Cw's Birthday Bash & Bike Blow-Out
CW's Birthday Bash & Bike Blow-Out
With champagne toasts and immaculate motorcycles, Cycle World celebrated its 35th birthday by hosting an Invitational Concours d'Elegance at the Anaheim International Motorcycle Show. Editors selected first-|, secondand third-place winners in seven classes, plus Best of Show. And the winners are...
BEST SPORTBIKE
KENNIE TERRELL,
1992 Suzuki GSX-R750
It should come as no surprise that Kennie Terrell's 1992 Suzuki GSXR750 captured first place in the Sportbike class. After all, the heavily modified bike has been the editors' number-one choice four times in past Reader's Collection competitions.
A resident of Compton, California, the 39-year-old Terrell runs his own frame-polishing business and is the official frame polisher for Team
Yoshimura Suzuki. Of his fullhouse GSX-R, he says, "I started out customizing a little bit, but it's like a disease. You get hooked on it." Indeed. Terrell's modifica tions are so numerous that he can't even list them in chronological order. c Instead, he mentally moves from one section of the bike to another, reel ing off alter-
ations such as the NASCAR-inspired carbon-fiber oil lines, the tail-mounted oil radiator, the six-piston Performance Machine calipers or any of the many Yoshimura accessories.
"I don't leave anything stock," he says, grinning sheepishly. "Even my patio furniture is polished."
No surprise there.
Second place: Wayne Harrison,
1995 Ducati Monster
Third place: Michael Campilongo,
1991 Honda NSR250
BEST AMERICAN CLASSIC
DON WHALEN,
1957 Harley-Davidson FLH
After seeing a 1950s magazine cover that featured Elvis Presley aboard his favorite Harley-Davidson, 52-year-old Dan Whalen was inspired to purchase and restore his own 1957 FLH.
Taking first place in the American Classic class, the bike is the end result of a six-week restoration that included polishing, painting, and rebuilding the engine and transmission.
But Whalen didn't stop there. He wanted a bike that would have been a looker in 1957. Luckily, he had a little help from the original owner. "The bike came with a few period accessories, and I decided to continue with that," says Whalen, who raises birds in Monrovia, California. Note the Harley-Davidsoncataloged windscreen, saddlebags and muffler tips. "When I was a kid, this was the bike everybody chopped," he says. "I had to go out and buy the stuff we used to throw away."
WENDY F. BLACK
Resplendent in its Fiesta Pepper Red and Black paint job, bullet taillight and chromed "candy canes" on the front fender, Whalen's FLH is an accessorized blast from the past.
In fact, you might say this Harley is fit for a King.
Second place: Kevin Kelly,
1948 Harley-Davidson sidecar Third place: Alan Lenning,
1938 Indian Four
BEST SPECIAL
BRUCE ENDERLE,
Yamaha YSR350
If it's true that good things come in small packages, then Bruce Enderle's Yamaha YSR350 must be very, very good. Because it's certainly very, very small.
Measuring just 3 feet high, the diminutive YSR is nonetheless powered by a 350cc liquid-cooled two-cylinder engine yanked from a Yamaha Banshee ATV. Shoehorn engineering at its best, the powerful mini grabbed an almost-unanimous first prize in Anaheim's Specials class.
Employed by Yamaha's legal department, owner Enderle, 48, lives in Huntington Beach, California, but spends much of his time on the road. When home, however, his spare hours are devoted to his personal project bikes.
"I've always felt that you can never have too much horsepower," says
Enderle of the YSR. "Go for overkill!" Obviously not street-legal, the bike has seen its share of track time. Its performance? Better than Enderle predicted. "It goes real fast in a straight line," he says. "And surprisingly, it feels like a real motorcycle."
Long live overkill.
Second place: Barry Weiss, 1969 BSA
Third place: Steve Lepper,
1978 Laverda
BEST CLASSIC
TOM CLARK, 1957 BMW R26 For Tom Clark, restoring his 1957 BMW R26 was truly a labor of love. At age 50, he works long hours in the hazardous waste industry, so he savors the ( time he wrenches on and rides the Single near his Seal Beach,
California, home. The area, he says, is perfect for the little Beemer. "It's too slow to get on the freeway, but it's great for tooling around by the beach."
First-place winner in the Classic class, the funky R26 was a machine that Clark dreamt of for years. He was first smitten with the bike in 1965, but waited until 1986 before purchasing one. "It looked real bad when I bought it," he says. "Almost all of the alu minum had to be replaced." But what it lacked in aes thetics, the BMW made up in chutzpah. Says Clark, "It
has a flywheel that would make a VW blush. You can take off from a stop in second gear."
