About six years ago I went camping with a friend and within minutes of setting up, he came to the fire pit with a box full of old Rider and “Cycle” magazines. We spent all week looking at and talking bikes. We both had small dirt bikes over many years but never a “big” motorcycle. So when I got home, I checked our local “Bulkley Browser” for a used motorbike and, since I live in a small town, seeing only one listed for sale didn’t surprise me. It was a BMW R 1200 GS with 37,000 km, aluminum panniers and off-road tires. It looked nice to me so I took it home and was soon off to Alaska. I was hooked. The next summer I was ready to head south to Arizona, but just before I was about to leave the main shaft between the motor and clutch broke, and in my little town there was no way of getting it fixed. So back to the “for sale” listings, and I was wonderfully surprised to see a newer BMW R 1200 GSA with only 17,000 km for sale just up the road from my house. I picked it up, hit on the road and put more than 50,000 km on it in four years, through all of Canada and most of the Western States. We are all so blessed to be living in North America. Thank you for making two wheels my preferred mode of travel.

Jeremy Penninga, Smithers, British Columbia

 

Growing up in a neighborhood near an inactive gravel pit, we spent a lot of time riding dirt bikes up, down and around well-established trails, honing our off-road skills. Now the pit is active again and operated by the Dolomite Group. A couple of years ago a poster of a red BMW on the switchbacks of the Dolomites caught my attention. Now reading your story about the Ayres Adventures Switchback Challenge through the Dolomites (Switchback Challenge, January 2019) has filled in the blanks of what the BMW rider must have enjoyed. It also reminded me of my own nirvana in the gravel pit 50 years ago. Thanks for another great issue of Rider to kick off 2019!

Rick Rommel, via email

 

Thank you for your article on the Honda Monkey in the January 2019 issue (“Monkeying Around”), which took me back 48 years to the day I got a Honda CT70, Christmas Day, 1970. I was 13 and we were civilians living on the island of Okinawa. I rode my CT70 on the beach and over trails that went through rice fields (the fields were square so I had to pop a wheelie to make a right turn) and to the ocean to fish from the pier at the Okinawa Yacht Club. I always took back roads so I wouldn’t be caught by the U.S. Military Police, as I was too young to have a driver’s license. I also had a newspaper route delivering the local English-language newspaper, and I’d convinced the newspaper to pay $10 each month for the gas on my Honda (which got 60 mpg and cost only $1 per month at 25 cents per gallon) to ride the route. I still have my CT70 and cherish the memories. What fun these “mini bikes” can bring to a kid and an adult!

Lance Moody, Eagle, Idaho

 

Eric Trow’s article, “Letters from the Garage” (Riding Well, January 2019), inspired my old/new 1998 Honda ST1100 to write this letter:

I’m now a more balanced and boosted motorcycle, thanks to my new owner Ray. He purchased me from an 81-year-old Army veteran who rode me like I was a scooter. This past year was a rebirth for me! Ray gave me a complete tune-up, cleaned out my carbs and put new exhaust and new tires on me, along with a Corbin seat for our long rides. We went on a 1,300-mile trip into the mountains of Colorado, carving the highways and mountain roads, showing my true abilities as a sport touring bike. I was young again! Thank you, Ray, for bringing me back to life. I hope we continue to travel together so that I can relive my youth again. Let’s ride!

Ray Salinas, Arvada, Colorado

 

In reference to Clem’s review of the MotoBikeJack (Gearlab, January 2019),

I bought the jack and have a question about lifting my 2007 Goldwing. It looks like he attached the hook to the rider footpeg. When I start lifting the bike the strap pushes the top shelter in to the point that I am afraid it will be damaged. My question is exactly where did he put the hook and was the shelter or seat damaged?

