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/141061
M ,, - '" ,f M ,... '" N N > '" ~ ~ w 2 w ..J U >- U wished to light th e brake ligh t wh ile usi ng on ly the fro nt brake, it was ne cessary to just about stand the bike on its nose. By the time the light carn e o n , th e bike was generating wh at felt like multi G 's o f no-go. April in Arizona April in Arizona was many things. B ill b oards demanded that su ck ers "invest" with Caesar, "be neighbors" with Forest, visit Irving, etc. Clean air and beautiful blue horizons were violated by soot factories pretending to be cem en t plants, overlookin g mile long trains, wi ld flowers in a green desert. A small toad hopped in an arroyo rivlet, both being ephemeral vestiges .o f a recen train. In Phoenix, press vehicles get to sport emergency vehicle ty pe lights. J ust thi nk, if I lived there, the Mobile In te rview Cen ter c oul d play Officer Friendly every Saturday night. Saguero forests a nd craggy pea ksinterrupted by epoxy painted tourist traps hustling all . ma nner of nu t j unk, with id en tical siblings blighting the entire co un try , and p o we r lin es were constant re mi n ders of an d sentinels to the m achin ery of civilization encircling the open lan d. It w as the second day out, an d riding for T ucson Ke vin started su dd en ly honking like crazy . It see ms th at th e Suzuki, which he was riding, had shed the left fo o tpeg assemb ly . Clo ser in sp ec tio n re ve ale d t hat th is was in de ed , the very machine thatJ ohn H uetter had crash ed o n ice during a regular CN test. A weld had " been c rac ked in t h at incid en t, unn oticed then, n oticed now. I was glad it h ap pe ned , eve n thought it was S aturd ay in the middle o f Ea st Cow b ung alan d.· When Monday cam e , I wo uld have a pe rfe ct excuse to cal l J ohn Bu tc h er 's secretary, E thely n. Fo r e ve ry on e wh o does n o t ye t know a bo u t S u zu ki's best resource in the p ublic rel atio ns fiel d, le t me p ut it th is way; If S uz u ki . co uld inco rp o ra te th e q u ali ty an d concep t that is " E thelyn" in a mo torcy cle , pe ople wo uld figh t over. who go t to LOOK at it ! ( R ight o n!... Ed ) Whether o r not the fact th a t the Suzuki fo otpeg fell o ff was ac tually a le f t winK masochistic con spir acy , on ly J .G. Krol knows fo r sure: Kevin was doo me d to ride on the rear pegs of the Suzy as we slin gshotted trucks and mobile mania m anifesta tio n s (R Vs) formi ng on e so lid steel line fro m Phoenix to Tucson. It was at an Ariz ona gas s t a ti o n that we discovered a gr e at new game. Y ou j ust fill up the Honda gas tank to th e brim, nip down the cap , and go about the business o f adjusting the ch ain while trying to keep y o u r hands clean (it isn't possible , due to pipe placement). By the tim e you finish the chain , the gas will have been warmed up enough by engine h eat to bubble and bail out the ven t and allover the tank. By lubing th e chain s eac h gas st op, we got away with adjusting the chain s o n ly o nce a day . Leaving Arizona for New Mexico, th e top o f Texas Canyon is eit her (A) Boulder Cen tral, or (B) where every bi g ro ck in the world c o me s to visit his uncle Charlie for Eas ter. Dus t pillars hel d up the hazy sky as we nicked the co m e r of New Mexico along In ters t at e 10. Small tu mbleweeds attacked us as if they were battering ra ms and we cas tles , but they did not p revai l. EI Paso wan ts to be a Los A ngeles wh en it gro ws u p, but it will n eve r make it w ith th e funny sid e way s hanging traffic sign als it has. Brick co n stru c tio n says no quakes worry th e residen ts, and a pitiful bar io serves as the we st ga te of the ci ty . The freeway tra nsitio n roads . resemb le roller co as te rs , bein g ab out as level as rain grooves are straigh t. Texas T he T exas motorcycle spe ed limit is 6 0 MPH , but eve ry o ne else wa s go ing fas te r, so we crui sed at 8 0 MPH . Th at means 5 6 0 0 sm ooth RPM o n the Suzu ki, and 6 200 RPM o n the Honda. T he gas mil eage st ay ed the same for bo th b ikes o n this p art of the trip, and at th a t sp eed it was nec essary to hit reserve afte r about 9 0 or 10 0 mil es. If one wish es t o run the tanks dry , 140 is a go o d figu re to d o it, b ut only at more m oderat e speeds. Neither bike vibrated enough at any speed t o c ause the dreaded "numb butt" o r "tingle fin gers", but 