Intake

Intake

DEPARTMENTS

WE HAVE THE DTs! -> NEO-CUSTOMS LIVE -> BOBBED NOT BOBBED -> BMWs HAVE BEEN SMALL

HIEHSTHHT THE EHn VEHSHTIOn

There was a day when most every twin-cylinder bike was a street-tracker. Or just delete a few parts. Now it’s full circle. Funny how that works.

REX REGEHR

CYCLEWORLD.COM

MORE DT-07 LOVE

Yamaha must build this bike (“DT-07 Street Tracker,” March). This is the bike I’ve been waiting for. This is the bike that Polaris should have built, which would have kept Victory alive with the Octane. The Indian Scout should be a standard like this Tracker—upright ergos and the ability to hooligan around town. Save the highway riding for a tourer; I want this DT-07 for tearing up downtown or suburban Baltimore, pulling wheelies past warranty-sidelined Slingshots in dealer storefronts. I want to slide around hip-hop grandmas on Spyders! I’m gonna have to make this bike, aren’t I?

ELTON ALWINE BALTIMORE, MD

REPORTS OF DEATH GREATLY EXAGGERATED

Harsh words (“Death of the NeoCustom,” March). We all customize our bikes. Agreed that what is popular on TV or in print is often old. Thank our stars there is an aftermarket for those of us who don’t have the money, savvy,

or machine shop in the basement to create our personal Frankenstein! But fortunately we can create monsters and disasters with a credit card and an aftermarket website. I believe we have the right to screw up every good bike we own in an attempt to make it better in our simple minds. And put our stamp on it, in spite of much criticism. I’ve screwed up my share. And learned from it and enjoyed most of the creations.

MIKE MCCORMICK ROANOKE, I/A

BOBBED IS YOUR UNCLE

AI,200CC, water-cooled, four-valve twin (“2017 Triumph Bonneville Bobber,” March) that produces 77 hp?! Gag! How boring! Fun begins at 85 hp per liter, and that’s air-cooled power levels.

JOHN ALBRIOHT CHATTANOOOA, TN

DON’T SAY MY UNCLE IS BOBBED

I have grown completely weary of you whippersnappers calling motorcycles “bobbers” and “choppers.” On the side of a Velveeta box it states that it is a cheese product, not cheese. A better term for these bikes would be “bobberish” or “chopper-like” custom motorcycle product. Representing these motorcycles as the genuine article wounds me to the deepest core of my soul.

The original bobbers were almost all war-surplus Harleys or Indians that had been stripped of as many nonessential parts as possible. Usually they had no front fenders and a cut-down “bobbed” rear fender, hence the name “bob-job” or “bobber.” Taking the “tin” off was a quick and easy way to get a little more performance from a better power/ weight ratio. A later evolution was the chopper. This name comes from modifying or chopping the frames that were most commonly an old hardtail Harley frame purchased cheap! Once again they

were do-it-yourself projects that were built on an extremely low budget by the owner. What is currently called a bobber or chopper motorcycle is typically an expensive, unrideable, grotesque product of an eighth-grade boy’s mentality.

I think you would do well to include some motorcycle history in your rag so that your fellow striplings and whippersnappers can be properly informed and not be tragically duped by these counterfeits. Thank you for listening to an aged inveterate curmudgeon.

KENNETH MORRIS

CYCLEWORLD.COM

SMALL BMWs ARE REAL

Fifty pushups are assigned to Don Canet and Mark Hoyer for their part in the fake news story on small-displacement BMW motorcycles. BMW produced 25OCC street machines from 1925 through 1967. To quote Lee Marvin from the movie The Wild. One, “Oh, the shame of it all.”

CHUCK PASTOR BUFFALO, NY

NO REPORTS OF DEATH

Why did you feature two Victory bikes in the March 2017 issue when Polaris announced before the end of last year that it would cease production of all Victory motorcycles?

TOM PEYTON OCALA, FL

Because it still takes a long time to print a few hundred thousand magazines and ship them across this great nation to newsstands and readers everywhere. So our Victory stories shipped to the printer before the announcement. We stand by our assertion that Victory should have built a hotAmerican-style standard. Perhaps Indian will now?

JIS Comments? Suggestions? Criticisms? Write us at intake@cycleworld.com.