Ron Cooper, Belton, Texas

Ron: you can see from the big photo that the hook was attached to the right-side rider peg, with the carry bag over the seat to protect it. The plastic panels concealing the engine have a certain flexibility, and we did no damage to panels or seat – with my friend looking on to make sure. I imagine that incorrect placement of the hook could create problems, but I have not encountered any, and so far I have picked up six different bikes. If you belong to a Gold Wing club, there may well be some members who have bought this device and have some advice. Here is hoping you will never have to use it. – Clem

 

I am confused about the new, optional quickshifter, quickshifter +, etc. now showing up on new models like the KTM Super Duke, BMW K 1600 and others. I did not realize a quickshifter was needed on a motorcycle to shift up and down without the use of the clutch. My recently sold 2005 Yamaha FJR1300 barely saw clutch use its entire life for any up- or downshifts over 130,000 miles of riding, except to get moving in first. Almost all the bikes I have owned or ridden did not seem to need such an add-on, although on my current 2013 BMW K 1600 GT it’s challenging to get clean, crisp, no-clunk, up- and downshifts without clutch use. I digress, but isn’t the skill of clutchless shifting part of the joy of motorcycling? Please enlighten me and/or your readers of the need for a quickshifter vs. simple skills!

Mark Wolocatiuk, via email

The advantage of a quickshifter (upshifting only) and quickshifter + (both up and down) is that you don’t have to change the throttle position when you toe the shifter, i.e. you can keep it WFO and upshift (as in a car with flappy paddles) or with a + even have the throttle cracked a bit as you downshift (although I have only done this to test it, never in normal riding). You’re right in that most motorcycles with appropriate gearboxes and torque curves can be shifted without the clutch, but you still have to blip the throttle at just the right moment. A good QS does it for you, and even matches revs on the way down. – EIC

 

Flicking through my January 2019 issue, something catches my attention. I’m not a bagger kind of guy, not my cup of tea, but the 2019 Indian Chieftain Limited caught my eye: it looks good and might be something I would enjoy. I read on and skip a few pages to the Royal Enfields…hmm, not bad either, but let me take another look at the Indian. Price as tested is $26,749, compared to the Royal Enfields at $5,799/5,999. I know I’m pitting apples against oranges, but the warranty on the Indian is one year, unlimited mileage. Warranty on the Enfields is three years, unlimited mileage. Almost $30k and you only get one year? Is this a typo?

Terence Smith, via email

Turns out it is a typo, Terence, good catch. The Indian Chieftains actually carry a 2-year, unlimited mileage warranty. – EIC

 

As an avid Rider reader, I look forward each month to sitting down and pouring through every article, from One-Track Mind to Retrospective. What an awesome surprise awaited me as I concluded the January issue’s Chieftain article, turned the page and was slapped in the eye with Alan Paulsen’s “Trek to Yellowknife.” It is almost like you folks have ESP since one of my riding buddies and I are heading along this exact route this coming summer. The pictures, suggestions and of course the map are just what this rider needed. As “a distant place at the end of the road,” we are adding one other reason for the trek. Yellowknife was the base for the old TV series “Ice Pilots,” which, as pilots as well, we wish to check out. Two questions I came away with, did you tour any of the Ingram Trail while there? And finally, knowing the riding season is short that far north, what month did you go? I have experience bug fighting but am smart enough to adjust my trip timing if it’s possible to get there before or after the worst time. As always, thanks for the great and sometimes surprising articles and keep that ESP tuner on high.

Norm Spafard, Woodstock, Georgia

Norm, Alan says, “The Ingram Trail is 42 miles of gravel road out of Yellowknife, and heavy truck traffic heading to the mines keeps it in terrible shape, so I didn’t want to undertake it on my BMW LT. For in-depth information on the Ingram Trail, contact ExploreNorth.com. I journeyed to Yellowknife in the latter part of June.” – EIC

 

I have been riding for more than 50 years and currently tour on a Ducati Multistrada 1200, but my wife found it ergo-uncomfortable for her 5-foot frame. That’s how I discovered that not enough credit is given to the capability of small-bore machines for two-up touring. I took my neighbor, who wanted to get back into local riding, to a dealer and found that the Honda NC700X fit his criteria. Once I rode this bike I thought it would make a nice runaround addition to my garage. I found it comfortable and forgiving from running errands to daily rides, with the added benefit of 70 MPG. I immediately located a used one and my wife found it most comfortable. I later added an Air Hawk for long rides. I decided to outfit it with a set of Givi bags and trunk and try it for touring. I had my doubts but with a combined weight within reason it was worth a try. In the last four years we have done many four to six-day rides in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, with trips up to 1,600 miles and averaging 65-70 MPG. This bike has proven to be up to the task as long as you use good judgment when planning to pass and it has handled every mountain pass just fine. It does require some patience at times.

