Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/815139
VOL. 54 ISSUE 16 APRIL 25, 2017 P139 Wayne Rainey in 1990. He has shown himself to be the perfect leading man, sensitively shepherding his M1 through the complicated dance steps required. Not surprising to those of us who have fol- lowed his career path in detail. And fitting also, considering his looks and background not a mil- lion miles from the roots of the tango. But what of his partner? The elegant M1 has respond- ed to his commands, which have been both gentlemanly and masterful, with perfect decorum and femininity. She is well aware of her own strengths, but she also clearly understands the value of an equal partnership. Behind every man, there stands a good woman. And of course vice versa. The Yamaha has always been a compliant companion, will- ing to cooperate for the greater good. This was true in the shrill two-stroke years, and remained so into the gruffer times of the cross-plane crankshaft four- stroke. The Honda, by contrast, has a quite different personality. Brash, confident, even arro- gant—this femme fatale is well aware of her own power, and an ardent feminist. Men are useful only for operating the controls. But they had better be careful which buttons they press. The Honda has never been averse to tossing her dancing partner skywards, in full public view, even if it is to her own ul- timate detriment. They get what she thinks they deserve, and hang the consequences. Continue the analogy, and we have the Suzuki: pretty—even delicate, modest and rather self-effacing, but with a surpris- ing backbone when she is called upon to show it. Then the Aprilia—once a loud- mouthed bag of trouble, back in the long-ago days of the three- cylinder Cube, but nowadays rather different: of honest peas- ant stock, ready to get on with the job as a solid all-rounder. The KTM seems also to have similar characteristics, a matter- of-fact Austrian fraulein whose potential dancing skills belie her thick ankles. Not to mention the operatic prima donna of the tracks, the proud Bologna beauty badged Ducati. A lady to both fear and admire. As if one could do any- thing else. I have some high-level sup- port in these fancies. I recall Rossi telling me, before his own dreadful dance macabre with the Desmosedici, of his own feelings towards his bikes. He spoke to them late at night in the garage, he confessed, and they would speak back. The Honda, he said, had been proud and aloof. But the Yama- ha—"she is more shy." One doesn't want to carry these analogies too far, but there is truth in them all the same. Machines do have personalities. But they are still machines—an M1 is only a motorcycle. As are all the rest. Just tools, to get a job done. Personality comes because they are designed and built by humans. They carry the genes of their originators. Or at least that is the perception. And it is a perception that the factories do well to encourage. This is one reason why racing is such a valuable marketing tool. It suggests the personal- ity of the company making the bikes they want you to buy. Thus Yamaha comprises nice sen- sible people, with whom it would be comfortable to go forward. Honda offers different strengths and attracts a different sort of customer. And so on. All the way to the impossibly glamorous and po- tentially ruinous Ducati. Yet, being female, the com- pany products are almost by definition capricious, unpredict- able, and delightfully varied. You can get a polite and submissive Honda just as you can get a fiercely aggressive Suzuki. Just remember the road version of the RG500: the only true replica of a two-stroke racing bike. Just don't tell Valentino. CN