars
in traveling expenses alone! The branch,
one side planed flat with a chain saw, was
a Canadian Corduroy Enduro trophy
neatly lettered, by an electric burning
pen,THIRD PLACE LIGHTWT A.
Wolfy was a little sad about the whole
thing, because now that he HAD the damn
trophy, it sort of took the edge off driving
all the way to Canada to win one. Must be
the same feeling one gets after a ten year
stretch in prison. The joy he feels on release
The Winner Is…
goes sour when he
realizes that now he has
to get up every morning
and work for a living.
You can bet that the
rehabilitation program
he just finished didn’t
start with an alarm clock
going off before the sun
came up.
the trailer and punched
the propane tank harder,
then told Miller that he
didn’t know diddly about
French-kissing dogs.
When the “C” rider
dropped to fifth he might
have had a tear in his eye
because he missed the
propane tank and punched
a dent in the front of the
trailer.
Actually, Wolfy
would have spent
the same amount of
money regardless of his
recreational interests.
Even recreational sex,
which provides the
basic equipment at no
charge, can cost more
than a good enduro bike
in motel bills, candlelit
dinners with corked wine
bottles on really small
tables, and “just a trim”
haircuts.
Finally, the poor guy
dropped “off the board”
by a fellow who started
riding two weeks ago last
Tuesday. When I put my
hand on his shoulder to
console him he jumped
two feet in the air and
came down with both fists
up and cocked. Talk about
defensive!
Some competitors never
admit any interest in their
scores, and explain that
they’re checking the score
board every forty-five
seconds because they’re
interested in someone
else’s score. Sure…
The value of a trophy
is proportional to the
difficulty experienced in
winning it.
A trophy won after your
chain derailed twenty
times during a sleet
storm will stand front
and center on the mantel
even if Mediumweight
IS spelled Medunweight
and was a leftover with
the previous year’s date
covered over with a strip
of punch ribbon.
Many riders, when their
cards drop near the
garbage can zone, just
pack up their gear and
drive off, but I wish I had
a nickel for everyone who
drives off and then returns
in ten minutes to see if
they’re still hanging in,
and not actually in the can
yet.
Just determining that
you’ll get a trophy can
take a year off your life.
Enduro clubs often use
four-by-eight sheets of
plywood neatly lettered
with the motorcycle
Artwork: Mr. Jensen
classes across the top,
with a row of nails
This is the reason many third, fourth
extending downward
or fifth place trophies are picked up by
from each class toward a trashcan at the
laughing fellows who did NOT win them.
bottom. The first rider to finish in each
class has his scorecard hung on the #1 nail, They’re laughing because they told the
rider who DID win that he was in the
and this can be a real thrill to a new rider.
garbage can and might as well go home
However, as better scores are posted, his
before the ice he has stuffed into his left
card drops—one nail at a time—until it
boot melts and he can no longer stand the
drops off into the garbage can.
pain of pushing the clutch pedal of his
stick-shift van.
Some riders stand right there during this
From 3:14 Daily
Valencia @ 25th
415-970-9670
process, and you can watch them die right
in front of your eyes. Usually they react
by sucking in a gasp each time their card
descends to oblivion. Other riders can’t
bear to watch the scoreboard and send
runners over to check their placement on
the nails. But runners are lying bastards
and the poor rider is always told that he is
doing worse, or better, than the score board
indicates.
One day I noticed a fellow who was in
contention for a Heavyweight “C” award.
Each time his scorecard dropped a notch
he walked around Frank Soltner’s trailer
where Tim Miller was drinking too much
Andre wine and French-kissing Soltner’s
dog. When he dropped to third place he left
for his walk and punched the propane tank
on Frank’s trailer as he passed by. When
he dropped to fourth he walked away from
Depending on how many
contestants remain to be
scored, the tension for
last place to be trophied is
between unbearable and
complete loss of bladder
control. The last time
I was in contention for
the only possible award, LOW SCORE
FINISHER, I asked a fellow ‘sweatee’ for
a cigarette—the first cigarette I needed in
twenty-two years.
I got beat and felt bad, but not as bad as that
Heavyweight “C” rider who went into the
garbage can as the last finisher was scored.
The part that hurt the most was that they
trophied to fifth place and there were only
six Heavyweight “C” riders entered.
I found myself surrounded by unhappy
faces, mine included, so I looked around for
a happy face.
I found one: on Soltner’s dog.
Get Ed’s latest book, 80.4 Finish Check on
Amazon.com!
Tankslapper
We’re Terrific!
We Like Cake Too
Mike from Salinas called in to leave us a
very nice voicemail. Which confused us, as
you can imagine.
Another anonymous reader (why don’t
you people include your names?!) sent us
some praise for our advertisers and—we
think—us:
I just want to tell you how much I thoroughly
enjoy your magazine. I read it from cover to
cover; in fact, I go up to San Jose once a month
to pick it up. I don’t know any place closer.
You guys are terrific, much better than the
other magazines that I subscribe to, and I just
wanted to give you an ‘atta boy.’ Thank you
very much!
Thanks for the kind words, Mike. We’re
not used to people being so nice to us. Just
so you know, you can get CityBike in the
Santa Cruz area, in case you want to avoid
lovely San Jose now and then. Check out
citybike.com/get-cb.html to find out where
to get some. Or you can even subscribe, at
citybike.com/subscribe.html
On The Other Hand,
We Kinda Suck
An anonymous reader complained about
our events calendar being somewhat
uneventful:
was just joking,
dude.” Surj gets
it—no one gets
his jokes either!
But no joke: our
esteemed (so
Hey CB, did you know you have many great
much for “no
advertisers? One in particular, Moto Shop,
joke”) Editor
has been nothing but awesome. I took their
was definitely
valve adjustment class and came out with a
not intimidated
bike so spunky it felt like I was on a WSBK.
by the big KawRecently I changed my fork oil and made some
girl—he loved it,
adjustments there and again I felt like I had a
and is still trying
new bike!
to convince Mrs.
Editor that they
The Bay Area is a cake, your advertisers are
need one. And a
the frosting and CB is the tongue in cheek
bigger garage to
message written on it. Thanks.
put it in.
