Roundup
ROUNDUP
FRIENDS ON THE ROAD
Maybe it was all the rain after two years of drought. Or maybe he just got tired of life in the fast lane, southern California style. Whatever, our friend Bob Runyard, who handles technical publications for Yamaha Motors USA, got restless recently and decided he needed a good, long ride. Tierra del Fuego seemed about the right distance to Bob, and he set about prepping his trusty Yamaha XS650 for the venture. Part of this preparation included installation of a Hugon transparent fairing, which we asked Bob to try in exchange for his evaluation and periodic progress reports. The first of these follows.
A brief report from the road—the first 1000 miles of the 13.000-mile trek to Tierra del Fuego. At this point we are about to dissolve our company of three, one of whom has been road-racer-turned-tourer Buddy Parriott. It was he who provided the comic relief so necessary on an arduous tour. Without it. even a 300-mile day can turn the best of friends into former amigos. After the Mexican border, anything can be amusing. Take soda crackers, for instance. Where but in Mexico could you find crackers called Tricky-Tracky? And then there was the fruit-eating contest. Buddy must have been feeling the road fatigue
w hen he tried to eat a banana w hile riding across the Vizcaino Desert. Trouble was. he forgot he was wearing a Bell Star. Then there was the ordering of wheat Hour tortillas (tortillas de harina), when we substituted “torillas de arena,” which sounds close but means “sand tortillas.” Buddy is all motorcycle. When the salt doesn’t shake he says the container needs bigger jets. And so it goes. Bew'are the TrickyTraekys.
Now that the first tenth of a 13.000-mile multi-national tour is completed the fairing is appreciated. The more comfortable the ride, the easier it is to go farther in a day, and more safely. Some things the Hugon isn’t: It isn’t a frame mount, but that needn’t turn anyone off. After a day of riding in treacherous crosswinds the fairing proved that handlebar-mounted designs can work well in adverse wind conditions. Of course, the extra weight of the loaded 650 might have added to the stability on those windy roads. Which brings up another isn’t: a sail. Too many fairings provide too much resistance to the wind, decreasing gas mileage and acceleration. With the Hugon I’ve enjoyed between 49 and 57 miles per gallon (calculated from kilometers per liter). Air spills over
the fairing at the shoulders and catches you about mid-visor. There is a detachable flap to prevent this, but for simplicity’s sake I left it behind. Hands are kept quite comfortable, although the wide 650 handlebars put my pinkies out in the jet stream. Now I’m waiting for some rain to see how the Hugon sheds it. On to Tierra del Fuego . . .
I chose the Hugon Lexan fairing for international touring, not the luxurious riding we enjoy in the U.S. Since it was to go on a Yamaha 650 that was already too heavily loaded, I needed a lightweight apparatus. The simple attachment pro-
cedure also makes it easy to swivel the fairing down onto the seat when you have to put your bike into a crate for air freighting across oceans. And tough? The material is General Electric Lexan, made in the U.S., exported to France for forming. The Lexan is basically the same plastic used in the windshields of police motorcycles. It turns bullets. However, it does scratch easily, so a good plastic cleaner and polisher like Meguiar’s is necessary. (Since Meguiar’s is so good on helmet visors I carry it along anyway).
Next stop: Panama.
THE CRUCIBLE
Not long ago Tim Barela, whose cartoons appear each month on these pages, was approached by Kawasaki to participate in a little experiment. As an artist and the owner of a Yamaha XS750, Tim was intrigued and decided to attend. If you 've ever wondered how motorcycles come to look like they do, Tim's account of the experience should prove illuminating.
Actually, the call was placed in the name of Kawasaki, as I later discovered, by a company called Opinion Research of California. Opinion Research had been contacting owners of other competior’s touring machines as well and. with the promise of a not quite crisp, not quite new 10 dollar bill for their trouble, was inviting them to an opinion researching session. The subject was graphics and color schemes for the new line of Kawasaki touring machines, not strangely enough.
The session was held out of doors in a parking lot beside a large and rather mysterious building in one of those new industrial parks, this one in Santa Ana, California. All participating were given a multi-page ballot and a no. 2 pencil. Starting with the KZ 650 and proceeding up the
line, each model of Kawasaki’s street arsenal was rolled out for inspection. The bikes had removable gas tanks, tail pieces and, in a couple of cases, front fenders. These could be and were exchanged for other gas tanks, tail pieces and fenders with different colors and styles of striping and logos. For each bike there were at least four different combinations. At times there were more, some of the gas tanks and tail ends having a different style of striping or logo on the opposite side. After each combination had been viewed, the participating researchers were asked to use their ballots to rate the different gas tanks, etc., which, at that point, had been placed on a table for a final inspection. The rating scale, of course, ranged from poor to excel-
lent and color schemes were rated separately from graphics.
