May 2016 - CityBike

Transcription

May 2016 - CityBike

May 2016
WRENCH ON YOUR
OWN RIDE?
FINISH THE JOB:
Recycle oil and filters!
Pick up FREE
oil recycling gear
and information at
our Riders Recycle
booth at:
OAKLAND
FIRST FRIDAYS
ART WALK
Telegraph Ave
MAY 6TH & JUNE 3RD
For more information on how &
where to recycle oil and filters visit:
COOL FREE STUFF • USEFUL TIPS
May 2016 | 2 | CityBike.com
News, Clues & Rumors
Volume XXXIII, Issue 5
Publication Date: April 18, 2016
On The Cover:
How do you like your naked? Small, medium or
large?
Photos: Kawasaki Z800 - Tomas Covina, Aprilia
Tuono RR - Bob Stokstad, Honda CB300F – Max
Klein.
Contents:
NCR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Pitstops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Uneasy Rider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
New Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Thunderstruck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Love the KAWK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
See Baby, It's A 300 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Devine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Doc Frazier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Maynard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Hertfelder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Locals Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Slappy McSlapperson . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Last Page Photo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
The Other Naked Photo Shoot . . . . . . . 29
Find us online at:
CityBike.com
/CityBikeMag
/CityBikeMag
/CityBikeMag
Contact CityBike:
PO Box 18738
Oakland CA 94619
Phone: 415.282.2790
Editorial: [email protected]
Advertising / Business: [email protected]
CityBike Staff:
Editor in Chief & Jackass of All Trades: Surj Gish
Master of Puppets & Layout: Angelica Rubalcaba
Senior Editor: Robert Stokstad
Chief of the World Adventure Affairs Desk:
Dr. Gregory Frazier
Staff Photographers: Robert Stokstad,
Angelica Rubalcaba, Max Klein
Illustrations: Mr. Jensen
Operations: Gwynne Fitzsimmons
Road Scholars:
Sam Devine, An DeYoung, Jeff Ebner, Fish,
Max Klein
Contributors:
Dan Baizer, Craig Bessenger, J. Brandon, Blaise
Descollonges, Julian Farnam, Alonzo Fumar,
Will Guyan, Brian Halton, David Hough, Maynard
Hershon, Ed Hertfelder, Otto Hofmann, John Joss,
Bill Klein, David Lander, Lucien Lewis, Larry Orlick,
TJ Noto, Courtney Olive, Jason Potts, Bob Pushwa,
Gary Rather, Charlie Rauseo, Curt Relick, 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.
AMA, Y U No Like BARF?
The AMA apparently ended its O/MC
program, of which BARF was the first
MC, AKA O/MC #0001, purportedly due
to low levels of interest and engagement,
which is the problem with every damn
thing moto-rights related.
For those of you with eyebrows raised and
“OMC WTF?” on the tip of your tongue,
O/MC is Online Motorcycle Club, and
AMA is American Motorcycle Association,
duh. Hopefully duh, anyway.
The O/MC program was an attempt to
step into the future using the internet
to harness the power of the forums that
for many people have replaced the social
structures of the clubs of yore.
BARF, AKA BayAreaRidersForum.com,
was the first, and therefore number one.
BARF is also number one in other ways,
namely in the amount of influence it exerts
on motorcycling culture and policymakers
here in California. See our story on The
Budman himself (“Who Cares About
Motorcyclist Rights? Dennis “Budman”
Kobza” – April 2016) for more on that.
Those little green middle fingers might
have something to do with BARF’s #1
status as well. We were actually involved in some
conversations with the AMA about a
CA state chapter a while back, and to be
frank, or rather CityBike, the outcome
of those conversations was basically
“maybe something will happen with this
in a year… or two.” Between that and
the mysteriously stealthy disappearance
of the OMC program with nary a peep,
we’re inclined to opine that it’s almost like
the AMA wants to make it harder to get
involved.
That’s not true, of course, and yeah, we
still think you ought to join the
AMA, because
as we’ve
said before,
if you wait
for a perfect
organization to
represent you,
you’ll be waiting a
long time. But, come
on, guys… not cool.
This just in: after some
body blows from The
Budman, someone at the
AMA apparently said, “Hey
guys, maybe we should keep this program
alive.” Word on the street, or rather online
(the big O in question here) is that the O/
MC program is clawing its way out of its
early grave.
We’re glad to hear it, but we won’t take
those things we said, because they’re true,
and we’re kind of jerks anyway.
Special Rider Training
Opportunity In May—Get
Some!
No, not that kind of special.
Here’s what’s up, straight outta the press
release, son:
“In recognition of Motorcycle Safety
Awareness Month and in coordination
with California’s
Strategic Highway
Safety Plan
(SHSP), select Bay
Area motorcycle
training schools are
offering a four-hour
Total Controlbased refresher the
weekend of May
14-15, 2016.”
Why do press releases
have to be so dry? This is
damn good news! Here’s our version:
“May is Moto Safety Month! That’s good,
and to make it even better, some of the riding
schools in the Bay Area are offering special
four-hour courses the weekend of May 14th15th.”
(motorcycle-skills.com) and Care2Ride
(care2ride.net). Check the websites for
more info.
To reiterate: this is a big deal. We’d like
to see the government, manufacturers,
insurance companies, and your mom
encouraging riders to get more training.
More skilled, safer riders means fewer “my
cousin’s friend’s cat’s veterinarian’s nephew
tore his arm off splitting
lanes on a turbocharged
Hi-uh-something-or-other
so motorcycles are bad”
stories. It means more
people buying and riding
bikes, and a bigger rider
population means we have a
bigger voice, more control of
our destiny when it comes to
legislation and regulation.
What’s Next For MotoFilmmaker Mark Neale
Ardent fans of motorcycle racing
owe Mark Neale a debt of eternal gratitude.
Were it not for his efforts, some Hollywood
producer might have decided that a feature
length film about motorcycle racers needed
to be made, and given us a two-wheeled
version of Driven. Starring Sylvester
Stallone, the 2001 film about CART
racing is about as realistic as one of the
It’s better, right? Anyway, the CHP has
requested that rider training schools
offer these four-hour refresher
courses at a special price of
Moto Noto with Mark Neale
at Texas Tornado
just $100, as opposed to the
Boot Camp.
usual $200+. Sure, they’re
just four hours, but $100 for
some upgraded skills is a hell
of a deal. These courses will
cover throttle control, quick
stops, low speed and road
speed turns, traffic interaction,
swerving and more.
In a classic governmental dick
move, The Man said “offer
cheap classes and
they will come” but
expected that the
schools would
just grin and
bear the loss
of profit due to
the reduced rate.
As with so many things, we
dislike that—thus the above
usage of the term “dick move.” But we’re
happy to hear that the CHP is finally doing
something to encourage rider training
beyond just the Basic Rider Course. Our
own Editor Surj may have even stood up
and waved his hands in a very animated
fashion about this very topic in a CMSP
Advisory Committee meeting up Sactown
way.
Four sites in the Bay Area will be
offering these special four-hour courses
the weekend of May 14th-15th. Two
Wheel Safety Training (2wheelsafety.
com), Bay Area Motorcycle Training
(motorcycleschool.com), Northern
California Motorcycle Training
CityBike Wrecking Crew being gridded
for a MotoGP race and dicing for the win
against Valentino and the boys. Of course,
plausibility is rarely the goal of a feature
length film, but the hyperbole is excused as
“artistic license.”
Documentaries are usually more realistic
however, and thankfully this was the
approach that Mark chose when he made
Faster in 2003. The documentary was a
sort of primer for those unfamiliar with
Grand Prix motorcycle racing, but also had
appeal to hard-core race fans. Made at the
cusp of the 500cc two-stroke and modern
990cc 4-stroke era, it was followed by The
Doctor, the Tornado, and the Kentucky Kid,
in 2006, Fastest, in 2011, and Hitting The
Apex in 2015.
busy schedule to share his motivation for
his next film.
We caught up with Mark and his crew
during a recent visit to Colin Edwards’
Texas Tornado Boot Camp (stay tuned
for that story) where the filmmaker was
shooting footage for his next film. He was
kind enough to take some time out of his
Mark Neale grew up not far from Lydden
Hill Race Circuit in Canterbury, United
Kingdom. As an 8-year-old boy, he’d watch
cars and motorcycles ripping around the
short roadracing track, but it was the twowheeled racers that fascinated him. His
AMA District 36
Road Rider Clubs
THAT RIDE
love of motorcycle racing is stronger than
ever, a fact that is evident to anyone who
has seen any of his movies.
Imagine you want to make a documentary
about MotoGP. You may have specific
themes or stories you’d like to tell, but you
won’t know what you’re going to get until
you’ve followed the cast and characters
over the course of the entire season. The
season itself offers the overall themes, and
the filmmaker expands upon them. This
proved true in Hitting the Apex, a film
made during the 2011 season in which
Marco Simoncelli lost his life at the Sepang
Circuit in Malaysia. The incident, while
tragic, provided a backdrop against which
the motivation of the competitors could be
viewed.
the art of motorcycling’s premier racing
series.
- TJ Noto
Doc Frazier Talks Naked
The iconic, eccentric Dr. Gregory Frazier,
who you know as Chief of the World
Adventure Affairs Desk here at Ye Olde
CityBike magazine, will be the featured
presenter at The Rally in the Gorge in
Hood River, Oregon, this coming August
27. He will be speaking the “naked
truths” about 103 years of adventure
riding around the globe, exposing some
myths and fallacies while addressing
sensitive subjects such as which is the best
motorcycle to use on an adventure ride and
what exactly is a modern day adventure.
The good doctor in uh... action.
www.americanmotorcyclist.com
www.ama-d36-road-rider.org
2/21
D36 Awards Banquet – Vacaville
3/19
Delegates Meeting OMC
3/13
Gold Rush PSMC Road & Adventure Routes/Rain Date 3/20
4/2
P&D – Indoor Track – Destination Run
4/23
CCMC Rolling on the River/Rain Date 4/30
5/15
Delegates Meeting PSMC
5/21-22
OMC Sheet Iron Destination Run
6/11-12
D36 Stockton Camp Work Party/Rain Date 6/25
6/18
SJDMC Memorial Run
7/9
SMC Hoot Owl Run
7/16
OMC 3 Bridge Run
7/31
Delegates Meeting SFMC
8/6
SJDMC Dam Run
8/20
RRMC Poker Run
9/2-9/5
Hey Dey – Group/Family Camping Event
9/11
Delegates Meeting PSMC
9/17
D36 Gypsy Tour Hosted by SFMC
10/9
CCMC Charity Run/Rain Date 10/16
10/16
Rain Date CCMC Charity Run
11/6
Delegates Meeting & Calendar Bidding CCMC
11/12
D36 Turkey Run Hosted by NCR
12/3
Old Timers Dance (Destination Run) SFMC
Motorcycle racing is sufficiently
exciting; it rarely needs to be blighted by
manufactured drama. Mark is a lifelong
fan of motorcycle racing and finds the
“intense, spectacular competition” to be
“profoundly psychological.” Describing the
sport as “gladiatorial,” and “beautiful, but
violent,” he finds it odd that these aspects
of the sport tend to be overlooked. It is the
stories that capture those emotions that he
looks for during the course of filming.
www.capitalcitymc.com
www.portstocktonmc.com
www.sanjosedonsmc.com
www.oaklandmc.org
www.stocktonmc.org
www.sanjoseindoor.com
www.richmondramblersmc.org
www.sf-mc.org
(707) 364-1903
Mark Neale’s next cinematic tribute
to racing is slated for release in late fall
of 2017. Amidst the drama that will
unfold over the course of the 2016
MotoGP season, he hopes to find stories
that illuminate the spirit and heart of
motorcycle racing from a more personal
perspective. Where Hitting the Apex was
about the making of a World Champion,
the sacrifices and lessons one must
make and learn to achieve that
title, the next chapter aims
to be more about human
relationships on and
off the racetrack, and
the spirit and heart
of racing. How does
the psychological
component factor in
especially with legendary
racers like Valentino
Rossi? How does the kid
from Tavullia continue to
race with childlike joy after 15
years in the premier class when the wins
come neither as easily nor as frequently as
they have in the past?
Whatever happens on and off the race
track during the 2016 MotoGP season, we
are confident that Mark Neale will find
compelling ways to celebrate the state of
Frazier, currently on an extended pit stop
during his sixth ‘round the world ride
(more at rtwmotorcycleadventurerally.
blogspot.com) says of his own wild and
wooly adventures while promoting his
latest book, Down And Out In Patagonia,
Kamchatka And Timbuktu, “I hate
adventure that has anything to do with
sharks or snakes… and falling down when
riding au naturel.” Someday My Skully Will Come
It’s been a long time since we talked any
trash about local helmet uh… well, we
can’t say maker ‘cause between they ain’t
actually made jack shit yet. Let’s just call
‘em “disruptive tech company” because
these startup guys love to use that word,
disruptive.
Actually, we got it wrong (we do that
sometimes) when we
said “ain’t made jack
shit” because they
have made a whole
bunch of people
pretty
pissed off,
No word on whether people who
Skully’s dog tags started
are also delayed by putting
production issues.
down
$1,500 for
pre-orders back in August 2014.
Yep, 2014. This here is the May 2016
issue of your favorite Bay Area motomag, which puts us at damn close to two
years later. Skully’s Indiegogo page shows
$2,446,824 in pre-order funding, and their
campaign ended in October 2014, shortly
after we last poked some gentle fun at
the disruptive tech company (“Maybe Not
Vaporware? Skully is Taking Pre-orders!” –
News, Clues & Rumors, September 2014).
respond with canned messages too,
presumably with something like “Sorry,
I can’t take your call, because I’m riding
a motorcycle, which is way cooler than
talking to you.”
This shit is designed to appeal to “techsavvy millennials seeking enhanced
safety.” Earmuffs, kids, we’re gonna swear
a bit (more): how the fuck is seeing your
texts and emails on your windshield safer
than just ignoring your fucking phone
while you’re riding?
The answer, in case we need to spell it out,
is it’s not. Duh. What it is, is stupid.
At that time, Skully was telling people
they’d have helmets in May 2015.
Since we suck at math, we asked someone
to figure out how late Skully is on
delivering those $1,500 helmets, and that
very smart person told us “one year, you
dummies.”
In April (this April, 2016, not two years
ago) Skully sent an email to pre-order
suckers buyers “to acknowledge the recent
scheduling change,” the exact date of
which was apparently being individually
communicated via phone calls, in a
surprisingly thoughtful customer service-y
touch.
No word on whether Skully is sending
pre-order victims some of their “limited
edition dog tags” as an interim consolation
prize. That might be a good move; those
dog tags are “the perfect addition to any
rider’s gear-up ritual,” after all.
And Speaking of Stupid
Mostly because we hate Uber, as any good
American does. Stupid Uber.
In their march towards world domination
via their servant-culture platform, Uber
has launched UberMoto in Bangkok,
Thailand, meaning you can now hail a
moto-taxi via the Uber app.
While Uber is basically the evilest thing
since Satan’s testicles, they’re actually
pretty good at some of the stuff they do,
and therefore will presumably be better at
this moto-taxi thing than those bullshit
ninjas in Los Angeles (“Ninjas Among Us”
– News, Clues & Rumors, January 2015)
are at uh… ninja-ing on motorbikes.
Skully blames the delay on issues
discovered in the transition to mass
production—which they presumably
started well over a year ago, to meet that
May 2015 delivery date—saying, “When
we tried to transition from first-stage
Easter Ride 2016: Will The
to mass production, we ran into DFM
(design for manufacturing) issues with the Rabbit Survive?
electronics. It is in this ramp up we realized A recap of recent history: the weather
that a redesign of the main board was
was decent for 2014’s Easter Ride, but a
needed.”
large crowd of motorcyclists found the
gate was locked at 5:30 AM, with nobody
Well, ain’t that a pisser. Much like dropping
in sight to open it. Some of the riders on
nearly the cost of a beater SV650 trackbike
smallish dirt bikes rode around the gate
on a helmet that never shows up. At least
using the hiking path, and the assembled
