Letters
LETTERS
High-flyin’ Hawk
Many thanks for April’s “The Hawk Above, the Crud Below.” In 1969, a buddy and I rode our identical 1966 CB77 Honda Super Hawks north to Canada from New York City, across to Michigan and continued due south through Ohio, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas to Nueva Laredo, Mexico.
The Hawks performed flawlessly. Our only regret (ah, youth!) was riding along the beach, and skimming the ocean waters at Corpus Christi. It was fun, but it wreaked havoc on our chains and other vitals, and we had to change oil several times before we lost the final grains of sand from the bottom of our oil pans.
My present motorcycle is a 1997 Triumph Speed Triple, a terrific bike. It’s the future I saw from the seat of my Super Hawk. Norm Gershon
Roseburg, Oregon
Thanks for the history lesson on the Honda Super Hawk. As a long-time admirer of Japanese motorcycles from the ’60s and early ’70s, it is nice to read words of praise for a machine that brought reliability and value to motorcycling.
To me, the Super Hawk represents the beginning of fun, reliable motorcycles and is the perfect example of that era. Phil Schilling’s article was a great escape from a cold New England winter day. It inspired the desire to crank up the Beach Boys’ “Little Honda” on the turntable and dream of the warm-weather riding season.
Michael Petronis Barre, Massachusetts
April drools
A really excellent issue this April! I’ve been riding 27 years and reading various cycle ’zines for longer, and few issues have stood out the way this one did. While I’m a Euro-Italophile and cafe-racer generally, the content of the magazine just came together to give me some real enjoyment. Great to know Mr. Edwards had the same trepidation I did when trying an Indian clutch; great to know that Egan has a soft spot for Laverda (a long-time love of mine); great to see Ienatsch in print; and that Seeley Norton picture along with the Guzzi Sport in “American Flyers” was worth more than the price of the magazine. Thanks, again. Frank Susca North Salem, New York
It is not often that I am moved to write letters to magazines, but April’s edition really got me going.
The article on the Kenny Roberts bike was, for me, wonderful. Seeing that bike again conjured up images of the past that are imbedded in my mind forever. The late-’70s to mid-’80s Grand Prix era was a glorious time, and the photos of that bike say it all. It’s beautiful.
Ian Easton Riverside, California Wittingly or not, you struck gold with your April issue by extensively covering the neo-classics worshipped by an emerging generation of motorcycle geezers.
Your “American Flyers” piece was daring, gorgeous and had something for everybody. Schilling’s insightful account of motorcycles’ transition from crud to quality, thanks to Honda, will serve as a reality check for Japan-phobes. And topping everything was Nick Ienatsch’s article about his restoration of Kenny Roberts’ world-championship Yamaha OW48. What a great tribute to a gen-u-ine American hero!
John Mulvihill Clayton, California
Mail to the Chief
So, Mr. Editor Edwards is the proud owner of an old Indian Chief (Up Front, April)? In 1948, I bought a 1947 Chief and got about a half-hour of lessons on how to ride from the local Indian dealer. My journey home was about five miles. I, too, had quite a time as I killed the engine six times on that trip thanks to that rocker clutch and hand shift. I could find low and high gear, but where was second?
I survived the experience and rode more than 30,000 miles in the next three years. Now, 50 years later, I am still riding-a ’96 Triumph threecylinder, an ’85 Kawasaki KLR600, and I have a ’91 Sportster I plan to make into a Black Hills backroad bike. At age 70, though, my thoughts often go back to those great rides around Minnesota and Wisconsin, always on the Chief. My experience was, ride all day at 60-63 mph, no problems; at 65-68, something would go wrong or the battery would fall out; at 70, best not to venture more than 25 miles from home.
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I hope David enjoys his Chief as much as I did mine. Kenneth Lind Deming, New Mexico
I enjoyed Edwards’ article on his old ’48 Chief. Left-foot clutch, left-hand shift, left-hand spark, right-hand gas, right-foot rear brake, right-hand front brake. It brings back a lot of memories.
