Hotshots
HOTSHOTS
Résumés and champagne
I’ve been retired for several years from a quite-successful 30-year career as a high-level corporate headhunter, during which I concluded that most job applicants obsess far too much over the format of their résumé. For the most part, readers of those sorts of documents know exactly what they are looking for and where to find it. The rest of the content is nice to have but not essential. Hoyer’s “resume” (Up Front, May) is a prime example of my theory, and I am pleased to see that you were not dissuaded by more conventionally thinking friends. You got the job, and that’s proof enough that it’s not how it’s laid out that matters. It’s what it says that counts.
I own half-a-dozen machines, including a ’71 Norton Commando Fastback and a 1970 Dave Smith-built Velocette Thruxton, am a member in good standing of the Velo and Norton Owners Clubs, a frequent attendee at the semi-annual Slimey Crud Run, and have been acquainted with Peter Egan for quite some time. Your column left me wondering if Peter even had a résumé? Charlie Ratigan Manitowoc, Wisconsin
You didn ’t see Slipstream?
I particularly enjoyed Mr. Hoyer’s editorial in the most recent edition of CW. Diogenes should go and fetch up
his lamp to read the curriculum vitae! Finally, a résumé that tells an unvarnished and unpolished truth. It’s no wonder OF had the sense to hire you on!
I feel your pain about mountain biking. I own three and ride for the Sandusky County Volunteer Trail Patrol. It keeps my 64-year-old frame from becoming completely defeated by gravity. I must admit that the long winter has
tended to put the damper on riding. The glacier has to recede from the bike trail soon... Throw a leg over your MTB and we’ll go riding together—at long distance—and kick up the endorphin levels.
A good day, for me, is spent on two wheels alone; the Gold Wing to work and the Gary Fisher Piranha on the trail.
Lance N. Franke Clyde, Ohio
Turbos!
What a pleasant surprise to see an article about the short-lived turbo bikes of the Eighties (“Retro Turbo Comparo,” May).
Nice to see the Kawasaki Z1R-TC wasn’t left out. According to info I’ve gathered from being a turbophile for over 20 years, the ’78 edition, resplendent in your-father’s-Oldsmobile teal blue, didn’t exactly wheelie off the showroom floor. Undeterred, Turbo Cycle Corporation brought all the bikes back to its warehouse and—in a move that validated the power of marketing—fitted the bikes in the eye-catching black/rainbow Molly graphics.
Returned to the dealers as ’79 models in their new disco duds, they didn’t remain there for long; the “new” TCs were quickly snatched up. Dealers would have ordered 1980 models if there were any to have. Unfortunately, California made it illegal to sell motorcycles with modified exhaust systems, and that was the end of the Z1R-TC.
Honda, for its part, didn’t pull a CX engine off the shelf and say, “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if we could turbocharge this lump?” When Honda started the turbo project in ’76, it looked at engines already on the drawing board, and the CX mill fit the requirements nicely (liquid cooling, small displacement, and, as you noted, a V-Twin configuration allowed the least plumbing for the turbocharger). Six years and billions of yen down the road, the CX Turbo was ready to roll.
As for the XN85 Turbo, a cheap home-
built bleed-off valve for the wastegate lets the turbocharger build boost to around 12 psi, making things a little more exciting.
Yes, the beastly Kaw 750 Turbo is still exciting. And probably all that Yamaha Turbo needs is a new oil return line check valve. Good luck finding one.
Steve Klose
Englewood, New Jersey Turbo Motorcycle International Owners Association www.turbomotorcycles.org
German ingenuity
In May’s Race Watch (“Martin Wimmer, MZ and Moto2”), Kevin Cameron tells about the MZ Moto2 bike with its steel frame and unusual fork setup. On page 114, he notes that under compression, the A-frame pushes the axle forward, increasing trail. I thought more offset decreases trail, as in less triple-clamp or axle offset would decrease trail?
Alan Golightly Azle, Texas
P.S. If I am correct, can you please hire me as a Cycle World contributor?
KC says, “Yes, more offset decreases trail by moving the footprint toward the steering axis. Hire that man.’’ Hoy er says,
“Yes, thank you very much for your first contribution. Hope you like the pay.”
Kudos to Kevin Cameron for, once again, describing the intricacies of the creations of an amazing designer like Martin Wimmer with ease and clarity.
As far as choosing between an experienced designer with a slide rule and a low-hours screen jockey, I agree. A slightly more experienced screen jockey, however, might have been able to save Team MZ and Wimmer considerable time and resources: By running a thermal analysis of a CAD model consisting of the steel motorcycle chassis and the attached aluminum engine block and head, the cylinder-bore distortion mentioned could have been predicted straight away. Gene Case
Andover, Minnesota
Flat-track feedback
So, to save that most American form
of motorsports, the dirt oval, we must banish once and for all the American marque that nurtured it. Restrictor plates to neuter those high-tech pushrod motors?! The article “Oval Offices” (May) contains a better idea—the $2000 Ninja. That’s right, a $2000 claiming rule. Those spendy Harleys wouldn’t dare show up if every down-on-the-bucks hotshoe could enter their barn-find Viragos, chicken-coop Shadows and salvage-yard Bandits without costly modifications. Entry lists would soar! The future of American flat-track racing would be secured. Slightly off-topic, kudos to Sir Nicky for dressing like a manly man on track instead of the
silly circus clown costumes worn in Supercross. Ya listening, Canet?
