Hotshots
HOTSHOTS
Bedtime for Gonzo
A friend of mine sent me the entire text of Hunter S. Thompson’s "Song of the Sausage Creature” the day Dr. Gonzo ditched his skin suit. I applaud CW for printing it originally and thank you for republishing some of the choicer bits in May’s “A Gonzo Goodbye” editorial. Thompson’s passing came as no surprise; he certainly wasn’t built to grow old. One of “God’s own prototypes,” as he put it, Hunter didn’t just understand the insanity of poetic self-destruction, he used his own guts to play its theme song, all for the sake of expanding his experience-however ugly that might have been. It might have been an honor to meet him, but who’d want him as a neighbor, much less depend on him for anything? Despite this, there’s a little of Hunter’s insanity in all of us who choose to swing a leg over. There’s no shortage of people who consider motorcycle riders completely insane. Many of us have lived to lecture ourselves after near-death situations and say, “Damn, I was being stupid there,” or, “If a truck had come around that corner going the other way...” Yet we do it anyway. Some flat-out give the Grim Reaper the finger while others give a cautious nod, but we’re all putting ourselves at risk and it has nothing to do with sanity or reason. We do it to escape sanity for a little while and taste life, even if that means risking the end of it. Damn fun, isn’t it?
Bland Christian heaven would disgust a man like Dr. Thompson and Hell would toss him out from sheer frustration. As I told my friend, I’m sure Hunter is railing some mountain pass right now unhindered by the limits of aching joints and cold tires. Cat MacLeod El Cerrito, California
Gonzo is not dead! Just as if adolescence did not exist, it would have to be invented. Those like HST who play with explosives usually go out with a big bang. David Jankowski-Leigh
Boise, Idaho
The Doctor is out
David Edwards' farewell to HST didn't pull any punches. Hopefully, a sign of more great words to come. "Song of the Sausage Creature" was a high moment in CW history, inspiring me to buy my own Ducati 900SS. Paul Kavanagh Elmira, Oregon
The news of Hunter S. Thompson's sui cide shocked me as I am sure it did many readers. I remember my first encounter with the Good Doctor. It was on the very pages of this magazine when as a wildeyed high-school student hopelessly smit ten with motorcycles, I read and reread "Song of the Sausage Creature." Let us hoist a tumbler full of Chivas while his remains are blasted out of a cannon. Farewell, you deranged monster; it never got weird enough for you. 0. Bruddley Chicago, Iflinois
I've been reading Cycle World since it was just another title on the newsstand. I remember reading Hunter Thompson's "Sausage Creature" back in 1995. I liked it then; I like it now. I thought it was a fresh, gutsy editorial decision when you
ran it and I still do. You've made a bunch of them over the years. And you guys have turned CW into not just a good motorcycle magazine, but a good magazine, period. Scott Young Santa Barbara, California
I remember well that story and still consider it to be the best thing I've ever read in a motorcycle magazine. I had hoped it would be the first of many HST con tributions, but alas it was not to be. His words, however, have remained with me; even now when I reach triple digit-speeds, I, too, hear the Song of the Sausage Creature. Hubert Rice Perrysville, Ohio
I never followed Mr. Thompson's work, but I know who he was purely because of your magazine. His article and Brenda Buttner's excellent accompanying interview are permanently etched in my memory. I am thankful Cycle World
provided me a venue to understand what the man and his writing were all about. Dan Stargatt Wilmington, Delaware
My buddies and I still occasionally raise a glass to Thompson's mythical "Vincent Black Shadow Racing Team" (motto: We Race the Big Ones!). My kids took me to one of his lectures in Chi cago 15 or so years ago. It was quite an experience, although at the end of his talk he was com pletely unintelligible. He was hard to understand when he was sober, speaking in an odd, mumbling cadence. O You can imagine him after a bottle of Wild Turkey... Larry Anderson Colorado Springs, Colorado
David, I really enjoyed your column on the passing of Hunter Thomp son. Your memories of the struggle to pull words out of him and your commentary on his sad decline were nicely crafted and perfect for your subject. This morning, I read that his widow has received approval to fire off his ashes, so at least one of his wishes will be fulfilled. Jim Quinn
Chicago, Illinois
The Sausage Creature strikes back
To quote Hunter Thompson on another subject, Mr. Edwards, you are “hired bullshit,” writing whimsical, narrowminded crap about two-wheeled transportation by motor, whereas Thompson was his whole life trying to wrap language around the fine, long flash of our generation, which included motorcycles!
Your remark about Thompson “redecorating his kitchen walls” regarding his suicide smacks of disrespect, as does your malappropriate judgment of HST in his last years as being a “sad parody of himself.”
He upset you because he didn’t play by your rules regarding deadlines and language? You were probably chronicling the joys of riding around haybales on a Honda MiniTrail 50 while Hunter was blasting the pipes off his BSA or Vincent down the Coast Highway. He was a warrior, a true voice of a generation, while you write small-minded tripe of little interest to anyone. And yet you feel that you can judge him in his final days, tooting your egotistical horn in reminding readers that your rag had something to do with the Doc?!
You really have no business bashing Hunter while you attempt to mark his passing. Please limit your observations to the pedantic concerns of bikes and leave the judgment of bigger concerns to those more qualified. Pierre J. Saviers Twin Fails, Idaho
Sportin’ 600s
Rickey Gadson breaks into the 9s on a showroom-stock Yamaha R6 (“Bored and Stoked,” CW, May) and you show a Kawasaki ZX-6 in the feature pic and a Honda CBR on the cover? The Tuning Fork marketing guys must feel like Dr. Hook trying to get their picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone.
