Feature Story
1st Feature
TRIPLE PLAY
Triumph Speed Triple
Story by Neale Bayly
Photos by Tom Riles
My first ride on a Triumph Speed Triple was back in 2001, breaking a new model in while riding across Florida. Sporting a bright pink paint job that Triumph somehow managed to call Nuclear Red, I had the good fortune to be accompanied across the state by a few thousand Harley riders on their way to the latest anniversary weenie roast.
 Wearing a white, full-face helmet and two-piece vented leathers, my novelty-helmet-wearing, tattooed friends and I were sweating our way through 100 percent humidity and triple-digit temperatures. Enduring the insult of being blown away at every traffic light, while being leered at by some pretty scary looking passengers, all I wanted to do was lift the front end and disappear on the back wheel. Knowing the Triumph triple would have more than enough power to quickly become the leader of this pack when properly broken in, for once in my life I managed to exercise restraint.
A couple of weeks later, shredding the edge of the tires, pulling monstrous second-gear  wheelies, burnouts and more as we filmed a segment for a local television show in an abandoned housing project, I was in lust. The thing was an absolute hooligan, a social misfit that defied definition and I couldn’t have been happier that the bike was bright pink. It could leave anything this side of a sport bike for dead at the lights, and few bikes could hang in the twisties.
Five years on, I am happy to say the latest evolution of the popular naked standard Triumph would have…
For more on this story, pick up a current issue of FREE 2 WHEEL at your local dealer, or use the handy order form page found on our web site.
2nd Feature :
GOING HOLLYWOOD
Scenes From Behind The Bamboo Screen
Observations by Nick Voge
As near as I can recall, his name was Jim West. He was a regular customer of ours at Valerian’s Two Cycle City, a Suzuki, CZ and Husqvarna dealership in West Los Angeles during the early seventies. I was seventeen, racing desert and motocross and working as a mechanic to pay for it all.
Jim was my hero. He was the sort of guy who would turn up at the track at, say, Adelanto, in the Mojave Desert, with three bikes in his truck: a 125 cc Sachs, a 250 Greeves and a 360CZ. With seemingly effortless ease he would win all three expert classes—all the while joking around between motos—then load up and go home. This, while I was struggling to finish mid-pack in the 250 novice class.
To make matters worse, Jim was a thoroughly nice guy. Try as you might, you couldn’t dislike him. Still, my forbearance was sorely tested one day when, dropping by to pick up a new crank seal for his CZ, he casually let drop that he was doing some modeling work for Honda that weekend at Indian Dunes. Being paid to model motorcycles! For the fragile ego of a racer wannabe like me, this was simply too much to bear. From then on, I made a point of avoiding Jim when he turned up. I stopped thinking of him.
Tiring of the muck and mud of motocross, and looking for headier stimulation, I took to wearing a steel shoe and riding bikes without brakes —fast, powerful machines with special frames and fancy paint jobs that sparkled coldly under night lights. Bikes tuned by guys with names like cutting objects. Bikes that broke their cranks and spit connecting rods out of their cases. Bikes that would kill you if you gave them half a chance. Inevitably, though, as with all dreams…
For more on this story, pick up a current issue of FREE 2 WHEEL at your local dealer, or use the handy order form page found on our web site.
Ask the Sergeant:
I recently noticed that the Los Angeles Police Department is switching to Harley-Davidsons and I got to wondering how an agency decides which brand of motorcycle to use. It seems that the standards are Harley, BMW and Kawasaki. How come I don’t see Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Triumph cop bikes?
Bill Featherstone, La Palma
Obviously I cannot comment on the equipment and purchasing policies of every agency in California. I can, however, share my opinions and observations regarding this topic.
First of all, to say that the LAPD has “switched” to Harleys is a little misleading. The Kawasaki KZ 1000’s that the LAPD and the vast majority of law enforcement agencies in the United States have been using for 30 years are no longer available. Kawasaki has dropped the KZ1000 Police bike from its line and at the present time it is not offering a replacement model.
Prior to this year, three manufacturers offered basic police models--Kawasaki, BMW and Harley-Davidson. Other brands apparently feel the market and returns of offering police models do not justify the R&D costs and the added liability. The obvious attraction to buying a police model is that the bikes are ready to go. Just plug in your radio system to the provided mounts and you are “in service.”
Agencies are not limited to these three brands, however. They can purchase any bike they want and set it up for police duty. Back in the 1980’s there was an…
For more on this story, pick up a current issue of FREE 2 WHEEL at your local dealer, or use the handy order form page found on our web site.
|
Project Bike :
TALK ABOUT HORSEPOWER!
