Indholdsfortegnelse for September - October 2019 i Motorcycle Classics

Timing may not be everything, but bad timing can scuttle the best of plans. Through most of the 1960s, parallel twins dominated the U.S. market for half-liter-plus motorcycles. And while Honda’s CB450 could give a British twin a good run, Bonnevilles and Lightnings ruled the strip and the sales charts. Not surprising, then, that Pesaro-based Benelli — then the biggest motorcycle maker in Italy — would plan a 650cc parallel twin aimed at U.S. buyers. Well established as the supplier of Wards-Riverside commuter bikes, Benelli should have had a strong tailwind. But U.S. importer Cosmopolitan lacked an adequate dealer network, and like other makers of big twins, Benelli hadn’t reckoned with Honda’s game-changing 1969 CB750 Four. Just when Benelli was gearing up for its new kick-start-only, OHV, drum-braked twin, Big…

Make no mistake: kids are impressionable. When Tom TeRonde was 11 years old, his dad bought him a Honda CB160 to tear around the family property on the outskirts of Oostburg, Wisconsin, where they had a few horses and grew Christmas trees. His four sisters were into the horses, leaving Tom as the only one in the family curious about internal combustion engines. “Boys would often come around to hang out with my sisters,” Tom says of his young family life. “And I clearly remember one day when three guys pulled up on two Triumphs and a BSA. That made quite an imprint on me. I hoped that one day I could get something like one of those Triumphs — it was the sight and the sound, and I thought…

As urban legend has it, the hamburger was a spontaneous pairing of a beef patty and a bun. Likewise, the Amphicar was a sly fitment of a Triumph drivetrain and propellers into a water-tight convertible to form a car and boat, all in one. And Alice Cooper, the mash-up of a minister’s son and a makeup mirror was … well, go watch Wayne’s World for details! Laud or lament these cultural icons as you please, but such disparate elements sometimes do yield splendidly offbeat successes. Might this include the odd quartet of barn-find vehicles seen here? Let’s take a visit. The beefsteak of 1950s English motorcycling, these 500cc Matchless G80 CS singles were among the first factory scramblers, a full decade before motocross arrived stateside. With aluminum engine cases, aluminum…

Moving from the two-up position to piloting is a reality for an increasing number of women participating in recreational motorcycling. I’ve been riding pillion for more than two years now. Granted I was a reluctant passenger at first for two good reasons: fear and safety. I’d seen too many younger motorcyclists roar up alongside my car in thick traffic, no helmet, no gloves, wearing shorts and flip-flops. This seemed unnecessarily reckless to me, but this was before I agreed to take a short trek on a vintage motorcycle through the countryside on a bright day in May. Two things happened that day. I fell in love with the 360-degree view with what I call smell-o-roma of a rural ride, and the comfortable, albeit somewhat measured pace of an older, more…

My modest stable of motorcycles is occupied by less than a half dozen machines, each one bought not so much on a predicated search for that specific bike but the simple expedience of opportunity. The 1983 Laverda RGS is the dream machine, a bike I never thought I’d own until one miraculously made itself available (thanks Scott Potter). I was riding a black 1972 short wheelbase BMW R75/5 when we started Motorcycle Classics back in 2005, but sold it when the Laverda came along the same year, so when a green 1973 long wheelbase R75/5 was offered to me a few years back I just had to get it. The 1976 Suzuki GT185 on the other hand was nowhere on my radar when a friend said he was selling his,…

What: Petrified Forest National Park, 1 Park Road, #2217, Petrified Forest, AZ 86028. Admission: $15 for a motorcycle and passengers for seven days. How to Get There: From the east, take I-40’s Exit 311. From the west, take either Exit 285 or 286 at Holbrook, Arizona, then US 180 east. Best Kept Secret: Perhaps the park itself. I’ve driven through this region on I-40 before and never noticed the signs for Petrified Forest National Park. There are also many other places of interest (and many interesting roads) in Arizona. Get a copy of my book Destinations to read more. Avoid: Leaving home without enough water or a hat (it gets very hot in the summer months); taking anything out of the park. More Photos: bit.ly/pfnp-az More Info: nps.gov/pefo/index.htm…

