Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ex pe rience. Mos t of my rid ing was' do ne at around 5000 rpm, bu t for goi ng "fast" yo u need to rea lly rev it out. The Seca is smooth for th e m ost pa rt, though a fair amou nt of vi bration can be felt when backing off the throttle. Exten ded freeway riding is obviously not the bike's int en ded purpose, thoug h the 408-pou nder does se e m s ta b le Eno ugh at speed. The bu lk of the wind is d eflect ed by the small-but- stylish slo tted w indscreen, but the u pright sea ting postu re means that buffetin g is still a facto r. The Seca h as a 38m m conventio nal fo rk and a lar ge-d iam eter frame with an oval-se ction sw ingarm an d DeC arb on sh ock. I w as pl easantly su rp rised by th e suspens ion, w h ich tak es th e edge off even the harsh est freeway bumps . Other areas beginner s will appreciate are the light, small feel (though a sense of top-heaviness is evident at times), light clu tch pu ll and s tro ng brakes . And while our test unit may not strike fear in the 'hearts of regular kn ee-dragge rs, I think its black metalli c paint and o range " tea r" graphics looked pretty sty lis h . This is a pl easant m o torcycle tha t is just the ticket for ge tting me past the initia l fear of rid ing a motorcycle on su rfaces I formerl y th o ught only ca rs wer e meant to go. My lanky bod y w a.s a bit cramped, which I liked less and less as I became more confi den t. Al so, th e mot or took aw hile to wa rm up and the seat' w as a little un com fo rt ab le toward th e end of our day of riding. Apart fro m that, I had few co mplai nts wi th th e XJ600. Whether or not Yamaha's trusty Seca II is the pe rfect bike fo r yo u d epends upon a co u p le of thin g s. H a rd-core racer-types don' t need me to tell them to se ek ou t so mething a bit more aggressive. Bu t what abo u t those who are jus t getting started? Kind of like me. Well, I d on ' t thin k the Ya m ah a is the righ t choice for all roo kies, but I d o bel iev e it' s th e perfect b ike for those w ho consider themselves beginners - and no, I'm not being cont rad icto ry by saying th at. Som e tyros a re more w orri ed abo ut impressing their friends and picking up girls than learning to rid e. The Yamaha probably w ou ldn't b e of mu ch ass istance in these areas, bu t then again, riders who are loo king for th a t p roba bly wo ul d ne ver ad mit that the y were be ginners. For those wi th less arrogance, th e Seca II coul d in fac t be the perfect mo torcycle. -Chris Jonnum HARlEy-DAvidsoN HERiTAGE So fTAil Cl ASsic Attention grabber ,c ake your pick, " sa id Harley' Da v id so n ' s Fleet Manager, Bruce Chubbuck. "Just let me know which m o d el you wa nt, a nd how long yo u 'll need it for ." Actually, we were in the market for a touring bike, but I coul d n' t help cons idering every bi ke in the shop . You know the saying , "like a kid in a candy sto re? " - w ell , th at d oesn 't e ve n co m pare. Hmm... Let' s review the o p tions w e had . A Sportster? Gimme a break. Would you choose thei r en try-le vel machine? We th ink not. That would be like picking Rosan ne Arnold when you could have H eather Locklear. And besides, w e weren't going dirt trackin g... An Electra Glide? Are yo u kidding? Sure, it' s a tourin g b ik e, but wh a t cou ld be w orse than a non-st reet-riding m ot o cr o s s e r a boa rd w h a t is argua bly one of th e b ig gest, heaviest moto rcycles m ade ? To rn ACL k nee ligaments were n o t the objecti ve 'of this rid e... The Fat Boy? Well, though undeniably cool, I opted to skip the Fat Boy in consideration of my former " fat" past... After coming to my senses, I real ized tha t the $13,875 FLSTC Heritage Softail Classic wa s what I had come for, and w ha t I should leave with . Remember when yo ung Jack was sen t to sell th e fa mily cow? _ The re' d be no m agic beans fo r me - I wa s soon mounted .a boa rd the Classic, and ready to go cru isin ' . Without a doubt, the Heritage Soft ail is