24 Hours of LeMons, pit stop from the phone’s video camera

BMW has always represented the business mans motorcycle to me. A refined, tame ride not lending itself to impracticality or bad manners but BMW has begun to write another chapter in their book with the K1200R Sport.

Very little is engineered the same on the BMW’s as with other bikes. With Duolever front and the Paralever rear suspension, EVO/ ABS brakes (complete with steel braided lines for additional bite) and a fifty-five degree 1157cc engine the bike stands apart from anything else. The engine stats are equally impressive. It has 96lbs. Ft. torque at 8,250rpm and 161hp at 10,250rpm. The bikes numbers promise a lot. Then there are the gadgets. Starting with the heated handgrips. It has two setting the first is hot and the second could only be defined as first-degree burn. Oh, but I like them this morning. While little else is warm on me my hands remain toasty and content, and until I see the fog clear the handgrips stay on. There are three suspension adjustments you can choose from; Comfort, Tour and Sport. Additionally, you can choose for either one or two riders for a combination of six settings total. Lovely.

The new K1200R Sport although not as badly behaved as some street fighters made by other European bike manufacturers, is now a hell of a competitor. It still has the BMW composure for around town or doing the daily commute, but something has changed. I feel like acting badly when I ride this thing. As I stated, BMW is claiming 160+ hp and a top speed somewhere in the neighborhood of 160mph.

Those are damn near the numbers of top sport bikes being produced within the last year from Japan. Has BMW decided to start competing in a completely new arena? Competing with the likes of Japanese superbikes?

I left my house at 9am and jumped on the freeway, heading north. It was early enough that the freeways hadn’t filled up so I begun to open the throttle and see what she had. Two things happened as I goosed it. First I squeezed off a ton of speed in a matter of a heart beat. Secondly, I found myself smiling, the kind of smile you get when you realize you found a whole lot of fun that isn’t exactly legal. The same smile you might get when you realize to late the cop in oncoming traffic has just seen you speeding down the street and he can’t turn around in time to figure out which back alley you just disappeared into, or the same kind of smile you might get when you out maneuver a police helicopter off the freeway and onto city streets. Purely speculative of course but you get the idea. I got off the freeway North of the Benicia/ Richmond bridge and decided to find myself a country road that could really test the Duolever front and the Paralever rear suspension. Once there I began to get familiar with the bike and see what this suspension was all about. I had set the suspension to sport and began to increase my speed.

The bike was a little difficult going into and coming out of tight low speed corners. But this was only at very slow speeds and could easily be overcome with a little planning. Applying a little rear brake made dropping into corners just fine and the fuel injection as with most injected bikes took some adjusting to when coming out of corners. It felt a bit hard when intitially opening the throttle upon exiting corners. With adjustments noted and corrections made the pace began to pick up. As the speed increased the suspension managed to keep me feeling confident. The bike was encouraging me and I wanted to do more with it. I turned off the main road and found a narrow farm road complete with horrible, uneven pavement and at times an unclear division of the oncoming traffic lane. This is what I needed to get this thing unsettled, to find the limitations of the suspension to prove to myself that this BMW wasn’t as badass as it boasted to be. Everything is right, blind corners, tight twisties and unfamiliar roads, excellent. As I find myself going faster, leaning lower, giggling and my pulse accelerating the bike I am noticing, is unfazed. The bikes fully capable of everything I am throwing at it. This isn’t making me happy at all. I always imagined the BMW’s to be more pretentious then actually competent. What else can I do? I find quick elevation changes that drop me into small valleys and shoot me right back up onto crest, then dive into sharp turns. The bike excels and hasn’t even broken a sweat. OK, let’s do this. Mirror check, no flashing lights and I am familiar with this stretch of road for the next few miles. No turn outs, driveways, intersections or bluffs where anyone or thing can hide. It’s go time. So I get on it and the bike responds very well. I am actually so comfortable with the suspension that I am able to push this bike to a level I’ve always reserved for bikes I’m much more familiar with. The roads open up and I find myself on an onramp to 101 South. Before I know it I am back on the freeway heading toward the Golden Gate Bridge. Man that was fun, but now something’s changed about my riding composure. I want to keep up the ruckus behavior. I enter San Francisco and the uncivil disobedience continues. As I come off the bridge I lane split through the weekend warriors and tourist entering into San Francisco. Now it is later in the day and the traffic has thickened and I can’t find enough space to open up the 1200. The bike is reminding me more of a street fighter now anyway so I try riding it like one. Wheelies, check, swerving side to side between cars, check, braking hard (very hard in fact), scaring the crap out of the tourist, check. This bike is doing it all. The suspension is taking care of everything and leaving me with very little to cope with. This allows me with nothing to do but ride. I like this suspension, it seems to be taking care of the road beneath me and not delivering it through to my hands and rear end. I guess it could be viewed as less communication to the rider but it could also be viewed as less distraction for the rider as well. Allowing for the rider to think less of how to cope and just being able to just get on with it.

