Letters
LETTERS
Hawkish viewpoints
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the test on the 1988 Honda Hawk GT and the accompanying article, “The View From the Real World,” with opinions from the three Cycle World readers you invited along. I recently took a demo ride on the Hawk GT and was impressed with just about everything the bike had to offer. I’m glad to see the arrival of the Hawk and what may be today’s standard motorcycle.
Oh, by the way, if you happen to have any of these new Hawk GTs sitting in your test-bike garage, I’ll be glad to take one off your hands for a weekend.
Carl Schumacher St. Louis, Missouri
Nice try, Carl. Take a number.
If you really wanted to profile a “standard” motorcycle, why didn’t you mention Yamaha’s Radian? The Radian is a straight-up bike that can be ridden both aggressively and comfortably. More saddle padding wouldn’t hurt it, but at more than a thousand bucks less than the Hawk, it can race in the canyons, commute, and take me and my honey to the horizon and back. Now, that’s the type of standard to measure other bikes against.
Anyway, I hope that all the big manufacturers read these Cycle World articles carefully enough to figure out that American motorcycle consumers want cycles that are comfortable, capable and affordable. Tough “standards” to conform to, but then, it’s a tough market these days, isn’t it?
Scott Weiss Tucson, Arizona
After reading your two articles on the Honda Hawk GT and taking a test ride I am more convinced than ever that Honda made a big mistake in not continuing the Nighthawk 650 and 700S. I think that if Honda had developed and refined those bikes, your three readers/test riders (Dan Morris, Richard Brownley and Barry Sommer) would have been very enthusiastic after trying an ’88 Nighthawk.
Will White La Mesa, California
The “View From The Real World” definitely does play in Peoria. Two of the motorcycle shops that I visit frequently have posted the article on a bulletin board in a prominent place. My mother took a magazine to work to show off. I took one to work and people started calling me “Mr. Celebrity.” Thanks again for a job well done. I’m your biggest fan in Peoria.
Dan Morris Peoria, Illinois
I wouldn’t buy a bike at any price with a tiny 3-gallon tank and those cast handlebars.
Gene Maulding Oceanside, California
Oh, you must want the large 3gallon tank.
Triumph on the moon
Peter Egan’s column about his Triumph’s leaky carbs (Leanings,
June 1988) was frightening. Gasoline vaporizing at a rate fast enough to permeate the house from one end to the other, with fumes strong enough to awaken you from a sound sleep, could be very dangerous. A pilot light, a midnight cigarette or any of many other causes could cau$e him to become little more than an ash. I would hate to read that he was in orbit somewhere as a result of an accidental ignition of these vapors.
Charles Marsh Burleson, Texas
The last time we saw Egan he was mumbling something about secrecy of the British space program being blown.
Reader In formation
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Unfinished BMW
Being the owner of a 1983 BMW R 1OORS, I found your May road test of the new “back form the dead” RS interesting. Unfortunately, your story fails to give BMW the criticism it deserves in not correcting these additional shortcomings of the ’77'84 bikes:
-For riders of six-foot-and-over stature (like myself), the fairing lowers intrude on knee room. Incorporating a slight radius into the back edge of the lowers would easily correct this.
-The stock mirrors are nearly worthless for seeing anything except the rider’s own shoulders. A slight offset molded into the mounts would fix this.
-The bike’s sidestand remains a genuine piece of junk. This is German engineering? The boys in Munich should copy any late-1960s Triumph 500 or 650 sidestand if they want the industry’s best-ever stand.
RS owners like myself have typically had to spend upwards of $300$400 in trick fork pieces (springs, bottoming springs, fork braces, triple clamps) and rear shocks to truly match their bikes’ chassis with the performance and aesthetics of the RS bodywork. With the “new” RS, Bayerische Motoren Werke is still delivering an unfinished bike—inexcusable at the $7750 price—and it will certainly make owners of the older RS Boxers more reluctant to trade for a new one.
Lindsay Brooke Managing Editor Automotive Industries Radnor, Pennsylvania
The Harley zone
I’ve heard from a somewhat reliable source that Harley-Davidson’s cylinders and possibly even their cylinder heads are being manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Is there any truth to this?
Bret Samms Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Consider your source somewhat less reliable.
While riding my ’87 Honda Interceptor, I greet every motorcycle rider I see with a friendly smile and a wave of the hand. I have found that I get the same response from just about every rider and passenger, with the exception of those mounted on Harley-Davidsons. The Harley riders look right at me and turn their heads. A few times rude jestures and comments are thrown in my face.
Why do these Harley riders dislike non-Harley riders so much? Don’t we all travel by the transportation we like best, motorcycles?
Let’s cut the crap, Harley riders. A few of these “rice-burning” motorcycles are made right here in the USA by your American neighbors, friends and family.
Reid A. Duncan Leavenworth, Washington
Well guys, I believe Honda has finally done it. I know there are a lot of people (tourers) out there who will desire and also purchase the behemoth Gold Wing Six, because in the last 13 years of GL production, they’ve gotten me for seven of the Gold Whales.
And I have enjoyed all of them. However, it looks more and more like my next bike will be a HarleyDavidson. I appreciate their looks, comfort and sound. Also, I can do some of my own maintenance on that motorcycle, and for me, that is a part of the lure of motorcycling.
Gary Davis Denver, Colorado
I suppose it all comes down to what one likes. If you are partial to a Colt .45 auto instead of a Heckler and Koch 9mm; if you like old steam locomotives instead of diesel engines; if the rumble of a Wright Whirlwind radial airplane engine stirs your blood but the scream of a jet turbine leaves you cold; then you’d probably be happier on a Harley. If, on the other hand, a machine must flaunt cutting-edge technology to make you feel good, you won’t be happy with a Harley. Although Harleys are now new, modern designs in every respect, they make no attempt to stay at the head of the technological pack. They’re aimed at the traditionalist, or at the guy like me who finally overdosed on technology, who one day decided that simpler is better as long as it runs well.
Motorcycling is one of man’s least rational activities; it is something one does not with the mind but with the gut. Any attempt to explain rationally why one prefers one bike over another must come to naught, for things of the gut, like things of the heart, do not lend themselves to rational explanations. You say that your Suzuki (any model) is faster or quicker or has more gadgets than my FXRT? Oh, yeah; so what? I’ve ridden Suzukis, in fact I’ve owned several, and Hondas, too, and although I liked them, none of’em stirred me like the Harley I have now.
Ten years ago you could not have melted me and poured me on a Harley. They looked like they were turned out in a Bulgarian tractor factory, and seemed to run about that way, too, but there were guys who swore by them. Back then I couldn’t understand why, but I finally figured out that everybody has to row his own boat. Now I understand, and I’ll never own anything else. When I’m out halfway between somewhere and nowhere at all, I don’t feel like I’m alone; that big old bike is as much company as I need, and nothing before ever made me feel that way.
Kent E. Lundgren Selah, Washington
That's one of the most eloquently expressed explanations for loving a Harley-Davidson we've ever heard. But your statement that “Harleys are now new, modern designs in every respect " holds water about as well as a 30-yearold Harley holds oil.
