Freddie Spencer, on the Honda RS1000, leads Dan Chivington (90) and the rest of the field heading into Road America’s turn five early in the road race national at Elkhart Lake, Wis., in May of 1981. Spencer won that day giving the RS its first victory in America. (Photo by Tom Riles)
In the late 1970s roadrace nationals in America were largely a procession of Yamaha TZ750s and the AMA was looking to spice things up. Fortunately there was a roadracing class already out there called TT Formula 1, devised by the Isle of Man organizers in the mid-1970s to replace the 500cc Grand Prix World Championship, which abandoned the dangerous island circuit after the 1976 event.
In 1980 the AMA announced its AMA Formula One class would allow restricted 750cc two-strokes like the Yamaha TZ750 as well as unrestricted 500cc two-strokes and 1025cc four-strokes.
Miller Motorsports Park recently hosted its final press teleconference of the year. Appropriately, the guest was 2010 World Superbike Champion Max Biaggi—a double winner at the Toole, Utah, racetrack this past May.
“I woke up this morning with three questions for Max and determination to get on there and ask away,” said Cycle World Technical Editor Kevin Cameron.
The idea of building a racing motorcycle has changed a lot in 38 years. In 1972, we did everything we could both think of and afford to make our machines more capable of running at the front. Today, much of that is prohibited. To prevent factories from doing the unaffordable, sanctioning bodies now prevent everyone from doing so.
Our little dealership had been roadracing a 1970 Kawasaki 500 production racer—an H1-R—for two years. Now, we wanted to see if we could do better under the AMA’s new 750cc displacement limit. Before 1970, the rules had been 750cc for Harley flatheads, 500cc for everyone else—ohv four-strokes and two-strokes alike. Then, in 1970, the rules had eased, letting all four-strokes go to 750, with two-strokes still at 500cc. This let in the new 750 Triples from BSA and Triumph, Honda’s CB750 and Harley’s curious iron ohv XR-750. And when Suzuki and Kawasaki announced 750 Triples for 1972, the AMA made the limit 750 for all. Top international riders were signed. Nine brands were in competition. Suddenly, by happy accident, AMA had the world’s fastest riders on the world’s fastest bikes on the world’s fastest track—Daytona.
Gregg DesJardins (left) and Kyle Clack at the unveiling of "Catalyst," the Ride for Kids giveaway bike.
“Catalyst,” the 2010-11 Cycle World Ride for Kids giveaway bike made its debut at the Progressive International Motorcycle Show in San Mateo, November 19.
Built by Gregg’s Customs, the machine started as a CBR1000RR donated by American Honda, long-time supporters of RfK. Gregg DesJardins based the color scheme on that used for Freddie Spencer’s 1981 factory Honda superbike, hand-forming the sidepanels and front “numberplate” from aluminum. Other trick bits are Sato rearsets, Roland Sands Design wheels with custom powder-coat, RSD bar risers, and a trick Leo Vince slip-on silencer in a design otherwise exclusive to the Team Jordan Suzuki AMA SuperBike team. The license-plate holder is Frenched in, as are the turnsignal lights. Gregg’s Customs billet logos grace the fuel tank.
On Sunday, October 10, I rode the CW long-term Can-Am Spyder RT-S up to a well-known San Francisco Bay Area motorcycle-friendly gathering place, the Junction Bar and Grill. Though it has a Livermore address, it’s so far up in the back-of-beyond hills, it might as well be in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The objective of my going up to the Junction, apart from enjoying a ride out in the country and getting a good burger, was to meet up with my friends, ex-CW staffer Gabe Ets-Hokin and retired astrophysicist Bob Stokstad. Gabe now edits and is part-owner of CityBike magazine, for which Bob writes and shoots photos. They were sampling a slew of new 2011 Triumphs as part of the Triumph Factory Demo Tour, which was based that weekend out of Tri-Valley Moto in Livermore.
After the gang of journos and VIP customers showed up at the Junction, Gabe directed my attention to the 2011 Bonneville, which looked very tasty indeed, from the chromed caps of the constant-velocity carbs to the new exhaust pipes. Except, as Gabe pointed out, the carbs are just camouflage for the multipoint sequential fuel injectors. Having been focused more in recent years on my physical recovery than on Triumph’s fuel-delivery technology, I’d missed this aspect of all post-2009 Triumph Twins, so it was news to me.
