Letters
LETTERS
Love at first sight
My wife wondered what was wrong! I was sitting in my recliner when I let out a yelp. There, in the September issue, was a motorcycle I would buy now! The Yamaha XJ900S Diversion looked like a winner. Yamaha listened to me and gave it shaft drive!
But what is this? They are not going to sell it in good old red-white-and-blue America? Yamaha, ARE YOU NUTS?! I want an affordable sports tourer, but not if I have to swim the North Sea to get it. Steve Bukosky Waukesha, Wisconsin
It was with foaming jowls that I eagerly searched through your September issue, looking for Mr. Max.
Somehow I kept landing instead on page 34. I think I have fallen in love. Please ask the good folks at Yamaha to make it possible for me to buy an XJ900S. Jeff Hudspeth Columbia, Tennessee
I’ve been waiting for a replacement for my ’83 Suzuki GS850G, and Yamaha’s Europe-only XJ900S is it. It’s a “Standard for the ’90s,” with its modern suspension and brakes, narrower engine, sportier styling and reasonable ergonomics.
With the Diversion, Yamaha could easily match the V-Max’s 1000-unit volume, and offer this bike at a reasonable price here in the States. Rob Pflug Spartanburg, South Carolina
In search of standards
All I’m asking for is a sub-liter, lightweight standard whose styling looks forward, not back. And it needs to be offered at a reasonable price (sorry, Monster). Is this an impossible combination? Peter Douglas Mojave, California I personally have lost my interest in scraping pegs at incredible lean angles and would like a machine I could ride in many situations with equal competence.
I guess I’ll just have to buy another used BMW until someone gets the message. Brian Tucker Tucson, Arizona
A new standard must also offer lighter weight, adjustable seat height, and have a low enough center of gravity for ladies to comfortably handle it at low speeds.
We who shun noisy, vibration abundant cruisers and don’t care for the youthful ergonomics, glitzy bodywork or cost of today’s sportbikes are not all males wanting a bare-bones bike to tinker with. The comment I hear most from females now riding cruisers is “You’re lucky to be tall so you can ride a standard bike. I’m just too short for those kind of bikes.”
Hey, Honda-put the Hawk on a diet. Yo, Yamaha-the FJ1200 can lose the bodywork and ABS brakes so we can afford one. Heck, Kawasaki-I don’t want my new bike to look like used ’70s models or to weigh so much it takes three of us to pick her up. And Suzuki-how about some options and features to put life back into the VX? Liz Cook Lewisville, Texas
The letter in your September issue from Christopher Clovis was truly written by a salesman. He says people don’t come into the dealerships looking for a standard bike.
People who desire a standard-style motorcycle are generally older, experienced and well-informed. They have seen what has been offered and are not impressed. Why go to a dealer for a bike that doesn’t exist? If the manufacturers do not make what the customers want, they damn sure can’t sell them. Bob Karpowicz Bristow, Indiana
Give up. It’s a lost cause! Not only does the industry make money on all that plastic on sportbikes, but once the sportbike goes down, they get to sell another one. Don’t the manufacturers watch the used-bike ads? Or don’t they want to provide us with truly durable and affordable standards? Bernard Parrette McLean, Virginia
Complaints about Complaints Dept.
I am so sick of people complaining about how they can’t get their perfect bike because it’s not available. “I want retro. I want standard. I want this. I want that.”
Why don’t they go buy a Chevy and shut up? These are the type of people who complain about everything.
I obviously just finished reading your letters in the September issue. It’s almost sick. Bikes built from 1980 on should offer any darn thing you want. You can have any price range, any motor, any frame, mixed and matched, faired or not, chain or shaft. It is practically bike heaven out there.
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See you-I’m going riding. Mark McLaughlin Pembroke, Massachusetts
Regarding all the cry baby responses received in response to your article titled “Higher Standards.:” I think the majority of your readers ingest far too much magazine reading and not enough riding. 1 F. Rizzo Pennsauken, New Jersey
I am a 30-year-old subscriber and have cycled since license would allow. From dirt to touring to pushing it hard on Ortega Highway.
I usually read your magazine from cover to cover and keep my opinion to myself. But I have noticed that a lot of reader mail seems to want more of this or less of that.
