Feature Story
1st Feature
DOLLARS AND SENSE
Honda VTX1300T
Story by Tom Van Beveren
Photos by Kevin Wing
Making a list and checking it twice? If you’re a cruiser rider, that’s not quite enough.
According to  research by American Honda, cruiser riders are checking their list thrice, and on that list they’re finding a windshield, saddlebags, and a backrest.
If you’re a cruiser rider, those are the three things you will purchase first, says Jon Row, the manager of American Honda’s Motorcycle Press Department, and it makes sense. A windshield boosts the overall comfort of the rider and passenger and encourages extended sprints between stops. A backrest gives pillions a real sense of security, letting them relax, safe in the knowledge that they won’t slide off the back of the bike. And anyone who likes to get out of town and do a little exploring can vouch for the value of saddlebags.
Surprisingly enough,  however, these three “must buy if you have a classically styled metric cruiser” items rarely come standard. Only a few of the upper-end metric cruisers offer them, and that’s a bad thing for buyers, says Row.
For a start, a model that offers all three items as part of its standard equipment lets the buyer take advantage of the manufacturer’s easy financing for the whole package. Rather than financing the bike and then searching out and paying cash for the add-ons, buyers get one, low-rate payment that covers the entire package. And then there’s resale. Adding items and giving a motorcycle a new moniker, which can be as simple as adding the letter “T” on the end of the standard model designation, enhances the resale value of the motorcycle when it comes time to trade in. That’s right; according to Honda, if you take a motorcycle, say a VTX1300, and add saddlebags, a windshield and a backrest from the Honda accessory catalog, your bike will not have the same resale value as a VTX1300 that came with the accessories included and has a little “T” on the end of its name.
2nd Feature
THE DAY IT RAINED MOTORCYCLES
32ND Annual El Camino Bike Show and Swap
Story and Photos by Paul Garson
Where is Noah and his Ark when you need him?
The only rain Los Angeles had seen for month's was on The Weather Channel. I hadn’t changed the windshield wipers on my car since the fall of the Soviet Union. But there I was at the 32nd annual El Camino Vintage Cycle Rally held high atop the El Camino ollege parking structure in Torrance, California, and the Great Deluge was in progress.
As per the usual Los Angeles standard practice of denial regarding weather and earthquakes, no one was prepared. Sadly enough the only protection a $250,000 Crocker got was a blue plastic bag draped over its hand-made leather seat.
Here in not-so-sunny downtown Torrance, even Noah would have wished he brought his umbrella, or at least a poncho.
I was huddled under a blue, eight-foot square, vendor’s canopy with about 50 other people, all of us now very close friends thanks to the weather. But despite the inclement weather, we took it all stoically and from our vantage point had a good, if somewhat soggy, view of some 50 vintage bikes on display in the nearby show area. Our little canopy crew was abuzz with discussion about the two rare-as-dragon’s teeth 1939 Crocker's that were appearing for the first time in public, bikes recently acquired by the event’s organizer Glenn Bator of Bator International, purveyors of fine collectible motorcycles.
3rd Feature
SIMPLY DELIRIOUS
Story by Neale bayly
Photos by Bayly and Marco
It somehow doesn’t seem right.
Bouncing the tach needle off the rev limiter as I snatch another clutchless upshift before pinning the throttle back to the stop. With my leg inches from the family four-door to my right, and a large truck filling my horizon, this is not how I anticipated the first few miles would be riding the new 2007 Bimota DB5 Delirio.
With a $60,000 Tesi 2D hot on my tail, I stayed tucked to make my pass and got back on my side of the road. I certainly didn’t want to “modify” the hand-made Italian motorcycle with the grill of the oncoming truck, so I grabbed another up shift and kept the throttle pinned. Wheelying over every speed bump we could find, spinning the rear end out of the tight corners, and frequently heading into small villages hard on the brakes at 100 miles per hour, testing motorcycles on public roads in Italy is an exhilarating experience to say the least.
Responsible for the sort of behavior that would see us all doing hard time  in the States, Anaclato Bernabe, the Bimota PR guy, was taking us to lunch. In a hurry to spend two hours munching through a seven-course feast, there was no time to admire the stunning Italian scenery streaking by to the sides. Thankfully, we would lose Anaclato after lunch and get a better opportunity to enjoy the $30,000 hand-made Italian beauty, and the equally stunning countryside inland from the scenic Adriatic coast.
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:
Sad news to report for those who remember Bill Brokaw, a So. Cal. dealership owner and well-known desert racer way back when, who moved to Colorado Springs in the ’60s to open a Yamaha shop. After 52 Christmases together, Bill lost his wife Annie on December 22, following a seven-year battle with cancer. A memorial service for Annie is planned for January 7 at 10:30 a.m., at Central Christian Church, 20th and Pikes Peak Avenue, in Colorado Springs.
Nationwide Insurance has announced that it will be extending its Blue Ribbon Repair Service program to policyholders who ride on two wheels as well as four. The program will be launched in eight repair facilities in Ohio, North Carolina and Florida. The company plans to add additional repair facilities to the program in the future based on anticipated customer demand, and we will keep our fingers crossed that California might be on the list in the near future.
FAIR PAIR
Story and Photos by Reid Libby
It has been a while (about 40 years or so) since the battles raged between the leather-clad, motorcycle-mounted Rockers and their stylishly attired, adversaries, the scooter-mad Mods, over in England.