If I can find fault anywhere it would be the inability to do stoppies due to the ABS. Damn you ABS! Actually, I can’t even find fault with that. I did some ABS testing of my own and found it to be equally impressive. Once you get used to the noise of the rapid fire on again off again mechanical braking noise it is really amazing to see just how fast the bike can stop you. I would try to guesstimate a braking end point, grab a fist full of brakes and found myself stopping far sooner then I would have thought. This combined with the lack of front-end dive thanks to the suspension and you have the potential to launch yourself right over the handlebars, if one so desired.

Now I am not a full racer nor do I claim to be. Saying that, I can imagine that track guys could push this thing to its limitations much easier then I can on the streets. But for anything on the road this bike is tremendous. Brakes are strong, suspension is agile and the engine is powerful, delivering gobs of speed in an effortless delivery from any RPM over 3 grand. As with most Euro bikes the price tag is steep and I would imagine difficult to justify for many of our readers. For those of you that are able to afford this you are in for a treat. BMW’s stepping up to the plate and has done their homework.

The Fulmer AFD Apache Ghost Helmet

The new Apache Ghost helmet from Fulmer comes in a combination of 23 colors and designs. The one we’ve received is the red and black model. The helmet design has been re-shaped to minimize wind buffeting and movement at speed. They have reduced noise further by creating a snug fit around the neck and by using a one-piece visor. Without the addition of side plate covers, wind slips easily along the sides of the helmet where air noise can accumulate. Ventilation works fine and the vent tabs are easy to use. It takes a little memorization to use the top vent but once that’s done, opening and closing it becomes second nature. The Fulmer helmets come with thirteen visors to choose from. With a gigantic selection of helmets, patterns, colors and visors you’re sure to find a combination that’ll fit your individual style. The build quality, fitment and aero- dynamics are of a high caliber and you could easily find yourself paying a lot more for the same thing from other more well know helmets.

Check out www.fulmerhelmets.com.

· DOT approved
· EPS padded chin bar
· QR1 quick release shield system
· Ultra plush removable/washable interior
· AC (Air Channel) Technology vent system
· Padded D-Ring retention system
· Adjustable chin and top vent
· Rear exhaust vents
· UV clear coating, protecting paint and graphics
· Breath spoiler

Schwantz interview at the grand opening of the Dainese store in S.F.

Motorcycles, motorcycles, motorcycles...

OpEd - Questioning The Logic

I feel obliged to write this article, how do I do this without stepping on toes? I see the logic that was brought up in last months article, I really do. I just don’t agree with it. So without further ado here it goes.

            Let’s just lay it out on the table shall we? I hate the notion that everyone but the individual should take responsibility for him or her.  McDonald’s was sued for serving coffee to a woman who then dumped it on herself and got burned. You heard this right? She was awarded some giant sum of cash as a result of her burns. Since then I am positive she still buys, holds and drinks cups of hot, hot coffee. Must have been McDonalds fault for serving her hot coffee.

So now it’s a salesman’s job to look after what is right for everyone who buys a motorcycle? Really? Uh, last time I looked salesmen have one job, sell you something you may or may not need. They work for commission which gets bigger the more they sell you, buyer beware.  I mean is it really some stranger’s job to be your guardian? What qualifies them to be this grand judge and jury of another’s skill set or bike choice? I was a salesman for a bike shop once, 16 years ago. Guess what it was Golden Gate Cycles. (Queue up evil slow laughter from me.) Listen, if a guy walks into a dealership all fired up and ready to buy a giant sport bike I have one job, sell it to him fast so I can get on to selling the next shmoe another one. The person buying the bike should be smart enough to figure out they are buying a vehicle that can propel them through space and time in a way that is unmatched on the streets in a matter of mere seconds. As fast or faster then any high-end sports car for a fraction of the cost! I would have to imagine that is why they want the damn thing! Now I as a salesman am supposed to tell them they can’t have it, to send them on their unhappy way? Wonder if they’ll go somewhere else that will let them buy that ‘bad’ bike? Oh well, who needs to pay the rent with that commission? I mean at least I am still socially responsible for whoever that guy was.