I ride a lot (as much as weather, free time, and a wife and four children will allow). I go to the showrooms as much as I can, admiring the versatility of the machines that are being produced. I own three bikes, and would own more if I could. When looking for the “perfect ride” I found no problems finding it, only in deciding which one of these wonderfully built machines to buy. From standards, cruisers, sport, sport-tourersThey were all there.
Send me all the bikes those readers say are no good. I’ll make room in my garage. Mark Richardson Bushnell, Illinois
All-American effort
Having returned from my third pilgrimage to the Isle of Man, I was heartened to see your excellent color coverage of TT fortnight.
But the recap of American racers there left out the truly gallant efforts of young Mark Cernicky, an Orange County, California, lad whose dream to race the Mountain Circuit became a reality despite the fact he had never set foot on the Isle of Man until five days before the races started.
Riding a box-stock Suzuki RGV250 in the 400cc class, Mark qualified after teething problems, then ran out of fuel halfway through the race. He pushed the bike at marathon speed several hilly miles into the pits on Glencrutchery Road and proceeded to vomit in his helmet while his crew fueled the bike. Race officials blackflagged him, fearful that he was not fit to continue. Mark was ready and able to finish the race, but respected the judges’ decision.
For a first time effort, it was heroic. Paul Golde Orange, California
Indeed. Cernicky is worth watching. The 24-year-old, a former professional skateboarder, has enjoyed several top-10 finishes as a club-level roadracer.
Headed for Wisconsin
Peter Egan strikes again! First in the June ’94 issue he writes an excellent article on the Honda CB550 that led me to a purchase of a mint condition ’77 CB550 Super Sport. Then in the September issue, he writes about traveling the backroads through the small towns of Wisconsin. I guess I’ll have to trailer up the CB550 when I vacation in Wisconsin next month.
Keep this up and you’ll have me moving back to the Badger state. Peter Dujanovich Fairfield, Ohio
Calculating character
Does my bike have character?
According to Peter Egan’s delightful test (CW, August), mine scored a perfect 100 points after only the first two questions. (Do I get more because it won the Production TT five years straight?)
Yep, all this for my ’74 Triumph Trident. I’d have got more, but she runs 50-weight oil, and very little leaks out.
Ride that old sumbitch! David Patterson Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Overshadowed
I love, love, looooovvve the Honda Shadow American Classic Edition.
Joseph Dean Palen Canfield, Ohio
So, tell us what you really think.
I was dismayed to read about the new 1100 Shadow Harley knock-off (September issue). Not only is the styling poser-like, but Honda went to great pains to copy the paint-shaker vibration as well. So now one of the most gifted engineering companies in the business is copying the most inept throwback technology in biking!
You quoted a Honda staff member who described the Harley exhaust note as “potato-potato-potato.” I’m betting the Honda Shadow will sound like metoo-metoo-metoo. Phil Stewart Sunnyvale, California
Riding with the Wild One
In 1976, I was riding a Wide Glide trike through my home town of Oroville, California, when I pulled up to a police Harley with a different kind of “sheriff” waiting to make a turn.
I was surprised to realize that it was Lee Marvin. He looked over, gave me a “thumbs up,” then roared off. He had been in town filming The Klansman.
Your article on Marvin reminded me of my short brush with history. Thank you for your coverage of people who make motorcycling fun. Gary Brasen Oroville, California
Everybody’s a critic
Gary Thompson’s “Cycle Cinema” in the July issue missed a few jewels.
How can you compile a list of classic motorcycle videos and fail to include Easy Riderl
For a little 1960s biker lore, there are countless movies in that genre. Don’t miss the early, albeit amusing, performances of such greats as Jack Nicholson in Hell’s Angels on Wheels or Peter Fonda in The Wild Angels.
If you’re intrigued by movies that perpetuate less than flattering images of the sport, look for Brian Bosworth’s tour de force, Stone Cold. Oscar Dean Ft. Meade, Maryland
Why didn’t you include the classic Easy Rider and the really well done Time Riders (directed by Michael Nesmith of The Monkeys)? The first is a well-known classic and the second an off-beat yet “cycle is the star of the show” type cult flick!
Also, why include the worst motoflick of all time, Cool as Icel That waste of celluloid was not only horrible but the action at the box office was cold as ice! Kevin Vaughn Monterey, Calif.
