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/128643
pr oblems at all , not a o ne," said 60· yea r-old Norm Fishe r. But Fishe r's bike wa s no ordinary BS A Victor. "It' s got a bigger gas ta n k because I n eeded the fuel ," he said. "It's got a Betor fron t end with approximately six inches o f trave l, with a Rickman 2 1-inch fron t wheel and Rickma n bra ke and hub a ssem bly . It's go t Wo rks Pe rfo rmanc e re ar sh oc ks , whic h hel p tr emendousl y in th e ba c k, but the rest of it is pr imarily s toc k , e xce p t fo r t he h e ated handg rips . I' ve got e lectr ic h and leb ar heaters. Yes , th e British ign ition s ys tem works the handlebar heaters and th e lights , and it sti ll s ta rts ." Lun ch wa s a lso a tim e to c hec k o ut s om e of t he la rg e r b ike s in th e e ve nt, like Larkin Wright' s 1971 BMW 900. "I've be en doin g th is for eve r," s aid Wright. "I raced B-t o -V bac k whe n th er e wer e ra ces a nd I've only mi ssed a couple of th e du al -spo rt dea ls since it' s be en a dual -sport ride . Th is morn ing was fun , e s pecially som e o f th e s ingle -track stuff. Be lieve me, on this th ing it was getti ng p re tty tigh t. " A lo ng section of fast d irt roads soon p ut c iviliza t io n far b eh in d t he riders a nd th e dash ba ck in time was com ple te whe n they hit the o ld m ining town of Ra ndsburg a nd wer e c ata pu t ed ba c k to th e days of the Ca lifor nia gol d rush . Many of the riders took a brea k to c hec k out the tow n's his toric jail , poke a rou nd in th e ge ne ra l sto re a nd study the long -aba ndoned m in ing e q ui p ment scattere d aroun d the dese rt. "Rand sbu rg was a lso ne at be c ause th ere wa s someth ing like 3 0 0 d ual s po rt bik e s in town a nd two gu ys o n Harley -Da vid s on s who had no ide a what w a s go ing o n ," said T o m Ha wes. "T h e two g uys o n Har le ys we re actua lly lookin g a little bit los t. They we re ou tn umbe red . Th a t was a first." An d then it was time for the tortoise pre s e rve - a 60-mil e sect ion of desert with a 30-mile-per-hour s pe ed lim it. The s peed limit got mixed rea ctions . Ther e was whining by so me of the go-fast g u ys , a s igh of re lief fro m some of the less -exp eri en ced riders, and o ne rider o n a vintage Triumph was heard te lling c heck po int officia ls, "T hirty miles per hour? I wish I c ou ld get up to 30. Th at wo uld be nice fo r a c ha nge ." Most of t he whini ng d isappea red o nce th e section, with its twis ty two trac k a n d o c casio nal s t re t c h es o f d eep s and , got un derway . "It wa s a won d erfu l ride a n d we had a g o od t im e , " sa id Ro y C oe , wh os e h igh ly modif ied 1978 - ish Yamaha ST500 was making its 14th appearan ce at th e event. "Eve rybod y b eh av ed . We d id 30 a ll th e way through th e tortoise preserve and so di d everyone arou nd us except one guy who g ot o n it ha rd , but there 's a lwa ys one idio t out there." Th e s low section le ft many riders in the dark . De spite starting the day at 7:25 a .m ., first -time LA-to -B -to -V partic ipa nt Bill Kat sumata , who wa s ridi ng a 1985 XR250 , wa s s till b a t tling the trail when th e sun started to set. "The to rtoise pr e s e rve would 've been be tter if they had told us to sta rt by a ce rta in tim e . It wo uld 've b e en nice if th e roll ch art had s a id be he re by X time if yo u wa nt to get in befor e dark . It would've let us know wh at to expect. It wasn 't hard riding in that s e cti on , y o u just could n't go fa st, but it was scenic a nd I enjoyed it ." The day finished with 15 miles of pav ement or , if yo u wer e Larr y Wo od ru ff , 15 mile s in the ba ck of a pickup tru ck . " I' m h a vi n g so meo ne m e et m e with the truc k a t th e e n d of th e d irt ," sa id Woodruff. "I'm no t riding all th at pa ve m ent just to get to t o wn. If I wa n t e d t o r ide pav eme nt I'd go home a nd get m y CBX." When the riders reache d the end of th e ride at the Hol ida y Inn in Barstow, they were greeted by th e fix-it men of Ho nda a nd ATK, who helped sort out everyth ing fro m