Ever been down at the local bike hangout on A Sunday morning and overheard a couple of old-timers talking about the days when the air was clean and motorcycles were as exhilarating to ride as they were just to sit and talk about, the days of the famed Triumph Bonneville (the first one) and hot-rodded BSAs of one sort or another? Was it Einstein who said everything was relative? Or was it me who just said he said that? And who was it who said everything moves in cycles?
Nothing is ever as good as the good old days. Somehow it always seems to have been better back then regardless of the generation telling the tale, the sands of time seemingly covering up some of the less desirable details of our memories and intensifying the better ones.
A quarter-century ago, I was a five-year-old boy mesmerized by motorcycles. I didn't know very much about bikes except that they were cool. At that time Suzuki's original big-bore GSX-R was the open-class king with a (then) monumental 85 horsepower. Apparently some things never change, although the horsepower certainly has crept up a little bit over the years. More than two decades later, I know significantly more about bikes, and they're still cool.
It'll be a good while yet before I start my own "back when I was a kid" chronicles, but a look at how far sporting motorcycles have come in only the last several years indicates the future is very bright for our own elderly storytelling, whenever that time may arrive.
In the late '80s and '90s the displacement classes were tiered by technology. But nowadays the 600s are bristling with all the same fancy-shmancy techno bits as the flagship literbikes. The manufacturers sell significantly more 600s than any other engine size, so they deserve the good eye candy too. Consequently middleweights wear the same inverted forks, beefy frames, highly advanced fuel-injection systems and comparably sized wheels and brakes as their bigger brothers. And the little bikes are every bit the match of their larger siblings in every area of performance besides outright acceleration. In most real-world situations, they brake and handle better and put the power to the ground in a much more controllable manner, even while spinning their titanium-valved top ends to the tune of almost 17,000 rpm.
Whether you ride big displacement or small; a twin, triple or four; Japanese, Italian or American-there is a huge assortment of incredible motorcycles to choose from that possess the latest high-tech gadgetry, straight from the racetrack directly to your garage. Whether it's the corner-speed- and rev-hungry Yamaha R6, the sheer beauty and elegance of the Ducati 1098 or the monster motor of the Kawasaki ZX-10R you crave, they're all fully loaded with the good stuff.
Radial-mount brake calipers and slipper clutches, the big hoopla of a few years back, are now commonplace on any repli-racer and yesterday's news by cutting-edge standards. Familiar with VTEC? The VFR800 has it. Expect to see it on more Hondas soon. Fly-by-wire technology was the stuff of F1 cars and F-16 fighter jets. It's available on the R1 or R6 at your local Yamaha dealership. And you don't have to order it through the Yamaha Racing catalog; it's staring at you from the showroom floor. You won't have to wait for variable-length intake tracts either-the '08 R1 and R6 have them too, yet another first by the Tuning Fork Company. Over at Suzuki you can get your big GSX-R with traction control by way of adjustable fuel mapping on the handlebar switchgear. No need to pay extra; it's already installed. Kawasaki's new-for-2008 ZX-10 has a form of traction control also. Not too shabby an idea considering all the big machines from all the manufacturers are making no less than in the high 150-horsepower range, and some are making 160-plus at the rear wheel. The "racing breeds technology for the street" adage has never been more true; that was superbike horsepower not that many years ago.
You want adjustable footpegs? You got 'em. Programmable shift lights? Done. High- and low- speed compression damping? All yours. The path from a factory prototype MotoGP racer to the production model waiting for you has never been shorter. What you see on Nicky Hayden's or Valentino Rossi's bike on TV you may be experiencing for yourself sooner than you think.
So we've got the goodies; now where can we go to experience all this futuristic fun at high speed-preferably somewhere without Johnny Law, the Fuzzy Po Po or the Man waiting around the corner with their new high-tech toys?
Track days are becoming more accessible all the time, with new tracks opening up all over the country in an effort to provide a safe and proper venue for riding these production rocketships at their ever-increasing limits. Some are constructed as motorcycle-only circuits. And there's no shortage of track schools to help you improve your technique: Freddie Spencer and Kevin Schwantz would be glad to give you a few pointers.
Seriously, how lucky are we to be living in the new millen-nium? Which bike to pick? Could you possibly go wrong with any of them? Not likely. Just choose your favorite color and go.
Could it really get any better than this? Only if they were giving away free bikes. Does anybody remember the days when the manufacturers kept their bikes virtually unchanged for four to six years at a time? Me neither, but I'm told that's how it used to be. The present day sees a completely new-from-the-ground-up model every two years. No more warmed-over graphics and sticker kits to bridge the development gap. Just when you think they couldn't possibly make a lighter, faster, better model, that's exactly what they do. Technology marches on at an unstoppable and exponential pace. And that's great news for us speed freaks; we're reaping all the benefits.
These are good times to be living in, and like the bikes themselves they're only getting better with each passing year. So the next time you hear some old-timers talking about the good old days, join in the conversation, 'cause you're living in 'em too.