Motorcycles

I am not now, nor have I ever been a Luddite. There’s nothing wrong with old and simple. Take me for instance, or my 75 Yamaha RD350B. But fresh technology is a beautiful thing when it works. There’s a 46-inch flat-screen television bolted to my living room wall, where a ...    Read more

Saturday morning I sprang out of bed and was at the workbench by 8:00 am. The frame was back from the Doctor’s and the only thing keeping me from starting the MB5 for the first time was assembling the thing! I forwent my normal morning mountain bike excursion and dove ...    Read more

Viewed from the street, John “the Frame Doctor” Fromberg’s shop just looks like another crowded mechanic’s bay in a busy industrial park. But walk past the racks of metal stock and rows of dusty bike frames into the back room and you’ll see this is no ordinary chop ...    Read more

At some point in the last three decades, the MB5 must have been crashed. Hard. As it turns out, both Comstar wheels and the beautiful powder-coated X-frame are badly bent. The frame and fork have been perched on the center stand in my living room for several weeks now, and ...    Read more

Those who read Motorcyclist on any quasi-regular basis probably remember how much our Aaron P. Frank loved the automatic dual-clutch transmission version of Honda’s steamy, 1237cc V-4 in Japan. But the basic manual-shift six-speed didn’t exactly hit one out of the old road test ballpark a few months later. Extra ...    Read more

The contents in the various boxes and crates are steadily dwindling. When I started this project 3 months ago the shoebox-sized plastic bin I use for random fasteners weighed about 10 pounds and was fist-deep. Now the tub weighs less than a pound and the layer of hardware is shallow ...    Read more

A few posts back I had Rusteco purge the MB5’s fuel tank of 28 years worth of rust. The procedure was a success, but removing all that iron oxide left quite a few pinholes, and that bare metal is awfully susceptible to corrosive coastal air. Brazing the holes would only ...    Read more

It’s been a while since I’ve posted; the MB5 project was put on the back burner while I flew to my hometown on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to marry my girlfriend of 9 years. Now I’m back in LA, and with the sun just rising in the sky, the wife still ...    Read more

If the prospective adventure tourist’s first question is which bike do I buy, question number two usually comes down to which BMW GS. If you’re asking me, the next question is standard 1200GS or Adventure? Judged strictly by the numbers or a quick visual once over, the more heavily armored ...    Read more

My dad taught me that you can clean up a rusty tank with a handful of nuts and bolts and some serious shaking. That rudimentary remedy has worked on countless tanks, but the MB’s reservoir is rustier than anything I’ve encountered before. In my last update I’d noted the tank’s ...    Read more

The tranquilizing effect of this project is a godsend. While I run near redline most of my waking hours, when I’m wrenching I am able to roll back the throttle and idle for a while. The din of Santa Monica Boulevard traffic fades from my awareness as I chase damaged ...    Read more

BMW’s brochure copy is 99% right. Neither rain nor sleet nor snow, rocks, ruts, mud or a deranged hillbilly/rancher could stop the 2010 R1200GS at its North American press debut this week. Only the California Highway Patrol brought us to a standstill. When the CHP says the road is closed, ...    Read more

After surviving four days and 1000-odd kilometers in Morocco on a BMW R1200GS, I learned a few things. Some I expected. Don’t drink the water for instance. Others, like never leave your native land while an Icelandic volcano with a name nobody can spell is pumping 750 tons of ash ...    Read more

Not too long ago I had a habit of keeping a project on the backburner, some ongoing mechanical venture ready to collaborate with a cold Dos Equis to placate my mind after a hectic day at work. Sometime between now and 2008 I strayed from that therapeutic practice. Maybe it’s ...    Read more

Last weekend's season opener at North Carolina's Maxton Monster Mile, home of the East Coast Timing Association's land-speed trials was history making. Bill Warner rode his turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa to an outrageous 272.34073 mph top speed, shattering the previous record by more than 12 mph. Our friend Don Smith was ...    Read more

I’m flying to Marrakesh this morning. The Red City: former imperial capital of Morocco and home to about 1,070,838 storytellers, water sellers, dancers, musicians and just plain folks there at the foot of the Atlas Mountains. I could tell you why, but that would assume I knew myself. The truth ...    Read more

Harley-Davidson made the news earlier this week at MSN.com, in an inauspicious article titled "5 of the Worst Corporate Boards." Watchdogs at The Corporate Library, an independent firm specializing in corporate governance, call out five of the most problematic corporate boards in America. Harley-Davidson makes this list alongside Freeport McMoRan, ...    Read more

Despite the dissolution of Buell motorcycles, the popular Buell Homecoming gathering will continue in 2010 thanks to the dedicated efforts of core Buell enthusiasts.Slated for June 16-20th at Alpine Valley Resort in East Troy, Wisconsin—the home of the former Buell Motorcycles—the event will offer Buell owners and fans of the ...    Read more

It’s a small thing, really: a thin, stubby blade cast into the tip of the BMW S1000RR key, and every new BMW motorcycle key I’ve seen lately. But if you’re ever tried adding two clicks of rebound damping with a dime – not quite thin enough – because the tool ...    Read more

Our buddy Justin Fivella over at Super Streetbike magazine turned us on to this radical V12 Honda CBX built by Andreas Georgeades, an ex-pat South African currently residing in Southern California. Consisting of two six-cylinder CBX blocks mated Siamese-style to a single, custom-fabricated crankcase, Georgeades’ monster motor is mounted in ...    Read more

For those of us who misspent the mid-70s campaigning a procession of 125 Yamahas, the only thing more loathsome that Marty Smith was Marty Smith’s Honda RC125. Being roosted by a rapid procession of CR125-mounted dilettantes every weekend was bad enough. But watching that Smith guy take the National MX ...    Read more

It’s the sort of tool you never think about until till you need it, then nothing else will do. I had to pull muffler off my BMW GS to finish one of those 15-minute projects that burns up an entire Saturday morning. The only thing holding me up are two ...    Read more

Maybe you’ve always wanted to know how #46 gets ready for a fresh season of MotoGP, how he feels about the new engine rules or the changes he figures the 2010 M1 needs to stay on top? What keeps his pilot light lit after 14 years of racing? Despite the ...    Read more

Few people have had a look around inside the Palatial Motorcyclist Dyno Room, mostly because it's not much to look at. The guys in the shop where it lives don't have time for guided tours even if it was. We like the loyal Superflow. It gets the job done, ...    Read more

Everyone should own at least one perfect thing, especially these days when the rest of life can be so far from it. I still can’t quite swing the Ducati 1098R or a 4500 square-foot mansionette adjacent to Laguna Seca to park it in, but that’s okay. I ride motorcycles for ...    Read more