I

36 Lighter is Righter

A better Yamaha YZF-R1.

-by Mark Hoyer

46 R1 -Upmanship

Harris Performance YZF.

67 Inside the Blast

What’s behind the new Buell?

-by Steve Anderson

74 Selling the Blast

Making the Buell cool.

76 Lost & Found

Tracking down Fonzie’s Triumph.

-by Wendy F. Black

80 Triumphs Past

Where are they now?

84 Flying Tiger

Old-time Triumph off-roader.

88 Suzuki DR-Z400

Suzuki’s new Thumper.

48 Aprilia SL1OOO

An Italian Twin for Everyman?

-bv Don Canet

56 Voxan Boxer

Fast by France.

-bv Kevin Cameron

58 Whither Voxan?

Ou est la motorcyclette Frangais?

60 Good news, bad news

Ducati MH900e for you and me.

62 Buell Blast

The Little Blast Theory.

96 Marsee Force Four

Ballistics Jacket

Reflect on this.

96 RecTek DirtWorker

Portable Pressure Washer

Scrub ’n’ run.

98 Spidi Carbo 1 Gloves

When price is no object.

98 Cruiserworks Cruiserboots

Updating a classic.

102 Bring on the Big Guns!

Y2K GP preview.

-by Michael Scott

12 UP FRONT

101 things to do before you die.

-bv David Edwards

14 LEANINGS

Back in the dirt.

-by Peter Egan

18 TDC

Bound to burnout?

-bv Kevin Cameron

20 Letters

26 New Ideas

28 Roundup

100 CW Library

126 Service

130 CW Showcase

139 Slipstream

Take away

what isn’t

necessary

and you’re left

with Yamaha’s

year-ZOOO

YZF-R1

I FELT LIKE HAMLET’S FATHER. MULTIPLE TIME

zones, awake when 1 should be sleeping, sleeping

when I should be awake, too much rioja on too

many flights that lasted too long, fish eyeballs

served on a cracker as an appetizer to a main

course of “steak” that seemed more likely to have

been a flambeed slice of Franco’s thigh, all whipped itself

into a cocktail of nondescript pain and low-grade suffer-

ing that conspired to make me feel like a victim.

But even after all that and another night of troubled sleep,

it was impossible to feel sorry for myself as I touched a

footpeg feeler down through a third-gear left-hander on a

new GP-spec race circuit near the eastern coast of Spain on

a pleasantly sunny day, riding what is in simple terms the

best mass-produced sportbike made. So despite the stench

of death inside my helmet, I peeled through Tum 1 at

Circuit Ricardo Tornio, near Valencia, and left the apex

behind with an overriding sense of joy. It occurred to me

that I could have gone a lot faster, but mostly that I was an

ass for thinking J was anything but lucky to be doing what I

was doing where I was doing it. Some victim!

It’s been love from the beginning with Yamaha’s YZF-

Rl. When the bike debuted in 1997, everyone was still

busy genuflecting at the altar of the 916, a machine hailed

as the Jesus of motorcycles, making evil comers good,

madmen into heroes, no-talent hacks into artists, a bike

that inspired religion and defied science by somehow

turning inferior specs and individual performance num-...