Hotshots
HOTSHOTS
Screamer of a Beemer?
I enjoyed reading both the BMW K1200R and K1200S articles in your September issue. As the founder of bmwkl200s.com, now a year old, I would like to make a correction to your write-up, though. You claim your K1200S was clocked by radar at a 165-mph top speed. That’s about 10mph too low. On our forum, we have seen multiple top-speed tests, verified by GPS, and the K1200S has been consistently reaching 174 mph. I think you guys may have had a sub-par 12S on your hands.
Shahrarn Shiva
New York, New York
Nope, as you can read it this issue s “Speed Wagons, ” story where a second K1200S reached 167 mph. Remind your forum users that top-speed runs must be conducted in both directions, then averaged, to negate head/tailwinds. All of this is accomplished on a closed course or dry lakebed, of course.
Just read your review on the BMW K1200R, and your staff was trying to find an appropriate way of describing its style? Well, to me it looks like an old rich white man trying to rap. Horribly awkward, in other words.
Please forgive this, but I spent upward of 1 minute, 45 seconds on the following. Hold on to your lunch:
Dig you ma groovy wheels From back in Ye Old Germany? Even diz Old White Suga-Daddy Be down ta scrape a knee Cheg it!
Vroom, Vroom!
Word!
Ye all, dog!
I would have sent a barf bag with this rhyme, but my Internet provider does not support that feature. Damon San Rafael, California
I felt compelled to write about my re cent purchase of a new BMW K1200S (my third BMW in as many years). I was very surprised to learn on delivery that I would only be given one key (aside from the plastic wallet key). When I contacted BMW directly, they advised me that I could “buy” another key if I wanted one-this after just purchasing a motorcycle that cost almost $18,000! What are they thinking over at BMW Motorrad? Good bike! Bad customer service! Jonathan Sparks Greenwich, Connecticut
Yo, Jon, you ’re sounding kinda old, rich and white, dude...
Cheers!
Peter Egan’s September column “In Praise of Cop Bikes” was well-written, entertaining, blah, blah, blah. All of it was lost, though, in his mention of “hoisting a stein of something called Black Bavarian” while sitting outside a favorite beer garden gazing upon a cluster of bikes. For Peter to condone the drinking of beer while making a rest stop on a motorcycle is irresponsible, foolish and gives the wrong message to young readers.
Now, I’m off on my new BMW K1200S, sober as hell doing 150. Come catch me! Glen Buchbaum Allendale, New Jersey
Soon as we settle up the bar tab, mate.
Buellysses
I just got back from touring Yel lowstone on my TT600 Triumph, and I'm starting to wish I had something with hard luggage, no chain maintenance and a slightly more upright riding position. Enter the September issue of Cycle World and the Buell XB12X Ulysses. This is my next bike! The BMW R1200GS is a little too heavy and much too expensive for me, but this Buell is just about perfect. If it carried a bit more fuel, it would be perfect. Well done, Mr.
Keith Underdahl Albany, Oregon
Buell
With two young kids at home, long road trips have become rare, and my CBR1 100XX Honda has been relegated to daily-commuter and occasional week end-sprinter status. It's not the ideal tool for the job, but I've yet to find anything with enough do-it-all appeal top~ the be \ loved five-year old Blackbird from my gloves. However, the new wave of adven ture-bikes may change that, and the Buell XB12X may just be the first "American" bike I've owned since my old Mont gomery Wards minibike. I look forward to all-weather commuting, being able to explorenot-so-well-main tamed roads, and not having to protect pristine bodywork from er rant tricycles and whiffle bats... Dave Terrian Livonia, Michigan>
The Buell XB12X Ulysses is a remarkable bike with unparalleled versatility, but is it fair to call it “The very best American motorcycle ever,” when so many of its key components, including the frame, swingarm, brakes, wheels, exhaust, seat and electricals, are manufactured abroad?
Craig Smith Warrenton, Virginia
My response to your question posed on the cover of the September issue (“Has Buell finally built a bike you'll buy?”) is: Not on your life!