Now let’s get into it further. I have never been hurt going fast, it’s the stopping part that sucked for me. Stopping, yup the worst part about crashing and it can’t be avoided. We all know the saying, feel free to say it along with me, “There are two kinds of bikes in this world, those that have gone down and those that are going down.” If you’re a biker and you don’t know this, get familiar with it. It doesn’t matter what you ride or how well you ride, eventually you and every rider you know will crash, some will die. Did I just bum you out man? Did I just harsh on your mellow? Get over it; biking alone can kill you, not what you are riding or how long you have ridden.

All the injuries I have sustained from crashing are in some way or form still with me. Arthritis, nerve damage, disfigured bones, scars and what not. I got all of them at slow speeds on various displacements and configurations. The worst happened at 5 mph, I have a limp for life to prove it. Even earned me a disabled motorcycle license plate. Additionally I was on a 650cc, single cylinder, dual-sport. Fell on to my side with armor on and everything. I scarred the head of my Femur, one day I will get the great fortune of an artificial hip. Amazing how a small bike and slow speed had no bearing on the severity of this injury.

Now if I can detour away from this and move on to well, my philosophy about the right bike for the job. The analogy of “…allowing an ignorant novice to pilot away a machine capable of going nearly 200mph…is akin to selling a child a handgun and pretending to ignore the probability of impending bloodshed.” Is just not correct on so many levels. Firstly if they’re truly and utterly horrible riders it won’t matter what they ride off on, something bad will befall them. Furthermore, I can fall off a bike at 100 mph regardless of displacement and guarantee you I will seriously hurt myself. I know that the SV650 can go at least this fast just like a CBR1000RR. However one is being dubbed the beginner’s bike and one is dubbed too advanced for beginners. Which leads me to the true fault of this logic, maybe I would agree more with you if you said, “it’s like selling someone a .357 instead of a .22, one has a much greater bang but both will hurt or kill you if you aren’t careful.

Onward! To defend my position on sport bikes not being a bad bike for a rookie, let’s get that rookie on the freeway riding one of two bikes. One bike in a Honda Rebel 250 (“beginner’s” bike) and the other is a CBR1000RR (“advanced” riders bike). Now let’s make traffic conditions suck say it’s Friday night on the freeway at 2:15am. The bars have just closed and lots of drunks are out driving like gangsters’, macks, NASCAR racers or whatever the hell else they pretend to be. Which bike is better when one of these drivers aggressively changes lanes right in front of you? The bike with the cheap suspension, brakes, response time and horrid riding position or a bike created to do everything as fast as humanly possible, if not faster? The CBR1000RR turns, brakes, accelerate and respond faster then the Rebel 250 for sure. I’d give the newbie the big bike. Did you choose the same? Good give yourself a gold star.

Now, I had ridden mini bikes as a kid growing up and the only street riding time I had was when I was bolting to the off road area down the way from my house. Time passed and eventually at the age of nineteen I bought a street bike. My friend said, “Go big, you’ll eventually want it so buy it now and save yourself the trouble.” Sounded sane at the time, so I bought myself the coolest thing I could find, a 1986 Ninja 1000. I didn’t know how many gears it had when I drove it away from the previous owners house. As I cruised home in second gear at 80 mph on the freeway I marveled at just how fast I was going yet felt I had hardly begun to open it up. I didn’t have an accident for years on that bike. In fact it saved my ass once. While riding on the 405 down south I found myself merging onto another freeway behind a Corvette, the other merging freeway had a Trans-Am in the lane that was merging with us. Both cars collided into one another immediately in front of me. They then swerved away from one another just for a moment and instead of slamming into the back end of them I gassed it and bolted between them right before they came crashing into one another again. It was surreal, I gunned it instead of broke which was dumb luck and a chance response but I am positive that maneuver and that big bike are what made the difference. Here’s the deal, I was nineteen, an inexperienced rider, on a big bike way to “advanced” for my skill set yet it was that bike that saved my life. I am real glad it wasn’t a Rebel 250, that couldn’t have out accelerated or out broke those cars regardless of anyone’s skill level. Again I ask, why should a beginner get the crap bikes instead of the cream of the crop?

