Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2017 i Motorcycle Mojo Magazine

While attending motorcycle shows or riding through various areas of the country, sometimes coast to coast (and this year we can add another coast as the road to Tuktoyaktuk, NWT, and the Arctic Ocean opens up), we speak to a lot of riders and hear a consistent message from our readers; they love the travel features – plain and simple. Many of the travel articles we publish are from regular riders just like you. I think that’s one reason we are able to stay so diverse, in that the whole magazine isn’t written from a small handful of writers with the same voices and thoughts every issue. Each travel article has a unique viewpoint and each person experiences a ride in a different way. And the June issue is no…

The times, they do change, and with them so do opinions, and sometimes even “facts.” Take, for example, a few of my favourite two-wheeled urban myths that are bound to pop up in conversations with fellow riders. Some of these were, and in certain places are still, considered the status quo – I’ll also mention I’m guilty of buying into a couple of them over the years. “Lay the bike down.” Unless you’re a stunt person attempting to slide under a transport truck or other similarly positioned obstacle, you’re better off to stay on the bike and maintain control for as long as possible while braking as hard as possible. Laying it down will only result in both you and the bike sliding in an uncontrolled manner, and for a…

When I was racing, first at club level locally and then at AMA level, I felt as if I was doing everything possible to pursue my dream of racing professionally. I got pretty far on a very limited budget and from a lot of determination and will. Many times I didn’t know how I’d pay for the next race or get my bike across the country to the next round. But with hard work, networking, sleeping trackside, writing press releases, asking people for help, eating at rest stops and working in the pits all night, we somehow made it happen. While the racing was thrilling, sometimes the daunting logistics of just getting there and the sheer cost were enough to make me want to quit. Racing, unfortunately is expensive. I…

This past March, I’m standing in our booth at the Halifax motorcycle show, preparing to welcome attendees as they wander down our aisle. However, before they reach me, the gentleman in the booth next to me intercepts the first of them and begins to demonstrate his cleaning products. The enthusiasm he displays is impressive, as is that of his partner in crime, and before long they have the attention of all in the area. It’s a good pitch and the product looks to be working as advertised. Then, just as it appears to be wrapping up, the gentleman demonstrating the cleaner turns it around and, to my disbelief, starts spraying it in his mouth! I see this unfold many, many times throughout the day and watch with concern for signs…

MEMORIES OF THE MIGHTY PEACE REGION Seeing the picture of the Dunvegan Bridge in the April issue of Mojo, I instantly flashed back to 1981 – having just purchased a Yamaha Maxim 650 and headed up to Peace River to do the “Vegan.” The Vegan as I recall is a 900-foot drop from the flatlands to Peace River with curves! The Maxim had buckhorns that made it easy to do well over the speed limit with light touches on the handlebars. Later when I had customized with 10-inch pullbacks and tried the Vegan again, I really scared myself and had to really fight to get her around the curves. What a rush! Thanks for the memories! WAYNE SPEARS VIA EMAIL A DEMPSTER VETERAN I was pleased to read “stop frequently…

My pal Nick, a former offroad instructor, recently gave me a call. He told me he had moved on to a lofty executive position with a large motorsport manufacturer. Nick needed some help running a product launch at the annual dealers’ meeting, so he asked me to manage a two-day ATV test program. I hope you don’t mind if I don’t mention the manufacturer’s name: I want to save them any further embarrassment for having been associated with me. I didn’t need my own staff, since they had already hired a crew. I did however, run into some resistance to wearing a helmet from one of the crew members. George (pronounced “Jarge”) said, with a thick Maritime accent, “I’s been ridin’ dem tings me whole life and never ad a…

My wrist alarm was like an air horn in the silence of 4:30 a.m., but I wanted to see Great Sand Dunes National Park at sunrise, both for the colours and to avoid the heat. Unzipping my bivy sack, I noticed that although it had rained in the night, the clouds had moved on, leaving the sky a mass of brilliant stars. As indigo brightened to navy blue, I crossed shallow Medano Creek, which runs between the campground and the dunes. A strange movement caught my eye and I stopped to watch as small, regular waves advanced downstream – almost as if the creek had a pulse. I later discovered that, because of the sandy bottom, the running water builds up behind “antidunes,” which then collapse under the pressure of…

5.5 The percentage increase of Q1 2017 unit sales for BMW Motorrad over Q1 2016. As usual, the R1200GS continues to lead the way, though the very affordable G310R is certainly responsible for some of that success. 1917 The year the Federation of American Motorcyclists, precursor to the American Motorcyclist Association, sanctioned the first official Gypsy Tour in Laconia, New Hampshire, and thus beginning the motorcycle rally. 3,000,000 The amount in English pounds secured by Norton through debt investment, which will be used to increase staff and production capability for its new V4 Superbike. 03/27/17 03/27/17 – The date on which a man appeared in a Folkstone, England, court charged with indecent exposure while attempting to get a little too friendly with a rather fetching blue GSX-R. The gentleman is…

From: Neil Mundreon A few of us will hop on our bikes and ride about 230 km south of Prince George where I live, down to Red Tomato Pies, at 370 Proctor St., Williams Lake, B.C. It has a great selection of crusts and a huge selection of what you can put on a pizza! Me, I get fresh chicken, broccoli, spinach and ham on a white sauce with cheeses. The wings are also awesome! We get a few rooms and stay the night and enjoy it, as there is no rush in savouring these pizzas. I highly recommend it. The company has been voted best pizza in Canada 2015 and 2016. Got a favourite restaurant or pub? Send us an email to editor@motorcyclemojo.com and tell us why.…

We can always be better. If you believe you can’t become a better rider, you never will. Plain and simple. You don’t become an experienced rider by accident, nor does it happen overnight or without effort. Just because you have been riding for several years or many thousands of kilometres, it doesn’t necessarily make you an expert either. It’s so easy to think you have it nailed, but improving your riding skills is a continual process that once attained, must be maintained. Motorcycles and their technology are constantly evolving. Are you? While commuting to and from work is a fantastic way of getting out on your bike, if you only do that and nothing else on your motorcycle, it will not make you an expert rider. So what are some…

Alan Cathcart brings us the most lust-worthy bikes from around the world hat goes around, comes around, and with the resumption of tribal warfare between Indian and Harley-Davidson in 2017 – not only in the showroom stakes, but with full-on factory race teams pitted against each other in the revitalized American Flat Track Championship – it’s yesterday once more. Only five or six original examples of the 8-valve V-twin still exist today, making it undoubtedly the rarest and most valuable Harley-Davidson model ever built For exactly a century ago, the Harley-Davidson Motor Company, which had been previously hesitant about going racing, took the fight to its dominant Indian and Excelsior rivals with its all-new Model 17 FHAC 61ci (998 cc) eightvalve racer, which made its competition debut at the gruelling Dodge…

When I bought my Harley XR street tracker two years ago, I knew that despite having logged only about 800 km since I had originally built it for a customer in 1994, it still needed some work. It needed tires and there were some issues with the engine, but I also wanted to perform some cosmetic work. When it was built, most everything but the frame came from a Sportster 883, including the fork. Unfortunately, the stock Sporty fork is too long for the XR750 frame, giving the bike a rearward slant that just looks wrong. The fork tubes are about 50 mm too long, and although I could have easily raised them within the triple clamps, this, too, just didn’t look right. For some of you, a shorter fork,…