VOLUME ISSUE AUGUST , P101
A
s a young lad, my dad would play
golf each Sunday with his close
friends at a course at the end of our
street. The summer months were always
better for me because it was then a special
mate of dad's would come and play after
the 500cc Grand Prix season had finished.
The late Warren Willing, one of Austra
-
lia's finest ever racers and one of the driv-
ing forces behind Kenny Roberts' feared
Marlboro Yamaha team of the early 1990s,
was a plethora of information. As an an-
noying pre-teen, I'd drill him at any given
opportunity about GP bikes, about racing,
about what Wayne Rainey was doing in
the off-season, anything I could think of.
A man of few words, Warren would
occasionally say something that would
really hit home. Two of those quips have
stuck with me in every form of my riding
since, be it racing, street, motocross,
adventure, whatever.
The first and coolest line was, "A
motorcycle is not like a car. It's much
closer to a fighter jet in the way in moves
and reacts to the rider's physical input."
And the second was, "Tires are the
single most important thing on your
motorcycle. Tires are the thing that allow
your engine to deliver the power, for the
chassis to work as it should, and for your
brakes to slow you down."
STEEL AND FIRE
SCAYSBROOK SCAYSBROOK
Thirty years ago, Metzeler revolutionized the tire
game when it bought out the 0° steel belted radial.
Tires have never been the same since