not yet. But we’ll keep dreaming that
crowd listened to the blat of their single
someday when our dreams come true, we’ll
cylinders disappearing in the darkness,
have helmets with heads-up displays and
fading and getting louder as they twisted
rear-facing cameras.
away. It wasn’t long before there was an “en
masse” ride around of the gate, which was
Us, like us motorcyclists, not us here at
significantly harder for those with clip-ons
CityBike. None of us pre-ordered a Skully.
and slick street tires.
Are you kidding?
Speaking Of Pointless
Vaporware
Samsung recently showed us, via YouTube
influencer (vomit sounds), a “smart
windshield prototype.”
Well, that’s good news. The stupid
windshield problem has been solved,
folks. Samsung’s uh, forward-thinking
windshield hooks to your smartphone
and lets you view inbound calls, text
messages and something called electronic
mail. Whatever that is. You can apparently
Riders on cruisers were mostly out of luck,
sidecars definitely. The gate eventually
opened at the normal time and remaining
riders that hadn’t ridden away in frustration
made their way to the top. Like I said, great
weather, but the closed gate workaround
made the likely scenario for 2015 a Ranger
or CHP parked at the gate.
This could have meant the end of the
Easter Ride, forever.
event could happen.
They were wonderful,
even though the
weather sucked.
Patchy fog on the
road, bad visibility
and lots of wetness
meant a naturally
smaller crowd.
This year, I got
the permit again
and wore it around
my neck in a sheet
protector to start
conversations about the future of the ride.
The pre-dawn sky
this year was one of
the most gorgeous
I’ve ever seen, and as
the sun rose above
the fog bank on the
horizon, the fog
rolled in for real,
covering everything
except the “dip stick”
on SF’s Radio Hill.
Photo: Surj Gish
freezing cold. I went around the crowd
asking the old timers if they knew when it
started, how long it’d been going on. For a
lot of people, the answer was a vague “like
forever.” Nobody could pin it down, until I
approached a gray-haired gentleman with a
beard and racing leathers, and he answered,
“1976, I started it.”
It was Mean Marshall, who I hadn’t seen
in ages. So 2016 was the 40th anniversary,
and nobody knew it!
Turnout was
Photo: Surj Gish low. From my
conversations it
seemed that the
people who came took a chance on
whether the gate would be open, and were
pleasantly surprised that it was.
I’m planning to get the permit again next
year, and hopefully getting the word out
sooner so more riders show up for the
beautiful Mt. Tam sunrise. Personally, I
would like to see a lot more interesting
vintage motorcycles. Craig McLean road a
‘30s Norton International this year, and for
some reason decided to wear shorts!
I’ve been doing this ride for at least 30
years, although I’ve missed a few. I have
seen all kinds of weather, some of it
I may start a Facebook page for the event to
help get the word out to more people, but
word of mouth will still be a big part of the
9TH ANNUAL BUNGEE BRENT’S
BACKROAD BASH
DUAL SPORT RIDE
2 DAYS 200 MILES
JUNE 25 & 26, 2016
A PORTION OF THE PROCEEDS WILL BE DONATED TO THESE CHARITIES
Start of ride and finish each day at Long Barn Lodge
www.longbarn.com
800.310.3533
$115 ENTRY FEE
Includes Roll Chart, BBQ Dinner, T-Shirt,
Raffle Ticket for Prizes & Private Concert
ENTRIES LIMITED TO 100 RIDERS
FOR MORE INFO CALL 510.566.5123
OR EMAIL [email protected]
For 2015, I took out the required permit
and I want to thank the Ranger staff for
above and beyond efforts to make sure the
SIGN-UP FORM
KTM Recalls Bikes For Not
Catching Fire
Easter Ride—many of the old farts don’t
do much social media. So hope for great
weather next year!
Yeah, that’s a little deceptive. But it seems
like a bunch of the recalls issued by KTM
in the last year or so were for stuff like “fuel
Live Free & Lane Split Or Die
might leak and if fuel leaks then the bike
New Hampshire, the “live free or die” state, could catch fire.” It happened enough that
already keeps it real by not having a helmet we even created a special “fire risk level:
law, which is as we all know the ultimate
KTM” graphic—remember that? It
expression of freedom (freedumb?), bro,
was hilarious.
recently tried to step up to real freedom, in
Oh yeah, and there were
the form of lane splitting.
some kids’ pajamas that
A coalition of six Republican lawmakers
spontaneously combusted
introduced House Bill 1308 back in
or something like that.
February. Funny that it’s a passel of
Anyway, fast forward to
‘Publicans, since we keep hearing from
now. KTM is recalling
riders in other states that lane splitting
certain 2013-2014
is a “crazy California thing,” presumably
Husqvarna TR650 Terra
meaning a liberal hippie Berserkely thing.
and TR650 Strada motorcycles,
The bill would have amended New
manufactured January 1, 2012, to
Hampshire vehicle code to allow
December 31, 2013. The reason? Get this:
motorcycles to pass a vehicle in the same
stalling.
lane, or travel between lanes of traffic
Yeah, if the bike stalls, you could crash…
when traffic is stopped or traveling less
than 10 miles per hour. No speed delta was if you suck at riding. Certainly more than
one or two of our readers learned to ride
specified.
on bikes that stalled now and then. Hell,
We say “would have” because it’s a moot
maybe some of you are even riding bikes
point at this point—the bill was voted
that stall now. We certainly are!
“Inexpedient to Legislate” in early March,
At the time of the “these bikes might stall
and as such is considered dead.
but they won’t catch fire” recall press
Presumably, we’ll be seeing mass suicides
release, KTM’s solution was “still under
in New Hampshire in the coming months. development” which presumably means
Live free or die and all that.
that if you’ve got a Terra and / or Strada,
you’ll take it into the dealer and they’ll
- Stevan Thomas
9TH ANNUAL BUNGEE BRENT’S
BACKROAD BASH SIGN-UP FORM
laugh and say something like “yeah, that
sucks. Hope you can ride!”
Dubbelju’s New Digs Part Deux
Last month, we reported that Dubbelju,
the best place to rent bikes inside San
Francisco city limits, had moved to The
Mission (“Dubbelju’s New Digs” – News,
Clues & Rumors, April 2016) and in our
excitement about having some
good news about local shops
for a change, we got the
address wrong. Seriously,
we somehow screwed up a
simple copy and paste.
Since we count on Editor
Surj to get this shit right,
we’ve docked his small
bike privileges for a month
(he loves the li’l motos—check
out page 18 for more on that) to
teach him a lesson. He’s a slow learner,
though—some combination of the classic
old dog / new tricks problem and plain
old dumbness—so don’t be surprised if
we make more
mistakes. Like, if
we were to spell
Harley-Davidson
wrong, for
example.
Anyway, the
important thing
here is that we tell
you the correct
address for
Dubbelju, which
is 274 Shotwell
St. San Francisco
California, 94110,
just ‘round the
corner from South
Van Ness and 16th.
famous motojournalist, can you believe
that?) I decided instead of luxuriating in
the hotel eating bonbons, I’d rent a Vespa
and see the sights from the saddle of a bike
while the Mister was off “working.”
I found Riviera Scooter online
(RivieraScooter.com) and reserved a little
red 125. They also offer tours of the area,
as well as airport pick up, so I went for it all.
I had a bike, a ride, someone to show me
around… I felt like I had rented a friend.
Friday, we arrived in Nice on the eve of a
rare Mediterranean storm. Phillipe (my
new friend) met us at the airport and gave
us a little history of the area during our
30-minute ride to the hotel in Cannes.
Saturday morning, we awoke to the
aftermath of a pretty intense storm. Big
waves, wet streets and a row of X-Diavels,
Monsters, and Panigales parked along the
entire front of the hotel. The roads soon
dried out, the Mister went off on his sales
training adventure, and Phillipe and I
headed out on a 3-hour Vespa tour of the
Photo: An DeYoung
It’s a cool new space—we went by to check
it out and managed to find it even though
we couldn’t get the address right in print.
French Riviera: Cannes, Antibes, Juan-lesPins.
The finalé was an amazing view
overlooking Bay of Cannes from the
top of a road that reminded me of riding
through the Oakland Hills: narrow, curvy,
goaty roads, and the smell of eucalyptus.
I learned that Phillipe had spent time as
an exchange student in the East Bay as a
Cannes-Do: CityBike Wrecking teenager, while learning English in San
Francisco, so he thought that would be a
Crew On The French Riviera
fun road for me to ride. After the East Bay
It’d been another long day of answering fan of Cannes ride, he led me back to the hotel
mail at CityBike World HQ. I was stamping and left me with some riding tips, then I
an autograph on yet another glossy 8x10
was on my own.
Last Page Photo when Editor Surj strolled
up and dropped a red file on my desk. “Get
packed, you’re going undercover,” he said.
I picked up the folder, and out fell a few spy
shots of the Ducati X-Diavel and a plane
ticket.
OK, not really.
Name _________________________________________________
Address ______________________________________________
City __________________________ State _____ Zip _______
Email ______________________ Phone ___________________
Shirt Size / Circle One: M
L
XL
2XL
(add $10)
3XL
(add $10)
ADDITIONAL SHIRTS PRE-ORDER ONLY $25ea 2XL/3XL $35ea
Please make check payable to Bungee Brent and mail to:
15931 Via Toledo, San Lorenzo, CA, 94580
What actually happened? I got a Facebook
message from my husband, AKA, the
Ducati Specialist at A&S Motorcycles, with
a link to the InterContinental Carlton in
Cannes, France and this simple statement:
“It’s confirmed. Get your shit together.”
My first trip to Europe was going to start
with me crashing the annual Ducati sales
training.
Since I wouldn’t be allowed to ride any of
the Ducatis (in spite of being a world-
Photo: An
DeYoung
guessing that was a
rare sight. I nearly
got doused a few
times.
When I stopped
to take some
pictures, I heard a
familiar roar—a
pack of growling
Diavels cruising
back to the hotel.
I joined the pack
Photo: An DeYoung
to see if I could
keep up. I’ve heard
Riding is different in France. They drive on
the same side of the road, but scooters and stories of the guys who lead those rides so I
motorcycles are everywhere. They can park figured they’d loose me pretty quick, but I
managed to keep them in sight.
on the sidewalks, ride in pedestrian areas,
and they lane share like you would not
I got bored with the Diavels and pulled off
believe: bike lanes, one lane roads, up the
when I saw a panini stand. I don’t speak
middle of the road
into oncoming
traffic.
It was a little
intimidating, but I
got over it, waved
au revoir to the
hotel doorman,
and headed south
on the coastal road.
I probably should
have studied up
on the street signs
a bit more. But
hey, you can ride on the sidewalks, so any
wrong turn was quickly righted.
The waves were crashing over the sea wall
and people were out taking pictures, so I’m
Photo: Harrison Cole
any French—aside from what I’ve picked
up from Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and a few
Steve Martin skits—but I managed to
score a fromage panini and a Pellegrino.
Safe Drivers Vs. Engaged Riders
Last month, I talked about the abstraction
of physical controls from the things they
control. I got quite a few emails about this.
Some thought I was being inconsistent,
between kinda trippin’ over the concept
of an electronic switch controlling
the e-brake versus a direct, physical
connection; while at the same time saying
“Hey, ride by wire is pretty cool.”
Ride by wire is pretty cool, but I closed
last month’s Uneasy Rider with a promise
to talk about the goal behind all this
abstraction: safety. So further discussion
of RBW will have to wait—let’s look at the
differences between the safe driver and
the engaged rider.
As riders, we tend to be very into riding.
Sure, there are car guys that are waaay
into their rides, but even a rider on a 50
cc scooter is experiencing a much more
connected experience than the vast
majority of drivers outside of extreme
circumstances. Limit the scope of the
discussion to street-bound vehicles, and it
becomes clearer: there’s a required level of
engagement to ride a motorcycle, even a
modern, highly technologized bikes with
things like ride by wire and dynamic
suspension.
By the way, I’m talking about being into
the act of riding, not just into motorcycles.
Farkle-phile bike night guys that don’t
ride much are basically car guys trying to
increase their cool factor by bolting junk
onto bikes instead of cars. That’s fine, but
we’re talking about riders, not motorcycle
owners.
Modern cars have been progressing
towards less engagement since we started
putting roofs on ‘em. Sure, automotive
marketers would have you believe that
even econoboxes are sporty, and Subarus
are conducive to adventure, but the
reality is that quite a lot of engineering
and materials that go into modern cars
are about two things: swaddling the
occupants (and more and more, drivers
are just occupants) in comfortable
isolation from the surrounding
environment, and saving drivers from
themselves.
This started with things like sound
deadening materials and air conditioning,
and progressed to the virtual isolation
chambers of today. Environmental noise
is nearly suppressed—Mercedes-Benz
started putting double-pane glass in their
W140 series in the early nineties for this
reason—so the ability to react to auditory
stimuli is reduced. Entertainment systems
serve to further disconnect drivers from
the world they’re driving in. Add the
constant demands for attention from
drivers’ devices and the share of attention
that goes to driving continues to slide
towards zero.
In addition to to that isolation, we
continue to add technology to make
driving safer: ABS, traction control, blind
spot monitors, rear view cameras, and
now even automatic braking. Drivers
don’t care about making themselves safe,
so cars do it for them.
So we have ABS because drivers never
learn to brake well—but is it even
reasonable to expect them to? The
vast majority of drivers value their
vehicles only as
transportation
and perhaps
status symbols,
but not as a
direct-connected
melding of rider
and machine that
is as much about
increasing the
heart rate as it
is about getting
somewhere. We
learn to brake
well because
it matters and
because we want
to—drivers just want to get where they’re
going. Just like adventure bike marketing
sells an experience, car buyers want to
believe they’re buying an ultimate driving
machine, but they’re really buying a
competent transportation machine with a
good brand story.
We bitch about cagers not knowing how
to drive, as if comparing our level of
dedication to skills development is valid.
It’s not.
Car builders need to build vehicles that
keep drivers safe in spite of their lack
of skills and inattention, which may
eventually culminate in self-driving cars.
Motorcycle companies build bikes that
are necessarily evolving to include more
safety features, but remain at their core
demanding machines that reward high
levels of engagement.
Photo: Angelica Ru
balcaba
Beginning of a RedShift.
staffer leading his ride was a little
irritated he got passed by a girl on
a red Vespa. Another guy chimed
in he had heard one of the guy’s
wives had rented a red Vespa and
was passing up guys on the training
rides, and another said he saw a
woman on a red Vespa parking
next to a couple
Ferraris in front of
the hotel. Not sure
who that was, but
she sounds like a
bad ass.
Merci beaucoup
to Phillipe &
Farhana from
Riviera Scooter
for making
Photo: Max Klein my visit one I
will remember
Sunday, I hoofed it to catch a ferry to the
forever!
Next month:
Île Sainte-Marguerite to wander around
navigating the autostrada
the former residence of the Man in the
to the Piaggio Museum in
Iron Mask. I returned early enough for a
Pontedera, Italy.
scoot up to Le Suquet, the old quarter of
Cannes perched on a hill, where I made
a few wrong turns and did some tinywheeled adventure riding through a closed
construction zone. Oops. But wow, what a
view!
Sunday night was a huge farewell dinner
with the Ducati folks. Dinner, drinks,
music… and they lit the bar on fire a few
times. Typical bike night stuff.
On the shuttle ride back to the hotel a few
of the guys were talking about the training
rides. One mentioned that the Ducati
happened to be electric. The plan was to
make competition-level motocross and
supermoto machines, bikes so good that
riders would comment how awesome the
bike was, not how awesome it was for an
electric. You know, like being good at the
Electric Slide, not just good for a lanky
white guy.
Photo: Max Klein
