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/128212
• the Warrior is nice and sticky, and the bike could be launched hard, with little in the way of wheel spin. The Warrior also has a completely different feel due to its aluminum frame, geometry, and performance suspension. Back to back with the Road Star, the Warrior almost feels like a sportbike. A sportbike with a roar no sportbike ever sported. Again, that ringer Laye was fastest at 12.783 and 100.34 mph. But now, mildmannered sleeper Walt Fulton, who showed up for Motorcycle Consumer News, busted into second fastest with a 12.835 at 101.87 mph. He showed up late, did fewer runs and ruined my day. That's not fair. Bad Walt. Lastly, it was time for the performance cruiser of performance Cruisers with a performance Stage IV kit. The Warrior smells fast. It sounds fast. It is fast. Any sportbike rider would love to whack around town on one of these things, setting off car alarms and trailing rubber down the block. The power delivery is all about torque and low, low revs. As Jim Morrison said, "Soft driven, slow and mad like some new language." It's a big beat. You don't need to wind up 1670well-breathing ccs for a good time. You just twist the wand from idle, and the Warrior launches with a thundering roar of smoking tire and construction-grade grunt. Any gear, any time, anywhere, no waiting. Like a 1000cc sportbike, the kitted Warrior just makes one laugh out loud every time the throttle is yanked. Hmmm ... for Price: $4579.95 Competition Ignition Module 45mm Mikuni HSR Carburetor CNC-Ported Cylinder Heads High-Compression Forged Piston Set High-Flow Intake Manifold Competition Clutch Spring Oil Pump Gear Assembly Billet Air Filter Backplate Camshaft Set Adjustable Pushrod Set Valve Spring Set Roller Lifter Set Pushrod Tube Set Lifter Block Set Stage IV Gasket Kit Race-Only 2-1-2 Megaphone Pipes off road use only ... maybe I'll have to move to a country with lenient emission laws. I fooled myself with the Warrior's ability to hook up on the launch by doing a dry hop back near the burn out box, where the surface was less tacky. Since the rear tire had spun there under heavy throttle, I launched from the stage at what I thought was all the track could handle. I was wrong. Laye had the Warrior leap out of the gate with the violence of a buffalo poked in a sore spot. Damn. And so yes, Laye was again fastest, taking the prize for the day with a time of 11.625 at 111.45 mph. Was I second fastest? No. That was again FUlton, who was actually crawling allover Laye's time with a way, way impressive 11.633 at 112.81 mph. Who is this guy? Was I third fastest? Damn it, no. Third fastest was Roadracing World's Ed Sorbo who ran an 11.823 at 108.68 mph. Was I fourth fastest? Yeah, but who cares? At fourth I already lost three times over. Anyway, my best run was an 11.924 at 110.69 mph. While doing my final runs on the kitted Warrior, I learned a lesson about drag racing. Fulton and I ran against each other, and on our first of the two runs, I launched harder than he did, had a lower 60-foot time, and I nailed every gear. Even so, by the 330-foot mark, he powered by me and drove away. Hey, I thought these bikes had the same damn kits in them! For a test, after our two runs for official times we switched bikes and did another run. This time, Fulton launched better than I did, but by halfway through second gear, I knew who was going to win. I blew by him and gave him a wave. A finger wave, possibly. I was incensed. I was pissed. I was livid. I had been on the dog bike during our official run. I'd been ripped off! Or so I thought. After I filed my complaint, Laye told me how he had known early on, from watching everyone else, which bike was faster. He'd noted what lane each bike went down, what the 60foot and 330-foot times were, and he then made sure he was on the right bike when it was time for the official runs. Listening to him, I realized that that is all part of the game. One of the kitted Warriors hadn't been broken in as long as the other one had, and so one was faster. But for whatever reason, if there are two bikes, there is the potential that one is faster. We were all there to witness all of the runs each journalist made on each bike, and we were all welcome to check everyone's time sheets, and so it was up to each of us to pay attention and learn what we needed to know to have the best chance at being the fastest. We all had an equal opportunity to be smart, and it is my own damn fault that I didn't take that opportunity and instead chose to be the fool I thought I wasn't. But fools never do know they're fools until it's all over. That's one of those details that separates a professional drag racer from everyone else. The real race starts long before the RT. Think. There are only three things left to say. My apologies to the Doors, Yamaha's kitted cruisers are the bomb, and I'm sure I could take Mike Tyson. eN The kitted Road Star (above) receives the most mods and will run you $4579.95 for the kit, while the already hot WalTior (below! only costs 52999.95 to get into the mid-11s. Price: $2999.95 Competition Velocity Stack Chrome Air Cleaner Stage IV ECU High-Flow Fuel Injector Set High-Compression Forged Piston Set Competition Clutch Spring Valve Spring Set Camshaft Set Stage IV Gasket Kit Race-Only 2-1-2 Megaphone Pipes cue I e n e _ S • MAY 7. 2003 65