We do love our advertisers—their money
pays to print this thing! Moto Shop doesn’t And in case it
wasn’t clear,
advertise in CityBike any more (sad face)
Editor Surj was
but we still love them, too. And we’re glad
only responsible
to be the hastily scrawled, poorly written
for 1/3rd of the
message on the frosting of the Bay Area
damage to the bike, and that damage was
moto scene.
inflicted while the bike was upright, in the
Cunning Connie Linguists
pitch blackness of 4 AM I-5. So it goes.
Mark Amable (thanks for putting your
Yes, we actually want to hear from you
name on your email, Mark!) emailed to
(because no one else will talk to us), and we’re
point out the stuff we got wrong about the not mind readers. Hell, if you’re reading this
Concours (see “2015 Kawasaki Concours
thing, you’ve probably wondered if we can
14 ABS” May 2015) and question Editor
read at all! Anyhow, you can yell at us for
Surj’s abilities to handle big bikes.
being stupid (or just say hey) at
Hi there! Seems like the event calendar is quite
incomplete, not something to rely on. The
clubman (Brit bike) and Japanese / European
motorcycle swap meet took place at the Santa
Clara fairgrounds. Those events happen every
year for years. I’m really surprised it wasn’t
Decent article on the Kawasaki 14ABS.
listed. Only the track race was mentioned.
Everything is pretty much as Surj wrote.
Can’t believe that poor bike was banged up so
The SPRING Distinguished Ladies And
badly in the short time he had it.
Gentlemen’s Ride in SF is taking place. Not
listed either.
I bought my 2013 model new in August 2013.
That sort of shows the incoherence of the
motorcycle scene here in SF/SF bay area...
This is a fair point, but we’re gonna weasel
out and say that it’s extremely difficult to
stay on top of the dates for everything,
especially that Extinguished Ladies ‘n’
Gents stuff—it’s like they’re going out of
their way to keep the date secret. And two
times a year when we’re supposed to dress
up outside of court and funerals? That’s a
bit excessive. It’s for a good cause, though,
so we won’t cry too much.
But with this internet thang that the kids
are using these days, it seems that only
the old timers care about being in Ye Olde
CityBike calendar. In a especially sad turn
of events, we were actually sent some info
about the swap meets, but it was sent to our
old PO Box, and it took the USPS an entire
month to redirect the envelope from that
PO box to our new one, also in Oakland,
a few exits down 580. Thanks a lot, USPS.
Between this and the two weeks it took you
jerks to deliver our May issue, we’re about
ready to give up on this whole paper and
ink thing and go online only.
Anyhow, moral of this here story is tell us
about your events with plenty of lead time,
and preferably do it by email, to
[email protected].
The issues I have with the article are the fuel
mileage, tires and the “porkiness puts a black
mark in the day-to-day ridability column as
well…”
My commute has been the same for the last
17 years. Fuel fill ups have been pretty much
the same on every bike I’ve used from a 2002
ZX6, 03’ ZX6RR, 2000 Ducati ST4 or my
06’ Road King. So I cannot complain about
the fuel mileage since it’s what’s to be expected
when you’re riding WFO most of the time.
Expensive rear tire? Seriously!? It is no
different than any other 190 series tire out
there.
It’s a BIG bike no doubt. It replaced my
Ducati ST4 as my daily commuter. What a
weight changer that was! Since I ride yearround, I wanted that extra margin of safety
when it rains and I’m dodging jackasses
drivin’ and playin’ with their phones. But in
no way should the size of this bike deter you
from thinking it can’t be a daily ride.
Perhaps Surj should stick to testing smallish
bike that don’t intimidate him and leave the
bigger, faster testing to others more suited to it?
A least he won’t be pissing off the factory reps
when he returns the “little bikes” un-damaged.
Editor Surj of course fired off an email
accusing Mark of questionable literacy
and even more questionable riding skills,
to which Mark gracefully responded, “I
[email protected] or talk to us on our
Facebook page at
facebook.com/CityBikeMag. You can
also send us an old-timey paper letter, which
we think is pretty damn cool. Those go to
CityBike Magazine, PO Box 18738, Oakland
94619.
Extra points for crazy / creative shit. What do
those points get you? Let us know if you find
out.
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 •
you, and you need them. The
Internet won’t change your oil.
The Internet won’t stay open an
extra 20 minutes so you can buy
a tire so you can ride on Sunday.
If the apparel you buy doesn’t fit,
• Valve Seat & Guide Replacement • Race Prep •
Screw The Internet. Support your Local Motorcycle Shop.
H
ere at CityBike, we
strongly believe that
while the Internet
is great entertainment, it’s a
terrible place to buy stuff. Your
Local Motorcycle Shop needs
Marketplace
• Porting • Polishing •
2040 Petaluma Blvd. N.Petaluma, CA 94952
We fix anything on
American V-Twin bikes
CLASSIFIEDS
TOWING
Enter these contacts into your phone now, while you are thinking about it, so that
you will have them when you need them.
Cycle Tow
408-298-6800
75 Phelan Avenue, San Jose
Open 7 Days a week
2015 Aprilia Caponord
1200s now in stock.
510-644-2453(BIKE) Est 1988 24hr emergency service.
Reasonable rates.
We tow all makes of motorcycles, sidecars and trikes.
We also network with many other motorcycle tow services throughout
the entire Bay Area. If we can’t get to you quickly, we can find you a tow
service that’s closer. We are based in Berkeley, CA.
SAN FRANCISCO AND BEYOND:
DAVE’S CYCLE TRANSPORT
The Old Man
The Old Truck
Dave is working
Dave’s Cycle Transport
San Francisco-Bay Area and Beyond…
24 Hour Service
(415)824-3020 — www.davescycle.com
Active suspension and side bags included for $15K +
fees. 2.9% financing for 3 years too. Call to reserve yours.
you have to pay for shipping to
try a different size…each way,
every time. Plus, you meet real,
live people, not some keyboard
cowboy from another time zone.
Join us at the 3J's track day on April 29 in Sonoma.
It's going to be a great day, for a good cause and there will be
plenty of Aprilias represented.
Call us if you would like to test an RSV4 at the track and receive a
free track day if you buy any V4 in April.
Rockridge Two Wheels your Bay Area
Aprilia specialists since 2003.