These days you might find mention of these altercations and the lifestyles that brought them about in some old motorcycle retrospective. But believe it or not, there are still traces of those good  old days to be found and experienced, right here in Southern California.
David Reid and his wife Anita are happy participants in the modern Rocker movement. Dressed in the required uniform, usually a mix of denim and leather, topped by a modern version of the old “pudding bowl” style helmet and goggles, Dave and Anita are often found riding with like-minded individuals around our very own So. Cal. backyard.
While there are plenty of vintage machines still employable for these activities, the modern incarnation of the “café racer” is a current-day machine, decked out in the trappings of the vintage machines that it is imitating. Not such a bad idea when one considers that, in many ways, the good old days often weren’t quite as good as they were remembered. And a modern machine certainly has its advantages, especially when it comes to things like reliability.
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:
Is it a violation to tow more than one vehicle on a public street or highway? I have heard that it is okay to do it if the first vehicle is a fifth wheel and provided that the vehicles in combination do not exceed 65 feet in length. I am not talking about a large semi truck and trailer situation; I am interested in knowing about a situation that involves a pick-up or possibly a car or SUV/van. Is what I have heard correct?
Jerry (via e-mail)
Normally here at Ask the Sergeant, I deal with questions about motorcycling and rules of the road as they apply to riding or equipping motorcycles but I thought this was a great question since many of us that ride have dirt bikes. We also have campers and are always looking for the best (read “most impressive”) way to arrive in style in the desert. Nothing screams “look at me” like a 40-foot, triple-slider fifth wheel towed behind a crew-cab diesel dually, with a separate “toy-box” attached behind.
I know the idea of multiple trailers isn’t limited to dirt riders, either, since I have also seen boats and jet skis, racecars, and horse trailers as the caboose as well.
The short answer to your question Jerry is yes, it is legal, but like all things pertaining to the California Vehicle Code, there are certain regulations that must be followed.
First among the requirements is that you must obtain the proper drivers license. Your standard “Class C” license is not good enough. A “Class C” allows you to operate any vehicle or single trailer combination under 26,000 pounds provided the trailer weight is under 10,000 pounds. While most vehicles and even combinations will be well under this rating, once you make the decision to tow two trailers you are required to step up and get a “Class A” license with a “doubles/triples” endorsement. You may even need a “Class A” license if your fifth wheel alone exceeds 10,000 pounds.
Even though triples (meaning three trailers) are illegal in California, the remaining states, Canada and Mexico allow them. Because of NAFTA, a “Class A” is a Commercial License and that means it carries increased fees for violations, limits your ability to attend traffic school, requires a medical certificate and can make your insurance higher since the insurance companies now believe you are a commercial operator with an increased risk associated with you. But the up side is that you can now tow up to 80,000 pounds GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating) anywhere in North America. Just think of the rig you could get with that rating!
Having obtained a “Class A” license, you must next make sure that the vehicles you are operating are in compliance with all of the rules--rules that refer to weight and length. The web site for CalTrans provides the best breakdown of length requirements in the simplest terms I have seen and also has charts to graphically show what I will attempt to explain. It can be viewed at www.dot.ca.gov/hq/traffops/trucks/trucksize/length.htm.
Basically, the rules for length are that your rig must be a “Kingpin” (fifth-wheel-style) for the first attachment, have no single vehicle over 40 feet in length, no overall vehicle combination length over 65 feet, and no overall combination length over 75 feet with each element of the combination not to exceed 28-feet-six-inches in length.
Keep in mind that all of this refers to the overall length of each item in the combination. While a cargo trailer or “Toybox” may be listed as an 18-foot trailer, it could have five feet of tongue that is not counted for marketing purposes but which counts into the overall length measurement.
Notice that two different overall lengths are given--65 feet and 75 feet. This “double length” has to do with the breakdown of the individual vehicles in your combination and has some history in California law from back when California had its own high-ways that were separate from federally funded highways. Federal rules allow an overall length of 75 feet, while California had stopped at 65 feet. When California began taking money from the Feds to repair roadways, the state had to adopt the Federal standards and so 75-foot lengths were allowed.
Within the 75-foot standard, no single vehicle can exceed 28-feet-six-inches in length. This means that your 40-foot fifth wheel is illegal in a 75-foot combination. When measuring a fifth wheel (or commercial trailer), you measure from the Kingpin (the hitch pin) to the rear-most axle; but, once again, you must remember that when you are talking about overall length, you are bumper-to-bumper at 65 feet or 75 feet. That is why you will see a tractor trailer with a 53-foot trailer and the rear-axle slid forward to keep the “length” at 40 feet and also under 65 feet overall.
With regards to weight, you must remember to never exceed the rating of your tow vehicle. If your Ford F-450 is rated at 14,500 pounds, that is your limit, period. You may not exceed the vehicle limit regardless of having the proper license or still being under length. Weight violations of the Vehicle Code carry the highest fines of any single class of violation. A fine of $10,000 is not unheard of if your vehicle is overweight for its registration class.
Also, just a little side note; if your current vehicle is registered commercially (like nearly every pick-up truck is) and has a GVWR of 10,001 or more pounds, the registration stickers are required to be displayed on the front plate.
Even with all of these requirements met, you could still find yourself in trouble because each city or county can limit the overall length or weight that travels on its roads. The previously mentioned website has a listing of road signs to help you figure out where you can and can’t go.
If you make the decision to go for doubles, make sure that you have complied because having your combination parked or even towed could make for a really bad vacation.
Ride safe, keep smiling and take care of yourselves and each other o
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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