Letters
LETTERS
Throwing the gauntlet
After reading Mr. Dean’s attempt to define a motorcycle’s “soul” as an emotion-filled exhaust emission, a mental image passed through my mind. Dean, astride his favorite VTwin, on the centerstand in the driveway of a Southern California tract home, eyes blissfully closed, listening in total rapture to his idling engine while his wife unsuccessfully tries to tell him supper is ready.
Tell you what, Dean. If you ever get your bike off the centerstand and into gear, look up Oregon in your road atlas. I’d be happy to give you a demonstration of what an opposed twin (read BMW) sounds like when it’s in a hurry. I will also give you a long, if somewhat distant, view of my license plate. Dan Christianer Rogue River, Oregon
Wife?Supper? Sorry, you must have the wrong Dean.
No noise is good noise
Paul Dean’s ideas about “soul” (July, ’85 Editorial) were interesting, yet flawed for me. Sure, the sound of a bike says something about it, but that can be misleading. To me, the soul and character of a motorcycle is something more involved than merely the sound of the engine. The style, the seating position, the feel of the bike, and especially the performance are what tells me about the soul it has. I don’t care for vibrating, loud engines with lackluster performance that only sound like they’re really going places. Harleys are a perfect example. Might as well take
the old pickup with a hole in the muffler, or maybe just sit and listen to a cement mixer all day.
To me, soul is cutting precision turns, feeling eye-opening acceleration, and hearing (and feeling) the wind during a ride, not the mechanics and noise of the motorcycle. I’m the proud owner of a superb Honda 500 Interceptor. I thoroughly enjoy its silky smooth and quietly powerful V-Four engine. Any ride is exhilarating, but especially so when putting the blitz on bigger and louder bikes. Together we have a special theory: Talk softly and carry a big stick. Terry J. Henkels Dubuque, Iowa
Upscale soul
I recently acquired a new (to me, 6K on the odometer) Honda CX500 Custom, and I can relate to the
editorial in the July issue. I don’t know much about motorcycles but I do know about soul. A Testa Rossa 4.2L has soul. An Austin-Healy Sprite doesn’t. A P51 Mustang at 500 mph, 200 feet overhead, has soul. An Alfa Veloce doesn’t. A Porsche 911 or Speedster has soul. A Corvette doesn’t. And on and on. Brian Green Montagne, California
Hush, hush, sweet Tiger
Paul Dean’s brief but excellent course in exhaust-music appreciation (“Soul-Searching in the Engine Bay”) contained only one flaw. Though Mr. Dean was absolutely right about the inspirational qualities of open-piped Triumph Bonnevilles, perhaps these deafened him to the sonic virtues of reasonably muffled Tigers, so soothing to the souls of long-distance riders of the 1960s. Paul Kleinpoppen Jacksonville, Florida
You 'll have to speak up; Dean 's a little hard of hearing.
Physics 101
Returning to cycling after a 10year hiatus, I turned to Cycle World to catch up on a decade of innovation that had apparently raised technical understanding to new heights after the lack of discrimination fostered by the Japanese Invasion. Imagine my disappointment, then, as I turned to the July Editorial (“Soul-Searching In The Engine Bay”) only to find the engine re-> ferred to as a motor. This lack of technical comprehension left me with a sour taste for the rest of the magazine and wishing for expert reporting rather than plastic-glamour slick. Too bad!
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Dale Adler
Charlottesville, Virginia
You're right; technically, a motor and an engine are not one and the same. But certain terminology—such as “motor-mount bolt," or “motor sports, " or simply stating that one bike has more “motor" than another—has been incorporated into the jargon that is indigenous to the field of internal combustion. Besides, what do you call that self-powered, two-wheel device out in your garage, an engin ecycle?
Religion comes in Sixes
You are soooo right! If a motorcycle’s soul is to be found (Editorial, July, 1985), it must be with the ears.