CALL 510.594.0789
Motorcycle & ATV Hauling
© Piaggio Group Americas, Inc. 2014. Aprilia ® is a U.S. and worldwide registered trademark
of the Piaggio Gropu of companies. Obey local traffic safety laws and always wear a helmet,
appropriate eyewear and proper apparel.
Sonoma, Marin, Napa & Mendocino Counties
24 hour Roadside Pickup
707-843-6584
Insured & Licensed
California Motor Carrier Permit
www.mcmotorcycletransport.com
[email protected]
M
GARAGE
DEALER CLASSIFIED
Your local shop is an
endangered resource!
Proper care and support
is required, or they die.
Vintage / Modern
Motorcycle & Scooter
Service Specialists
Dubbelju Motorcycle
Rentals / Storage
First, a few words about the condition of our equipment. All advertised
vehicles are technically and operationally sound; furthermore, they are
factory original (very important for vehicle inspection and licensing
out-of-country). Components which show even a trace of wear or fatigue
are replaced. In other words, you receive a motorcycle which, while it
may have some miles on the odometer, has been routinely and expertly
maintained.
2013 F800GS 33794miles (eligible for an extended BMW warranty)
$9950
2010 Ducati Multistrada 33942 miles $9500
More info and pictures on our website at
dubbelju.com/Bikes-for-Sale.htm
(Pre-1975? Come on in!!)
Moto Garage
415-337-1448
112 Sagamore St, SF, CA. 94112
ADVERTISING
it works!
Contact CityBike to place a
classified or business
advertisement and reach
thousands of Bay Area
motorcycle enthusiasts.
[email protected]
415-282-2790
J&M Motorsports LLC
2243 Old Middlefield Way
Mountain View, Ca 94043
650-386-1440
www.jm-ms.com
We have a huge selection of Sport bikes, Cruisers, Dual Sport & Dirt
Bikes! We are a licensed dealer owned and operated by people who love
motorcycles. We specialize in newer, low-mile, affordable bikes!
We offer in-house financing! Visit our website and fill out an application
today!
Looking for your first bike, your tenth? J&M is not a giant dealership.
When you call or visit, you’re talking directly with non-commission team
members who are passionate about motorcycles and who want to help
you get the bike you desire!
Looking to sell your bike? Consignments are welcome!
Come by and take a look!
Ducati:
2013 Ducati 1199 Panigale S - $17,495
2008 Ducati 848 - $12,495
2004 Ducati 749S - $6,995
2008 Ducati Multistrada 1100S - $7,495
2010 Ducati Streetfighter S - $12,495
Harley-Davidson:
2005 Harley-Davidson FLHTI Electra Glide - $13,495
2013 Harley-Davidson FLHTC Electra Glide - 19,495
2013 Harley-Davidson FLHR Road King - $16,995
2003 Harley-Davidson V-Rod 100th Anniversary Edition - $9,995
2014 Harley-Davidson VRSCDX Night Rod Special - $15,495
2014 Harley-Davidson Forty-Eight XL1200 - $10,995
2005 Harley-Davidson XL1200 Sportster Custom - $5,995
2009 Harley-Davidson VRSCF V-Rod Muscle - $11,495
Honda:
2007 Honda CB250 Nighthawk - $3,295
2014 Honda CBR500R - $6,195
2012 Honda CBR250R - $3,495
2013 Honda CBR250R - $3,995
2013 Honda CBR250R Repsol - $4,295
2004 Honda CBR600F4i - $4,795
2006 Honda CBR600RR - $6,995
2007 Honda CBR600RR - $7,295
2008 Honda CBR600RR - $7,495
2006 Honda CBR1000RR - $7,295
2013 Honda CRF450R - $5,995
Kawasaki:
2012 Kawasaki KX450F - $4,995
2009 Kawasaki Ninja EX250 - $3,995
2011 Kawasaki Ninja EX250 - $3,495
2009 Kawasaki Ninja 650R - $4,995
2013 Kawasaki Ninja 650 - $5,995
2013 Kawasaki Ninja 650R - $6,495
2011 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14R - $9,995
2007 Kawasaki Vulcan 500 - $4,295
2006 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic - $3,495
2001 Kawasaki ZRX1200R - $4,495
KTM:
2011 KTM 250 SX-F - $4,495
Suzuki:
2001 Suzuki VZ800 - $3,995
2002 Suzuki SV650S - $3,995
2004 Suzuki GSX-R600 - $5,495
2007 Suzuki GSX-R600 - $7,995
2011 Suzuki GSX-R600 - $8,995
2011 Suzuki GSX-R600 - $9,495
2006 Suzuki GSX-R750 - $7,495
2009 Suzuki GSX-R750 - $7,495
2011 Suzuki GSX-R750 - $8,995
2011 Suzuki GSX-R1000 - $10,495
2011 Suzuki GSX-R1000 - $11,495
2013 Suzuki GSX-R1000 Commemorative Edition - $11,495
2005 Suzuki GSX-R1300R - $7,995
2014 Suzuki RM-Z450 - $5,995
2008 Suzuki V-Strom DL650 - $6,995
2009 Suzuki V-Strom DL650 - $6,995
2012 Suzuki Boulevard S40 - $3,995
2013 Suzuki Boulevard B.O.S.S. C90T - $13,495
Triumph:
2013 Triumph Bonneville T100 $7,995
2013 Triumph Speedmaster - $7,495
2013 Triumph Trophy SE - $13,995
Yamaha:
2004 Yamaha WR450F - $2,995
2007 Yamaha YZ450F - $3,495
2006 Yamaha FJR1300AE - $7,995
2007 Yamaha FJR1300 - $7,495
2012 Yamaha Super Tenere - $11,995
2009 Yamaha FZ6R - $5,395
2007 Yamaha R6S - $6,895
2007 Yamaha R6 - $7,795
2007 Yamaha R6 - $7,795
2011 Yamaha R1 - $10,995
2013 Yamaha R1 - $11,995
2003 Yamaha V-Star 650 - $3,995
2014 Yamaha V-Star 650 - $5,995
Zero Motorcycles
2012 Zero-X - $6,995
SF MOTO
275 8th Street at the corner of Folsom San Francisco - 415 255
3132 www.sfmoto.com
USED INVENTORY
- All used motorcycles at sf moto come with a 3 month warranty and 12
month road side assistance.
