RoadRUNNER May/June 2004
Shamrock Tour
Shamrock Tour®: Kalispell, Montana
I know my number is up when the patrol car's lights come on: another speeding ticket. Apparently, I was going 80 in a 70. But I'm not prepared for what happens next. The trooper tells me I can avoid a court appearance by giving him $20 cash. Wait a minute. Am I still in Montana, or is this Mexico?...
National Tours
Northwest Wyoming
Yellowstone, the world's oldest national park, is one of the five most endangered in the country. A study in contrasts, the 3,400 square miles (2.2 million acres) of parkland are protected from development yet overrun by smog-spewing RVs and snowmobiles; it's wild and dangerous terrain though amply supplied with boardwalks and guardrails. Drivers are...
Indiana: Hoosier National Forest
Hoosier National Forest is an amazing sight any time of the year, but when autumn's frost comes to visit, the hills and valleys come alive with a show to overwhelm the senses....
International Destinations
Australia: Tassie-Mania!
Complacency can kill. I'm accelerating away from a gas station near Wynyard on Tasmania's A2 north coast road when I see a "ute" – an Aussie pickup – heading straight for me on my side of the road. For a second I'm stunned. Then just as the ute swerves violently to its right and out of my path, I realize what the problem is: I'm on the wrong...
Canada: Prince Edward Island
The topography of Canada's smallest province reminds me of the old joke about a carpenter's dream being "flat as a board." Having ridden my 1995 Honda Shadow along the perimeter of this 135-mile-wide island, I now know a bigger joke: the condition of its highways and byways. Unpleasant surprises, disappearing pavement and tire-swallowing potholes abound....
Riding Impressions
BMW K1200GT & Kawasaki ZZR1200
BMW and Kawasaki have been active in the sport-touring market for quite a while. The German brand started out with the K series in the mid-eighties, and looking to produce a successor to the powerful ZX-10, the Japanese came up with the ZZR theme in 1990. Here, we've tested their latest versions, both with 1,200cc capacity and plenty of juice....
Honda Super Hawk
Although the Super Hawk hasn't enjoyed a lot of sales success overseas, the bike has sold in big numbers in the United States – primarily because its performance characteristics are perfectly matched to US highways and canyon roads, and the needs of many American customers....
Yamaha FJR 1300
Voted by many magazines last year as the sport-tourer of the year, Yamaha's potent, high-speed touring missile is back for 2004 and, with a host of improvements, looks set to keep its hard-earned crown....
Chronicles
Nashville
"Well, somebody told me, When I got to Nashville, Son, you finally got it made."– Waylon Jennings, "I Don't Think Hank Done It This Way"Music City, USA. The Country Music Capital of the World. Rock City. The Athens of the South. Decidedly southern, Nashville, Tennessee is clearly international too. Restaurants serve sweet tea, grits, red-eye gravy...
Mid-Atlantic Italian Motofest
The hills echo the sweet Italian music from a finely tuned pipe orchestra. The players are twins and singles, their maestros, riders with a passion for the road and a weakness for the beautiful dissonance of dry clutch rattle and the faint whine of gears. Heads turn in the beautiful countryside as the Orchestre di Motofest brings it's own slice of Italia...
London, England
In 1959, with post-WWII austerity long past and his nation's economy booming, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan told the British people "You've never had it so good."He was probably right....
Nemesis and 952
Some famous bike-building towns: Mandello del Lario, Milwaukee, Spandau, Hinckley, Gladstone...Gladstone? Huh?OK, it's not so famous maybe, not yet, but the Portland, Oregon suburb of Gladstone is where you'll find Kenny Dreer's Norton Motorsports Inc. The current custodian of this illustrious name is the first in more than a decade who can lay claim...
High Country Roads
On a cool October morning as I leave my home in Mayodan, the place where the Mayo and the Dan rivers converge, my hometown in the northern Piedmont of North Carolina seems a long way from the Carolina high country. I'm excited though because I know that in a few fun-filled hours I'll be standing on a mountain gazing at a fantastic view that takes in...
Bike Prep - For the New Season
They say the best time to plant an oak tree is 40 years ago. And the best time to prepare your bike for this season was the end of last season. We'll be covering that in a later issue of RoadRUNNER, but let's assume you parked your bike when the weather turned last year and haven't touched it since. Where do you start? Battery. Before you start the...
