Hotshots

HOTSHOTS

MasterBike vs Ural?

I just finished reading MasterBike ("Running of the Bulls," June), and relative to each other, the differences between all those bikes amount to a teaspoon of warm spit. As a diehard Ural and Enfield man, I don't care—they are all way faster bikes than I'll ever use. I could take any of those MasterBikes—any time, any road—as long as the first 5 percent of the race is backward, carrying a keg of beer.

It's no more stupid than any other race, and there's beer at the end. My Enfield could demolish any of those bikes over any course of 65 miles, limited to one gallon of gas. I hit a deer the other day on my Ural. Killed it, and I didn't even lose my lane, let alone fall over. I banged out the damage to the sidecar's nose with a 4x4 post. Try that with your CBRS41000XXRRC98R1.

Carl Lincoln Enterprise, Oregon

In an otherwise-excellent article on the BMW SlOOORR's impressive performance ("BMW Drops the Bomb," June), John Burns' statement that the bike "blew all the established players completely out of the water, Bismarck style," is inappropriately flippant and, frankly, rather callously dismissive of the 1416 men of the Royal Navy who perished aboard HMS Hood, a more lightly armored battle cruiser in May, 1941. World War II was no laughing matter, especially in the U.K., which bravely fought on alone and spent so much blood and treasure in the name of freedom for many months before the United States entered the war.

Sometimes, what at first seems to be a clever turn of phrase, on reflection, has all the aerodynamic qualities of a lead balloon. Peter Chronis

Denver, Colorado

A lead balloon is no laughing matter, Peter, especially if it falls on your lightly shingled belfry and lets all the bats out.

Let's get technical

I enjoyed Paul Dean's article on horsepower (May), and having done some research on this topic some years ago, I think I can add a few bits of information.

Dean said, "...horsepower isn't anything tangible" and that's true, but torque is. Torque is what lifts your front wheel and makes your bike accelerate. Horsepower is responsible for speed. Peak horsepower will determine your top speed; torque will determine how quickly you can get from one speed to another. Torque is a rotational measure (of force) and horsepower—or just power—is a linear measure (of rate of doing work).

Dean said the stroke dimensions of an engine are not included in the formula for calculating horsepower from torque and rpm because a lever distance of one foot is assumed. It is not an assumption; it is a factor and has nothing to do with a crankshaft. Electric motors have torque and power, too. If your formula is per unit of length, then you have a 1 in the denominator and since dividing by 1 doesn't change anything, you just drop it.

Have you noticed that some publications refer to torque in lb-ft, not ft-lb? That is because the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)—you know, the oil-viscosity people—distinguish between work and torque, which have the same units, by using ft-lb for work and lb-ft for torque. Also note that the abbreviations for the units are correctly shown as two letters only— no "s" for plural and no period (unless at the end of a sentence). D. Rocca Motive Power Technician Automotive Quality Engineer Fort Collins, Colorado

In the "Horsepower!" story's ZX-6R vs. H-D example, Mr. Dean says at peak horsepower the "Kawasaki will leave the Harley for dead" even though they produce the same peak horsepower. Isn't this a result of the difference in the mass of the two bikes and unrelated to peak horsepower or the shape of their curves? Using the same example, the Harley makes 80 hp at about 3600 rpm and the Kawasaki does so at about 10,000 rpm. With the two motorcycles side-by-side and geared so both would be producing 80 hp, would they be an even match in a roll-on provided they weighed the same and had similar aerodynamics? Wayne Krafft

Spokane, Washington

If total weight were the same and both machines were delivering the same power, they would accelerate identically. Of course, this is altered by different shapes ofpower curves, but if we postulate the same and constant hp for both, they will accelerate in the same fashion.

Crockers etc.

Loved John Burns' "Building the Perfect Crocker" (June), especially the credit due to Crocker-sensei Chuck Vernon, but I laughed at the thought of the brand having become so popular as a result of a deceased newspaper magnate who owned one model.

Most would agree that the reason for the recent climb to fame is because of Crocker being the featured marque at the 2006 Legend of the Motorcycle concours. That event's record assembly of 25 models, the feature article in their program book, and the attendance of AÍ Crocker's son and grandchildren, put the brand directly in the spotlight like has never before been done and catapulted it to the general consciousness of bike aficionados around the world.

Showcasing the most beautiful and possibly the most valuable production motorcycle ever made, the Crocker article was fantastic—great photography and a great story on the bike—yet no mention of it at all on the cover of the magazine? We had the sportbike shootout (yawn), some enduro that's already At the time of the Legends show, a Crocker could be had for around $100,000. A few weeks after the show, they were trading hands for $200,000 and climbing. M. Lucas forgotten and the ugly Multistrada...but no Crocker?! I nearly missed the story entirely.

Houston, Texas

I hope we're not losing articles of unique reader interest like the "American Flyers" series or custom stuff like Mule Motorcycles' streetrackers and other one-off choppers, café bikes, antiques, whatever, in the name of providing more space for OEM sportbikes, niche racing and advertisers catering to that market. CW has done a great job of blending it all for years.

I hope things continue in that vein or I may threaten to not renew my sub!

"BSAChop"

Posted on forums.cycleworld.com

There 's no big "corporate strategy ''for the mag, Mr. Chop. We've had a lot of interesting new products and have been working on testing/numbers-type issues, so we've focused on those things lately, with some features tossed in.

Rest assured, there are more American Flyers/World s Coolest Bikes (way cool, in fact) in the works, and we also have some awesome used/cheap-bike stuff lined up. Plus, a Kevin Cameron historical tech piece on one of the most amazing racebikes of all time... There is lots of good stuff coming, all in the same spirit that has made Cycle World great!

Upon reflection...

Peter Egan, I read your "Reflections on a Road King" with great interest. I bought my '91 Electra Glide Classic new and have been riding it almost 20 years. It is bone-stock—I have not even had the rocker covers off yet—and we're at about 124K on the clock. I went to this machine after 15 years of BMWs. Last week, while stopped at a red light, a lady in an SUV rolled her window down and asked how I made my Harley so quiet. I replied that that's how the factory made it. My bike is a novelty to her, as well as the rest of the general public. John Shreve

Stockton, California

Brave New World

A fast note to say I am back as a subscriber, now that I don't have to feel bad about the old issues lying around the house.

I just finished my second iPad read of Cycle World and I am a convert. It is the entire magazine with the added bonus of being able to click on advertisers' links from the ad or reference in an article.

The 21 st century looks great so far. Thanks for keeping up with it.

Eric Stokely

Sent from my iPad

Eric, glad you found www.zinio.com/ cycleworld. Don't forget about our iPhone app, either, for more frequent updates. And just so you know, there is much more to come on the digital front! □