- An DeYoung
Alta-mite E-Bikes
Usually the words “great” and “electric”
don’t really go all that well together,
although I was known back in the day
for being great at the Electric Slide—the
Marcia Griffiths version, obviously.
Back in 2007, two riding buddies, Derek
Dorresteyn and Jeff Sand, wanted to
change that, and set their sights set on
building the next great motorcycle. One
with better rider control; one that just
days of back and forth communication with
an outside (or worse, overseas) machine
shop, followed by days of the part riding
in the back of a Fed Ex truck (or worse,
weeks on a boat) only to find out that the
mounting holes are .03mm off and they
have to start over.
Alta also has a test facility that can run
every single component through simulated
life cycles in the same proper dirtbike-y
conditions. Heat, cold, UV rays, and the
continual throwing the poor thing on the
ground all damn day (that last bit might
just be me) are all testable in house. They
even have a giant vibration table that they
bolt a bike (minus wheels and suspension)
to; an infinitely adjustable paint shaker
that will put components through years of
abuse in a much more convenient matter of
hours.
Once they have all of the parts constructed,
their ten-person line team swiftly moves
the assembly process through eight stations
in under an hour.
They took data acquired from Derek’s
The result? Well, I have not ridden one yet
personal motorcycles and went to work.
myself, but check out our take on an early
The result was a prototype that taught
version (“Exclusive First Ride: RedShift
them many valuable lessons, the biggest
BRD Supermoto” – May 2013) on our back
of which was how
much work they had Andrew Luker (11z) on the RedShift at SJIFT.
ahead of them. Hint:
it was a lot. The duo
met Marc Fenigstein
in 2009, and by
2010 they officially
started business
together as BRD
Motorcycles, and
later became Alta
Motors.
I was recently
invited to tour Alta’s
new Brisbane, CA
manufacturing and
assembly facility,
and afterwards sat down for a good hour
of moto chat with the founding fathers of
what could be the spark of the future.
They make many of the components in
house, and have designed almost every
bit of the bike this side of the wheels,
suspension, and brakes as Warp 9, WP
Suspension, and Brembo really don’t need
to be improved upon. They have CNC
machines, 3D printers, and other top secret
methods of production in house. That
means trying out a new part does not take
Photo: Max Klein
issues page at citybike.com/back-issues.
html for the CityBike first impression.
However, I did get to see the RedShift
motocross bikes in action at the San Jose
Indoor Flat Track races on April 2nd, and I
was impressed.
For those of you that don’t know, SJIFT
attracts everyone from run whatcha’ brung
amateurs to professional show me the money
riders on an equally diverse number of
machines. While there was an electric
class (buncha Zeros), Alta decided to take
on their true mission of running with
I spoke to Derek after the race. Despite the
results he was all smiles.
“We learned a lot today,” he said “Not
the finishes we wanted, but we collected
valuable data. That’s racing.”
Word is we’re gonna get to ride a
production Alta soon. Stay tuned!
- Max Klein
New Stuff
ABUS Detecto 7000: Buying
Time
By Sam Devine
The thieves out there want to ride your
bike away. Literally. They want to walk
up to it with a helmet on, act like it won’t
start, jimmy the ignition and ride off into
the darkness, lane-splitting through traffic
on your race-ready rocket ship, breaking
sound barriers and speed
limits as they travel to a
Craigslist far, far away.
ON SALE NOW
$359 Only $149!
Visit us for a wide selection
of clearance items.
Johnson Leathers Textile Jacket
with Forcefield Body Armour
We stock a large selection of heavy duty jackets,
pants, chaps, & bags.
In Stock Only
Custom garments and accessories.
Carried in San Francisco by
SF Moto and in
San Jose by Road Rider.
We repair, alter and clean leather products.
Our leathers are guaranteed against
defect for life.
We make custom 1 & 2 piece leathers!
1833 Polk St. (@ Jackson) San Francisco - johnsonleather.com
(800) 730-7722 • (415) 775-7393
Forcefield Body Armour, The worlds
leading “Soft armour technology”
Body protection system specialists.
The Detecto is easily stowable beneath
the average seat (dimensions are 5” x
2.5” x 2”). For bikes that only provide
accommodations for a registration slip and
a Triple-A card, well, we’re not sure what to
tell you. It comes with a travel pouch and
a velcro strap that seem to be designed for
mounting to the triple tree or frame—but
the instructions specifically warn against
this.
They don’t want to lift it
into a van or truck, some
slow pile that tops out at
80mph. They don’t want
to get stuck in traffic and
caught by the neighborhood
watch before they even have
a chance to split their meager
profits three ways.
These reasons are why
a rotor lock is generally
considered the most sensible
deterrent to motorcycle
ne
theft—with the added benefit Photo: Sam Devi
of compact portability. Sure,
Luckily it’s not that heavy. At 1.3 pounds,
you could ride with a giant tempered chain the Detecto is noticeable in a backpack but
around your waist like Powerman (You
is still light enough to carry during a ride.
know, Luke Cage? Anyone? Hello?) but
It is easily installed with one hand, latching
half the time that will simply be overkill.
with a satisfactory click. The activation
Besides, if a crew of adept robbers is really
button for the alarm is tucked between the
planning to hoist your Harley into a
main housing and the 3mm x 5mm lock
U-Haul, there’s not a lot that can prevent
bolt. This makes it rare for the alarm to
that. Better to foil that screwdriverbe set accidentally, but easily engaged by
wielding tweaker than prepare for the heist pressing the lock against the rotor.
of the century.
This lock sure would have come in handy
The ABUS Detecto 7000 RS 1 not only
in Gallup, New Mexico when a guy
has an awesome robot-sounding name, but bleeding from the mouth was begging me
also wails like Bon Scott on the Highway
for change before I had put my kickstand
to Hell. The tiniest bump, wiggle or
down. I sat inside the windowless El
nudge elicits a healthy beep from Senor
Rancho Hotel restaurant, enjoying some
Detecto. A second jostle and we’re talking
damn fine green chile, staring at a picture
painful, make-it-stop-please, ear-piercing,
of John Wayne, and just wishing I had a
wake-the-whole-house-and-half-theview of my bike. A shrieking rotor lock
neighborhood tweeting and wee-ooh-ing.
sure would have made that meal more
ABUS specs its siren’s blare at “at least 110 enjoyable.
db,” making Motörhead about the only
When I’m on the road, the place I sleep and
thing louder.
the place I park my bike are rarely more
than 100 feet apart. This was true in LA’s
Garment District—unless you count the
three stories up to the rock band crash-pad
warehouse I wound up at. The Detecto
7000 would have given me a much sounder
sleep on the cramped couch that night. I
did wake up to find a pilot screw missing,
but I blame the bumpy Hollywood freeway
for that.
Then there was Hays,
Kansas ,where I stayed in a
fleabag motel so dingy that
I brought my bungee cords
inside and cable-locked my
bike around a support beam.
“Why didn’t you push your
bike inside?!” my friends
chastised me later. Curse my
good upbringing—polite
manners tend to lend a bad
night’s sleep. But again, if a
tempered brick of steel—
that screams like a baby on
a red-eye flight—had been
clamped to my rotor I’m
sure I would have snoozed
like a miner in an opium
den. And I would still be
able to feel like a gentleman (not leaving oil
stains and tire tracks on the carpet).
There was a similar scene in New Orleans
at a last-minute motel we found to crash in
after midnight. You’d think that fifty bucks
would earn you things like a door knob and
a flushable toilet. But no, only a dead bolt
and a bucket to fill water from the shower
and pour into the bowl. A squealing sow of
a rotor lock would surely have soothed my
reluctance during those two or three hours
until I was wakened by the sweltering heat
of June in the dirty, dirty South.
At $139.99, the Detecto 7000 isn’t a casual
purchase, especially for those of us that
frequent $50 hotel rooms. But then again,
discovering your motorcycle still present
and unmolested after a drunk and jealous
boyfriend has searched for his cheating
girlfriend by pounding on almost every
door of the Route 66 motel in Oklahoma
City is no small wonder either.
So the next time I sling a leg over a bike and
point it several days and states away, you
can be sure that the ABUS will be tucked
in a saddlebag. Keep your ears peeled,
Detroit and /or Eastern Seaboard, because
the ABUS Detecto and I are going to find
a nice spot to park—right between some
broken glass and a chalk outline.
$139.99. Learn more and find out where
to buy at ABUS.com/us/RecreationalSecurity/Motorbike-Scooter.
• Porting • Polishing •
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 •
After qualifying, the fastest RedShift was
.74 seconds off the pole-setting pace, but
that did not seem to matter come the main,
where Garrett Willis got a great start. He
was battling for the lead when his front
got taken out entering turn three, sending
him to the ground. He picked it back up
but there was not enough time for him to
mount a comeback.
Clearance Sale
• Valve Seat & Guide Replacement • Race Prep •
the 250s. They put actual money where
their mouth is (ponied up 500 bucks to
sponsor the class) and entered two of their
RedShifts against proven gas opponents.
2040 Petaluma Blvd. N.Petaluma, CA 94952
2016 Aprilia
Tuono 1100 Factory ABS
In stock NOW. $16,999 plus fees.
$1,500 down, $299/month.
CALL 510.594.0789
© Piaggio Group Americas, Inc. 2016. Aprilia ® is a U.S. and worldwide registered
trademark of the Piaggio Group of companies. Obey local trafﬁc safety laws and always wear a
helmet, appropriate eyewear and proper apparel.
Book Review: Racing The Gods
any human endeavor: focus, learn, commit, and BMW. He rose through the ranks of
work relentlessly, never give up.
California’s AFM club-racing scene to
By John Joss
achieve an amazing record “racing the
Ritter describes an era—the ’70s—that
Why do we ride? How did we start? Can
gods”—the biggest names of the time,
was a different kind of racing. Prizes
motorcycling’s essence be distilled?
whose professional careers are etched
were trivial, competitors knew and liked
indelibly into enthusiasts’ memories:
Paul Ritter brings it all home in this
each other, diced fairly (or as fairly as
Baldwin, Code, Cooley, McLaughlin,
excellently written, informative book. He
possible) and simply enjoyed their sporting
Neilson, Pridmore, Schlachter,
traces his two-wheel history from riding
pursuits—as he writes, “…the artistry,
Spencer, on tracks that included
bicycles as a boy to achieving Superbike
finding the perfect line lap after lap… like
Loudon, Pocono and Riverside as
stardom, before becoming a wheelchair
a painter making the perfect brush stroke
well as the Daytona, Laguna Seca
pilot in an AHRMA accident 20 years after or a writer crafting the perfect sentence.”
and Sears Point venues still used
retiring from ‘serious’ racing.
Just so.
today. He credits them all, including
He describes his ascent from beginner
tuners such as Dale Newton and Phil
His self-effacing account reflects a gentle
to big winner, intriguing to readers who
soul who rose from lacking self-confidence Schilling.
wonder how it’s done if you have the time,
and leadership motivation to becoming a
skill, sponsorship and inner drive. Beyond club, then professional racer with the heart Ritter’s SCI (Spinal Cord Injury)
is similar to injuries sustained
reminiscence, it’s a road map to success
of an ardent and fearless competitor and
by MotoGP world champion
that applies, metaphorically, to essentially
adrenalin junkie, riding Honda, Ducati
Wayne Rainey, the AFM’s and
WERA’s Dave Stanton, Vincent
Haskovec, and Andrew Trevitt of
Sport Rider, among others, who
all experienced shattered lives
but who fought back with indomitable
hearts, minds and spirits. The author’s
account of his rehabilitation is candid and
sobering, but he’s back in the saddle.
This is an inspiring book without, on the
part of the author, the slightest hint of
self-pity.
It’s BBQ Time!
You cook on the track
We cook in the pits
May 8th, Thunderhill West
Sign Up at funtrackdayz.com
headset / intercom systems, using a small
trapdoor on the left side, instead of a clamp
mount. Very cool—an intercom for my
Qualifier is now on my wish list.
Riding in the Bell Qualifier DLX is terrific.
Because the helmet is light and the shell
aerodynamic, there’s a distinct lack of
$29.99. Hard cover, 247 pages, 9” x 6”. Learn buffeting. And have I mentioned the wind
more and get your own at OctanePress.
collar? Closing up the space between
com/book/racing-gods.
chin and neck makes for a
significantly quieter ride,
but even with this feature,
the helmet does not get hot
inside. With the vents closed
completely, the helmet seems
to maintain a comfortable
temperature. The vents are
easy to operate with gloved
hands and located intuitively
on the helmet—no fussing
around searching for them.
Photo: Bob Stokstad
Deluxe Qualifier
Visibility from inside the
helmet is better than any
other helmet I’ve ever worn,
and that list is extensive:
Shoei, Arai, Kali, and many
others. I really appreciated
that my peripheral vision
was not as compromised as
it usually is in other brands.
Speaking of visibility, one of my favorite
features of the Qualifier is the Transitions
By Gwynne Fitzsimmons
shield. The visor goes from a very lightly
Bell’s Qualifier DLX is light, quiet, and
tinted “resting state” to dark in bright
comfortable, with great visibility through
sunlight. I found this capability rather
the Transitions adaptive shield and an
luxurious and loved the hassle-saving
easily operable venting system. All this
value of not having to stop swap shields or
merges together to make the Qualifier a
sunglasses. The transition itself is quick
great deal for a solid piece of riding gear.
so it isn’t readily noticeable—riding just
From the inside out, the DLX stands apart. becomes more comfortable without the
An easily removable washable liner will let need to squint. As the sky darkens the visor
goes clear, although I did long for a truly
me keep my helmet clean and fresh even
clear shield as I headed up Skaggs Springs
after a sweltering ride. Bell’s wind collar
design provides a remarkable buffer against Road at night in the pouring rain—the
things we do for CityBike product testing!
wind noise. Because of the wind collar,
putting the helmet on for the first time
The shield mounting mechanism is easy
felt a bit awkward —it’s a bit snug going
to use—if I had a clear visor, it could
on over the face. But once on, the collar
be exchanged in under 15 seconds. No
becomes unnoticeable, as does most of the
fiddling, fussing, or getting your tongue
wind noise.
just right to remove and replace the shield
on this helmet. Even the klutziest among
The helmet comes pre-rigged to
us can do it with his or her eyes closed.
accommodate a version of Sena’s SMH10
and Cardo’s Scala Rider Q1/Q3 Bluetooth Hallelujah!
The helmet doesn’t leak in the pouring
rain and furthermore, no water is wicked
up around the chin or neck. The only
moisture that gets into the Qualifier DLX
is my own sweat, which is immediately
absorbed into the washable liner.
After riding in my Qualifier
DLX for almost three months
I’m impressed with its overall
quality and comfort. Nothing
has fallen off or come loose,
and the hi-vis finish has not
faded as many are prone to
do. It’s become my trusted
daily helmet for the street.
publish it, and so did another—and then it
was published a third time!
In his new book, Head Check, Jack Lewis’s
story “Riding Home” is reprinted a fourth
time, finally in its full, unabridged version.
It reveals Lewis as a serious writer that
$249.95. Learn more and find
out where to get your own at
BellHelmets.com.
Book Review: Head
Check
By Sam Devine
Once upon a time there
was an Oregonian man
Photo: Bob Stokstad
that returned from military
service in Iraq. He and a
doesn’t take himself too seriously. His
friend tuned up his old Beemer and he
stories are fun, full of quotable quips and
rode back down familiar highways, visiting funny, hyperbolic metaphors. He describes
friends and family, trying to re-acclimate to catching up to a speeding sedan on twisty
home life.
road by saying, “I was parked in their trunk
When he got back to house and home, he
typed his travels up and disseminated it
through a forum called Wetleather. That
