Innholdsfortegnelse for November - December 2016 i Motorcycle Classics

1 One of our favorite motorcycle-related gifts to give to friends and family is raffle tickets for the yearly motorcycle raffle from the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame. This year’s raffle bike is a 1975 BMW R75/6, customized by renowned motorcycle builder Tony Prust of Analog Motorcycles in Chicago, Illinois. Called the AMA BMW R75GS by Prust, the bike has been modified with a custom rear subframe and updated suspension front and rear including Race Tech Gold Valve emulators in the front and new Fox Street RC51 shocks in the rear. The bike has new controls, updated electronics and wiring throughout, custom paint and lighting and more. The drawing will be held at the Mama Tried Motorcycle Show in February 2017. Tickets are $5 for one or $20 for five.…

1969 Husqvarna Baja Invader 500 Like Taylor, Husqvarna engineer Ruben Helmen thought a double-barreled dirt bike might be an offroad success. In 1966 he designed a 2-stroke twin using two 250cc top ends on a common crankcase. The engine was mounted in a Husqvarna frame with 35mm Husky front fork and dual Girling rear shocks. The wheels were a 21-inch in the front and an 18-inch rear on Akront alloy rims with drum brakes. Testing confirmed that the bike was fast, but too bulky for FIM 500cc motocross competition. However, a 504cc version dominated the less competitive heavyweight (501-750cc) division in 1969. Reconfigured to 490cc, the sole complete machine was shipped to U.S. importer Edison Dye, who entered it in the 1969 Baja 1000 with Gunnar Nilsson and J.N. Roberts…

This 1973 Yamaha TX650 isn’t a motorcycle. While it might look like one, in reality it’s a fully functioning time machine. That’s because owner Keith Allen is connected to this particular motorcycle in ways most of us could only imagine. “In the early summer of 1973 I was 16 years old,” Keith explains. “I’d been riding and racing dirt bikes, and my dad and I went to the Honda, Harley-Davidson and Yamaha shop Zanotti Motors in Butler, Pennsylvania, because he wanted to get a 2-stroke Yamaha RD350 street bike. “When we got into the dealership there were five TX650s lined up in the window, and I steered him towards the larger 4-stroke motorcycles. He wrote a check for this one and tossed me the keys, telling me to ride it…

TThough the last Springfield Indian left the Massachusetts factory in 1953, the iconic brand lives on more than 60 years later — though it did, over the years, keep some questionable company. First came Britain’s Brockhouse Engineering, who kept the brand alive by distributing Royal Enfields rebadged as Indians, also selling their Corgi minibike as the Indian Papoose. When Britain’s AMC bought Royal Enfield in 1960, the company also acquired the Indian name and started selling Matchless motorcycles with model names like Apache, Tomahawk and Arrow. When AMC itself went bust in 1962, American entrepreneur Floyd Clymer stepped in, selling a variety of small motorcycles under the Indian name until his death in 1970. The last of the Clymer Indians was the Velocette-powered, Italjet-built Indian 500. There followed a string…

NNestled deep in the North Georgia foothills, down a winding country road outside a town called Homer, lies the hidden gem of a classic and race bike collection owned by a local legend in vintage motorcycle racing. That legend is Keith Campbell, who has not only amassed an outstanding assortment of timeless motorcycles, he has preserved many of the bikes he and his son, Kyle, raced. Humbly referring to himself as simply an “enthusiast,” Keith nevertheless has achieved much in the sport, both in riding and racing. Enjoying a serene retirement from racing as well as the automotive business — “what paid for my motorcycle habit,” Keith quips — he now devotes his energies to maintaining his impressive collection, riding the bikes whenever possible (every bike in the collection runs…

Of all the projects we’ve done over the years, our 1970 Honda CB350 took the longest and in some ways was the hardest. Our goal, as much as we could, was to keep it looking stock and original while also giving it sensible upgrades to make it a rider as well as a looker. We think we’ve succeeded on both counts. This CB350 project has been a real education. Except for our very first project, the 1971 Triumph TR6C we put back on the road almost 10 years ago, every build we’ve done has been a custom. There’s a certain chickens@#% logic to that: You don’t have to like what we’ve done, but you can’t say it’s wrong, because it was never supposed to be right. Adding to the allure…

Nestled along the Oregon Coast Highway (featured in Destinations in the September/October 2014 issue of MC), the Tillamook Naval Air Museum is just a few minutes south of Tillamook (where the cheese comes from), and both the destination and the ride to it are impressive. In 1941, America was at war and our coasts were vulnerable to attack and infiltration by submarine. The U.S. deployed blimps to counter that threat. The U.S. Navy’s K-class airships were huge, efficient and deadly. The airships were more than 200 feet long, and they carried both depth charges and machine guns. At the war’s outset, the need for airships and a place to base them was urgent, and America rapidly built 10 bases for its blimp fleet. Naval Air Station Tillamook rose from an…

