I’m BORED, Kevin…

Dear Cycle World,

I read a column by Kevin Cameron years ago.  In it, he told the story of the BSA (I think) factory moving. Once relocated, they tried to bore BSA cylinders, but could not get them parallel. Finally they brought in the old technician that used to bore the cylinders. They hoped he could show them how to do it.

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In war, there are many casualties–and not just to people, buildings, animals, infrastructure and good taste. Sometimes even motorcycles must suffer, in this instance a perfectly good Pamir 125. Will the mechanic helped fashion 26-inch ape hangers from shotgun barrels, along with a suicide shifter and highway bars with the stirrups made out of chain. A custom air filter, rigid frame, custom headlight, and a seat off of a Harley round out the list of modifications.

In the attached picture from left to right: Will, Josey, and Wales, whose names have been changed and faces covered for security reasons and to hide their sniggering, somewhere in Afghanistan…

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Photography by Mark Hoyer

Just your basic ZX-6R-powered 150-mph trike

If you’re trying to raise awareness about a thing, rolling around in a Scorpion P6 trike is a good way to do it. At the start of a cross-country tour to raise awareness and funds for the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation, Scorpion’s Director of Marketing Shannon Serig rolled into the Cycle World compound to say hello and to raise awareness also about this sick Kawasaki ZX-6R-powered trike his Miami-based company produces.

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2003 Wasn’t Such a Bad Year, Really…

But first, let’s turn the clock back a little farther. It was my turn to write “25 Years Ago” last month, wherein each issue one of us performs the dogged research of finding a 25-year-old copy of CW and regurgitating/interpreting the pertinent contents. Yes, we get paid for doing this, and it should be hazardous duty: It’s so easy to waste hours when you start going through these thick bound annuals looking at old bikes, ads and the people who’ve populated the magazine over the years. When I came to work at CW for the first time almost 20 years ago, “25 Years Ago” dealt with people and motorcycles I’d never heard of (mostly because 25 years before 1992, CW was just getting off the ground and so was I). Suddenly, “25 Years Ago” is beginning to attain personal relevance: The late ’80s was about the time I began to accept the fact that I’d probably never amount to anything, and so began cultivating a serious relationship with motorcycles.

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Photo by Fran Kuhn

Did somebody say track day? As it happened, the Yamaha Champions School invited us out for a day at the Streets of Willow Springs not long ago. Hah! We’re ready! For once, I get to ride something expendable—my cheapie Craigslist 2000 R1!  http://www.cycleworld.com/first_motorcycle_ride/special_features_articles/10q4/millennium_r1_-_special_feature

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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…

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.

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Work hard, do the right thing, be the GOAT–and maybe someday your digs might also be featured in Architectural Digest.

http://www.architecturaldigest.com/homes/homes/2010/11/ricky_carmichael_article?currentPage=1

The leakage continues concerning Ducati’s new power cruiser, this image appearing today on the company’s Facebook site. While some Ducatisti cry foul over the bike’s fat (supposedly 240-section) rear tire, we Americans have never been ones to shy away from a nice, firm badonkadonk–especially when there’s room in the trunk to store a cheese sandwich or two…

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Go ahead and keep sticking things in our tires; the Stop & Go Tire Plugger will have us back on the road in 15 minutes.

Among the things that make me believe in a higher power with a playful sense of humor is the frequency with which roofing nails, sheetmetal screws, horseshoe nails, really big staples, small brads, nice brass screws, petrified thorns from the Crucifixion, inflation needles, self-tapping screws, bolts, stalactites, baby narwhal tusks and jagged chunks of who-knows-what wind up embedded in my rear motorcycle tire. In all the years I’ve driven four-wheeled vehicles, I think I’ve had one holed tire. On motorcycles, though, with their rear tires offering up a way smaller and harder-to-hit rounded target, foreign object debris puncture remains the leading cause of death. Why is that? I can only conclude it’s because nature loves a challenge, and because the man, woman or children Upstairs like to fool with those of us brazen enough to interface the world on two wheels even more than they do normal people. There is nothing random about it.

No longer willing to be a victim after the most recent (sheetmetal) screw in my new Dunlop Qualifier (which only recently replaced the previous screwed Dunlop), I cast about for a good tire repair kit and came upon Stop & Go International Inc. Every time I’ve been rescued at roadside, it’s been with that kind of rubbery rope patch you fold in two and shove in the hole, then trim—then roll down the road with a hairy mole poking out of your tire which will probably get you home but not exactly filled with confidence. And while the tire manufacturers say never patch anything! (and who can blame them?), the underbreath mumble is that if you must patch a tire, do it from the inside with a permanent mushroom plug. Well, if you’re going to all the trouble to get the tire off the bead, you’re probably going to go ahead and replace it. Stop & Go offers a better way. With its kit, you insert the good mushroom plug from outside; the tire never leaves the rim.

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New father and Monster Energy Pro Circuit rider Tyla Rattray finished 2nd overall in the Lucas Oil Motocross Lites Class championship this season, but that doesn’t mean it’s time for him and mechanic Vince Bereni to kick back and rest. Oh no.  Tyla’s newborn daughter, Brooke, was a little fussy at first but after some minor adjustments, the two had her responding cleanly to full bottle, with a nice blankie for soaking up the whoops. Brooke was born August 28th–Tyla’s competition number–and he finished first that day at the RockStar Energy Southwick National in Southwick, MA. Meanwhile, Bereni’s got his own problem child to maintain: He married our Art Director, Marla, July 31. Good luck and Godspeed!

Things to do when you’re bored in Costa Mesa, California: Stop by the new Troy Lee Designs store in the Lab “anti-mall”, just down Bristol Street from the mega pro-mall South Coast Plaza. Sunday, Sept. 19, marked the official Grand Opening, and everybody who is somebody or once was somebody was on hand to wish the famed helmet painter/racer well.

Photos by Steven Soto

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Contrary to rumors we have heard, Kawasaki has no plan to release a new version of its retro W650 from a decade ago (and if it does have that plan, the bike is not coming to America). Reliable sources, however, do inform us that there will be a faired version of the excellent Z1000 naked bike, winner of our Best Standard award for 2010.  The new bike is also supposed to have even more upright ergos than the Z1000. And if you’re trying to picture what that will look like, picture the Ninja 650R, says our source. Could be good.

Looks like the graphics might be still in committee–then again, what’s nice about MV is that they don’t seem to do committee so much.  (Or maybe everything but the graphics was already nailed down when Harley-Davidson sold MV back to itself for one Euro, was it just last month?)

Anyway, the distinctive F4 rear end is in place,  as is the single-sided swingarm. What’s missing is the undertail exhaust ray-gun battery; the Triple appears to exhale through some kind of R6-ish GP-style deal.

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