Hotshots

HOTSHOTS

Old? Sold!

Way to go for highlighting, once again, the virtues of the Suzuki SV650 ("Ten Best Used Bike Buys,” CW, February). Several years ago, I was dating a woman who professed an interest in learning to ride.

“What’s a good bike to begin with?” she asked.

“An SV650,” I replied.

She frowned and said something about wanting a “cool” bike. She ended up buying a cruiser: large, heavy and not easy for a newbie to handle. Said cruiser ended up in the garage unridden and unloved; an end to a nascent relationship. And, it was the end of our relationship, too. If a partner won’t listen to you about bikes, then what’s the point? Right? Right! James Eng

Mount Laurel, New Jersey

Thanks for the “Ten Best Used Bike Buys.” I agree with 90 percent of your picks-not a fan of the Yamaha Viragos. I once owned a 1998 Suzuki Bandit 1200 (great bike!), and I still have a 1993 Honda VFR. The other bikes in the article are all great, and there are so many good used bikes on the market that it just makes sense to check them out. Tim Loosemore Posted on www.cycleworld.com

Thank you for featuring the Honda VFR in the number-one spot for usedbike value. I couldn’t agree with you more! I have always maintained the VFR is great value for the buck. My own 1998 VFR clicked over 100,000 miles just this last spring, purring like it will go for another century of riding. I sure do love my bike.

I must point out though that the

picture featured in the article by Paul Dean is of a later model, circa 1995-96, with a little different styling than the 1993 mentioned in the article. If you are lucky enough to score a mint 1993 VFR, you would be treated to a stunning pearl-white paint job with matching white wheels and an understated graphics package that enhances the look of the bike dramatically. It is really one of the prettiest bikes any major motorcycling company has ever built.

Thanks again from your friends at vfrdiscussion.com. Miguel Mayo Posted on www.cycleworld.com

In fact, Mr. Dean owns a VFR750, a 1990 model in red. As stated in the article, most any year VFR is a great buy. Over the years, they’ve notched 11 of QW’s Best Bikes awards.

You guys are in trouble! You didn’t mention the Kawasaki KLR650 in your Best Used Bikes section. And to think you made that faux pas while talking up the Suzuki DR-Z

and Honda XR-L. Now you’re going to have a bunch of unshaven guys in greasy “Gilligan” hats ready to kick your asses with moldy Belstaff boots while strangling you with necklaces made from bent masterlinks and other doohickeys. Dr. Jack Moonshine Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Soldier’s story

Having just returned home from a tour in Afghanistan, I was met with a large stack of Cycle Worlds. As I pawed through them, I finally got to the most recent arrival, the February issue. One of my favorite features is the “25 Years Ago” section. For the last few years, I’ve been wondering if you would mention the arrival of a true classic, the Honda Nighthawk S. I’ve owned a 1984 model for many years, have about 80,000 miles on the clock and she’s still going strong. I was pleasantly surprised to see not only a mention of the ’Hawk but that it actually got the cover shot back in the day...right around the time I was getting out of basic training!

Thanks for the tip of the hat. I salute

back and impatiently wait for the snow to melt around here. I’ve got more than a year of riding to catch up on! Cpt. Robert F. Romano

U.S. Army

Love at First Bike

I took my MSF Basic Riders Course at age 50 and a couple of months later got my first bike, a Harley Sportster 883. At first, I wished that I had started years sooner but then realized I had saved something very special and new for myself, and in middle age how many things are there you can call “new?”

I had to laugh when in >

CHATTER...

what the Forums at cycIewo,,d corn are saying about Ten Best Used Bike Buys

i uu percent correct about older sportbikes being decent alI~arounder5 the latest and greate~~ aren't such on the street. The Honda VFR was the perfect pck I'm surprised more People aren't into these bikes. They have just as much character as any bike out there (American or Italian), plus gear-driven cams, that sweet V-Four Sound, a singIesi~~~ Swingar~ and they are fin ished to typica' Honda Standards

The best used bike is the one you wanted Since it debuted but Couldn't afford until flow.

Go~a give you guys at CW a thumbs~up on the Ten Best Used Bikes I've Owned three out of the 10 and can Personally vouch for the goodnes5 of the Honda XR650L plus the Suzuki Bandit 1200 and SV650 I'll be glad to validate your choice of the remaining seven if you would simply make them available to me. C'mon now don't be stingy., you got the bikes.