Like the rest of Erik’s dysfunctional Addams family of two-wheeled study hall sketches, familiar traits abound. Granted, the reliability and build problems are a thing of the past. But the Ulysses has styling only a Shriner could love and Buell seems to take some perverse pleasure in this. Rob Kimber Highlands Ranch, Colorado
“Erik & Co. invent the Adventure-Sportbike.” Yeah, right. More like Erik & Co. totally rip off the Ducati Multistrada concept! And what if my adventure calls for crossing a stream? Is there a drain plug in the bottom of that muffler?
Richard Brooks Bethel, Connecticut
Has Buell finally built a bike I’ll buy? No, but with the 950 SuperMoto in that same issue, KTM sure has! David Ainley Newton, Connecticut
Your September focus on adventuretouring bikes was hard on the eyes. These bikes are just plain odd-looking. Perhaps next time you can omit the photos and use the space for content on choppers and cruisers. Geoffrey Jones
Naperville, Illinois
Do you wanna know the best thing about riding a sport-touring adventure bike? On the winding dirt roads and the pothole-infested twisty backroads I now ride, I have never once gotten stuck behind a slow-moving parade of cruisers!
Kyle Connor Brewster, New York
My riding forays include some great twisties, many of which are too rough for my past bikes and present Honda Superhawk, despite Öhlins and Race Tech upgrades. Then I see CWs story on the XB12X. I have little to no interest, nor respect, for the Hogmakers in Milwaukee, but I love this Buell! Nathan Fama Altoona, Pennsylvania
I agree that the new Ulysses may well be the breakthrough bike for Buell. One thing, however, stands squarely in the way of that: Buells tend to be sold through Harley shops, and the Harley culture is not congenial to the concept of sportbikes or adventure-tourers.
I’ll give you an example. After reading your article, I was salivating over the bike and had to see one. I rode my BMW over to the local Harley store. Not a salesman would walk over to me as I circled the Buells on the floor. I got on one. No response. (By the way, the shop was nearly empty and the salesmen were lounging about talking trash with their cronies.) Hell, I was ready to buy one on the spot, but I’ll be damned if I’ll go beg a salesman to help me. The same thing happened to me 10 years ago when I was enamored of a 1200 Sportster Sport. Different shop, same result. That’s why I’m on a BMW today. Buell needs stand-alone shops where congenial, knowledgeable salesmen who actually ride Buells will come over and talk. Then they’ll have their breakthrough. Chuck Patterson
Boulder, Colorado
Red, white and whew!
Thank God for Harley-Davidson and the new 35th Anniversary Super Glide, the only bike in the September issue that looks like a real motorcycle and not something assimilated by a Borg. Adventurebikes may be fun, that BMW monstrosity may be fast, the KTM SuperMoto may be the bike of the future, but they have all been beat to death with the ugly stick. Bless you for the centerfold on the Glide. What a beauty! Jim Corcoran
Lexington, Kentucky
Truck touché
If the AMA did its own version of “Ups & Downs,” we’d give the September ’05 issue of Cycle World a “Down” of the lowest order. See, we can’t quite figure out why CW gave a “Down” to the AMA for handing out pins depicting its MembersTour2005 truck. In the same issue, after all, Cycle World's editor-inchief spent his entire column gushing about a pickup truck. Will Cycle World be giving itself a “Down,” too, for “really truckin’ things up?”
Uh, guys, it’s a motorcycle magazine, remember? Tom Lindsay
Public Information Director, American Motorcyclist Association Pickerington, Ohio
Quite right, Tom, but most motorcyclists (andalmost 80percent of CW readers) own a truck, van or SUV for hauling bikes. If you ride dirtbikes, haul vintage iron to faraway rallies or simply take a streetbike in for overnight service, you need some kind of fourwheeled transport. Far from “gushing ” over a particular truck, the column wondered why modern pickups weren’t better suited to bikehauling and asked for reader response on the subject. The many letters that resulted have been passed on to all the major truck-makers along with our offer to be involved in the development of a truck geared specifically to the needs of America’s 8.8 million motorcyclists.
