Jon Summers is the Motoring Historian. He was a company car thrashing technology sales rep that turned into a fairly inept sports bike rider. On his show he gets together with various co-hosts to talk about new and old cars, driving, motorbikes, motor racing, motoring travel.
Notes
The Cursed ‘78 Yamaha XS650
- Fleet week 2005 (?)
- MotoGP Laguna Seca 2006 (?)
Guest John rides a homemade electric bike
Buying a custom Yamaha DR125 (yes, dirt bike to race bike)
Memories of Nicky Hayden
Joey Dunlop
Is this the end of real road racing in Ireland? Does this have implications for the Isle of Man TT?
The TT in the future
The “End of Roadracing” article J refers to
Riding in England vs California vs Philippines
Some LA stories –
Snake Shopping in the San Fernando Valley
Riding: Topanga Canyon (Highway 27), Angeles Crest, Mulholland,
J’s CBR race bike on the Pacific Coast Highway
A ZX10 in a Canyon
The Upside Down Harley
The Fireblade in the Tree
John – Honda CB or BMW?
Quick Fire –
First bike
Last one you bought
The “one that got away”
Best bike
Worst bike
If l could ride like anyone, it would be…
Transcript
[00:00:00] John Summers is the motoring historian. He was a company car thrashing, technology sales rep that turned into a fairly inept sports bike rider. Hailing from California, he collects cars and bikes built with plenty of cheap and fast, and not much reliable. On his show, he gets together with various co hosts to talk about new and old cars, driving, motorbikes, motor racing, and motoring travel.
Good day, good morning, good afternoon, wherever you may be. It’s John Summers, the motoring historian, um, with his old school friend, Mark Gami. How are you, Mark? Cheers. Pretty good. And, uh, today we have California. Filipino friend, John Garcia joining us. Say hello, John. Hi. Um, so look, right, we’re going to talk about motorcycles because John’s mostly about [00:01:00] motorcycles.
Um, why don’t we begin at the beginning with a cursed navy blue Yamaha XS650. Now, do you know this story, Mark Gami? Uh, no. Right. When I remember when I first moved to California, I knew one person, Mark Newton, right? And Mark Newton said to me when I was first in California, Um, what are you going to do about cars or, you know, bikes or like getting around?
And I was like, I don’t know. And he went, Oh, I’ve got this Yamaha XS650. If you want, it’s just outside my shop. Looking back, right, that was ominous, right? Because what had happened was Mark had got pissed off with it, constantly draining the battery. But he didn’t say that to me at the time, right? So I [00:02:00] put a new battery on it, I put a new regulator rectifier on it, it was So it’s a parallel twin, it’s like a Yamaha’s version of a Triumph.
And, and it was, Mark had got it from somebody at PG& E, and it was the bike for flat track, that’s why he thought it was, he thought it was cool. But I’d come from jigsaws, so the fact that this thing could only do about 100 miles an hour flat out, and like at about 65, or certainly anywhere near 80, it felt like World was going to end and you were going to be plucked off the back of it and it was going to it was going to fall apart that I wasn’t into all the bikes then so I didn’t I not only was it cursed, but I actually didn’t get that kind of bike then so for me the low point with this bike was was I done all the battery and all the regulator rectifier on it was all ready to go.
Mark and I We’re going to fleet week. So we rode [00:03:00] from Santa Rosa, him on his ex police Harley with the high bars and the, the tank shift and the foot clutch. Right. And me on this excess, right? Well, Santa Rosa is about an hour and a half North of San Francisco, right? And you got the throttle wide open then so the bike’s generator or whatever it’s charging with is going like the clappers, right?
Heavy traffic across the Bay Brit across the Golden Gate, right? The splitting cars across the Golden Gate. When I came out of the gas, it died, right? And I bump started it, but it was clear it had no charge. By the time, like I was in San Francisco and then you, I’m not sure John, if you know this story, marina Green, this is the first time Marina
Mar. Marina Green. Marina Green Threeway Intersection where G Great place to watch Fleet Week. Right? Well, it had stalled more times, but you know, [00:04:00] well the long and short was I needed to kickstart it at a stop sign, three-Way intersection. And, uh, I, I sort of. Electric started it into the intersection, but it died.
And then I was trying to kickstart it, fell over and it fell on me, which I know is kind of a signature move of mine being pinned by my own motorcycle and not being able to kickstart. That’s what happened. Well, Mark parked up and went to try and help me, but a policeman was like, you can’t park there. So he was like, I’m not parking there.
I’m trying to help my friend. So there’s me under the bike. All the traffic stopped and Mark virtually having a fist fight with the policeman. So, after all of that, right, I just left it in the marina for about a week. Being like, fuck you, right, basically. But, you know, and then around about the same time, I won that [00:05:00] Gixxer 750 in the SA competition, which is a whole separate story, right.
And that was why I was out of love with the XS. So, John feels bad for the XS, which is parked up in the street at this time of year, pissing with rain all the time, and it was San Francisco, so it was on a hill, and the bike was being knocked over all the time, so he feels bad for it, he puts a note on it, and the note was like, you know, it was sort of halfway between a note saying, can I buy your bike, I like it.
And a love letter, I would have said, it was like, there were a couple of paragraphs, you know, it was like properly, it was like a properly structured thing. So I, I read it and I sat on it for 24 hours and I thought to myself, because I needed somewhere to store the jigsaw because it didn’t have a garage, brand new bike, can’t street park it, what am I going to do to, to, so then I thought, you know, any bloke who’s written this kind of notes, probably a trustworthy person, [00:06:00] one, I just tell him I’ll give him the excess, he can have it.