8 0 MPH a dar k nig ht, it becomes ap paren t that Was especially smooth . T he Ho nda w as a the s t ate o f the art of m o t orcy cle tick smoo the r at slowe r speeds, but lighting c ould use so me improve ment. both bikes are so goo d in th is respect T h e sign s o f re cent rain were evid e n t th at the d ifference is a fine line. Both as we m oved through the T exas make the popular twins feel ar c haic in flatlands. Mud la kes h ad formed in the terms of vibration co n tr o l. midst o f rolling dunes an d we edy The Honda grips reall y go t to b are wildflowers. Trucks pain ted like gian t hands after a co u ple o f road d ays. Th cy faces spo rt ing war p aint and pickups co ul d actually hu rt your hands after a pu lling trailered m oto r boat s, swivel d ay o r so if glo ves were n ot worn. seats twi r lin g in the wind, fell behind as On long night stre tches of Texas we ran the bikes at 85 MPH.. ' h igh wa y , other vehicles hid behind ro lling hills at times, and all a glance in Bizarracana th e mirrors revealed was the soft glo w Traveling across America,.it is simple o f the tail lights on the pavement. Here - to see that dis coun I mania has swep t the it was apparent that the Suzuki nation. Everything from fir eworks t o instrument lighting was superior to the boxer sh o rts to pi gs a re blatantly Honda's, although the sa me co m p an y displayed on om assaul ting sign s as makes both the clocks for both the being available a t "discoun t" prices. bikes. The Honda numerals kind o f Minor metropolitan areas post large glowed , but the Suzuki's were bigger, signs ad visin g mo to rists that their fair and the lighting was more even. It was .ci ty has a zo o. Perhaps dis count cen te rs hard to read the Ho nd a tri p meter under and zo o s are th e measure of a ci ty ' s these con ditions. co sm o p olitan ess. But the n again, m ay be it is all part of that national wonder, A t t he same time , wi th few bizarracana. distracting ligh ts fro m o the r veh icles Re s t r ooms com p rise al most an around , the Suzuki hi gh beam indicator alternate c ult u re alo ng the ro ad. The proved to be a trifle bright for co m fo rt. barre n wa lls p rovide a ma te u r artists Switching fr o m h igh to low be am when ample opportunity to express political passing other vehicles was e asie r on the knowledge (o r lack o f it ), an d roo m to S uzuki due to the dimmer switch shape dou bt the mo rals and par en tage o f Jane and pl ace ment, at least a fte r hands Fo nda. A ll man ner of bizarre p r oduc t s be came n um b in co ld ' night air . with exotic names are dispensed in head Dimmi ng the Hond a requires rolling off vending machines, wit h aJI man n er o f the throttle if the effects of cold hou rs BS pro mises an d deterrents to in the saddle h ad be gun to be felt in the tampering printed on the outside o f th umb de par tm e n t. p adlocked boxes be ggin g to be .stu ffed Due to c o n t r o l p la ce m ent with a quarter o r two . d ifferences, it was easy to h it the wrong Coming in over th e t ollwa y in a c a n trol after switching bikes. A p o u ring rai n that pl agued Us'. since we st and ard all co mp an y place me n t would be helpful. wer e 2 0 0 mil es ' west o f Fort Worth , har d co re D all as ro se to gree t us like an T he Honda mirrors ' were lar ger and o ld Oz th at lost it s lu ster aro und the easier to adj us t while riding, bu t t he tim e the American C amel ot lost its Suzuki m irrors w ere ade q ua te a s is. It is lea d e r a .decade ago. Pulling o ff on to a just a matter o f d egree o f fin e line refinement. sid e st reet fo r gas in the heart o f th e city, the first thin g I saw was a sign th at T he be st se t-u p fo r see ing wh er e yo u sai d "H ump ". S in ce no wo men were in are going u n de r " supe r dark " co n d itio n s sigh t , I ign o red it . is to posit io n the d immer switch o f w hateve r b ik e yo u are riding hal fw ay ( This is t he f irst of th ree p arts of J oh n betwee n eac h beam selection p ositio n . Ulrich 's adve ntures. R et urn w ith us ..ext If d one c are fu lly , both beams ca n be lit week urhen he rides t h ro ugh " Easy at on ce, grea tly in creasin g illumination . R ider " land a..d learn s so me startling With tw o bikes doing this side by side , things after he is attack ed b y the Gian t Iigh ting is gre at. 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