I believe most people will concur with your description of an inlineFour’s frantic roar and a V-Twin’s uneven rumble as truly music to any enthusiast of reciprocating orchestration. I can still hear Eddie Lawson at Laconia the year he ran away with the Superbike championship. (How is it that a Z-l of any year sounds both distinctive and more soul-stirring than any other inline-Four?)
But you neglected to mention the most sensual-sounding engine ever produced . . . the Honda CBX Six with any pipe other than the stock one. The same year I saw Lawson at Loudon, there was a nut with a CBX that had a 6-into-l pipe, who at each traffic light would wind that mother up to about seven-grand, dump the clutch and burn it to the next light.
It was insane. It was loud. It was awesome. It was beautiful. The same year, at an AAMRR race at Bridgehampton, there was a team called Concept Six running a fully faired CBX. It wasn’t showing the RD400s much in the turns, but when it came onto a straight with the R’s up and the pipe singing, I heard God!
Ken Sexton
Calverton, New York
Gee, and all along we've been told that God rides a Harley.
Comparing the incomparable
Re: June, ’85 issue, FZ750/GSXR750 comparison test. Enjoyed subject test, but once again I’m reminded of “apples and oranges” comparisons thereof. The word “irrelevant” comes to mind. The GSX-R is a narrow-focus, uncomfortable, thinly disguised, fully faired endurance racer that must deliver less-than-advertised power, because it should, with its weight advantage, outperform the FZ750. On the other hand, the FZ750 is a street-legal (except in the land of fruits and nuts) road machine currently selling like hotcakes. Is it true that the FZ will be available in “LaLa Land” come August ’85? Regardless, the GSX-R is a “furrin critter,” obtainable only Europe, Canada and Japan, or via the U.S. “gray market.” Will we see it in U.S. showrooms in late ’85?
H.P.Gary
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Yes, the GSX-R will be in U.S. showrooms just before the end of the year. Yes, California will get the FZ750 later this year. And no, we do not agree that the GSX-R and FZ don 7 belong in the same test. Both are full-on, street-legal, 750-class sportbikes, and even their manufacturers see them as direct, head-to-head competitors in the markets where both presently are sold.
A fine story, ’tis
We really enjoyed Peter Egan’s “Emerald Tour” story in the June issue. Living here in England, we have made two trips into the Republic since our arrival last June, and reading about the adventures of the Egans brought back memories of a full range, from being awed by the soft beauty of the island to the sad bitterness felt as we stood at the monuments and memorials—to both the living and the dead—left by the simmering war that lies below the surface of British/Irish relations.
Having the only Yamaha Venture in the British Isles made the bike a conversation piece everywhere we went in England. But in Ireland, all we had to do was return one of the omnipresent smiles, and we would be engaged in conversation that would last all day in that “quicksilver cadence” that Peter Egan de-
scribes. From Dublin (pronounced Dub-a-lin) through to Limerick, we were welcomed with open arms, a pint or two, and with questions of our lives and land. Only in downtown Dublin were the British tags on our bike looked at questionably, but as soon as the locals heard our Baltimore accent, the sky cleared.
Thank you, Peter Egan, for the beautiful article. When (not if) you return, as you will, maybe we’ll ride along with you a while.
Paul and Kathi Ingley Gloucestershire, England
Mileage mystery
How is it possible for the trip odometer on the Harley-Davidson 883 Sportster (page 30, August issue) to read 448.9, while the permanent odometer reads 6.0?
A.J. Metter
Durham, North Carolina
Easy. When the odometer had about 1.5 miles showing (which is a normal reading for a brand-new, never-ridden machine), some prankster turned the tripmeter reset knob until the all the numbers aligned at 444.4 miles. Between then and the time the bike had its picture taken, 4.5 additional miles were racked up, resulting in the unusual readings you saw in the photo.
Two wrongs make a zilch
Just the other day, I was having an argument with a couple of my buddies. They were trying to tell me that Kawasaki has a bike that will outrun the V-Max. They also said that you would not print this letter.
Curtis A. Renner Salem, Oregon
Fell your buddies that they're batting a glorious 0-for-2. 0