Motorcycle entrepreneur John Taylor was nothing if not persistent. His continual cajoling of Spanish motorcycle makers led to some of the best small bikes sold in America; and to Taylor’s personal dream machine, a big enduro bike that anticipated the dual-sport boom by a quarter century. As U.S. importer in the early 1960s, Taylor persuaded Bultaco to produce the 200cc (later 250cc and 350cc) Matador street-scrambler for the U.S. market. He even came close to owning the CEMOTO/Bultaco factory in Barcelona. But what he’s best known for is the 500cc twin-cylinder dual-sport bike that was made in America and bore the brand Yankee. Challenges ahead Taylor needed all his persistence to bring his bike to market. First shown to the press in 1967, the Yankee 500Z took another four years…

Cuba calling Relations between Cuba and the U.S. have been warming, and as they do the barriers to U.S. travel in Cuba have been eroding. Although trade with Cuba is still officially banned, travel has become much easier since January 2015, when the Obama administration expanded the categories of authorized travel to the Caribbean island nation from just a few to 12. Of particular importance is the “educational activities” category. Tourism, strictly speaking, is still forbidden, but the expanded categories incorporate huge gray areas of wiggle room that make it much easier to travel to Cuba for essentially tourist-type activities. This opens the door for interested Americans to participate in small tours such as the Cuba on Classic & Modern Bikes tour being organized by Eligio Arturi at Mototouring in…

One of motorcycling’s most enduring designs is the parallel-twin engine, but not all manufacturers have made it a success. Right now Ducati is proving that if you stick to what you know, you earn trust and buying confidence from your customers. The Italian factory is in the middle of record sales growth. Last year alone its worldwide sales increased 22 percent, with the U.S. firmly entrenched as its biggest market. The trend is expected to continue this year as nearly half its 2016 lineup are new models. This success is based on one basic engine configuration: the 90-degree V-twin, or L-twin as it’s also called. It is available in a huge range of options, from the detuned, air-cooled Scrambler to the full-on Superbike mode of the 1299 Panigale. The business…

MMany NASCAR insiders credit the late Smokey Yunick as being one of the most creative and conniving race car builders ever in terms of interpreting rules. Other people would simply say that ol’ Smokey was a vicious cheater and leave it at that. In fact, those same people might even label all racers in NASCAR as cheaters. The same connection can be made about the pioneers of AMA Superbike racing, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this season. Cheating during Superbike’s formative years was, in a word, rampant. How else could you squeeze 100-plus horsepower out of a BMW airhead boxer twin that normally delivered about half that amount to the rear wheel than to bend the rules a bit? Otherwise, parts like connecting rods and push rods, originally intended for…

According to the numbers, Texas is second only to California in population. Yet rolling through the fabled Texas Hill Country, that statistic seems improbable. The road in front of me is empty and serene, a winding ribbon of blacktop running through vast expanses of scrub land punctuated by huge ranches. If there are people here, they’re not showing themselves. The numbers start to make sense, however, when you consider that Texas is almost 40 percent larger than California, second only to Alaska in terms of total area. And with the lion’s share of the population in the state’s eastern half, the western half, with the Hill Country running roughly across its midsection, has miles of empty roads. They’re perfect for the vintage Norton and Vincent that Mark Scott and I…

As good as BMW’s classic /5 series is, there’s always room for improvement. One thing old /5s — and just about every airhead from 1970-1994 — can really benefit from is a charging system upgrade. While the stock system basically works fine, it can come up short in voltage delivery, especially in low-rpm urban situations where the engine doesn’t spin at high enough revolutions to maintain the necessary voltage to keep the battery up. Euro MotoElectrics in Denver, Colorado (euromotoelectrics.com), specializes in electric system upgrades for BMW, Moto Guzzi and Ducati. Over the years, they’ve developed numerous starting and charging kits for vintage and contemporary BMWs, including the EnDuraLast III kit for 1970-1977 airheads. The comprehensive kit includes a new 4-wire stator plus a new rotor, diode board, diode board…

11/5 The 10th Annual Cops and Rodders Car, Truck and Motorcycle Show runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Arizona. Spectator admission is free. Last year’s show featured more than 650 vehicle entries and attracted more than 15,000 spectators. On the web at copsandrodderstucson.org 11/6 Join the Southern California Norton Owners Club for “the best ride by a dam site,” the Hansen Dam All-British Ride. Now in its 37th year, the ride is a great way to spend a day enjoying British motorcycles. Recent years have seen more than 500 bikes of all makes show up. On the web at socalnorton.com 11/12 Visit Norcross, Georgia, for the 26th Annual Blue Moon Cycle Euro Bike Swap Meet on Saturday, Nov. 12. The swap meet…

Rider: Robert Drews, Englewood, Colorado Age: 35 Occupation: Marketing manager Rides: 1977 Honda GL1000 Gold Wing, 2004 Kawasaki ZRX1200 Robert’s story: “I wanted to say thanks for the feature on the Honda GL1000 prototype in the July/August issue. It was nice to see such an iconic bike get coverage in the pages of your magazine. I am the proud owner of a 1977 GL1000 and love the machines greatly. “My bike’s story is pretty noteworthy — in my book at least. The bike was purchased new in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1977 by my father. It didn’t leave the dealership until it was fitted with the Vetter fairings and bags (still aftermarket add-ons in those days). My father used the bike as a daily rider while he and my mother…

