Hotshots
HOTSHOTS
Laughter and the art of the oil change
We who have blithely launched upon the deceptively placid waters of motorcycle maintenance know how quickly conditions can deteriorate. The black clouds and howling winds descend without warning, and the rocks of unintended consequences loom large. A cruel confluence of design engineers placing form over function with the immutable laws of physics is why our collective pastime is colloquially called a "sport." Half a box of tissues later, I'm able to croak, "Thanks, Peter, for a convulsively funny sharing in 'Zen and the Art of the Oil Change" (Leanings, December)!!
Dave Martin Natick, Massachusetts
Thanks to Peter Egan for the oil-change tutorial. One addition, though: I also drop the drain plug and washer into that lake of black gook. It's always fun fish ing that out. Jay Schleiter
Wellington, Florida
Yet another great issue for December. Some street, dirt, new, old, an appealing mix for many appetites. Special thanks to Peter Egan for helping me hone my
oil-change skills. I've been a filter drop per for many years but never thought to kick the drain pan. Anxiously awaiting future issues, es
pecially the oft-whispered-about-but-as yet-unpublished "Kevin Cameron for Dummies." Jack Bellinof Georgetown, Texa~
Adventure "posers" respond
I read Mr. Christensen's "Adventure posers?" (Hotshots, December) with great interest, and in one way, he is right. I love "posing" on my V-Strom. I did a great deal of it last summer. I hopped on it in Clovis, New Mexico, and "posed" for 500 miles to Gunnison, Colorado (cruising at speeds not obtainable on the DR650 he mentioned as a "better multi-surface vehicle"). Next morning, after having great fun pounding up some very rocky switchbacks, I stopped to "pose" atop Cinnamon Pass (12,000 feet!) and "posed" again arriving in Silverton before once again riding off-road over that same pass back to Lake City, Colorado, for the night. Next day, more "posing" on Engineer Mountain (once again above 12,000 ft. on some of Colorado's best "Rocky" trails). The next "posing" was done after I completed the ride down Poughkeepsie Gulch (Google that fun little trail). However, my best "posing" was saved for "The Steps" on the ride down to Telluride and Imogene Pass, all off road. These "wallowing hippos" can
be great fun, not to mention amazing climbers on these slightly challenging Colorado backcountry trails. By the way, I'm not a lawyer, phar macist or middle manager. Just a highschool teacher who in 14 months will be 70 years old and had both knees replaced over 10 years ago and double bypass heart surgery eight years previous. If Mr. Christensen would like to come ride with me next year on his "IN EVERY SIGNIFICANT WAY a better multi-surface vehicle" DR650, I'll be waiting, oops, "posing!" Life is good! Keith Ingram Clovis, New Mexico
Adventure posers? I always find this type of criticism interesting. I recently had a great time riding my V-Strom adventure bike all over the Jeep trails in Colorado and Utah. I enjoyed that much more than riding my XR65OL several hundred miles on pavement (ouch!) to get to the mountains. Go to Moab and you will see plenty of adventure bikes off-road. An adventure bike isn't a dirt bike; it's a two-wheeled Jeep.
Seldon Gittord Wylie, Texas
Creature feature
Like Hunter S. Thompson, I, too, started life on two wheels with a BSA 650, a 1970 Lightning ("Song of the Sausage Creature," December). I remember strad dling that monster at 17 and being scared sh*tless. From that moment on, I learned respect for fast motorcycles, and some what like HST, that fast was never fast enough. Fast forward 40 years through a plethora of fast bikes, and I have been subdued by the H-D VRSCX. (With much restraint, and just a bit of spousal pres sure, I narrowly escaped the Kawasaki ZX-14R's Siren Sausage Song.) To some outside our world, a fast motorcycle is a luxury; to me, it is a necessity. May the band play on. Up, up and away! I'll be renewing my subscription posthaste, thank you very much. James Waters Bremerton, Washington
What on earth were you thinking when you reprinted Thompson's gonzo crap, particularly after it was so "controver sial" the first time around? If I ever wad up a bike, I want to do it right proper and live to ride another day like John Bums. I want to have the skills that most of your racers-turned-journalists do and the
knowledge of Kevin Cameron. I want a garage with a steadily rotating supply of cool bikes and get paid to write about them like Peter Egan. I don't want to strap on a bike in a drug-induced haze and hope for the best until I blow my brains out. By running this article twice, you have forever tarnished your reputation. Michael Kalagias Bentonville, Arkansas
As a loyal CWreader since `66, the year I bought my first Ducati (160 Monza Jr.), I'm not sure how I missed Hunter S. Thompson's piece the first time. By `95, his writing may have slipped a little, but he still managed to express the in expressible, that marvelous, paradoxical concoction of fear, lust, harmony and joy that riding a great motorcycle at speed engenders. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to have tasted the pave ment, seen the Sausage Creature up close and yet still lived to laugh and lie about it will always appreciate his honesty and style. I ride a BMW 650GS Dakar and explore backroads now; at 66, I discov ered that the reflexes had diminished faster than the impulse to outrun squids on mountain roads, and so I retreated to the woods. But my pristine `95 Kawasaki
GPz1 100 waits patiently in the garage. With luck, when the tube stuffers arrive to tell me the time has come, like Hunter, I will have the wherewithal for a final cannon ride. Jim Holtz Grand Forks, British Columbia
The Middle way
It's about f%~~*&*g time we got back to having a wider range of good bikes to choose from and got away from the supersize-it mentality ("What is a Middleweight?," November). When I was a Honda dealership mechanic years ago, the favorite streetbike among us in the shop was the 550 Four. We liked it for its great combination of smooth ness, size, weight, power, etc. These days, the largest motors among the 14 or so bikes in our family are 750s and the heaviest is a `78 CB750, at about 500 pounds. In fact, last week one of my riding buddies chastised me for backing my `83 Canadian Yamaha RZ350 out of a parking spot with one hand. He thought I was showing off. I wasn't. It only weighs 340 lb.! Neil Tolhurst New Hartford, Connecticut
The "right" answer
In the November, 2012, issue, you
showed the Triumph Street Triple hav ing a quarter-mile run of 11.28 seconds and speed of 118.57, but in the May, 2011, issue, you had it clocked at 10.96 sec. with a speed of 122.07. Which is the correct one? I'm a proud owner of a 2009 Street Triple (without the R, but pure white and fun as can be).
Gregory Dean Submitted via www.cycleworld.com
Both are correct: These were two differ ent machines tested on different days in different conditions. Road Test Editor Don Canet demonstrates incredible re peatability in his performance testing, but there are always variations in con ditions and machinery that can lead to slightly different outcomes. We make every effort to gather performance data on all the motorcycles included in a given comparison test on the same day in the same location so that their relative performance data is truly comparable.
Got something to say? Contact us at hotshots@cycleworld.com or Cycle World Hotshots, 15255 Alton Parkway, Suite 300, Irvine, CA 92618.