If I, cause I want rid of the fucking thing. Um, he can have that if I can store my jigsaw with him. Um, so that’s what happened. Cause he, and it turned out he lived just a couple of houses up the street. And, uh, I think that’s how we became friends. I think the note read, that’s not the way to take care of a bike.
That’s what I remember saying, sort of. Yeah, but you expressed it in a much more gentle way. Yeah. You were like, you buffoon. Yeah. This Yeah, hey dick nozzle, stop dropping your fucking bike on me. This In the street with a stream of rainbow colored gasoline and oil running down the street from it, which is, uh, which is what it was.
It had mag wheels, didn’t it? It had those black smoke. Black spoked mag wheels and broad handlebars. It was a good looking bike, but my word, we, we, uh, what we think [00:07:00] was that there was like a short circuit on the frame or something, which was why it always eternally. Drained charge. So I did write it all the way to Laguna Seca to watch MotoGP.
Yeah. Yeah. Remember that? I remember it very well. People tried to steal my jigsaw, sabotaging it. And I didn’t get home until six o’clock in the morning. Yeah. And what happened to you? I got stuck on the side of the freeway. I had to work the next day. And, uh, this was, it was around one. Like I was stuck on the side of the freeway.
With the XS. With the XS, yeah. Yeah. It was dark and I, uh, I had to figure it out. Basically, I just had to wait. I had to wait it out because I didn’t have a phone, right? Didn’t have, oh, probably did, but it’s probably dead. The battery is probably dead. So I just waited, then kick [00:08:00] started it, kick started it, kick started it.
And then eventually it went and I rode it home. But that took like three hours. Hahaha That’s brutal man. Yeah, yeah. That was uh, I wonder where it is now. Yeah, you moved to Hawaii and left it. I wonder which freeway it’s on the side of today. Hahahaha Yeah, yeah. So basically what you’re saying is you have a thing with Yamahas, huh?
Well, also, also the other thing was just like, that’s good. No, you, you also, you, you notice the, the thing that I always say to people is, is if you look very closely at Dana’s engagement ring, very closely into the heart of it, you will see a Yamaha R1. Because that’s what I was going to buy with [00:09:00] that money.
Um, so yeah, so I, I missed with the, uh, I missed with, um, with the R1 and the XS was just the most pain in the ass motorcycle ever. But yeah, I won the Gixxer on account of having a Gixxer at home. So that’s why the garage is full of Gixxers, uh, 15 years later. Um, so. Let me move on to my next little topic on the list.
Um, and this is thoughts on electric bikes. And let’s begin, John, with, I did this open garage thing the other day. And, uh, one of the guys on the street was like, Oh, you know, Scout Troop, another dad built an electric bike. Can he come? I was like, yeah, whatever. And then thinking he probably wouldn’t show.
Well, the guy did show when I didn’t have enough seats and I, I didn’t have enough beer and I’d not organized the, the, the evening very well, but it turns out this bloke [00:10:00] competed in the Paris Dakar as you do, as you do, you know, three or four years, then he ran some teams as you do, you know. Just because, you know, did John and the other guy rides who’s also got a home built electric bike.
Did John and the other guy want to have a go on, uh, on the electric bike now? I’ve not talked to you about it. But your expression was not dissimilar to when you inadvertently pulled a wheelie on a gixxer in the street some years ago. No, it was fine. It was, uh, it was very torquey and it was light. So what was it?
What do you mean? What was the bike? It was like a KTM 125 SX that had like a, I don’t know what the size of the motor was, but It was big enough to like, make it really torquey. It just, it was snappy, and it was clean, it was a clean, it was a clean ride. Yeah, you know what Jason said about it, the other guy that rode it [00:11:00] was like, Hmm, reminded me how much I don’t like knobbly tires on wet pavement.
Ha ha ha ha ha. He’s focusing. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, uh, um. I want one. Like I really want one. And when he was saying was what, what is a bike like his or how to like one, all he did was get the frame off the KTM 125, went to a website and grabbed all the parts for that bike. Well, so there’s a website you can go to where you where it’ll be like package up the right electric kit So you can electrify like I’ve got I’ve got a TTR 125.
Can you you know anything you buy? No, you like an LS what? No, he had to fabricate the frame if you have a welder like you can easily do it It’s just the motor the motor fits in the frame and you kind of have Grinded and just weld some mounts and that’s pretty much it Do you remember the website? I [00:12:00] guess we could ask him, couldn’t we?
Yeah, yeah. That’s typical for this, like, we talk about something and then can’t point people, anybody unfortunate enough to be listening, can’t point them to the right place to, uh, anyway. Um. Well, it’s quite interesting. Um. All right, favorite bike of the moment and why? Favorite bike of the moment? I don’t mind starting.
Um, I’m going to start with the CRF50 that we’ve recently bought for my boy and how I just love the way it so wants to run. It’s so, it’s the easiest bike ever to be kick started, he can kick start it, and the way it runs, it’s like, it’s like, it’s like a small dog with a lot of fight in them, it’s like tiny, but it’s a real motorcycle, make no mistake, and, and, uh, I bloody love it.