Here’s my final gripe and then I’ll get off my soapbox. Last months article also mentioned a tiered license system, which I again must respectfully say, NAY! Have you been to the DMV, EVER? I am pretty sure that all those blue hairs you see trying to get a glimpse of the road through their steering wheels shouldn’t have passed their driving test but there they are wondering about the highways and roads. Wonder why? The DMV instructors are horrible at what they do. They make exceptions for issuing licenses instead of kicking people off the roads. Have you seen a happy DMV instructor that loves his job? Now tell me why we need more of those people “teaching” me more riding skills. Tiered licenses allow displacement limitations to riders for years and years. I will go as far as to say limiting what someone can ride is telling someone not to ride at all. If I cant choose what I ride why would I start? Is the DMV going to tell new riders, “Since you’re new to riding, you can only ride the slowest most lack luster rides out there? Come back in a few years for a possible upgrade.” If you want to encourage more riders on the street then don’t put up obstacles. Classes and courses exist to improve rider’s abilities. If a rider feels they need to improve their riding skills there is no shortage of courses from beginner to racing classes.

If people are going to be bad riders there is nothing you, me or anyone else can do to help them. Stop looking to blame others or demand stricter regulations it only promotes this, lack of accountability mentality. When someone speeds and gets caught or crashes we shouldn’t say, “What do we do differently to fix this?” the individual should.

The doctors would wrap it and say, “As long as you don’t fall off and land on it again its not going to get any worse, it’ll just be painful.”

This interview was originally taken in late ’07. It’s one of those interviews of dumb luck and one I hadn’t dreamed I’d be having. Schwantz has always been my hero. He’s the reason I got speeding tickets, out ran cops, crashed, learned to wheelie and became such an avid fan of motorcycle racing.

RH: I used to spend hour upon hour watching your races back in the early nineties. Sometimes I’d watch the same race as many as 3-4 times a night until the next one came on the following Sunday only to start the process all over again. I’d sit and dissect every move you’d make. I think it was because of your do or die racing technique that I walk with a limp today.

KS: Ha!

RH: I know you have twenty-five wins in the Moto GP and one World Championship. People have said you either would win the race or crash trying. Do you know how many crashes you had?

KS: Out of the 100 Grand Prix I rode in, I remember fourteen DNF’s. Seven of them where my fault and seven where mechanical. The leathers I wore before Dainese would get numbered. The last suit that I wore in 1989 was suit number 19. As soon as one would hit the ground it’d go back in a box and they’d ship them back to the company.

RH: Someone said, “Kevin’s skill and showman ship would have a big influence on Valentino Rossi.” I know you’ve had some interaction with him. How much do you converse?

KS: I don’t know if it’s a lot, but when I first went to Misano in ‘88 or ‘87 I got to watch Rossi racing pocket bikes and he was actually wearing one of my Schwantz (replica) helmets. Yeah, it’s been said several times that I am his hero or whatever, but what he has accomplished and done makes him a rider to the very top level. As far as interaction goes, it seems that whenever he and I go to the Grand Prix we always end up sitting in the trailer talking and shootin’ the shit. We watched a video of the race at Barcelona, after Stoner beat him that day, sitting in his trailer drinking red wine, while he and his mechanics and friends cursed at the TV in Italian every time Stoner would pass him by. But more than anything it’s a mutual respect.

RH: What do you think of Stoner?

KS: You know for a kid who last year everyone thought, are you going to be anything? He never really proved anything during testing and was never the fastest guy consistently. For him to come out and race as well as he has and make as few a mistakes as he has, is really something.

RH: I saw him in the 250’s and thought he could go somewhere but I never expected this.

KS: I raced with him in Italy at a Supermoto race during a motorcycle show in ’04. Me, Vali and Stoner got to ride together. He and Rossi in the dry got away from me but in the wet we where racing a little closer. Stoner was so fast and trying so hard that he hit Rossi and ran him a little wide so I snuck in beneath them and won the race. Casey has always had the ability (to win). What Casey said to me is, “What matters the most is having a crew, motorcycle manufacturer and tire manufacturer that is solely focused on me.” When I was with Michelin I would say, “Hey that tire doesn’t work for me.” And they’d say something like, “Hey it works for Rossi, make it work for you.” Or, “Pedrosa likes them, figure out how to use it.” Because at Honda your low on the pecking order but when you are with Ducati or Bridgestone the worlds at your feet. They come to you and ask, “What can we do for you and that makes a big difference?”