Here’s some free advice: After you prime the engine with full spark, it’ll run a lot better at half-choke ’til she’s warm. The hardest thing I had to learn was trying to put my left foot on the ground at a stoplight. I guess that’s why they called it a suicide clutch! Be careful. John R. Lizotte Medford, Massachusetts
Retro roundup
As someone who owns and rides a 1974 Suzuki T500, I read with interest the Roundup article in the April issue about Yamaha, and other manufacturers, joining the “retro rage” by issuing new versions of bikes from the late Sixties and early Seventies. I like riding my T500, as it gives me a strong elemental feeling of what motorcycling was at one time. However, I’d be very hesitant dropping $6000 to get that feeling with a new bike.
I like the classic look of bikes from that period, but if a manufacturer is going to re-issue a classic bike, it should do so without the flexi-flyer frames and spindly forks of the period. Would I spend money on a classic look? Yes, but for my money I want beefy forks, good handling and decent power. Oh, did I mention good electrics and a comfortable seat? Jim Anderson Upper Nyack, New York
Good idea! A retro vertical-Twin similar to BSA, Triumph and Norton is a more “modern” classic than the current crop of V-Twin Harley and Indian lookalikes. And remember, more people rode the English machines in the Sixties and Seventies than rode Indians or Harleys a quarter-century earlier.
Don Nelson Mediapolis, Iowa
When I heard last December that Triumph had a 750cc retro-Twin in the works, I immediately had visions of my gorgeous 1966 650cc Bonneville. Like all Triumphs of that era, it was an electrical and mechanical disaster, but the sound and looks were to die for. Imagining a lookalike retro with modern mechanics, I was shocked to see the illustration on page 28 of your April issue-the bike looks like a modern Triple with one lung hacked off! A water-cooled Triumph retro? Give me a break!
At the bottom of the page is a shot of Kawasaki’s new W650, which happens to look exactly like the retro-Triumph of my imagination! Patrick Bergquist
Fairfield, Iowa
The retro craze doesn’t do a thing for me. Modern bikes should look modern.
Peter Egan penned perhaps the most profound statement ever printed in motorcycle journalism in “Supersports Revisited,” when he said, “The only thing that limits (modern sportbikes) is the road. There is no moment, at any time on the highway, when they are limited by want of adhesion, horsepower, brakes or handling.”
We’ve reached a new era in our sport, illustrated throughout your excellent April issue, where the road and the rider set the limits from now on, not the machine. In a past well within memory of many of today’s riders, machines were hard to start, hard to maintain, hard to ride. They were heavy and filthy, they handled poorly, vibrated fiercely. Today’s bikes, from a dozen or more major manufacturers worldwide, start, steer, stop and handle well, are easy to maintain and keep clean, are butter-smooth and are capable of much more performance than 99 percent of their owners.
Near-perfect motorcycles are the everyday rule. There is no better time to be a motorcyclist.
Michael S. Abraham Blacksburg, Virginia
Cruiser convert
In December of 1998, if someone had told me I would one day own a 734-pound, air-cooled V-Twin, I would have laughed in their face. Now, I’m chomping at the bit for the snow to melt so I can go ride my two-week-old Yamaha Road Star. And ya know, it looks good parked next to my Ducati 900SS and Kawasaki 900 Ninja!
Kenneth A. Sexton Calverton, New York
Wheelie wonka
It makes me sad to see your magazine (which I usually enjoy) encouraging riders to be unsafe. I’m referring to the pictures of your riders pulling wheelies for April’s “Six-by-Six” article. Please lead by example-with both wheels down! John McDevitt
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Hey, Johnny-Mac, just you try keeping the front end down on a Yammie R6...
Mad Kaw Disease
Do you guys read your own test results? In the “Six-by-Six” shootout, the Kawasaki ZX-6R had better 0-to-60 times, a better quarter-mile and better lap times than the R6 Yamaha. It’s also a better streetbike with more torque and “the smoothest engine of the group” (your quote). Yamaha is certainly doing something right, but it’s not building the best 600 sportbike!
Doug Turnbull Madison, Wisconsin
So shoot us. Besides, the R6 does better wheelies. Oops, there we go again...