So [00:13:00] that’s my favorite. For me, it’s the The DT250 converted into a cafe eraser. It’s raining today, but if it wasn’t raining, I was going to write it. So just, so this, I, I, when I see this by, um, Gary, I always think of it as the meth special, right? Because, like, why don’t I leave it like that? And John, why don’t you talk about where you got it from?
And, uh. Yeah, so I went to Clear Lake. Clear Lake is the best capital. We’ll put some pictures. We’ll put some pictures. Yeah, I’m looking for a picture. But yeah, so Clear Lake is the best capital of California, right? And when I saw this posting in Clear Lake, I was like, I want this bike. I’ve seen this bike several times.
I know who built it. I know the parts that are on it. And basically what ended up happening was this guy on Facebook was trying to sell it. And he wasn’t able to sell it for about a year. And this guy in [00:14:00] Clear Lake bought it. Put it in his living room and didn’t really do anything until he had to move But that’s what he told me and Clear Lake is about two and a half hours away from San Francisco And I felt like I was gonna get robbed right because the way this guy was giving me the address It’s like it’s it wasn’t like a street address It was like we’re gonna meet here in this alley somewhere and like residential area slash commercial area And I’m like, okay, I’m gonna drive two and a half hours with my dog Remus If anything goes south, it’s not gonna have to deal with me, it’s gonna have to deal with Remus also.
But anyway, it turns out it was in his living room. Went to his house, it was in his living room, and I ended up buying it. Everything was new. You looked at it right in his living room? Yeah. Yeah, that’s how we got it out. Didn’t you lose a girlfriend over a [00:15:00] motorcycle in the living room?
I mean, that wasn’t the exact reason for it, I mean that was probably part of it. But that, I wish I had that bike, to be honest with you. Not the girlfriend, the bike. I’d still have, no, the girlfriend too, the girlfriend, yeah. I mean, that’s probably a toss up, but that bike was a, that was a Black Bomber. It’s like one of the first bikes that were imported to the U.
S. in 64, 63. Mm hmm. That was meant to compete with the, uh, the British market. The Black Bomber, as they called it. And it was, it was the Black Bomber. It had the chrome tank sides, and the guy was moving to Japan, and he was selling all his collection. And I didn’t have any space, and I asked Morgan, Morgan was the ex girlfriend, I was like, Can we put this in the living room?
She was like, Absolutely not. David was like, No wonder! No wonder! Like, what on [00:16:00] earth? I mean, it’s not unreasonable to ask. I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s only February.
I’m always reminded of that story. When, when I hear about bikes and living room, I’m always reminded of that story about a bloke who built a turbo Gixxer 750 and in the magazine interview, they said to him, why did you build a turbo? Why did you build a 750 not a 1000 or an 1100 and he went well The 1000s or the 1100s, they’ll get into the hallway, but they don’t make it round the corner into the dining room But the 750s I can get them into the dining room.
So that’s why I built a 750 Legit. Yeah, it’s a good reason, right? Um favorite rider All time favorite rider? Me, [00:17:00] Nicky Hayden, all three of us. Nicky Hayden. Oh, good choice. You know what? I have a very, very memorable moment with Nicky Hayden. You do? Yeah. I was in Emoto GP Laguna 2013. Mm-Hmm. . And I was working at BMW at that time, and he had given me a.
A pass. I thought it was a regular pass. Who had given you a pass? The general manager, Larry Sines. Okay. BMW. He’s friends with Randy Momoda. Oh, cool. And, um, I don’t know, he has that connection, so. I went with a group, right? Mm hmm. Super bike freak group and I had a buddy that was there. It was like kind of cheesy for me.
Mm hmm. It’s like they ride in the group and they were all, they were all handing the tickets. Mm hmm. And when it came to me, I showed him the badge. It’s like, oh, you go here. Mm hmm. And all of a sudden, you know, in the lunchroom, having lunch with the racers and it was just like a really, really good experience.
But anyway, we were back in the paddock and Nicky was there, right? And to be honest, I was [00:18:00] really, I still am a Rossi fan. You know, I was waiting for Rossi in front of his trailer. And then Nicky comes. And um, this guy asked me to take a picture of him and Nicky. I was like, yeah, sure. And he was just standing there like, Hey, do you want a picture?
And I was just like, he didn’t say that. I’m just like, maybe that’s what he was thinking, you know? Cause the other guy was like, oh, Nicky can’t take a picture. But, super nice guy. Just, that small interaction. Yeah. He was just like, he took time. He was just very respectful. I just thought he was cool. He was always cool.
Whenever you saw him interviewed, he was nice and smiling and chilled out. And that year he won the championship. Um, I bet on him. He was, I think he was like 11 to two or something like that. Um, odds at the start of the season. I was like, look, this, if he’s going to win it, this is the year. Cause like the Honda was really good that year.
And it’s like, he could do it this year. He’s the number one rider there. Or he’d like, he’s got a fair crack of the whip and then. He [00:19:00] did, he had a sort of period in the middle where he went on about four races back to back and he’s doing really well. Um, and then there was that massive pile up, wasn’t it?
Was it, was that the one where someone went into the, into the, into the brake lever and the thing went end over end? There was a lot of smashed up bikes and stuff at the start of that race. Um, But either way, that 2005 2006, that’s when Rossi blew it, blew the engine. Yeah, but it was one. Yeah, exactly. So, but in the middle of the season, there was a reason why some people were out for a while.