Interview by Anne Van Beveren
It began, as so many creative ideas do, as a doodle on a cocktail napkin. This one was penned under the influence of a few umbrella drinks in a bar in Miami’s South Beach, and what sets it apart from other Margarita-stained brainwaves of the same ilk, is that this doodle made its way to Bob Phillip.
 Phillip is the artistic and fabricating talent behind a company called Wizard Cycle Creations in Scottsdale, Arizona. He’s seen a lot of ideas in his time, but this was certainly a little out of the ordinary.
“The guy called me from South Beach and said he had this idea,” said Phillip. “It was someone I raced Ferraris with for years—a 32-year-old kid who’s a developer down in Miami. He said he wanted me to build him a bike.”
Phillip heard the word “horse” and decided he wasn’t interested. He hung up the phone and thought that was the end of it. Until the napkin arrived in the mail.
“He and his friend sent me the paper napkin from the bar with the horse drawn on it and a check for $20,000. I sent the check and the napkin back,” said Phillip.
 It’s not that Phillip couldn’t do the job; he certainly has the flair and the skills required. It’s just that horses aren’t his thing and this definitely wasn’t his style of bike.
“My bikes are low, fast and just nasty,” he explained. “This was just not my kind of bike. Not my style at all. I didn’t want to do it, so I sent everything back.”
Phillip thought that was the end of the matter but then the check and the drawing came back, and, this time…
For more on this story, pick up a current issue of FREE 2 WHEEL at your local dealer, or use the handy order form page found on our web site.
Way2go
A LITTLE TRIP TO BIG SUR
Story and Photos by Bob Kaufman
As I headed north out of San Simeon on a wintry weekday morning, I had California Route 1 all to myself. The legendary road was no more crowded than the adjoining land had been during the time of the Esselen Indians who, for thousands of years before the Spaniards came, inhabited what we now call Big Sur.
 The sinuous ribbon of pavement was so empty that I didn’t see another vehicle headed in the same direction as me--and only saw a few coming south--until I reached the village area of Big Sur some 60 miles north of San Simeon.
Perhaps the cool season and the moderately early hour helped. The previous day I had ridden up from Menifee in Riverside County, taking U.S. 101 to San Luis Obispo before splitting off onto Route 1 and stopping in San Simeon for a good night’s rest. I had turned in my room key at the Motel 6 at about a quarter to eight and fired up my well-seasoned Nighthawk 750 in front of the Pacific Blue Bar and Grill ad-joining the motel. It was about 55 degrees. A man who had just finished breakfast and had stepped outside to take in the crisp ocean air must have noted the bulkiness of my leather jacket.
“It’s not that cold,” he joked.
“It will be when I get going,” I genially countered, as I toed the Nighthawk into first and headed a couple of blocks down the street to San Simeon’s only liquor store. I left the motor running so it could warm up while I chugged a bottle of Starbucks Frappuccino, which would sustain me for the rest of the morning.
The air was clear, with barely a trace of mist. As I passed the cattle grazing at the ranch below Hearst Castle, which was up the hill on the right, a whiff of saltiness con-firmed that the beach was to my immediate left. I didn’t stop to greet the herd of elephant seals resting on the sand; I would save that for the trip back. The road curved nicely with some sweepers and a couple of whoops and I soon reached the…
For more on this story, pick up a current issue of FREE 2 WHEEL at your local dealer, or use the handy order form page found on our web site.
Scuttle Putt:
Tired of high-priced rubber? Here’s a deal that doesn’t come along every day. Pirelli is promoting its sport-touring Diablo Strada tires by offering riders a buy-one-get-one-free deal while supplies last.
The Diablo Strada is Pirelli’s high-end high-mileage/high-grip (HM/HG), extended mileage sport (EMS) tire, designed to provide sporting riders with long tread life without sacrificing grip performance. The Diablo Strada has a unique, high-mileage compound that was designed for quick warm up at low temperatures, consistent traction in all conditions and tough durability for extended mileage, plus the tires feature an aggressive tread pattern.
So how do you get your freebie? Purchase a 180 or 190 Diablo Strada rear tire at your local Parts Unlimited dealer, making sure you keep your receipt. Then go to your computer and log onto www.getpirelli.com, agree to the terms and conditions listed, fill in all the required boxes, print your completed form, and then mail it, along with your receipt, to Pirelli.
The number of free front tires that are still available under this promotion will be listed on a counter on the web page. Make sure you check that because, when the counter gets to zero, the promotion has ended. This is a one-claim-per- customer deal and be aware that the customer (that’s you!) is responsible for shipping charges.
Gentlemen--start your computers.
|
