Hotshots

HOTSHOTS

Ninja Chronicles

I was considering purchasing the new Kawasaki Ninja 250R (“Small Fortune,” CW, June) as a fun-to-ride economical third motorcycle, so hearing that the 2008 model was significantly improved sounded great. What sounded not so great is that the fuel economy dropped 20 mpg as compared to the previous model. From articles written in your own magazine (“Petrol Pinchers,” CW, February, 2006), the previous-generation Ninja 250R got over 70 mpg. The 2008 model gets just over 50!

Wow! In a time of dramatically increasing fuel costs, that number seems to be going in the wrong direction.

Stephan Boatin

Knoxville, Tennessee

Thanks for the update on the 2008 Ninja 250. But a 44-mpg average, 0-60 mph in 7.4 seconds and a 92-mph top speed? The original Ninja 250 hit 60 in under 6 seconds, showed 55-75 mpg and ran 105 mph on the top end. My own 2004 Ninja 250 gets 65 mpg around town and 70-75 mpg on the highway. I’ll keep my ’04 Ninja, even though the 2008 looks way better. Doug Estes

Modesto, California

So the new Ninja 250 gets a restyle and a smoother engine but loses the centerstand and easy-to-use threaded valve adjusters? I’d been mulling over buying an ’08 model but not now; guess I’ll look for an older version on the usedbike market-or just pull my old Yamaha SRX600 out of mothballs and save the money. MSgt. John S. Bryan

Ohio Air National Guard

I was amused by Gabe Ets-Hokin’s review of Kawasaki’s little Ninja 250R because it reminded me of lots of 250class club racing and the canyon fun I had on my 250 Bultaco Metralla back when dinosaurs roamed the tarmac. The Ninja spec panel, however, surprised me. My late-’60s Bultaco weighed 250 pounds wet and made around 30 horses-a bit more with kit parts-good for 90-plus mph.

So, while the Ninja has nifty modern refinements like a disc brake, an extra cog and broad power, it seems to lose in a power-to-weight comparison, with only 27 hp at the rear wheel and 382 pounds.

Maybe Darwin’s been sleeping.

Jeff Corsiglia Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Reality-check time, fellas. No Ninja 250 we’ve ever tested did 0-60 mph in less than 6 seconds and the fastest we’ve ever seen is 101 mph. As far as fuel mileage, the 74-mpgfigure we attained in “Petrol Pinchers ” was on a prescribed course of highway, two-lane and city riding, all at the speed limit. In real-world riding, including backroad blasts, the '08 Ninja ’s average of 44 mpg is in line with our ’86 testbike ’s 48 mpg. As always, your mileage may vary, especially if you ’re on a Bultaco...

Fightin' in the Streets

Big thumbs-up for recognizing the streetfighter scene (“Hooligans Rule!” CW, June) in a mainstream magazine! While I tend to ignore ’fighters that come out of the moneyed garages, I like that you devoted the space to these machines.

We “blokes in sheds,” as you put it, are still at it, making streetfighters out of crashdamaged sportbikes. Personally, I don’t consider it a challenge to start with something that was naked to begin with (VDClassic’s V-Rod, Roland Sands’ Hypermotard); the real test of an SF “artist” is in hammering a fully faired bike into a complete package that outperforms the original.

Thanks for the great write-up and for getting your facts straight. I knew I made the right decision ditching the other magazine and renewing yours!

Peter Spinale St. Paul, Minnesota

Regarding “Speed Rod: The French Correction” in the June streetfighters section: With all due respect to Harley’s styling department, please give them Jean Francois’ phone number. They really need to get in touch with him...

Jim Taylor Bridgeton, Missouri

I think the streetfighter crowd is just a bunch of cheap bastards who customize their wrecks because that’s all they can afford...at least that’s my excuse. I only have $3200 total into my (see photo) Honda CBR900RR ’fighter-not counting my hours of joyous labor. Thanks for showing that custom bikes can look cool and still perform and function well. Oh, and Roland Sands, you’re my hero! Marc Harshman

Forest Lake, Minnesota

Will someone please keep Roland Sands from turning really nice bikes into bastardized pieces of crap like the “RSDuc” Hypermotard? Randy Troy Carlsbad, California

Just wanted to say thanks for June’s special section on naked bikes. These motorcycles look the way God intended motorcycles to look-all the go-parts out in the open, frames

exposed, wide useful handlebars and upright comfortable ergonomics. The way all bikes were when I started riding. I think I just dated myself! Steven Hudson Patterson, Georgia

Sexy things

I want to thank David Edwards for publicly defending Pierre Terblanche and his much-maligned Ducati designs (“Pierre’s Sex Machines,” Up Front, June). Maybe it’s because I didn’t really get into motorcycles until 2004 and was unfamiliar with the legendary status of the 916, but it was Terblanche’s work that absolutely threw me over the edge into motorcycling. I remember going into a big multibrand dealer, looking at bikes, and my buddy saying, “You gotta check this out.” It was a 749 Dark that I proceeded to drool over for the next 30 minutes. The design was so stunning and so far removed from anything else I had seen up to that point. I never bought one, but it gave me something to aspire to and made me fall in love with motorcycles. I’ll always have a soft spot for that bike and Terblanche’s designs. Ray Kim

