Ramblin' Man
Ramblin’ man
UP FRONT
David Edwards
HOW PLEASED THE HIGHER-UPS AT FORD Motor Company must have been when two days after a big press conference announcing their five-year sponsorship of the Harley roadrace team, lead rider Scott Russell gets his ass flattened at some late-night watering hole. This, not too many hours before the 200-miler’s final qualifying session.
Of course, it wasn’t even the right kind of bar. “Razzies, some yuppie spring-breaker joint,” spat one of the H-D faithful. Apparently the clientele knows a thing or two about haymakers, though, this being the same establishment where Aaron Yates’ jaw was busted in ’98.
Next year, Mr. Daytona, if bar-hopping remains part of your pre-race ritual, try someplace safer, maybe the Boot Hill Saloon. It’s on Main Street; just follow all the people in leather vests and black T-shirts-you know, the ones who pay your salary...
A Re-Badge Too Far? No one, it seems, is taking the reborn Norton very seriously. Despite a promised six-model line highlighted by the Nemesis, a 1500cc V-Eight sportbike, skepticism runs at redline. Company officials steadfastly claim we’ll see a bike this summer, but even the usually patriotic U.K. press, always eager to wrap itself in the Union Jack and sing praises of the next British world-beater, is taking a believe-it-when-we-seeit stance on this one. I wish the hopefuls at Norton lotsa luck; I fear they’ll need every ounce...
Brock Yates, peppery columnist for Car & Driver magazine, is about to release a new book, Outlaw Machine: Harley-Davidson and the Search for the American Soul. Here’s a taste, Yates commenting on the arrival of the Evo motor in 1983: “Like it or not, the new Evolution was a smoother, more reliable variation on the old Harley theme, and it surely contributed to the boom that was to follow. But in many ways it marked the end of the outlaws who had created the mystique in the first place. Had they had their way, all Harley-Davidsons would be Panheads and Shovelheads with kickstarters and elemental coil-and-condenser ignitions that demand constant attention. The arrival of smooth-edged technical perfection would in the end lead to their cooption by the interlopers-the hated and ridiculed RUBs, or ‘rich urban bikers’and the real bikers’ marginalization, much as barbed wire had doomed the open-range cowpoke.”
A good, thoughtful read (full review to come), miles ahead of the standard Harley drivel currently on bookshelves...
Early forecasts are in and 1999 looks to be another strong growth year for motorcycling. For the ninth year in a row, new-bike sales are on the climb. “Across the board, they’re up,” says industry analyst Don Brown, who predicts a 10 percent increase over 1998 sales...
Thumper fans looking for an XR600 replacement will need a little patience. Honda has put its new aluminum-framed XR on hold while some handling bugaboos are worked out. Seems Big Red (and everybody else) was blindsided by Yamaha’s potent, bar-raising YZ/WR400s.
“People will have to wait a little bit longer, we want the bike to be better,” says Bruce Ogilvie, American Honda’s off-road development chief (and multitime Baja winner). “The project is not dead; it’ll definitely be worth the wait.” To fill the showroom void, the old-style XR600 has been put back in production.
Meanwhile over in Austria, KTM is readying its own YZ rival, a new 520cc four-stroke said to be as compact as a 250 two-stroke and almost as light. And, of course, there’s bicyclemaker Cannondale about to let loose with its own made-in-Pennsylvania Thumper. Quadra Wars, coming soon to a loamy berm near you...
How serious is Kawasaki about its Indian-homage 1500 Drifter? At the press launch in Miami Beach, no fewer than 50 scribblers from around the world were invited, including correspondents from such mainstream books as Playboy, Penthouse, The Robb Report, Forbes, GQ, Men ’s Journal and Popular Mechanics. Also in attendance: Andy Pargh, the Gadget Guru of “Today Show” fame, complete with NBC peacock painted on his helmet...
Will this Indian affair never end? Just when it looked like all the legal loose ends had been wrapped up concerning the reborn Indian Motorcycle Company, comes word that a tribe of real Indians has filed suit.
Citing the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe is seeking damages, claiming Indian Motorcycle sportswear-with potential sales in the millions of dollars-is unfairly in competition with items produced by Native Americans. The lawsuit also alleges breach of contract, claiming the tribe had been promised royalties on various items of clothing that could be construed as native-made.
The Cow Creek Band, you may remember, is the casino-rich tribe that bankrolled the stillborn Eller Indian prototype (see “Indian Wars of 1999,” CW, February). That bike is itself the subject of legal wrangling, with the tribe and the new Indian company each asserting ownership, designer James Parker claiming intellectual rights and engine developer Rousch Industries holding the machine until a court decides whose property it is.
Eller, meanwhile, is going ahead with plans for a completely redone cruiser penned by Parker, drawings to be released in a few weeks. What to call the new bike? “We have a huge list of potential names,” says a spokesman. “It’ll be something American, maybe with a Southwestern feel-but definitely not Indian-sounding.” Given the litigious nature of previous dealings, may we suggest the Judge Roy Bean 1500...?