And I remember looking at it, thinking, well, hold on a sec. Hayden then put the next one on pole and won it. And then put, and then put the next one on pole and won it as well. And he was still 4 to 1. I was like, look, I like the guy, I’m betting on him. So I bet on him. And then he built up to about a 30 something point lead.
And then Pedrosa took him off. When he was leaving, his fucking teammate took him off when he was leading, which meant he wouldn’t Yeah, yeah, no, I remember that. He said, I’ve never, I’ve never, I’ve never felt pain like that in my entire life. I was ready to kill that fucking little bastard. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But, uh, he [00:20:00] was like eight points behind, didn’t he? Yeah. And I had 250 quid, right? Not even winning it. And he, I mean, I was a Rossi fan as well, don’t get me wrong, Rossi’s cool. And I thought it was really nice the way that Rossi went around and gave him a pat on the back. And said in the interview afterwards, look, if I’ve got to lose, it might as well be someone I really like.
So, you know, it was cool, but that was his year. And I mean, it was, um, yeah, yeah, it was really, he was a top guy. So just from a cool factor, I think he deserved it. Yeah, because Tony Elias knocked off Rossi. That’s why he lost by five points. Yeah, because he got back on and was touring around, wasn’t he? But like, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Was that the one that, did Bayliss win the last race? Because he was chasing him down and then afterwards he was like, I don’t need to anymore. Like, second or third or whatever it was is going to be fine. Yeah. Rocky’s in about 17th. Yeah, yeah. But yeah. Yeah, cool. He’s a cool guy. I was on holiday in Italy when the news came through about him having the accident that he had.[00:21:00]
And we were In a part of Italy where it was like in the hills and there were a lot of cyclists around and the roads are really narrow and it I’d been just earlier in the day. It had occurred to me that if you were really meaning it on a downhill and if somebody in a car placed themselves in the wrong way, you could just come around the corner and head on a car.
I don’t know exactly what happened to Hayden, but I knew it was a cycling accident which took place in Italy whilst I was at that vacation. So yeah, Godspeed Nikki Hayden.
Gary McCoy would be the guy that I would, uh, would draw attention to. I just remember cause I was getting into MotoGP at the time when he was, um, doing the two strokes and everyone else at the four strokes. And that was just a interesting, cool thing. I, I, uh, and I think if we were going to go back in [00:22:00] time, I’d talk about Jimmy Guthrie, I feel that Guthrie, all the photos of Guthrie, he looks like such a tough guy and the sport was so tough.
In I feel like the thirties were interesting, right? Because the, the sport was still as tough almost as it had been in the twenties in the early years, but now the bikes actually could do 100 miles an hour and more. And you know what I mean? It was, uh, it was, it was quite a thing. So, yeah, um, mine would be, uh, coincidentally, this guy just got a t shirt.
Joey Dunlop t shirt. Um, for the technical aspect of it as a technician, he, you. He didn’t like other mechanics working on his bike and if you think about it, it kind of makes you faster because you have all that confidence in yourself. You don’t have to think about, well, did that guy actually torque my axle right [00:23:00] or anything else?
You know it was done right because that’s the American car guy attitude, isn’t it? Is that if you didn’t build it yourself, you don’t really know what you’re doing. They see it as very dilettante to like have a mechanic build the car and then well, yeah, for him, he wanted to do it himself. He was a very good mechanic, and I think that’s what made him really faster too.
So that’s given us a pivot onto our main topic for, for, for the day. Right. Which, which I is why I, I was like, I sort of interrupted. Um, I don’t wanna say normal service, but Right. It looks as if real road racing in Ireland is over. No, I don’t think so. And it looks as if, it looks as if it’s over on the grounds of insurance.
Certainly in 2023. There will not be any road racing. There’ll still be the Ulster Grand Prix, the North West 200, [00:24:00] there’ll still be Isle of Man, but so what, and I guess for me, right, the reason why I wanted to have this round table is that I think that you’ve seen the beginning of the end for road racing, right?
When road racing stops, it will be on the horns of insurance. So in other words, right, when somebody Kills a bunch of spectators at the Isle of Man TT, then nobody will want to insure that event and that will be the end. That’s Well, I, I’m not sure. Right. That’s why I’m having this like, let’s, what do you think they say from Isle of Man and what he said was they’re actually trying to, they’re expecting to grow the number of tourists from 40, 000 to 500, 000, 500, 000 people to watch that race.
That’s what they’re targeting. Right. Jesus, but the problem that they’re having is [00:25:00] majority of the people that are there, the youngest that you’re going to see are all in their 40s. So it’s changing. It’s mostly like a different generation. Yeah, which makes the whole like monster garage sponsoring, you know, that Richard Rawlings toss pot sponsoring Peter Hickman.
That, I thought that was a really interesting tie. Gary, you have sort of ethical problems with it as a blood sport nowadays, don’t you? Um, I suppose on the basis that as you get older you get a bit more sober and reflective about these things. And if you’ve been watching that sort of sport for a while, you’ve now got a list of people you supported who are dead.
And that’s a bit sobering. Um, you know, Dave Jeffries, love Dave Jeffries. Well, I was going to make fun of you when you say DJ. I was going to mention DJ with, uh, with, but, but, but so, so, but even if, so, but even if the Isle of Man [00:26:00] events survive, Irish road racing, the old fashioned Three, the triangle, the town to town triangle where you close the roads and you do it.