might’ve been the end of it except that
his words and insights were so poetic,
so touching, that a magazine decided to
inside of three minutes.” He describes
himself as a mechanic as “a pretty good
wheel chock” and his brother as able to
“crush bowling balls in his hands.”
Moments later, he’ll drip depictions like
paint across the page: “Burbling softly
through the late morning stillness, I looked
left and saw sepia and green hills sloping
down to and into the hushed waters, so
calm that the negative reflection continued
all the way to perfectly rendered hilltops
halfway across the reservoir’s surface.”
Then he drops small kernels of truth: “Life
is too short when you have friends, but
it sure would be long and bitter without
them.”
And this is all just the beginning. After
the successful
publications
of this essay,
Lewis went on
to become a
columnist for
Motorcyclist
magazine. Head
Check collects
select columns
and presents
them, often in
unedited form.
“...it quickly
became clear
the Jack [Lewis]
does not like to
be edited,” says
Motorcyclist
editor Brian
Catterson in
the book’s
foreword.
The chapters include
tales of touring on big American twins
in Tel Aviv, riding a Ural to shoot at
explosive targets and how his family’s first
motorcycle seemed to have an unholy
penchant for spraining his dad’s ankle.
Each story is laced with his flair for
description and comedic exaggeration and
peppered with poignant lamentations and
recollections of the raw, overwhelming
moments that inevitably come down the
road:
“...his final mortal moment on a lonesome
highway in the Nebraska panhandle, all
by himself in the dark with no one but the
night to see him off.”
In addition to his
keen wordsmithing
of unique adventures,
Lewis’s tone comes
across as likable.
When you read his
words, you feel like
you’re just chatting
with a friend—a
friend that’s done two
tours in Iraq, ridden
more motorcycles
and broken more
bones than you can
shake a stick at. So if
you enjoy marveling
at the messed up and
miraculous moments
we meet from the
saddle of a cycle, check
out Head Check, by Jack
Lewis.
$19.99. Paperback, 304
pages, 5.2” x 8”. Get your copy at Litsam.
com/bookstore/head-check.
BMW Motorrad
USA
©2016 BMW Motorrad USA, a division of BMW of North America, LLC. The BMW name and logo are registered trademarks.
Authorized Dealer
The Ultimate
Riding Machine™
DON’T JUST
SEIZE THE DAY.
LEAN INTO IT.
MAKE LIFE A RIDE.
Not everyone takes the chance. Even fewer have the passion
and the courage to make the most of it. But for those who
can, for those who do, there is the 2016 BMW S 1000 RR.
For more information, visit bmwmotorcycles.com.
CalMoto
BMW OF TRI-VALLEY
952 North Canyons Parkway
Livermore, California 94551
925-583-3300
calbmw.com
CALIFORNIA BMW
2490 Old Middleﬁeld Way
Mountainview, California 94043
650-966-1183
calbmw.com
EVENTS
May 2016
their first swap meet, with gear, parts,
clothing and all things motorcycle—and
of course barbecued burgers and hot dogs.
April 30, 2016: Brain Day At Road
Starts at 9 am goes to whenever. MeetUp.
Rider (2897 Monterey Highway, San Jose, com/Wanderlust-Motorcyle-Club/
CA, 95111)
events/229506642
Road Rider will have reps from Shoei,
May 6-8, 2016: International Female
Bell, Arai, Schuberth and Nolan on site,
Ride Day Weekend (Fresno Ramada,
awesome deals on helmets and gear, and
5090 E. Clinton Way, Fresno, CA, 93727)
other fun stuff. Can’t make it on Saturday?
Stop by Friday through Sunday for a killer No men allowed! Hosted by Lady Bikers
of California, who chose Fresno as the
deal on a lid. RoadRiderMCA.com
location closest to the center of CA,
May 1, 2016: Multi-club Swap Meet
with lots of good riding within range.
(Birchfield Park, Hayward, CA)
LadyBikersOfCalifornia.com
Wanderlust MC, Casual Moto Rides,
May 7, 2016: International Female Ride
Hollister Motorcycle Riders and Friends: Day (Everywhere!)
A Motorcycle Riding Group are hosting
IFRD is about highlighting the many
woman riders—all brands, all forms, and
all styles worldwide. All riders are invited
to participate and join in on the universal
action of “JUST RIDE!” Motoress.com/
international-female-ride-day
May 14, 2016: The Quail Motorcycle
Gathering (Quail Lodge & Golf Club,
8000 Valley Greens Drive, Carmel, CA
93923)
The 8th annual Motorcycle Gathering
celebrate the 40th
anniversary of
Superbike and
feature pre-1916
motorcycles, BMW
classics, along
with the usual
categories such as
Japanese, British,
Italian, competition
bikes, and more.
10 AM to 4 PM on
Saturday, May 14th.
General admission
tickets are $75.
SignatureEvents.
Peninsula.com/
en/Motorcycle/
Motorcycle.html
May 14, 2016: Bikers Against Child
Abuse Ride-in Bike Show (Modesto
Elks Lodge, 645 Charity Way, Modesto,
CA 95356)
Noon to 6 PM. Family-oriented bike
show with great food. California.
BACAWorld.org/california/modestochapter
Get CityBike
delivered to your door
by the meanest, most
psychotic, well-armed
branch the government
has to beat you with.
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.
Go to CITYBIKE.COM
to subscribe
Or send a check for $30 to:
PO Box 18738
Oakland, CA 94619
be sure to include your name,
address, & phone number!
10. All proceeds go to PTNT.
PullTricksNotTriggers.com
May 21, 2016: Hanford Vintage
Motorcycle Rally (Kings Fairground, 801
South 10th Ave Hanford, CA 93232)
Head to the 48th annual Hanford for
150+ vendors of fun at one of California’s
premier vintage motorcycle events.
ClassicCycleEvents.com
May 21, 2016: Sacramento Mile (Cal
Expo, Sacramento, CA)
AMA GNC flat track action in The Sac.
Free motorbike parking! Tickets start at
$29. SactoMile.com
May 21-22, 2016: Sheetiron 300
Dualsport (Stonyford, CA)
The Sheetiron is a two-day, noncompetitive ride hosted by the OMC.
Riders of all abilities are welcomed.
Applications will be accepted starting
April 1st. OaklandMotorcycleClub.
camp9.org/event-2147772
June 20, 2016: Ride To Work Day
(Everywhere, damnit!)
Ride to work on the 25th annual Ride To
Work Day (and hopefully some other
days too) to help increase public and
governmental
awareness about
the benefits
of motocommuting and
riding in general.
Stay tuned for
some kind of
contest from
your friends
here at CityBike.
RideToWork.org
June 25-26,
2016: Bungee
Brent’s
Backroad Bash
(Long Barn, CA)
The CityBike Wrecking Crew has gone
to the Backroad Bash two years in a row,
and its one of our favorite events. We’ll
be there this year, and you should be too.
Seriously. OaklandMotorcycleClub.
camp9.org/events
June 25-26, 2016: Classic Japanese
Show & Swap (655 S 1st St, Dixon, CA
95620)
Ride to The Quail With CityBike!
Join us at at Helimot (45277 Fremont Blvd #7, Fremont) first thing
the morning of May 14th, where we’ll have coffee and pastries with
Helmut and Linda before heading out for the Motorcycle Gathering
at 8 AM. One lucky rider will win a pair of Helimot’s wonderful Hi-5
gloves!
The ride benefits CASA of Alameda County—we’re asking for a $20
minimum donation. Go to our Facebook page for more details, and to
RSVP: facebook.com/CityBikeMag
May 20, 2016: Pull Tricks Not Triggers Bike corral, vendors, food and fun. Show
Fundraiser (408 MX, 2542 Monterey
is pre-1990 Japanese bikes only, signature
Rd
bikes this year are ’80-’87 Kawasaki GPZs.
CJMC.org
San Jose, CA 95111)
2 – 8 PM. Open track day for all
skill levels, with vintage track just
for beginners. $40 per rider, $20
for spectators, $10 for kids under
July 7-9, 2016: Reno Rendezvous
(Grand Sierra Resort, 2500 East Second
St, Reno, NV 89502)
AFM 2016
Season
Schedule
Get more details
at afmracing.org/
schedule.
Round 2: April 30-May 1 Sonoma
Round 3: May 28-29
Thunderhill
Round 4: June 25-26
Thunderhill
Round 5: September 3-4
Sonoma
Round 6: October 1-2
Thunderhill
Round 7: October 22-23
Buttonwillow
NorCal Short Track
Tentative 2016 Schedule
Nor-Cal Short Track’s mission is
to encourage participation in flat
track racing and nurture youth
involvement, and to keep the racing
fun, family-friendly, competitive,
accessible and affordable.
NorCalShortTrack.com.
Round 2: May 1st
Round 3: May 15th
Round 4: June 12th
Round 5: June 26th
Round 6: July 24th
Round 7: September 18th
The Gold Wing Road Riders Association
hosts this thing, but you don’t have to be
on a ‘Wing to attend. Great riding—street
and dirt—and proper gambling, too.
RenoRendezvous.org
July 11-16, 2016: International Norton
Owners Association (Plumas-Sierra
County Fairgrounds, Quincy, CA)
The Northern California Norton Owners
Club (NCNOC) will host the 41st
gathering of the INOA July 11th-16th in
Quincy. Rides, food, coffee, beer, rally
shirts, Norton tech sessions, speakers,
field events, and even live music, plus tent
camping, clean bathrooms and showers.
NortonRally.com/inoa-rally-2016
July 16, 2016: OMC Three Bridge Run
(OMC Clubhouse, Oakland, CA)
Annual poker run through SF and Marin
then back to the OMC clubhouse for
prizes, music, and dancing. There’s a new
alternate southern route this year as well.
OaklandMotorcycleClub.camp9.org/
event-2147776
[email protected]
PO Box 18783
Oakland, CA 94619
R
R
o
n
o
u
T
6
1
0
2
y
l
t
s
a
e
B
s
’
a
i
l
i
r
Ap
“The new Tuono is nuts. Get ready to say
goodbye to your license.”
By Max Klein
Photos by Bob Stokstad
I
must have been hiding under a tipped
over KLR on some single track or
something, because I honestly
knew nothing about the currentgen Tuono RR before picking it up
from Aprilia’s SoCal offices.
I know, I know… Blasphemy! Shame
on me, but sometimes I don’t want any
spoilers. And spoilers I did avoid until the
Tuono came up in casual conversation
with a fellow journalist from
another mag. He said only this:
near-meaningless, at least on the street,
and to be honest, on the track too, at least
for mere mortals.
Fire it up and the 65-degree, 1077 cc V4
comes to life with an angry growl, idling
Bro. Spoiler alert.
with an equally angry rumble. It’s like it’s
mad at you either for waking it up too early,
A few days later, leaving CityBike World
or letting it sleep too late, but whatever
Headquarters, with every electronic
the case, it’s letting you know right up
aid in its most nannied-up state, I truly
understood what he meant. I’ve ridden fast front that it is a beast. A pissed-off, 175
bikes, superbikes even, but this was a whole horsepower beast.
‘notha animal. Sure, it ain’t the fastest
That 1077 cc number is significant as the
bike out there, but it feels faster than
Tuono has in years past basically been
some of the race replicas I have ridden the naked version of Aprilia’s Superbikeon the track.
de-jour, but not so in this latest iteration.
The race-rep RSV4 sports a 999.6 cc
And anyway, at this level,
“ain’t the fastest” is
motor with a few more ponies, but the extra
milling gets you a couple more foot pounds
of torque. That’s 201 hp at 13k RPM and
86 ft lb at 10.5k RPM on the RSV4, versus
175HP at 11k RPM and 88.5 ft lb at 9k rpm
on the Tuono.
Cue up the complaints about typical naked
bike “detuning.” It’s real rip-off—you get
“just” 175 HP, basically giving you a shot at
losing your license at a much lower RPM
on the Tuono.
Aprilia does their best to keep all that
power reigned in using some seriously
high-tech electronics. Aprilia Performance
Ride Control (aPRC) uses some of their
patented World Superbike tech to help
keep the rear wheel behind the front, the
front wheel on the ground, and gives both
wheels the best stopping power possible.
Within the aPRC governing body lies
Aprilia Traction Control. Unlike some
other traction control systems, aTC is
adjustable on the fly. Yes, Virginia, you can
have the throttle wide open with traction
control at level one, dial up the electronic
aid for that tricky corner that always has
gravel through it—you know the one—
and Santa Claus will deliver in real time.
I decided to test this out at the CityBike
Dual-Sport Proving Grounds on a fairly
straight gravel section. What started out
with me wondering how I was going to
explain to Editor Surj how I highsided
a the Tuono that far into a cow pasture
turned into a much less terrifying ride
with a couple presses of the easy-to-access
buttons near the left grip.
There are other subacronyms under the aPRC
umbrella. aLC provides
three levels of launch control
for the track (or serious
stoplight battles—anyone
looking to lose their pink?)
and aQS lets you do some
butter smooth, clutchless,
wide open throttle shifts.
The quickshifter functions at
all speeds, but really shines
when you channel your inner
racer and start banging shifts
with the throttle pinned and
the front wheel gliding over
the pavement… Sorry, I’m
gonna need a minute.
That’s an awful lot of
acronyms and associated
technology for $14,799, and all those
go-fast bits mean nothing if you can’t slow
down in a controlled manner for the first
Another branch of aPRC is Aprilia
Wheelie Control. aWC features three levels turn. The Tuono slows the show with two
320 mm discs up front, squeezed by two
of control and, for those of you that want
to loft the occasional proper time-telling
wheelie, yep, you can shut it off. I kept it
on but in the most wheelie friendly mode
for most of my time on the RR, and with
a little bit of practice and throttle control
I was able to keep the front off the ground
well into third gear under heavy-handed
operation. No matter how quickly I ripped
the throttle back, the front never got out of
control, and more importantly, the front
never came slamming to the ground, and
there was never a noticeable chop of power.
Well Done Aprilia.
The easiest way to shut it off is to put
the bike into the most responsive of the
three engine modes… yes, even more
electronics, but what did you expect? For
all practical purposes the Tuono RR is a
few feet of safety wire and a belly pan away
killer Brembo M432 monoblock radial
calipers and a 220 mm disc out back, also
Brembo-bitten. Steel braided lines route
the brake fluid to both ends.
from being a racebike, or at least a racebike
for someone with back issues—the riding
position is closer to standard than pure
sport.
Aprilia’s collaboration with Bosch on the
ABS system adds yet another acronym to
the Tuono in the form of RLM (Rear Lift
Mitigation) which does exactly what you
think it would. Think of it as rear wheelie
control. RLM also has three adjustment
levels and can be shut off.
I’m not complaining about that at all.
The ergos worked quite well for me on
some near-day long rides, but if I was to
make a habit of rides like that I would like
a bit more wind protection. The teenytiny flyscreen worked keeps unwanted
turbulence to a minimum, but tucking in
Reliable, timely service at
reasonable rates on all
makes of motorcycles
HELIMOT GLOVES
Visit our new shop:
The HI-5
990 Terminal Way, San Carlos
Terrific 3-Season Glove
Especially Summer
D
OL
HO
LLY
Also available in Black
IN
ST
RY
T
UN
CO
DU
$289.95
RI
AL
101
L
HELIMOT
45277 Fremont Blvd #7, Fremont CA
510-252-1509
NA
MI
TER
AN
ITT
BR
www.helimot.com
behind it? Not really an option for my 6’1”
frame.
Suspension is by Sachs: 43 mm upsidedowners up front, adjustable for preload
and compression, with a piggyback
reservoir-equipped monoshock
bringing up the rear, adjustable
for preload, compression and
rebound. Travel is 120 mm in the
front and 130 mm in the back. The
suspension works very well, despite
the astounding lack of aAcronyms
(Aprilia Acronyms) as it should on
a motorcycle of this caliber, keeping
the bike composed and controlled.
My first impression was that the
Tuono felt very short axle to axle,
but it is actually longer than the
previous version, with a wheelbase
of 57”. Turn-in was very precise—
this is the most point-and-shoot
of any of the big sporty-bikes I’ve
reviewed. From dodging wayward
freeway debris to clipping an apex
up in the hills, the Tuono RR never
let me down. I connected so well
with this bike that I even considered
selling my KLR (and a lot of blood to make
up the difference) and picking up a Tuono
to be my daily rider. It wouldn’t look stupid
with a milk crate on it, right?
But I thought about it a bit more and
remembered what my friend said. The
KLR is more conducive to me keeping my
license.
Max gets to ride the fast stuff because he
has custom CityBike leathers. He’s currently
touring the globe gathering photos for his
upcoming coffee table book featuring milk
crates and their motorcycles.
Italian Thunder
By Sam Devine
Max said it—this thing is a beast. No mere
lap dog, but a snarling, throat-ripping,
gnashing, gnarly Pit Bull ready to bust
its leash. The exhaust note is a piercing
growl that backs up the thunderous Italian
name. The rolling storm comes with a tach
range the size of a football field. It’s already
pulling hard at 5 grand and it only pushes
harder once it passes 8k. There’s always
the joke that a big bike won’t get out of 2nd
gear inside San Francisco, but the Tuono
