Hotshots
HOTSHOTS
Threading the Needle
“Riding the Steel Needle” in the December issue brought back great memories of our own Edelweiss “Best of Europe” tour, during which we met many of your countrymen, a lone Aussie swagman and an eccentric espresso-swilling, Gauloises-puffing, senior-citizen Frenchman who rode his 600cc Virago from Paris to join the tour in Munich! Whilst Cycle World may have had its last GP tour, all is not lost for riders wishing to sample Euro riding and racing. Just plan your own tour to tag on a GP beforehand or thereafter as we did when we traversed old East Germany en route to Sachsenring. If you’ve never ridden a German autobahn at 180 kph with a Porsche right behind flashing you to move over, get there! Delvin Vermaak Johannesburg, South Africa
Had I known Playboy employed a wordsmith of Petersen’s talent I really would have read the articles. No, really!
Greybeard Posted on www.cycleworld.com
I greatly enjoyed James R. Petersen’s “Riding the Steel Needle” article-good story-telling and nicely written. But a minor quibble: The film he mentions in which a giant cannon is hauled across Spain was The Pride and the Passion, starring Cary Grant as a Royal Navy officer, 01’ Blue Eyes as the guerilla leader and Sophia Loren as the prize, not El Cid as Petersen states.
Anyhow, in lieu of thanks, I am prepared to accept the role of fact-checker on the next sport-touring event organized by CW. Chris Parry
Corinth, Texas
Petersen says his usual mental alacrity was upset by images of a young (or old) Sophia Loren in a white peasant blouse...
James Peterson (excellent, fun article) should be aware that titanium is not magnetic and will not “light up every security gate in Europe.” Or anywhere else. How do I know? Titanium plates and screws in my rebuilt left shoulder.
Stainless steel is not magnetic, either (left leg, four 10-inch plates on tib and fib, 64 stainless nuts, bolts and screws). Neither occasion was my fault but that didn’t help. John Joss
Los Altos, California
Your BMW R1200ST “Steel Needle” sidebar, at a page, does not do justice to this incredible sleeper of a sport-tourer.
I traded in a Yamaha F JR after just 1800 miles for an R1200ST, and I love this bike, a pinnacle in the evolution of the BMW Boxer. The quote, “BMW gives you what you want, not what you think you want,” was made while reviewing the R90S 30 years ago, and it still holds true. Power is plentiful above 4000 rpm for sport, yet tall gearing yields smoothness for touring and 250270 miles from the 5.5-gallon tank. The ultra-quiet shaft drive is now light enough to be unnoticeable. Other BMW niceties include discs mounted without carriers, braided-stainless brake lines (the tee for the front calipers is machined into the lower triple-clamp for tidiness), rock-solid Telelever fork, lifetime fluid fill for the shaft, fork and clutch hydraulics and full three-year warranty with premium roadside assistance.
Oh, that “ugly” headlight? One nighttime ride reveals the best illumination ever experienced on a motorcycle.
Jeff Jordan, Lake Mary, Florida
Modern cycling?
I think I’m gonna be sick! The thumb-shift Yamaha FJR1300 AE for 2006 {Roundup, December) may be the beginning of a disturbing trend. Shifting without a clutch is motorcycle blasphemy! If you want a wuss-bike, buy a scooter! John Cleveland
Jasper, Alabama
I’d j ust like to chime in on the new F JR 1300. As always, the bike looks good, and glad to hear they have addressed the concerns of heat on the rider, but the automatic tranny is a big mistake. I immediately thought back to the Hondamatic of 197678 and remembered how it was rejected. For me, riding a bike means rowing gears and pulling on levers as the scenery rushes by. I truly appreciate new ideas and applaud companies that show vision, but don’t sterilize the motorcycle experience during the process.
Scott Owens Houma, Louisiana
Airbags on a Gold Wing {Roundup, December)? I have now seen the Antichrist. May the rapture take the rest of us quickly. Soichiro Honda must be rotating in his sarcophagus right about now. There are risks associated with motorcycling; we can’t eliminate them all. This is just plain silly. What’s next, hydraulic ram-powered training wheels so you don’t drop it at a light? Oh, wait, they already have those...
Salvatore Nardozzi Dunmore, Pennsylvania
Good to be King
I have really enjoyed Peter Egan’s articles the last few months. They are almost always humorous-and if they aren’t, they are at least thought-provoking. Peter, if I were King of the World {Leanings, December), there’d be at least three motorcycles in every garage. Oh, and the plaintiff who now has my bike would return it along with all the money spent fighting her over all the stupid stuff she’s dreamed up over the years.