We thoroughly go through our used inventory:
- If we find brakes to be worn over 60%, new pads are installed
- If we find tires to be worn beyond 60%, new tires are installed
- If chain & sprockets have too much play, we install new chain &
sprockets.
- NEW: All Our used bikes come with a free 12 month roadside
assistance.
Aprilia
Sold out! Please check back with us soon!
CityBike Classifieds
Reach thousands of Northern California motorcyclists. Just $15 for 25 words, 25¢
each additional word. Photos add $25. Industry classifieds are a higher price. Free
25-word listing for stolen bikes. Deadline is the 3rd of each month. Just fill out the
form, or copy and send it with your check, payable to CityBike PO Box 18738,
Oakland, CA 94619.
Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip:
e-mail:
BMW
F800R ABS, 2012, 8890 Miles, Red-Silver, $9498
F800R ABS, 2011, 10449 miles, white, $7998
F800R ABS, 2012, 14214 Miles, Red-Silver $6998
Ducati
848 EVO, 2010, 4197 Miles, Red, $9998
Hypermotard 1100S, 2009, 4984 Miles, Red, $9498
Hypermotard 821, 2013, 2729 Miles, red, 10498
Monster 696, 2009, 4110 miles, black, $7495
Monster 696, 2009, 4639 miles, red, $7495
Monster 696, 2011, 1266 miles, red, $7998
Genuine
Honda
CB500X, 2013, 8 miles, black, $5498
CBR1000RR, 2011, black, 1282 miles, $8998
CBR250R, 2012, red/white/blue, 3009 miles, $3995
CBR250R, 2012, red/white/blue, 77 miles, $3998
CBR250R, 2012, black, 2595 miles, $3998
CBR250R, 2013, black, 2461 miles, $3998
CBR250R, 2012, black, 531 miles, $3998
CBR500F, 2013, red, 1900 Miles, $4998
CBR500R, 2013, black, 1676 miles, $5498
CBR500R ABS, 2013, red, 3137 Miles, $5498
CBR600RR, 2010, orange/black, 6551 miles, $8498
CBR600RR, 2013, orange/black, 6864 miles, $9998
NC700, 2013, red, 552 Miles, $6498
PCX125 scooter, 2011, red, 450 miles, $2998
Rebel 250, 2009, black, 4314 miles, $2998
Rebel 250, 2009, blue, 22 miles, $3298
Rebel 250, 2009, matte grey, 118 miles, $3498
Shadow Aero VT750, 2007, Black, 2397 miles, $4498
Husqvarna
Kawasaki
KLX250, 2014, black, 277 Miles, $4998
KLX250, 2009, Green, 1071 Miles, $3998
KLX250, 2009, red, 116 Miles, $4498
EX250, 2012, Black, 6294 Miles, $3998
EX250, 2010, Green, 7504 Miles, $3798
EX300, 2014, Black, 991 Miles, $5298
EX300, 2014, Black, 6042 Miles, $4998
EX300 ABS, 2014, black, 5587 miles, $5098
EX650, 2013, blue, 1659 miles, $6498
EX650, 2012, black, 3052 miles, $5998
ZX-6R, 2009, Green, 8588 Miles, $7498
ZX-6R 636, 2015, Black, 73 Miles, $10498
Versys 650, 2009, blue, 870 Miles, $5998
Vulcan 900, 2013, white-black, 751 miles, $6995
Vulcan 900, 2011, burgundy, 3167 miles, $6498
Kymco
Piaggio
FLY 150, 2006, red, 787 Miles, $3198
Suzuki
Boulevard S40, 2012, Bronze, 2310 miles, $4598
Boulevard S40, 2013, Bronze, 415 miles, $4798
GSX1250F, 2011, black, 9359 miles, $6498 GSXR-600, 2008, white, 13780 miles, $7498
GSXR-600, 2009, black, 1578 miles, $7998
GSXR-750, 2009, black, 5535 miles, $8498
GSXR-750, 2013, blue/white, 2097 miles, $9998
GW250, 2013, black, 449 miles, $3798
GW250, 2013, black, 46 miles, $3798
GZ250 cruiser, 2009, black, 1541 miles, $2998
GZ250 cruiser, 2009, black, 885 miles, $2998
V-Strom DL650, 2011, black, 11627 miles, $6498
V-Strom DL650, 2011, black, 11166 miles, $5998
Sym
See our new SYM listing at the bottom of this ad
Triumph
Bonneville, 2012, gold, 4604 miles, $7498
Bonneville, 2012, orange, 5136 miles, $7498
Bonneville SE, 2012, schwarz, 1238 miles, $7498
Bonneville T100, 2013, red-white, 820 miles, $8498
Speed Triple, 2008, white, 4668 miles, $6998
Speed Triple ABS, 2012, red, 7939 miles, $8998
Speedmaster, 2012, red, 1272 Miles, $6498
Speed Triple R ABS, 2013, black, 343 miles, $8998
Tiger 800 ABS, 2013, blue, 4472 miles, $9998
Vespa
GL150, 1964, 8540 miles, white, $4698
GTS300 Super, 2930 Miles, White, $4498
Yamaha
FZ6, 2014, black, 237 miles, $6998
FZ6, 2008, blue, 5322 miles, $4798
FZ6, 2014, black, 304 miles, $6498
FZ6, 2014, black, 4713 miles, $5998
YZFR6, 2014, red, 171 miles, $9998
FZ1, 2009, black, 19904 Miles, $5998
FZ1, 2009, black, 1189 Miles, $6998
V-Star, 2014, red, 71 miles, $3798
V-Star 250, 2009, burgundy, 1751 Miles, $2998
WR250R, 2012, blue, 1433 miles, $5998
Zuma 125 scooter, 2013, yellow, 968 miles, $2998
NEW INVENTORY
Sym
-- All SYM bikes come with a 2 year factory warranty -SYM Citycom 300i scooter, 2015, NEW, red or blue - $3999
SYM Fiddle II 125 scooter, 2015, NEW, sand, blue, black, red, white
- $2295
SYM HD200 scooter, 2015, NEW, Yellow, Orange, Black, Red,
Gunmetal - $3495 SYM Symba (aka Honda Cub), 2015, NEW, blue, red, black - $2349
SYM Wolf (aka Honda CB150), 2015, NEW, Tricolor, red, green,
black, white - $2995
SYM T2 250i, 2014, NEW, yellow, black or white - $3799
Lance Powersports
Lance PCH 150, 2014, green, red or grey, $2199
Lance Cali Classic, 2014, red, blue, white or beige, - $1899
Lance Havana Classic, 2014, black, white, blue, beige, red - $1899
Lance PCH125, 2014, orange, yellow, red, black, white, - $1899
New! ZERO Motorcycles
DS ZF 12.5, 2015, white, NEW, $15345
FX 5.7, 2015, black, NEW, $12340
S 9.4, 2015, yellow, NEW, $13345
SR, 2015, red, NEW, $17345
USED MOTORCYCLES:
Two Beemers and a CT
2006 K1200S - Mint, all optons
2000 1150GS - Mint, Ohlins
1977 CT90 - Good
Contact [email protected]
Ed Meagor’s BSA
BSA 500 Single Empire Star
Cheap $10,000 Firm
Call Old Ed Meagor at 415.457.5423
That’s right! Ed sent his phone number, so if you’ve been wanting to give him
a call about his sweet BSA, now’s the time!
