"The Many (Mis) Adventures of DR N": VTR's and V-8's

LET me make one thing clear right off the bat... we're not talking vegetable juice here. We're talking engines.

Juice... but not vegetable.

Back in the day when Detroit was actually a working city, and the US automakers were trying to outdo themselves with big engines and lots of barrels in carburetors and wide tires, there was nothing fancy about how they went about building performance. They didn't use trick valve timing, nor did they have access to computer controlled fuel injection or multiple valves and overhead cams. Nope, Detroit made SS 396's and Dodge Hemi's the old fashioned way. BIG displacement, lumpy cams and did I mention displacement?

90 degree DOHC V Twin

In some ways the Honda VTR 1000 I have in my garage (soon to be moving to Corey's garage) was similar to those American muscles cars, built at a time when Ducati 916's were THE exotic high performance motorcycles of the day. Sure they were way more advanced than any 70's Detroit iron but in many ways, even in the late 90's, they were the antithesis of what we had already learned and accepted by then, was high performance. Lots of cylinders and high rpm. Gixxers, RR's and FZ's were the way to fast bikes.

Gotta love it

Back in '98, when I was still in the motorcycle industry working for Bow Cycle in Calgary, I had the pleasure of having one of the first VTR 1000 motorcycles to ride for the summer. A muscular V twin with four valve heads and DOHC*, it was plenty trick enough, but not in the same league as the inline fours of the day. The VTR was what we would have called, a "sports touring bike" with the emphasis slightly on the former, although I did ride mine around southern Alberta while equipped with tank and tail bags.

What the VTR didn't have was a 17,000 rpm red line and 190 horsepower. What it did have, like my Triumph 955 RSi was slightly less top end power but BIG low and mid-range. People tend to overlook that torque... and not BHP is the prime mover of weight. Having a modern sports bike the manufacturers give you electronic throttles, fuel injection, traction control you can adjust for rainy streets, spirited back roads or the race track.

In the mid 80's and 90's, traction control was located on the right handlebar. Technically it was called "your wrist".

Spring 18 years ago, the Rocky mountains.

Even though the VTR (and TL1000 and 916 Duc) made over a hundred horsepower, they had bucket loads of torque and as I said, torque can be waaay more useful and more fun too than high rpm power-bands.

Last year as part of a deal on my cargo trailer I took a very pretty VTR 1000 in on trade. Now this bike is pretty serious kit even for today and should not be operated by in-experienced riders with cloudy brains (remember the traction control in your wrist, well the micro processor for that is under your helmet) but I have to tell you, bikes like this Honda and the Triumph I had in my garage a couple of years back produced torque and gobs of it. The kind of torque that has you grinning like a stupid idiot with a slightly deranged mentality but only in the sense that you cannot help yourself from smiling your facial muscles into a permanent toothpaste commercial!

There is NO need to rev this engine to it's 9500 rpm red line, No sirree Bob. Twist the grip at 1500 revs and short shift at 5500... and you will find the scenery rushing by you like a Jean Claude Van Damme action flic. (also left over from the 90's.) Wanna pass that car, give the handle a little twist. Wanna pass that Saturn V stupid fast, just twist a little harder!

Touring Turbo

I've had several turbo charged cars and bikes over the
years. Yeah I know turbo's are more complex, and yeah, they can be tuned for massive amounts of horsepower but what I always liked about turbo's is the boost they give you pulling up a long hill passing a line of tractor trailers (and or RV's) coming into Revelstoke. Torque in other words, lots of it. The kind that Detroit built into all those archaic push-rod V 8 engines that powered some of the quickest cars on the road in ancient history. I still get a kick whenever I push the gas pedal on our little PT Cruiser Touring Turbo.

North America is not the land of ultra high speed autobahn/autostrada's. You can be on I-15 south in, the Nevada desert, but driving your Ferrari at 200 mph will get you thrown in jail.

GPZ 750 Turbo... "whoosh"

Under there, large amounts of torque!

What we love doing is feeling that arm wrenching stretch as we open the throttle hard down low.

Sure the 955 and the VTR are not cutting edge technology even when new, you could buy a Daytona 955 with almost a hundred and fifty horses as compared to the Sprint I had in my garage making less than 110, but they are basic engines with fewer cylinders less bhp, but solid frames, good brakes if not Moto-GP good, and gobs of usable low down, face muscle exercising, grin inducing FUN motorcycles to ride. Technology of the 90's meant aluminum frames, multiple brake pistons and tires that could be ridden by normal people with slightly elevated skills and a functioning micro-processor under the HJC.

If you have experience and some cash, you can get any one of a number of very impressive motorcycles for less money that a cheap used Hyundai. Forty something, maybe on your second (or third) marriage, kids grown up, a few quid in the bank getting zero interest on the GIC... take the Doctor's advice, live a little, go have some fun on the Sunrise Trail or maybe the Angeles Crest highway (but do it on a week day).