What’s so strange?
The new Vespa ad campaign is very bizarre, yet somehow strangely erotic.
Clifford Knotes Kent, Connecticut
Chop this!
I’m not surprised by the chopper/cruiser content of your magazine lately, or by
i the reader support of it. After all, this is the very same nation that embraces NASCAR, WWF wrestling and so-called “Reality TV.”
I personally have no interest in choppers or cruisers or anyone involved with them now or in the past. I consider them overpriced and functionally challenged objects for motorcycle posers. Riding them is the minimum of all motorcycling experiences. Cruising is to motorcycling what “Etch-a-Sketch” is to art!
I can’t wait for the journalistic, lastword bullyism to follow.
Carl Carpenter
Brooksville, Florida
None needed, Carl. We ’ll let Cycle World’s readers illuminate you.
Livin’ in the Cycle World
I have no complaints concerning the material in Cycle World. I think the staff throughout the decades has always upheld founding father Joe Parkhurst’s original concept of a magazine covering as broad a spectrum of the sport/hobby as possible. The very title of the magazine should be the big tip-off that CW is not a specialized niche magazine.
Quit your whining and grow up. If you can’t or won’t (due to your narrow-minded thinking) embrace the whole family of motorcycling, then by all means stop reading Cycle World and let the space previously taken up by your drivel be devoted to more bikes of all types.
Frank Morris Tacoma, Washington
I’m writing to complain about the complainers who tell you that you cover one type of motorcycle more than another. I subscribe to Cycle World because, as the title suggests, you write about cycles from all over the world. I’m lucky enough to own a cruiser and a sportbike, both of the American V-Twin variety, but I enjoy reading about every two-wheeled creation in your pages, from the lOOOcc rockets to (dare I say it?) choppers to one-off specials of all kinds. It all makes for great reading. Why would you buy a magazine called Cycle World if you didn’t want to read about all types of motorcycles? Mark Eisenhauer
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Please pay no attention to the yaks who do not understand the diversity in your magazine. That is why your mag is the only one I continue to subscribe to. Everything I need in one publication. Variety is the spice of life. I think Bocephus said it best when he sang, You are the only one that you are screwin’ when you put down what you don’t understand in his song, “If You Don’t Like Hank Williams.” Rick Woods
New Port Richey, Florida
Just as long as we don’t have to listen to amateur rap.
Cycle World magazine reflects (now don’t be surprised here) what is going on in the “world” of motorcycling. Apparently, this is not a concept grasped by all.
Joe Kozerski Indianapolis, Indiana
I am very happy to see how Cycle World has evolved into a magazine that includes all facets of the sport/business/lifestyle/ passion of motorcycles. Myself, I love all motorcycles and, at the very least, I enjoy observing all the human characters involved. This is what makes CW so great! Donald Toth
Smithtown, New York
Okay, I now have a reason to write my first letter to the editor. I’m amazed at the narrow mindedness of some readers. Just because there is an article on a type of motorcycle that you don’t care for is no reason to bash Cycle World. I have continued my subscription because of CW ’s wide coverage of the sport. If there is a feature that I’m not interested in, I don’t read it. It would be nice if certain readers would do the same.
Remember, the name of the magazine is Cycle World. Paul Miller
West Burlington, Iowa
I apologize for all the vile hate-mail your magazine has received from ingrates with short-term memory loss. Indian Larry, the Teutuls and Jesse James all operate in a free market economy. The free market will decide what is rideable and what is unrideable (and unbuyable). The same is true for Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Honda and The Motor Company. CW is the most balanced magazine on the market. Keep up the good work.
I do have one request: More Gina.
Scott Fowler Redding, California
As soon as we hire her away from Motorcyclist. Scott. Meanwhile, the Vespa Girl will have to do. □
