Feature Story
1st Feature
BAHN-BURNER
2007 BMW R 1200 R Roadster
Story by Tom Van Beveren
Photos courtesy of BMW North America
It should come as no surprise to anyone that the Germans do things differently than most others.
While many of the bigger motorcycle manufacturers in Japan, and even Italy these days, strive to come out with something bigger and better that outdates last season’s model every year,  BMW attacks each new year with a different approach to motorcycle production. It is called improve what you’ve got without changing it too much.
Way back in the early 1930’s the (eventual) Volkswagen Bug was introduced in Germany. Until only a handful of years ago, that car was still much the same as it was at its inception. Of course there were plenty of yearly updates and gadgets to get loyal VW customers to return to make a new purchase, but the basic vehicle, the Bug, went to its automotive grave the same flat-four, rear-engined, two-door ‘people’s car’ that it started out to be. Even the shape, although streamlined somewhat, still looked r emarkably like the original design that Ferdinand Porsche presented to then-Chancellor Adolf Hitler in 1933.
BMW’s R 32 actually appeared ten years earlier than the Porsche-Hitler VW but, like that Bug, the bikes of Bavaria still have many of the same attributes to this day.
Including things like a flat twin engine, although enhancements over the years have taken the 498 cc powerplant of yesteryear all the way up to 1,170 cc in the latest large twin offered by the Bavarian Motor Works company--the R 1200R Roadster.
2nd Feature
SCENES FROM BEHIND THE BAMBOO SCREEN
WHAT AM I DOING HERE?
Observations by Nick Voge
Kawasaki is the only Japanese manufacturer that doesn’t have its own test track on the main Japanese Island of Honshu.
Aside from the small circuit of Naoiri in the mountains of central Kyushu, and a makeshift test road on the factory grounds, most of Kawasaki’s serious testing is done at Yatabe, part of the government’s automotive test center near the city of Tsukuba, north of Tokyo.
Centerpiece of the facility is a banked, 2.5-kilometer oval where high-speed testing takes place. Built during the post-war period when 100 miles per hour was considered fast, Yatabe’s designers never in their wildest nightmares envisioned a day when 175-horsepower motorcycles would be screaming around its narrow banking, mere feet away from the steel crash walls.
I can clearly remember coming out of turn two onto the back straightaway at Yatabe in the summer of 1999 at about 200 kilometers an hour on a prototype Ninja ZX-12R. The chassis was not yet sorted, and the unruly beast communicated to me in most unambiguous terms that it would exact painful revenge if I didn’t treat it with proper respect.
We (I was playing tag-along with a group of riders from Kawasaki’s various international distributors) were there to see if this much ballyhooed Hayabusa-beater-to-be could, in fact, reach the promised land of 300 kilometers per hour, a.k.a. 180 miles per hour. So, pasting myself to the tank and whacking open the throttle, I aimed the ill-mannered brute for the far banking and hung on for what seemed like dear life.
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 have a question about those way-too-loud motorized scooters that kids ride on the street. Where is it legal to ride one of those? And what about the pocketbike I saw on the street the other day? And what happens if you get caught taking your dirt bike for a quick “clean-out” blitz up the road, or go out for a 100-yard joyride on your kid’s 80 cc bike to dry it off after you’ve washed it. Happens all the time in our neighborhood.
Cecil Brandember,
Rancho Cordova
I see it here all the time, too, and to say that I have never taken my trail bike out around the block after washing it or working on it wouldn’t exactly be the truth. Most of the time, the neighbors wave because they are next up, since we went on the ride together and we, as a group, act responsibly, wear our helmets, keep it under the speed limit, and are doing it at a reasonable hour.
The law is pretty clear on this type of thing, though, and all the vehicles you mentioned above are illegal to use on public highways.
Most residential neighborhoods have public roads and, unless you live in a gated neighborhood (with certain conditions), you may not ever legally ride the too-loud scooter, pocket bike, or dirt bike on the highway.
