Hotshots

HOTSHOTS

Fly American

Thank goodness you had Peter Egan and a story on the Dakar Rally in your July "American Flyers" issue, because otherwise I'd puke. Enough with the unrideable customs and cruisers! Tell us about real bikes, real rides, real riders and in-depth racing stories. If a bike has a hardtail, that should be your first signal to just say no. It doesn't belong on your pages. Adam Peirce Avon, Connecticut

Your July, 2005, issue compels me to write. It was simply the best-ever is sue of CW. Why? Because the "Ameri can Flyers" section was the largest ever! Editorially, it's easy to scam bikes from manufacturers and whip out a storyall the rest of the pubs do it. But in cre ating truly interesting-to-the-reader stories, "American Flyers" is unique. Keep doing it; in fact, do more of it. You will be rewarded. Phil Little Minnetonka, Minnesota

Please stop with the goofy chopper fea tures or else start calling your maga zine Chopper World. John Eannetta Hayward, California

"American Flyers?" Show me more! Show me more! Ken Cook Smyrna, Georgia

Many of us for years enjoyed what was the leading motorcycle magazine in the country, but your recent bias toward choppers, bobbers and V-Twins has me walking straight to the garbage can. We want substance, not two-wheeled jewelry. Arrivederci. I'll miss Kevin Cameron. Lou Verdiales Port Orange, Florida

What the hell has happened to reading retention in America?! For the record, of the 16 bikes featured in July "Am erican Flyers "special section, exact ly three were hardtails, including a 1940 Indian built, oh, about 15 years before the modern swingarm was de veloped. And a bias toward choppers, bobbers and V-Twins? Let's review. January, 2005, cover story: MotoCzysz GProadracing prototype. February: Roadracing WorldChampion Va/en tino Rossi and his Yamaha MotoGP bike. March: Supersport 600s. April: High-performance Harleys. May: 600cc sportbikeshootout. June: 1000cc sport bike shootout. July: "American Fly ers "(see above). August: "Master Bike" giant sportbike track test. Timefor a re think, Adam, John and Lou; we `d call that balanced, not biased.

Larry Legend?

-# --~ Wow! Bravo, kudos and, hopefully, an encore. What a won derful collection of ingenuity and moto-art in the July issue. A fabu lous exhibition of "American Fly ers." How great to see something more than mega-buck , choppers.

Also, accolades for the "Skinny-Dipping with Indian Larry" story. A fitting tribute to a man who knew what it was to build a bike from a garbage can full of parts; who was there when choppers were bikes stripped of everything except go and stop; when the money put into a bike was for gas and oil, and maybe a bit more go. May our memories of him help us stay "In the Moment." Live every day like it's your last, `cause who knows? Will B. Racelin Netarts, Oregon

"American Flyers" and Indian Larty? By far one of the best mags you've put out in my 10 years of subscribing to CW. Shaun Brasseau Jeffersonville, Pennsylvania

Please stop! Enough is enough! Another story about Indian Larry? Who cares? If you are going to dedicate seven full " pages to someone, there are a lot of \ people who have actually done some ) thing positive for motorcycling and • deserve that kind of coverage, not some dumbass chopper-builder making dumbass unrideable bikes (come on, a welded-chain frame?) who killed himself doing some dumbass stunt. And what about this> Craig Constantine Hunter S. Thomp son-wannabe? What absolute drivel! He should do us all a favor and shoot him self in the head. Please, no more Indian Larry or Craig Constantine. Don Clutter Hesperia, California

Please thank Craig Constantine for his excellent essay/tribute to Indian Larry. Tell him he got it right. Tom Armbruster East Peoria, Illinois

Wanted to say how moved I was by Craig Constantine's Indian Larry article. I saw Larry at a show a couple of years ago. I hadn't heard much about him then, but was amazed at the crowd he drew. I then came to love his artistry. I won dered about the days that preceded his death. Constan tine's article made me wish that I'd had the opportunity to meet him again. One day I will have tolookhimup. Vic Vance Osgood, Indiana fr~

Wow, you guys are just kicking butt, putting out the best cycle mag out there! Best writing, best photography, and the most interesting, issue after issue! Though I don't care much for chop pers beyond the artistic creativity and execution involved, and I advocate helmet laws, I still liked Indian Larry. Now there was a person fully alive, which old Saint Irenaeus said was the real glory of God. Thanks for the good writing. Peter Del Nagro Atchison, Kansas

I am a looong-time subscriber to this magazine, but I have got to say that I don't know for how much longer. I just finished reading the ode to Indian Lany and it fell right in step with David Edwards' insipid piece a couple of months back on Hunter S. Thompson. What is it with you people having to stoop to writing such odious pieces on a couple of real losers? HST was a jerk from the hippie generation and Indian Larry was a felon who was conning everybody along the way, and you fell for both of their siren songs. If Edwards and Constantine want to write such stuff, send it on over to Easyriders so the one-percenters can try to digest it. Steve Rauch Niceville, Florida

Mellow out, Rauch, you `re in danger of being run out of town. May we suggest a more appropriately named abode, say, Rudeville, New Jersey, or Looneyville, Texas, or Dickeyville, Wisconsin? You could always move to Toad Suck, Arkan sas, or Lizard Lick, North Carolina.

Perhaps Dismal, Tennessee, has a place for you, or Downers Grove, Illinois? Likewise, Shite Creek, Idaho, and Dork Canal, Oregon. On the other hand, Dry Prong, Louisiana, sounds like a perfect match...

