Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

through twisties up an Italian hillside, the mos t enjoy ab le part of the trip. This through an old village a nd down the was also the one portion of the d ay that went by too quickly and we were soon other side. If trying to keep the guide in sight th rou gh that lovely piece of counflagged off the track so another group could tryside (someo ne later told me that the view from up th ere was incredible) take over. wa sn ' t enough to get a n adrenaline And it was . pu mp at 8 :00 a.m ., then our little back to the encounter with the Autostrada defi nitely roads o nce did the bus iness. After finall y figu ring a g a in , ou t th at the slot at the toll was designed t.o spit o u t a ticket, and not take my o money, I was off and running - wide open. Let's see, if a CBR600 goes about 145 mph - the:' I w as going about 145 HI SPORTTX 15 -> mph. And losing ground to my Bimota-mo un ted guide. My goal: stay ahead of somebody (luckily, Fraser had chosen the BMW) and s train my eyes to see w hen Gonzo Guide exited the Autostrada. Fortuna tely, he was ni ce e n o u g h to ba ck it down a gear or two prior to the exit , and we all safely fou n d our way back to the race track. Whew. Now we ge t to res t, ri ght? A little co ff ee, a n ap ... Wrong . We were q uickly back on the roadside of Italy, this time using Michelin 's Macadam 50 mounted on a Cagiva Rive r - an Italian 600cc singlecy lin d e r street b ike, complete wit h h ard bags. What follow ed was a much more mellow ride i TARMAC-AV and I now had the Autostrada toll booth completely dialed . I t h is ti me was even begi nning to recognize some mounted of the scenery that had flashed by the on a Suzuki CBR600 so quickly. 6 0 0 c c • Soon w e w ere back in th e Mi san o Intruder fi tpaddock, where we were ru shed to yet ted with t he another group of motorcycles. This time all -new Mic hew e w ere to test the H i-Sp o rt s (street lin Ta rma cs for compo u nd ) on bo th the roads of Italy what was probaand the Misano rac e track. I p icked a Yamaha YZr,;50 for this sti nt, looking bly another 25-mile loop. Again, this rid e ahead to when we would be able to rid e mellowed in comparison on the track. First came the road. And t o the YZF750 and CBR600 really all I wanted to do was survive the expeditions, but it still was nothing like road ride long enough to actually ge t to a Sunday ride on a cruiser back home. rid e around Misano. The most comfortable ride of the da y r' Wi th little or no regard for sp eed came n ext, my o uting o n the Honda laws (but Mr. Polizioito, I was jus t trying Gold Wi ng '1500 GL fitte d with the to kee p up), we we re quickly zipping High-Tou r radials. It was also the first throug h town at 100-plus mph, passing time I wa s able to listen to an Italian cars, whe elyi ng over rises in the cou nrad io sta tio n w hile cruising alo ng at trysi d e and just plain "keeping up." close to 100 mph on an Autostrada, on a 't Alt ho ug h I never th ought we' d all Go ld Win g , and in full ro ad raci ng make it back in one piece, we d id . And leathers . Quite a sigh t, I imagine . it all made flyin g aro u n d the Misano Ranking a close second to our outing race track seem very relaxing (no ca rs, o n th e ra ce tra ck in th e fu n fac to r no horse-drawn carts ) - and it was easily TIRE TESTING? Testing six different sets of tires on six differen t types of mo torcycles over the course of a single d ay is impossible - unless you make a living by testin g tires . I'd love to tell y ou th a t I was sliding the Hi -Sports in each a n d everyone o f Misano's corners, and that they w en t off afte r 10 laps - but I ca n't. And I can't sa y that th e HighTours will las t 50,000 miles on you r Gold Wing. What I can tell you is that Michelin is making a serious bid to w in ba ck th e motorcycle tire mark et in No rth America with its six new ranges of tires. I can also tell you that the y know how to pack a h ell of a lo t of rid ing in to a si ng le da y... i SIRAC-AR <- TARMAC-AR d epartm ent was ' our little jaunt on the Sirac dual-sport tires. For this outing I jumped abo ard a Suzuki DR650 and gave chase to a portly Italian fell ow who happened to be about the fastest dual-spor t rid er I'd eve r seen- at least on the road. We were trekking down a country road when the guide whipped a quick left and took us up a mountain r o ad tha t seemed impassable except on the type of motorcycles we were rid ing. After seemingly a zill ion left-righ t comb ina tions, p av ed . ju mps and en dless wheeli es, we were back on the country road and headed hom e. While the rest of the European journalists climbed back aboard the.bus that would take them back to Bologna, our fun-loving bunch from North America had managed to persuade (bribe) Mr. LeRoux into letting us have a few more laps around Misa no despite the fact that a light rain was beginning to fall. Initially , I jumped aboard a Bimota Suzuki Superbike for a few laps around the wet track, but I soon pulled in a little leery of the conditions. I soon noticed that Colin Fraser was circulatin g, riding a Cagiva River. I wanted one, and I talked the reluctant Michelin crrw into bringing out an extra one for me to ride. Needless to say, Colin and I quicklyengaged ina great scrap around the race track, picking up the pace with each and every lap. The inev itable. finally happened, on my last lap. Hey, how many guys can say they've crashed a Cagiva at Misano? l~ 25

• Cover