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On the Road: Newfoundland

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Newfoundland Labrador welcome sign
Coastal Labrador was the next stop.

Newfoundland and Labrador, the easternmost province in Canada, fights a losing battle patching its roadways. Realizing it’s a lost cause, the province simply erects signs along the way warning “Potholes Ahead.” It’s a challenging slalom on a motorcycle, let alone in a car. I watch the suspension jolt on the van ahead carrying my wife and two teenage sons. New struts and an alignment are in order upon our return.

St. John's Harbour
Signal Hill provides a panorama of St. John’s Harbour.

This is a cautionary tale about undertaking a “family vacation” when your family is in a van while you expect to experience the freedom of tagging along on your motorcycle. My wife, Nancy, has the notion of taking a ferry across the strait to coastal Labrador on the mainland to drive the mainly gravel Trans-Labrador Highway after we’ve finished our tour of Newfoundland. I, on the other hand, have serious reservations about adventure biking on my 850-pound beast of a BMW K1200LT, now with more than 200,000 miles on it. So, we will part ways after the ferry crossing to Labrador. And soon thereafter I would learn a bit of humility from some Canadian riders.

Cape Spear
Fog shrouds a lighthouse at Cape Spear, the easternmost point in North America.

Meanwhile, we have arrived on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula after a 16-hour ocean crossing from North Sydney, Nova Scotia. We enter fog and wind on our southern loop around the peninsula by way of Trepassey Bay, common weather features in this part of the country. But conditions improve at Lord Baltimore’s Colony of Avalon, the best preserved early English colonial site in North America. Archaeologists continue to dig as we tour the area. At the nearby Tetley Tea Room by the Sea, we sample our first Newfoundland cod and wild berry treats.

Nearly 100 lighthouses once peppered the shorelines of Newfoundland and coastal Labrador, and we encounter our first ones at Cape Spear, the easternmost point in North America. One, dating back to 1836, is the oldest surviving lighthouse in the province. The more modern one, erected in 1955, houses an adjacent museum. Here we learn there are 23 staffed lighthouses remaining in the area. In the distance we saw Signal Hill, our next destination.

Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula
Twilight gilds the rocky west coast of Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula.

We negotiated the downtown minefield of St. John’s to reach a better perspective of the city from Signal Hill National Historic Site. The narrow harbor entrance drove many a sailing ship to peril. A colorful regiment of signal corps were practicing for their daily tattoo in front of Cabot Tower, a sandstone Gothic Revival structure begun in 1898 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Italian John Cabot’s discovery of Newfoundland and the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign. Marconi received the first wireless transatlantic transmission here in 1901.

Canadian Signal Corps regiment at Cabot Tower
The Canadian Signal Corps regiment practices at Cabot Tower on Signal Hill.
Iceberg in Smith's Harbour
Icebergs like this one in Smith’s Harbour on the Baie Verte Peninsula float into coves and inlets aided by the wind and tide.

Nancy wanted to explore downtown St. John’s, while I desired to escape Newfoundland’s capital and largest city. Changed my mind at lunch in a rathskeller dive where we were served outstanding cod burgers and I discovered Iceberg Beer. St. John’s Quidi Vidi Brewery claims it is enhanced by pure 20,000-year-old iceberg water. I detect crispness in this pale lager that similar brews lack. Our two boys, both crew rowers, were excited to find out from our friendly waitress that the Royal St. John’s Regatta is North America’s oldest continuing sporting event. That’s appropriate, since St. John’s is the oldest English-founded city on the continent.

Port au Choix on the Gulf of St. Lawrence
Crab pots and trawlers stand ready at Port au Choix along the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The Trans-Canada Highway leads us inland through the Eastern Region. Insidious longitudinal potholes jar the unwary. Canadians whoosh by, heedless of the hazard. My shocks are taking a beating, and they were leaking even before this trip. We set up camp at Notre Dame Provincial Park in the Central Region, and I take to the van for exploration around Twillingate. At Boyd’s Cove, we visit the Beothuk Interpretation Centre to learn about the extinct native inhabitants of Newfoundland.

In a tiny outpost called Clarke’s Head, I backed the van into a local’s vehicle at a gas station. “See what trouble I get into when I’m off the bike?” I say to my wife. The Newfoundlander was almost apologetic for being in my way, and we parted in friendly fashion. I can’t imagine that happening back in New York.

Iceberg Alley
Iceberg Alley extends into the harbor at St. Anthony on the tip of the Northern Peninsula.

I mounted the bike for our next excursion up the Baie Verte Peninsula. The 50-foot skeleton of a humpback whale was worth scrutinizing at King’s Point. On the way to the tip of the peninsula at Fleur de Lys, we diverted to Smith’s Harbour, having learned that a huge iceberg had settled there. Indeed it had, and a picture perfect little place it was. These bergs drift off from the Labrador Current into nearby harbors, bays, and coves brought here by the wind and tide.

Back in the town of Baie Verte we learned about the peninsula’s rich mining history. Indeed, we passed a huge abandoned asbestos mine on the way to Fleur de Lys, where soapstone was quarried by the Dorset Paleo-Eskimo some 1,600 years ago. After reaching the end of the road, we were about to turn around when a pickup raced up and blocked our way.

Humpback whale breaches in St. Anthony Harbour
A humpback whale breaches in St. Anthony Harbour on the Northern Peninsula.

The driver turned out to be a friendly local resident who noticed our New York license plates and wanted to chat. Encounters like this were common for us throughout Newfoundland.

