Motorcycle Stuff.

Here's a couple of motorcycling things:

OSSA motorcycles were made in Spain and they were quite successful in trials events back in the early 70's. I remember reading about Mick Andrews and the bikes back then. However, I had forgotten about their success in roadracing back then. I came across an article about the bikes and their star rider, Santiago Herrero, and how they combined to compete with and occasionally beat the Japanese bikes. The bike was a magnesium frame of monocogue  construction. Unfortunately, Herrero was killed in a racing incident at the Isle of Mann.  Check out the link - short article with lots of photos. Note especially the one of the back of the race bike with the shot of the tubes running from the shocks to what appears to be some type of gadget to control the fluid flow. Interesting.

I got my Motorcyclist magazine in the mail the other day. I like the new format of bike related subjects rather than just reviews of new bikes and equipment that typically fills the pages of bike magazines.  This issue has a nice variety of articles, including one about the athletes that compete in MotoGP and motocross. An graphic compared the bikes ridden in each sport. MotoGP bikes are 1000cc and make 250 plus horsepower and weigh 350 lbs. That's 4 horsepower per cubic inch and .714 hp/lb! You'd better be a finely tuned athlete to try and keep one of those things under control. This issue also has an article on Malcolm Smith that's worth the price of the magazine.

Came across this this past week. New Sportster model - Iron 1200. Don't know that I would really call it a new model, more like a new configuration of parts from the big Sportster bin. They've got enough bits and pieces from the stock models plus the optional parts available they can easily come up with new models pretty much any time they please just by mixing and matching what they already have. Regardless, I like this one. List price $9,999.00. About as cheap as a Sportster is going to get. Actually it's a bit cheaper than the 750 Street Rod. I had to go north yesterday to get my car serviced, so I stopped in at the HD dealer on my way home to see what was on the floor and get a bit of a fix for the "Motorcycle Jones" I've been having lately. In April, it will have been 50 years since I bought my Harley Sprint. I couldn't afford a Sportster back then but I was really pleased with the Sprint. I'm a little bit regretful I sold off the other Sportster but buying one of these would make for a much more practical ride. The salesman said he'd call me when he gets one in but I've still got a hankerin' for the little Royal Enfield.