I enjoyed Edwards' piece on Hunter S. Thompson tremendously! Though I have heartedly appreciated Thompson's writing since days of acid-filled dreams on hot summer beaches, he was never more than that "sad parody of himself' as David said, and never represented any generation. But at least the parody was of himself Reader Saviers' letter in July's issue taking Edwards to task for writing "whim sical crap... small-minded tripe of little interest to anyone," presented an even sadder parody of Thompson and what he may have left behind: a legacy, if you will, residing between the ears of Saviers and his ilk. I knew by the letter's second line that the writer's name was certain to be Pierre. Charles Goodwin High Springs, Florida

Hey, maybe Rauch could use a little of what in your water? Wonderftilly written article by Craig Con stantine. His recollections and memoirs of the final days he spent with Indian Larry were some of the most emotion provoking I can remember reading. A year after his death, something needed to be said about Larry, and Constantine's words were both reverent and wonderfully thought-out. Michael OiGregorio Phoenix, Arizona

Two thumbs-up for an engaging, easyreading story. So there's old Indian Lar ry, goofing off like usual, having a good time, doing his famous-guy thing, and Bang! up steps Old Baldy and Larry's in the past. Sure, there's a tragedy waiting at the end of every life, but I'm certain that, at the time, Larry was thinking, "Oh, hell, I screwed that one up," with little concern for what the future might have held. Cheers to us all. Heintz Neuman Portland, Oregon

Obviously, you live nowhere near Dork Canal.

"Skinny-Dipping with Indian Larry" was excellent. Although Indian Larry is gone, his image is forever etched in our minds. When you hear thunder rolling across the sky, just remember it's not thunder-it's God riding the chopper In dian Larry built for him. Joe Zuppardo Lima, Ohio

The article on Indian Lany was wellwritten and insightful. While I am sad that he's gone, I also wonder if perhaps his timing wasn't right on. Maybe it's better to remember the man as he was before fame, money and Hollywood tainted him. Consider James Dean who checked out in dramatic style at his peak, whereas Elvis hung around just a little too long. Of course, we'll never know what might have been for Indian Larry, but there was always the chance that he could have ended up as others, building two-wheeled Lincolns that turn into fire engines and squirt soft-serve. What a waste that would have been! Doug Boughton Sand Lake, New York

Sands Man

First, may I offer a big thumbs-up for the "American Flyers" section in your July issue? Not all of the bikes were exactly to my taste, but all were defin itely interesting and entertaining.

Which is more than I can say for the cover story about Roland Sands' "Glory Stomper" custom. Who is in charge of author John Bums' Ritalin dosage? The first two pages of his "Speed Demon" article were unintelligible drivel. Your editorial staff consists of 15 people; were none of them available to actually do a little editing on this silly piece of selfindulgence? In the absence of adult over sight, perhaps Mr. Bums might consider gargling with Imodium to cut down on the verbal diarrhea? Douglas Daniels El Paso, Texas

I look at the customs such as Roland Sands' "Glory Stomper" and many words come to mind. Awesome? No. Gorgeous? No. Cool? No. More like garish, ugly, etc. Most of this new generation of custombike builders does not know when to stop with the billet and bling. Obviously none of them have heard the saying, Less is More! Sands' "Glory Stomper" and Jesse Rooke's "Kali-Kruiser" (please...) are butt-ugly and do not belong on the cover of any magazine (well, maybe Tasteless Crap Quarterly). Stop already with the overly fat tires and horrible billet wheels and start using a true artistic eye instead of a pimp's fashion sense. Enough's enough! Dale Murphy BrockvHle, Ontario, Canada

Regarding Jesse's "Schwing Ray": $70K for a (C)Rooke custom? Keep that hap in Kalifornia! Josh Erb Manhattan, Kansas

Please do whatever it takes to get the AMA to re-institute the 250 GP roadrac ing class. That would get Roland Sands out of the boutique chopper design studio and back on a racebike. That "Gaudy Stomper" thing he built is the worst eye sore I've ever seen! Rene LaPrevotte Placerville, California

Roland Sands is out of line ragging on the Teutuls of "American Chopper" TV fame. I wonder if he has the balls to go to New York and tell all those firemen about the "stupid shit" that Paul Jr. put on the "Fire Bike." Sands is an ostentatious a-hole from California; he thinks his way is the only way. But I have to admit the Glory Stomper is a bitchin' motorcycle. Mike Rigsby Dallas, Texas

Let's get this straight, the Teutuls don't "build" jack! They bolt together parts out of a catalog. World-class bike-builders like Roger Goldammer and Cole Foster build the parts for their creations out of raw metal, they don't order from the Fat Book, which is to say they are craftsmen, not entertainers. America watches "Ameri can Chopper" for the Three Stooges fac tor, not to see these clowns build worldclass bikes. I am so sick of seeing the Teutuls looking out at me from every magazine I pick up. Can the old man do anything other than cross his arms and glare down his nose? And what is up with that dead squirrel draped across his upper lip? Mike Blanchard Sacramento, CaI~fornia

What I'd really like to see is a chopper roadrace. Run it at Pocono-there is no helmet law in Pennsylvania-and put the Teutuls on the front row. Now that would be funny! Jon Sumerfield Allentown, Pennsylvania

Yeah, look for the race report in the pre mier issue of Chopper World.