Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

g ~ 00 O"'l Sf'EAKlNG EN64bfME NT5! IV8I.I'- APPfARANc.cs I A Boo-=: I A SlbbE.Jl. OfFICE! MA YB E , T UST MAY8f., A M .E:!!!f. ! ...... ...... ...... .... (l,) ..0 a ... 0. (l,) (l,) l tr: I Df.M4ND, IN filE 1NTEf?5r of PV611C SAfeTY, Mi?. Pf.Es/Df/'lr, '(ov ~IGN rulS BILL R£4)U/R'N6 A ~I~j; LAf3EL ON THE Mosr VANGERDUS ~ /~ . .' . ... -, defra y Irwin 's cos ts a t co m peti ng in Spain . For informat ion co ntact InterLi nk Di stributin g a t 9 16/ 635-8000. Moved Alan Dye 10 th e Paci fic Northwest as Public Rela tio n s Manager/ race promoter for P uget Sound Yamaha in O lym pia, Wash ington: Dye p revious ly worked for Peter Starr Productio n s. Married R ich Oliver, fifthranked in 1985AMA Superbike points, a nd AFM I25cc GP pilot Karen L ynaugh , August 16 in Lake Tahoe, California . Moved Sinisal o USA Corp. to 230-1 2 Al calde Dri ve, Ste, B, Laguna Hill s, Cal iforn ia 92653; th e phone numbers are the sa me 71-1 /768-0661 in admi nis tration a nd 76S--11 88 in sa les . _ ASK By John U lrich Why we ri d e, why we rac e Russ , 30, is an enginee r, wo rk s for Lockheed in Atl anta, spe nds hi s da ys figurin g o u t h o w to sa ve aircra ft pans str uc tura lly da maged by prod uc tio n o r ass embly err o rs. Wha tever it is T im , 24, does is a m yster y to m e, but I know that the y ca ll him Vice P resident , Senior Aco un t P lanner a t Chiat/ Day Adv errising in Los Angeles and that he spends .ust abou t every da y in some distant ci ty o r a nother, w hich ma y h a ve so methi ng to do with the fact th at he started life in Dublin, Ireland befo re mo vin g 10 Am eri ca a yea r ago; da ys Tim spends in L os Angeles seem to be masses o f meetings, and he m a y be th e mos t inaccessible gu y I know. Dav e, 25, is a n eq u ip men t handler for the Pittsburgh Pengui ns , and spends hi s spare time training with the hockey team. Doug, 22, lives at home in Bu ena Park, Ca liforn ia and p a sses his mornings a t a technical co llege, his afternoons scu ba divi ng and dirt riding a nd pil oting street bikes for Cycle World magazine phOIO sh oots. On weekends, they're motorcycle racers; a ll are pretty good riders, a nd co m bine d th ey make one h ell o f a to ug h en d u ra nce ro ad raci n g team. But ultim atel y, t he thin g s th at brought th em a ll together , th e o ne th ing th ey hav e in com mon , is th e mot orcycle. Or m o re specifically, ho w ri d in g a m ot orcycl e m akes th em feel. T hey co u ld be a ny g ro u p o f motorcycl ists; a bunch o f stree t-r idi ng bud d ies, a desert cl u b, th e readers of Cycle Ne w s. The li nk between Russ, Ti m, Da ve a n d Doug is n' t exclusive to racers and race tea m s. The link is fun. T hink about it. Mo to rcycles a re basicall y im practical devices. T hey ti p over at th e s l ig h tes t exc u se, wh ether it's Jack of tr action caused by so me son o f loose o r slippery stuff o r pi lo t error. Run ov er a strea m of oi l in a bl ind turn in your ca r and th e back end migh t step out if you 've gOI yo ur foot in i t. Scre w u p driving your ca r a n d you 're li kel y to bump in to some thi ng a nd h a ve 10 get a fen der fixed , unless yo ur ca r has five-mph bumpers and then you may ge t 011 without a h itch . Do an y o f th e a bove on yo ur motorcycle and yo u ' ll be sliding a lo n g o n yo ur butt trying 10 figure o u t where .i->:" ~-f) - - .4"1~ ' }h: \. (Ll~] --. 1J]plJJ f-" yo u' ll stop a nd how to avoid a ny hard stuff in your path. Rider protection? Non-exis tent, whether yo u 're talk ing about protecti on from injury in a n accident or p rotection from heat and co ld a n d rain a n d wind and dust and whateve r else h appens to be in th e ai r at an y gi ven time. Motorcycle stereos suck. Mor or cyc1e air-co nd i tio n ing systems a re un-. relia ble except in winter , and motorcycle h eating systems gen erally a re o nly effec ti ve o n m odel s with wa tercooled engi ne s, a n d then o n ly when it's 90° F a n d yo u 're stuc k in traffic. Bu t riding a motorcycle to work o n a n ice da y ca n turn th e most gri nd in g, m in d-n u mbin g com m u te into fu n , make th e most deter m ined fro wn int o a grin . R ide a mot orcycle in tra ffic a nd t here 's no t a car that ca n sta y wi th you; there's no p lace yo u ca n 't get to faster tha n the mot o r ists a ro u nd yo u ; th ere 's no th in g on th e road tha t ca n ma tch th e freedo m and power and mobi li ty tha t com e wi th rid in g a motor cycle, the a bility to not be locked i n or ha m p ered by too man y peop le in 100 ma ny veh icles trying to get do wn th e sa me stri p o f tarmac at the same time. It 's th e sa me no ma tter what th e bi ke; the fee ling o f co n tro l a nd freed om is the sa m e on a V-Max a nd o n a VF500F Int ercep tor , a n SP600 a nd a n 883cc Sports ter , Ra cing a mot o rcycl e? Wh a t co u ld be mo re ridic ulous than a bunch o f g uys j u m p in g o n bikes a nd r iding ,/. arou nd a deformed ci rcl e as fast as they ca n ? But the feeling? It 's a su per-refined, h yper-dose of excitemen t a n d fun ; scary 10 think about but rew arding to do. It 's more dangerous tha n street riding because o f th e speeds but less dangerous because of th e a bse nce o f ca rs and d o gs and gar bage trucks drooling th eir way through intersections. It requires co n sta n t co ncen tration , no th inking a bo u t w hat yo u 're go ing to do when you a rrive, n o runn ing down the ro ad o n a u to-p ilo t, j ust co ns tant. in tense co nce n tra tio n o n ge ll ing through th e next co rn er, ' down th e next straigh t, pas t the o the r g uy, m aking it around a nd around a nd saving a second h ere, a 10th o f a seco nd h ere, a ro u nd a nd arou nd a nd aro und for 40 m in u tes o r a n h our o r two ho urs, wi th pi t SlOpS for gas but no ti me 10 lose. Let yo ur mind wander a n d yo u 're in th e din o r o n yo ur head. But co nce n tra te a nd ride harder a nd harder , keep up th e pace, pu t in a good ride and noth ing is as sweet. T here are no phones ri ngi ng when yo u're beh ind th e handlebars o n th e race tr ac k, n o dead li nes, no pa perwor k, n o boss . Just yo u a nd th e mo torcycle, th e track a nd th e co rnpeti lion. It 's sim p le. It 's pure. It' s fun, It 's why we ride. (Jo hn U lric h 's co lu m n on up-andco m ing yo u ng racers with su perstar potent ial, promised last wee k , will appear next uieek. } _ 3

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