50

FEATURES

RIDER TEST

Outside the Box 50

Honda's sport-touring flagship, the 2002 Interceptor ABS.

VTEC 58

Honda VF and VFR Interceptor 60

LONG-TERM TEST

High-Mile Honda 62

The new Wing survives 33,000 miles with the Rider staff.

ON THE ROAD

Leah's Story 70

Father and daughter team up against the wilds of Oregon.

RIDDEN & RATED

Victory Tour 78

A dedicated touring cruiser from the North Star state.

88

MOTORCYCLE COLLECTOR

BMW R75/5 84

Arguably BMW's best bike series ever.

RIDDEN & RATED

Pursuit of Power 88

Ducati squeezes 11 ponies out of 2cc with the new 998.

ON THE ROAD, EH

Two Wheels to Bella Coola 92

Connecting this British Columbia town with the coast via dual-sports.

DEPARTMENTS

8'ONE-TRACK MIND

The First Picture Show

10'RESPONSE

18 * KICKSTARTS

2002 Triumph Speed Four

24'RIDING AROUND

The World's Tallest Rideable

Motorcycle

27 • Eighty Years by the Lake

36 • Summer Cop Camp

44'STAYIN' SAFE

Pieces of a Circle

46 «ON TOURING

Personal Mobility

102 • FAVORITE RIDE

Smoky Mountains Ride

108 • Pursuing the Pioneers

110'RALLIES & CLUBS

Unlost in Laconia

113 'Rider Club Connection

114-TECH Q&A

Turn Signal Turn-Off

SHOP TALK

116' Gear: Seat Pads

117* Gear: Belstaff Merlin Jacket

118' Gear Dual Star KLR Luggage

120 • Product Spotlight

121 'MODEL APPAREL AND

ADVERTISER INDEXES

122'RIDER SHOPPER

130'RETROSPECTIVE

Yamaha SRX250

NEW MODELS UPSET THE PURISTS, but it couldn't be

helped. The purists believed that BMWs were supposed to be painted an

understated black and white, with minimal chrome. Chrome didn't get you

down the road, they said. The major purpose of flashy colors and chrome, they

sneered, was to disguise poorly made, technologically obsolete machinery.

Unfortunately for the purists, flash and chrome did sell motorcycles, and the flashy, trendy

styling of BMW's /5 series sold a lot of bikes. Underneath all the chrome was an updated ver-

sion of the tried and true boxer twin, as reliable as ever, but faster and with better handling.

Eventually, even the purists gave in.

After World War II, BMW, like the rest of Germany, was shattered. All of the engineering draw-

ings of its motorcycles had been lost. The foundry made pots and pans for a while, but eventu-

ally, new blueprints were drawn and motorcycle production restarted. The first postwar singles

showed up in December 1948, and the first twins were sold just before Christmas 1949 to, ironi-

cally, the French police forces.

BMW had long been known for state-of-the-art technology and excellent quality control, clothed

in sober black and white. By the mid '30s, a time when many motorcycles had hand shifters, rigid

rear ends and girder forks, BMWs had

shaft drive, overhead valves, foot shift,

telescopic forks and plunger rear sus-

pension. The first postwar machines

were very' similar to the prewar bikes,

but newly designed 500cc and 600cc

engines were on the market by 1951,

and the famous Earles-forked tourers

were first displayed in January 1955.

The world was continuing to

evolve. Motorcycles had been cheap transportation for most of Europe for many years, but

increasing prosperity and improved production techniques brought small cars within the reach

of thousands of families. The bottom had dropped out of the utility motorcycle market, long the

mainstay' of most German factories. Adler and Horex went out of business, and BMW was in seri-

ous financial trouble for several years.

BMW's salvation was American GIs, many of whom had been impressed with the BMWs they

saw while fighting the Third Reich. An American importer was established by 1949, By the late '50s

85 percent of the twins were exported, many to the United States.

In the mid '60s, the motorcycle market started expanding again, fueled by the rising baby boom

generation. General prosperity created a demand for sporty motorcycles. The British manufactur-...