So far, our progress was slow. Stopping frequently and visiting the numerous outport villages didn’t accumulate the mileage. Many were the dead-end roads we explored. I reviewed my mileage log once we were in the Western Region: 70 miles one day, 105 miles the next, followed by 90 miles, 62 miles, then zero, zero. Aaaughh!

Seal on an ice floe
A seal basks on an ice floe.

I finally rode a 200-mile day from Baie Verte to Trout River campground in Gros Morne National Park. This area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site defined by ancient up-thrust landscape forming the tip of the Appalachian Mountains. The Tablelands region exposes examples of the earth’s mantle. Glaciers carved out a fjord at Western Brook Pond, where we took a boat ride beneath 2,000-foot cliffs. Ice fields cling to crags, offering summer habitat to the caribou and puffins.

If there was a central point to this wilderness, it would be picturesque Rocky Harbour, sheltered by a lighthouse promontory and twin Appalachian ridges dipping into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The Gros Morne Wildlife Museum in town is worth a look. The Ocean View Hotel displays unique local artwork and hosts the Anchor Pub, where one can be “screeched in” as an official Newfoundlander. The boys were greatly disappointed they weren’t allowed to drink the rum and kiss a codfish. Earl’s restaurant offered moose burgers, moose soup, moose pizza, and any other variety you’d like. We left sated.

Norsemen sign
Norsemen landed here in 1,000 A.D.

I gave the BMW free reign on Route 430 up the western coast of the Northern Peninsula, a smooth-surfaced road flowing alongside the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with the Long Range Mountains framing the eastern horizon. Felt like being back on Highway 1 in California. This is the Viking Route that would lead us to the first established European settlement in North America at the very tip of the Northern Peninsula. It also has the largest density of moose on the continent, and we had already seen several.

We had fun interacting with interpreters at L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, location of the Viking presence here in 1,000 A.D. We walked through a reconstructed encampment of turf-walled longhouses while re-enactors stayed in character demonstrating the daily life of the Norsemen. Our tour continued at nearby Norstead, a living history site of additional costumed interpreters and a fully replicated Viking ship.

Viking village at L'Anse aux Meadows
Reconstructed sod huts replicate the Viking village as it would have appeared 1,000 years ago at L’Anse aux Meadows.

We hit paydirt in St. Anthony, viewing a harbor filled with icebergs. A boat tour brought us up close to these ice cathedrals. A humpback whale breached for us several times. A pod of minkes came alongside the boat. A seal reclined upon his private ice floe. We absorbed the opportunity, because two days later the icebergs had broken up, which can happen quickly we were told. By mid-July any icebergs become a rare sight.

A ferry took us across the Strait of Belle Isle to coastal Labrador. A 50-mile ride brought me along the strait and over the mountains to Red Bay, a 16th-century Basque whaling port. Red Bay also offers access to the Trans-Labrador Highway, and this is where my family and I parted company. I had reservations aboard a supply ship that routinely sails upstream to replenish harbor towns with no connecting roads along the Quebec coast.

L'Anse Amour welcome sign
Around the promontory in the background of this coastal Labrador village rises Canada’s second tallest lighthouse and an ideal spot for whale watching.

I returned to the ferry landing at Blanc-Sablon, Quebec, and lined up with other motorcyclists early on a rainy morning. The bikes were loaded two to a container, tied down, and hoisted by a mammoth boom crane into the vessel. Two Honda ST1300 riders humbled me because they had just completed the Trans-Labrador trek. We would disembark where the road begins anew in Natashquan. Or so we thought.

Circumstances changed upon reaching the village prior to Natashquan hours behind schedule. We all had reserved respective B&B inns in Natashquan, where we wouldn’t arrive now until the wee hours of the morning. We learned there was indeed a 20-mile road from the village to Natashquan, but it was all gravel. Nonetheless, all riders, except me, decided they would disembark here and risk the unfamiliar road in the midnight blackness.

Motorcycle supply ship
Riders lined up for loading into the supply ship heading up the Gulf of St. Lawrence and coastal Quebec.

Now, I’ve ridden my share of gravel roads, I told them. Even did the 1,200 miles of Alaska Highway when it was unpaved. But I was much younger and more fearless. My concern today was dropping my precious K1200LT, resulting in thousands of dollars in cosmetic damage. But my bike shared a container with one of theirs, and all looked askance at my weak rationalization. To regain self-respect, I agreed to accompany them.

It turned out to be the most anxiety-inducing 20-mile ride of my life. Inky blackness and bunched gravel had me plowing from one side of the road to the other, trying to find a tractable groove. It didn’t help that I was reluctant to get the speed up. One of the Canadians on his Kawasaki Tengai remained behind me for assurance, urging me to stand on the pegs and go faster, while the rest shot ahead. Such humiliation, I thought. When we finally caught up, the group was parked at a pullout on the outskirts of town.

Harrington Harbour was one of our supply ship’s many stops to replenish ports along coastal Quebec not connected by any roads.

“How’d he do?” asked one of his Canadian co-riders.

After a slight pause and a sly smile directed at me, he replied, “Slow, but steady.”

And with that turn of phrase, my newfound Canadian friend preserved my dignity, eliciting congratulatory backslapping and an acknowledgment of a successful ride all-around by the French-Canadians in a language universally understood.

The next day, while imagining my wife and boys bouncing along the rutted Trans-Labrador – views blocked by boreal forest and swatting at clouds of black flies – I rode 390 blissful miles of coastal Quebec. Open-road freedom never felt so good.