-CityBike Classifieds Editor
Interceptor 1000
Runs good, good tires, everything works. 45,000 miles, x-tra parts,
factory shop manual. $1800 OBO / trade
707-290-8277
RIDING SCHOOLS
2006 Harley Davidson - Comes with all the standard Ultra Classic
features, including CB radio, built in intercom, air ride suspension, AM/
FM/CB/Weather radio/CD player/12V outlet/Electronic Cruise Control/
Fuel Injection/Tubeless tires/Trunk liner/Vented lowers, Harley chrome
luggage rack on the trunk, with built in rear stop light.
Asking $10,000.00 Call: Carl 408-426-0441
PARTS AND SERVICE
Devils Detail Motorcycle Detailing
Detailing vintage, classic, modern motorcycles
415 - 439 - 9275
www.thedevilsdetailing.com
[email protected]
established 2007
Greatness can be in your detail!
MOTOR WORKS
BMW PARTS
Take a European trip this year!
Visit www.motorworks.co.uk
• Huge range of new and used parts and accessories for all models from
1970 onwards
• UK’s largest independent, 25 years experience
• Competitive prices, fast shipping
• Expert and friendly advice available
• Trade customers welcome
LOCAL CLUBS
Powersports of Vallejo
Powersports of Vallejo is looking to hire 1 full time parts person and 1
full time service technician. Technician must have previous experience,
clean M1 license, good work ethic, have tools, be able to diagnose and
repair on their own and take pride in their work. Parts should have two
plus years experience and are familiar with Lightspeed and the daily
duties of a parts department.
Please email resumes to [email protected] or fax to 707-644-3424.
Doc Wong Riding Clinics
PERSONAL IMPROVEMENT
Come to the FREE monthly Doc Wong Riding Clinics.
www.docwong.com
Eighteen years, 40,000 riders!
Learn Dirt Bikes
Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) dirt bike lessons at Carnegie State
Park - Tracy, CA - Ages 6 and up. Loaner motorcycles available.
www.learndirtbikes.com 925-240-7937
Antique Motorcycle Club of
America
Yerba Buena Chapter of the
Antique Motorcycle Club of America
Motorcycle Enthusiasts dedicated to the preservation, restoration, and
operation of antique motorcycles.
To join or view more information about our club, visit us at www.
yerbabuenaamca.org
CMA is a servant minded interdenominational motorcycle ministry with
a non-denominational message of hope and love through Jesus Christ.
Enjoy the family atmosphere, make life-long friends, and join an army
of people dedicated to changing the world, one heart at a time in the
highways and byways.
www.cmausa.org
Port Stockton MC
COME RIDE WITH US!
-We are a friend and family oriented historical club of motorcycle
enthusiasts.
-Any make, model or style of bike is welcome.
-All are invited to join us on our rides, visit our weekly meetings or
become a new member.
For more information:
E-mail us at [email protected],
or visit our website at [email protected]
Exciting women-only motorcycle group in the SF Bay Area. For more info
visit www.curveunit.com
ADVANCED CYCLE SERVICE
*Motorcycle Service and Repair*
• Tires • Service •Insurance estimates
Monthly bike storage available
Come check us out
1135 Old Bayshore Hwy
San Jose, CA 95112
(408) 299-0508
[email protected] — www.advcycles.com
DUCATI SUZUKI KAWASAKI YAMAHA
Since 1956
Knucklehead
Panhead
Iron Sportster
Shovelhead
Evolution
Twin Cam
Multi Valve 450cc and up
Cyl. boring on H.D. only
21050 Mission Blvd. Hayward, 94541
(510) 581-5315
Rabers Parts Mart
Quality Motorcycles
235 Shoreline Hwy.
Mill Valley CA
(415) 381-5059
We’re not afraid of your old bike.
Raber’s Parts Mart is looking for a full-time, experienced vintage British
motorcycle mechanic for immediate hiring.
Requirements include:
- At least 5 years experience in a professional, vintage British motorcycle
shop (a must)
- Provide own set of hand tools
Benefits include:
- Full time pay (discussed individually)
- Health and Dental insurance provided after 90 days
If interested, please contact us at 408-998-4495 and ask to speak with
John, or send us an email with your resume to [email protected]
The Richmond Ramblers
Bay Area Moto Group
Monkey Moto School
Monkey Moto School gets people riding in just one day. Our focused,
private classes and small beginner bike are the start of a proven system
that will have new riders out and about on a motorcycle with confidence
in short order. Available in SF (and beyond by arrangement).
Call Evan to get started. 415-359-6479
monkeymotoschool.com
Ride with other local sport bike riders in the Bay Area.
• Mostly sport bikes
• Routes go to ALL parts of the bay area and focus on the “twisty’s”
• We set a quick pace and newbies may get left behind ;)
• Group riding experience is highly recommended, as is proper riding
gear
• We also do track days, drag races, motorcycle camping, and attend
motorcycle racing events
http://www.meetup.com/BayAreaMotoGroup/
The Ducati Vintage Club
The Ducati Vintage Club was founded to assist vintage Ducati MC (1987
and older) owners with information and resources to preserve, resurrect
and bring these MC’s back to the road! Owners and enthusiasts are
welcome to join. We meet once monthly at the Ducati Bike Night event and
we sponsor the annual European Motorcycle Show and Swap held in March
at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, the La Ducati Day Concorso held in
LaHonda each October and more.