RH: I heard talk of you pushing for, or starting a singles series…

KS: I rode a Troy Lee, and Roland Sands and a couple different guys 450 Supermoto bikes with 600 Super Sport front ends on them, and essentially turn them into road racers. I rode them around Laguna Seca. They’re well, well under geared and (I was) running them off the rev limiter everywhere. It’s supposed to be an inexpensive way to go road racing. My question to them has been, “How long is a 450 motocross engine supposed to last when you’re doing that to them down the straight away?” (Pantomiming his right hand pinning open the throttle.) “The last turn at Laguna was third gear. Before I even got to the top of the hill I was pinning the rev limiter. With a 450-motocross engine most manufacturers recommend engine rebuilds after 20 hours. That’s in a motocross element where full throttle is only for a fraction of the time. By the time you get that bike built for $10-15 thousand bucks and then for every rebuild you’re putting in a couple thousand bucks more…is it really going to be less expensive then a 125 Grand Prix bike? You know they are light and nimble, they handle great. For as under geared as it was at Laguna my statement was, “The front’s not in the back and the back’s not in the front. It seems pretty close to correct. But until you gear one right and ride one into and out of a corner to see what it does and see what the geometry is like, how will you know if it will handle like a road racer should?

RH: So that’s where you’re at with that?

KS: I’ve gotten several calls and they all say, “Give me a quote! We want to hear what you got to say!” I ain’t saying anything about it. I’m not going to go out there on a limb and tell people, Go buy one dem things they’re great! Then find out they’re blowing up or they don’t handle great, or they are not geared correctly and you can’t get them to turn. Until I ride one and get a little closer to one in complete development. Eh.

RH: What about the other extreme such as the Ducati Hypermotard, is that just going to far?

KS: I think a motorcycle is a motorcycle whether on dirt or pavement or whatever it is, if a dirt bike has slicks it’s going to react the same. I mean the same basic skills apply. With Road Racing it’s speed, how fast can I get around that track? With dirt bike riding it’s, “Can I actually do that jump without dying first?” So I think all of this is good, good fun and great training. I think when a guy goes from dirt to road racing it’s for the speed. It’s funny because with Rodney and Michael the off road Suzuki guys, we’ve said, “Why don’t you come to the (Kevin Schwantz Suzuki) school, ride a sport bike with us?” “Up yours!” They said, “Those things go over a hundred miles an hour!” Its like they’ve just got that in their heads. They’ll go a hundred through roots and between trees but wont go over a hundred on anything else.

RH: I learned how to ride on a dirt bike.

KS: That’s just normal. Most of us where what 5-6 years or so? You had to learn on a dirt bike what else was there? Now they got little bikes for kids that look all sporty and sleek but they have only been around a few years. Before that what else was there?

RH: I heard your first bike was a Bonanza Mini Bike, complete with a Briggs and Stratton lawnmower engine.

KS: Briggs, 3 ½ Horsepower!

RH: Good little bike?

KS: It was, you know? It served its purpose, until I got on a Mini Trail 50. The Sales Manager had just taken it in. He said to me, “Hey, look at this new bike I got on trade. Want to ride it?” I didn’t even have my helmet on I just jumped on it and rode it right out of the parking lot. The mechanic had just rode out of the shop on a test ride and I said, “Hey let’s race!” So we lined up and got on the gas. Burrp, burrp, burrrp all the way across the parking lot. I get to the other side and realize my hands aren’t big enough to work the breaks. I rode right into the fence! It was funny because my mom wasn’t there at the time. She came back and started asking everyone, “Where’s Kevin? Where’s Jim?” everyone said we had gone to run some errands. I think I was about five when this happened.

RH: What do you think the Japanese manufacturers are going to do after losing the Moto GP to Ducati?

KS: You know I don’t think it’s a matter of who they lost to, just that they’ve lost. I don’t know if it’s because they lost to a European brand that it will make the pain any greater.

RH: You had talked about the philosophy of Ducati being very focused on the rider whereas the Japanese are more focused on the product. Do you think that will change now that Ducati took the championship?

KS: It very well could. That’d be great.

RH: I know that Nicky was disappointed that they weren’t listening to what he had to say about his bike.

KS: Yeah it’s not Nicky’s bike, it’s Danny’s. Danny’s the size they want, that’s what will increase the horsepower, he’s close with the sponsors his dad is to. Nicky has a lot of things working against him. Even after winning the World Championship. It’s like they almost didn’t want him (Nicky) to win this last year judging by some of the things they did and didn’t do. They told Danny don’t race anywhere near him and sure as shit he knocked him down, ya know?