And you know, the public, the local publicans make a lot more money than they otherwise would have done. And, and, you know, Gammy, you’ve been to, I’m not even going to try and say it properly. Reams, Rams, whatever the, the strike in France. I mean, that’s the ultimate three court triangle, three town triangle.
That is what motor racing used to be. You know, for, for certainly on the continent, right? You can still drive basically in the circuit. It’s worth going. It’s the end, it’s, it’s the end of that though, if, if we allow Irish road racing to go away. And the other thing is, is my understanding is the premium was 400, 000.
Wasn’t even that much money in the grand scheme. I mean, in crazy levels. It’s like, you know, [00:27:00] I’m sure it’s a bit more, you know, it’s a super professional sport and obviously the manufacturers involved and so forth. Um, But I’m not sure, I would imagine, given that that number is relatively low, the margins are still reasonably tight for those guys running the teams.
Um, so, I, just finding an extra whatever, half million or whatever it is, that you ain’t getting back, um, you know, that’s a pretty big hat you’re going around with to beg for the extra change, isn’t it? So. Well, I mean, it is in terms of like an amateur volunteer sport. It doesn’t seem like very much money in terms of how much money, you know, BMW’s marketing budget is, or Gas Monkey Garage’s marketing budget.
Yeah, but you just said yourself, it’s old farts like us watching it, you know, the young, if the younger kids aren’t watching it, then, and if you look at what, [00:28:00] what are the alternative products at the moment, well, super bikes, where the racing’s amazing and no one dies. Um, and MoGP, where the Ducatis are amazing, and generally speaking, no one dies.
Um, so, you know what I mean, there’s, there are, there is racing and high skills, thrills action on two wheels if you want it. Um, but I mean, look, yeah, it’ll be a shame if it, if it, if it runs, if it sort of, if its course is up. Um, but it sort of felt like watching the BBC coverage of, you know, stuff like the Cookstown 100.
And things like that, that, I mean, they are really nadgery little back roads that they are rinsing those bikes round against grass verges and stuff, you know, oh dude, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean the two pillows they’ve thrown in front of the 500 year oak tree ain’t saving no one. I mean, so, yeah, that is the risk.
Um, I still watch it. I love it. I mean, I, they’re the guys are heroes, [00:29:00] but it’s, um, and lasses, they were lasses riding as well, but still. Yeah. I, I, uh, I, I, I think one thing that’s interesting in our conversation is that clearly there’s a difference between the Manchester United, Chelsea. Forty niners, you know, New York Giants of, uh, the Isle of Man TT and even the Northwest.
And, you know, the local dirt track ness of the Tandragi 100. You’re looking at different kinds of, they are different events. And something I thought was, something I thought was interesting in that article that I forwarded, that I’ll put a link in, in the, you know, whatever. Um. In that, what it talked about was how there’s a bunch of efficiencies that can be made because, you know, there’s still like two bodies that look after road racing.
In Ireland, there’s one for Northern Ireland and one for Southern Ireland, and [00:30:00] whilst you can appreciate why that exists, you can see that that makes it much harder to, like, coordinate efforts together to show the kind of economies of scale that an insurance company might want to see for you to be able to carry on with it.
I just feel like, you know, I look for signs for the end of our hobby. Um, you know, I believe that what I’ll take. The cars and bikes that we love off the roads is fluids, the fluids will go away first, you won’t be able to get tyres, you won’t be able to get the right oil, that’s what really, and gas will be harder and harder and harder to get.
It’ll be insurance, we’ll take road racing off the road, it’ll be insurance, it will be administrated, it will be strangled by creeping administration. Yeah, I think we ought to mouth survive, because. It’s where it is and the government makes too much money out of it. So, unless you get a Le Mans [00:31:00] 55, I think it survives.
Alright, so let’s talk about the difference between riding in England to riding in California to riding in the Philippines.
So, let’s talk about the difference between California and the Philippines first. So, Philippines is, uh, it’s not really conducive to riding a motorcycle safely.
Some jeeps, specifically, will go out of their way To cut you off. So it’s, uh, you have to be on alert. Um, I think that’s the main reason why
a lot of like the Irish guys, they talk about asking like, what makes you so comfortable riding in California? They’re like, in Ireland, the roads are shitty. It’s all gravel [00:32:00] and narrow and you get used to that and then you get to California. It’s like, yeah, and and just just, uh, to that, um, you know, there is a road.
A couple of hours north of here called Skag Springs, which is, it feels like closed racetrack. It was built by the Army Corps of Engineers. It is wide. It curves from one hillside to another hillside. It goes fucking nowhere. Goes to a bridge and on the other side of the bridge, the road surface is shitty.
And there’s a shitty like English B road, like one way B road, kind of Devon country lane kind of affair until you get out to the coast, which is like. Fucking hours from from the spot that you are. So there’s no traffic on skag springs whatsoever It is the perfect it’s like a closed racetrack, isn’t it?
It’s perfectly well, it kind of depends if you’re coming from [00:33:00] point stewart For the first few miles, it’s like really shitty road. Like it’s what you know, you’re describing single road Um, but after that opens up it becomes a racetrack. It’s all clean. I was actually there recently a couple of weeks ago You, um, you did Death Valley recently as well, didn’t you?
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. The thing about Death Valley is you don’t have any reference point. So if you’re going fast, you’re not, you don’t, it doesn’t seem fast. Because you don’t see the rush. It didn’t seem, it didn’t seem fast, my lad. Yeah. It felt like when we were driving on that plane over Alaska, John, and you were looking down at the crevasses, and you’re like, is that 50 feet across?