really won’t. Seriously, there is no legal
reason to shift this bike into 3rd within city
limits.
certain speeds. Blade number one is good
for 20 mph-50 mph. Blade 2 is to be used
for 50-75 mph, blade 3 for 75-101, and
so forth. And if you’re using the wrong
blade for your asphalt incision, the Tuono
will let you know, bogging hard in low
revs, bucking your helmet towards the
handlebar or screaming like a banshee in
high revs, red lights flashing as the tach
nears 12 k.
“But what about speeds under 15 mph?”
You ask.
“I’m sorry,” replies Dr. Tuono. “We are
a high-speed surgery center. We don’t
really treat these minor, daily commuter
aches and pains. But you can go see Dr.
Vespa if you like. He’ll say, ‘Take two of
these wheels and commute on them in the
morning.’ Very nice man, Dr. Vespa. I’m
not so much for these slower situations,
It’s also got more settings than my first
you know. Really, my anesthesiologist,
cell phone. (Remember those old Nokia
Mr. Clutch, handles most of this for me.
bricks?) Really, it’s got about as many
My training is really in carving canyons
features as a modern digital camera. It can’t or slicing down the coast—perhaps
eliminate red eye, but it can turn others
shredding some super slabs.”
green with envy. Without a manual and
With all it’s programability and specific
only 48 hours to check this thing out, all
gearing (at least in Sport mode) the
I can really tell you is the traction control
was stuck on “S2” and I kept hearing chain Tuono is capable of amazing precision.
It holds the rider to a higher standard as
chatter as I left the stop lights. Well, that
well, demanding a high amount of focus,
and it bogs going up hill in first at 15 mph
and in 2nd gear at any angle while doing 20 requiring a firm hand. This is one reason
why there’s a “54 World Titles” sticker
mph. But it has no problem doing 80 mph
on the tank. It’s possible that the Tuono
beneath 3rd.
will actually improve the average rider
The Tuono may look like a motorcycle but by commanding more attenuation than
beneath this clever disguise is actually a
a Ninja or SV—forcing the rider to get
sharp set of blades for the road surgeon.
better.
Each gear is honed to a slicing the road at
Physically, however, with a compact
cockpit and a relatively short seat height,
this is a very manageable liter bike. The
trickiest things about the bike may be
its interface. It has jockey-shift settings
(clutch-free foot shifting) and three
traction modes with multiple sub-settings,
making it manageable on the street or
track, depending on conditions, style
and size of rider. One barometer for the
system’s complexity is that the video
“Aprilia Performance Ride Control
(APRC) How To” has over twenty-five
thousand views. Great, I’m not the only
dumbass that misses his 8-bit phone.
Much like learning the settings on a
good camera, when you understand how
the Tuono is programmed to respond, it
opens up a world of possibility. I had been
BMW Motorcycles of San Francisco
790 Bryant St. San Francisco, CA 94107
415-503-9988 . www.bmwmotorcycle.com
BMW Motorcycles of Walnut Creek
1255 Parkside Dr. Walnut Creek, CA 94596
925-938-8373 . www.bmwmcwalnutcreek.com
fighting with the bike, using the clutch
while the shift-assist setting was enabled.
This kept racking my nuts against the tank
as the computer-lulled engine lined up
inopportunely with my clutch release—
time and time again. I finally said, “Fuck it!
Imonna jockey shift this sumbitch!”
Gripping the bars, I focused on feeling the
footpegs and prepared to leave a 70mph
patch of rubber on Interstate 580. Jamming
down the shift lever, the computer stepped
in and I experienced the smoothest damn
shift since Australopithecus became Homo
Habilis—with my clutch hand starring as
the missing link!
Sam has finally attained ‘no oil leaks
Nirvana’ on his DR350. Check out his latest
column on page 20.
never felt the ABS engage, so either it is not
intrusive, or I need to brake later.
Away from the track and back to reality I
found the motor to be a good compromise
on the street. Sixth gear on the freeway
had me near that magical 5500rpm, where
power is on tap but the whole bike is not
buzzing under you. Oh? I didn’t mention
that?
Right, so… around 7k I could actually see
the entire instrument cluster vibrating to
the beat of the motor. It was either that
or the pulse through the bars was enough
to shake my eyeballs with the force of a
British nanny. Around 8k and the mirrors
looked like that scene in Jurassic Park when
the T-Rex stomps in and makes the water
glass ripple.
Not a deal breaker for this machine, by
any means—it’s not often that you linger
at these RPMs. In lower rev ranges, all was
calm. Rev higher and, well… deal with it.
It’s part of the fun of going fast.
By Max Klein
Photos by
Bob Stokstad
W
e
s
a
e
T
K
W
KA
over a proven winner from their
European lineup, and I can see why
the Zee-Eight has a following.
First off, it is a sexy mutha,
tarted up just
Picking on a streetfighter for not having
wind protection is kinda like pointing out
that a supermodel is a shitty sumo wrestler,
but, well, riding this bike year round would
be a pain in the neck. The colder days
that I spent behind the bars of the
Z800 made me wish that there
was something to duck behind at
speed. Even a little tiny fly screen
would have been welcome. That
said, there was no turbulence,
even at 135mph and climbing.
Again, professional rider, closed
course. Of course.
?
t
I
s
I
r
O
.
h
g
u
o
n
E
s
I
800
hile
I did
not ride the
Z1k, AKA Kawasaki’s
Z1000, the big brother
of the Z800, I did spend
an ass-numbing amount
of time on the Ninja 1K
last year. The 1000cc platform—1043cc in
the case of the Kawis in question, rounded
down while everyone else seems to be
rounding up—is good, but (some might
say) not really a good size for an all-round
type of bike. Sure you can leave it in first
gear for everything up to and including
the freeway, but some of us like to shift.
And oh yeah, they’re kinda heavy for
round-towning, and of course the sportier
Thousands (race reps) are downright
uncomfortable. I do find them quite useful
on the track or in a touring platform.
Then you have the 600s—636 if you are
Kawasaki. You need to rev the piss out of
them to get to the fun bits, and while they
are lighter than the thou-wows, the styling
is still Ricky Racer in most cases, and you
don’t want to be sitting at 12,000rpm
around town all the time… unless you like
sitting on a bee hive.
So it makes sense that brands are starting
to make “weird” displacement motors to
fit into this no-man’s land of performance.
Something that will easily hit 140 mph
(professional rider, closed course only,
of course) and does not require you to
bounce it off the rev limiters to get there.
The 2016 Z800 joins the Gixxiss 750 and
the FZ-09 in the oddball displacement
streetfighter category, but it isn’t like
Kawi had to scramble to come up with
a new bike to compete with the Suzuki
and Yamaha offerings—they just brought
enough to give the angry streetfighter an
elegant touch—the curvy header pipes
and contoured tail section stand out to
me. I found myself looking back over my
shoulder whenever I parked it, and yes, I
did eat lunch in the garage looking at it one
day.
It’s definitely not all show, no go, however.
The 806cc inline-four has everything I like
about riding the displacement-bookend
bikes, without many of the quirks of a 600
or 1000. The Z has plenty of torque down
low, but really comes to life above about
5500 rpm, and when you really romp on
it, power is delivered with authority all the
way to redline.
This caught me off guard when I took it to
Thunderhill—I wasn’t expecting it to pull
as hard as it did. Torque felt very consistent
up to but not including bouncing off the
rev limiter in third gear… and again in
fourth. (I got better after the second lap.)
The suspension is not an all-expensespared affair, featuring an inverted KYB
fork and matching shock with external
reservoir, both adjustable for rebound
and preload. I made minor adjustments
before I took it on the track, and at the
B-pace I was running I had no complaints.
Suspension is much better than what
comes on many bikes at this price point.
The ABS-equipped Z800 comes with
Nissin brakes: dual 277mm rotors and
four-piston calipers up front, with a single
216mm rotor and single-piston caliper
out back. The stoppers worked well for
my track sessions, with only minimal fade
after lapping for 40 minutes straight. I
Editor Surj asked, as we were unloading
the machine for the first time, if I thought
the Z800 would be 80% as good as the
1000cc Kawis that we’ve ridden and liked.
I laughed and said I would have to get back
to him on that one. Now seems like as
good a time as any to answer that: while
mathematically it should only be able to
achieve an 80% score, the Z800 must have
worked some overtime as I found it to
be more enjoyable than either of the big
Kawis I rode.
I know that there are die-hard literbike
fanboys out there that see bikes like this
as too small, and 600 neck-wringers
that think they’re too big. To me, this
porridge is just right. Does that make me
Goldilocks? Baby bear? Either way, I like
the direction that Kawi went with the
Z800.
Max is the SF Chapter Director of the AFM,
and doesn’t care if you picture him as a small
bear or a tiny, blonde oatmeal thief.
Wherein Editor Surj Explains
Himself. And Talks About The
Z800. At Least A Little.
By Surj Gish
When Kawasaki asked me if I’d like to get
our collective ass-cheeks on a Z800, the
first thing I did—no shit— was consider
whether riding and subsequently writing in
CityBike about a bike that wasn’t going to
be available in the great state of California
until next year or so, was the right thing to
do. I actually emailed the Wrecking Crew:
“Hey guys and gals—is it a dick move to
Look at those pipes.
ride this thing and flaunt it to our Bay Area
California audience?”
The response was a cacophonous mix of
“Who cares?!?” and “Maybe, but so what?”
with some thoughtful, measured, sensible
reasoning from Senior Editor Stokstad,
whose day-to-day duties ‘round CityBike
World HQ , when he’s not taking bitchin’
photos, include “keeping the rascals in
order.”
Yeah, so what if you can’t buy this thing
here, yet? We write about lots of stuff that
you can’t get, and probably a few things you
don’t want to get. So availability isn’t the
thing.
And then a potential article title came to
me, and I was sold: KAWK Tease.
Before you fire up your fountain pen to
write a letter of protest, let me explain, lest
you think this is just (more of our usual)
juvenile dick jokes.
If you’ve never owned a Kawi, you may
not know what the Golden State DMV
abbreviates Kawasaki to, which is KAWK.
Pronounced… uh, Kawasaki, ok?
Now that we’ve got that out of the way…
let’s talk about the bike. As Max said,
my question upon de-trucking the ZedEight was whether it’d be proportionately
awesome to the bigger KAWKs we’ve
had our hands on recently. Frankly, there
are some good options in this oddball
middleweight-plus range, and some of
them leave me cold. Suzuki’s GSX-S750,
which we rode late last year (“IN (GS)
XS 2015 Suzuki GSX-S750” – September
2015) is such a bike. I found it attractive
and perfectly competent, but to recap
the main takeaway from my take on the
GSX-S, it
moved me
down the
road just fine,
without really
moving me.
a little too crouching tiger-y, but the 800
looks right to my aging eyes. Aggressive
but elegant, smooth with just a touch of
bristling
anger.
If you’ve
noticed my
thing for the
KAWKs,
you’ve
probably
also noticed
that I dig
Kawi green.
The Z800 is
about 98%
black, which
looks tough,
but there are
bits of proper
Kawasaki
green on the
tank and
wheels.
Maybe the
forbidden,
no-Cal nature
of the Z
contributed
to my (and
Max’s) desire
for the bike,
or maybe it’s
just a good
bike. Either
way, we dug
it.
And look at
it. It’s dead
sexy. I try
to withhold
judgement on
bikes until I actually see them in person,
and in this case, it was really a case of
“Well, shoot, it does look better in person.” I
think the looks of the latest Ninja 1000 are
Sure, there’s
some typical
budget-bike
black plastic covering-stuff-up going on,
but the Z800 looks much more sumptuous
than most bikes in its price range do. In
case you’re wondering, that price is $8,399,
Repair & Service
assuming you’re gonna fake a Nevada
address and put a few thousand miles
on a new Z800 so you can register it in
California before they’re legit here.
Not a bad idea, really.
The Z800 could be a right proper single
bike solution, if your single bike is used
for ripping around treacherous city streets
weekdays, with runs up and down the coast
on weekends and occasional track time.
Touring is a bit of a stretch, but it’s doable
with softbags, a backpack, or maybe just
a spare pair of skivvies tucked into your
jacket pocket if you’re into traveling really
light. You’ll want to stick to back roads,
because as Max said, the wind protection
offered by the tiny digital gauge-o-pod is
slim to less-than-none.
Yeah, I know—in the olden days, we didn’t
need wind protection. We look forward
to your letters. Don’t forget to throw in a
bit about how ABS is for riders who don’t
know how to brake.
Back to this bike: as Max says above, it’s
better than a 20%-off version of the Z1000.
Quite a bit, in fact. The Zed-Eight is the
essence of motorcycling—easy to ride and
easy to ride fast, and it looks great too. We
think it’ll be a hit here in California, once
it’s available here, that is.
We Ship Worldwide
CALL
US
FIRST!
Salvaged & New Parts!
Tue–Fri 10–6 Sat 9–5
Honda’s Littlest
Regular-Size Bike:
2016 CB300F
By Surj Gish
Rainy day photos by Max Klein
I
’m a big guy, little bike paradox,
the motorcycle equivalent of Chris
Farley’s fat guy in a little coat. I own
a very well set-up CRF250L—the little
dual-sport brother of the F’er we’re talking
about here—and enjoy bombing it around
town, at least when it’s not up on a stand in
my garage, getting new this and that after
I’ve thrown it down some trail again.
We’ve ridden a lot of li’l bikes in the last
year: Yamaha’s R3 and SR400, the latest
Ninja 300, and both the KTM Duke and
RC 390, so you may have caught this line
before. Little bikes are fun.
So my time on the F was well spent
hopping off of speed bumps and wringing
the little bastard’s neck to redline with
pretty much every twist of the grip.
Abusive? Perhaps. See the bit about how I
treat my 250L above for exhibit B in The
People Vs. Editor Surj, in which I get in
trouble for occasionally being a little rough
on little bikes.
What can I say? It’s fun.
A lot of the smallish beginner bikes make
big promises, showing up for their first
date with a new rider dressed up in the
trappings of super-sportiness: fairings
modeled after their bigger, (much) faster
siblings. To the layperson, not trained
Special thanks to our pal Gordon Pull for riding our
Über-Grom for these photos.
Singlin' in the rain.
to quickly notice
things like skinny
tires and single
discs, a Ninja 300
or R3 looks like a
goddamn donorcycle,
a high-speed death
machine. And don’t
get me started on
the RC, which looks
like even more
serious business.
Therein lies the
charm.
But the CB300F
eschews this Rickyracer wannabe-ism,
employing a more
honest, bare-bones
approach. It’s
still an attractive
motorcycle—our
blacked-out F looked pretty tough, if a little But I’m sort of inclined to let it slide,
skinny.
because this bike is $3,999—in used car
dealer-speak, under $4,000. I know that
Like my 250L, it actually is tough, too.
this is the Bay Area and we’re out of touch
It handles the abuse with no complaints.
with the rest of the country, never mind
Weird thing: when ridden hard, it actually
the rest of the world, but $4,000 is almost
smells the same as the 250L too. Anyway, I
peanuts. Yeah, a lot of peanuts, but peanuts
didn’t take it to the track, but I didn’t notice
nevertheless—nearly cheap enough to get
any brake fade in spite of my ham-fisted
just to fuck around with, especially if you’re
abuse of the front binder and occasional
a stock options-rich tech youngster used
locking up of the rear. Again, it’s fun.
to paying $400 for jeans and $8 for artisan
Oh…on the locking up. There’s no ABS. In toast.
my opinion, this is poor move on Honda’s
So whattya get for ten pairs of selvedge
part, not even offering ABS as an option
denim, whatever the hell that is?
when it’s standard on the same bike in
other parts of the world. Sure, there’s the
You get a 348-pound (wet, claimed)
old argument that learning to brake well is motorcycle, nice and narrow, with a 30.7”
part of becoming a good rider, but the flip
seat height and an upright, natural riding
side of that is that new riders can benefit
position. You get a willing 286 cc, 4-valve,