As a side note, California Vehicle Code Section 360 defines a highway as a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to public-use for vehicular travel. A highway includes sidewalks and curbing. It is interchangeable with the term street, and a roadway (CVC 530) is actually the portion of highway used by vehicles to drive on, just like a sidewalk (CVC 555) is used by pedestrians.
Each one of those vehicles must meet the minimum standards for use on the highway, including registration (except for the motorized scooter, which is exempt from registration if it otherwise complies with the provisions of CVC 407.5), insurance, equipment, and operator licensing provisions. Violations of these requirements can result in fines for equipment violations, registration violations, out-of-class operator-license violations, and unsafe vehicle violations because most pocketbikes, and trail or motocross bikes, have labels right on them indicating that they are not to be used on the highway because they are not properly equipped.
A sharp-eyed officer will notice the tires that say right on them ‘not for highway use,’ observe that the brake lines are not labeled as DOT approved, and see that the exhaust system may not have a spark arrestor. This is, in most cases, beyond the obvious lack of lights, reflectors, horn and mirror.
Beyond the simple matter of a citation, California law does allow, under certain conditions, for the vehicle to be towed and stored at the cost of the vehicle owner until the registration is corrected, or other violations remedied. Some of these violations will not be able to be cleared up easily, as it is very nearly impossible to legally register a pocketbike or off-highway motorcycle because they lack a valid VIN (Vehicle Identification Number, consisting of a series of 17 specific letters and numbers assigned by the manufacturer at the time of assembly based on their recognition by the Federal Government as a recognized manufacturer), has a designated off-highway VIN, and/or does not have proper paperwork to clear DMV. In the meantime, your bike maybe kept in “car jail,’ perhaps even outside in the rain, while you accumulate storage charges pending a decision by the department that towed the vehicle or DMV as to whether they will allow the registration to proceed.
These are the worst-case scenarios. The reality of it is that you will most likely not get caught while riding back and forth in front of your house. In my experience, most of those who get caught are busted because the neighbors complained of “subjects racing dirt bikes in the neighborhood.” These are the ones who are just “drying their bikes off” by riding at 45 miles per hour, tapped out in second gear on their two-stroke motocrosser, making laps of the neighborhood like it was Glen Helen Raceway and the Six-Hour Grand Prix, or they were doing wheelies with no helmet. They get what they deserve.
While I cannot say that it is okay to hop on your unregistered bike and ride around with impunity, I can advise you that if you did find yourself on the receiving end of a traffic stop for doing it, your attitude is the number one factor in what will happen. A calm, professional approach and proper safety gear, combined with proximity to your house (half a mile from your house losses the “just drying it off“ effect when making circles in front of the house will usually dry it off just fine), will normally get you off with a stern warning or possibly a minor violation citation, and will usually allow you to maintain possession of your bike.
As far as locations where these vehicles can be operated legally:
1) Private Property that you have legal access to with rights and permission to use (make sure you familiarize yourself with local Municipal Codes and County Ordinances before just jumping on a friend’s land because some counties and cities prohibit motor vehicles off-highway without permits, unless YOU are the owner of the land or have power of attorney over it);
2) Racetracks; and
3) Off-Highway Vehicle Parks.
The choices are limited since most of those vehicles were never intended to be used on a highway and/or have been modified to make them no longer legal to operate. Be realistic and honest in your use of the “drying off” or “just working on it” clause and don’t wheelie, brake slide, or drag race through the neighborhood to get the water out when everyone knows that starting the bike, bringing it up to temperature, and using an air compressor to blow off the other surfaces will do the same without violating any laws.
Ride safe, keep smiling, and take care of yourselves and each other out there.
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.
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Scuttle Putt:
It’s official: The Triumph Daytona 675 is the International Bike of the Year. In the 2006 poll, voted on by 15 of the world’s leading motorcycle magazines, the Triumph triple took top honors by a huge margin, and was awarded maximum votes by six of the15 voters. It scored a total of 26 votes, well ahead of Yamaha’s YZF-R6, which grabbed 11 votes, and the Kawasaki ZX-14, which drew nine.