Dupli-Color vinyl and fabric coating Recommended for use on seats, dashboards and other vinyl or fabric surfaces, this dye transformed the seat on ad man Shane Powers’ Honda CB350 build. This lacquer paint dries to the touch in just 30 minutes. Available at auto parts stores or on Amazon. $8.95-$14.95. More info: speedmotoco.com SWAT pullover from Tuff-N-Lite Originally engineered for SWAT officers, this pullover motorcycle jacket is made from a breathable knitted fabric called Tuff-N-Lite, a cut, slash and abrasion-resistant material. It features Zoombang impact protection on the arms, along with thumbloops at the ends of the sleeves and a 4-inch-high collar. A zippered model is also available. Made in the U.S.A. Starts at $350. More info: email customerservice4@supremecorporation.com Honda Retro Red/White/Blue Wing Tee from Mayhem Industries Inc. Show your…

The adventure of a lifetime Here is a picture of me (on the Yammy) and my good buddy Bob Kass (Captain America) taken in May 1971. In a few weeks we took off on a summer adventure of a lifetime. Leaving our homes in Michigan, we traveled west across Canada, south on the Pacific Coast Highway and finally east on Route 66 towards home, nearly 8,000 miles and more than eight weeks in the saddle. I still ride and enjoy your magazine. I currently have a 1972 Yamaha XS650 and a Ducati Scrambler. Thanks for a great magazine. Chuck Proulx/via email Chuck, What a road trip that must have been. Thanks for sharing the memories! — Ed. Triumphs gone, but not forgotten I am a longtime subscriber to Motorcycle Classics.…

In all of our searching, we came up with just two Tornados that have been on the market in recent years. First up is the 1975 Tornado you see here. Little information is given about the bike, but it appears to be original and complete. The odometer shows just 62 miles, but no mention is made of whether those are original miles or whether the bike has been restored and its mileage reset. This bike crossed the auction block at the Mecum Las Vegas motorcycle auction in 2018, selling for $8,250. The second Tornado we found, was, curiously, also a yellow 1975 model, and also showed very low mileage. Missing a right side cover, the bike showed just 58 miles, and the listing stated that the miles were believed to…

Join us for the 15th Annual Barber Vintage Festival, the largest vintage motorcycle event in North America, Oct. 4-6, 2019, at Barber Motorsports Park outside Birmingham, Alabama, with famed national champion enduro rider and entrepreneur John Penton as this year’s Grand Marshal. Inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998, Penton was influential in the growth of enduro and offroad motorcycling in the ’60s and ’70s, eventually founding Penton Motorcycles. Penton will be the guest of honor at the Barber Museum’s Friday night Motorcycles by Moonlight fundraiser, and we’re anticipating his presence at the Motorcycle Classics tent during our Saturday Vintage Bike Show. This year we’re putting the spotlight on Honda Fours, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the debut of the CB750. We’ll award trophies in five categories…

Don Stockett, one of the principals of Vintage Motorcycle Rescue, a classic Japanese motorcycle restoration business near Sacramento, California, was on a ride through the Sierra foothills with the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club when one rider had a carburetor problem. A bike needing a little roadside TLC is not uncommon on a vintage run. Everyone pulls over, and the more mechanically adept attendees get a chance to show off their wrenching skills. What happened next on that day, however, was a little unusual. As Don tells it: “We had all pulled into a parking lot and one of our members was taking the carburetor apart. This guy pulls up in a pickup truck. He yells out the window, ‘I’ve been following you guys for miles hoping you would stop. Anyone…

Every so often a manufacturer conceives a new model that’s unlike anything anyone did previously — and in doing so invents a new kind of motorcycle. Think BMW with its dual-purpose GS models, Ducati with the Monster or Yamaha with the original Ténéré — all of them so immediately and hugely successful that they ended up being copied by other manufacturers, and proved to be prototypes for a new generic type of bike. Now, with its new FTR 1200 Street Tracker, Indian may well have joined that illustrious club. That’s not to say that nobody else ever tried to build a volume production street legal version of an American oval-track racer before — just that nobody yet showed how this could be done in a modern context, while getting it…

