in our opinion…
NOW THE IRON BUTT IS TO START HERE
It takes all sorts. I mean that in the nicest possible way, of course. Take American Mike Kneebone for instance. Mike got his first motorcycle licence when he was 12. That was 37 years ago and he has packed 1.4-million miles of motorcycling into those years. That’s an average of nearly 38,000 miles per year – but there is nothing average about Mr Kneebone.
He has been president of the Iron Butt Association since 1987. Long distance road riding is what does it for these guys. Minimum qualification required to join their ranks is completion of a Saddlesore Rally. That’s 1000 miles in 24 hours or less. And that’s the easy one! Every two years they run the Iron Butt itself, an 11,000 miles in 11 consecutive days test of masochistic endurance.
Mike’s been there, done that and set numerous other distance records as well, including a coast to coast ride from New York to San Francisco in 47 hours! It’s a trip I would love to make, but I’d prefer taking my time over it. About 47 days would seem about right to me. I mean, I’ve spent more than 47 hours searching for my ignition key. My idea of the perfect motorcycle tour is to ride maybe 300 miles one day and perhaps none the next, to rush through the boring bits but to stop, savour and soak up the best. To me, riding from New York to San Francisco in 47 hours would be like taking a shower with your clothes on but Mr Kneebone certainly deserves his legendary status.
We feature him in this issue of MCM because he is coming to Britain to present the prizes in the first ever officially sanctioned Iron Butt Association event in the UK. Fifty riders – two with pillions – are taking part in the Brit Butt – see pages 14 and 15. It’s a 36-hour event and the person who goes up to collect the winner’s trophy from Mr Kneebone at the end of it is going to have covered something like 1500 miles.
Our own National Rally celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. Its top award winners will have ridden something like 525 miles in 24 hours. I took part myself some years ago on a Press test bike. The machine was the most powerful standard production bike in the world at the time. And how did I do? I came last, or thereabouts. You see I didn’t read the rules. Having polished off something like 400 miles in about seven hours I didn’t see the point of missing a night’s sleep so I booked into a hotel with the idea of getting up nice and early the next morning to polish off the last 125 miles or so before cruising to the final checkpoint and breakfast. What I didn’t realise is that checkpoints closed when it became impossible to ride from them to the finish at an average of 30mph. I had planned on going a little faster than that. Oh well, it takes all sorts.
Brian Tarbox, Editor
Let us know your opinion on this and other motorcycle related subjects:
Find your nearest stockest to pick up your FREE copy >>
Are Quads motorcycles with four wheels or cars with handlebars?
That’s what we asked Lee Davey to investigate 25 years after Suzuki started the whole thing off with the launch of their LT125 ATV. Additional reporting Brian Tarbox.
Air suspension. European and British champion John Mitchell in flight on his YZF450 Yamaha. He says you have to be fitter than a solo motocrosser to succeed in quad racing.
Q: So are quads cars or bikes?
A: The four wheels stick out like a very sore thumb in the two-wheeled sector but almost everything else has been liberated from the motorcycle parts bin. Apart from the extra wheels and the ability to keep both feet on the pegs at standstill, everything feels fairly familiar.
I grabbed a ride on a Quadzilla 450RS converted from a thumb-throttle to tradition twist-grip and felt right at home behind those Renthal bars… until I moved off
Q: How easy are they to ride?
A: With nice comfy seat, familiar controls and no need to take even the occasional dab, you could be forgiven for thinking it a breeze? Just open the throttle and go. I bet that’s what Ozzy Osbourne and Rick Mayall thought before they ended up in hospital after their much-publicised quad-riding mishaps.
In reality, quads demand a bit of thinking about when on the move, especially if you’re trying to pick up the pace. I had goes on a Yamaha YFZ450 motocross competition machine as well as the road-legal Quadzilla. I didn’t jump on either expecting to be on the money immediately, but with many years on bikes, a great deal of those off-road, I thought I’d get dialled-in pretty quickly. How wrong I was!
Every ounce of similarity between quad and motorcycle riding ends when you thumb the starter and knock it into gear. It’s at this point the learning curve becomes surprisingly steep – a turn of the bars is rewarded with little more than an off-line deviation, rather than the expected 90-degree rail-turn. After much trial and error, not to mention frustration and embarrassment, monumental body-weight shifting transforms the handling. It means your thighs spend more time on the seat than your buttocks do. Imagine yourself in a sumo-style crouch, sliding from side to side – that’s how cornering felt for me. Sumo attire optional.
Q: How exciting are they?
A: The 450 Quadzilla produces about 50bhp. That may not sound much but it sure feels like it. Thanks to the totally different riding experience you’ve got something that will give you a hand-trembling adrenalin rush. Don’t believe me? I spoke to an R1 owner after his session on a Yamaha 700cc Raptor quad that produces the same kind of power as the Quadzilla. He was gobsmacked and if you take one for a test ride I am sure you will be too.
- End of Sample -