from some assistive tech—training wheels, dual overhead cam motor with around
if you will—to protect them from their
30 ponies, according to our well-tuned
inevitable dumb mistakes and help ensure butt-dynos. You get six smooth-shifting
they make it to seasoned rider without
speeds, fuel injection, a 3.4 gallon tank
breaking their ass and giving up.
and a hypothetical 78 mpg. I didn’t get
300F still has
Aunt Mildred
coming up
to pinch its
cheeks—still has
that baby face she
remembers—but
it can out run her
now.
that kind of mileage, but as I’ve mentioned
once or twice or maybe even thrice, I’m
not nice to these little bikes, and the after
the thrashing I gave our li’l F’er, I don’t
think it’d be fair to share the mileage I was
getting.
Also… I sorta lost
track. Time flies and
gas disappears when
you’re having fun. Oh
well.
Seriously though,
put a Grom
next to a CB3
and the familial
resemblance is
obvious. Put a big
enough dude on
the CB, and from a distance it’s easy to get
confused.
Sitting on the 300F gave me some Grom
flashbacks as well. The buttons and dash
are the same, and while it’s substantially
less cramped, the riding position is similar
What else do you
get? Well… really
basic, kinda spindly
suspension: a 37 mm
fork with 4.65” of
travel (ever wonder
why we get both
metric and Imperial
measurements for the
same component?) and
a single shock with
4.07” of travel. You get
adjustments… oh wait,
adjustment… just preload, just in the back. enough to make me forget I am on a bigger
You get scrawny tires and some chintzy bits bike.
here and there.
Back to those buttons for a second. For
We could bitch about all the compromises whatever reason, Honda continues to go
that get this bike to its price point, but why against the grain and invert the position of
the horn and turn signal buttons from their
bother? It’s a damn fun and presumably
usual positions. Sure, it kinda makes sense
Honda-reliable machine, or if you’re more
for day-to-day operations on a smaller bike,
the sensible type than we are, it’s also a
but since my first ride on the F was home
really good, plain-old boring, presumably
Honda-reliable round-towner. And it costs from CityBike World HQ in the dark, I
ended up signaling my lane changes with
as much as a few (ok, ten) pairs of (ok,
a brief but confusing beeeeep more often
really expensive) jeans.
than not. When the old man in the older
Chevy truck made a left turn in front of
Über-Grom
me I expressed my displeasure by mashing
By Max Klein
down the left turn signal with extreme
I like to think of motorcycles (and cats)
prejudice. At least the brake and clutch are
as people from time to time. That is, I
on the correct sides.
associate some basic human qualities
The motor is counter-balanced and fuelwith them. I don’t carry on full blown
injected so the little thumper is pretty
conversations with either, although the
bikes do get a stern talking to from time to smooth both in lack of vibration as well as
power delivery. For a small displacement
time. (I’m looking at you, racebike.)
single it’s not terrifying on the freeway,
But it helps if the bike has a bit of
but it wasn’t all that fun on the slab either.
personality. Take the Honda Grom for
At under 350 pounds it did shine as a
example. It is basically a 9-year-old kid on
city commuter and was an absolute lane
summer vacation: no responsibilities, livin’ sharing demon—I’m pretty sure my
for playtime. It's 125 ccs of recess malarkey, shoulders were the widest part of the man/
even when school is in session.
machine combo.
The Honda’s CB300F is basically the
Riding the 300F does hit you with a dose
young adult version of the Grom. It’s
of small bike syndrome. You know, you’re
physically grown up—to 286 ccs—in a
constantly racing everything, all the time,
bigger frame. I think of it as just shy of 18
no matter what. The best part is that it’s
years old. Not quite an adult, still in high
tough to get in too much trouble on a little
school, studying hard to get into a good
bike.
college. It’s responsible, with a part-time
job after school, but still loves to kick it
with the homies on the weekends. The
No, that statement is not a challenge, and
no, CityBike ain’t gonna bail your ass out if
you take it as one.
The low seat height does mean that, like
it or not, I was resting my elbows on my
knees from time to time, but my lanky
ass is not the target demographic. As a
beginner bike, the 300F is pretty damn
solid. Sure, it has the bargain bin bits on
it to keep the cost down, but the most
important part, the motor, is solid and
strong.
After all, it may be small, but it’s still a
Honda.
The next Honda we’re riding is the
CB500F, and I can’t wait to see what the
adult versions of the CB lineup are like,
you know, after their cylinders drop.
Max is an AFM racer and Chapter Director,
and apparently talks to motorcycles and cats.
From 3:14 Daily
Valencia @ 25th
415-970-9670
Daily Commuter? Weekend Rider?
Poser?
SUPPORT
LANE SPLITTING
STICKERS - NEWS - RESOURCES
LaneSplittingIsLegal.com
sam DEVINE
rabbit
out.
Don’t
give up.
Out front, my
beat up dualsport is parked
amidst a sea
of Harleys in
he crowd counts down from ten.
front of the
My opponent and I touch gloves
East Bay Rats
and he goes for it right away,
clubhouse. It’s
hitting me a few times. I dance around,
fight night:
ducking and weaving in ways that have
old school
worked in the past, but I trip. I’m down!
pugilism with
The crowd lets out a big “Ooooh!”—that
a fight club
“Aw shit, son” type of “oooh” that let’s
mentality
you know you’re about to get your clock
where anyone
cleaned.
can have a go.
Scrambling up, I retreat to my corner. Jesus After all, you
don’t need
Christ on a crotch rocket! I’m about to
training to
get my ass whooped in front of a capacity
get punched in
crowd. Dammit, my girlfriend was right!
I’m a foolhardy son of a bitch that’s looking the face. Hang
so hard for a win that he’s about to find the around, have a
biggest failure of his short life, face down in beer, and screw up
enough courage to try
the boxing ring at an MC clubhouse.
your luck.
“Calm down, Sam! Calm Down!” yells
This is my first time in a ring. Sure, I
Chris Clark, my volunteer corner man.
got sent home from school a good deal and
Right. Right. Calm down. Breathe, I think, was always a little too eager to throw down
looking at my opponent. Perhaps he’ll
when I was working bars. But like many
of the “boxers” here, I’ve never formally
trained. And we all like to think we can
scrap, don’t we, big tough bikers? Identify
as you will with professional racers or
notorious outlaws, but everyone on this
rock likes to think they’re tough.
T
The Rats are only too happy to help you
test your mettle. Tonight, they’ve also
provided some fine rock ‘n’ roll and some
finer burlesque. The crowd is thick, and
I’ve been waiting for hours to talk to the
club’s president, Trevor, in order to sign
up. When I finally find him, he says: “Well,
c’mon, we’re doing it now.” He stands at the
corner of the ring, a tower of a man, stoic
above the crowd, focused on the fight.
Sitting on a cinderblock, I wrap my hands
as a coworker showed me hours earlier,
using wraps he’d loaned me. Working
at a large motorcycle shop has its perks,
including a twelve-o’clock-wheely-ing
maniac ex-marine mechanic trained in
muay thai. A guy emerges from the crowd
and says his buddy dared him to fight. I’m
a bit taller but we’re a similar weight and
both inexperienced. We tell Trevor we
want to fight and he says we’re next.
Now I’m circling the ring, just trying to
land punches, learning that my left arm is
good for diddly. I’d been thinking I’d bob
and weave, pick my moments, fake with
the right, go with the left, but nope, my
left is good for shit. It’s got about as much
follow through as a thirty-year-old that still
lives at his momma’s house.
“Calm down, Sam!” yells Chris.
You will
never
Illustration by Sam Devine
truly
understand the phrase
“having someone
in your corner”
until you are in
the ring—a
mindless
beast, scared
of defeat and
hungry for
triumph,
swinging
almost blindly
through the
red rage and
blackness of
exhaustion,
wondering
what to do next.
A voice in the
darkness says:
“Do this! Do that!
Calm down! You
ok? Water? Breath!
Relax!” It’s the lifeline
back to your humanity, back
to thought and to turning thought
into action.
“Will you two fucking land something!!!”
comes a shrill voice from the crowd.
Without Chris’s skillful commands, I may
You wanna see me land something?! I’ll
show you fucking land something! I’ll—
my face! Damn, this guy ain’t bad.
“Good,” I say, staring him down. We
rush each other, I land a few punches and
he curls up against the ropes. Watching
ringside, another fighter I’d chatted up
earlier yells: “Uppercut! Uppercut!”
So my fist hits his face over and over.
Somewhere a part of me feels guilty—but
that part is far away. Most of me is busy
surviving, jacked on adrenaline and
wheezing like an overweight geriatric. This
is hard. We separate and he throws a few
roundhouses. I dive out of the way… after
he’s connected two or three.
“Ok!” yells Chris. “Just land something!”
Ok. I can do that. I can do that. Letting go
of the blood rage, I focus on one small task:
touch his face with my giant, red, clown
mitts. I stop trying to knock his block off,
reach out and touch his face. Not much.
Not much at all. Just enough to let him
know.
After three or four connections, he
rushes in and I take a few blows. I reply,
getting him on the ropes again for more
uppercuts. The round ends and I spend a
few moments not passing out and sucking
down a small sip of water.
Shortly into the second round I get him
on the ropes a third time, my right hand
thumping up against his downturned face,
Chris yells: “Get your hand off of him!” My
left hand is just resting on his back, but it
could be construed as a hold. I remove it.
“Now uppercut!”
well have bled while unconscious in front
of those many people. Instead, my brave
opponent takes a knee and Timmers, the
Rat reffing the fight, pushes me back.
“He’s on a knee!” Breathing. Breathing.
I’m breathing. Tim says: “Ok. He’s going
to give you a standing knock out. Just stay
there.”
Somehow the crowd has already counted
to three. My opponent leans one hand
on the ropes and I see him wish that this
wasn’t happening. His body hints, like a
poker tell, of getting back up, but he shakes
his head almost imperceptibly and slumps
a little harder.
“NINE! TEN!!!”
Timmers raises my arm; the crowd cheers.
I get a t-shirt, and out of the ring, more
light-headed than I’ve ever been. It’s at least
an hour before I feel focused enough to ride
home. As I make my way towards the door,
I get compliments: “Good fight.” “Good
job.” “Nice strategy.”
Strategy? Yeah, I guess “hit the other guy,
don’t pass out” worked all right.
The beat up dual-sport starts right up, its
carb finally tuned right, and we pull out
of the big twin ocean and onto I-80. After
some ibuprofen, I fall asleep on the couch
with an ice pack against my jaw. One more
check on the bucket list.
Sam is our SF-based columnist. He
motorbikes, kitesurfs, and picks guitars.
Get a copy of his book, “Fifty Rides,” at
SamDevine.com.
dr. gregory w. FRAZIER
I wrote back that I have no bucket list and
do not use the concept when planning
adventure pursuits.
Perplexed, he replied, “How can you have
circled to globe five times, logged over
a million miles and not be checking off
completions like The Dalton Highway,
The Road of Bones, or The Trans-America
Trail?”
I replied that it was simple economics and
time management. If I do not have the
funds I do not go, and if I do not feel the
rewards versus time spent are worth the
effort, I do not go. I added that I have a
slightly fluid list of places I do not want to
experience atop a motorcycle, like Mexico
City and Rio De Janeiro, all No-Go a first
time or ever again if possible.
My global No-Go list has sub-lists,
like Europe and North America. Some
destinations appear on both the global
list and the sub-lists, places like Mexico
City being on the global list and North
American sub-list. I experienced
motorcycle travel in and through Mexico
City twice in the 20th Century and have no
interest in doing it in the 21st.
TomTom’s 2016 Traffic Index contains
only one city on their recently released
World List of most congested traffic not on
my No-Go list: Chengdu, China. Their top
10 worst traffic cities, with a population
of over 800,000, and factoring in time
spent during peak hours versus free flow
hours, ranked Mexico City as #1, followed
by Bangkok, Istanbul, Rio De Janeiro,
Moscow, Bucharest, Salvador, Recife,
Chengdu, and lastly, Los Angeles. On ugly
reflection, I noted I’d piloted motorcycles
M
GARAGE
Vintage / Modern
Motorcycle & Scooter
Service Specialists
(Pre-1975? Come on in!!)
Moto Garage
415-337-1448
112 Sagamore St, SF, CA. 94112
TomTom’s European list started with
Moscow being the worst, followed by
Bucharest, Saint-Petersburg, Warsaw,
Rome, London, Marseille, Manchester,
Athens and Paris. Another ugly reflection
saw me having missed only two on that
list. I could substitute Brussels for SaintPetersburg and Naples for Manchester and
feel no need to visit the two I’d avoided.
Finally I looked at the ugliness of driving
during peak hours on their North America
list. #1 was Mexico City, followed by Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, New
York, Seattle, San Jose, Honolulu,
Toronto and lastly
Miami.
We would only have to pass through four
other cities on my No-Go list: Seattle, New
York, Miami, and Moscow. I managed
to skirt Seattle, but a photo op at Penn
Station in the lower intestine of New York
City found me lamenting the decision to
ignore my No-Go list. Like a slinking cat,
I flew out of Miami on January 1 on a 6:00
AM flight to Bogota, departing
when most of the cars were off
the streets of that city. Moscow
remained on the horizon,
but the ebb and flow of
international politics might
find me facing a visa barrier,
looking for alternate routes
across Asia.
Yeow! I
had been
through
six of
that ten
within the
last two years,
and all of them at
least once. Two
of them— Los
Angeles and San
Francisco—
were motorcycle
friendly, where
motorcyclists
could split lanes
and use HOV lanes
to ease the torture
of transit. Three
of the others
could be likened
to sticking one’s
helmeted head
down through
the seat of
a well-used
Middle Eastern
outhouse, being hot,
humid and smelly or
wet.
that city, as could others like Cairo and
Barcelona. I remembered being stuck in
July traffic in Barcelona and my BMW
K100RT was running poorly. When I
stopped under a tree to let the engine cool
down I heard a sound coming from the gas
tank. Opening the gas tank I was surprised
to see the gasoline boiling, as was I
in my full leather riding gear.
My expanded No-Go list was
becoming impressive. I started
thinking maybe
I did have a
bucket list of
sorts and could
qualify for one
of those hardbutt motorcycling
records: the motorcyclist
who had tagged the most extensive
Global Bucket List Of No-Go
Adventure Riding Butt-Ugly
Cities.
Dr. Frazier’s all-color coffee table
book, DOWN AND OUT IN
PATAGONIA, KAMCHATKA AND
TIMBUKTU, available at MototorBooks.
com, is the first-ever first-hand chronicle
of a never-ending motorcycle ride by “the
world’s most cerebral motorcyclist,” and is
highly recommended by Grant Johnson of
HorizonsUnlimited.com.
by M
r. Je
nsen
“W
hat are your bucket list
destinations?” wrote an
acquaintance trying to
make plans for his new hobby, adventure
riding.
through nine of the ten, often more than
once. Six times through the bowels of
Manila would have me replacing the
one I missed, Chengdu, China, with the
Philippines capitol.
Illus
trati
on
Chief, World
Adventure
Affairs Desk
Adventure Motorcycle
No-Go Bucket List
When planning my sixth
attempt to circle the globe, I mapped my
route backwards from where I planned to
make the last pit stop, Vladivostok, Russia.
From there I’d return to my start point,
somewhere on the west coast of the US.
The most economical and easiest was Los
Angeles, so it was from here my riding pal
Richard Livermore and I would officially
start.
The stars had aligned themselves in our
global route and we managed to avoid
congestion by departing Los Angeles
International Airport early on a Saturday
morning. Sunday found us leaving the
wharf in San Francisco, again avoiding the
congestion identified by TomTom and on
my personal No-Go list.
Looking at the map of the world on the
wall next to my bed I saw other cities I
could add to my list. Having been hit
by cars, tuk-tuks and other motorcycles
on my first day, while trying to escape
Delhi, India, that urban traffic toilet could
certainly qualify for my No-Go list.
After three times riding through Hanoi
and Ho Chi Minh City I’d add those to my
