RoadRUNNER November/December 2006
Shamrock Tour
Shamrock Tour®: Lexington, Virginia
According to the road signs, we're closing in on Natural Bridge, Virginia. Normally, it's a good thing to be nearing the night's comfort zone, especially after nine hours of riding on a hot summer day. But this evening is different. Kathy and I are at one with the nimble Honda 599 howling away beneath us, traffic on Route 130 is light, the James River...
National Tours
Northeast California
It’s 6:00 a.m. when I awaken in my room at the River Inn in Redding, California, the sun streaking through a gap in the drapes. It’s early summer and the city is sleeping off the pyrotechnic display and festivities of last night’s Fourth of July celebration. But I am clear-headed and ready to address the morning. Redding, situated...
Pennsylvania's Great Lakes Region
Pennsylvania’s historic Oil Heritage Region and its border on lovely Lake Erie beckon us northward from central Ohio for a three-day motorcycle tour....
Classic Byways: Highway 191 - Utah
As the remaining miles of Arizona's claim to Highway 191 dwindle to single digits, we look back on all we've seen. From its cool, high-mountain passes to sweltering, wind-blasted deserts, the Copper State has presented some of the most imposing scenery we've ever encountered in all our travels. A little smile of anticipation and curiosity curls my lips...
New York Scooter Tour
Stand on a New York City subway platform in the summer and you'll know how Dante felt at the gates of Hell. Down there, beneath the melting tarmac, the air is so thick with heat it can be cut with a plastic knife. The subway cars are air-conditioned, but the platforms aren't, and when the moist air released from the cars hits the tubes and the platforms...
International Destinations
Italy: Two By Two Through Tuscany
"The traffic rules in Italy aren't so much rules as suggestions," our tour guide says at our pre-ride briefing. "You can pass cars anywhere, just do so safely. Drivers here don't care; in fact, they expect it of you." Despite my lingering haziness, brought on by a sleepless overnight flight, his inspiring words sliced through, ringing loud and clear....
Brazil: From the Amazon Basin to Rio
With the crossing by canoe of the rocky waters of the Mamoré River, we leave the tropical north of Bolivia and resume our two-wheel journey, heading north into a new and fascinating world called Brazil. A five-hour ride on intensely hot pavement takes us through lush fields to the town of Porto Velho in the Amazon Basin, but we are still a long...
Riding Impressions
BMW K1200GT and BMW R1200GS
As I sweep through the delicious medley of flowing curves that climb to Fairfield Ski Resort just outside Flagstaff, Arizona, I run through my mental checklist. Power delivery: smooth; brakes: smooth with a nice bite; gearshift: crisp, yet smooth; clutch: light and smooth…damn it – my critique of BMW’s new K1200GT is starting to sound...
Yamaha FJR1300A/AE
That is the question facing potential buyers interested in the 2006 edition of Yamaha’s exceedingly popular FJR1300. Laurel-resting certainly wasn’t on the year’s agenda over at Big Blue. And topping the list of cool refinements on the sport-touring world’s top dog is the novel option of escaping the clutches of the clutch....
Honda 599 - Long-term Evaluation
When you’re caught up in this whole motorcycle touring business, it’s really easy to get spoiled. After all, only a fortunate few are given the first crack at riding the latest models of such fine purpose-built mounts as the Gold Wing, Ultra Classic, Concourse, and Vulcan Nomad to name but four. That’s great, and we truly enjoy having...
Special Victims Unit
I can still remember opening my copy of Motor Cycle News and seeing BSA’s announcement of their motorcycle range for 1966. I was fifteen, motorcycle crazy and a big fan of motocross, which was then called “scrambles.” Jeff Smith had just won his second successive world championship on the 440cc BSA Victor, and to cash in on its investment,...
Chronicles
Riding to Work
Motorcycling along my secret back road route to work on a spring morning, I'm completely focused on the ride. With no thought of the challenges waiting at my job, I'm enjoying the fresh scents of budding flowers and some colorful scenery on a two-lane byway curving through an attractive suburban area....
70,000-mile maintenance
For three years we have been riding our KTMs on a long and winding road around the world. When we got to Colombia, our gauges had ticked over a distance of some 70,000 miles, roughly equivalent to two and half trips around the globe along the equator. Our trusty companions have not always had an easy life: We tortured them in the hot sands of the Sahara...
MotoVentures Training
Old hands will tell you that their experiences on dirt roads or tracks helped to make them better street riders. Many successful professional road racers got their start in the lowly dirt, learning to handle the vagaries of less than perfect traction and control their motorcycles in unusual attitudes and situations. But where, when you’re ready...
Rebel Without a Clue
It's the B-movie western we've all seen a hundred times. Outlaws ride into town, get drunk in the saloon and clash with the locals. The ineffectual, alcoholic sheriff won't intervene; his daughter, meanwhile, falls for the gang leader. The locals form a lynch mob, and the sheriff, shamed into action, tries to intervene. There's an escape, a chase,...
Protection Racket
There are two kinds of riders, it’s said: Those who are going down and those who have been down. Falling off a motorcycle is something that almost all of us will experience at one time or another. RoadRUNNER readers, being well above average in intelligence, experience and perspicacity, therefore understand the importance of getting good impact...