Jay B. Free, via email

 

Reading the December issue, I came across the “Laing’s Journey” article. Awesome! Initially reminded me of the Robert Fulton, Jr. book, “One Man Caravan,” one of my favorites and one of a very few books I own. A couple of things stood out for me reading the article, first being his quote about life: “We may see the path clearly enough to the turn, but beyond it, the future must reveal,” which will be added to my short list of quotable quotes! The other is his mention of people questioning him on his personal safety. I travel almost exclusively by motorcycle and have been all over the continental U.S., Alaska and Canada, and a little out of country. Most of the time it is a solo adventure and I too get the questions about my personal safety. After more than 40 years of motorcycle travel I cannot think of one instance where I felt or was threatened. Well, there was that one time in east Memphis…. In fact most people leave the “biker” alone, but those that do approach are just curious as to where I’m going and details of my trip. I recall having to cut short a 15-minute conversation in O’Neill, Nebraska, with a local farmer and the lady behind the till about the battle with noxious weeds…golden! This film cannot be seen within four walls as Mr. Laing says. I can’t wait for the book to come out and I’m sure Rider will let us all know when it does. Thanks.

Jason Kirschman, Fort Worth, Texas

 

I smiled when reading Eric Trow’s “Letters from the Garage” in your January 2019 issue, written from the perspective of a motorcycle’s relationship to its rider, because on my ride from Pepin, Wisconsin, to Nova Scotia this summer I wrote from the other side of the coin – from the perspective of my relationship to my motorcycle. Crossing from Calais, Maine, into New Brunswick, Canada, departing customs at 7:30 a.m. on a fresh (read: cool, 62 and moist) Tuesday morning, I was gloriously alone on the road with Kairos, my 2014 KTM 1190 Adventure. I was approaching St. John when the following dawned on me: RELATIONSHIP.

Kairos and I first got to know each other in 2015 on a long ride (two months, 12,000 miles) to Alaska. Trust developed and a good partnership ensued. (That’s not happened to me with my four-wheel rides.) Shorter rides do not allow sufficient time for a relationship to develop, though they can build appreciation for capability. As I learned one week last year riding off-road around Leadville, Colorado, elevation 10,000 feet-plus, when Kairos amazingly got me through unanticipated rough conditions – vertical, greasy, rain-soaked, embedded rock and potholed dirt roads shouldered by high steely granite reaching the sky on the left and endless sheer black holes on the right – unscathed. Yikes!

On this long Maritime ride our relationship is developing further. Maybe it’s my constantly changing “personal” inputs interacting with Kairos’ immediate “personal” responses – plus a heightened regard for unintended consequences – that occur only on two wheels? Such intimacy with my ride is definitely a good thing!

Jay Eaton, Booneville, Iowa

 

Oh my goodness. Is it possible to trek from somewhere west of Albany, New York, to Yellowknife, Canada, on a motorcycle that is not the flavor of the day, the latest, greatest ADV motorcycle of the “GS” variety? And, based on appearance, an almost 20-year-old motorcycle. Of course it is, and yes I noticed mostly because I’m still riding the same motorcycle. She’s had a lot of maintenance, but with so little capital invested I can do more touring.

James Garton, Pewaukee, Wisconsin

 

I thought it prudent to vote now, just in case, against what seems to be a trend in motorcycle magazines. Please, Rider, do not trade good writing and informative articles for big photos and minimal content like some others have done. (I am not renewing those other publications.) Thank you for your work.

