The Six Hippies Ride

     My friend, Tony Capriotti, has nine and a half fingers and an insatiable need to know how things work .A machinist and the son of a machinist, he sacrificed half a digit to chain and sprocket research as a junior scientist.

     When I first met Tony he rode a Honda FT500 Ascot thumper--a dogbreath motorcycle if ever there was one ...except that Tony's was one of the best sorted motorcycles I'd ever seen. He'd done nothing to the engine, which still put out a pathetic twenty-five horsepower or so. In fact the Ascot had received no performance enhancing modifications; beyond the addition of a premium aftermarket shock. I remember that it had a slightly customized Corbin seat and a set of adjustable handlebars from a Honda Nighthawk which he'd further customized to get the perfect bend and reach. Tony's a rather small fellow--five feet five--and I remember thinking that I'd never seen a street bike with such attention to personal fit.

     One day I loaned Tony my Honda TransAlp (XL600R), and the next thing I knew, he'd purchased an identical white, blue and red '89 model. Within days he'd fitted it with Givi luggage (customized for a slimmer profile), lowered it slightly and added a few other creative touches which made life with TransAlp more liveable. Tony loved that bike, and I inherited some of the trickle down technology from the little custom parts he fabricated. But alas, after dropping the TransAlp for the second or third time, he concluded that it simply was too tall of a bike and switched his attentions to a Honda NX650 thumper. A BMW R850R came and went, but the NX stayed, primarily used as transportation to Tony's job as a math teacher at a school for automotive technicians.

     At some point--I think before he sold the BM--Tony purchased a new Suzuki SV650S, which he fit with a top case for commuting, a custom seat and suspension upgrades for track days. He claimed that it was the most perfectly suited motorcycle he'd ever ridden, but then one day he brought home a leftover Kawasaki W650, promptly swapping out the handlebars and fitting a small set of Givi panniers. This one, he says, is the most fun bike he's ever had for just getting on and riding.

     Oh--and I forgot to mention that he works evenings at the local BMW dealership, where he snagged a killer deal on a pre-owned but unused F650GS. An NX, an SV, a WR and a GS. The man's trying to corner the world market on 650s!

     Fortunately, he's not succeeded. Though our average displacement through this year's first month of training rides was 1198cc, I now find myself breaking bread in rain soaked western North Carolina with seven good natured companions, five of them on 650cc or smaller machines. Our voluble hostess, Hylah, bursting though the swinging kitchen door with a tray of delectables, overheard the predictable bike prattle and remarked, "What about the six hippies?" Thus was born, the Tour of the Six Hippies.

     Bob Foley,59, of Seagrove Beach, FL, rides a pristine red1990 Honda Hawk GT (aka NTV650). He's ridden motorcycles for thirty-five years and owned twenty bikes, the largest an 1100cc Suzuki and the penultimate a Honda VFR800. Foley actually bought the Hawk for his wife, hoping it would transform her from around town scooterist to weekend sport tourer. Mrs. Foley failed to take the bait, but Bob soon discovered it was the machine he'd been searching for all his riding career.

     "The reason I was attracted to (the Hawk) was the lightweight, ease of handling, the balance that the V twin gives you, the seat height--so I can actually put both feet on the floor--just the all around great handling of the bike."

     Linda Graydon, 47, La Fayette, GA, started riding seven years ago on a Yamaha 500 Virago, graduated to a 750 Virago and then a Kawasaki Concours (1100), which she says she handled "okay." She discovered the BMW F650 Funduro last year on a tour of the Alps.

     "From riding it three days in Europe, I fell in love with it. It's light, I can maneuver it, and it's quick. It's got a lot of pep. The seating position is perfect for me. I like the standard seating position. I feel like I have good control of the bike."

     Lawrence Holden, 49, and Jerry Smith, 47, of Poplarville, MS, have been riding buddies since they rode bicycles together in junior high school. They do a lot of touring together, Lawrence on his Yamaha Venture and Jerry on his Electra Glide, but they elected to ride their 650 dualsports to the Smoky Mountains through 600 miles of the heaviest spring rain in years.

     Says Jerry, who owns two Harleys and two 650s (a BMW F650 Dakar model and a Suzuki DR650): "In the mountains the Dakar handles the curves great. I like to be able to go offroad--gravel roads, forest service roads. It's got luggage capacity. It's just a lot of fun up here."

     Holden, with thirty-two years experience has owned nine bikes, three at the present time. His favorite?

     "It depends on what I'm doing. If I'm on the highway, I like the Venture; for everything else, I like the KLR. It's light, and it's easy to maneuver. It goes three hundred miles on a tank of gas. You can go offroad. If you're just going around town, it's a lot easier to park ...you can dodge traffic."

     Then there's my good friend and co-instructor, Pete Tamblyn, 63 years young, of Alto, GA; ridden motorcycles since the days of manual spark advance. The 1989 Honda TransAlp he's riding on this trip is 67cc shy of being a real 650, although Honda Europe's current iteration rolls off the Italian assembly line with the Hawk's 647cc motor. Pete owns "about sixteen bikes" at the present, including a Honda ST1100 and reckons he's owned about fifty total, the largest being a 1500cc Kawasaki Vulcan. Is the TransAlp his favorite?

     "It is every time I get off of it," he quips. When pressed, he names the TransAlp and the Hawk GT before his voice trails off, unable to recall additional contenders.

     "My first 650 Triumph was a dualsport," says Tamblyn. "I rode it to Arizona, flat-tracked on it, commuted on it." Pete's also toured Europe, led Pancho Villa tours of Mexico and Central America and knows every dirt, gravel and paved road in the southern highlands.

     "When I ride bikes like the TransAlp and Hawk," says Pete, "I feel like I'm cheating."

     I didn't mention the guys on our ride who aren't riding 650s. There's Luis Santiago, 41, a first year rider from Cincinnati on a Honda 750 Shadow Ace. Luis--why didn't you buy a 650?

     "Cause I didn't know how good a bike they are," he shrugs. After riding for three days with more experienced riders on lighter machines would he consider looking into other models?

     "I'm definitely into the more sporty looking ones (now). I would certainly say the 650s, if I can get one with a lower seat height."

     Ted Panhuis, 58, of Chagrin Falls, OH is a big bike guy, owner of a BMW R1100RT who has never owned anything smaller than an 850 in six years of riding.

     "I like to tour long distance, and I don't think a 650 is ideal for that. I like the protection of the RT1100."

     Though Panhuis is a bit wet behind the ears (his 88 year old father rides a fully faired Honda 650 Silverwing scooter) his assessment is correct insofar as bike designers' unwillingness to provide smaller motorcycles with creature comforts. However, 650 engines are completely capable of providing touring smoothness and performance. If you can't outaccelerate 95% of today's cars on, say, Suzuki's SV650, then you either weigh 400 pounds or don't know how to shift gears!

     There's really no manufacturing obstacle to prevent Suzuki from packaging its wonderful 65 hp SV650 motor into a fully featured 400 pound sport or adventure tourer--just the fickle winds of market acceptance. The eccelectic mix of singles and twins which carry on the British tradition of the 650 are mellow fellows compared to the head banger fours in the red hot 600 supersport class ...but sometimes it takes an old hippy to show the kids how to rock.