The Real Deal?
The real deal?
A Japanese tea-tasting among the best of Britain
THERE WERE ELEMENTS OF FEAR BROUGHT ABOUT BY THIS SIMPLE ASSIGNMENT: Take the 2000 Kawasaki W650 on the biggest all-British motorcycle ride in Southern California to find out what The Faithful thought of this unabashed Triumph-style Twin.
Some 400 riders participated in the 80-mile jaunt, hosted by the local Norton club. Called “The Best Ride by a Dam Site,” the event started at the Hansen Dam recreation area north of L.A. and headed up into the Angeles National Forest, home of SoCaTs epic Angeles Crest Highway.
I pictured myself pulling up in my red Aerostich suit astride this fine Japanese steed and quickly being surrounded by Wild One Brando-types wearing black leather hats, ciggies hung insouciantly from lower lips, all of them sporting vaguely threatening attitudes and affecting Cockney accents.
I’d ask, “What are you rebelling against?” They’d say, “You and yer foreign motorbike, Guv’!” Thenpowl, the villagers would close in, torches in hand, perform a Laconia-style Kawasaki drop in the middle of a hastily constructed scale model of Stonehenge, and force me to walk home humming “God Save the Queen” after pouring castor oil on my shoes. “Don’t come back ’til you’ve
had 10 meat pies an’ three pints of ale, heathen! Tickle yerself some Amals while yer at it!” I decided to wear black. Shouldn’t have worried, turns out.
This wasn’t Hollister, nor was it your typical hoitytoity, tea-sipping concours d ’arrogance, but more of a nuts-and-bolts, oilof-the-Atlas gig. And these friendly folks, these hard-core rid-
ers, were all dumbstruck by what they felt was the fundamental “rightness” the W650’s lines. Most liked the sound, too. Xenophobic rants about knockoffs and copies were not levied.
A Vincent owner took a short ride and thought it was maybe a little too smooth, but then admitted, “In all reality, if I had my senses together, I’d be riding a bike like this.”
One grizzled bystander who looked like he’d ridden all the way from Meriden asked rhetorically, “What took them so long to figure out that the people who like to ride want something like this?”
Jay Leno wandered up to have a look. After taking a spin he couldn’t help himself, joking, “Nice bike. Kind of like a transvestite, though—feels pretty good until you get on top of it!”
Leno wasn’t the only comedian. “There’s something wrong with this thing: no oil leaks, it doesn’t vibrate enough and it shifts on the wrong side! And what’s that button on the right handlebar for? Electric whatlT Most, though, liked the overall appearance, then focused on the bits, commenting favorably about the black hubs, thick spokes, alloy rims, flat seat with white piping, bend of the exhaust pipes, look of the engine, bevel-driven overhead cam, shape of the sidecovers, fork gaiters, etc.
A major hit down to the last detail, in other words.
Next stop: Buckingham Palace, to see if the Queen would like to try a little Japanese tea. Bet she likes it. —Mark Hoyer
