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/127556
COL Time For otten UMN , YAMAHA Yamaha Motor Corp., USA 6555 Katella Ave. Cypress, CA 90630 (714) 761-7617 Wheelbase: 59.5 in. Rake/trail: N/A Seat height: 27.6 in. Fronttire: 3.0Ox19 Rear tire: 180/9Ox15 Front wheel travel: 5.9 in. Rear wheel travel: 3.3 in. Front brake: Discs Rear brake: Drum Final drive: Chain Claimed dry weight: 401 Ibs. ... Yamaha GTS1OOOA Ust Price: $12,999 Displacement: 1002cc Engine type: Liquid-cooled, four-stroke inclined parallel four-eylinder Bore x Stroke: 75.5x56cm Compression ratio: 10.8x1 carburetion: Electronic fuel injection Ignition: Digilal Transmission speeds: 5 Starting system: Eleclnc Fuel capacity: 5.3 gal. Q'\ Q'\ By Joe Scalzo ... Yamaha Virago 535 Wheelbase: 58.9 in. Rake/trail: 24°/3.94 in. Seat height: 31.3 in. Front tire: 3.50x17 Rear tire: 5.5Ox17 Front wheel travel: 4.57 in. Rear wheel travel: 5.12 in. Front brake: Disc Rear brake: ASS Disc Final drive: Chain Claimed dry weight: 553 Ibs. ; Cannibals and basenjis ~ utt Mossman has turned misanthrope. According to the ageless board wall basher and tunnel-of-fire proponent Crocky Wright, Mossman now lives, apparently in thriving condition, inside a broken-down bus on the edge of Kingman, Arizona. Minus both electricity and water, he celebrates life by shunning the human race and embracing the company of half a dozen stray cats and mongrel dogs. He just turned 86. Baggy old breakneck that he was, in his prime he was ambitious, and adventurous, avaricious, and he did mad things with motorcycles for 50 years. It was back in the depression '3Os that old Mossman, astride Indians, Hendersons, and Harley-Davidsons, established standards for stunt and trick riding tha t seemingly cannot be equaled. To equal them, you would have to be not only a motorcyclist but also a juggler, acrobat, gymnast, horseshoe pitcher, sharpshooter, and boxer. Putt Mossman was all those things. He balanced on the handlebar of a .:areening motorcycle like an acrobat, stood up in the saddle and skipped rope like a boxer, floated eggs in the air like a juggler, pitched ringers like a horseshoe champion, scored bull'seyes bringing down helium-filled balloons, and scampered up and down a saddle ladder lithe as a gymnast. Mossman risked his neck in inspired ways, too, and did so everywhere. He crash-dived from the top of a waterfall in Uganda. He jumped off the high mast of a freighter into the Indian Ocean. He plunged 300 feet along a tightrope into a 16-inch deep tub of water in London, In Uganda, as well as England, he was blindfolded. But that wasn't alL The blindfold was covered by a gasolinesoaked burlap sack - with the burlap lighted on fire. As for his insatiable (and unrealized) desire for wealth, his antics at an early Daytona 200 proved just how far Putt Mossman might go to turn a buck: he purposely veered right instead of left along the beach front to spectacularly impact an Atlantic comber. (A photographer from Life had made him an offer he couldn't refuse). Born in lowa, where he learned 'horseshoe pitching, he for years resided in a tumble-down home in the Missouri Ozarks. And one of his final ambitions was to pay a dazzling visit to Abu Dhabi, the sheikdom on the southern Persian Gulf. He never made it, but did succeed in dazzling Japan, Ceylon, Africa, Canada and England. Incredibly, his reputation as a global P List Price: $3999 Displacement: 535cc Engine type: Air-cooled, V-lWin, four-slroke Bore x Stroke: 76x59mm Compression ratio: 9.0:1 carburetion: (2) 34mm Mikuni Ignition: TCI Transmission speeds: 5 Starting system: Eleclnc Fuel capacity: 3.9 gal. . traveler equaled his reputation as an indefatigable, uninterruptible, blowhard talker. And because everything he said was true but sounded impossible, the autobiography he claimed he was writing never saw print. It was the fantastic chapter-titles which scared off prospective publishers, samples being ... "Putt Mossman The Human Torch On Five Different Continents" . . . "Putt Mossman's Death Ride" (That almost did the trick at the bottom of Lake Ochobiha) ... "Putt Mossman's Ride For Life On A Runaway Car Down A Rocky Mountain Side Road Inches From Death With A Missouri Copperhead Snake" ... "Putt Mossman And The African Girl Who Rode Naked With Him" ... "Putt Mossman And The Central African Crocodiles Rirting With Death" ... "Putt Mossman Winning The Belly Dancing Contest On A Cruise In The Indian Ocean" ... "Putt Mossman Caught IJ;1.side An Overturned Automobile At The Bottom Of A Canyon" (Hungry and starving but with plenty of money in his pockets) ... "Putt Mossman Held For Manslaughter" (But later released) ... "Putt Mossman Forced To Spencr The Night With A Crazy Woman Holding A Gun At His Head" ... Pythons, copperheads, crocodiles, and even cannibals slowly disappeared from the Mossman thrill show, replaced by trained poodles, basenjis, and Pomeranians. And no longer were his motorcycles dreadnought Indians, Hendersons, and Harleys. They were more manageable mini-Hondas. And to bring down balloons, the modern day Mossman was forced to fire shot instead of .22 lead. This occurred when he hit the age of 75 and made the shocking, deflating discovery that he, just like any ordinary mortal, has limits. (N ~ 17