David Lay, Cumberland Center, Maine

 

In “Good Riddance,” (One-Track Mind, January 2019) EIC Tuttle mentions proper riding apparel, then on page 40 is a picture of Jenny Smith wearing a three-quarter helmet. Is that because the little Honda only does 60 mph? Have I been wearing a full-face helmet needlessly all this time? I’m confused more than usual. Could you un-confuse me? Thanks for the great magazine!

Eric Wickenheiser, Pequea, Pennsylvania

 

I was happy to see Honda cashing in on the nostalgia for their fabled old Z50 Monkey Bike. My little brother started out with one of the original Z50As back in 1968. I’m confident Honda will move a boatload of the new mini-bikes and continue the success from their expansion of the Grom line. The one part I don’t really follow is taking a mini-bike Grom and making it into a more mini mini-bike. When is Honda going to expand the Grom line up upwards? Use the Grom engine in a pressed steel T-frame with 18-inch wheels as a new Super 90? There is far more nostalgia out there for the Super 90 than a 236-pound “mini” bike. With the original Z50, it had fold up handlebars and we really did pick it up and put it in the trunk of the car. And electric start? Really? These bikes were so easy to kick over they were designed for 7-year-olds to do it. Honda, please give us a new Super 90 we can feel comfortable taking out on the streets.

Rick Averill, Margate, Florida

 

Congratulations on a great January 2019 issue! I appreciated the piece done on the Royal Enfield Interceptor/Continental GT 650. I have one on order for spring delivery, so I devoured the article and it makes me more anxious than ever for spring. Also, Clement Salvadori’s article on the Continental ContiGO! tires was timely and spot-on. I put ContiGO! tires on my V30 Magna back in 2009 in preparation for my first competitive motorcycle efforts at the SCTA World Finals at Bonneville. At that meet, the tires took me and the V30 to 104.536 mph. Indeed, the story was told in the March 2011 issue of Rider in “Bonneville on a Budget.” The bike was still shod with those same Continentals when we made another trip to Bonneville in 2012, but the weather was against us and I got in only one course survey pass. I think I may even have met Mr. Salvadori at this event during the driver’s meeting.

The tires have about 6,000 miles on them now and even the rear tire is showing minimal wear. Here closer to sea level, the Magna is able to breathe a lot better than at Bonneville’s altitude and the little, light Magna is scary fast for a 500, or even a 750, for that matter. The Continentals hold the road even when I get frisky in the twisties on old blacktop of highly variable surface quality and roughness. From hot mix patches to cow pies and horse apples, the ContiGO!s keep the bike hooked up and on a line. I hope you’ll pass this on to Mr. Salvadori and perhaps I’ll see him back at Bonneville some time. I am prepping a bike for a run there in 2020, so who knows?

I also really enjoyed his piece on the Moto Guzzi 254/Benelli Quattro. I did a piece on the “Mighty Mini-Multies” a while back and that bike along with the Kawasaki Mach 1 are a couple of mini-multis I’d love to have in my collection. I have Honda’s contribution to the collection already in the 1974 CB350F.

Gary Ilminen, Lone Rock, Wisconsin

 

Your road tests of the Honda Monkey and Can-Am Ryker (January 2019) confirmed what I already suspected regarding 20-somethings and their motorcycle tastes. Daily I park my very motorcycle-ish Kawasaki KLR 650 in the motorcycle space at the university where I work. I join a herd of scooters, mopeds, Groms, Monkeys (no Rykers yet) and a few totally rad mini-bikes. Although your reviews of the Monkey and Ryker state these bikes are all about “fun,” I think there is something else stoking the popularity of these downsized, go-slower vehicles among the college crowd. I regularly observe gangs of mini-bikers and mopeders cruising through campus, all of them checking their cell phones or sometimes even texting while riding. Try to do that – or not – with a fistful of horsepower and a climbing speedometer.