Eric Okrasa Lynnwood, Washington
Things I wish I could unsee:
1. Honda DN-01
2. Lady Gaga
3. Don Canet’s Shift leathers.
Joe Nagy
Derry, Pennsylvania
Well, Joe, we can’t help with the DN-01 or Lady Gaga, but Shift has officially quit the street-gear business to focus on its dirt product, so you won’t see those leathers again. Except for right now.
Middleweight lightweight
Just jerked the new issue from the mailbox. I was very interested in the middleweight, naked sportbike, standard, 800cc, (whatever) comparison thing on page 40. Okay, so here’s my question, comment, feedback (whatever): 92 horsepower from the Yamaha FZ8?! WTF? Didn’t I feel about the same horsepower in my ’05 FZ6? I don’t get it. Chris Frank Alabaster, Alabama
Hmmm, let s see... the FZ6 made 88.6 rear-wheel horsepower at 12,000 rpm and 42.1 foot-pounds at 10,100 (“Six and the City,” August, 2006). The FZ8 makes 3 more horses and 10 more footpounds about 2000 rpm sooner on both counts. The torque increase is roughly 25 percent. Which is nice...
Diavel in Mr. Jones
Peter Jones summed up the Diavel pretty well in the last sentence of his riding impression (“Ducati Diavel,” May). While Ducati isn’t my brand, I can certainly respect its history, engineering and performance from reading many a report, and by talking with riders who
have owned them. That being said, I can’t imagine what the styling team was aiming for here. Seems to be inspired by either a Sea-Doo or an industrial floor scrubber. I imagine they will sell a few on both coasts to purists and maybe a smattering elsewhere, some of whom I expect will wake up the next morning and commence to gnaw their arms off.
Dave Cook Otsego, Michigan
That Diavel is quite a looker. I’ll bet if you put a coin slot on the tank, someone would try to do their laundry in it. Having no pride, I’d ride it.
Daryl Smith Minneapolis, Minnesota
Politics, religion and...
In 18 months, Erik Buell refined an advanced motorcycle, featuring many of the innovations he is known for (“American Superpower,” Roundup, May). During the same period, H-D introduced options that support 2400 configurations of the pushrod V-Twin sold in various forms for over half a century. One has engineering talent; the other relies upon marketing. H-D also
prohibited an American innovator and ex-partner from using his name on his own products, which don’t compete with theirs. Does this prohibition extend to naming children he might father? If not, was this an oversight?
Watch me wave goodbye to my last vestige of respect for H-D. America’s motorcycle company? Only if you believe our corporations have dropped
innovation to strengthen their legal and marketing departments. That would be tragic for America.
Dave Baird , Illinois
Binding arbitration
Long-time subscriber. First-time writer. Kevin Cameron, you are one of the reasons I quit college, went through technical school and wrench on bikes today. And I never looked back. A thousand thank yous.
Since the beginning, I have wished for perfect binding. I literally wear my issues out. I read them so much that they just fall apart. To alleviate this, I was almost pushed to requesting, nay DEMANDING, perfect binding. Then, it came, to my delight! You came through! All just to change back. Well, that just grinds my gears!
I am sure millions of faithful subscribers like me will share my sentiment. Could we please give it another try? It would make my day. Jim TomsiC
Cleveland, Ohio
Jim, get us millions of subscribers and we will bind the mag with titanium and carbon fiber.
I can’t remember when you made the “upgrade” to the non-stapled binding of your magazine, but I am quite pleased to see that you’ve reverted back to staples in the May issue! The glued-together magazine didn’t lose pages like a Harold Robbins novel being censored for G-rated reading as I thought it might, but the stapled version is so much easier to hold while folded back upon itself. Thank you for seeing the light! Steve LitSCher
Ada, Michigan
Censor for G rating?
I’m sorry to see the use of obscenities in your articles. They do not add to the content, rather they only cheapen an otherwise good publication.
Ken Whetstone West Valley City, Utah
Where are they, Mr. Whetstone? We will flush them out!
A quick re-read shows “ass” twice (pages 44 in Triumph “Ups” box, and 77, column three). I could have sworn (get it?) I saw the “B” word somewhere in my first read, but didn’t see it the second time. I’m not a prude, but I avoid those words when I can. Thank you for your quick response, and I am looking forward to the next edition (please say something about the V-Strom being the best bike in the world).
Ride safe. Ken
We apologize and have sternly disciplined our censors. Whats the “B” word? Are you able to type it?
Only if I close my eyes... “bitch.” I found it, in Hotshots, page 30, “Re: ‘Dear Arnold,”’ last paragraph. Ken
Rest assured the son-of-a-mother-dog donkey aperture responsible will be ferreted out and defecated upon severely, unmercilessly.
And, yes, the V-Strom is a fornicating Hades of a good bike! E3