500 feet down or is that 500 feet across and 10,000? I have. I couldn’t tell you. I just dunno. We flew up to Mount Denali on the east nine cylinder de h and beavers. Mm-Hmm. seaplanes. So you like took off in Fairbanks and then you [00:34:00] flew towards the mountain. The mountain looked big, but really all the proportions were peculiar.
You, uh, you know, you thought the mountain was, you know, normal sized and. 20 miles away. But actually, it was fucking huge and 200 miles away. Miles away, yeah. Yeah, really, uh, uh, Isn’t it like 22, 000 or something like that? But up from the floor. So, there’s a lot of mountain right there. Whereas the ones in the Himalayas, they’re taller, but they start from like 15, 000 feet, where everything is, if you like.
Uh, at that location, so. But yeah, it’s um, it was cool. When you used to live in L. A., did you ever used to write, um, The Canyon Roads and Add to the Rock store? I wrote all over. I wrote all over. Like, you name it in L. A. That’s why I’m that rich. It’s like, I’m like this. Yeah, yeah, [00:35:00] yeah. I wrote all over L. A. I met Tom and all the other writers.
Oh, okay. You went through bikes. Oh yeah. So we, so I used to ride to Panga a lot, which is like North, you know, which for Margie’s and for, and for the listeners, it’s, um, they’re breaking down the third wall that it’s, um, North from like. PCH north from the Pacific Coast, um, towards, uh, towards 101, like over the Bridger Hills, which is separates what the San Fernando Valley from the Los Angeles Valley.
That’s where I live, San Fernando, North Hollywood, the pouring capital. Yeah. Yeah. Dana had a friend whose roommate said to her, Oh, I have a friend coming over. We’re going to make porn. We’ll give you a hundred bucks to go out to the cinema, or you can stay and join in. And I was like, welcome to Los Angeles.
Welcome [00:36:00] to fucking Los Angeles.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember when I used to live there, I went to a pet store. I was with my cousin. Um, you met him, Gerald. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. I was at a pet store. We were in a pet store. And, um, you were looking at this small snake, right? It’s like a red, red tailed boa. It’s like the, the golden retrievers of snakes because my cousin wanted to get one and he was holding the snake and this one, this one dude is like, Oh, I always wanted to get one, but my mom didn’t really want me to get one.
You know, it’s just, it’s just black dude with a hat and we started chatting. It’s like, yeah, well, you know what? Sometimes it’s better to just get it. It’s like, yeah, I don’t know what I’m going to say. And then he leaves, right? And then my cousin was just like, Do you know who that is? I was like, I don’t know who that is.
That’s the porn guy! Yeah, I don’t know who that guy is, [00:37:00] but The porn guy gave advice on snakes. I suppose that’s appropriate.
But it was just like a regular guy Yeah, yeah, yeah, it definitely, yeah, it definitely is the do the go to business in the San Fernando Valley, isn’t it? Um, Angeles Crest. Did you write that road? Yeah, I always rated that road. Yeah, that’s the first time I actually slid going fast. Like I slid right after coming out of a tunnel.
And I just picked up, maybe, I just picked up the R1 at that time, so I’m not, I wasn’t that used to it, that much power yet. Um, and when you go through a tunnel at a fast pace, there’s a crosswind at the end. And that’s when I felt it slid. Right, I told my buddy Tom, I was like, yeah man, I felt it. I was like, wow, probably a few feet.
[00:38:00] He’s like, yeah man, you kind of have to get used to it. That’s what he said. It’s like, yeah, but that is a really, really fast, fun ride. Um, Mulholland, too much traffic. All the history, but too much traffic. Um, I have enjoyed Mulholland. I, many, many years ago, watched an MMA fight and then drove out along Mulholland late at night and Mulholland was good and I saw how it was, you know, years ago when it was the place.
But I think, um, I think Angeles, because it’s quiet, it’s an asshole to get to, because it’s quiet in the LA area. That’s probably the, the best road. And Gammy, if you’re in Los Angeles, that, that road is worth looking out and, uh, and, and driving. Not least because it’s rather like Topanga Canyon in, in, uh, you’ll be like, hang on a minute.
[00:39:00] I’ve seen that corner in that car advert. Like in that Lexus advert, like, oh yeah, like that’s like, you can, uh, you can offer it. It’s, uh, cause all the, you know, media companies are in LA, so they’re near, you know, nearby. So they all go to the same, uh, same spot. So, um. On the theme of the canyon roads, I wanted to share this old chestnut with you.
Um, remember, um, I have a CBR, that CBR600 race bike that used to be down in LA all the time. I used to ride the canyon roads with Mark. Mark used to have like a 650, uh, XR650, like a super motard. Baja bike, like a Honda 650, like a beast of a thing. I couldn’t kickstart it, but I mean, wheelie, wheelie machine, but only do about 85 miles an hour flat out.
So I would ride the Canyon roads with, with, with, uh, with him one day we’re riding, we come around one corner, right? And I’m paying [00:40:00] attention because there’s a lot of gravel on the road and I’m not right. And I’m riding very much with, within myself, right? And, um, on one of the turnouts, there’s a chick.
With a ZX6, a lady, a female rider with a ZX6 parked up at the side, right? And Mark’s gotten a long way ahead of me. So as, as I dropped down towards PCH at the end of, of, of the road, there is a cop who comes past me at a high rate of knots and Mark is stopped at the side, uh, is stopped at the corner. So I hop off.