No-Go list. One motorcycle tour company
operator knows Hanoi is such a challenge
for their customers that they bus riders
out of the center of the city to motorcycles
waiting outside of town. My Vietnamese
adventures included piloting motorcycles
in and out, not riding in a mini-van or bus.
Phoenix, during July and August rush
hours, in the blistering heat, could qualify
maynard
Would we love it? Or have five decades
of progress spoiled us for (even the
best of) ‘60s motorcycles?
HERSHON
After all, bikes weren’t so
user-friendly then. The
fork lock wasn’t part
of the ignition
switch. There
L
ike a lotta guys, I loved
Triumph 650 twins back
when. Less than 400
pounds, 50 horsepower, a
proven chassis and… they were
beautiful.
When I say we loved them, I
don’t mean just a few Triumph
nuts, I mean thousands of
us here in the US. We liked
most motorcycles, well,
imported ones anyway,
but so many of us were
Triumph guys… owners
or guys who intended—
someday—to ride a
Triumph.
Even when the Honda 750four and the Triumph / BSA
triples arrived in ‘69 and
the new, sportier BMWs
in ‘70, we clung to our
650 Triumph twins. If
someone told us to close
our eyes and imagine
a motorcycle, we
imagined a Triumph.
Maybe among us oldtimers that’s still true.
life. No electric starter. Or if you clumsily
killed the engine at a stoplight, in front
of a dozen of your gentle neighbors, you
had to find neutral, fold out the kickstart
pedal and tromp it down. One kick almost
always sufficed to start a Triumph twin,
the willing engine unbothered by the
cacophony of car horns behind you.
The clutch and transmission worked in
the same manner as today’s equivalents.
That said, the clutch could not be abused,
certainly not held in disengagement while
you waited at a stoplight. If you did that,
the clutch would get hot and refuse
thenceforth to free itself completely,
making neutral frustratingly elusive.
I don’t sit at light after light with my
bike in gear and the clutch disengaged,
so I can’t imagine the primitive clutch
would be a problem for me. Nor, I
expect, would the marginal headlight.
The gearbox provided only four speeds.
Its shift lever was on the right side of the
motorcycle. Laws standardizing the
placement and operation of motorcycle
controls were not yet in place.
Illustration by Mr. Jensen
None of the competing
models from other
makers offered the general
competence and charm of a
Triumph twin. None had the success in
competitions of all sorts. None sold nearly
so well. And nothing else felt as good under
of it as a gorgeous sporting motorcycle, one
you, in my opinion.
I’d be proud to ride today. I’ll bet I’m not
I miss being able to walk into a motorcycle alone in that feeling.
shop and buy a new TR6 or Bonneville…
Let’s imagine that you or I could buy a
and get that on-top-of-the-world feeling,
new Bonneville today. Not a new, madethe feeling that you’d bought the best.
in-Thailand “Bonneville” but a proper new
I bought my green TR6 fifty years ago.
made-in-Meriden ‘66 Bonneville, just as
When I think of it today, I do not think of a you could’ve half a century ago.
creaking, leaking, plodding antique. I think
were no dipsticks with which to check oil
levels. There were three oil levels to check.
The drive chain (no O-rings) needed
frequent oiling and adjustment. There was
another chain, also needing occasional
adjustment, hidden under an engine
cover. Clutch and front brake were cableoperated, not hydraulic. The cables did not
adjust themselves. Or lubricate themselves.
Valve adjustment intervals were short.
Nuts, bolts and threads were not metric.
A present-day rider who is well-equipped
to do much of his or her own maintenance
might not own a single appropriate tool,
screwdrivers and spark plug wrenches
excepted. A couple of wrenches might fit…
Before you kick-started your Bonneville,
you had to reach down to turn on the
fuel flow to the carburetors via a fuel tap,
or petcock. If the engine were cold, you
had to depress a little plunger on each
carburetor to flood the engine with fuel so
it would start enthusiastically. Typically
you got a little fuel on your finger.
If you forgot to turn on the fuel tap, the
bike would run for a few blocks and stop,
at which point you had to kick it back to
Not having shifted with my right foot (or
braked with my left) for decades might be
a nuisance for a good while, especially if I
rode the (new) old Triumph and a modern
bike or two.
Let’s agree that in order to flow with
traffic on today’s motorways and interstate
highways, a bike has to be able to cruise at,
oh, 80mph, without straining or shaking
itself to bits, shedding parts on the road
surface.
I do not think that a (new) old Triumph
twin would do that. The noise from
the valve gear would be offensive to the
sensitive ear. The unhappy engine would
vibrate and feel stressed. Remember, there
is no counterbalancer in there… and the
engine design, while revered and adored,
dates from pre-WWII. Pre-superhighway.
A sweet old Bonneville will cruise at
seventy, probably, 75, maybe… but 80
mph sustained for mile after mile? Uh-uh.
Eighty for five seconds in between corners
on a curvy road, sure. But 80 as long as
a tankful of fuel would last? I think not.
Because so many journeys involve sections
of major highways, that inability would try
your patience.
Perhaps if you lived in a rural area
crisscrossed by secondary roads… if you
don’t ride high mileages… if you don’t
mind getting your hands dirty… and
you never ride at night, a 50-year-old
Bonneville might suit you perfectly…
delightfully.
The rest of us
can only wish…
ed HERTFELDER
dos along the railroad tracks just before the
refueling stop.
Illustration by Mr. Jensen
silence and also appreciate not having to
inhale a few cubic meters of exhaust gas in
the process.
H
ap is the fellow who always gets
to the bank on Friday just as
the guard is locking the door.
He spends a lot of time looking out his
windshield at drawbridges going up and
down, and long, very slow, freight trains
going from side to side. His dates go home
early, to houses with cars waiting in the
driveway.
With cold engines motorcycles often
blubber along before the engines “catch”
along with impromptu wheelies that
occasionally go beyond the point of no
return.
He was so incapable of understanding
anything mechanical that he actually
preferred buttons on his pants instead of
zippers.
He confessed that he’d gotten so many
wrong telephone numbers that he usually
asks the operator to dial for him on the
pretense that he’s just put drops in his eyes
and couldn’t see yet.
When I met Hap, I thought his nickname
was short for happy… Later, when I got to
know him better, I realized it was short for
hapless.
I noticed that his almost brand new riding
clothes were semi-trashed by the New
Jersey brush, and he almost looked just like
the rest of us woods rats. All he needed was
the bright red treatment caused by briar
thorn vines and inattentive motorcycle
control. When we stropped to refuel, Hap
realized he was a victim of one of the most
horrible things that can happen to an
already late enduro rider with an empty
fuel tank; he had locked his keys inside his
van!
Hap didn’t need a sloshing shortstop to
make him look bad—he could do it all by
himself.
Some riders parked near us had already
refueled and left; we did them the favor of
completely emptying their cans into Hap’s
tank. You see, it’s easier to get the gas / oil
mixture right when you have an empty can
to start with.
There are riders who sometimes don’t
appreciate this thoughtfulness.
He is one of those lucky fellows stuck in a
time warp, destined to spend the rest of his
life being 15 years old.
Before the ride ended I foolishly mentioned
that I’d be glad to help Hap anytime, and
he took that to mean any time.
Hap meets each day as a new adventure.
His only major concerns: defrosting his
refrigerator, collecting enough quarters
for laundry, and remembering to take the
battery out of the smoke alarm when he
makes fried egg sandwiches.
He called me the next Saturday morning,
and let my phone ring so long that I got out
of bed resolved to kill whoever was on the
line regardless of age or gender.
Hap said he was trying to remove the
trailer ball from his van and didn’t know
which way to turn it, said he’d tried both
directions.
He works for his brother-in-law at a job that
requires him to push a black button when a
red light comes on. The only advancement
in sight would require him to push two
black buttons when the red light comes on
but Hap’s not in a great hurry to assume
the extra responsibility.
I said, “turn the nut counter-clockwise”
and hung up.
He called back five minutes later before I
disconnected my phone.
I met Hap at the Curly Fern, one of
the earliest enduros on the East Coast
Enduro Association calendar. He was
attaching a brand new license plate to
a year-old Yamaha IT 175 that looked
like it belonged to a second-rate military
academy that specialized in hit-and-run
training. He’d secured the plate with
two-inch bolts pointing outward, and
left the plate itself straight as it came from
the prison, razor sharp across the top and
down both sides.
As delicately as I could, I pointed out that
his motorcycle on a steep climb could
result in an instant sex-change operation,
without benefit of anesthesia or exchange
of Blue Cross information.
Not to mention a lot of changes in plans for
the following weekend.
I convinced Hap to turn the bolts around
as we bent the plate around to fit flat
against the rear fender, then we went over
to watch the early number riders start.
The Curly Fern had a dead-engine start,
which allows the riders to hear the last
minute instructions, such as, “the beavers
have built a dam at the creek crossing at
mile 6.7” and other worrisome statements
like, “I suppose you know your rear tire is
flat” from the start line jokers.
Riders who like to share a word with their
fellow competitors prefer the dead-engine
“I don’t know which way is counterclockwise because the nut faces down and
my clocks are all on my walls on their
sides.”
“Hap,” I said, “hold your wristwatch
against the nut and turn it opposite the way
the second hand is moving.”
I was in the bathroom when he called
again.
“My watch” he said “it’s digital!”
Is there anything funnier
then a man running behind an
upright running motorcycle yelling to his
girlfriend not to take his photo?
While we were watching the festivities Hap
told me that his first love was softball, and
that he switched to enduro riding because
they always started on time and were never
cancelled because of rain, snow, sleet or
gloom of night.
Plus, he would never again be embarrassed
by his shortstop going for an easy line
drive with so much beer in his gut that
he was sloshing audibly and drooling on
sunglasses that had slid off his nose to his
chin.
Enduro riding might not have been Hap’s
ideal choice. He had more than enough
athletic ability, but his mechanical
knowledge was out to lunch.
Before we started I asked him if he had
enough fuel because the gas available was
right here at the start line and if you didn’t
make it available—then it wasn’t. He said
he had thirty five gallons.
Now, thirty five gallons is a hell of a lot of
fuel for a 90.8 mile event!
Hap had been told to use a 40 to 1 fuel mix
for his two-stroke motorcycle, so he put
a 55 gallon drum in his van, poured in a
gallon of Spectro’s best and cut it with 40
gallons of gasoline.
He transferred this fuel with a siphon
pump that he called a “Tennessee credit
card” and his van reeked like the Gulf
refinery.
At mile 20.2 both Hap and I were running
late, but he passed me as we were grunting
over the suspension-bottoming whoop-de-
Get Ed’s latest, 80.4 Finish Check on
Amazon.com!
TOWING
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.
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,
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.
Your local shop is an
endangered resource!
Proper care and support
is required, or they die.
SAN FRANCISCO AND BEYOND:
DAVE’S CYCLE TRANSPORT
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
Screw The Internet. Support your Local Motorcycle Shop.
CLASSIFIEDS
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
DEALER CLASSIFIED
2243 Old Middlefield Way
Mountain View, Ca 94043
650-386-1440
www.jm-ms.com
We are a licensed dealer owned and operated by people who love
motorcycles. When you call or visit, you’re talking directly with noncommission team members who are passionate about getting you the
bike you desire! We specialize in newer, low-mile, affordable bikes, and
offer in-house financing—visit our website to apply today! Looking to
sell your bike? Consignments are welcome!
Aprilia
2013 Aprilia Tuono V4 R APRC - $10,995
2014 Aprilia Tuono V4 R APRC - $10,995
Can-Am
2014 Can-Am Spyder RT Limited - $19,995
Ducati
2009 Ducati Monster 696 - $6,995
2006 Ducati 749 - $6,995
2014 Ducati 1199 Panigale S ABS - $18,995
2014 Ducati 1199 Panigale S ABS - $19,995
2012 Ducati Hypermotard 796 - $7,495
2013 Ducati Multistrada 1200S Granturismo ABS- $12,995
Harley-Davidson
2009 Harley Davidson FLHTCU Electra Glide Ultra Classic - $14,495
2011 Harley Davidson FLHTK Electra Glide Ultra Limited - $15,995
2013 Harley Davidson FLHTK Electra Glide Ultra Limited - $17,495
2013 Harley Davidson FLHX Street Glide ABS - $17,495
2015 Harley Davidson FXDB Dyna Street Bob - $13,995
2000 Harley Davidson FXSTD Softail Deuce - $8,495
2014 Harley Davidson XL883N Sportster 883 Iron - $7,495
2014 Harley Davidson XL883N Sportster 883 Iron - $7,995
2011 Harley Davidson XL1200X Sportster Forty-Eight - $8,495
2012 Harley Davidson XL1200X Sportster Forty-Eight - $9,495
2013 Harley Davidson XL1200V Sportster Seventy-Two - $9,495
2003 Harley Davidson V-Rod Anniversary - $7,495
Honda
1988 Honda ZB50 - $3,495
2005 Honda Nighthawk 250 - $3,495
2011 Honda CBR250R ABS - $3,495
2014 Honda CBR500R - $5,795
2002 Honda CBR600F4i - $3,495
2008 Honda CBR600RR - $7,695
2011 Honda CBR600RR - $8,995
2003 Honda CBR954RR Fireblade - $5,995
2002 Honda Rebel 250 - $2,995
2001 Honda Shadow 750 ACE - $3,995
2006 Honda Shadow Spirit 750 - $3,995
2015 Honda CRF250L - $4,995
2007 Honda CRF250R 290cc Big Bore - $3,495
2011 Honda CRF250R - $4,995
2008 Honda CRF450R Supermoto - $4,495
2015 Honda CRF450R - $6,995
Kawasaki
2008 Kawasaki Ninja 250R - $3,395
2014 Kawasaki Ninja 300 - $4,495
2014 Kawasaki Ninja 300 SE - $4,995
2014 Kawasaki Ninja 300 ABS - $4,995
1995 Kawasaki Ninja ZX600-F ZX-6R - $3,995
2007 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R - $5,995
2013 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 636 - $9,495
2012 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R ABS - $10,495
2012 Kawasaki Ninja 1000 - $9,495
2007 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 - $3,495
2009 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic Limited - $5,495
2011 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Custom - $5,495
2012 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic - $5,995
2012 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic Limited - $5,995
KTM
1997 KTM 200EXC LE JackPiner Limited Collectors Edition - $2,995
2003 KTM 450 SX - $2,995
2008 KTM 990 Super Duke - $7,995
Suzuki
2006 Suzuki GSX-R600 - $6,995
2008 Suzuki GSX-R600 - $7,995
2012 Suzuki GSX-R600 - $9,995
2012 Suzuki GSX-R600 - $9,995
2012 Suzuki GSX-R600 - $9,995
2005 Suzuki GSX-R750 - $4,495
2012 Suzuki GSX-R750 - $10,495
2006 Suzuki SV650S - $3,995
2009 Suzuki GZ250 - $3,295
2008 Suzuki Boulevard S40 - $3,995
Triumph
2015 Triumph Thruxton Ace Special Edition - $9,995
2014 Triumph Thunderbird Commander ABS - $10,995
Yamaha
2009 Yamaha YZF R6 - $8,495
2012 Yamaha YZF R6 - $8,995
2012 Yamaha YZF R6 - $9,495
2013 Yamaha YZF R6 - $9,995
2014 Yamaha YZF R6 - $10,495
2015 Yamaha YZF R6 - $10,995
2002 Yamaha YZF R1 - $5,495
2012 Yamaha YZF R1 - $11,995
2013 Yamaha YZF R1 - $12,495
2009 Yamaha FZ6R - $4,495
2012 Yamaha FZ6R - $5,995
2015 Yamaha Bolt R-Spec - $6,795
2002 Yamaha V-Star 650 - $3,795
2014 Yamaha V-Star 1300 - $8,495
2012 Yamaha WR250F - $4,495
800 American Way, Windsor CA. Open Tue-Fri 9-6, Sat 9-4:30
Phone 707-838-9100 x 2. After-hours text 707-837-6121
SantaRosaBMW.com
We proudly offer some of the best used motorcycles in the area. We’re
fussy about the condition of the machines we take in for resale and make
sure all the maintenance is up to date before offering them to the public.
Call us for pictures or more info. Here are a few of the great used bikes
on our lot:
USED INVENTORY
2009 BMW F800ST Approximately 23k miles, ABS, Heated grips and
BMW expandable Saddlebags. Only $6,495.
2010 BMW S1000RR Premium Approximately 12k miles in great
condition. Just $10,495.
2013 BMW R1200GS Adventure Approximately 17k, too many extras
