Top Dead Center

Stay tuned for a ride in the way back machine. It's vintage MX and hats. Then it's the ar net signature cruiser from victory

and round one of Tommy G versus the Honda 900 RR

Hey guys, I'm Allen neighbors and welcome to Top Dead Center. Now, modern Motor Cross is hot young riders on high tech bikes,

but there are still plenty of vets thrashing around on their bulls and MAOs,

it's called Vintage MX

and it's a blast.

Thanks to Marlon Brando's movie Classic, The wild One, Hollister, California and two wheelers have been forever late.

And for the past decade and a half, the annual Hollister vintage races have celebrated that motorcycle heritage. That's what brings most of the guys out. The vintage. Everybody's got some particular idea of what bike they want to ride,

not necessarily the most competitive but what really turns them on and, or maybe something they wanted when they were younger that

they couldn't afford so how they buy it.

That's why you see so many different kinds of bikes and maybe one bike is in particular better for that class. But it doesn't matter because the guys just want to go out and have a blast.

They

come for the spirit of the ride.

The riding is fair, not cut throat because there's no money on the line.

It's just, it's a real good place and it's a good group to put it on

something just really special. These old motorcycles have a real soul. They're not sort of,

don't get me wrong. The modern bikes are just a technical marvel but they're sort of, they all the same. You know, I tell people the racing is like a third on my list of why I come down here. I like the bikes. The people hanging out. You get here early and sit around and tell stories for a day or so and

have a good barbecue set on the fire and the next day you race, it's all for fun. We're just getting trophies, but

it's still pretty competitive.

And when I was a kid, this was the bike I wanted, I couldn't afford it

now that I'm a little bit older and I'm over 40. I can afford it. So,

in a way, I'm kind of reliving my life and I love it, but I

just live for it.

I saw the guys out here, old guys on old bikes and I said I got to do this again. Hey, buddy,

some of those old guys are former champions and raced legends,

immersing themselves in times gone by.

I'm still in a time warp.

These are the bikes I worked on when I was a teenager

and I'm still working on them. You know, we just come to hang out and reminisce about the old days when we raced for a living and made big money and,

and talk about all the new guys and what, how much money they're making and, you know, all this stuff like that, seeing these legends out here, Dick man,

Jim Pomeroy, Brad Lackey.

You know, the guys who are my heroes now, I'm lined up on the line next to them. You know,

I imagine they're probably just saying, just don't hurt me, kid. You know,

the sound of the old bikes and something that, you know, I

started up in the morning, smell the oil and the

wins all. And it's like, it's like coffee in the morning of the old racers. You know, after it's taking a while to get up until they start smelling that, then they, then they feel like they're awake.

You can almost tell what kind of a motorcycle it is just by the sound.

I couldn't do that with a modern bike. Maybe some people can, but

they're all the same to me.

Yeah, it's a beautiful sound like when you're racing it,

sometimes you're listening to the sound of it just thinking, man, it's

fun.

That's why I like my mattress. It's a 600 CC single with

a big exhaust pipe open. And even when you're racing, when you're doing good in the race, you still hear that pipe and it just sounds

good.

A lot of guys shy away from racing any of these old in, despite, in terms of the shifting pattern because they do shift on the right

and they, most of them shift up for low gear

and then down for a 2nd, 3rd and 4th,

which I think is convenient because on the start,

once the gate drops, you can start pounding this thing down

wide open and it shifts almost like an automatic.

The transmission works so smoothly.

I had to go to the hospital once after starting to kick back so hard. And I thought I'd broken my leg, but

they said it was just internal bleeding. So that was a good thing

here

back in the late seventies and early eighties, Brad Lackey was known for having fun, but that didn't stop him from becoming the first and only American to win the world 500 CC Motocross title in 82 today. He can be found racing the expert class at a handful of vintage races a year. Actually, the race gets in the way. We just come here for a party and hang out and swap the story

and bullshit and drink beer and, you know, and then we got a ride, you know, to make it all look right. So we're just, the partying is all done Friday and Saturday and now it's race day. So we're gonna put in a couple of motos and then have some more fun. And on race day lack, he was showing off his sweet new ride. It's just a 74.5 GT 440 Mao

completely done right from the ground up. Real strong motor and all the requirements that you need to ride around the

track and make.

It was already way ahead of its time in 1974.

