| Features:
Feature-1 :
CONFEDERATE HELLCAT
Story by Neale Bayley
Photos by Byron Minton
With the side stand grinding across the hot New Orleans asphalt, a quick thought goes though my mind: “The sticker price on this baby is $60,000.”
Approaching the exit of the turn this is forgotten as I twist the throttle, lay 140 horsepower through the massive 240-section rear tire and annihilate the next straight. Well into triple-digit speeds out along the New Orleans Levee, tucked in behind the small instrument cluster, I sit up and squeeze the firm brake lever. Activating the 12 pistons responsible for pushing the pads against the 320 mm full-floating rotors, the Hellcat loses speed at an incredible rate. There is minimal dive from the fully adjustable, 50 mm Marzocchi race-derived front forks, and the bike remains rock solid as I flick into the next bend with the lightest nudge on the bars. The accompanying sound of metal  meeting asphalt joins the roar of the twin exhaust pipes and the fun continues.
This is the pay-off, after spending a couple of days rumbling round the city of New Orleans dodging rain storms and looking for cool photo locations. Rarely getting out of second gear, riding such a feral, fire-spitting beast in town is like trying to seduce Carmen Electra in a Honda Civic; possible, but not with enough room to exploit her full potential. Now, with no traffic and some open road ahead, I can truly get a feel for Confederate Motorcycles’ chosen son.
For more on this story, pick up an October 2005 issue of FREE 2 WHEEL at your local dealer, or use the handy order form page found on our web site.
Feature-2 :
CRASH COURSE
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF AFTER THE FALL
You’ve heard the joke about why sharks don’t eat lawyers? Professional courtesy. Then there’s the one about why New Jersey got all the toxic waste dumps and California got all the lawyers? Because New Jersey got first choice.
But maybe you haven’t heard the one about when you’ll be grateful to have a lawyer beside you. It’s when your bike’s all wadded up, you’re flat on your back and your insurance company is giving you the runaround. And it’s no laughing matter.
There is a time and a place for an attorney and, as a motorcycle rider, it pay s to know when that time and place might be. According to Travis Black, who specializes in protecting the rights of downed riders, the time is just about any time you get hurt in a crash that wasn’t your fault.
And Black should know. He has been riding motorcycles since he was 16, and we’re talking about really riding. He recently sold his Harley and is currently mounted on a BMW 1200 LT. He was a So. Cal. police officer for 12 years before he got hurt and ended up having to retire as a result of his injuries. And, after he finished law school on his way to launching a second career, he worked for a number of insurance companies, getting an inside look at how things are done behind the scenes at companies like the one whose name is emblazoned across the top of your policy.
“I am a firm believer that auto insurance companies will screw anybody any time they get a chance,” said Black. “I have clients who are horribly hurt. If the insurance company could get away with paying them $5,000, it would.
For more on this story, pick up an October 2005 issue of FREE 2 WHEEL at your local dealer, or use the handy order form page found on our web site.
Ask the Sergeant:
Dear Sarge:
Can I transport my gun (legally mine) to our local shooting range on my bike, a street-legal XR? Our shooting range is down a dirt road a couple of miles, with a riding area further down. If the gun was in a locked box strapped to the bike, and the ammo was in a locked box in a backpack and I was pulled over, how would this look?
Bob Shelden via e-mail
Carrying firearms in motor vehicles can cause you some grief if you do not know the legalities. And carrying firearms on a motorcycle is far more problematic for obvious reasons, like the absence of a locking trunk.
First, let me start by saying something that’s of primary importance: Unless you are a police officer or hold a valid concealed weapons permit, you can never carry any firearm “loaded” in a motor vehicle. Unloaded is the only way to go.
And before we go any further, we need to clarify some legal terminology that will have significant impact on your answer. The California Penal Code recognizes two categories of firearms and the laws applying to each category differ.
The first category of firearm is called “concealable” and that means handguns. The second category is “long guns,” which means rifles and shotguns. You can never carry a handgun concealed in any portion of a vehicle that is accessible to the driver or any occupant. You can carry that handgun in plain sight on the seat or dashboard, as long as it is unloaded. And you can carry an unloaded handgun in a gun case or other object in the occupants’ compartment in plain sight, as long as the case or device is immediately recognizable as something that is intended for transporting handguns. Putting that handgun in a briefcase or laptop case anywhere in reach of the driver, even if it is unloaded, is instant handcuffs if you are caught.
