Hotshots

HOTSHOTS

A KLR winner

I enjoyed reading "The Road from Armageddon to Salvation" (April). For decades, we KLRistas have known this: A KLR may not the best bike for doing any one thing, but it is the best bike for doing a little of everything. Go canyon strafing one day and mountain climb ing the next. Put in a 1000-mile day or a three-week adventure tour. Just add gas and rider and you'll have miles of smiles. Nearly 200,000 of them for me.

Pat Sch mid

Gardnerville, Nevada

Holy sweet mother of God! You guys picked the anvil, the cave drawing, the cheapest of all dual-purpose bikes as the winner of the Armageddon Tour! Kudos to you for brassy spheres, but you do re alize that scoops of poop will be flying your way, don't you? The "AK-47 of Adventure Bikes"? Kawasaki couldn't have written a better description.

Richard Creed

Belton, Texas

The "lowly" KLR continues to be seen all over the world in some of the nastiest places. Sometimes it seems they own Alaska, often being ridden on lowbudget tires, their owners wearing Levi's and jackets, work gloves, with luggage liberated from behind the supermarket. I bought my bike for $1000 because that's what I said I'd pay if it would start. (It was found laying on its side with weeds growing up through it.) We hooked up a battery and the engine lit up with little encouragement. I ride with guys who have $10,000 to 15,000 bikes, and I always go the same places they do at about the same speed they do, and I have never held up anyone for any reason (no breakdowns, running out of gas). The KLR is a miracle of com promises, but in my humble opinion, it

is easily the best value in the world of motorcycling.

Jim Shaw

College Place, Washington

Wow! Someone was finally brave enough to say it. The "adventure" isn `t picking up your massive bike or get ting to the hospital after it falls on you! I have been riding for 50 years, and in the last 25, I have owned three GS BMWs, three KLRs, two V-Stroms and a DR650 Suzuki. I have been in many situations when "light is right" seemed obvious, even on pavement. Your choice of the KLR is correct. The GS wasn't included and shouldn't have been! The most unreliable bikes I have ever owned have been BMWs. I have owned eight of them, with reliability ranging from okay to lemon. Along with light weight,

reliability should be a top concern for adventure riders.

Ron Jensen

San Diego, California

As a "graduate" of the Boy Scouts in the 1950s, I often use the taut line hitch ("Essential Adventure Knots," April). An essential knot for me is the clove hitch, which, when tied around a part of a lug gage rack, will not let go. I have even used the diamond hitch on occasion to strap gear to my Triumph Tiger-yep, the same one used to strap stuff to a burro!

Bob Curry

Endicott, Washington

Strangely enough, we only got one com plaint about our cover stoly, from a V-Strom 650 ownei~ This seems to happen every time the V-Strom doesn `t win or isn `t included in a story, whatever it might be...

Everett Brashear

Thanks to my dad and his brother, I had the great experience of attending many flat-track and TT races in the 1950s and early `60s. One of the greatest races I ever saw was a Springfield Mile (a 50-lapper, as I recall) in which Everett Brashear ("Blind Ambition," Race Watch, March) and Joe Leonard dueled so closely every lap that from the up per grandstand you could only see one bike. I don't remember the year, and I can't recall who won, but the margin of victory was less than four inches after 50 miles. Those were great days, and Brashear, indeed, was, and remains, a motorcycle legend.

Mark Miller Waco, Texas

Not a Scooter

The BMW C65OGT (Quickride, April) is no doubt a beautiful vehicle that many will enjoy riding, but calling it a scooter is a mistake. The BMW is no more a scooter than the Honda PC800 was a scooter. A scooter is a vehicle with the engine mounted on a pivoting swingarm. A motorcycle is a vehicle with the engine bolted solidly to the frame. That's the only definition that makes sense. Whatever bodywork, transmission or seating arrangement it may have, the BMW C65OGT is still a motorcycle.

Richard Meltz

Santa Fe New Mexico

Politics

Your “Down” to the “Wilderness” federal land-use designation in the April Roundup section is a little naive. There is an ongoing battle in the state of insanity, whoops, I mean the state of Utah, between the Republican majority (85 percent) and environmentalists regarding the Wilderness designation. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and the state have been fighting for years. Unfortunately, those areas of Utah that are not designated Wilderness are inundated with noisy, loud, speeding OH Vs of all types.

Financial advantage to the local economy is irrelevant, as the idea is to preserve these areas for future generations. Humans have the capacity to make the world an environmentally friendly place for all living things. When the wilderness is gone, so are we.

Paul Hunter Salt Lake City, Utah

Open the carb-cleaner floodgate.

Re: "The Spark of Life" (Leanings, April): Mr. Egan, have you tried Pine Sol as a carb cleaner? I have had excel lent results. Cut with water or straight up if your carbs are extra grimy, Pine Sol puts you on your way to clean, rust and grunge-free carbs. Anything more than four hours in this concoction tends to have adverse effects on the rubber bits. Good luck with your BSA!

Malt Otten GeorQetown, Ontario, Canada

Eve used K&W Technician Grade Carb and Choke Cleaner for years on totally plugged jets, notably those of an older Suzuki 450 Twin that had been sitting for many years. After the K&W treatment, the engine ran like a top.

Dennis Wendt Waupun, Wisconsin

I thought harsh, smelly carburetor cleaners were a thing of the past? I have been using an ultrasonic cleaner for carburetors and brake parts for several years. They aren’t that expensive and do an amazing job. Bud Nolting

Kansas City, Missouri

Tell Egan to try Trichloroethylene (TCE). It does an excellent job of cleaning, has a pleasant odor and will not linger on hands until death. There is one small problem: It will act as an anesthesia if inhaled, and the EPA has classified it a carcinogen—a small price to pay to get that stubborn SU pristine. Jim VeltO Valparaiso, Indiana

Search your grocery for Dawn Power Dissolver. Floatbowl gunk that a bead blaster wouldn’t remove wiped right off after five minutes in this stuff, sparkling clean, and the Mrs. will appreciate that you’re using something she can share to rid a casserole pan of baked-on food. Tailwinds and good coffee! Eddie Hall Columbus, Georgia

Pop into the local Evinrude boat shop and buy some OMC engine tuner.

Tom Haak Wood Lake, Minnesota

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