And now it's even further ahead of this time because the other bikes are beat up and old and this one's like a brand new one. So it's a pretty good ride. You wouldn't know these races were just for fun. By the way, these guys went at it in the expert class

like he did so many times in Europe in the 19 seventies, Jim

Pomeroy pulled away from the field on his bull taco for the 11 moto Suite

Lackey had nothing but trouble with his makeup, taking 1/4 and fifth place to end the day. Fifth overall. We wouldn't want to give Palmer a run for his money. I had him in my sight so I was just ready to pass him the first motto and

I start acting up

and then the second motto, we never would clean out. So I couldn't even get anywhere near the front and

attack. But we still had a good day.

Nobody went home in the ambulance. We had fun. We're drinking beer now.

So it's a good overall.

I'll bet even money Dick man can still whip most guys with his 441. Victor

or

Jackson from Hollister coming up.

Ok. Now, last week we covered side car speedway and in a few weeks we'll cover side car road racing.

But today it's the vintage hacks of Motocross

key with high car. Motocross is

two guys,

one machine

on a regular Motocross.

It's totally different.

Now, you're 30 of these on the start gate down for the first corner.

It's a pretty good in VR

you don't need a beer.

I played rugby in

men's league, soccer and stuff.

This

is the toughest sport. It is entertaining. I mean, it's a really cool sport

and it's entertaining because

no matter who's leading,

no matter who you watch from the fastest guys on the track to the guy at the very back,

there's always something happening on ac,

there's always a passenger moving right to left or, or a driver setting up for a turn.

So it's always spectacular. No matter what, just watching c cars go around. It's

real exciting.

The sea does

huge ribs, try and go around this track.

I like the science, not the speed. I like the science of racing.

And this is so unusual

that it, it,

it's demanding and it makes you think,

you know, it, it's a spectacle. You got two people, you better work together. They, they refer to us as the monkey

guys, the side riders

I've had that said to me a lot,

you have to be crazy. In fact, the truth of the matter is you have to be very sane.

Things happen extremely fast when you're on the side.

I don't look to see where my passion is.

I don't look, I'm got tired. I'm too busy. When you're in the race, you can't communicate. I might be able to point to a line to him.

Uh,

but you can't hear each other

talk. I don't even know what he's doing. He says that he's done things at the end of the race and I go

all right,

look intelligent and walk away. You know, because I,

it, it really is a trust thing. I tell you, you drive

and don't worry about me.

He will see a line that I can't see,

but you've got to trust him when he says go there,

you just do it. You don't argue, you don't stop, you just do it because

you know that guy,

whoever he is,

he's making this thing go forward.

You can't set up

the same for every corner like you can in road racing.

Every lap is a whole new race and that's how you approach it. Every lap is a new race.

It's really, really physical.

This thing is so lightweight. You see the wrong move, it, flip it up in the air real fast. It's hard plastic. A lot of guys use metal,

same guard here.

Protect your passenger from getting his

hands or feet and hung inside there. The pipe runs all the way through, back,

back out here

because you, you don't have enough room over there. Everything gets banged into, you'll finish a race and get off this bike and not realize that you actually got injured,

running around the bike.

You don't need to crash to get hurt.

So, it's one of these,

it's fun though.

That's what side cars are all about. Having a great time.

Anybody can get involved and uh and it's, it's fun and it's not for everybody

but we like to everybody try just to find out and stuff for them.

You know, you gotta be a very trusting soul to feed the monkey

coming up. Arlin's masterpiece. The signature series

back in the mid nineties, Polaris entered the cruiser market with a new V twin called Victory

today. The result of that bold move is this

the Arlin

Ness

signature series Vegas.

It's a top of the line package of modern motorcycle design and awesome styling from the master.

We brought on arguably the

hottest custom bike builder in the world. Arlan Na and his son, Corey and they're design consultants for Victory. And they've helped us with

our latest models, models like the new Vegas, which we introduced this past year

under ors

trick black cherry paint and gobs of billet and chrome sits a 1500 cc overhead cam fuel injected V twin.

That breeze through four valve heads

cycle. News editor Blake Gunner tested the loaded five speed belt drive cruiser.

Well, it's a pretty, um, high tech motor as far as modern V twins go. You know, there's a lot of stuff out there that's,

that's a John Deere tractor like, but this isn't one of them. It's, it's pretty high tech

air and oil cooled. It makes a claimed 80 horsepower at 5500 RPM and 90 ft pounds of torque at 3500 RPM.