to list—call for a list of accessories. Priced below KBB with options at
$16,995.
2015 BMW R1200GS Like new, less than 1600 miles! Cruise Control,
ABS, Heated Grips, Traction Control, Hand Protection, Ride Modes, Gear
Shift Assist Pro, AND the BMW Navigator V for a low price of $17,000.
2014 TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE Around 3.2k miles, pristine condition!
2-tone white/blue version looks extra nice. Includes Triumph Accessory
Silencers, rear rack, lower aftermarket handlebars. Just $6,600!
2015 BMW K1600GTL Just 2K well cared for miles, excellent
condition. Engine guards and BMW Navigator V, fresh service. A mere
$24,000.00 gets you this almost new motorcycle.
2010 TRIUMPH THUNDERBIRD ABS Set up for comfortable longdistance travel with several nice extras such as Triumph saddlebags,
windscreen, floorboards, “Comfort” seat with rider backrest, and more.
Has the factory 1700cc big-bore kit. A few minor cosmetic blems but in
nice shape overall. Only 16.5k miles. Just $7,500.
2007 MOTO GUZZI BREVA 1100 20.9k miles, excellent condition,
great all-around bike with character. Includes Guzzi windscreen and Joe
Rocket tailbag. Just $5,245.00!
2014 DUCATI DIAVEL STRADA .8k miles and in showroom condition!
Thousands of dollars in extras from Ducati Performance, Rizoma, Sato,
Clearwater, et al. Looks stunning! Just $14,495.
TRIUMPH SPECIALS
We a number of NEW ’14 and ’15 Triumph motorcycles that need to find
a new home NOW! Prices are ROCK BOTTOM, and cannot be combined
with any other manufacturer or dealer incentives. Freight and Prep
charges are included in all prices below. Delivery available!
2014 America 2-Tone – $9,644, now $7,585!
2015 Speedmaster 900 – $9,444, now $7,600!
2015 Rocket Touring 2300 – $18,544, now $14,900!
2015 Street Triple 675 ABS – $10,444, now $8,400!
2015 Street Triple RX – $12,244, now $11,000!
2015 Speed Triple 1050 ABS – $13,844, now $11,000!
2015 Dayton 675 ABS – $13,044, now $10,400!
2015 Daytona 675 R – $15,044, now $12,000!
2015 Explorer 1200 – $16,944, now $13,740!
2015 Explorer 1200 XC – $18,544, now $15,000!
2015 Trophy SE – $20,544, now $16,680!
2015 Bonneville T100 2-Tone – $10,644, now $8,400!
Note: Current manufacturer/dealer incentives. Contact us for further
details.
Prices shown do not include taxes, DMV fees/electronic filing, doc, CA
tire fee. All motorcycles are subject to prior sale, so do not delay!
SEEKING REAL MECHANICS
KC Engineering in SF, CA's Oldest Moto Tire & Service Shop
We have an immediate opening for experienced motorcycle / scooter mechanics. We’re an “old school” shop, looking for experienced mechanics, not “techs.”
We’re the real deal, and you should be too.
You must:
• Be able to think on the go, adapt and
overcome. Sure, there will be lots of R&R jobs, but
we are not your run of the mill motorcycle service
shop.
• Be good at diagnosing and repair mechanical /
structural problems on motorcycles and scooters of
different makes, models and years.
• Fully understand function / purpose of
electrical components and be able to read wiring
charts / diagrams.
• Have a high degree of common sense &
mechanical aptitude.
Bonus points if you have experience with Harleys
or arc welding / fabrication skills. Prior military
service is a big plus too. We prefer non-smokers.
No heavy drinkers or hangover enthusiasts, please.
Pay is directly related to skill, experience and
production level. We provide shared-cost Kaiser
Health Insurance, paid sick / vacation days, paid
holidays, and a great employee discount.
Interested? Email your resume to
[email protected] or mail resume to
KC Engineering, Attention: Ken, 689 Harrison St.
San Francisco CA 94107. No walk-ins / call-ins
please.
motorcycletiresandservice.com
USED MOTORCYCLES:
2000 Aprilia Falco
Super nice sport cruiser, only 2,500 miles on the clock, always garaged,
clean title. A true Italian motorcycle, fast and stylish, mechanically in
excellent condition. Derestricted by dealer. Current registration. Asking
$4250. Call Thomas at (510) 812-8331 or email [email protected]
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
Locals Only
MOTO TIRE GUY
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 www.MotoTireGuy.com for details.
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
HELP WANTED:
Bavarian Cycle Works Hiring Motorcycle Tech
Formal m/c training, valid M1, clean DMV record. Solid technical and
mechanical skills regarding work on BMW motorcycles (preferred) and/
or Triumph, Moto Guzzi or limited other foreign brands. Send resume to
[email protected] for consideration and more info.
Power Sports of Vallejo Seeking Mechanic & Parts Salesperson
Multi-line motorcycle dealer in Vallejo is looking for an experienced
motorcycle tech. Must be experienced in all aspects of motorcycle /
ATV repairs and be able to work independently in a busy shop. Hours:
9am to 6pm Tuesday - Saturday. We’re also looking for an experienced
motorcycle part sales person. Must be experienced in all aspects of
motorcycle and ATV parts and accessories sales and be able to work
independently. Apply by email at [email protected]. Please attach
last 5 years work history and manufacturers you are familiar with.
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
Quality Motorcycles
235 Shoreline Hwy.
Mill Valley CA
(415) 381-5059
We’re not afraid of your old bike.
RIDING SCHOOLS
Sierra Dual Sport/Dirt Bike Rides,
Rentals and Training
*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
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
EVENT SERVICES
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!
Detailing vintage, classic, modern motorcycles
415 - 439 - 9275
www.thedevilsdetailing.com
[email protected]
established 2007
Greatness can be in your detail!
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
By Surj Gish
Photos Surj Gish
I first saw Eduardo’s Guzzi while walking
through the Mission. I was awestruck
with the raw, essential nature of the
bike, and posted a photo on Instagram.
Within minutes someone had tagged
Eduardo, and shortly thereafter we were
exchanging emails. Eventually, we met
to take some photos and talk about his
beautiful beastie, dubbed “Future Café.”
PARTS AND SERVICE
ADVANCED CYCLE SERVICE
Eduardo's "Future Café" Moto Guzzi
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]
Eduardo is a photographer, graphic
designer and visual designer with a
background in industrial design. He
refers to himself as a multidisciplinary
designer. Hearing him talk, it’s clear that
he deeply ponders everything he does to
his Moto Guzzi.
There’s a striking nakedness to Eduardo’s
bike. You can see right into the middle
of the motor’s V to the exposed boxsection frame—unheard of on modern
motorcycles where every little space is
used, every wire covered up. The original
wiring harness is gone—Eduardo
rewired the bike around a MotoGadget
m-Unit. The petcocks and lines have
been simplified and rerouted, the airbox
removed in favor of velocity stacks
directly feeding the re-jetted carbs, the
exhaust abbreviated to Eduardo’s custom
design. The sound is beastly, like a ‘60s
American V8 muscle car, growling
or roaring, depending on the throttle
position.
Eduardo’s Guzzi is an ongoing project,
which he calls “Future Café.” He recently
completed a 3D-printed fairing, which
His bike began life as a ’95 Moto Guzzi
1100 Sport, but it didn’t start really living was on the bike until an inattentive driver
hit him, destroying the fairing. Check
until Eduardo tore all the extraneosities
off. After he removed the front fairing, he out TheSimpleRule.com for more photos
began working from the back, ultimately of the Guzzi and his previous build, a
cleanly stripped Virago 750.
ending up with a custom subframe and
tail section.
The tail is an early ‘70s
Ducati 750SS replica piece,
because Eduardo views the
‘70s SS as the ultimate café
racer. “If you want to achieve
classical style on speed
bikes, that’s one way to go.”
That rear end took Eduardo
three tries to get right, but it
really makes the bike. The
shape of the tail and the
stock tank, while decades
apart, jive perfectly.
Some unintentional paint
effects help create an air
of confusing authenticity:
“It feels rewarding… a lot
of people think that’s an
original seat. I was new at
painting, so I did one layer of
Krylon rattle can, and then
the other one of professional
2K spray and it was too
active and cracked the paint
underneath. So if you look
closely there are cracks
underneath, so that made
people think it was real, that
it was old.”
Tankslapper
Isolationist
Bitchin’ nickname owner Wheelz emailed
about Editor Surj’s sorta-Luddite /
sorta-techy April Uneasy Rider, “Isolation
Mounts.”
I love what you do. I’m an SF native, an MMI
alumnus, a former tech of Scuderia West back
in the mid 90’s.
“connection” and “soul” to the shitty early
days of bicycle suspension. We’re obviously
not going to include that entire pedantic
journey here, but we will point out that
CityBike ain’t advocating for low or high
tech—we’re somewhere in the middle. In
this case we’re pointing out stuff on both
ends of the continuum and trusting our
readers to come to their own conclusions. I’m going to quote, verbatim, from your April
2016 issue. Mr. Gish, in “Uneasy Rider Isolation Mounts:”
“A good example is ride by wire. Let’s ignore
how crayfish-bananas that is on the surface
for now - like, what happens if that system
fails? But check this out: the Focus’s e-brake
is an electronic switch. And you don’t have to
worry about that cable breaking six million
miles from Amazon Prime.”
Photo: Surj Gish
All statements Mr. Gish has made, just not in
this particular order, huh?
A Wee Bit Of Feedback
Mr. Defaut, in “News, Clues & Rumors - I
Am This Motorcycle: Smaller Show, Great
Art, Numerous Stories, Fewer Beards:”
Beret-wearing former Green Beret motowriter and serious rider Clement Salvadori
wrote in to tell us we should be more
frugal:
“It’s basically looking after your bike,
spiritually. If you fix your own shit, you walk
away with some real feel. Like, you know. If
you don’t and you pay someone else to do it,
then who’s responsible when it breaks down?”
Editor Surj and Wheelz then engaged in
an extensive email exchange, ranging from
With all due respect for the $129 Weego
(“Weego=Get Going Again” – New Stuff,
April 2016), I recently picked up a very
similar Winplus 12V Car Jump Starter at
Costco for $60.
Loved the Suzuki 650XT write-up. I’m taking Anonymous Ducati guy: I went to check
a 650 Adventure to Baja next month (April) out the Ducati Bike Night located at Pier 23,
for a couple of weeks of fun.
the first Wednesday of every month. There
were no bikes there, and after speaking to
When Clem talks, we listen, so we checked
the owner of Pier 23 Cafe, he was unaware
out the Winplus jump starter. It’s similarlyof such meet and stated he didn’t know any
sized and shares most of the features of the
thing about it. We called the number listed
Weego, although it doesn’t come with as
in CityBike for this meet, and it went to
many connectors and lacks the arguably
voicemail at Pier 23.
cooler, cleverish name that
we loved to butcher around
Anonymous Ducati guy’s pal: A friend
CityBike World HQ. It is short of mine and I went to Pier 23 on 4/6/16,
about 50% in capacity—
Ducati Night, the first Weds of the month as
although for motorcycles, that advertised in your paper. I showed up a little
probably doesn’t really matter. after 6PM. No bikes. A bartender & bike guy
We were able to start several
knew nothing of it. The owner did not know
bikes multiple times with the of it. You call the listed phone number and it
Weego, and frankly, Clem is
is Pier 23’s! I rode by there later around 8PM,
a much realer rider than any
and still no Ducati’s. Bad info.
of us, so if he says it’s good
It’s tough to stay on top of all the events
enough, it probably is.
happening ‘round the Bay, even when
we’re actually going to them! Our own
Old Helmet-Head
An DeYoung
Eric emailed about helmets—
will be at
thankfully not to scold us about our
AHRMA,
position on helmet laws:
and both
she and Max
Awhile ago CB did an article on the
Klein will be
safety of older helmets-- But was
at the AFM
there ever any instance where an old
weekend.
helmet actually failed, and allowed
an injury to occur, where a new
Anyway,
helmet would have prevented that
everyone relies
injury?
on the internet
more
and
We have no idea, perhaps
more
for
event
because of the various brain
info and we’d
injuries we’ve suffered while
coincidentally
wearing crappy old helmets.
decided to stop
Actually, that’s not true,
listing “bike
although we love to joke about
night” type
brain injuries. But even we aren’t dumb
stuff in the calendar a couple weeks before
enough to keep wearing crappy old
hearing from the Ducati twins because
helmets, especially with goggles and
they’re just routine non-events, and the
bandanas. And new helmets tend to be
people that run them often don’t keep
more comfortable, quieter, and less stinky. us posted on changes. So as of now, the
As for safety, we haven’t done any scientific events calendar is just for special events,
testing where we’ve crashed repeatedly
not routine bench-racing farkel-bation
in different helmets and measured our
sessions.
relative stupidity afterwards… but helmet
Also, we’re hoping that our faithful
technology keeps getting better, so why
Tankslapper readers appreciate the
screw around with old styrofoam?
restraint we’ve shown by not taking this
By the way, the article Eric mentioned is
opportunity to talk a bunch of shit about
“The Truth About Helmets” from our
Ducati bike nights, given how fertile that
November 2014 issue. Check it out at
ground is. Please send gold stars and other
CityBike.com/back-issues.html
rewards to our PO Box below.
Uneventful
We get a lot of feedback / hate mail about
our events calendar. The most recent
batch:
aerostich.com/cb
Photo by Clint Graves - 2015
Michael Campos on the Sunday Morning Ride
aero cb 02_2016.indd 1
© 2015
Rob from Bayview: I was just looking at
the April issue and noticed that you don’t
have the April 28 and 29th (yes its Thursday
and Friday) AHRMA races at Sears Point
listed. Probably too late to fix that situation
this year. It is a good event with tons of great
Vintage machines competing the way they
should be on the racetrack. AHRMA doesn’t
seem to promote it to well. Sad that so few of
our great SF riding community show up for it.
It is a good warm up for AFM’s Saturday and
Sunday event.
May1/4/16
20161:16|PM
26 | CityBike.com
Send Us Your Stuff
[email protected]
PO Box 18783
Oakland, CA 94619
2016test
| 27
| CityBike.com
Max Klein on the No-Cal (for now) Z800 on one of many top secret May
CityBike
tracks.
Photo: Bob Stokstad
CYANMAGENTAYELLOWBLACK
Rolling Back
the
Savings
SALES EVENT
Save BIG on Select 2016 KYMCO Scooters & Motorcycles Starting March1, 2016.
Compagno 110i
Was $2,699 Now $2,399
People GT 300i
Was $5,399 Now $4,899
Xciting 500Ri ABS
Was $6,899 Now $5,999
Over the last decade, KYMCO has successfully partnered with other powersports companies to manufacture their quality vehicles. This experience
allowed us to rapidly increase the depth of our product line and more importantly build an "economy of scale" to offer you the lowest pricing on
KYMCO brand Scooters and Motorcycles. We have now set a new KYMCO benchmark in performance, features & benefits for the best value in
the market today! To celebrate our achievements we’re Rolling Back our product pricing on Select 2016 KYMCO Scooters and Motorcycles to
when we entered the United States Market.
Go in to Your Nearest KYMCO USA Dealer and Check Out
What Other Vehicles We Have Lowered the Price on!
R&M ENTERPRISES
1905C ARNOLD INDUSTRIAL WAY
CONCORD, CA 94520
925-798-4360
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
ROCKRIDGE TWO WHEELS
5291 COLLEGE AVENUE
OAKLAND, CA 94618
510-594-0789
SALINAS MOTORCYCLE CENTER
1286 N. MAIN STREET
SALINAS, CA 93906
831-295-0205
KELINDA’S CUSTOMS
4865 SCOTTS VALLEY DRIVE
SCOTTS VALLEY, CA 95066
831-438-4215
CYCLE WEST
1375 INDUSTRIAL AVENUE
PETALUMA, CA 94952
707-769-5242
SCUDERIA
69 DUBOCE STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103
415-621-7223
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
Facebook.com/KYMCO.ATV | Facebook.com/KYMCO.Scooters | Instagram & Twitter @KYMCO_USA | YouTube.com/user/KYMCOUSA

May 2016 - CityBike

Transcription

Similar documents

24th Annual - Toronto Motorcycle SPRINGSHOW

here.

the electric exoskeleton motorcycle

BackRoads Magazine

Henderson Motorcycles

Rider Magazine, February 2011 - Table of Contents

Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association of Nevada - Nevada 41-1

Visit a Navy AutoSource Representative on-board

WHAT: 4th Annual GEICO Motorcycle HOT BIKE TOUR ®