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/127158
"MOTORCYCLIST is a lot more 'than just road tests on the latest ,t hings you .c a n buy from Japan." -DougAleyer Name: Doug Meyer Occupation: Owner, Dublin Kawasaki, Dublin, CA; pilot; Bonneville record holder Professional background: " My degree is in psychology, but I've been a gearhead since I was eight years old. When I was 14, my dad wouldn't let me have a car, but he said I could have an engine. I went to a junkyard, bought a '54 DeSoto engine, rebuilt it, hopped it up, and started it up on a stand in my garage. I raced a dragster in college and after graduation went to work for the UOP Shadow team, building engines for Formula 5000, Can-Am and Formula One cars. I later became sales manager for Illinois Kawasaki and a charter pilot. I was asked to join . a group that was developing an aircraft engine based on an auto racing engine I'd worked on . I helped design and build the prototype and became flight engineer during testing. After th at, I bought the dealership." Riding history: " I was from one of those families where you could have motorcycles 'over yourmother's dead body.' But I had friends who owned them, so I worked on the bikes and did a lot of clan des- . tine riding. My first bike was a Kawasaki Mach III that"I immediately put expansion chambers and clip-on handlebars on. While working at Illinois Kawasaki, I built a winning drag bike and got involved in endurance racing." , Track record: " In 1976, I took my modified Kawasaki to Bonneville, went 155 mph, and got the bug. The next year I set a record at 165 mph. In ' 86, with a 1000 Ninja I'd prepared, I set a new Production class record at just over 166 mph. Last year I put together a 750 Ninja and broke the 750 Production record at a little o,:er 154 mph." The Bonneville experience: " Bonneville is the purest form of motor-sport s competition there is. Everybody always asks: 'How fast will it go?' and at Bonneville that's the bottom line. There are no compromises, the clocks don't lie. Add to that the surrealistic landscape and the fact that you 're riding your motorcycle at speeds of 165 or 170 mph for minutes at a time, and it's an unbelievable experience." Bikes currently owned: Kawasaki 750 Ninja; Kawasaki KX250; 1976 1200cc Rickman/Kawasaki; 1966 WI Kawasaki 650; 1968 WISS Kawasaki 650; 1984 Kawasaki KLR600 Magazine: "MOTORCYCLIST is the only magazine that does project bikes and promotes modifying and working on your bike. It's a lot more than just road tests on the latest things you can buy from Japan. The graphics are a cut above everything else on the market, it's written intelligently and correctly from an engineering standpoint, and it has a real creative flair.- The editors are people totally involved in motorcycling, and you never know what they're going to come up with next." • This endorsement is purely voluntary. No fee or other consideration is paid. AT NEWSSTANDS .FOR $24 ,00 PER YEAR OR BY SUBSCRIPT ION FOR $15.94, FOR SUBSCRIPTION ORDERS CALL (213) 854-2470.