Jim Luken, Conway, South Carolina

 

Source: RiderMagazine.com

I always enjoy Eric Trow’s Stayin’ Safe articles and have learned a lot from them. I wanted to comment on November’s “Wheel He or Won’t He?” tip. I’ve used this technique for several years as it’s a much safer way to judge a driver’s intention, rather than hoping eye contact is enough. Meanwhile, here in the Northeast it seems drivers in their big SUVs have adopted a “right of weight” method of approaching intersections rather than the legally accepted right of way. A recent incident brought both of these concepts together. While approaching the traffic circle on the Bronx River Parkway in a northerly direction one morning, I slowed, downshifted and covered the brakes as you never know what to expect. A driver had stopped at the yield sign but had a set of those “spinner” hubcaps mounted. While she was stopped as required, the “spinners” tricked my brain into a false survival reaction, and I began braking even though she was not in motion. I quickly recovered when I realized what was happening and proceeded smoothly through, but I guess the point is, nothing is 100 percent foolproof. Situational awareness is truly the only thing we can all rely on to get us through our daily rides!

Bob Fattizzi, Scarsdale, New York

 

I’m a little behind in my magazine reading, so I was catching up a bit one day not too long ago. When I read Mark Tuttle’s editorial in the April 2018 issue (“The Ones That Got Away”), I felt compelled to write my first letter to the editor. I, too, miss just about every motorcycle I’ve owned and sold. The Honda VTX1800 and Shadow 1100, the Harley-Davidson V-Rod…even the dirt bikes that have tried to kill me. But when I came to the point where he mentioned the one he missed the most (a 1980 Kawasaki KZ650), it really resonated with me. My first brand new street bike was a 1978 KZ650C. I dreamed about owning that bike from the first time I saw it. I was a senior in high school and had a poster on my bedroom wall of that bike heeled over into a curve (showing off those nice mag wheels), and every night before I went to bed I imagined myself on it. Yeah, I had the Farrah Fawcett poster too, but knew I would never have her! Finally I figured I could swing payments with my part-time job and living at home, so I bought it. I took it with me to college where it met its fate…and I almost met mine, as we collided with the right side of the big ol’ Buick that decided to turn left in front of me. I was really lucky that day because I didn’t have a stitch of safety gear on (I was twenty-something and bulletproof!), but the bike…not so much. Decided I had probably used up my luck and, since it was almost winter, I took the insurance money and bought a car.

Fast-forward 40 years, and one day as I drank my coffee, just for giggles, I typed KZ650 into Google. Bam. Up comes its brother, the 1978 KZ650SR, which was the bike my best friend bought shortly after I bought mine. It’s for sale and a day’s drive from me. Now it sits in my garage with the rest of the bikes and gets ridden fairly regularly. It’s not as fast as it seemed back then and it always has a mechanical issue or two (heck, it’s 40 years old!), but it sure feels good to have one again. Like seeing an old friend after many years and bringing him home to meet the family.

Ron Dickerson, via email

 

Clement’s December 2018 Road Tales sent me back to 1971 and a modest Kawasaki dealership in Jacksonville, Illinois. With cash in pocket, I entered the showroom and focused my gaze for the first time on a line of newly-minted 125E Enduros. Whoever designed the paint scheme for that motorcycle must have been an intuitive artist, as the gold on red on burnt orange of the tank and fenders got branded into my brain so deeply that I can clearly see them still today. The visual appeal was so overpowering that I offered up my hard-earned money without a peep of negotiation. Forty-seven years later I now better understand my weakness for a good-looking machine and make sure to leave the credit card behind when I enter a motorcycle showroom.

Jim Luken, Conway, South Carolina

 

I very much enjoyed reading “Not So Saddle-Sore” (One-Track Mind, December 2018). My friends and I have been riding the Pacific Northwest and Canada for several years. This summer one leg of our ride took us from Anacortes to Winthrop, Washington, then across the Canadian border up to some impressive wine country. Our first leg up the coast to the Olympic Peninsula finished with a ferry crossing across Puget Sound, where we visited with a few riders on new Indian motorcycles. We talked about the impressive details of those bikes on our Sena Bluetooth headsets as we enjoyed riding over the North Cascade Highway. Reading Mark’s article was like enjoying that ride all over again. Thanks for all the great ride articles, safety tips and new gear info. It all adds up to great memories and fuel for future adventures.

