PAGE 101
SPRING 2019 ISSUE 01 / VOL . 04
Exhaust Note
BY KEN LEE
Gravity
PHOTO BY KEVIN WING
riding life supposedly doesn ’ t start until 1,000cc or more .
HAVE THE LAWS OF PHYSICS been repealed ? Is gravity sucking us down toward Earth ’ s core harder than ever ? Has air density grown to crippling proportions , restricting forward motion ? Such thoughts might be forgiven , given that modern America ’ s motorcycle market positions bikes displacing 750cc or less for newbies , while the real
Now , don ’ t get me wrong . I absolutely love liter bikes . But at the risk of sounding like a senile old codger , I started riding back when beginners typically rode bikes displacing 50cc to 125cc . Middleweights included 250cc and 350cc motorcycles , while the real big ones displaced 650 or even a thundering 750cc .
And life was good under these guidelines . After I moved up from my two-stroke Yamaha 125 single to the cutting-edge Yamaha R5 350 twin , a female friend sought me out for advice about her upcoming purchase . After carefully mulling things over , she chose Yamaha ’ s 250 — a sleeved-down 350 built on the identical chassis — because she was afraid that big , old 350 would “ get away from her ” too easily . Really .
Much more recently , I engaged in a short debate with a factory engineer about whether or not a 750 cruiser would be suitable for multi-state touring : he didn ’ t think it feasible , while I just laughed . Again , really ? I racked up thousands of miles