Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

< fIJ =- IlQ • .... .. IlQ ~ ~ r--- Cafe' By Lane Campbell Rickman/RODda CR: O'l 1.0 .... A soft, sexy siren with a slight case of middle-age spread. til ;j eo ;j -< ,. I This test report is founded on two false' premises: I) riding a Rickman CR fitted to totally stock Honda components will tell us exactly how much better Rickman Honda cafe' racer is than a stock Honda; 2) a buyer. with $1400 to invest in a cafe' racer kit will be satisfied by bolting stock Honda pieces to his personal machine. Having blown the usual road test rat io n ale into the weeds, what's left? An interesting and enjoyable long ride on a very interesting motorcycle - plus a list of things we'd do to make the bike better. Foremost among these is chucking the stock exhaust system. Who in his right mind is going to spend $ 1400 on a super-trick ' nickel-plated cafe' racer kit only to burden it with four garish, bulky, heavy chrome pipes that limit cornering clearance? Coupled with the stock pipe problem is the stock centerstand problem. Because of the long extension needed to clear the bulky Gro und clearance appears to be a sign ificant problem. Centerstand is ha ng in' o n down there. Troubl e is there weren't any cafes to pa rk it in front of. 34 exhaust , it is the first thing that grounds. Still, we're grateful to the Rickman distributors for providing the test bike in this form, because we can now say with conviction just how badly the stock exhaust gets in the way. You can get farther over to the right than you can to the left (because of the centerstand), but in no case do you push the dry pavement limits of the excellent Dunlop TIIOO's (a, part of the Rickman package) before grounding something . Maybe this effect idiot-proofs the machine. You decide. Next point is the whole business of wiring harness/electrical connections/cable ro u ting. Since the Rickman is supplied as a virtually complete motorcycle less engine, controls , wiring harness and the other electricals, this aspect is totally under the control of the person setting up the bike. Without careful and personal attention to detail, you're into irritations such as tum signals that work intermittently, fuel lines that leak, a sudden appetite for fuses at night, slo p in the throt tl e cable, a 500 RPM gain when the bars are turned ha rd left, and a te ndency for the fairing to bark knuckles when maneuvering in tight quarters. All these things happened during our test, and needn't have, since they reflect on assembly, rather than the design or manufacture of the original kit . Though ad vertised as a bolt-up job, it's obviously more complex than sticking racing stripes on your Chevy Impala. In • CID fact, it's a shade more complex than dealer-prepping a stock machine out of the box, due to the significant differences in control placement dictated by the clip-on bars and the Rickman frame. One more gri pe. The fuel petcocks work so stiffly that we can imagine eventually fatiguing and splitting the surrounding fiberglass with the force required to open and close the things. Surely there's better off the shelf hardware to fit to the handsome Rickman fuel tank. How's it ride? The Rickman Honda is one of the most unflappable, forgiving motorcycles we've ever ridden. A seemi ng paradox: it's stable yet surp risingly easy to turn. To change lanes or initiate a tum, you barely have to think about it to fin d the motorcycle is already doing it . In f act , it is sensitive enough in the straight up mode that lapses of attention will find you drifting to one side or another. On ly when tryi ng to flick it through a quick change-up series of esses does the bike's considerable weight show itself. Then you rea lly have to muscle the bars and be prepared to throw your weight about. Once committed to a given comer, though, it has a certain dreadnaugh t stability. Frame stiffness, fork rigidity, springing and damping all combine to produce a rock-solid quality of handling often associated with classic English sports cars. For better or worse, riding comfort fits the same classic mold. Response to cobby pavement is harsh, yet (thankfully) utterly predictable. First, it does its best to throw the rider off, second, while it's doing this, it continues to track pretty much where it is pointed, no matter how violent a beating it is dealing the rider's backside. This is a relief, since at times you really have to concentrate o n hanging on to it. Braking is excellent and virtually fadeproof, as it should be considering the nature of the hardware . What was miss ing (probably due to the overpowering weight of the Honda engine) was t he sheer, savage braking thrust we expected. It will haul down from unreasonable speeds very quickly, but to do it , you must consciously muscle the front brake. There's none of th e ti r e -sq ualli ng-wi t h-o ne-finger savagery to it, which was a mixed blessing. Being in the habit of working the front brake with two fingers while downshifting frantically, we'd have appreciated more finger leverage, since the throttle demands some muscle in its ownright. A picky point, but all these things go together in determining how fatiguing the machine will be to ride fast in the mountains. If the front stopper goes on a little hard, the rear one is a bit too easy. It will try to lock up as weight transfers to the front during heavy braking. (This was even more noticeable on the lighter Triumph-based Rickman machine tested in this issue). Around town it has most of the easygoing virtues of a stock Honda: electric starting, lugging capability that disdains gearshifting if you wish, crisp shifting when you do it and an easily found neutral between the -xpected two gears. The test bike came to us with the shifter simply turned rearwards (forcing a bit of conscious thought on gearchanges), but the production articles have a remote linkage which preserves the standard shift pattern. The Rickman CR has no provision for carrying tools or personal gear, though the "Indy" seat/tail section is bulky enough to have provided an excellent place for a lockable glove/tool box. It's obviously not a 600 mile-a-day tourer: in fact, you're either a masochist or an iron man to put more than 400 miles on it without a break. Footpeg placement is a trifle higher than necessary (again, something related to clearing the bulk of the stock exhaust) which over long periods can get to the I .J And that last point is probably the major reason you'll shell out for one of these kits. You pull into a gas station to top up, and for a few minutes you're the barnstorming air ace who just landed his IN-4D biplane in the Podunk Junction cornfield to get directions. It's amazing what the sight of "a guy riding a real racing motorcycle" does to otherwise innocent bystanders. Hot diggi ty! A Euro-style headlight fla sher button . There you are, head ing west on R.N. 4 t o wa rd Par is in a light drizzle and blinkablin kablink. Gotcha! circulation in , your legs. The loads on arms, back, and neck you live with as part of the cafe' racer crouch. Is it fast? How fast do you want to go? It is marginally faster than a stock 750 , which makes it reasonably swift by "street standards but a slug by racing standards. Unconciously, you will ride it faster than a stocker because: a) The fairing isolates you from the wind blast that normally tells you when you're pushing the 55 MPH limit. b) When you're on it, you couldn't feel more like Superman if you'd stepped . o ut of Clark Kent's personal phone booth. The other side of the coin is that, unlike some other types of "custom" machinery, you don't need other people's awestruck responses to enjoy it. You can get off in t he hills where you won't see a soul fo r ho urs and completely lose yourself throwing it from side to side. It was a blast, and our point in picking at the nas ty details is that an off-shelf kit, even fro m a firm with Rickman's credentials, is at best j ust a starting point fo r the enthusiastic rider. If it bothers you t hat a S1400 item is still a starting point, be advised that perfection doesn't come cheap. What you do have for a starting point is a superbly finished assembly of some of the best available English components specified by the Rickmans to accept some pretty good standard Japanese components. If it loses something in the translation . .. (Funny, it doesn't feel British. It doesn't shake.) ... La rose e ' la rose e' la rose. The Rickman-Honda is a gas. .J .J UJ al Q. s 5· o z <[ z .. u a: .J ::l Z r --~ Q Streetjumping isn't what the designers had in mind and with the Rickman Honda's all-up we i~t, they' re right. Starting point for a truly personalized street rac ing 'ma ch ine .

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