In 1997, I joined one of the first motorcycle tours of the remote Himalayan kingdom. Dusk was slipping into night as our motorcycle caravan turned off the single-lane Bumthang Valley road. The Enfield’s pale headlight just picked out the way ahead — a narrow, climbing stream bed. Standing on the pegs, I held second gear and pointed the front wheel uphill. The Bullet slogged patiently up the slope as the back wheel scrabbled for traction. The Bumthang festival started that evening. In a plowed field, under a full mountain moon, maybe 300 excited Bhutanese were milling around. We were told we’d see firewalking, and I envisioned red-robed, chanting monks walking barefoot over beds of glowing coals. Instead, a steel frame like a soccer goal was draped with branches and leaves.…

A few issues ago we installed a pair of Donald Pender’s version of the Lansdowne dampers on a 1974 Norton Commando. While looking through his list of available parts, we noticed another cool upgrade we were interested in trying out. Don manufactures a gantry setup for the Norton Commando. The kit, once installed, does away with the 1-into-2 cable throttle setup and greatly simplifies carb synchronization. You’ll search in vain for it at tritonmotorcycleparts.com, so instead your best bet is to email Don directly at madass140@gmail.com. That’s what we did, and for just $134, shipping included, exactly one week later (from the Phillipines!) we had the kit shown here. In this How-To we’ll show you the steps necessary to change over from the 1-into-2 cable system to the single-cable gantry.…

8/30 Back for its 14th year, join us for the fun at the Bonneville Vintage GP, Aug. 30-Sept. 1, at the Utah Motorsports Campus in Tooele, Utah. Look for great AHRMA racing, plus the ever-popular Battle of the CB160s LeMans Start at noon on Saturday and Sunday. We’ll host our annual_ Motorcycle Classics_ Vintage Bike Show, with trophies in five classes including awards for Best Restored and Best Rider in each class. On the web at bonnevillevintagegp.com 8/31 Visit the Owls Head Transportation Museum in Owls Head, Maine, for the Vintage Motorcycle Festival and Antique Aeroplane Show, Aug. 31-Sept. 1. Entry fee is $18. The featured marque this year is Indian. On the web at owlshead.org 9/8 Visit the 37th Annual Battle of the Brits Motorcycle & Car Show and Swap Meet at…

Seventy-five years is a rather long time. In the doggie world that’s 525 years, and in real terms 75 years equates to three-quarters of a century. Closer to home in the motorcycle community, 2019 marked the 75th annual banquet hosted by the Trailblazers, an organization formed in 1940 that pays homage to longtime and key members of the motorcycle sport. Today the Trailblazers is an affiliate of the Motorcycle Industry Council, the industry’s major trade organization. Current Trailblazers president Don Emde explained the purpose behind the Trailblazers, “Our mission has been, and continues to be, to keep the sport of motorcycling alive by gathering annually to reconnect, remember and honor our fellow motorcycling friends and associates.” And so it was in 1940 that A.F. Van Order and a core of…

Rider: Fred Hawley, Middletown, New Jersey Age: 69 Occupation: Electrical engineer Rides: 1966 Honda CL77, 1978 Honda CB550, 1975 Honda CB750, 1975 Yamaha XS650, 1981 Yamaha 750 Virago and 2006 Harley-Davidson 883 Sportster I have always had a passion for motorcycles ever since I was a young boy growing up in the Sixties in Stratford, Connecticut. That’s not surprising considering my dad owned several Harley-Davidson motorcycles. I still remember my dad picking me up from grammar school on his Harley — very cool for an 8-year-old boy. On my 16th birthday I was ready for my first motorcycle. Seeing Honda’s ad campaign “You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda,” I set my goal on a Honda CL77 Scrambler. My dad insisted I first learn to ride his 1,200cc Harley…

1973-1980 Triumph T140 Bonneville By 1974, Triumph’s Meriden factory was worker-occupied, dependent on government support, and had one product line: the 750 Bonneville and its single-carb sibling, the 750 Tiger. The machines that emerged from the workers co-op used the familiar 360-degree parallel twin engine, but now with five gears and a front disc brake. Much attention was focused on fixing the Bonnie’s notorious deficiencies: Oil leaks were moderated; much improved Amal Mk2 carburetors were used from 1976; and electronic ignition followed in 1979. Shifting switched from right to left side in 1975, and a rear disc was fitted from 1976 — but electric start had to wait until the T140ES of 1980. An anachronism at the time, the T140 is now a capable and rideable classic — a viable…

