Hotshots
HOTSHOTS
Leeann is my co-pilot
“Back Seat Rider” (CW, March) elevated the literary tone of your consistently excellent publication. The lovely Ms. Tweeden’s use of metaphor and imagery was...arresting. She delicately hints at a willingness to contribute again; I would respectfully suggest that the only gentlemanly thing to do is accede to the lady’s request.
Wes Bridges Plant City, Florida
Hey Cycle World, would ya please spend some of my subscription money on a monthly column for Leeann Tweeden reviewing the pillion of all the bikes you test? Since my wife’s enjoyment of the back seat is a critical factor in deciding which model I purchase, legroom, suspension compliance and two-up stability are factors
in how I choose a bike. So, while I might have selfishly bought a 996 or FZ1 to replace my aging FJ1200, my wife’s input led to choosing a Cagiva Gran Canyon for its spacious legroom (front and rear) and broad, cushiony seat. There are too few bikes being produced with both real performance and adequate accommodations for a passenger bigger than 5-foot-2 and 90 pounds. Leeann’s real-world review of what it’s like for a normal-sized gal on the back seat was very valuable, and I bet I’m not the only rider out here who thinks so. Dave Reid
San Diego, California
Thank you so much for including a woman’s viewpoint of riding shotgun in the “Super Cruiser Shootout.” I’m always looking for ways to spend time with my wife and kids, but my
motorcycle is not a widely accepted player yet. I have a Suzuki SV650, which is definitely fun, but hard on the butt, even for my 11-year-old son after two hours. I’m still looking for a sporty/quick/comfortable/cool ride that will be pleasing to both riders’ behinds. Steve Sherwood
Newburgh, New York
If Leeann is ever in Boston and would like to see the city from the back of my Honda, tell her I will be her humble servant (or humble anything else).
Greg Karas
Avon, Massachusetts
I just read your “Super Cruiser Shootout,” and discovered that lucky dog Jimmy Lewis got to have lovely Leeann Tweeden as a passenger on all four bikes. Leeann hinted (smart lady) that next time she would prefer to evaluate touring bikes from the back seat. I would like to volunteer myself and my Kawasaki Voyager. Hey, can’t blame me for trying... Lloyd Oxford Houston, Texas
Great article. I liked the approach, having an outsider write the review. I like the author selection, a female. Who else sits there most of the time? This is one part of the motorcycle that never gets tested. Leeann wrote an excellent, honest, straightforward article.
Robert J. Henry Conshohocken, Pennsylvania
Sounds like Harley-Davidson designed the V-Rod seat just right to me. Let’s see, Leeann says, “I had to hold on for dear life...” Perfect! This is obviously a great “first date” bike.
Brian Biangsted Fairview Heights, Illinois
Bruiser cruiser
How can you have a “Super Cruiser Shootout” without including the mighty Yamaha V-Max and Honda Valkyrie? These two helped define the genre! Yes, true, they’re fourand six-cylinder machines, but why should that disqualify them? If your goal was just to compare the latest round of power-cruisers, fine, but that intent should have been stated up front...and we’d still like to know how they compare to the V-Four and flat-Six that preceded them. Derek Mathias Sunnyvale, California
Gotta read all the words, Derek. The VMax, at least, was dealt with in the very next article. Read on...
I really enjoyed the “Super Cruiser Shootout.” I think the V-Rod is a great achievement for Harley-Davidson, but as the owner of a 2000 V-Max, it is good to see that Cycle World hasn’t forgotten Mr. Max, as so many others have done. Thank you for putting the V-Max through the same tests as the other power-cruisers. I just hope that this does open some eyes at Yamaha. I can’t wait to see if they will produce a new updated version.
Dennis M. Flood Cary, North Carolina
As shown in your V-Max “Takin’ it to the 9s” retrospective following the
“Super-Cruiser Shootout,” Yamaha had it right 17 years ago, and still does, now that there is an official “power-cruiser” category. C’mon, Yamaha, how ’bout seriously upping the ante?
That old project Max, though, has definitely stirred a long-forgotten debate as to how stock your bike really was. I’m a member of the V-Max Owners Association, and I’m just curious, for our sake and to put the topic to rest, if anyone really knows what your bike was making for rear-wheel horsepower. Mine is currently running 125.6 bhp, and definitely cannot pull out a sub-10.5-second run.
Tyler Johnsen Meriden, Connecticut >
Ours made 124 hhp at the rear wheel, but had the benefit of a wheelie bar and Jay Gleason.
