Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

D @ k ay , for th ose of you don't have it co mpletely figured out by now, here's th e real story: Carru th ers is getting old. In fact, co me June 3 , he'll be (gasp) 40 . That's rig ht , the big four -oh . So what does that have to do with m e throwing down a $20,000 Italian motorcycl e in tum two at Lag una Seca? More th an yo u'd think. Just lik e at any other m ag azine th at has riders of th e same approximate speed, it is human nature for th ose test pil ots to dice it up at eac h track test . Lately , between Car rut hers and m e. it had almost always co me do wn to who was o n th e better bike. At Laguna Seca on th is day , ho weve r, we had foun d in th ese Italian beau ti es a m otorcy cl e th at suited each of us. He fan ci ed th e Du cati 99 6, I th e MV Ag usta F4 . A nd althoug h Denn is Pegelow 's DP Safety Sch ool does not encourage bar -to -bar warfare at any of its sch oo l sessions, well. .. And so it came in th e last session of th e day, when nearly 40· year-old Carruthers and 40·pound ov erw eigh t nam eless (wait · tha t's me ) saddl ed up and head ed o ut onto the track for one last spar . No titles, no trophies, just a little ego o n the lin e and some th ing m ore to talk about on th e way home. It was during th ose spirited ci rcuits that my faith in the MV as th e holiest of holy Ital ian bik es was confi rmed , through every gear change, around every comer. The F4 is in a league all its own , offering 600cc sportbike-llke handling with a m otor from hell . So what if the Suzuki GSX ·R 750 is a little quick er and tums a little better? It simply cannot match the pure euphoria delivered to the so ul when astride what feels and , just as importantly sounds· like a two-wheeled Ferrari. There truly is nothing else in th e motorcycle world that compares to it. I'm still a Ducati fan , though, and I'm not ashamed to admit that the almost 40-yearold Carruthers was using the 996's grunt to get off t um 11 j ust well enough that th e 40 · pound overweight me and the ov erwhelming top-end surg e of th e F4 cou ld not m ak e th e m ove as we shot over th e ri se and down th e hill toward tum two . After a dozen laps of th e same th ing, I made m istake number one : I gave up , rolling off the th rottl e. But hav ing full faith in th e nimble Agusta 's brak es, I also wait ed a little lo nger to brake, whi ch pulled m e j ust off line as we set up to go through th e dou ble-apex left -ba nde r. th e plan drawing 4 0 ·pound overweight me closer to the not -q uite-40-bu t -getting·th ere· fast Car . ruthers tha n I th ought it would. That's when I m ade the seco nd mistake: Beli eving that I could still catch Mr. Almost 40 , I ga ve m y trusty MV stee d way too m uch stick off the exit of two, and she bucked me. I felt the rear breaki ng loose and immediately slapped the throttle shut. but it was already too late. As th e bike began to low-side, I remember thi nking something along the lines of "Oh sh it" when suddenly it felt like I had lost far more than the 40 extra po unds that I'm carrying these days. Then gravity took over again, the pavement rushing u p to give me a mondo ba ckslap that snapped my collarbone like a twig and crack ed three ribs befo re I bounced , like a bowling ball would after being dropped out of an airplane, and came to a sudden stop on the rumble strips at the outer edge of the track. Th e incident has left me with tw o reg rets : First. that I crashed the MV , whi ch as almost everybody learning of th e incident ha s punctuated in th e form of a qu esti on - lik e, " D ude, you crashed th e MY?" Has a different rin g to it than, " Dude, you crashed the ZX7R?" It bums m e out not becau se it was an MV , and, in fact , th e o nly MV test unit on the West Coa st, but becau se I crashed my fav orit e motorcycle, peri od . Regret number two is that I screwed DP's C sq uad out of their fina l track session of the day, what with m e hogging up th e ambulance and all. So rry fol ks , that was nev er m y lntention. So now, as th e bones fuse and the soreness go es away, I'm alr eady think ing about my next trip to the track . Carruthers th inks that I' ll ride like som e sort of a wuss, but I' m not so su re. In t he meantime, I've been in the gym almost every day, working to lose some of my 4 0 , and sm ili ng as I realize that there's nothing he can do to lose any of his . Scott Rousseau > 'v e never ridden a Mille R, or a Mill e SP, but I imagine that either one of those is the pe rfect Italian bi ke for my tastes. However, I really li k e the normal RSV Mille a lot. In m y opinion, the Mille has the perfect com binatio n of power, handling and brakes, combined with unusually comfortable erg onomics (for an Italian stallion) . Don't get m e wrong, I lov e the Du cati 996 and am completely enamored with the MV Agusta, bu t as far as which bike I would like to spend time on the rac etrack with, it has to be th e Aprilia. The poor Mille gets compared to the Japanese bikes all the time, but th at's really the compliment of all co m pli m ents . Aprilia has managed to take away all of the idiosyncrasies of an Italian bike that tend to be forgive n as eleme nts of cha rac ter. When it co mes to ridi ng a bike on the racetrack, yo u can take your character and do with it what yo u will , but I don 't want it. I want a bike that requires the least effort to go fast o n. I wa nt a bike tha t doesn' t make me tired. I want a bik e th at requ ir es th e least amount of co nce ntration . Th at bike in this group is the Mille. I th oroughl y enjoyed all three of th ese bi kes fo r d iff