Bob Warsaw, Bend, Oregon

 

Reading “Laing’s Journey” by Trevor Marc Hughes in the December 2018 issue was awesome. No, today’s motorcycle travel cannot compare to the harshness of his journey, but in many ways my experience has been the same: avoiding cities, camping to get a real feel of the land (I still like it at 70) and meeting people from so many walks of life. As he said, traveling by two wheels is so different than by four. It felt good hearing that from a guy traveling by motorcycle 100-plus years ago, when even traveling by car was an adventure. When on a motorcycle I am part of the place I am traveling through, not just a passer-by.

Jerry Stevens, Flower Mound, Texas

 

After reading Eric Trow’s article, “Gold Rush!” (Riding Well, December 2018), I had to write. Five years ago two buddies and I accidentally ended up on the Tail of the Dragon. Although it was the middle of the week, it seemed like there were 1,000 riders on that short stretch of road. We sat for more than two hours on the downhill side of the mountain due to a head-on motorcycle crash where one rider crossed the centerline and hit the oncoming bike. Eric’s article was a good reminder of why it can be best to be especially careful on popular motorcycle destinations.

Rick Close, Newburg, Pennsylvania

 

When I read the letter from Mr. Kunkel (Response, December 2018), I was reminded of the rides I used to take with my mom. When I first started riding 48 years ago, she wanted nothing to do with it! As a widow with four kids, she didn’t want her only son killed on a motorcycle. She would often watch me race off-road in a motocross or ice race, but didn’t like me on the street. After a few years she consented to a ride on the back of my dual-sport bike. And just like that, she caught the bug! The next year I bought a full-fledged street machine so I could take her along easier.

When we celebrated her 90th birthday recently, her twin sister showed up in a wheelchair and a van, while my Ma arrived on the back of a KTM 950!

We just said a final goodbye to her last year, at 101 years young.  She spent her last ten years in a home suffering from Alzheimer’s. In her early 90s, after weeks of her begging for rides all winter I picked her up and we wandered around the neighborhood for about an hour. The attendants weren’t happy about that but she didn’t care. She couldn’t remember things for more than 15-20 minutes at that point, but she talked about that ride for a week! One comment stays with me yet today: “People who don’t do this don’t know what they’re missing!” Amen, Mom, amen!

Gary Nelson, Muskegon, Michigan

 

Like every month, when my December issue arrived I quickly turned to Road Tales to see what words of wisdom Clement had for me. Although it is rare, I believe I’ve detected a minor error. As the proud owner of my second 1968 Norton Commando Fastback, I believe Clem erred when he referred to a 1967 Norton Commando. Although it was 1967 when the Commando was unveiled at Earl’s Court, it was a 1968 model. The one I owned in 1971 was reduced to molten rubble after a fire caused by a failed theft attempt. After completing some tweaks this fall, I believe the replacement is ready to roll–once the snow melts!

Steve Herberg, Plattsburgh, New York

Steven, thanks for pointing out my clumsy mistake. The Commando was first seen at

the Earl’s Court show in September of 1967, but the first production version was not sold until May of 1968. Trust your ‘68 Fastback will take you down to Americade next year. – Clement

 

I enjoyed Bill Stermer’s “Alps the Easy Way” (December 2018), particularly his observation that after reaching the pass at Cime de la Bonette (9,193 feet), his sense of accomplishment was gently placed in context when he “met a bicyclist from Chicago who had pedaled his way to the top.” After many years as a touring cyclist, including a 17-month, 22,000-mile ride as a somewhat younger man, I returned to motorcycling in 2014 and have enjoyed it immensely. But now, when I see a license plate frame proclaiming “Iron Butt Association: World’s Toughest Riders,” I tend to think of those, including a few friends and acquaintances, who have competed in RAAM, the Race Across America: coast-to-coast in 8-10 days, pedaling all the way.

Bill Harlan, Rochester Hills, Michigan

Source: RiderMagazine.com