In 1919, George Brough started building luxury motorcycles in Nottingham, England, under the name Brough Superior. A test ride on one so impressed a journalist that he wrote that the marque was “the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles.” George, a marketing ace in addition to being a designer, picked up the phrase and used it repeatedly in his advertising. Rolls-Royce was not happy seeing their good name used by an upstart motorcycle manufacturer. They wrote a stiff letter of complaint to Mr. Brough, who responded by inviting representatives to his factory. When the Rolls-Royce delegation arrived at the immaculately clean Brough factory, they saw a team of white-glove-wearing technicians putting together a Brough Superior. The fit and finish was superb. Impressed, they let George use the phrase. George had failed to explain…

To better understand the Indian Model 741 U.S. Army World War II motorcycle featured here, we need to start with a bit of background. During the years preceding World War II, Harley-Davidson and Indian emerged as the two main U.S. survivors in an industry that earlier in the century consisted of hundreds of motorcycle manufacturers. The post-Depression, pre-World War II U.S. motorcycle market was in terrible shape due to the advent of mass production and low-cost automobile manufacturing. Motorcycles had fallen out of favor as basic transportation. Harley-Davidson and Indian both catered to the police and civilian motorcycle markets, but sales were very low. When the Army asked Harley-Davidson and Indian to develop motorcycles for military use, neither manufacturer was in any condition to support a massive buildup. Indian was…

The Indian Sport Scout introduced in 1934 was America’s first Superbike. The early 1930s had seen the near-collapse of bike racing in the USA, forcing Indian and Harley-Davidson to stop supporting large, professional factory race teams, owing to dwindling track numbers and reduced budgets. Faced with this crisis, the AMA created Class C racing in 1934 as the basis for all competition. The rules allowed 750cc sidevalve motors, with OHV engines limited to 500cc, but a maximum compression ratio of only 7.5:1 prevented these being competitive against the 50-percent bigger sidevalves. Riders had to present proof of ownership at sign-up, to prevent the factories entering tricked-out works racers, so Indian did the next best thing, and produced the Sport Scout. Selling for an affordable $300 with a 744cc dry-sump 42-degree…

Honda’s V4-engined RC45 had a difficult birth, at a time when Superbikes were challenging 500GP lap records. Born in 1993, it took It took four years for the successor to the legendary RC30 to win the World Superbike championship, but on the eve of Honda’s 50th birthday, American John Kocinski delivered the prize the company’s founder Soichiro Honda coveted above all others on two wheels: the top honor in 4-stroke racing for a company whose corporate and sporting success over the previous half-century had until recently been based on ever more sophisticated 4-strokes. To do this in 1997, the company’s engineers produced a virtual 4-stroke GP bike that revved to nearly 15,000rpm. It was a sweet triumph for Honda, whose previous World Superbike titles had been won a decade earlier…

Charging questions Q: I have a 1966 BSA Lightning, a 1970 Honda CB750 and a 1974 Norton Commando that all use Podtronic or other aftermarket solid state rectifier/regulators for lead acid batteries. I would like to upgrade to lithium iron phosphate batteries and would like to know if I will be okay using the current voltage set points for lead acid batteries, or do I need to use rectifier/regulators specific for lithium batteries? Thank you for any help. Wayne Robertson/via email A: My opinion for a long time has been that most of the older bikes don’t have the robust charging system necessary to keep a lithium iron phosphate (LiFe) battery fully charged. I recently spoke with Rick of Rick’s Motorsport Electrics to see if things had changed. He said…

While planning a trip to New Mexico earlier this year, I asked good buddy and fellow motojournalist Joe Gresh to recommend places to see along the way. Petrified Forest National Park was the first place he mentioned. It would be on my northern route home and I’d never been there (a character flaw I intended to correct on this trip). As a kid fascinated by all things prehistoric, the concept of a petrified forest was intriguing. I didn’t know what to expect. Would it be a forest of stone trees? Not quite, I was to learn. Petrified Forest National Park straddles Interstate 40 in northeastern Arizona, with the northern entrance approximately 50 miles east of the New Mexico border. Viewed from above, the park looks like a squared-off and lopsided…