Los Angeles, California

Vincent van Gone

I was surprised that Peter found his Vincent Black Shadow so daunting (“Living with Vincent,” Leanings, June). He is reputed to be a savvy mechanic, devoting years to extensive restorations of far more exotic machines, such as his EType Jaguar. I suppose if the bike has been represented to him as fully sorted, 1 can understand his exasperation. One can only muster so much emotional energy for geriatric machinery. Believe me, I know. If he had persevered, though, he would have discovered in the full ness of time that a Vincent really is a solid and reliable long-distance mount, and one of the least finicky of its day. And, oh yes, when properly tuned, they start first (or second) kick, hot or

cold. John Laughney

Templeton, California

PS: I was saddened to hear of Bernard Li’s death (see Up Front this issue). While his new Vincents weren’t to my

taste, he, unlike most of us, did more than talk about his dream. He actually made it!

1 had to write after reading first David Edwards’ column on Vincents (“Mythbusters,” Up Front, May) and then Peter Egan’s “Living with Vincent” follow-on. I have been a Vincent owner since 1980, and have a ’50 Black Shadow, a ’54 Rapide with Steib sidecar and a Norvin. I ’ve put about 30,000 miles on the Shadow, including two trips to the Isle of Man. The tone of the first column was a bit offensive (why dredge up an old biased road test attacking Vincents?) but the second, detailing Mr. Egan’s reasons for selling his Vincent, was worse.

I note that Egan had his share of problems with his Black Shadow (as have we all). After all, the newest original Vincent is now at least 54 years old, and even a competently rebuilt one still needs to be sorted out properly. However, of the problems he lists (magneto failure, advance troubles, generator failure and Alton difficulties, clutch drag, carburetor flooding, hard starting, plug fouling), three are really not Vincent problems at all! They were difficulties with modern replacements. The magneto problem is common (probably a failed capacitor or shorted armature) to all old magnetos.

It seems as though Peter expected an old bike of uncertain history and unknown use to be the same as a new one. His comment that it “probably needed a few more years of development on the small stuff” is at best wrong, at worst ignorant.

As I pointed out above, several of his most frustrating problems were the result of new non-Vincent parts, and others resulted from 50 years of aging and use! What did he expect? I can assure you that although Vincents do have their problems, a well-sorted one (apparently not his) is reliable, comfortable and quite usable. But he didn’t find that out, because he didn’t bother. David Stein Philomath, Oregon

Editor-at-Large Egan, a man who does indeed wield a mean Whitworth wrench, responds: “Dear Mr. Stein, actually, I did ‘bother ' for about two years, more or less continuously. In my column I wjas simply trying to be honest and report what happened to me-not what I wish had happened, or what happened to someone else with a different bike. But then I have two friends w'ho once owned Vincents and had problems quite similar to mine, so perhaps my experience was not unique. You are right about the non-Vincent parts, though. A stock, original-style clutch and generator would probably have worked better and caused much less trouble.”

Cancel-proof

I’m sorry, but I didn’t take offense at something one of your authors wrote. I also didn’t have my sensibilities disturbed by any particular photo or ad you decided to run. How is this possible? I exercised my God-given ability to turn the page. I do likewise with a TV remote and the channel buttons on my radio. I’m also able to do the same with my web browser. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t want you deciding what I should or should not read or see. My subscription is paid up through 2011. Please don’t cancel it.

John Walton Fairfax, Virginia

Triumph’s Big Twin

Go Triumph! Can it be true? A big, I700cc vertical-Twin?! Bring it on! The spyshot I saw in your May issue has me jumpin’ for joy. I wished for years that Triumph would make the Bonneville on a larger scale...yeehaw! I am ready to add one to my stable. I have a spot reserved next to my 1973 Bonneville. I can only hope Triumph will produce a “blackedout” version. Randy Rucker Camden, Ohio

What the F?

Add my name to the list of riders who would really, really like it if Honda brought the proposed CBl 100F to these shores! That’s the only bike I’ve seen in a long time that I would consider a worthy replacement for my ’85 Kawasaki 1100 LTD that I’m still trying to ride the wheels off of. Okay, so I’m a throwback to the Stone Age of bikes (mid-to-late ’70s/early ’80s) when the big deal was a naked air-cooled inline-Four of about lOOOcc looking like a motorcycle! Not all of us are into plastic-encased crotch rockets, V-Twins as big as your average earthmover or whatever monstrosity the dysfunctionals at Orange County Choppers are cooking up this week!

So, if you’ve got any leverage with American Honda, lean on ’em and get us the CB 11 OOF. Thanks! Paul Bowers

Topeka, Kansas

Sadly, no official word on either machine. Triumph has confirmed the existence of the mega-Twin cruiser but will not comment further, though a 2009 intro seems likely. Absolutely nothing from Honda on the retro-sport CB1000F seen at last year's Tokyo Motor Show, though it looked 100 percent production-ready to us.