o n e o f Harl e y ' s most beautiful machines . From its massive front end w ith tr iple headlights to th e stu d ded leather sad d le b ags, the Classic oozes coolness. Plu s, the Cla ssic's larg e, effective w ind s hield would b e an ad d e d bonus for our rider s w ho aren' t used to a ha rsh blast of wi nd in their chests at free way spe eds. , In stock cond ition, the H -D emi ts a throaty, ye t plea sant exha us t note - not that irritating " lo u d pipes save lives" sound that makes yo ur vision blur. And let's not forget abo ut that " trad itional" Ha rley vib ration - if it d oesn 't rumble, it ain 't an H-D. Most everyone enjoyed th e Classic's chug chug ch ug at lo wer speeds, but while pu sh ing 70 m ph , the b ike ' s vi bra tion was so b ad that it became a task to keep our fee t on the floorboard s . What abou t power? Well, though we hon estly didn't expect the bike to p ull like Scott Pa rker's XR750, we we re a bit disa p pointed in the 1340cc engi ne' s power o ut p u t. An d d on 't even thi nk abou t ove rrevving this baby - the valves wi ll float qu icker than an ai rplane se at cush io n . " Fla t " is the b est way to describe th e Harley's powerband . But arm-jerking power isn 't why yo u bu y a H arley-Davidson, is it ? Well, luckily, you don't bu y a Harl ey for its o uts tanding brakes, buttery-smooth tr ansmission, o r h igh tech features either. Harley owners are in the market for something en tirely different: the m ystique th at can on ly be had aboard America' s favorite motorcycle. Oh, and a b o u t those sa d d le b ags they're not big enough for yo ur he lmet, and th ey' re not good for st oring valuables because they don't lock . What they are excellen t for, however, is storing all HONdA ShAdo w AMERiCAN Cl Assic EdiTiON A street bike n amed Desi r e ..i of the phone n u mber s that migh t be thro wn yo ur way. Sure, it was easy to n it-p ick the big Classic, but after all was sai d and don e, it still emerged one of ou r favorites . Espe cia lly amo ngst the sing le guys. -Donn Maeda YAMAhA XJ600 SE " CA For the See« fun 'rn lucky that Kit is a nice guy. Wh en ' h e w as organizing o u r odd littl e excursion, he easily could have perched me on top of a Yamaha V-Ma x and sent me merrily upon my wa y. I'm enough of a road riding greenhorn that such a pr ank would be easy enough to pull off. As it tu rned out, how ever, Kit resisted the urge an d ins tead slid another Yamaha und erneath me - the $4849 Seca II. I h ope I ca n re tu rn the fa vo r someday. . Oh, I'm su re that hard -core roa d riders w ill pooh -p ooh th e Seca as a wi m p's bike, but I d on 't th ink th at' s such a bad thing for some people - wimps, namely. The 598cc XJ600 Genesis-inspired powerplan t is 100cc larger than some of the o ther bikes in the entry-lev el sportbike class, and it is very confidenc e-in spiring. Downd raft carbureto rs provid e stra ight path fu el ind uctio n and d ecent to rq ue, but s lo w-s pee d , low-re v s it ua tions requ ire a fair am ount of clutch-slipping - no proble m for th ose with off-road could see the respo nse coming from a mile away. Dad didn't care for my new mo torcycl e . Bu t h is d isli ke di dn't stem fro m the typical l-don't-li kebikes m ode of thinking th at a lot of parents have w hen their offspring b ri n g h ome a m o to rcy cl e . No, h is di s d ai n came from so mewhere deeper tha n tha t. It ca me fro m w it hin a ma n w ho h as spen t nearly h is e ntire life tryi ng to m ak e m otorcycl es per fo rm better, and he 'd met his match in th e Honda Shadow Am erican Cla ssic Editi on . The first leg of our ride led us to my parents' h ome o n th e ou tskirts of EI Cajon , Ca lifornia, and it was there that my father had hi s first rid e o n the Shad ow . It'll probably be his last. Well, Dad, what do ya think? "At slow speeds it wants to fall ove r when you tum it, and at high speeds it d oesn't w a n t to turn a t all," h e s aid , 11

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