Unloaded long guns can be carried anywhere in a vehicle and can be hidden by a blanket or behind a seat without concern. That is because these are not considered “concealable” firearms.
For more on this story, pick up an October 2005 issue of FREE 2 WHEEL at your local dealer, or use the handy order form page found on our web site.
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Scuttle Putt:
Want a shot at hanging out with off-road legends like Dick Burleson, Malcolm Smith, Jimmy Lewis, Johnny Campbell, and Scot Harden at the 2006 24-Hour Torture Test, which will be held at Quail Canyon in the Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area near Gorman?
This shot at glory is the result of a collaboration between Dirt Rider Magazine and the Blue Ribbon Coalition (BRC), which are offering various “land-use activists” a shot at some late-night action in the Honda pit at the event, which runs from January 31 into February 1, 2006.
To get in on the action, land-use volunteers need to submit a resume to the Blue Ribbon Coalition’s event review committee. Once approved, the resumes will be sent to Dirt Rider and the resume writers will get an invite to attend the premier off-road event.
Project Bike
RHAPSODY IN BLUE
Story and photos by Reid Libby
Motorcycling is a feast for the senses, particularly when it comes to the aural aspects of the sport. Be it the low-range, syncopated rumble of a big twin, or the urgent, up-scale whine of a frenetic four, there is a symphony for the ears, no matter where your taste in machinery lies.
 There is, of course, always an exception. The inevitable someone who feels compelled to swim salmon-like against the tide. Time and trends may have passed him by, but that is of little consequence. He knows what he likes and, in some cases, has the talent and vision to keep that dream alive. Steven Turner is just such a guy and past-prime Yamaha road racers are his passion.
Pity the poor two-stroke. A rough-and-tumble concept of engine building that was relatively simple, provided stellar power-to-weight ratios, and the high performance that that entails. In doing so, prodigious amounts of petro-products were combusted and the not-so-pleasant, noxious remnants of the process were scattered willy-nilly to the four winds. Environmentalists were appalled. Greedy oil company execs counted their receipts with glee.
 The two-stroke concept ruled the racetrack for 30 years, but sensibilities changed and with them, the rules, economics, and politics of the times. The two-stroke became its own worst enemy and wound up as dead as the dinosaurs whose renderings it fed on.
For more on this story, pick up an October 2005 issue of FREE 2 WHEEL at your local dealer, or use the handy order form page found on our web site.
Way2go
JEWEL BY THE SEA
Story and photos by Bob Kaufman
A few weeks ago, I was standing on Mount Soledad near La Jolla, absorbed in a spectacular view of the coastline, when I couldn’t help overhearing the conversation of a  young man and woman. They were standing just down the hill from me, apparently as spellbound by the panorama as I was.
As they gazed out to sea, the young man remarked, “I didn’t know San Diego was so pretty.”
This man, whose subsequent comments identified him as a resident, not a tourist, was finally discovering part of the beauty that makes the place he was admiring an attraction for thousands of outsiders from other cities, states and countries.
But it’s not surprising he was only just discovering the beauty in his own backyard. It’s a common irony that locals are not always aware of their own local attractions—things that others travel across the country or the world to see. I myself am an example of this. I have commuted daily to San Diego for the last three years and lived there in the past, but about a year ago, when a visiting relative from the east coast asked me if I had ever seen the seals on the beach at La Jolla, I had to admit that no, I hadn’t. She was incredulous.
Not that I’m totally  oblivious to what San Diego has to offer by way of visual delights. Five years ago, I wrote “Points of View,” (see Free 2 Wheel, September 2000) describing some popular, and not-so-popular, lookouts on the coast, but I stopped short, literally, of La Jolla.
When I resided in San Diego almost 20 years ago, I would visit the upscale enclave once in a while, because it was nearby. But in recent years, I’ve been somewhat of a stranger there. It was actually a second person—a co-worker who just happened to be entertaining her own visiting relatives—who once again suggested that I would enjoy revisiting La Jolla beach and those amazing seals that I had some-how missed.
For more on this story, pick up an October 2005 issue of FREE 2 WHEEL at your local dealer, or use the handy order form page found on our web site.
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