The post On the Road: Newfoundland first appeared on Rider Magazine.
Source: RiderMagazine.com

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Tracing the Cascades on a Yamaha Tracer 900 GT

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2019 Yamaha Tracer 900 GT
Road testing the 2019 Tracer 900 GT in Washington’s Klickitat River valley, with Mount Adams in the background. (Photos by the author & Brian J. Nelson)

Winding through a dark canopy of evergreens, the road played hide-and-seek with the Clackamas River, offering a glimpse here and there of clear water pouring over rocks as it made its way downstream to the Willamette, then the Columbia, and finally the Pacific. A break in the canopy was like popping out of a tunnel and I set my eyes on a patch of gravel next to the road, just a few feet from where the river made a sharp turn. Down went the Yamaha Tracer 900 GT kickstand, off went the ignition. I hadn’t seen a car for miles. It was just me and the trees and the river. Just what I was looking for.

Emerging from a dark tunnel of trees on the West Cascades Scenic Byway, I found the perfect sunny spot to enjoy the sights and sounds of the Clackamas River.

The previous day I logged 250 miles aboard the Yamaha at the bike’s press launch. The event was based in Stevenson, Washington, a small town in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, and I spent a long, hot day testing the GT on local backroads. Weighing just 500 pounds and packing a punch from its 847cc inline-Triple, the Tracer 900 GT is a light, agile, comfortable sport-tourer, perfect for a solo traveler. Yamaha entrusted me with the keys to one for the long ride home to Southern California.

With snow-capped volcanic peaks, wild and scenic rivers, dense evergreen forests, and countless roads that follow the contours of the land, the Cascade Range is a motorcyclist’s paradise.

For years I’ve heard and read about how good the riding is in the Cascades, a mountain range that runs from British Columbia down through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. Whenever possible, I like to fill in the blank spots on my mental map –to experience first-hand what roads and scenery are really like. So I sketched out a route from the Columbia River to the California border that zigzags several times over the Cascades, winds its way through four national forests and one national park, and follows three designated scenic byways. Like any good motorcycle route, it would take at least twice as long as a more direct path.

2019 Yamaha Tracer 900 GT
The ride route from Stevenson, Washington, to Red Bluff, California.

Click here to view the route above on the REVER app/website

With the GT’s saddlebags packed and a tailbag strapped to the passenger seat, I hit the road at 6 a.m., crossing the mighty Columbia – and into Oregon – on the Bridge of the Gods, a steel truss bridge named after a natural dam that was created by a landslide at the same location nearly 1,000 years ago. The narrow, 90-year-old bridge has no pedestrian walkway, but it’s where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the river, so weary hikers with heavy packs must contend with cars and trucks.

The Bridge of the Gods spans the Columbia River, which forms the border between Washington and Oregon.

What makes the Cascades special is its many stratovolcanoes –the cone-shaped variety we learned about in grade school –that rise thousands of feet above the surrounding mountains. I’ve ridden along the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in California dozens of times, and every time I pass through the town of Lone Pine, I struggle to pick out Mount Whitney – the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states – from the neighboring peaks that are nearly as tall. On the Tracer 900 GT press ride we saw several volcanic peaks, Mount Adams (12,281 feet) and Mount St. Helens (8,363 feet – before it blew its top in 1980, it was 1,300 feet taller) in Washington, and Mount Hood (11,249 feet) in Oregon, standing head and shoulders above the landscape, easily visible from miles away. They’re part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a series of 12 volcanoes stretching from Mount Silverthorne in British Columbia to Mount Lassen in California, which is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire –more than 450 volcanoes scattered along the outer edge of the Pacific Ocean.

When Washington’s Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, it literally blew its top, erasing 1,300 feet from its peak. This view is from McClellan Overlook, off Curly Creek Road, in Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

Like a good omen, snow-covered Mount Hood greeted me as I turned south on State Route 35, the beginning of Mount Hood Scenic Byway, where I rode through apple farms on a sunny, cloudless July morning. The previous day topped out at 105 degrees, and the heat wave wasn’t done with me, but early in the morning the byway along the East Fork Hood River was still in deep shadow and my teeth began to chatter. On went the heated grips, and I tried to hold onto the physical memory ofbeing cold, hoping to recall that feeling during theheat of the day (it never works). With graceful curves and smooth pavement, the byway is a pleasure to ride, especially when the screen of trees falls away and Mount Hood takes center stage, framed perfectly in brilliant blue.

Mount Hood Scenic Byway, one of many scenic byways that meander through the Cascades, cuts a wide arc around its namesake peak.

After cutting a wide arc around the eastern and southern sides of Mount Hood, my first crossing of the Cascades came to an end in Sandy. Turning south and then east on State Routes 211 and 224, I picked up the West Cascades Scenic Byway, heading southeast along Estacada Lake and North Fork Reservoir, two finger lakes created by dams on lower sections of the Clackamas River. As the byway crosses into Mount Hood National Forest, it enters a deep, narrow valley as it climbs up into the Cascades, where the Clackamas flows wild and free. The Tracer and I were in a groove, experiencing this road together for the first time –bends, kinks, dips, rises, bridges, blind corners, and fleeting views of the river, the contours of which give the road its character.

A postcard view of Oregon’s Mount Hood from Bennet Pass Trailhead, just off State Route 35 on the Mount Hood Scenic Byway.

With the low-fuel light on, I pulled into Detroit, a crossroads on the shore of Detroit Lake. Folks were starting their summer weekend early. Subarus laden with kayaks and pickups overflowing with camping gear were parked in lots, coolers were being filled with ice and beer. I refueled and scarfed an egg salad sandwich in the shadow of Rivers Run Deli, trying to stay cool while enjoying a view of the marina and the lake’s milky blue water. When traveling solo and covering a lot of miles in just a few days, I rarely stop for long. Just a few minutes here and there, then I’m back in the saddle, trying to cram 10 pounds of riding into a 5-pound sack.