Ryan C Oklahoma C~
I do not own any of the motorcycles tested in your middleweight comparison, but I find it odd that the slowest, heaviest bike with the worst brakes, highest price and most immediate need of a valve adjustment gets a much nicer review than the Triumph Daytona 650, which is dismissed as a nice try on Triumph’s part. By the performance standards used to judge sportbikes, the Ducati 749R looks like the worst bike by far-one made somewhat pathetic when you toss in the size of its engine and its absurd asking price.
John Sumser
Turlock, California
So, you guys had to throw the Daytona 650 in the mix just to fan the flames of desire? Thanks for the reminder that sometimes the perfect piece of machinery extends outside the design pads of the Big Four. JR Giacchino
Brant, New York
Thanks for the kind words, JR. Maybe you could pass along your wisdom to sourpuss Sumser...
Your 600 supersport shootout dragstrip data is bogus, namely the posted 1000foot times. Did the motorcycles really cover 670 feet (1000 minus 330) in about 2.3 seconds? That’s an average speed of around 200 mph! On the other hand, they then hit a brick wall, taking about 3.6 seconds to make it the next 320 feet to the quarter-mile finish. That is an average speed of 60 mph. Your data is inconsistent! Greg Schaffer Cupertino, California
Your 1000-foot times on the new 600s are wrong. I drag race at a local 1000foot track and no one yet has run a 6second pass on a bike (7.04 best so far). We run a turbocharged Hayabusa with a 6-over swingarm and the best it has gone is low 7s. It looks like you posted the Ys-mile times in place of the 1000foot times. I know Gadson can ride, but those times just aren’t in those bikes.
Scotty Walker Booneville, Arkansas
You nailed it, Scotty. Yep, by colossal mistake we ran Vs-mile (or 660-foot) times under the 1000-foot heading. All other numbers, including the rapid Mr. Gadson s E.T.s, were correct.
Just read the “Bored and Stoked” middleweight comparison in the May issue. Lots of good info, but I’m struck by the absence of some data I consider valuable when considering a purchase. Speed in gears at redline, or at least top-gear rpm at, say, 60 mph. A chart or graph that shows horsepower and torque throughout the rev range, not just at a bazillion rpm. Top-gear roll-on times would be nice, in case somebody wants to pass a car without downshifting three times and redlining the engine. Maybe there are guys who would rather be told which bike wins a 60-foot drag race or which bike is faster when you let the air out of its tires and collapse the hightech front suspension, I just don’t know any of them. Robert 0’ Rourke
Los Angeles, California
Your completely track-focused article makes almost no mention of comfort or living with these bikes on the street. I can’t believe nobody mentioned how hard and thin the CBR600RR seat isyou guys must have titanium asses. In addition I found it very odd that you would allow the manufacturers to modify their bikes, regardless of how common or slight those mods might be. C’mon guys, most of us can’t afford to have these bikes purely as track-day machines; we have to ride them on the street. Help us out a little. Ray Kim Burbank, California
Actually, the whole point of the shootout was to determine the fastest, quickest, best-handling middleweight sportbike. All of these machines or their immediate predecessors had already been covered in complete road test or extensive riding impressions. Also, we didn’t “allow” the manufacturers to modify their bikes, we required it, the goal being to test the bikes stock and in the slightly modified form most will take shortly after they leave the showroom. Our mission was to publish something other than the same old 600cc shootout. Other than not knowing the difference between 660 and 1000 feet, we’d like to think we succeeded.
Going postal
I am a new subscriber, and today I got my first issue, May, 2005.1 opened the cover and promptly started reading about...CNC rotary-transfer machining?! Well, it seems that the cover of my CW got completely torn away and the post office taped it to a machining-
industry magazine. I may not be able to read about motorcycles this month, but I’ll have much more knowledge of machining. Joe Davis
Croydon, Pennsylvania
Strangely enough, that’s exactly how we acquired our titanium asses...
Egan under fire
If Peter Egan writes one more story about a new motorcycle he bought, I swear I’ll ride my ’99 Super Hawk into a brick wall! This guy is like some crazed motorcycling Goldie Locks going from bike to bike! He obviously has some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder; he always finds some little thing wrong with the bike-this seat’s too hard, this one hurts my wife’s butt, this one’s no good in the dirt. Get the guy to a shrink and get him some meds! Dave Brooke
Waterloo, New York
Enough. Uncle. I give. Peter Egan wins the award for most conspicuous acquisition of motorcycles and cars. Can we now move on to something other than his latest Mini or Ducati or KTM or whatever?
Shawn Forbes Statesboro, Georgia
I have long been an admirer of Peter Egan’s writing. Even bought his book. However, in his May Leanings column, after admitting that ABS has saved his life twice, he tells us that he ordered a new Ducati without this feature because, well, “$800 is still $800...” True enough. And your life is still your life...
Howard Feller
Portland, Maine
Egan, you selfish, cheap twit! How could you even think about not spending $800 on a potentially life saving motorcycle feature? Your life may not be worth $800 to you, but it's worth much more to your readers. One reason I just renewed my sub scription was to read your column. Got a deal: Next time you're about to make a stupid decision like this, let your readers know in advance. I'm sure that we would pool our resources and come up with the cash to keep you safe. Phil Mortello Tucson, Arizona
Peter said something about needing the 8 bills for the down payment on a new bike...or car...or whatever. □