Mark spoke, has spoken to the cop and said to me, did I see? Anybody pulled over at the side of the road and I was like, yeah, that was like, he was like, how many people I was like one. It was like, yeah, I thought I only saw one person as well. It was a girl, right? And I was like, yeah, with a ZX6, and he went, yeah, her husband had a ZX10.
They reckon he’s gone off the [00:41:00] edge. That’s, uh, that’s unfortunate. Yeah, yeah, so, uh. Yeah, so, uh, I, I, I remember riding back along PCH there thinking, you know, you were right when you saw some gravel on the road just to pick it up and let Mark get way ahead of you, you know, you were right to just, uh, just, just relax.
So I’m gonna, um, um, whilst we’re talking about riding these, these canyon roads, um. When Mark lived up in Topanga, um, we were on Topanga making our way up towards the house, been out, it was sort of lunchtime, and uh, in that moment, sweeping around a corner, there was maybe a hundred yards straight, and at the corner there was like a, where the road [00:42:00] bore, we’d We’d gone to the left.
The road was going to bear to the right. It was a, as I say, uphill, 100 yards, maybe we’d come out of the turn and we’re climbing up the hill. Um, and, and there’s shops over on the left and, and so on. And then there is a bag of Harley upside down, flying through the air, landing on the back of a Volvo station wagon.
I mean, landing like In the trunk space of the Volvo station wagon, I, I mean, and then there’s a bloke tumbling and, and the next thing I know, we’re like at the car park, uh, at the parking lot and Mark’s out of the parking lot and dealing with the guy who miraculously wasn’t hurt. It seemed just didn’t know how to lean a motorcycle over.
He just flown in from another part of America and had ridden dirt bikes before, but not a Harley. So we learned this [00:43:00] afterwards. Um, the woman, a woman came along. I was like there when I was like stood around like a spare part when the woman with the Volvo came out of the supermarket and was like, When there’s like a gog when she sees like the Harley has basically merged with uh quite nice actually previously Volvo 940.
So that’s, uh, so the upside down Harley, um, and, and I have another upside down motorcycle story many years ago, mark the a four, your stomping ground. So this is a great thing when you’re riding in Europe, if they’ve built a motorway or an auto route or some main highway, especially if it’s a toll road, if you ride the roads parallel to it.
They’re often really quiet, but they’re really good sweeping roads and the A4 parallel to the M4 is is one of those. It’s a well known biker road. [00:44:00] I used to live not far from it. So I used to get be on it quite often. I was riding home one day. Um, and I, I want to say near Hungerford, but I’m not really sure that that it was.
And Gammy, you might I’ve heard me tell this story before is that the eyes I’m on my back and yellow jigsaw my first bike. I’m approaching a turn and as I’m approaching a turn, I see a group of bikers standing around. I don’t know what it was that made me stop, but I did stop and they were all as I pulled over, they were all like looking over above me.
As I got off the bike, I realized there were three guys, but only two bikes. And then I looked over my shoulder and there in the tree upside down was a Honda fire blade, like a 2002, 2003, like what we’d call in America, nine fifty four [00:45:00] blade with the lights that are upside down in the tree, black and yellow.
In the tree. I’m like, how the fuck did that happen? They’re like, we don’t know. The bloke’s like, they’re like, they’re like, this is the bloke that rode it. I’m like, how the fuck did that happen? He’s like, I don’t know. Like, I don’t know. Like, I’m still walking. Like, look, I’m, my arms, look. He’s like a bit scuffed up and there’s a scuff on his helmet.
But he’s like, look, look, he’s still like, like, like buzzing from being like, this bike is. Not like, you know, it’s like 15 feet off the ground. He’s not falling out of the tree. It is In the tree like, you know, like in the tree. So there we go. Those are my two. Um, upside down bike stories Um john you have you said you mentioned earlier you work for bmw.
Mm hmm Um, we’re sitting here looking at one of your honda [00:46:00] cbs. There’s Three more in one of my storage units. I don’t know how many you have around your different facilities. Um, CB or BMW, which and why, what are the pros and cons? It kind of depends what you’re going to do. If you’re going to be long distance riding, it’s hands down BMW.
I mean, they’re just, I like them both. It’s just depending on what you’re going to do. Um, as far as BMW just because of all the safety features, you know, all the things that you read. Read on the newspaper, it’s like confidence inspiring, ABS, traction control, all those safety features. They do work and they come in handy, but
I’d say favorite bike or just between CB, Honda or BMW? [00:47:00] Yeah, if there could be only one. If you had to get rid of all the CBs and could have only BMWs, or if you had to get rid of all the BMWs and could have only CBs, which would it be?
I’d keep them both. Yeah. Yeah. I can’t just have one done. That’s the problem that I have and thank you for keeping some of the bikes. Alright, let’s do these quick fires and then we can uh can wrap this up. Okay. Um, alright. So, quick fire. Um what’s your first bike? Honda Cub Ninety. Awesome. RG
250 two stroke Suzuki and uh oh two GSXR 600. That black and yellow one was the first bike I ever had. What a sensible place to start that was. What was the last bike you bought?[00:48:00]
So I’m on a moratorium right now, so it might take some time. I think the last bike I bought was that scooter. I think that was it. Which scooter? The one that you have. The Zuma? That was the last one you bought? I think so. What was the last bike you bought? The CBR again? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The CBR 600, yeah.