That Virago i 100 is so Corny lookin' that it's cooll The kIt5Ch factor is off the charts~ At that price I would Consider buying one lusts0 that I could hop it up then blast through a pod of Harley tuffies While Wearing a gorilla Suit with velcro kneesljders Can you still get tires with White lettering? That Would pretty much be a necessi~,

“Love at First Bike” (OLFebruary), John Zavoina’s wife finds that his pleasantly long e-mail is really all about motorcycling! My wife and kids tell me that’s all I ever talk about and that every conversation I have reverts back to motorcycling-even when I’m talking to a stranger or to my kids’ little friends.

I urge other 40-, 50and 60-year-olds to open up the special gift that still awaits them, a gift that will help keep the mind strong in the years to come, a gift that they can enjoy for a long, long time: Something New. Glenn Rueger Torrance, California

I just finished reading “Love at First Bike” and I have to say, good for you, John, welcome to our sport! I’m a year younger, been riding for 37 years and I always enjoy news of someone being bitten by the motorcycling bug. That’s one less car on the road and one more driver that just became more aware of the presence of motorcycles. The more the merrier. Dave Knoetgen

Spanaway, Washington

It would probably be nice if Zavoina’s old college friend David Edwards, or maybe someone from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, told the newbie to

put some turnsignals on his bike. Geeeez! Scott Sparks

Posted on www.cycleworld.com

A real ice hole

Living in Northern Ontario means long, cold winters and a yearning for summer days when I can once again hop on my Yamaha V-Max and ride. Until that day comes, Cycle World magazine helps me keep my sanity and stay in tune with what’s going on in the world of motorcycles.

Since I also enjoy ice fishing, I decided to bring your recent issue with me while I waited to catch the big one. As can be seen in the accompanying photo, I was only able to get to “Trick Gixxers, ’Busas and B-Kings” before I had my limit of three lake trout and had to head for home. Looks like your magazine was good luck! Thanks for keeping me entertained and informed during my bikeless months!

Steve Burgess

Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada □

OP/ED

READER ESSAY

I have owned and enjoyed both streetand dirtbikes for over 30 years. In that time, I've spent many days on the track as well as touring through Europe on several occasions (a recommended "Bucket List" item for any true motorcyclist). But while the rest of the world is awed by the new flock of 130-plus-horsepower sportbikes, I've fallen in love with motorcycling all over again, thanks to my used Honda XR65OL, a 38-hp, $3000 dual-sport bike based on a 15-year-old design. I find that nothing is more fun than spend ing a day in the mountains switching from very technical paved roads-often being held up by some of those aforementioned sportbikes-to blasting down fireroads with my buddies, sliding all the way, a true 50/50 dual-sport experience. I can honestly say that I've never had more fun on a motorcycle of any type-or doing anything else with my pants on, for that matter. -My point in sending you this is to make a plea to manufacturers (particula~y the Japanese) to update their current designs and produce a California-legal 450cc dual sport w~h a six-speed gearbox. This would

cit be the "perfect bike," relatively cheap buy and Own, and more practical th~ the 250s that seem to be the of t~ flew crop of Japanese dual-sports My o XR65OL is great, but it's too heavy and to buzzy at road speeds due to the lack of Six-speed The Europeans are marketin( serious 450s like this, but it seems to m that if YamaKawaHonZuki were to builc one it would likely be more affordable and Possibly more reliable. Yamaha already has a 450cc dual-sport it's selling in Europe. Why not bring it here? SUZ~kI'~ DR-Z400S is close, but it's aging and needs a sixSpeed and 50 more cc. As evidenced by new bikes from BMW, KIM, Aprilia and others, there must be a market for these types of bikes here. My plea to Asian manufacturers: Don't let this OPportunity slip by! Craig DeWoif Castro Valley, California Got something to say about motorcycling? Then fire away! Letters Chosen for Op/Ed win the writer a Qv~/~j4~or/ç/ T-shirt. E-mail to cwletters@hImus corn snail-mail to CW Letters, 1499 Monrovia Ave., Newport Bead-,, CA 92663.