WELCOME TO NOMAD’S LAND
2005 Kawasaki Vulcan 1600 Nomad
Story by Tom Van Beveren
Photos courtesy Kawasaki Motors Corp

Cruisers are a huge part of today’s motorcycling and, like it or not, they are here to stay.
At least half of all the new motorcycles rolling out of our nation’s dealer showrooms these days are of the laid-back, feet-forward variety, and for a very good reason. Cruisers are large, comfortable motorcycles that remind us of our favorite easy chair back home. You can just sit back, put your feet up, and watch the scenery go by--in real life on a cruiser, or by way of the television, if you are riding your easy chair.
Cruisers don’t look like road racers, so they don’t intimidate those who want to get out on the road and ride quietly, and the cruiser design-prescribed ultra-low seat height is a definite plus, especially if you’re short legged or lack a healthy dose of upper body strength.
Cruisers are generally built for a rider and a passenger too, so they are definitely popular with riders who are half of a couple. And the pleasant V-twin rumble emitted from the exhaust system has a way of lulling riders into a slower, kickback style of riding. Like it or not, cruisers are popular, and they are definitely here to stay.
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Interview

REMEMBERING RUSTY
Interview by Anne Van Beveren
Photo courtesy of Alice Kay

Talk about a collection. Rusty Kay had one that was 180 motorcycles strong at its peak, and he loved to talk about each of the bikes in it. He talked to Free 2 Wheel about his collection back in 1998, but Kay will not be talking about it any longer. The award-winning graphics designer, who closed his studio in Santa Monica nearly six years ago and moved home to Montecito, died of cancer on May 8. He was 60.
In recent years, Kay began selling off parts of his collection and, at his death, he had whittled the awe-inspiring display that once included everything from an 1898 Beeston three-wheeler to a 1932 Morgan, a three-wheeled car with a motorcycle engine, down to just two dozen bikes and six favorite cars.
But while Rusty, his collection and his amazing enthusiasm for everything on two (or more) wheels are gone, they will never be forgotten. Let’s meet them one more time, in the words that Rusty Kay used when he spoke to Free 2 Wheel back in 1998.

* * * * * *
It’s not Rusty Kay’s fault that he owns 180-ish motorcycles. He inherited a collector’s gene from his parents, who were into antiques and classic cars, so it was a foregone conclusion that he had to collect something.
Of course, motorcycles weren’t exactly what his parents had in mind when they handed over the gene.
“I was forbidden to ride a motorcycle,” said Kay, with a smile. But, surrounded by pristine vintage motorcycles in his graphic design studio in Santa Monica, it’s obvious that Kay did not comply with all of his parents’ directives.
“I started out as a bicycle freak,” Kay explained. “I was a paper route guy when I was 12 or 13, and my bicycle was my independence.”
Kay’s West Los Angeles paper route was full of hills, so it didn’t take much to convince the youngster that motorized cycles were the way to go.
“A neighbor of ours had a Solex motorbike--a French motor-powered bicycle that they started making in the early ‘50s,” said Kay. “I said, ‘Hey, I don’t have to pedal any more, and that’s where the whole thing started.”
Kay bought a used Solex of his own for about $50 and rode the wheels off it.

Ask the Sergeant:

Dear Sarge:

There are a fairly large number of motorcycle enthusiasts at my office and we frequently refer to your column to settle debates about various laws. There is a topic that we always argue about that is not related to motorcycling but we sure would appreciate it if you would set us straight on this subject. It is the subject of tinted windows on cars and trucks.
Most of the guys in the office believe that tinted windows are flat-out illegal but some of the guys believe it all depends on how dark the tinting is.
A few of my buddies even think that you can have tinted windows if you have a doctor’s note stating that you are prone to skin cancer.
Like I said, the subject has nothing to do with motorcycling but we sure would like a ruling on this.

Mark Hobson,
Newport Beach

First, let me say that I couldn’t disagree with you more about the relevance that this issue has to motorcyclists. I believe your question has tremendous significance to everybody riding a motorcycle, and you’ll see why in just a minute. In addition to telling you about the impact that tinted windows have on motorcyclists, I will also share my opinion on the impact that tinted windows have on law enforcement.
But before I go any further let’s clear up the most confusing element of “tinted windows.” Tinted windows are legal if they comply with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. All vehicles arrive from the factory complying with these standards.
These standards dictate a number of things relating to darkness and abrasive resistance, but these standards deal only with the actual tint of the glass in the vehicle. Virtually every car you see with dark windows achieved that “tinting” by gluing or in some way affixing a tinted film onto the glass, and therein lies the problem.