RH: Do you still street ride?

KS: I got bikes at home but they don’t get ridden very often. I really don’t have that much time for it. My motocross bikes and mountain bike get a lot more use than my street bikes do.

RH: Any more auto racing aspirations?

KS: Not really. The main reasons I got into car racing as much as I did was to forget about bikes. It served a purpose in my life. If someone where to call me up and ask me to sit in a car for an endurance race or something I’d probably go do it.

RH: What’s your take on the tire situation for the Moto GP?

KS: This is the pinnacle of the sport. Why do we need any rules at all? It should be about displacement. Maybe have some aerodynamic restrictions that say the fairings have to stay within the wheels, and see how much speed the engine can find. Now it’s all electronically restricted. That’s the only other thing I think that would help it, if they got rid of all the electronics. But then it would mean going back to carbureted engines.

RH: Why do you think Suzuki would bring on Capirossi and not Ben Spies?

KS: I don’t really know why. I think Japan realized American Suzuki had a contract with him for next year and they didn’t want to step on their toes. But at the same time the reason Suzuki is able to race bikes at the level they do is because their bikes sell so well. Whether their sales are affected on a world level or if it’s AMA Super Bike they know where to stick riders to keep their numbers up.

RH: April 28^th, 1985 you won both legs of Super Bike earning your first AMA victory. What was that like?

KS: It was fun, but you know I don’t remember it all that well. We had gone there, practiced there, it was where I got my try outs at the end of ’84 and got my ride. I went faster than they went in the AMA Super Bike races that year. So it was almost like I was supposed to win. No big deal. And of course Fred Merkel was sick for that race. They said he was quoted as saying he had the Schwantz flu. That was one of those weekends when everything goes like it’s supposed to. We were fastest in practice too.

RH: In ’88 you fractured your forearm during practice at Daytona. You went on to win that race then two weeks later you went on to win again…

KS: Two weeks later it wasn’t fractured anymore!

RH: Two weeks later it didn’t hurt at all? That’s a major stress point for a racer. I’d have to image that’s a part of your body that’s taking a lot of abuse.

KS: I don’t remember it hurting much. In Daytona my arm was swollen as thick as my elbow all the way down to my fingers. The doctors would wrap it and say, “As long as you don’t fall off and land on it again its not going to get any worse, it’ll just be painful.”

RH: During the German Grand Prix at Hockenheimring in ’93 you had an average speed of around 126MPH. What’s a race like that feel like.

KS: Most races you average about 100, not there though. That tracks not safe. When a track isn’t safe enough for their Porsches you start to think, “Should I be riding this track? I don’t know…

Kevin shrugs his shoulders and raises his hands. Then suddenly tucks in behind an imaginary bike, his eyes shut tight and his hands grasping the handlebars, smiling through clenched teeth.

KS: You would come out of the stadium and go down the back straight away full out. Even your gears where laughing at you. They’d sound like, “Nyah, ya, ya, ya, yaaaah!” the whole time. I’d be tucked in behind my screen with the engine screaming, head down, starring at the tach the whole time. That was a fun track. You’d ride that track wide open the whole time and still it just on a two-minute lap.

RH: What do you think about when you race? Do you think about winning, or do you think about just getting out there, going fast and having as much fun as you can?

KS: I think what made it that much easier for me to race at the top was all the fun I had. All the traveling, PR and hotels, everything that took place, it all revolved around that one hour on Sunday, that was it. That is what I did all that stuff for, it all came down to that one moment. But that is also why I quit racing. It stopped being the kick in the pants that it was. It was still fun but it was just riding around doing laps. If I didn’t win I’d think, “I’ll win another one.” instead of, “This is the coolest thing I’ve ever done!”

RH: The Moto GP was different back then as well. Wouldn’t you guys go out, have fun and party?

KS: I think that is what made the risk we’d take that much more acceptable. Back then it was all about that one hour. Outside of that we had pretty normal lives. Yeah I’d train a little between races but we’d go out and have fun. Now, with guys like Valentino Rossi, the sport has gotten so big it becomes all they do. They can’t go anywhere or do anything without everyone scrutinizing everything they do. After we would race we’d load up, fly back to Texas, and outside of only a couple of times hardly anyone would ever recognize me. There was some Suzuki shops that I’d get noticed but, well, I could go into Yamaha shops no problem!

The oldest bike to ride 101 w/ us from Oakland to L.A. and back. The good news? She didn’t break or give us a lick of problems.