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/128025
eN goes on tour PHOTOS BY CHRIS JONNUM W ere you one of those guys or gals who called the Cycle News offices a few weeks ago, whining that you were unable to satiate your jones for CN, and demanding us to crank out another issue toot-sweet? You weren't alone. At the end of every 52-week year, when we take our traditional two-week publishing hiatus, we get many such calls. Some of you - no doubt envisioning pudgy, cigar-puffing editors propped back with feet on desks - even go so far as to accuse us of sloth. In actual fact, our extra 10 days are not nearly so tranquil (though Scott did seem to spend quite a bit of time testing that motocross video game - all in the name of hard-nosed journalism, of course). Apart from that, our time was occupied with spring (winter?) cleaning 'our offices and planning for the impending 50-week, nonstop stretch of issues, not to mention the requisite gift-buying and general mayhem in which everyone gleefully participates every late December. Still, when someone noticed we had a few brand-new sport-touring motorcycles gathered around the Cf'/ tree, we knew we had to capitalize on the opportunity for a road trip. We originally had aspirations of a 12 JANUARY 26,2000' cue I ... n e .... marathon jaunt from our California offices to the Big Apple and back; unfortunately, Christmas Eve was just three days away, so instead, we opted for the abridged version: Ride from Los Angeles to Las Vegas' New York, New York Hotel & Casino via Death Valley National Park on one day, then turn around and ride back via Joshua Tree National Park the next. The quintet of bikes was international, comprised of a German BMW RI100S; an American Buell Thunderbolt S3T; an Italian Ducati ST2; a Japan- s ese Kawasaki ZR-7; and a British Triumph Sprint ST. Our riders were much more domestic, though editor Paul Carruthers is a citizen of Australia, associate editors Kit Palmer and Scott Rousseau, managing editor Chris Jonnum, and Steve Bobrofsky - friend of the editorial staff and husband of advertising assistant Bridgett, joined Carruthers. You might notice that missing on our list of bikes is one of the longtime kings of sport touring: the Honda STII00. We actually had one all lined up for our ride, but when it came time to pick it up from Honda, the bike turned up, well, missing. Unable to reschedule our ride, we ended up filling in the blank with the new ZR-7, a bike not really intended for sport touring, but seeing an opportunity to show off the ZR-Ts versatility, Kawasaki insisted we include the bike on our ride. Kawasaki slapped on a pair qf optional saddlebags for the ZR-7, and we were happily on our way. CN