But that technology is just part of the equation. Most people buy the bikes for the image

and I don't really care about the performance. And in

this case, in the case of the victory, I think you can get the best of both

on the custom side of the equation. Details include billet wheels, show chrome front forks and clamps topped off with radial drag bars and billet grips

out back, a hidden gas mono shock rides on a polished and chrome swing arm.

But the signature series is more than a sparkling package.

It's one with great brakes, front and rear.

It's got a top of the line brim four piston calipers with 300 millimeter brim

rotors, which is something that you don't see every day on a, on a cruiser

while the ergonomics and layout of the riding controls are excellent long haul seating is an issue

on a freeway situation. After about 30 minutes. My back starts to,

to feel it and I have to readjust a lot, but that would be one of the few complaints I have about the bike

MS RP on the Nest version is 19 9 99 about 4500. More than a standard Vegas.

That's of value considering you can add the wheels billet goodies, all the chrome and Arlin's black cherry paint job for that.

Next Tommy

G dives into our sport bike project of the week.

That was a serious crash.

Today, we'll start the road to recovery for Allen CBR 900.

Welcome back to Top Dead Center. I'm Tommy G. Today we're going to replace the tank, the wheels, the brakes

and all this jacked up fiberglass

in

its place. We're going to bolt on the NSR 900 body kit from Airtech.

I'll tell you more about this race bearing. After we get the old stuff off.

When we're done, the only things left will be the forks frame and the engine

check this out. The wheels we're going to use today on Allen's bike are from performance machine.

They're extremely strong,

super light

and so sweet.

The 10 spoke Gatlin model is made of Ford's aluminum for show bike finish.

We've mounted up a set of new Maxis super Max ZR rated sport tires.

They're layered with nylon and Kevlar

which are good at speeds in excess of 149

MPH.

First, remove the calipers

and with the axle bolt off knock it through

for the front wheel. We're going with a set of Eb C's new turbo rotors.

They feature a super light alloy hub and a full floating billet rotor ring for more gripping power

before we mount it up,

we'll go ahead and pull both sets of brake pads.

We'll replace them with Eb C's high performance sport bike pads.

They feature a centered metal compound for strength

with the pads in and calipers on

check it out.

Now the rear

we're staying away from stock and shooting for some real high performance.

The CBR Sixteens have got to go

in their place.

We're going to use a plus one wheel size

17 inch rims with less side wall and the 17 inch rubber for better response.

There is no way we can use this crease tank.

We got a used tank from JC Motors.

It's in pretty good shape.

Now,

we can fit our fiberglass

a kit like this will need some fabrication,

be precise with your measurements.

If you take your time,

everything should line up,

starting to look like a bike again, isn't it?

I'm gonna take the tank and the glass and drop it off at the paint shop next week. Rear sets clutch exhaust and much more.

Well, thanks to the aftermarket, my wounded bike will be far better than before the crash. Now it's time for some new products. Check out this retro style pull over for moto

Guzzi. It's a replica of the cream colored rowing sweaters worn by the gutsy race team. Back in the 19 twenties, it's made of chain stitched cotton with a lined collar that zips into a turtleneck

from small to extra, extra large gutsy has them for $84. Also from gutsy apparel, they're claw summer leather riding gloves. Now stitch from soft sheepskin, they feature a velcro cinch above the cuff and a reinforced palm with a protective fiber insert either available in red or black from your Gucci dealer. And they sell for about $66. Now from Italian fashion to Japanese high tech. This is she,

he's new off-road helmet.

It's called the VXFR air and it features a super strong light shell made from fiberglass and organic fibers. The hot graphics come from Troy Lee design. It has removable washable liners, but the real story is the three way ventilation system. There's a filtered vent in the nose piece and three cooling intakes built in under the crown.

Remove the visor and switches in the front, lets you open extra cooling ports

in the back

exhaust switches, let you vent out, circulated air

cool in more ways than one. The trick show air starts at 4 1199.

Now this next one is for you dit by guys who are tired of changing those bent brake levers. It's the unbreakable lever from a SV inventions.

They're forged out of 6061 aluminum with a slim blade and an adjuster that lets you set the distance of the lever from the handlebar. But here's the feature behind the unbreakable guarantee. It's the second spring loaded pivot that

the lever fold back almost 100 and 80 degrees away from the bar.

A SV may be the last control lever you'll ever buy

a retail for $55 including the Perch.

Well, that's all for T DC for today. But next week we'll bring you the 2004 cycle news. 125 shootout five, hot. New two stroke center. Only one will be the winner.

It'll be great. Well, ride safe. We'll see you then.