RISK
UP FRONT
EDITOR'S LETTER
WHY THE UNNECESSARY IS IMPORTANT
What was magnificent about the Ural “record” run was its ridiculousness. We are fortunate to live in a world where much of what we do can be contrived, like spending too much time in a sidecar riding on some of the greatest roads in the world. For no good reason except that. It’s making life into art, rather than just survival.
Many people recognized this. We got a huge number of letters in support of the effort, the story, the video, and the very notion that got it all started in the first place. We also received a surprising number of letters decrying the run for being too dangerous and putting ourselves and others at risk. We have a sampling of those in Intake too. What surprised me about the naysayers is that this is a motorcycle magazine. We have already chosen to get off the couch and do something the general population mostly thinks is too risky. We all work to moderate the risks and control our destinies for the great reward of a powerful existence and the spiritual satisfaction found in doing something that takes effort and skill.
We ride for the great reward. Zach Bowman and Sam Smith strived in “The Unnecessary Express” for something great and delivered the reward of a better life and a great story.
But, of all the letters we got, my favorites were from the sidecar faithful, mostly suspecting bad sidecar setup for the struggles Sam and Zach had. Reader Tom Anguish said, “A sidecar outfit set up right is a beautiful machine—like a sports car.” To which I say, they can handle okay, but even at their best, a sidecar is nothing near a “sports car.” My favorite letter, however, was from Tom Batchelor in Florida, who runs a 1982 Honda V45 Magna with a chair for which he custom fabricated mounts and his own leading-link front end. Yeah, a homemade front end! We got the treatise on setting a sidecar up for lean-out and toe-in. And more. Batchelor was quite vocal regarding how the writers elaborated on “or embellished” the expression of effort used to “steer to go straight,” declaring, “The setup you had on that outfit was bad or your boys need to hit the gym once in a while.”
Yes, they could probably pump some more iron. But, to their credit and in their defense, they were 17 hours into the frozen, slushy journey, snow crushing their morale and conditions hammering their poor, withering physiques. I was driving the Mercedes van with David George, Ural tech support. When the sidecarists radioed they thought the rig was getting harder to steer, we had a quick, private conference about possible causes. Topping the list was rider fatigue and limited lifetime motorcycle-with-sidecar operation. But we had them pull over to look at the unit anyway. Factory setup was perfect. None of the big, beautiful mounts and struts had moved. Rear tire pressure was a bit low, which can cause a vague feeling from the chassis and influence straight tracking. George and I also rocked the chair up in the air to check end float on the sidecar wheel, which was within spec.
I think the funny part here is that Zach and Sam were pretty crazed at this point, and really the only reason George got the big wrench out to turn the wheel nut was to do something to make the fellas feel better. Like, “There, we fixed it for you,” so they’d have the confidence to carry on and assault the rest of that cold, miserable night.
It worked. The wrench “fixed” their heads, and we think the tire pressure boost helped. We did take some risks, but we constructed the entire effort to control those risks. The reward was a beautiful expression of the art of living. This is why we ride.
MARK HOYER
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
THIS MONTH’S STATS
MINUTES CANETCOT RIDING ATMUCELLO ON THE DUCATI SUPERLEGGERA
170 ESTIMATED NUMBER OF LAPS ATTHUNDERHILL RACEWAY DURING LITERBIKE TESTING
one WINNER OF SAID LITERBIKETESTING