Roads in the Cascades often carve their way through lush forests, with the curving pavement winding in and out of shadows.

From Detroit to Chemult – south, zig west, zag east, back over the Cascades –all I remember are trees, and a cross-section of America. Stopping to use the bathroom at a McDonald’s, I had to negotiate my way through a crowd of boisterous kids wearing matching blue T-shirts bearing the name of their church summer camp, ready to fill their bellies with Happy Meals. Outside, two young women were sitting on the curb, holding a sign: Family in Need. And next door I topped off the Tracer’s tank after the flirtatious – not to mention bald and tattooed – gas station attendant handed me the nozzle. (In Oregon and New Jersey, you’re not allowed to pump your own gas, but attendants often let motorcyclists break the law.) I was just passing through, little more than an observer. Experiences like these give me something to mentally chew on while ticking off miles.

2019 Yamaha Tracer 900 GT
The 500-mile Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway runs through Oregon and California, connecting volcanic peaks in the Cascades.

Passing through Chemult, a truck stop on U.S. Route 97 brought back memories of stopping there to refuel during my one and only SaddleSore 1000 ride back in 2013 – a very long day that I’m not likely to repeat. Turning west on State Route 138, the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway took me to Crater Lake National Park, where I queued up behind a rumbling Harley and a line of cars and RVs outside the northern gate, keeping my faceshield closed to prevent the army of mosquitos from waging war on my nose. Crater Lake was high on my list of must-see places, and it didn’t disappoint. Created thousands of years ago when a volcano collapsed, the caldera lake is nearly 2,000 feet deep – the deepest in the U.S. – and because it is filled only by rain and snow, the water is pure and a brilliant shade of blue. But I was pressed for time and there were construction delays on the East Rim Road, so I’ll have to go back to ride the full loop.

Taking in the brilliant blue of 2,000-foot-deep Crater Lake, a collapsed volcano filled with thousands of years’ worth of rain and snow.

On the not-politically-correct but wonderfully twisty Dead Indian Road, I descended from the green heaven of the Cascades into the dry, brown hell of Ashland. It’s actually a lovely little town, home to Southern Oregon University and the world-famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival, but it was over 100 degrees and I had been in the saddle for 12 hours. I was in desperate need of a cold shower, a colder beer, and some pizza.

The next day I left the Cascades, riding a few miles south on Interstate 5 into California, where I filled up at a Chevron in Hornbrook. On both sides of the interstate and all around the gas station, the ground and vegetation were charred black from the Klamathon Fire, which roared through just days earlier. It was one of many wildfires that would plague California and other western states in the weeks and months ahead.

More blanks filled in on my mental map: State Route 96 along the Klamath and Trinity rivers, which cuts through rugged, remote country. In 1941, a group of armed men stopped traffic near the town of Yreka, handing out a Proclamation of Independence for the State of Jefferson, which was in “patriotic rebellion against the States of California and Oregon.” Although the new state never materialized, the movement is still active, and the State of Jefferson Scenic Byway runs along Route 96 from State Route 263 to Happy Camp. After that, 96 becomes the Bigfoot Scenic Byway. Regardless of one’s views on state politics or mythical forest dwellers, the riding along Route 96 is sublime and traffic is almost nonexistent.

Sasquatch sighting in Happy Camp, California, on State Route 96, where the State of Jefferson Scenic Byway turns into the Bigfoot Scenic Byway.

At Willow Creek, I turned west onto State Route 299, known as the Trinity Heritage Scenic Byway because it follows the path of 19th-century gold miners and pioneers. It snakes its way through the heavily wooded Trinity Alps and climbs over a pass before making a long descent to the coast. Even in mid-July, U.S. Route 101 through Arcata, Eureka, and Fortuna was socked in with chilly fog. At Alton, I turned east again, heading inland on State Route 36 –not a designated scenic byway, but known as Serpent to the Sea. Traveling west-to-east, it passes through a few rural communities before entering Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park, where enormous coast redwoods rise hundreds of feet above the roadside.

Beyond Bridgeville, Route 36 turns into a narrow goat path as it goes over a ridge, but it’s currently being straightened and widened to accommodate big trucks and RVs –an improvement for them but not for motorcyclists. East of Dinsmore, Route 36 was freshly paved, like having a racetrack all to myself, scraping the Tracer’s peg feelers in corner after corner. And on it goes, over more mountains with endless curves and finally roller-coastering its way through ranch land with blind crests and sudden drops and quick turns. As I approached the town of Red Bluff, just before Route 36 crosses I-5, I found the well-known sign that warns motorists and entices motorcyclists: curvy roads next 140 miles.

This sign tells motorcyclists everything they need to know. Good times ahead!

The thing about riding roads as good as these is that it becomes addictive. Now that I have experienced the Cascades and California Routes 96 and 36 for myself, all I want to do is go back for more.

The post Tracing the Cascades on a Yamaha Tracer 900 GT first appeared on Rider Magazine.
Source: RiderMagazine.com

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Favorite Ride: Los Angeles Aqueduct

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Trails and service roads on the aqueduct
Near the desert town of Mojave, trails and service roads lie on top of the underground aqueduct. (Photos by Rob Day & Rob Glass)

The Los Angeles Aqueduct is an engineering marvel, a 233-mile channel that carries Sierra snow melt from California’s Owens Valley into the San Fernando Valley. Its five-year construction, completed in 1913, changed the face of Southern California. Without it, there would be no Los Angeles.