The prestigious honor rounds off a superb year for Triumph’s newcomer, which has scooped a wealth of accolades from the world’s media. It has been praised for its performance, unique character, stunning looks and superb handling, and has been named bike of the year by publications around the globe from the USA to Australia. It was also victorious in the Supersport class at the world’s biggest sports bike shootout, Masterbike.
“Winning the International Bike of the Year Award with the Daytona 675 is a superb achievement for Triumph and we continue to be extremely proud of the bike that we have created,” said Tue Mantoni, Triumph’s Commercial Director. “The Daytona 675 has now won nearly every motorcycle comparison test going, and we are confident that it will continue to achieve great things, as will the rest of our range for 2007.”
Project Motorcycle:
AN ARMY OF ONE
1973 Moto Guzzi Nuevo Falcone
Story and photos by Reid Libby
It is the Holy Grail, a tantalizing legend of promise that appeals to collectors, marque fanatics and bargain hunters alike. It is motorcycling's own Lost Dutchman, elusive yet solid enough to hold promise of success and therefore be worthy of pursuit. It is usually some nondescript warehouse, filled with the castoffs of national defense, a Mother Lode cache of surplus military motorcycles.
 Perhaps a bit over dramatic, but anyone who has watched the final scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark knows what I mean. It is easy to see how just about any obsolete armed forces excess can be squirreled away and forgotten. Many years ago, one of the motorcycle monthlies told the story of one such find. It had all the trappings of a good spy novel. An old storefront with painted-over, fly specked windows, a solitary metal desk with the obligatory goose-necked lamp, and a couple of rows of ex-Air Force Triumphs. Once the bored clerk had collected the required fees and rubber stamped the necessary documents, the lucky hunter trucked his prize a couple of states back home to fight a pitched battle with the DMV.  While all the dead ends and red tape were no doubt frustrating back then, the veil of time tends to numb the pain and allow the participants to spin a ripping good yarn all these years later.
The United States certainly doesn’t have the market cornered when it comes to a talent for misplacing large quantities of equipment. It seems that the Italians have a penchant for forgetting about things too, and therein lies our story.
Some six years ago, a collection of redundant Moto Guzzis was uncovered somewhere in Italy and the lot was quickly released for public sale. One of the long-lost souls immigrated to the eastern coast of the U.S. This particular bike was snapped up by Paul Montgomery, a long-time Guzzi enthusiast, and relocated to Southern California.
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.
WAY 2 GO:
ORANGE YOU GLAD YOU WENT
TO OLD ORANGE... AND TUSTIN, TOO?
Story and photos by Bob Kaufman
A few weeks before the last election, I happened to be on my way home from work, listening to my favorite news station, when they did a spot that caught my attention. California’s most famous actor/politician/body-builder/biker had ridden over to what the reporter termed “historic Cook’s Corner” in Trabuco Canyon to give a speech.
My ears lit up because, coincidentally, I had made a trip that passed by that very Orange County roadhouse the previous weekend. I didn’t go to make a speech, however; I went to see if Santiago Canyon Road was still as popular with motorcyclists as it had been when I wrote Free 2 Wheel’s “Cookin’ in the Corners” article about eight years ago.
I’m happy to say that it appeared to be just so, because the bikes were lined up handlebar to handlebar. And, to my surprise, I now know that Arnold S. himself could testify to that, judging from the news report.
While I had no aspirations of political gain, I did, however, have an ulterior motive when I made my trip. Santiago Canyon Road intersects Chapman Avenue at the eastern edge of Orange, a city whose history I have been researching recently. Though the Old Towne section of Orange is interesting enough in itself, it’s doubly interesting because there happen to be some very twisty roads nearby.
Santiago Canyon is one of them. It’s fast with wide sweepers and, if you want something really tight and steep, you can turn off onto Modjeska Grade Road, which is just northeast of Cook’s Corner. That road is named after Shakespearean actress Helena Modjeska, who figured prominently in early Orange County history. Her estate, in a canyon at the bottom of Modjeska Grade Road, will forever be tinged with notoriety because of two facts, neither of which has anything to do with Modjeska personally.
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