This Yankee sold at the September auction of long-time Kansas City, Missouri, Moto Guzzi dealer Mike Harper’s personal collection of vintage bikes. Believed to be a 1972 model (it was listed as a ’75, but Yankee was out of business after 1972), it was in rough but semi-complete shape. The bodywork was all there — although completely sprayed in black primer — and it still had its original Yankee-branded speedometer (Yankees didn’t come with a tachometer), but it had a locked engine and non-stock exhaust system. Yet even with those detractions it was worth $2,500 to its new owner. Auctioneer Jerry Wood, who ran the Harper auction, hammered a “pristine” one for $7,200 at a past DeLand, Florida, auction, proof that surviving Yankee motorcycles are more than holding their value.…

Britain’s annual Goodwood Revival is the world’s premier Historic racing event on both two wheels and four. The three-day race meeting at the 2.367-mile so-called Goodwood Motor Circuit caters to the motorcycles and cars that would have competed there before it closed in 1966 (it reopened in 1998), with an annual sell-out crowd of 180,000 spectators, almost all in ’60s-style period clothing. In the two-part event’s Saturday leg, run in torrential rain, eight-time Isle of Man TT winner and former Honda factory Endurance racer Charlie Williams teamed with Mike Farrall to splash to victory aboard the third-oldest bike in the race, a rigidframed 1933 500cc Rudge TTR that began life as a dirt oval-track speedway racer. Two-time 500cc World Champion Freddie Spencer (in photo at left) rode the actual Norton…

Before its sudden fall from favor in the 1970s, Zündapp was arguably Germany’s most successful motorcycle marque, and was certainly one of the pioneering brands in the European motorcycle industry. The K800 flat-four produced in the years before World War II was the apogee of its model lineup, and is undoubtedly one of the world’s great motorcycles. Zündapp has become the forgotten brand in Germany’s two-wheeled history book. Yet after commencing bike production in 1922, it was for many years the country’s largest motorcycle manufacturer — albeit post-WWII in the western half only — and as recently as 1977 produced as many as 115,000 bikes in a single year, before sales of its by then predominantly 2-stroke range suddenly slumped in the face of Japanese competition, sending it just seven…

After 95 years of continuous motorcycle production, Moto Guzzi has a rich heritage to draw from. The Italian company has been mining that heritage, recently resuscitating iconic models including the V7 and Eldorado. Moto Guzzi, or at least Piaggio, the brand’s owners, has once again reached up to the storage shelf, bringing down the old cardboard box containing the names of some of the factory’s past successes, and this time they’ve pulled out and dusted off the Stornello. First presented as part of the Guzzi range back in 1960, the Stornello had the honor of not only being the first 125cc Guzzi ever produced, but also possibly the infamy of (apart from the odd late-ordered Nuovo Falcone) being the last ever 4-stroke single produced by Guzzi when it quietly disappeared…

August 5-7 witnessed our first-ever Motorcycle Classics Ride ’Em, Don’t Hide ’Em Getaway, headquartered at Seven Springs Resort, the largest and oldest ski resort in Pennsylvania. Skiing? In Pennsylvania? Absolutely, and when the snow’s not flying Southwest Pennsylvania is spectacular riding country. The roads that cut through the surrounding Laurel Highlands are a motorcyclist’s dream, ribbons of blacktop running across an ever-changing mix of rich farmland, dense forests, dark hollows, and high ridges with breathtaking vistas. Eighty-three readers joined us for our two-day event, the itinerary including a tour of Fallingwater, the home designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright and built over Bear Run Creek, just 20 miles from Seven Springs. Rain greeted us Saturday morning, the high hills locked in a thick fog. But that didn’t dampen our…

“It’s always a good idea to check the valves when the head is off.” Master cylinder found Q:Last issue, Dennis Ventura wrote in looking for a rear brake master cylinder for his 1983 Kawasaki GPz750. He recently sourced a cheap and effective replacement and wrote in to tell us about it. Well done! — Ed. A: I wanted to give you an update regarding my GPz rear brake woes. I solved the problem by going to a nearby Japanese bike salvage yard and just plunking down the old one on the table and asking, “What do you have that looks like this?” The gentleman helping me came back with one that looked similar, complete with remote reservoir, from a late-model Kawasaki Ninja 250cc. Everything lined up. I used the 1983…

Elsewhere in this issue (see Page 40), we take a lighthearted look at the rules bending (OK, cheating) that took place during Superbike racing’s formative years. But it was no laughing matter for me when, shortly after the 1980 Superbike season’s conclusion, American Honda’s Superbike team invited me to Willow Springs Raceway to sample Freddie Spencer’s bike, a highly modified CB750F. Mike Velasco, whom I raced against a few times during our younger days as AFM club racers, served as Spencer’s crew chief and as my host for the day. I wrote about my experience for Cycle Guide magazine in the March 1981 issue, and below are some of my comments and observations as reported in that issue about a bike that I dubbed The Bull: “My roving eyes caught…