Visit us at www.ducativintageclub.com
The Richmond Ramblers Motorcycle Club was established in 1944. We
are chartered with the American Motorcycle Association/District 36. Our
clubhouse is situated at the foot of the famous but now defunct off-road
riding hills in Point Richmond.
Our club exists to promote the sport and recreation of motorcycle riding.
Our membership reflects a diverse interest in motorcycling but our club
has a long tradition of off-road competition. Annually, we host a street
ride/poker run in October and a Family Enduro in the Mendocino National
forest in November.
Meetings are held on the first and third Thursdays of each month at 7:00
p.m. Visitors are welcome and we invite you to come by.
818 Dornan Drive, Point Richmond, CA 94801 WWW.RRMC.CC
ROCKRIDGE TWO WHEELS
Bavarian Cycle Works
EXPERT Service & Repair
Bavarian Cycle Works specializes in new and vintage BMW, modern
TRIUMPH and select motorcycle models. Our staff includes a Master
Certified Technician and personnel each with over 25 years experience.
Nearly all scheduled motorcycle maintenance can be completed within a
one day turnaround time. All bikes kept securely indoors, day and night.
Come see us!
BRG RACING - CONCORD
Independent service of BMW, Ducati, Triumph.
Factory certified, and certifiable, too!
Fair prices and fast turnaround
We love what we do - we solve problems and make
people’s machines run their best. Bring us your problem.
We’ll solve it for you - nothing that we can’t fix.
BRG Racing
925-680-2560
110 2nd Ave. So. - Unit D
Pacheco
www.brg.com
Coats of skins, Chaps, Pants, Vests, Gloves, Boots, Saddle Bags,
Helmets, Riding Gear, Fashion & More.
All sizes: Kids/Big/Tall.
Patches sewn on most while U wait.
Clean Repair Alter
952 B Street, Hayward
B/W Mission & Main
510-582-522
Need new rubber? Rockridge Two Wheels is offering a $50 mount
and balance with the purchase of two tires. Factory techs. 40+ years
experience. Full service facility.
510/594-0789
vespawalnutcreek.com 925 938 0600
rockridgetwowheels.com 510 594 0789
For all your Bay Area Vespa / Piaggio / Aprilia needs
Mind-Blowing Custom Paint Since 1988
Visit Our Showroom!
56 Hamilton Drive # A
Novato, Ca. 94949
415 382-6662
www.customdesignstudios.com/
V-Twin Service, Repair, Parts, & Fabrication.
Harley Factory Trained Tech. CYCLE
LVA G
E
SA
LIVE MOTO
Your local motorcycle performance center. Offering service, parts and
accessories, competitive pricing, and friendly advice for your motolifestyle.
We specialize in Japanese and American motorcycles, and accept all
makes and models. Come in today for a free tire pressure check
and visual inspection!
Conveniently located near the heart of downtown Livermore.
205 North i St., Livermore, CA.
(925)292-0443
Come and ride the Sierras! No dirt experience needed! Dual Sport and
dirt bike rentals. Guided or map your own course. Skill building classes
also available.
Easy access from Highway 50 south and west of Tahoe, this side of the
hill in Camino, CA.
Free secure storage of your car or bike onsite, or we can deliver bikes to
many all day riding areas (additional fee applies for delivery).
Well-maintained bikes and a rider-owned company makes us a great
adventure for the day, weekend or longer.
ASK ABOUT OUR SPECIAL $200 3-HOUR INTRO TO DUAL SPORT
RIDING TOUR/INSTRUCTION! ALSO SCHEDULING WOMEN’S DIRT
AND DUAL SPORT TRAINING CLASSES! **WE OFFER LOWERED DUAL
SPORT BIKES!
530-748-3505- www.sierradualsport.com
Aprilia, KTM, & BMW independent service in San Rafael.
17 years of experience and factory certified. Service, Maintenance,
Engine Rebuilds, Suspension Service, Race/Tour Prep, Tires.
Around the corner from Marin Speed Shop
M-F 10-6pm/Sat 10-5pm
415-454-7433
Michael’s Motorsports
BMW Motorcycle Service, Repair, Restoration
Air heads, Oil Heads, Hex heads, K Bikes, F Bikes
880 Piner Rd. Ste 46
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
(707) 575-4132
Cycle Salvage - Hayward
Cycle Salvage Hayward - your one stop shop for remote controlled
motorcycle models, fuzzy helmet slip-on covers, flaming-hair-evilclown graphics kits, moderately-worn vintage motorcycle manuals of all
stripes, and replacement kickstand legs that are not too hot and not too
cold, but JUST RIGHT
Cycle Salvage Hayward
21065 Foothill Blvd
Hayward, CA 94541
510-886-2328
www.MotoTireGuy.com
Motorcycle Tire Services
San Francisco - Bay Area
(415) 601-2853
Order your tires online, Zero CA sales tax plus
Free UPS Ground, then have a Preferred Installer
in your local area do the installation and save! Please visit website for details.
Service Writer Needed
We are a large motorcycle shop in San Francisco and are looking for
a smart, affable, hard-working individual to work as a service writer.
Service writers take motorcycles and scooters in for service and write up
the jobs for the technicians.
Service writers are responsible for all bikes in for service and must have:
-Strong communications skills
-Computer skills
-Good time-management skills
-Multi-tasking skills
-Good attention to detail
-Strong customer service skills
Interested? Send your resume to:
San Francisco, 275 8th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Or email your resume to: [email protected]
Tech Needed
Marin Moto Works
MOTO TIRE GUY
Santa Clara Cycle Accessories has an immediate opening for a full time ,
experienced motorcycle technician.
We offer competitive wages, paid holidays, paid vacation, medical,
dental, vision insurance and 401k.
Please respond to [email protected] or call
408.730.0600 ask for Gregg or Doug
Sierra Dual Sport/Dirt Bike Rides,
Rentals and Training
HELP WANTED
Custom Design Studios
Santa Clara Cycle Accessories
ADDICTION MOTORS
Looking for a business to call your own? Addiction Motors has just the
opportunity for a motivated and driven person. Motorcycle maintenance
knowledge is necessary for this endeavor.
