Readers' Rides

We’re not entirely sure this… thing deserves ALL of the adjectives included in its (newly) given name, but hey, we’re into the weird stuff. From George The Parts Guy:

Often, our Reader’s Rides submissions consist of a sentence or two with a couple of cellphone photos. Imagine our pleasure when we read an actual article about a beloved motorcycle. Brian Carpenter is clearly smitten with his 2020 Moto Guzzi V85 TT. Join him on a pandemic distancing ride, won’t you?

This week’s exciting Reader’s Ride is in memory of our dearly departed Rocky Stonepebble, who I think claimed to be Scottish, didn’t he? When he wasn’t busy flinging poo through the bars to incite anarchy and hockey. Kriss and his BMW reside in the Scottish highlands.

If you missed Part 1 of Micky Garneau’s incredible Honda VTR1000F build, you can check it out here. In this, the second and final installment, Garneau dives even deeper into his Superhawk in his quest to leave no stone unturned.

When you think of a 1000cc Honda V-Twin sportbike from the start of the millennium, what comes to mind? Naturally, it’s the VTR1000F, right? Wait, what’s that? You’re thinking of the RC51? Well, Micky Garneau wasn’t. Granted he was looking for a street bike, but the time, effort, and money he’s put into his VTR1000F Firestorm, otherwise known as the Superhawk in the US, rivals that of many racebike builds we’ve seen. Here’s Part 1 of Micky’s bike build.

We’ve all experienced the exciting period of a new motorcycle relationship where all we want to do is ride together. Unfortunately, Tom Dean has found his new Italian love affair during a pandemic lockdown. Still, it sounds as if the two of them are making the best of the time. 

Remember Robert Perkins and his hopped-up 1990 Honda NS144F? Well, due to popular demand, he’s back with the creation story of his Frankenbike.

1981 was just slightly before my time, when I was still in the “lusting in my heart” but “unable to obtain” stage of motorcycling. I do remember the XS Eleven being the fastest thing at the dragstrip there for a while, in spite of its shaft drive, but I don’t know if I ever knew of the Venturer version of the bike, lovingly semi-restored by Ric McKinsey, of Crescent City, California. The saddlebags are genius. Take it away, Ric.

Gary Corde tells us about his eye-catching 1997 Suzuki Savage cafe racer:

If you were paying attention to American roadracing in the 1990s (more and more resembling a golden era), the name Martin Adams might ring a bell. Martin begat the Commonwealth Racing team, which in 1989 won its first AMA title: That would be the AMA Pro Twins GP championship (at the last corner, at the last round of the Series (Topeka), with Randy Renfrow in the saddle of the Commonwealth Honda RS850).