The current V-Max is very close to my dreambike; however, I refuse to pay $12,000 for a bike that is virtually 17 years old. Yamaha should pay attention. Here’s a recipe for the bike we need: Ridiculous power, V-Four rumble, sub600 pounds, wide rubber, low-slung dragster looks, under $10,000. The Honda VTX1800 was nearly on mark, but I want more power (a.k.a. more cylinders and horsepower) and less weight. The Honda 750 Spirit is pretty, but my cordless drill has more power. With the new Harley on the scene, I hope things heat up. All that “rice-burner” crap 1 used to take from the Harley freaks, I could always reply, “Yeah, but I don’t need a calendar to measure my quarter-mile times.” This isn’t true anymore. Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda, please help! Paul Koltz
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Victory cry
With all due respect to the venerable Paul Dean, criticizing the Victory
V92TC (CIV, March,) for being a knockoff of the Harley Softtail is a little like criticizing the GSX-R for resembling a Ninja. Polaris’ market research revealed that there was an unsatisfied market for U.S.-built, American-style cruisers. Did you expect them to enter the market with something for which there was no proven demand? Billiondollar corporations just don’t do that; the Victory design team worked within parameters set by the parent company. Harley-Davidson, despite what they would have us think, did not invent the cruiser-most American motorcycle companies during the ’30s were building long, low, fat-tired, big-fendered roadburners. True, the 1936 Knucklehead is the most classic expression of the type, and H-D was the only player left standing for several decades, but that does not give them a patent. Cruisers were, and are, popular because they suit the way Americans use motorcycles. Aside from
general outline, the Victory is a fresh design. Given time and market share, who knows what wondrous machines they may produce. Randall Cater
Shatter, Texas
Your article on the new power-cruisers could have included a little history by acknowledging Victory’s 2000 intro of its SportCruiser. Too bad Victory didn’t stick with that poor-selling model; with the new Freedom motor it would have been very competitive. Here’s hoping they reintroduce a new (better-looking) generation of SportCruiser with a Stage I hop-up of the Freedom motor and a lighter, stiffer aluminum frame. Dale Jacques
San Jose, California
Collection agency
March’s Up Front column, “Collecting Made Easy,” is three years too late. In 1999, I purchased (for a song) a basketcase 1958 BSA Super Rocket.
Like David Edwards’ bike, it too had been chopperized. “How much to restore it, and how long would it take?” I asked the local expert. “Oh not long, and not too much,” he told me. Now, three years later, and over twice what the bike would ever return if sold, it still leaks like the Exxon Valdez, the generator doesn’t and I have only been able to put 220 miles on it.
Norman J. Stringfield Jacksonville, Florida
I am writing to ask Mr. Edwards to please hurry and finish his Flathead VEight Indian project, then do a 23-page feature on the bike. I can’t wait to see the finished restoration. Andy Peek
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
I believe 1 know a little about Edwards’ Indian/Ford hybrid. In the early Fifties, I lived in a small South Texas town called Alice, 27 miles from Kingsville. In a
One and the same, TV. Kingsville resident Bill Drabek got the bike on the road and logged more than 40,000 miles, if the odo is to be trusted. The bike was put in storage in 1968 upon Drabek s death, where it stayed until Edwards bought in 1997. Restoration is ongoing. Kingsville garage, someone found this strange contraption, a stretched Indian frame with a Ford V8-60 powerplant. It wasn’t road-ready; I don’t know if it ever ran. But it was the strangest thing I had ever seen.
I went into the Army in 1954, and forgot about the moto-hybrid. Occasionally, over the years, I thought about it, and wondered what happened to it. Is this possibly the same one? TV Bill
Amarillo, Texas
Ducati design
I was surprised and disappointed by the "Editors' Notes" comments regarding
the wonderfully developed new Ducati 998 tested in the March issue. A bike that has been the benchmark of sportbike style, performance and refinement is chastised for making 30 less horsepower than this week’s fastest Japanese superbike, instead of being acclaimed for not becoming “yesterday’s news” in its second model year!
To its credit, the Ducati has bucked this trend; the only thing I don’t like about it is the price. For those who value continuity and detest planned obsolescence, the big Duke is a standout among sportbikes, while the machines you applaud represent everything that’s wrong with modern “race-n-forget” sportbikes. How many generations of the lOOOcc Yamaha have come and gone during the Ducati’s reign? Who is still on top?
Doug Hunter Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
The original 916’s styling was so far ahead of the rest of the sportbikes, they’re still trying to catch up. This is truly a timeless design. Ducati does an admirable job refining its designs to engi> neering perfection without resorting to constant restyles to get folks into the showroom. I applaud them.
Paul Kavanagh Elmira, Oregon
For $17,695, you’d figure after 10 years Ducati might be able to fix that speedometer error on their 916/998s. Or maybe their vision is a little blurry from all of those World Superbike victories. And, yes, it is getting to be a dated motorcycle, even with the new engine-but it is still a very cool motorcycle. S. Farrar Williamsport, Pennsylvania
I am not a Ducati fan. I don’t agree with their preservation of fiddly desmodromics for marketing purposes when valve-spring engines easily reach 15,000 rpm. Their boutique marketing turns me off, and their prices are too high. That said, I can’t believe that after your glowing test report of the 998, in the “Editors’ Notes” you get irate over the Ducati’s styling. Styling? This is a racebike, and it should (and does) look the part. As the only machine in its class without juvenile splash graphics, its purity and grace are peerless. One look at that Bostrom bomb, though, its form mangled by stars, stripes and even flames, shows just how strong the base 998’s styling really is. Smooth surfaces, no superfluous “stealth” paint...function determining form as it must in all really successful design...this is how sport motorcycles should look. Demanding change for its own sake is just nit-picking. Save your style commentaries for the cruisers.
Peter Yronwode
Columbia, Missouri
Flames on a Ducati? Whose brainchild was this? What’s next, Crager S/S mags
on the new Lamborghini? Jim Wilson Allentown, Pennsylvania
Ridin' Renegades
Pictured here are several sergeants from C Company, 12th Infantry, the “Renegades.” We are currently deployed in Kuwait. There was a big fuss among us who would be the lucky one to purchase your “Newfor-’02” issue from the PX. I won! That section has tortured us ever since, and has us counting days until we return home to our loved ones (our bikes, of course, but don’t tell our wives). We just wanted to drop you guys a few lines to say, “Your great work is not helping our separation anxieties!” See you guys next issue. We’ll be reading.
Sgt. Tyrone Douthit Kuwait
Proud to have you guvs among the read-