But because of it, there was tragedy. Draining the Owens Valley destroyed an entire farming region and turned to dust a lake once grand enough that steamboats crossed it. Building a dam to hold the stolen waters resulted in the second deadliest disaster ever to strike California when the dam collapsed.

Los Angeles Aqueduct
Los Angeles Aqueduct ride route from Pearsonville to Santa Paula, California

Click here to view the route above on the REVER app/website

Much of the aqueduct is open waterway, but the rest is a covered concrete channel. And most of that channel functions as a public road. We took a trio of Harley-Davidson Pan Americas and tried to see how much of it we could ride.

It was a hot May morning when we set out from Zakar, a compound that serves as base camp for RawHyde’s adventure motorcycle training school in the Mojave Desert. We wanted to beat the worst of the heat, so shortly after dawn we dashed up State Route 14 to U.S. Route 395 and exited at 9 Mile Canyon Road to catch our first leg of the aqueduct.

Aqueduct pipes
German-made steel plates were fashioned into massive pipes for this section of the aqueduct.

On maps, it’s called “Los Angeles Aqueduct.” Under our tires, it was a crunchy, crusty roadway, often covered entirely in sand and gravel, that followed the contours of the lowest reaches of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. We had to leave the hills after a few miles as the aqueduct went underground, running in tunnels through the foothills. (The aqueduct includes 142 such tunnels, comprising 52 miles of its total length.)

Back on the slab, we stopped for cold drinks at Robber’s Roost Ranch, and again at Jawbone Canyon Store, the “Mad Max” meets “Motocross Zombies from Hell” waystation popular with the off-road bike and buggy crowd. Further south, we were able to pick up the aqueduct again from Pine Tree Canyon Road. From there, we had a spirited 13-mile run of sand and concrete climbing high above the flat desert floor before dropping us down into the town of Mojave.

This store, located on Route 14 near the Jawbone Canyon OHV area, is a favorite of desert off-roaders.

The aqueduct left the mountains, taking us with it for a higher-speed run across the Antelope Valley. From Oak Creek Road we accessed the aqueduct again, then barnstormed our way through wind farms, skirted past Willow Springs International Raceway, crossed Tehachapi Willow Springs Road, and ran across the desert for 30 miles of flat-out fun.

It was a good chance to test the new Harley-Davidson off-roader in a desert setting. I had been impressed on previous rides by the bike’s behavior, but in the sandy sections I came to admire it even more (especially with the optional knobby tires). So did my colleagues. By the end of this stretch, even those of us who own GS or GSA machines agreed the Pan America handled the sand better than our beloved BMWs.

Aqueduct concrete roadway
Portions of the aqueduct, which originally had a rounded top, now function as concrete roadways – where the sand hasn’t buried them.

Along here we also got to see several different types of aqueducts. There were sections with a flat concrete top, older sections covered in curved concrete ribs –the standard before someone figured out you could use the top of the aqueduct as an access road if you flattened it –and even a mile-long section of above-ground pipe, built from massive 12-foot-diameter rounds brought in by mule teams.

At State Route 138, we stopped at the Neenach Cafe and Market for a cold drink. From there, we rode tarmac into the foothills, through the towns of Lake Hughes and Elizabeth Lake, past the legendary motorcycle stop The Rock Inn and into Green Valley and San Francisquito Canyon.

San Francisquito Canyon pumping station
Water ran through the aqueduct to a huge pumping station in San Francisquito Canyon. Hundreds of lives were lost when the dam broke, but some of its 100-year-old turbines still operate today.

It was in this canyon that William Mulholland and the brain trust behind the mighty aqueduct decreed that Los Angeles’ water should be stored. A concrete gravity dam –virtually identical to the Mulholland Dam that still holds up Lake Hollywood –was constructed in a narrow section of the canyon. The St. Francis Dam was completed in 1926. Two years later, and only hours after Mulholland had inspected the dam and deemed it safe and stable, the structure gave way.

Just before midnight on March 12, 1928, a wall of water 180 feet high surged down the canyon. More than 12 billion gallons of water left the dam within the next hour. Entire communities were engulfed and swept away. At least 431 lives, and perhaps many more, were lost.

Aqueduct pipes in the mountains
Emerging from the hillsides, the huge aqueduct pipes carry water overhead as it traverses mountains.

We rode our Pan Americas along a dirt path toward the original dam site. Beside the trail were massive chunks of concrete, some as big as a Winnebago, remnants of the fallen structure. Returning to the road, we continued down the canyon to Power Plant 2, where aqueduct water runs through turbines to create electricity. We’d only intended to admire the exterior of the building. But a building superintendent, noticing our bikes in the parking lot, let us in for an impromptu tour of the remarkable facility, which still uses the same turbines that were installed more than a hundred years ago –some of them recovered after the disaster from miles down the canyon.

Our interest wasn’t only in the disaster. There was a motorcycling purpose to our visit, too. The last person to see the dam before it blew was a motorcyclist named Ace Hopewell, who heard rumblings above the noise of his engine and stopped to listen before riding on.

There were motorcycle heroes, too. State Motorcycle Officer Thornton Edwards and Santa Paula Police Officer Stanley Baker were notified of the dam’s collapse, and at great risk to themselves raced from street to street in Santa Paula sounding the alarm. The two riders are credited with saving hundreds of lives, as the people they woke from sleep were able to escape being swept away by the rushing waters.

Statue in Santa Paula
This statue in Santa Paula honors the two police officers who rode through the night to warn residents after the dam had collapsed.