Contact Galen at 510-473-7247 or
[email protected] for more info.
Addiction Motors also currently has Office and Shop space available.
Please contact [email protected] for details.
Berkeley Honda Yamaha
Berkeley Honda Yamaha is looking for a full-time, experienced
motorcycle technician for immediate hiring.
Requirements include:
Previous dealership experience (a must)
Ability to perform routine maintenance on motorcycles/scooters/ATVs
Ability to abide by dealership policies/dress code
Ability to maintain a positive working relationship with other employees/
customers
Knowledge of Lightspeed system
Valid driver license with motorcycle endorsement (and acceptable
driving record)
Benefits include
Medical/dental/vision
Vacation
Compensation will be proportional to experience and discussed
individually.
If you believe you have the necessary skills, please contact us at 510-525-5525 or via email [email protected].
For 20 year established motorcycle repair shop.
Located in Santa Cruz County.
Business is booming and time to expand.
Tech must have minimum 5 years working experience, prefer 10.
Ability to follow procedures start to finish.
Send qualifications and references,along with expected compensation.
We work on Japanese,German and British bikes.
Street, off road and scooters.Vespa included.
No attitudes or egos.
Apply to [email protected]
LEGAL
Mike Padway
MOTORCYCLE ATTORNEY
Motorcycle accidents often are serious There is an epidemic of
motorcycle lawyer advertising by attorneys who brush you off on support
staff or other lawyers. I’m Mike Padway. I handle a limited number
of motorcycle accidents. My goal is to do the best job for you, not to
handle the most cases. If your injuries are significant, why not work with
an attorney who knows what he is doing, and cares? Call now and let’s
discuss the best way to handle your motorcycle accident.
415-777-1511
ACCIDENT OR INJURY?
Call 415/999-4790 for a 24-hr. recorded message and a copy of the
FREE REPORT.
MotoGP riding techniques for street riders on a little race track.
Learn from a straight forward racing pro!
More info online: Superbike-Coach.com/Cornering School Days.
FINE DINING
Darby Dan’s (Sandwich Nirvana)
South San Francisco
Forget Togos or Subway.
What you need is a real SANDWICH for lunch.
Come in and revel in our famous garlic mayo, fresh ingredients, and
friendly staff and walk out with a cheshire cat’s smile.
We do it right at 733 Airport Blvd South San Francisco
650-876-0122
WE CARRY CITYBIKE!!
Bay Area Sidecar Enthusiasts
(BASE)
•What does your dog think about motorcycling? (A: Hard to tell
without a sidecar!)
•Ever driven in traffic with a fake machine-gun mounted to your
rig?
• Want to know how to “fly the chair”?
•Maybe just want to find out what it’s like to be a “sidecar monkey”
for a day by catching a ride with us?
We are a facebook-based group in the SF Bay Area filled with sidecars
and the people who love them, and we’d be happy to meet you.
Email [email protected] for more information.
BSA Owners Club
If you know you can handle a real road then come up and get your reward!
Slow smoked BBQ , hand pressed burgers and a long list of great beer.
The Junction 47300 Mines Rd. Livermore.
At the intersection of Mines & Del Puerto Canyon Roads
11-8 daily (closed Wednesdays)—10-8 weekends.
Go there and go nowhere, into the middle-of.
The BSA Owners’ Club of Northern California was formed to promote
the preservation and enjoyment of the motorcycles produced by the
Birmingham Small Arms Company in England. Founded in 1985,
the Club now has over 500 members, and has produced the monthly
newsletter, The Bulletin, since the Club’s inception. Rides and activities
are scheduled each month in addition to two major activities: The
Clubman’s All British Weekend in the spring, and the Northern California
All British Ride in the fall. Membership is open to all BSA enthusiasts.
For more information: www.bsaocnc.org
LAKE BERRYESSA MOTO FUN!
FREE Italian appetizer and FREE bocce ball for motorcyclists at Cucina
Italiana! Real Italian food cooked by a real Italian chef. Fun, twisty roads.
Outdoor seating. Club discounts. Event Promotions.
Thurs.-Sun. (11:30-9:00)
4310 Knoxville Road, Napa 94558.
707-966-2433.
www.facebook.com/CucinaItalianaLakeBerryessa
GroupRides was created to be like what TV Guide has been for TV
Programs. It is a calendar of group rides and moto events from many
fine groups, clubs and organizations in Northern California, nicely put
together for the riding community to use and enjoy.
www.GroupRidesForum.net is the Forum and moto group where
1,400+ local riders enjoy the roads, the wind and the thunder of our
motorcycles together.
San Francisco Motorcycle Club
San Francisco Motorcycle Club, Inc., established 1904, is the second
oldest motorcycle club in the country!
Our business meetings are Thursday nights at 8:30pm, and guests are
always welcome. Our clubhouse is filled with motorcycling history from
the last century, a pool table, foosball and pinball games, and people
who currently enjoy motorcycles, dirt riding, racing, touring, riding and
wrenching. Check our website for events such as club rides, socials and
events, and come visit us, no matter what bike you ride!
San Francisco Motorcycle Clubhouse is located at
2194 Folsom St, @ 18th St in San Francisco.
www.sf-mc.org 415-863-1930
Leather & Lace MC
EAT AT REDS JAVA HOUSE, SF.
“IT’S REALLY GOOD FOOD”
SAYS CITYBIKE MANAGEMENT.
The Junction
www.GroupRides.net
Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club
The Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club San Jose’s (BSMCSJ) Primary
Mission is to keep the legacy of the 9th and 10th Calvary US Army
(Buffalo Soldiers) alive through example, education and participation in
our local community. buffalosoldiersmcsanjose
Leather & Lace MC,was created to bring women together who have a
serious interest in motorcycling and in making a difference in the lives of
others. Upon this foundation, the women of Leather & Lace Motorcycle
Club have built a strong sisterhood.