erent rea so ns, but every t im e I go t back o n th e Mille, I felt ri ght at home. It' s easy to rid e, and easy to rid e fa st. Th e Mille has a di fferent feel to it than th e other two bikes, and I think a lot of it com es fro m th e un iqu e riding position. I didn 't feel as much a part of the Mille as I did on the Ducati and th e MV - I felt like I was perch ed on top of th e bike more than down in it . However, it really give s you some room to m ove around in th e seat and transfer your weight exactl y wher e you want it. All thre e of th ese bikes handl e impeccably , and th e Mille is no exception. I feel that the bik e gives th e rider excellent feedba ck from th e front and rear ends - it also has a nice bal ance betw een stability and tum-in. Th e brakes on th e Mille are th e best of the group by a landslide. They hav e excellent feel and inc redible power and require very little effort at the lever, whi ch allows th e rider to relax in th e braking zone. This gives you th e con fidence to go in deeper on the brakes than on the other bikes. My only complaint about the Mille is tha t th e motor feels a bit down on power compared to th e other two. Remember how we were taught to ride V-twins in th e first place, riding the torque curve to keep it on the boil? The Mille asks you to do just that - at least th e standard vers ion of th e RSV does. Even the MV A gusta woul d co m e sto rmi ng past th e Mille on the fro nt stra ight at Laguna Seca • wh ich is someth ing th at we didn't expect . How ever , th e Mille gets th e powe r to th e ground efficiently, allowing you to get on th e gas earli er exiting co m ers - that's more than we can say for th e MV A gusta, right Scott? was sold on the Ducati the m oment someone more rotund than me flew past up the fro nt st raig ht at Lagu na Seca, looked over and smiled. Unfo rtunately, I was on the Aprilia . Now I'm not naming names (Scott Rousseau ) but prior to that embarrassing moment, I though t the Mille rul ed th e world . It was comfortable, ha ndl ed well an d wa s fast. Then I found out it wasn 't so fast . Or at least it didn 't get to fast very fast . Get m y drift? Tum 11 at Laguna is a dopey little slo w c o rn e r that leads t o the front strai ght. You do your best not to tip over in 1 1, th en you accelerate hard all the way up the hill and over turn o ne. I would exi t turn lIon th e Aprilia after a most excellentl y exec ut ed , parabolicall y perfect co rnering attempt, only to have the nameless (Sco tt Rousseau) one fly pas t m e up the straig htaway . To further irk me , he would loo k over and sm ile . It was a fru strat ing experience tha t forced m e in to br ak ing later tha n I would hav e li k ed for t urn tw o. My only reco urse was to switch m otorcycl es. Quickly. Hence, during our next break, I snuck ov er th e Du cati and cun ningly pu t my gloves on its gas tank. Like a dog urinating on the neighbo r's lawn , I'd claim ed this on e as my own . Thin gs would be d ifferent for the last session and I didn't care what bike nameless (Scott Roussea u) grabbed. Nameless (Scott Roussea u), a.k .a. Gia como. grabbed his personal favorite· the MV Agusta • and we headed ba ck out. My manhood , meanwhile. stood in turn three with its knee pucks shaking . Nameless (Scott Rousseau), it must be said, was having a grand old da y. He was fast and he looked fairly comfortable. But once I was bac k on the Du cati , I was better. And nameless ( Scott Rousseau ) was qu ickly becoming backmarker fod der. But being the persistent littl e bastard that he is, nameless (Scott Rousseau ) kept co mi ng ba ck at me , filling m y mirrors at every glance . He was even bold enough to lead , catc hi ng and passing m e in traffic . But, alas , the Du cati soon put me back in front as I was able to outbrake him going into th e Corkscrew and kee p him beh ind me for th e rest of th e session. Well , alm ost. You see, nameless (Scott Rousseau) d idn 't co m plete the session. I glanced in the mirrors up the front straight and he was sti ll th ere. I glance d again o ut of tum three and he was gone. " No worries," I th ought. " He's giv en up th e chase . Thrown in the tow el. Beaten by th e better man ." No w yo u kn ow why I'm so slo w: I look in the m irrors and think too much . Anyway , th e fi rst time I figured that things weren 't all well in the wor ld of nam eless (Scott Rou sseau ) was when I was greeted on th e front st raight by red flags. Th e seco nd hint tha t thi ngs weren't all good was th e MV on its side and th e bla ck -Ieath er -c lad nam eless (Scott Rou sseau ) ly ing m oti onl ess on th e racet rack . Now for th ose of yo u out th ere who don 't th ink of me as a warm, loving hu ma n, I do want yo u to know that I checked on nameless (Scott Roussea u) prio r to do ing damage co nt rol on th e MV. A s it turns out, the MV fared mu ch bett er tha n nameless (Scott Rousseau). As I look ed into nam eless' (Scott Rou sseau ) eye s while I held his head in m y hands on instruction from the m edi c , I co uldn' t help but reca ll the words of British road race r John Coop er, th e man who had m oon eye s o n his helmet way before it was fashi onable to do so, Coo p always said th at racers tend ed to be mu ch faster early in their careers . before they "s pent a little time betw een th e lin en. " Well , nameless (Scott Rou sseau ) spent a little quality tim e bet ween th e lin en at Mon terey Co unty Hospital. Now we ju st hav e to wait and see how fast he is upon his ret urn . Until th en... Paul Carruthers D cue I ... n ... _ S • JUNE 6,2001 31

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