To pay tribute to these men, we rode south from Power Plant 2, across Castaic, past Magic Mountain, along the part of State Route 126 that was once home to the motocross track known as Indian Dunes, and into the town of Santa Paula. To fortify ourselves we stopped at Rabalais’ Bistro for strong coffee, hot beignets, and plates of gumbo, red beans and rice with andouille sausage, and shrimp and grits.

At sunset, we stood near the old Santa Paula train station and admired local artist Eric Richards’ metalwork statue entitled “The Warning.” It depicts the two valiant motorcycle officers, one astride an Indian and the other a Harley, as they made their rounds that deadly night. As dark began to suggest itself in Santa Paula, we headed back, making as quick a trip as possible on pavement to return to our starting point. We’d ridden 180 miles to get to the statue of the two heroes, 50 of that on sandy aqueduct. It took us 100 miles of high-speed pavement to get back to Zakar.

Wind turbines in the Antelope Valley
Water pumped through the aqueduct powers electrical generators, which now get assistance from wind turbines in the Antelope Valley.

The post Favorite Ride: Los Angeles Aqueduct first appeared on Rider Magazine.
Source: RiderMagazine.com

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F.C.C. TSR Honda head honcho Masakazu Fujii on his life in motorcycling

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Masakazu Fujii

Masakazu Fujii has led his Honda-powered team to victory in the Endurance World Championship and engineered motorcycles that have won Grand Prix and TT races

Few other people in modern motorcycling have had a career quite like Masa Fujii’s. The Japanese veteran’s team has won World Championship Grand Prix races, the Le Mans 24 hours, the Suzuka Eight Hours and the Endurance World Championship, while his motorcycles have won everything from GP races to Isle of Man TTs.

Most of Fujii’s life has been lived with motorcycles, always Honda, because his father was friends with company founder Soichiro Honda, prompting a lifelong love of Honda machinery.

And yet he didn’t fall in love with motorcycles immediately.

“The first time I rode one was with my dad,” recalls Fujii, who’s based in Barcelona, Spain. “I didn’t like motorcycles at first, so it took time for me to like them and start racing. Then it didn’t take long for me to start loving them. Now motorcycles are my life. I plan on living with motorcycles and exploring with them for the rest of my life!”

A younger Masakazu Fujii and father Teruyoshi

Fuji’s father Teruyoshi played his part in Japan’s motorcycle boom of the 1950s, kickstarted by the creation of Honda Motor Co, Ltd and other marques. Soichiro Honda encouraged Fujii to move to Suzuka City, where Honda were building Japan’s first racetrack, the Suzuka Circuit. Fujii established Technical Sports in 1963, the year after Suzuka opened. Masa took over the company in 1984 and still adheres to his father’s philosophies.

“Dad made the organisation of Technical Sports with Honda and raced as a factory team. I watched first-hand how he lived. Race results, photos, trophies, I don’t keep any of them, so there’s nothing left. That’s my habit. My dad was like that. He used to throw away his trophies, and as a child I’d pick them up and keep them. He didn’t care about those things, and after a while that’s how I became.

“He used to say that riders know the path and that everything is possible with motorcycles – they’re 3D, they can go anywhere. I believe they’re the best kind of transportation given to mankind. Riding a motorcycle makes life that much more wonderful.”

Australian Josh Hook has been with Masakazu Fujii and the F.C.C. TSR Honda France squad since 2016

Fujii’s team contested the Suzuka Eight Hours for the first time in 1990. The following year he renamed his company Technical Sports Racing (TSR) and entered rider Noboru Ueda in the 1991 Japanese 125cc GP. This was Ueda’s GP debut but he won the race anyway, encouraging Fujii to embark on a full World Championship programme with the youngster, who became one of the most popular riders in GP racing over the next decade.

In 1997 TSR graduated to the premier class, the 500cc World Championship, with Nobuatsu Aoki, riding a Honda NSR500. Aoki had an amazing rookie season, finishing third overall – on the championship podium! – behind factory Honda riders Mick Doohan and Tadayuki Okada.

Fujii took his company to the next level in the late 1990s, building 125cc and 250cc GP bikes, always powered by Honda engines. These machines were extremely popular with riders and achieved many successes across the sport. In 1999 Briton John McGuinness won the 250cc Isle of Man TT on a TSR Honda RS250 and two years later Ueda won the Italian 125cc GP aboard a TSR Honda RS125.

2012 Suzuka 8 Hour
2012 Suzuka 8 Hour winners: Johnathan Rea/Kousuke Akiyoshi/Tadayuki Okada
F.C.C. TSR Honda CBR1000RR

From the turn of the century Fujii focused his attentions on four-stroke racing, especially the hugely prestigious Suzuka Eight Hours race, taking victory in 2006, 2011 and 2012. By this time TSR had built a global reputation for its performance parts – in 2012 Marc Marquez won the Moto2 World Championship using a TSR quick-shifter in his Honda CBR600-powered Moto2 bike.

Masakazu Fujii

In 2016 Fujii embarked on another global pilgrimage, contesting the Endurance World Championship. Now based in Europe, he went into partnership with Honda France – famed for its success in endurance racing since the 1970s – and the team became F.C.C.TSR Honda France. This new partnership was immediately successful, winning the endurance world title in the 2017-2018 season.

Bol Dor FCC TSR Honda Win
20178-18 FIM World Endurance Champions F.C.C. TSR Honda France

F.C.C. TSR Honda France has achieved a total of three 24-hour wins: the 2018 and 2020 Le Mans races and the 2018 Bol d’Or. All these events were won using Honda CBR1000RR and CBR1000RR-R Fireblade machinery, tuned and prepared by TSR staff.