Well, we never want to see anybody get hurt, though if somebody has to get hurt, there are some we’d rather see hurt than others. No, I didn’ t mean that, we want to see nobody get hurt equally. But it’s hard to watch this video, for me anyway, and not think racing is a little different, and not in a more exciting way, than it was in the pre-electronic days when massive high-sides happened with the frequency and predictability of methamphetamine-addicted lab rats mating, and the riders all had that 1000-yard stare. Stare into the abyss over the high side, and it stares into you…
Constant surfers of this website will recall, I hope, that some months ago I did a half-Egan and bought a 1973 Triumph Trophy Trail, a bike I’d wished I had for 30-plus years.
This was an eBay deal, so this report is something of an object lesson.
Ducati recently revealed that it has adopted the Ritter Vacural vacuum die-casting process for parts such as crankcases and engine covers. This is a considerable step forward for Ducati, as it is a small company with limited resources. This makes it difficult to adopt every new technology the moment it appears.
Conventional die casting has unfortunate limitations. Because the dies are not sealed and evacuated, atmospheric gases have free access to the liquid metal, and there can also be contamination from lubricants used in injecting the metal. As the metal enters the permanent mold, it splashes in all directions, and gas entrainment is most likely at points where metal streams again come together. Entrained gases make conventionally die-cast parts essentially impossible to weld or even to heat treat. When such a part is heated, trapped gases expand within the metal, causing “exfoliation”—the separation of leaf-like layers of metal.
The Morgan Threewheeler, we’re told, was a true classic, 30,000 of which were built from 1909 all the way to 1953. Fast acceleration and 50-mpg fuel mileage were a tough combination to beat back in the day (still is). These were capable of lapping Brooklands at over 100 mph, one of them won the French GP in 1913, and the great Stirling Moss referred to his as a “babe magnet”. You had us at 50 mpg.
Guess what, that’s right, the Morgan Motor Company has a new Threewheeler for 2011, and it draws power from an 1800cc Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle V-Twin mated to a Mazda five-speed gearbox. A sturdy tubular frame and two roll bars surround the passenger compartment, an aerodynamic “bullet” hull protects the occupants from the weather, and a leather-padded aircraft-style cockpit indulges the feeling of flying. Refining the original design has produced a unique 21st century vehicle, says Morgan, that provides the ultimate in performance and fuel economy, with unrivalled power-to-weight for the price.
In the September, 1966, issue of CW, Suzuki ran an ad for the X6 Hustler 250, a ferociously quick 250cc piston-port Twin with six speeds and “Posi-Force” oil injection. What made the ad stick in my mind all these years was the copywriter’s line at the top: “We’ve invented a very fast way to lose 70 lbs.” The point being, as the body copy of the ad made clear, that the Suzuki was as quick and fast as most 500s but it weighed much less.
I was on a scholarship at U.C. Berkeley when that ad showed up, and already was into lightness, which is why I’d sold my ’64 Yamaha YDS-2 250cc two-stroke Twin to a classmate and bought a ’65 OSSA 175cc SE Sport. The OSSA was much lighter than the Yamaha, and though it was a single-cylindered piston-port two-stroke, it was pretty potent. I could easily keep up with freeway traffic, and it was a joy to use in the hills behind the campus, where I spent far too much time apex-strafing when I should have been studying.
Steve Wise jumped at least 10 feet higher than the Grand National regulars on the Astrodome’s TT course. (Courtesy American Honda)
Old timers who’ve been around the AMA Grand National Championship for decades still talk about it. That night in the Houston Astrodome in 1982 when motocross racer Steve Wise entered the Houston TT National and rocked the house.
Wise didn’t make any friends with the establish Grand National riders, to be sure, but he left Houston that night a hero to 45,000 fans and forever changed the face of TT racing.
Ben Bostrom will compete in the 2011 AMA Pro American SuperBike Championship on a Suzuki GSX-R1000 for Michael Jordan Motorsports. This past season, Bostrom, 36, won one race, had eight podium placings and finished fifth overall racing in the same class on a Pat Clark Motorsports-prepared Yamaha YZF-R1.
“Signing Ben Bostrom is another incredible step in our quest for a SuperBike championship,” said Kreig Robinson, VP of corporate relations for Michael Jordan Motorsports. “Ben’s work ethic and level of dedication, as well as the team’s further development of the Suzuki GSX-R1000, bring us closer to a winning combination.”
On the eve of its national dealer meeting this past October, Kawasaki bused a load of moto-journalists to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for a night of drag racing with nine-time world champion Rickey Gadson.
Here at Cycle World, Road Test Editor Don Canet has for years handled streetbike performance testing. Other members of the editorial staff are straight-line proficient, too. Me? Not a clue. And, no, a couple of tentative passes made nearly two decades ago at long-gone Carlsbad Raceway on a home-built electric dragbike don’t count.
