Letters
LETTERS
Fun for $500
I very much enjoyed the January issue of Cycle World. It was balanced very well-a little about old bikes, some new bikes, and by far my favorite, “The $500 Ride.” This is the best article I have read in my 20 years of obsessing over motorcycles.
This is real-world stuff. Reading about $20,000 custom Harleys and $60,000 oval-piston Hondas is interesting, but not down-to-earth enough. A lot of us, the ones who really put miles on our bikes, have had to compromise, rebuild and make excuses for what we ride. I recently got a good dose of nuclear-toxic sticker shock at several local dealerships. The Harley shop was out of bikes (though there were lots of T-shirts for sale) and even the Pacific Rim bikes were just too expensive.
So, I went the economy route. My friends mostly are Milwaukee disciples, and don't understand why I bought a twice-skidded '87 Honda Shadow VT1 100 from its limping owner. A little touch-up work, and I now have a bike on the road for less than the price of the custom paint jobs on my friends’ Hogs.
It’s all about loving to ride, and from the staff comments in “The $500 Ride,” you sound like the kind of folks I would ride with anytime. Randy Herring Maumelle, Arizona
Holy cow, CW\ Let’s see more of Brenda Büttner and Robyn Davis! Unlike the rest of the staff, they both did The $500 Ride without a wheelie, a tumble or a ticket. They bested the rest of you guys and showed us that, yes indeed, a $500 bike can be safe and practical. Jim Burns
Del City, Oklahoma
Two women who are beautiful, ride motorcycles and know how to find a bargain while shopping. All I want to know is, where were Brenda and Robyn when l was young and single?
Mike Hildreth Bloomfield, New York
SR Chronicles
I truly enjoyed the road test on the SR500 Yamaha in the January issue. I am an extreme fan of this machine, and have a perfectly restored example, as well as a highly modified SR caferacer. So you won't think that I am just hooked on dinosaurs, I also have an ST I l 00 Honda and an XT550 Yamaha, but when I want to have fun on a Sunday morning, one of the SRs is my bike of choice, and if I had to get rid of any of my motorcycles, the SRs would be the last to go.
At present, my hot-rod SR is down for another update, a process of modification that has kept my interest for the last eight years, and which will probably sec me into the 21st century. I think it is too bad that Yamaha would have to set the price of a new SR so high; this is a superb motorcycle, a fun bike that can grow with the rider and truly convey the pleasures that motorcycling was originally meant to convey.
Bob Peeples Mesa, Arizona
Your article on the SR500 was very nice. However, //'Yamaha does reintroduce the bike here, it isn't going to sell at $4600. I bought a new SR500 in 1981, a very nice red-and-black Thumper with British styling and Japanese technology that got great gas mileage, had relatively low-cost servicing and drew looks of admiration and curiosity from people. 1 purchased it for $1650, mounted a set of Dunlop Gold Seal K-70s to complete the “look” and rode it for 14,000 miles. I eventually sold the bike for $725 to trade up to a Yamaha Virago 750. It was very tough to sell the SR, even though the bike was pristine and classic in looks, not a scratch on it. Also, the SR was pathetically underpowered-going into a strong headwind with the twistgrip all the way to the stop, I only got 60 mph!
Today, I certainly won’t spend 4600 bucks on one. Norm Perchikoff
Defiance, Ohio
Nice story on the SR500. I have to take issue with David Edwards’ monetary math in his Editors' Note, though. Despite the earnest wishes of Rush Limbaugh and his followers, the United States does not exist in a financial vacuum. While the U.S. dollar was devaluing itself domestically by over a third between 1978 and 1994, the Japanese yen was riding extremely high on the international exchange markets.
In 1978, a dollar could buy roughly 240 yen. Now, however, the dollar buys a mere 100 yen. So, take David’s $2300 figure, multiply it by 2.4, and the real price of a 1978 SR500 in 1994 dollars would be $5520. That makes the $4600 price fo r a '94 model look quite reasonable.
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There will be a test tomorrow.
Clement Salvadori Atascadero, California
Wild wheelies
Liked your December article on the Honda CB750 Four, but 1 loved the one-pager on the Kawasaki Triples.
In September of '72, I purchased a new 112 750cc Triple. Soon after leaving the cycle shop, 1 caught a red light at an intersection. When the light turned green, I punched it, sailing through the intersection (and about the next 100 yards) with the front wheel almost directly over my head!
Brian Ribblett Hampton, Virginia
In April of 1969, fresh off the plane from Vietnam and honorably discharged from the Marines, I purchased the first Kawasaki Mach III 500 I could find. Kevin Cameron's “Smokin'!” in the December issue succinctly and expertly summed up the persona of the legendary Kawasaki. Ahh, the memories his article conjured up! I always loved this quirky screamer of a twostroke Triple. It was always akin to a religious experience as the engine transformed from a docile kitten to a snarling, pouncing tiger when the tach reached 6000 rpm. I never lost a race, even in the mountains, until a 1972 Kawasaki Mach IV 750 started appearing around town.
I kept the bike going for 20 years, but it got too ragged-out to justify spending anymore money on, so I parked it in 1989. Now, 1 promise to get my old Mach 111 out of the barn and start restoring it over the winter, just so 1 can make believers out of today’s four-stroke-stunted young punks!
Thanks to Kevin Cameron for his sincere tribute to a much-loved motorcycle that gets too little respect.
Birney Montcalm Douglasville, Georgia
Indian Wars, Pt. II
Over the past few months I’ve seen a few published letters from folks putting down the proposed new IMMI Century V-Twin. I've kept my mouth shut because, hey, I don't own stock in the company and I don't hold a dealership license, so why argue? The let-
ter from R.D. Wood in your January '95 issue was the last straw, though.
R.D., you know not of what you speak. You cannot judge this bike from pictures. Believe me, 1 too think the photos CW ran were unimpressive. However, 1 was at the IMMI rally in Albuquerque when the bikes were unveiled, and I even had the chance to throw a leg over one. The bike is absolutely stunning; it certainly doesn’t look like an “H-D reject.”
The fit and finish of' the two bikes shown at the rally was as good as expensive custom machines, so please don’t judge this bike by its pictures. Try to see it in real life and then make an informed decision. You will be quite impressed-I know I was, and I’m on the waiting list for a Springer Softail! If this bike comes out before H-D can deliver, you can bet I'll be on a new waiting list. Gary Rosen
Monument, Colorado
Dweebs on wheels
In regards to David Edwards’ Quick Ride article, “Honda Helix; Not Just for Dweebs Anymore,” in January’s issue, there are a couple of things real men don’t do, and riding a Honda Helix ranks right up there with eating quiche.
Mr. Edwards, get a grip on yourself. For $4199, real men buy things like home-entertainment centers, home gyms and even HX500s, but never, and I repeat never, glorified scooters! Furthermore, Mr. Edwards, I suggest you take your $4200 and get some “manly” counseling before members of the He-Men-Woman-Haters Club find it necessary to tar-n-feather you.
Gary G. Abernathy San Antonio, Texas
There is no way that the Helix “will leave your average Lambretta for dead.” While it is obvious that David Edwards enjoys the comforts of riding a Helix, and I wish him well in doing so, I think it would be best if he did not bash other scooter makes, especially a brand that will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 1997, and without which his Helix would probably not even exist. Darren Lenkorn Montreal, Canada
Edwards no longer works here. He quit, bought a fleet of Helixes and now runs an inner-city quiche-deliverv service. Either that, or he's busy gripping himself we 're not sure.