“It’s been Honda since I was born. Since I was born everything was Honda – cars, bikes and even lawnmowers!”

Fujii loves endurance racing for the unique challenge it represents to teams, riders and engineers.

“MotoGP, which I love, is a 100-metre sprint. Endurance racing is a marathon, and once you reach the finish there’s a unique feeling of achievement.

“My TSR team’s advantage is that we are always a small team. In 1991 we went to the Grands Prix with five us one, one of them our rider, all of us Japanese. In our EWC team we have a few Japanese members and we are gradually growing, with Spanish and French people working with us.”

In 2022 the F.C.C. TSR Honda France team will contest its seventh season in the Endurance World Championship with riders Josh Hook, Mike Di Meglio and Gino Rea riding the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP. Fujii will be there every step of the way – from the gruelling heat of Suzuka to the cold of the night at Spa-Francorchamps – as he looks to add to the Fireblade’s amazing run of success in endurance racing.

Masakazu Fujii

Source: MCNews.com.au

MotoGP, News

Kevin Magee’s 1992 Yamaha YZR 500 0WE0 two-stroke GP racer

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1992 Yamaha YZR 0WE0

With Phil Aynsley

This is the factory Yamaha YZR 0WE0 ridden by Kevin Magee to second place in the 1992 500cc All Japan Championship, where Magee finished behind fellow Aussie Daryl Beattie on an NSR Honda. Peter Goddard had won the Championship for Yamaha on the 0WD3 the previous year, so it was a good time for Aussie riders!

Kevin Magee's 1992 Yamaha YZR 0WE0
Kevin Magee’s 1992 Yamaha YZR 0WE0

The owner has bodywork in both the 0088 AJC colours (seen in the two images of Kevin demoing the bike), as well as in 1989 Team Roberts Lucky Strike colours.

Kevin Magee's 1992 Yamaha YZR 0WE0
Kevin Magee’s 1992 Yamaha YZR 0WE0

The bike is fairly unusual for the period in retaining the factory frame. Most factory YZRs, even the GP teams, were using the ROC chassis.

Kevin Magee's 1992 Yamaha YZR 0WE0
Kevin Magee’s 1992 Yamaha YZR 0WE0

Yamaha experimented with various firing orders during the year (180º was the normal) with a 0-90º “big bang” motor being used from half way through the GP season. Kevin preferred a 90-270º firing order however – but this wasn’t used in GPs. The output of 160 hp was 5 hp up on the 1991 0WD3.

Source: MCNews.com.au

News

The Magni Guzzi Sfida 1000

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Magni Guzzi Sfida 1000

With Phil Aynsley

Arturo Magni joined the MV Agusta race department in 1950 and remained there as the department manager until MV quit racing in 1977. He, together with his sons, then went into business modifying road-going MVs with new frames, chain final drive and bodywork.

However realising that there were only so many potential MV customers, they soon turned to modifying first Hondas, then BMWs and finally, in 1985, Moto Guzzis.

Magni Guzzi Sfida 1000

The first Magni Guzzi was the “Le Mans” and it featured Magni’s new developed ‘parallelogrammo’ rear suspension system which was designed to cancel the torque reaction of the shaft drive. The “Classico 1000” and “Arturo 1000” models were released in ’87 and then in ’89 the “Sfida” (Challenge).

The Sfida was styled to recall Italian racing bikes of the ‘60s such as Gilera and MV Agusta with its sculpted tank and humped seat. The motor was the 1000 cc two-valve unit used by the Guzzi LeMans and made around 90 hp.

Magni Guzzi Sfida 1000

A 400 cc model (smaller and lighter than the 1000) was developed when 90 400 cc motors became available from Moto Guzzi. They were sold in Japan and fitted with 18 inch wheels and Marzocchi suspension.

About 58 Sfida 1000s were produced before the Sfida 1100 was introduced in 1996. This still used the LeMans motor but fitted with a big-bore kit. A new chassis (retaining the parallelogrammo rear end) was used, together with Forcelle Italia front forks, Koni rear shocks and Gold Line Brembo brakes.

Magni Guzzi Sfida 1000

The next Sfida update was in 1997 with the 1100 ie Biposto which employed Guzzi’s electronic fuel-injection and had a convertible dual seat. The biggest change to the model came the following year with the introduction of the four-valve 1000cc Daytona engine. Output was raised to 102 hp. A monoshock version of the parallelogramo rear suspension was fitted.

The final Sfida model was the Giappone 52 (Japan 52) built to commemorate both the 20th anniversary of the company’s founding and 50 years for the Japanese importer, Fukuda Motors. The 1100ie motor was used and a full fairing featuring large bulges with air scoops was fitted. As the name implies, 52 were built.

The bike seen here is a 1991 Sfida 1000 and was photographed in New Zealand. The original red paint has faded somewhat.

Source: MCNews.com.au

News

F.B. Mondial 200E model and Comfort prototype

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F.B. Mondial 200E

With Phil Aynsley

F.B. Mondial was founded by Giuseppe Boselli in 1948 purely to make racing motorcycles. It succeeded brilliantly winning every race of the 1949, 1950 and 1951 125cc World Championships!

The early success resulted in public demand for road bikes so in late 1949 the company’s first production street bike was displayed, the 125 Turismo.

Designer Alfonso Drusiani made sure the bike’s appearance echoed that of the race bikes with a silver and blue paint scheme and a similar motor bottom end, although the barrel and head were very different.