I wish you, sir, many fine returns, and if Cycle World ever even thinks of putting you out to pasture, just cancel my subscription. Can’t wait to get your new book. Rick Ross
Rossville, Georgia
If I were King of the World, Peter Egan would live next door. Every day he would write a few paragraphs about anything related to two wheels, and stick it in my mailbox so that I could skip the morning paper. Rich Halen
LaSalle, Illinois
Mystery of the Traub
Regarding the mysterious Traub (American Flyers, December), let’s see: fiberengineered, carefully crafted, WWI-era,
German name, hidden away. Has Dale Walksler or any previous owner of this machine done any research in Europe, especially in Germany and Austria? I have a sneaking suspicion this bike may have originated there and been smuggled out by some American serviceman who appreciated its quality, but didn’t want to advertise what he had or how he got it. John Campbell
Poulsbo, Washington
I was one of the guys hanging out at Albert & Torello Tacchi’s bike shop on that Saturday in 1967 when the Traub arrived. Albert was a genius with any kind of old iron and had the Traub running within an hour or two. With the exception of some dust, it looked exactly as shown in your photos. And I was there when the man who brought it in told the story of finding it bricked up behind a false wall in his garage. We guessed that it had been stolen and that the thief was moved by contrition or the wrath of his father to hide it away forever. Nice to see it again.
Wrenn Nelson Chicago, Illinois
Hey, you found my bike! I knew I left it somewhere. I’ll come pick it up now, thanks. Pete “Traub” Burnett
Kansas City, Missouri
Tale of two Buells
After reading about the Buell Ulysses in the September issue, I did the usual online research and then visited the local H-D dealer hoping to see one up close. What I found were exactly two Buell motorcycles, neither one a Ulysses, and a salesman who said he wasn’t sure what colors they came in. I saw no point in asking anything else after that comment.
At some point, people are going to decide that Black Leather Everything is the leisure suit of the Nineties, and that there are some of us who want to ride something other than a wooly mammoth with tassels. Mr. Buell may be on to something with this one, but unless Harley dealers can pull their head out of their chaps, it’s going to be a tough sell. My “destination” in Tacoma was basically a gift shop with a few bikes in the comer. Either sell the product or take down the sign.
Dennis O’Connell
Port Orchard, Washington
Just want you to know that your writeup on the Buell Ulysses was instrumental in my buying one (that, and trying to take my ZX-10 down a gravel road). It is the most fun bike I’ve had in 20-some years of riding, and I just sold the Kawasaki this past weekend. Let’s hear it for comfortable ergos and real-world powerbands! David Cutter
Browns Summit, North Carolina
Freddie, Fast1y
I thoroughly enjoyed Kevin Cameron’s “The Gift of Speed” article on Freddie Spencer in December’s Race Watch. It was fun to relive those glory years of my alltime favorite racer. Duane Delperdang St. Paul, Minnesota
I still remember the first time I saw Freddie ride at Laguna Seca. Back then we would go to watch King Kenny play cat and mouse with the competition, before winning the race going away. I remember thinking, “Who the hell is this Spencer kid?” I still have this image of Freddie coming up the hill going into the Corkscrew with his silver CB tying itself into knots, the back wheel trying to pass the front, just before pitching it sideways, sliding both wheels through the comer. Tmly amazing stuff! Great article, great memories. Michael Chordas
Davis, California
Reader of the Month
I have been subscribing to your mag, on and off, for 10 years, and I have to say that now I am an official bike junkie. I started riding in high school when I bought a Bultaco from my physics teacher for $100 and proceeded to tear up my folks’ back yard. I eventually graduated to a Yamaha Seca 650 and finally an FZR 600, on which I managed to almost kill myself several times, and decided I needed to quit riding in order to mature, but that I would return when the time was right.
I finished college and moved to L.A., where I found a Honda CB750K that Patrick Swayze had purchased from Hollywood Honda after making his first movie in 1978. It seems Patrick spent all his time dirty dancing, because his motorcycle (even at just 13K on the clock) was devoid of any maintenance whatsoever, and the first time the head was taken off the engine was declared a total loss.
I’ve moved on to a CB 1100F and I belong to a web forum dedicated to old Honda CBs, where I have met some of the greatest people on Earth. I have even inspired my father to start riding again after a 30year hiatus (much to the chagrin of my mother) and that CBX he always wanted is now safely parked in the garage. Furthermore, I have managed to convince four people at my work that
riding is the way to go in L.A., and I have personally removed four cars from the road here in Southern California.
My girlfriend thinks I’m nuts taking all these pictures of my bike on all of our trips. “You have more pictures of your bike than you do of me!” she says. To which I have no response. It’s a good thing that she likes to ride on the backgood thing for her, anyway...
I am now a permanent subscriber to your wonderful magazine, and I read it cover-to-cover the day it arrives. But I have found one huge fundamental flaw with your publication. It only comes out once a month! A.J. Rosenberger
Los Angeles, California
Many thanks, A.J., and we may have a little relief for you between magazine deliveries. Check out the revamped www. cycleworld.com for additional articles, photo galleries, a staff blog and the evererudite CW Forums.