Amethyst Dreamers, a Northern California Chapter of Leather & Lace
MC, was formed in 2004. We came together because of our love for our
motorcycles, the joy of riding and being free. We stay together because
of our love for ourselves, our sisters, and with the intent of making life
better for the children of Northern California.
ad.leatherandlacemc.com/
www.facebook.com/AmethystDreamersChapter
The San Jose Dons Motorcycle Club exists to Advocate motorcycling,
promote good will between motorcyclists and the public, promote rider
safety and protect the rights of riders. Put more simply, the Dons are a
group of people who love riding motorcycles and come together to enjoy
motorcycling, and each other’s company. All bikes are welcome!
The San Jose Dons Motorcycle Club was formed in 1932, with the clubs
colors of green and gold. The Dons are associated with the American
Motorcycle Association (AMA).
Club Meetings are held on the first and third Wednesday of each month,
beginning at 7:30 PM. The last Wednesday of each month is reserved for
“Putt Night” when a club member leads the group on a short destination
run to a restaurant, or other point of interest. Come check us out.
sanjosedons.com
The Northern California Norton Owners’ Club (NCNOC) is dedicated to
the preservation and enjoyment of the Norton motorcycle. Membership is
open to all British Motorcycle enthusiasts and is currently $25 per year,
you can join online. Our monthly rides, meetings and tech session and
events are open to all members and guests see our web site calendar at
www.nortonclub.com.
Now celebrating our 40th year!
EVENT SERVICES
ANNOUNCING: “DUFFYDUZZ
Promotions”
If you’re planning a M/C event of any sort, whether an Open House, a
Special Sale Event, a Competition Event or even a Rally, a “pleasant but
not pushy” voice (and your choice of music) can make a huge difference
in the excitement and remembrance of your event. Have P.A. / Will Travel...
I have been “The Voice” of Ducati Island at Moto G.P. (‘98 - ‘06) the
Wilseyville Hare Scrambles (‘98 - ‘12) ...Most recently; La Ducati Day, La
Honda, MOTORAMA Car Show, Lafayette, sub’ Announcer at Continental
Sports Car Challenge Laguna Seca, Santa Rosa flattrack for Circle Bell
Motorsports... and more... References and resume available. Find me
on FaceBook: “Duffyduzz Promotions” for all contact info - or - call 510292-9391 - or - E/M: [email protected]
OMC
Classic Japanese Motorcycle
Club
The Classic Japanese Motorcycle Club is dedicated to the celebration and
preservation of the Classic and Vintage Japanese motorcycle. We have
rides, meets, shows, swaps and can help you find and sell parts, bikes and
motorcycle-related services. Members make the club function!
www.CJMC.org.
The Oakland Motorcycle Club is the fourth-oldest club in the nation
and celebrated 100 years of continuous operation in 2007. The OMC is
dedicated to supporting the sport of motorcycle riding. We are a diverse
group of male and female riders with a wide variety of motorcycles,
including street, dirt, and dualsport bikes. We sponsor and organize
the following annual events to which all riders are invited: Sheetiron
300 Dualsport, held in May; Three Bridge Poker Run, held in July;
Jackhammer Enduro, held in October. Regular club meetings are held
every Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. Guests are welcome. 742 – 45th Avenue,
Oakland. (510) 534-6222. www.oaklandmc.org.
FREE HELP WANTED ADS
In our ongoing effort to support and promote local motorcycling
businesses that we rely on, all motorcycle industry help
wanted ads will be listed in the CityBike Classifieds Section
for free.
Contact us via email: rftc.citybike.com
1.9
PAYMENTS AS LOW AS $59/Month
36 MONTHS FOR
% FOR
QUALIFIED BUYERS
*AS LOW AS
APR
Scooters Purchased and Registered Beginning January 1, 2015 until June 30, 2015
*On All New KYMCO
for a Limited Time at Your Local Participating KYMCO USA Dealers Only.
CHICO MOTORSPORTS
1538 PARK AVENUE
CHICO, CA 95928
530-345-5247
CYCLE WEST
1375 INDUSTRIAL AVENUE
PETALUMA, CA 94952
707-769-5242
SCUDERIA
69 DUBOCE STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103
415-621-7223
R&M ENTERPRISES
SALINAS MOTORCYCLE CENTER SAN JOSE MOTORSPORT
1905C ARNOLD INDUSTRIAL WAY
1286 N. MAIN STREET
1886 WEST SAN CARLOS ST
CONCORD, CA 94520
SALINAS, CA 93906
SAN JOSE, CA 95128
831-295-0205
925-798-4360
408-295-0205
ROCKRIDGE TWO WHEELS
5291 COLLEGE AVENUE
OAKLAND, CA 94618
510-594-0789
SCOOTER CITY
614 16TH STREET
SACRAMENTO, CA 95814
916-448-6422
VERACOM MITSUBISHI
790 NORTH SAN MATEO DR
SAN MATEO, CA 94401
650-340-7199
POWERSPORTS OF VALLEJO
111 TENNESSEE STREET
VALLEJO, CA 94590
707-644-3756
Choose Your Own Path
KYMCOUSA.com
facebook.com/KYMCO.Scooters
twitter & Instagram @kymco_usa
The Oﬃcial Scooter and SxS
1.9% for 36 Months [3.53% APR*]
$0 DOWN
|
1.9% INTEREST RATE
|
$30.03 PER $1,000 FINANCED
*Example: On a purchase where the Amount Financed is $1,999 your Down Payment is $0 with 36 monthly payments of $58.60 each. Interest Rate is 1.9% [ANNUAL PERCENTAGE RATE is 3.53% (E)]. For other Amounts Financed, the payment would be approximately $30.03 per $1,000 financed. Note: Subject to credit approval. Approval,
and any rates and terms provided, are based on credit worthiness. Other financing offers are available. See your local dealer for details. Minimum Amount Financed $1,500; Maximum Amount Financed $50,000. Other qualifications and restrictions may apply. An origination fee of $50 will be added to the amount financed in the above example. Financing
promotions void where prohibited. Offer effective on all new and unused KYMCO Scooters purchased from a participating KYMCO USA dealer between 1/1/2015 and 6/30/2015. Offer subject to change without notice. [“E” means estimate. © KYMCOUSA 2015 KYMCO vehicles meet all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety and EPA standards. Take a
riding skills course. For the course nearest you, call the Motorcycle Safety Foundation at 1-800-446-9227. For your safety, always wear a helmet, eye protection and protective clothing. Never operate under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Avoid excessive speed and stunt driving.

June 2015 - CityBike

Transcription

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