In 1951 a 200cc model was released. It employed a similar blade front forks and plunger rear suspension to the 125 models which had expanded to include Sport and Super Sport versions, as well as the same style tank and bodywork.

F.B. Mondial 200E

The new motor used an enlarged version of the 125’s bottom end with the biggest changes (apart from the capacity) being the barrel and head. Two rounded protuberances on the head covers suggested that this was a DOHC design. However they were purely cosmetic and the motor was in fact a simple OHV design.

For 1953 the 200 received telescopic front forks and a swing arm rear suspension and was available in both Turismo and Sport versions.

1955 saw the 200 referred to as the Extra Lusso – a name Mondial used for their sport touring models. The bike seen here is a 1955 model. It had been restored in Italy prior the the current owner purchasing it but the white tank striping is an incorrect shape and should be confined to the rear of the tank only.

Output was 12 hp and top speed reached 110 km/h.

200 production ceased in 1957. However the following year a handful (perhaps only two) of prototypes were built of a 200 Comfort model. These were designed with the American market in mind but did not proceed to production.

The motors appear to be bored out 175 ST (which had entered production in ’57) units rather than the old 200 unit. That makes the original and unrestored bike I photographed a very rare bike indeed!

Source: MCNews.com.au

Motorcycle News, News

Brian Case: Ep. 28 Rider Magazine Insider Podcast

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Brian Case Rider Magazine Insider Podcast

Our guest on Episode 28 of the Rider Magazine Insider Podcast is Brian Case. Brian is an industrial designer is the former Chief Designer for Confederate Motorcycles. From 2008 to 2018, he was Co-Founder and Design Director for Motus Motorcycles, where he led the design and development of the MST V-4 sport-tourer. Brian joined the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in 2019, and last year he became the Director of the new Barber Advanced Design Center. He and his team are working with Pierre Terblanche on the Mono Project, a reimagining of Terblanche’s iconic, ’90s-era Ducati Supermono racebike using state-of-the-art techniques such as 3D printing.

Links: Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, Barber Museum YouTube Channel

You can listen to Episode 28 on iTunes, Spotify, and SoundCloud, or via the Rider Magazine Insider webpage. Please subscribe, leave us a 5-star rating, and tell your friends! Scroll down for a list of previous episodes.

Visit the Rider Magazine Insider podcast webpage to check out previous episodes:

The post Brian Case: Ep. 28 Rider Magazine Insider Podcast first appeared on Rider Magazine.
Source: RiderMagazine.com

News

Obscure Italian manufacturer Pegaso (Pegasus)

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Pegaso Motorcycles

With Phil Aynsley

Pegaso (Pegasus) was a product of the Milan based SIM (Società Italiana Motori) which was founded by two former employees of the Motom factory in 1954. They collaborated with OPM who provided the frames and Taglietti who did the assembly. The motor had marked similarities to Motom’s own 48cc unit.

Obscure Italian manufacturer Pegaso (Pegasus)

Both mopeds and motorcycles were made with the models being the T, GT, S and 1959 GT.

All shared the same 48cc OHV 4-stroke motor that had a 3-speed gearbox.

A pressed steel backbone frame was also a common feature.

 SIM closed in 1961 (or possibly 1964, reports differ). 

This bike is thought to be a T but the model year is unknown.

Source: MCNews.com.au

News

Ducati 500 Sport Desmo

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Ducati 500 Sport Desmo

With Phil Aynsley

I covered Ducati’s first production parallel twin, the 500GTL, in an earlier column (link). Now we can have a look at the more successful follow up models.

Ducati 500 Sport Desmo

Due to the public’s poor response to the GTL the company rapidly introduced the Sport Desmo the following year, 1976. Leo Tartarini was responsible for the new styling (later used on the Darmah V-twin) which completely transformed the look of the bike.

While the change to Desmo valve operation was the biggest engine modification, other improvements included the compression ratio being raised to 9.6:1 and together with larger 30 mm carburettors the result was a power increase to about 50 hp at 8500 rpm – a marked improvement over the GTL’s 35 hp! Weight however had risen from 170 to 185 kg.

Ducati 500 Sport Desmo

Other changes from the GTL were the use of a double downtube frame (still using the motor as a stressed member), cast FPS wheels and a rear disc brake.

A 350 cc version was also built with 1,166 produced up until 1980. The one seen here was imported to gauge demand and probably the only one in Australia. It is original condition and ridden regularly.

Ducati 350 Sport Desmo

Given Australia was Ducati’s largest export market during the ‘70s we received reasonable quantities of 500 Sport Desmos with 224 reaching these shores.

Interestingly the bike seen here is one of the final batch of 67 Sport Desmo’s requested by the Australian importers Frasers in 1983, four years after the previous order. As with Frasers’ 1978 orders of the 750GT and Sport, this last batch of 500 Sport Desmo’s were also likely built from parts.

The only difference to the earlier bikes was the use of Oscam wheels – although this bike has one of each! It is fitted with aftermarket Hagon rear shocks and a dogleg clutch lever.

The Ducati 500GTV

The 500GTV replaced the GTL in 1977 and used the styling and chassis of the Sport Desmo with the valve-spring heads of the GTL.

Differences to the SD included the engine cases being painted black, different body work paint colours, a kick starter, higher handlebars and a full dual seat.

Production ceased in 1981 with 700 500s (36 imported to Australia in ‘77) and 958 350s built.

A line up of parallel-twins in Carlo Saltarelli’s collection in 2008. The green bike is a 350GTV and the red bike a 350GTL.

Source: MCNews.com.au