Clark did the restoration himself, with the exception of the pinstriping and powdercoating. As a result, he was constantly in his garage polishing parts and rebuilding pieces.
"Friends would drop by and say, ‘You're always working on that bike.' But it's not work. It's fun," he says.
Spoken like a man in love.
Second place: Fraser Renaud,
1970 Triumph Tiger Third place: Tas Toth-Tevel,
1966 BMW R69
BEST CLASSIC JAPAN ESE
CRAIG BARRETT,
1966 Honda 305 Scrambler
Properly restoring old motorcycles requires a particular personality: What some might label as anal retentive, we prefer to call "thorough."
It was this type of thinking that enabled 45-year-old Craig Barrett of Arcadia, California, to turn a heap of metal into a bike that garnered first-place honors in the Classic Japanese class.
A concrete truck driver by day, Barrett discovered his 1966 Honda CL77 eight years ago. "It was a pile of junk, but I had to have it. I really wanted a Scrambler," he explains.
Once home with his treasure, Barrett and transmission, and changed the pistons and cam. But he spent the lion's share of his time tracking down details like the proper shade of paint and the correct tank emblems. ‘T finally found an emblem in Brooklyn," he says, "but I have ridiculous phone bills."
In the end, however, it was all worth it. "Honda Scramblers have that certain...thing," Barrett says, grasping for the proper words. "There's just nothing that sounds like 'em."
And there's nothing like being thorough, either.
Second place: Bob Blais,
1979 Honda CBX Six Third place: Craig Barrett,
1966 Honda CA-95
BEST CUSTOM CRUISER
JEFF PEYTON, 1995 Harley-Davidson Softail In some circles, appearance is every thing. Nowhere is this more true than in the Custom Cruiser class, where 33-yearold Jeff Peyton triumphed with his
sanitary, suckeddown 1995 Hariey-Davidson Softail.
Completed just a few months before its Anaheim debut, the motorcycle sports tank and fender murals set off by a paint scheme that Peyton calls a "marbleized electrical storm."
"It doesn't look like any other bike out there. It's different. It's me," says Peyton, who is preparing to launch J.P. Cycle Fabrication, a custom bikebuilding business in Rancho Cucamonga, California.
An admitted Type-A personality, Peyton says building and riding the Softail had a cathartic influence on him. "The look of the bike and the sound of it affect me. And then, ultimate peace comes when I ride it," he says.
Who says beauty is only skin deep?
econa place: Michael Healey, 1995 Harley-Davidson Road King Third place: Joseph Abella, 1995 Harley-Davidson Springer
BEST COMPETITION
JOHN LEFEVER,
1974 Husqvarna CR250
For some, restoring vintage motorcycles is a hobby to be enjoyed in their spare time. For John LeFever, restoring vintage motorcycles is a way of life. Owner of Vintage Husqvarna in San Marcos California, 40-year-old LeFever specializes in restoring the Swedish dirtbikes.
In fact, it was his 1974 Husqvarna CR250 that carded first place in the Competition class. Not to worry, though, winning hasn't gone to LeFever's head. "If you go to a show expecting to win, you've got the
wrong attitude," he cautions. "I take my bikes because people like to look at them. If I win, that's great. If I don't, that's okay, too." LeFever restores about 15 bikes per year, and selects them based on their historical significance. The '74 CR250, for example, was chosen for its innovation at the time. "The engine was made out of magnesium, which was new," he says. "And it had forwardmounted rear shocks and reed-valve induction."
For some, this is simply motorcycle trivia. For John LeFever, they're
words to live by. Second place: Rob & Beth Lyons, 1966 Triumph Ti 20 flat-tracker Third place: Mark Seifried, 1970 Yamaha TD-2 roadracer
BEST OF SHOW
BARRY WEISS,
1973 Norton Commando
What more can we possibly say about Barry Weiss' 1973 Norton? After being featured in CIT's January, 1996,
"Rollin' &
Tumblin'" article, could anything remain
unsaid about this jaw-dropping, fullmetal motorcycle?
How about that it won Best of Show at Anaheim?
Built to Weiss' specifications, the Norton is like no other. "I took my favorite periods of styles and merged them into one. That was my intention from the very beginning," he says.
A Los Angeles native, Weiss, 46, is respectfully irreverent toward motorcycle restoration, and admits that he's in it for the fun. With his brother, he owns 15 bikes, ranging from the Norton to a Bimota Mantra. His tastes are, shall we say, eclectic.
About the Norton's year-long restoration by Vintage Rebuilds in Oregon City, Oregon, Weiss comments, "It's nice to start with a barebones idea and see it progress. These things are just for fun. It's not good to take it too seriously."
Like the other winners, our kind of bike nut.
Congratulations to all.