Project bike story:

JUNKYARD ENLIGHTENMENT
Dream Your Worries Away
Story and photos by Nick Voge

If we are to believe what the Buddhists tell us, that suffering is caused by desire and that true happiness is only to be achieved by not wanting-which is not an easy path to follow in the hyper-materialist world in which we live-what is one to do when one wants a certain motorcycle?
The answer is to not want it too badly, and to not give in to the costly temptations of instant gratification. Let the motorcycle find its way to you. This philosophy has served me well over the years, as virtually all the bikes I’ve wanted have, sooner or later, come to me.
So it was with this 1965 305 Honda Dream, which I found quietly rotting away in the local salvage yard. Modern motorcycle shops, reeking of the consumerist Zeitgeist as they do, have always repelled me. But, in the salvage yard, like a doctor in a refugee camp, I feel right at home, and the Dream called out to me like a long-lost friend.
After some brief haggling and the exchange of $150 it is mine. If only human friendships were so easily managed!
My neighbor looks on in disbelief as I roll the rotting hulk into the back yard. Rusted, faded and filthy, ‘Nightmare’ would be a more fitting moniker than ‘Dream.’ But, like Robert Pirsig and his handlebar shims made from an aluminum beer can in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I can see beneath the superficial form to the underlying function below.

Way2go

ORE INSPIRING RIDES --
Beatty and Rhyolite
Story and photos by Bob Kaufman

One-hundred and fifteen miles northwest of Las Vegas, the boredom of U.S. 95 is interrupted by a few time-worn buildings that mark the entrance to Beatty, population 1,100.
Beatty is best known today as “the gateway to Death Valley,” although there are actually several gateways. And, in spite of being so near to a valley of death, the town of Beatty has not died; it has, in fact, survived for more than a century.
Ranches existed in the vicinity before gold was discovered in the surrounding area in 1904. That’s right, gold, never-mind that Nevada is known as the Silver State. In the ensuing boom of the Bullfrog Mining District, Beatty, which was named after the rancher who became its first postmaster, was born and quickly evolved into a rail crossroads and supply point for the mines. Four miles away, a larger city, Rhyolite, sprung out of the desert, but when the boom ended, Rhyolite faded away while Beatty survived.
Beatty endured the first half of the twentieth century only to run headlong into the cold war era. Back when the U.S.S.R became the United States’ biggest enemy, we had to test a lot of nuclear bombs and most of the explosions happened at the Nevada Test Site. Little Beatty, probably the closest town to the test site, survived that era as well, while the fearsome U.S.S.R fell. Another Bullfrog gold boom came near the end of the twentieth century and Beatty was there for that, as well. Once again, the mining ended, but Beatty did not. And it is still there, today, taking care of visitors on their way to and from Death Valley.
As you enter the town heading north, you’ll see the Beatty Museum on your right at 417 Main Street. That is worth at least a few minutes of your time. There are a couple of rooms full of antiquities from the original gold-mining era and a small set that depicts a scene from the lives of the Shoshone Indians who inhabited the area for thousands of years.

Observations
WAXING POETIC
Observations by Reid Libby

Tradition is a wonderful thing. It ties us to our roots and gives us a framework on which to build portions of our lives. Often times, however, it does require that one put up with a certain amount of baggage and ritual, things neatly avoided by those of us living in an up-to-the-minute world.
Case in point: What does the style-conscious classic motorcyclist wear when the skies go dark with foreboding gloom? Modern moto-garb can’t be faulted for fit or function and does a great job of protecting the rider against the ravages of rain, sleet, and, occasionally, asphalt. But, when you’re taking part in the annual New Year’s Eve Rose Ride, where classic mounts (more baggage) are preferred, high-tech textile- and-Kevlar cladding hardly seem apropos. When a monumental deluge looms large on the horizon, it seems my only recourse is to break out the Belstaff.
There is always some twit who delights in pointing out that trying to stay dry wearing a riding jacket made of cotton is yet another reason why the British Empire imploded. Give the English cousins their due, though. In a country whose national pastime is wringing out socks, someone must have learned a thing or to about keeping water out.
As it turns out, water and wax have about as much in common as a Southern Baptist and a Hollywood Liberal. Water that can tease a cotton T-shirt to transparency and cause it to cling fetchingly merely sluices off a garment impregnated with a coat of waterproofing wax. As a result, the waxed-cotton, enduro-style jacket was, for many years, a staple among woods riders and trailers, and even worked well as every-day street apparel.
All practical considerations aside, I bought mine for the looks. It’s a simple, four-pocket, black jacket whose only timely feature is a bit of Velcro, instead of a buckle, at the neck. All other fastening is achieved with brass snaps. Ventilation is by brass fittings under the arms.
Any additional airflow is done via the main zipper, pulled down to suit. Quilted shoulders add a bit of texture.