The last one I bought was the Zuma as well. Oh no, what was the last one I bought? No, the last one I bought was Ollie’s CRF. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, alright. And the next question. Um, alright. Now, the one that got away. Story of one that got away. Let me tell you the one that got away. You’re the guy on your street that used to do the road racing.
Neil, Neil had a 99 Hayabusa. I wasn’t riding at the time and I looked at that bike and I was tempted to buy it even though I wasn’t riding at the time. And I wish I bought it [00:49:00] because that he wanted 3, 000 for it. And. Those bikes have just left the building ever since. That was a 99 bike, one of the original ones, that could do 200 That was I remember that day.
Yeah. Yeah, that was In the world of motorcycles, I don’t have too many that have gone away, but that one was one that got away. For me, it was a Black Bomber in Hawaii. The 64 Black Bomber Honda. Yeah. Yeah, the one that I had to put a living room. Yeah. Alright, um, best bike you ever owned, Mark? Um, probably the CBR, to be honest.
It’s just brilliant at everything. Um, and really like, all top end fizzy and I know it’s like not that much power really by modern bike standards, but. It’s so lovely handling, it really is, um, yeah. Although, in my [00:50:00] heart, it’s probably still the Honda C90. I love that bike. I used to ride that all weathers, snow, farm, through shit, all sorts of stuff.
We took it dirt tracking. It was amazing. Best bike you’ve ever owned, John? BMW R1200GS. BMW. Think that’s, isn’t that the one you got rid of? ’cause of the, you associated it with a particular lady friend who didn’t quite work out the way you were ? Sort of, yeah. Yeah. But in general, the 1200 GS is just like such a very, very civilized pride.
It doesn’t make you a hooligan. It’s very capable. It’s uh, it kind of suits my personality. I like the way it rides, it’s precise. Yeah, it’s a very smooth ride. Yeah. Um, I think the best bike I own is the two grand 05 Gix 1000 K5 that I [00:51:00] have. I think as an all rounder I just There is a reason why people go on and on about them.
And it’s because it’s got everything that the earlier jigs have in terms of the, you know, terrifying license losing like, you know, line of cocaine performance. But it’s packaged up in a way that you can sit on it and ride it easily and the fueling works properly. And, you know. You can, I, I, uh, I used it. I, I tried to fire up the moped to do a rundown to the post office just earlier this week and the moped wouldn’t kick.
And I was just like, it’s not taxed. And I was like, fuck you, really Fuck you Yamaha again. Right? I had Vision 50 I’ll, and I fired. I fired up that black jigs a foul, gimme three gigs, and I wrote it down that, and you know what? Mark Ga, this is the first time, three gigs for a dollar. How’s it going to start up in three weeks?
[00:52:00] I’ve got it running since. Right? I’m not taking that bet. I’m just making the point that once again the Yamaha that I bought in order to have a moped that worked doesn’t. And the Gixxer that’s done 55, 000 miles and so on, I rode it down into the post office and back. You know, I didn’t get into third gear.
I did take second, you know, just but, you know, then I decided I preferred the engine braking of first and then, you know. So, yeah, so that’s my favorite bike at the moment. Um, well that’s my, uh, uh, the best bike I’ve owned. What is the worst, uh, I mean, not yet. Excess is the worst bike I’ve owned. I mean, how much time do you guys have?
I don’t think you wanna hear it. Like I’ve, yeah, all that. What about you? Um, oh, let me do, I’ve had that many bikes. I mean, I had a ZX six R, but that was a great bike. I don’t think I’ve ever been faster for 1, 500 pounds. I mean, [00:53:00] it was, uh, with the slip on, it had 99. 8 horsepower. The guy said to me, we ran it twice on the dyno.
We really wanted 100 for you, but it wouldn’t get there. That’s shit. But, uh So 9 6 96. It was a bit set up and beg, wasn’t it, but our monster comfy exhaust note and it was in the right green. Oh yeah. And comfy man. And it handled pretty well. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s the thing about that era of bike is they are significantly more comfortable than, um, you know, we’re not jigs and seven fifties from that era.
They’re really bloody uncomfortable. But, um, yeah, a lot of pegs and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it’s not just the pegs. It’s the handlebars and yeah, the whole like seating position is you. You feel like you’re on a medieval rack with them. Um, uh, all right, final question. If you could ride like anyone, who would it be?[00:54:00]
I’ll go first. Gary McCoy. I mentioned him before the way that bloke could slide it, the confidence, the swagger. If I could ride like anyone, it would be Gary McCoy. I
mean, I don’t want to sound arrogant. Obviously, I want to ride with I admire a lot of people who ride a certain way, like Rossi, Dunlop, and all the other racers. But honestly, I want to ride like myself. Like, I don’t Good answer, Joe. Good answer. I don’t know anyone else. Mark? Oh, I’d pick some, one of the Dakar boys.
Um, Sam Sunderland or some, you know, someone like that. I mean, on the basis that I think that’s such a transferable skill that I don’t have any of really at the moment. Or at least, you know, I mean, if they’re in the upper, the Himalaya tops, I’m down in, you know, fruiting around in the, in the, uh, but in the, in the, in the foothills.
So yeah, I just think that’d be a [00:55:00] real sort of instant matrix style download of a skill set. That’d be pretty cool to have that uploaded. All right. Well, gents, thanks for your time today. Yeah. Until the next time. Cheers.
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