flat tires to bit s tha t wer e bent o r missing . "We' ve got a co m p le t e servi ce c e n te r set up for the riders, so , if you 've got a n AT K, com e on by and ta ke a lo o k ," sa id Dic k Alle n. "We a ls o furni sh ed a bik e for Speedvis ion . Th e y ' re rid in g o ne of our b ik e s o ut he re a nd th e guy's loving it." Even ATK' s CEO Fra nk Whit e was in o n th e action . "We ' re he re doing what we d id 15 years ago - suppo rting the Bars tow-t o -Vegas 'r id e and ha ving fun with the peopie ," said White . "I'm here to get e xpos ure because people t hink we ' re out of bus iness . We 're not out of business ; we 'r e making bik es. And I' m a ls o here to ride . Today's m y 22nd wedding a nnive rs a ry, so I'm s pe n di ng it in the m ot or home with m y wife , but I'm riding da y two ." Speedwa y ace Billy Hamel br ought h is XR400 hom e in t he p itch d ark just after s ix p.m. a nd the veteran of four LA-to - B -to- V dual -sport rides still ha d n e wb ie dual spo rter Ste ve J ohn ston ha rd on his heels . "We di dn't pu ll o ut until late and then we did th e h ard sectio ns, so it took a wh ile. You c a n 't s ee a th ing in t h e dust when the sun is goin g do wn , but I had a great (Ab ove) Some riders compla ined of dusty conditions. (Le ft) But dust wasn't a problem if yo u rode ahead of your buddies, like this guy. sol o -bike guys co m pla ining a bo ut th e 30-miles -p er-h our stuff, but it wa s a g o od work out for us ," said Braverman , w ho wa s pil oting a Honda CB750. "The pr obl em is th at we hit a ro ck in a sa nd wa sh a n d b en t the s p ind le that holds th e s idec a r wheel on , so we ha ve a little bit of wor k to do ton ight a nd tomorrow if I ca n find one . My plan is to ride both da ys , but it depends on whe the r we ca n fix th e wheel in time." Th ere was less tight riding o n day two 's 2 12-miles course , whic h bumped to 2 52 miles if yo u took the ha rd ways , a nd a m uch s ho rte r tortoi s e zone , bu t the fu n wa s s t ill the same. "Sections fiv e a nd six we re a n a bso lute bla st ," sai d Haw e s. "T he y had s o methi ng lik e a 10- m ile -lo n g sa nd- wa s h s e cti on with s om e re ally int er e st in g st u ff. It was d e e p s and com bine d with s hort sectio ns a bo ut 100 -fee t lon g wit h lo t s and lo ts of rea lly sharp rocks. You'd go down to first gea r to pick your way th roug h t he rocks the n hav e to try to ge t goi ng agai n to get up o n top of the sa nd ." And after that, there was a watery section in the Mojave Rive r Wash . "Right be fore lunch there was a s ect io n that was a sand wash t h at had water in it, and th at was so m uch fun ," said J oe Wo ods. "I was rid ing with the gu y from Speedvis ion . I' d met him o n the tr a il , and it was im m e n s e fu n fly in g d own the sand wash with th e water, m aybe s ix inch e s de ep , zig zagg ing ba c k a nd forth , with s pray going everywhere ." T h e da y ended in Las Vegas, where t h e rewa rds in cl u d e d a ho t shower and an a fte r-ride fun ctio n th at sent m o s t o f th e pa rt icipan ts home with a pr ize. And th e o p po rt u nity t o p la n for ne xt ye a r's ride . "S ure I' ll be ba ck . Thi s is the so rt of th e thi ng yo u don 't want to miss ," sa id Larry Woodruff. "I've been riding it for ye a rs and it just keeps getti ng be tter." eN time ," sa id Johnsto n . "Billy and I ra ce to g eth er in Eng land a nd he ' s be e n telling me about this fo r three or four ye a rs . He was right - it' s great a nd I just ha d the best tim e ." Sidehack ride r Mike Br a v e rm an also ha d a great time, but he wasn 't sure if his fun wo uld continue on day two . "We didn 't do a ny of th e har d wa ys bec a use we wouldn 't fit on a lot of th e s ing le-track tra ils , bu t we ha d a g rea t tim e . We re all y e njoyed the to rto ise p re s erve , too . I he a rd so me o f th e (Above) The B-t o-V ri d e was over 5 0 0 m ile s long, but t o th is BSA rider It m ust've fel t twic e that long . ·(Leftl Riders check In at JMG Motorsports In Newha ll . e y e . co n e _ S • D EC E M B E R 1 3 . 2000 11