Apparently, in today’s big business world of competition and mass marketing schemes, this way of trying to find out what will and will not be more likely to sell has become the thing to do and, no doubt, brisk business for companies like Opinion Research of California. Kawasaki is simply one of many corporations in this country, foreign and domestic, using this method to assure itself that its products will have the best possible chances in the American marketplace. But where does that leave you when you’re about to purchase that shiny new Kawasaki street bike you’ve had your eye on? It seems that, according to the manufacturer, you’re in a very good position. All precautions have been taken to insure that the color schemes and graphics of the models you’ll have to choose from will be combinations you’ll be happy to have for your own. After all, Kawasaki asked those best qualified to say what a purchaser of their product would be in the market for. They asked the customers they’d most like to lure: the owners of Hondas, Yamahas, Suzukis and BMWs.
Tim Barela
RECORDS WE’D RATHER NOT CHALLENGE
Motor Cycle News, the British journal. reports a Scottish motorcycle club— the Pharaohs—has made a world record attempt for pushing a motorcycle.
The Pharaohs base their claim on a 77.55-mi. push around the East Fortune road circuit. The mileage was run up in 15 hours by 12 club members, including an 18-year-old girl. The bike was a 750ec Triumph.
Whether the record will find its way into the Guinness Book of World Records is not known, since there is a conflicting mark set by a team of boys from the Anthony Gell School in Derbyshire. The Anthony Gell contingent didn't accumulate as much mileage—their total was about 75 miles—
THE INCREDIBLE JUMPING KIDD
London motorcycle daredevil Eddie Kidd may have jumped into The Guinness Book of World Records during a recent filming session for a BBC drama. The stunt required Kidd to jump 160 ft. over an 80foot-deep railway cut, carrying a passenger. The latter, fortunately, was stuffed, which saved it from having its breath knocked out on landing. Kidd, being human, wasn’t so lucky, but was lucky enough since the film required him to make the jump without a helmet.
It was all in a day’s work for Mr. Kidd, who left the scene making plans to top Evel Knievel’s bus-jumping record. Knievel has cleared 14. Kidd, who does his stunts on a Suzuki 370. plans to add one to that total.
BMW LAUNCHES TWO NEW MODELS
After several years of adding to the top end of its product line-up. BMW' has but they did it in only 12 hours.
While we feel it’s possible certain desert riders may have inadvertently topped both these marks, we’re w filing to leave all such attempts up to others.
ST PAUL RALLY
If you’re rolling through the Twin Cities area June 16, 17 or 18, you might want to stop by the Minnesota State Fairgrounds to see what’s going on at the first National Motorcycle Rally and Road Tour.
Included on the bill of fare is a big threeday swap meet; a bike show that includes competition in some 50 classes; a parade; and guided motorcycle tours through some of the scenic regions nearby.
A full participant’s ticket costs $10 for three days. For further info contact the
announced a pair of new models at the other end of the displacement spectrum, a 450 and 650.
Introduced recently in Europe, the new models are both classic BMW' shaft-drive boxer Twins. The 450 model is set up in a shorter wheelbase than current BMW' offerings, and will probably be limited to the European market. The 650 will probably find its way to the U.S., superseding the R60 model.
JUST TRYING TO HELP
If you think riding a motorcycle sometimes earns you unreasonable scrutiny by law enforcement officers, consider the plight of bikers in Lincolnshire. England. In Lincolnshire, just being up on two is enough to get you stopped.
But it’s not quite as bad as it sounds. The Lincolnshire law men, in a burst of safetyoriented zeal, have been setting up roadside checkpoints where they stop all motorcyclists and give them brief minilectures on safe riding techniques and maintenance.
The campaign was instituted in response National Motorcycle Rally and Road Tour, P.O. Box 20404, Bloomington, Minn. 55420, telephone (612) 739-7565.
CORRECTION
Enthusiasm and the rush of deadlines for the April issue caused Cycle World and Yamaha to make a promise neither party can keep.
Yamaha’s ad agency assembled an ad for the YZ100E which said the 100’s monoshock can be adjusted for nitrogen pressure. The larger units have that feature, the 100’s mono doesn’t. Yamaha’s people spotted the mistake and told us but we couldn’t make the change in time.
So. The YZ100E does not have adjustable damping and Yamaha never intended to say that it does.
to a recent rash of motorcycle fatalities in Lincolnshire. As charming British institutions go. it’s one we hope stays on their side of the Atlantic.
HOW ABOUT POWER WINDOWS?
Woodbridge Kawasaki, of Avenel, New Jersey, has been advertising KZ 1000s and KZ650s equipped with “manual disc brakes, manual steering,” and “5-speed manual” transmission, a language-expansion phenomenon brought to our attention by Ray Nelson of Lake Hiawatha. N J.
Although we didn’t know that Kawasaki offered any alternatives to the equipment mentioned above—automatic steering? power disc brakes?—we feel the ads are remiss is not pointing out another handpowered item: the manual electric start.
AN UNDERSTATEMENT
Jack Penton, commenting in a CYCLE NEWS interview on the difficulties of the Penton KTM organization: “I think you could say that we have some competition from the Japanese.”
