Letters
LETTERS
NOW, THERE IS A FAN
Come on CYCLE WORLD! You’re slipping! Only three pictures of Joe Park-hurst in the May issue, though I must admit that the cover shot (in color yet) staggers the imagination. That massive forehead, indicative of vast intelligence and God-like judgment, the nose of a Caesar, a mouth which clearly shows the qualities of tenderness and compassion, tempered with humor, and that chin — incredible. If only Michelangelo were alive to capture this in eternal Italian marble.
Not to be content with being, in all probability, the handsomest man in the universe, Lord Parkhurst presses on to further thrill and amaze his subjects with his fantastic literary dexterity. The colorful descriptiveness of Hemingway, the analytical clarity of Freud, with the philosophical sweep of Spinoza.
This, then, is my humble suggestion. Raise the price of your publication fifty cents. The additional revenue will go towards the execution of a statue of Joe
Parkhurst, at least twice life-size. Not in bronze, not in marble, but in nodular iron. The statue would be attired in a flowing Roman toga astride his trusty Honda. As symbols of his regal office, in his left hand, a connecting rod, and in his right, at arms length, a hand mirror. The base of this statue would bear this bold inscription, “Joe Parkhurst — Alone in His Greatness.” I daresay not one single reader would object to the additional cost of CYCLE WORLD; indeed, the circulation would probably soar to new heights. Then, later on, in keeping with Lady Bird’s highway beautification program, smaller replicas of the monument would be erected on major highways as they enter principal cities. Think of this for a moment! The Federal government would leap at the chance to financially support such a program.
Please! More pictures of Parkhurst. Or — better yet, a companion publication to CYCLE WORLD. YOU might call it “The Parkhurst Story,” or “What is Joe Parkhurst really like?” Candid shots of Joe trimming his mustache, Joe eating tacos, Joe sitting in on piano with the guys at P.J.’s. Joe at home, and like that.
Well, that’s it for awhile. My gaze keeps returning to the May cover of CYCLE WORLD. Joe, you’re too much, baby. Paul Newman, Fernando Lamas — next to JOE PARKHURST, they look like punks.
In closing, a suggestion for the June issue. Joe doing a road test of the Mitsubishi rupture truss. How does that grab you?.
God bless you, Joe. Your humble servant, SIDNEY SCHTICK President, Joe Parkhurst Fan Club Chicago, 111.
Do you suppose he’s jealous? — Ed. SHUCKS, YOU GUESSED IT
That so-called “old goat” on the May CYCLE WORLD cover looks like a rather dashing fellow, being old enough to know what he wants and young enough to enjoy it.
Is the “pretty young chick” possibly his wife?
GERALD RINELL Virginia, Minnesota You said it, baby. —Ed.
BUZZ-BUZZ
I agree with Ray Keown, of Portland Oregon that it would be nice to have a few color pictures of some nice looking bikes in your mag once in awhile.
I do not agree with him, however, on the fact that Round Up, Continental Report, Report from Japan and from Italy are not worthwhile. Also, he said he enjoyed road tests on 30 and 40 inchers, and that smaller machines made him sick. Well, I want him to know he made me feel very bad when he said they went “buzz buzz” in such a sarcastic way. The “buzz buzz” sounds pretty good to me, mainly because I own a Honda 90 Trail. Not that I don’t like big bikes, but I have two problems, money and parents (I’m only fifteen).
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I enjoy your road tests on the big ones too, but I think you’re lacking, instead of abounding in small displacement reports (50-100). Also, I wish you would have technical articles on small bikes, because I believe many people would benefit from them.
I hope you’re not too weary from all my criticism, because I think you have the greatest magazine ever to come out.
One more thing, please tell Carol Morten that if she ever gets tired of her own hills and gullies, that I live a lot closer than those guys up in Canada!
JOHN COOPER Lompoc, California
Please find enclosed a “motorcycletoon.”
WOMEN
I am stationed here on Okinawa with the U.S. Air Force and a member of the TRAILBLAZERS CYCLE CLUB of NAHA, OKINAWA. I am also an ardent reader of CW. Being the only Cycle Magazine that can be depended on to be available every month, one must make sure to grab a copy on the day of arrival. They sell like — fast!
I have been particularly interested in your Road Tests and articles on Japanese cycles. There are very few others around the Island here, though Triumph is doing well in the 650cc Models. My wife and I each own a Honda CL 72 Scrambler, mine being slightly modified for the scrambles track. I might also add, it is a rare thing, indeed, to see anything on the scramble or flattrack that isn’t a Honda!
I would like to make one suggestion to improve an otherwise very fine cycle mag if I may. Since the ladies are as much a part (and more!) of our lives as motorcycles, why not dedicate at least one page each month just for them. Enclosed is a picture of my wife, Darlene, on Her Honda Scrambler, which she rides like an “Old Pro” when she isn’t chasing our two youngsters! I am sure there are many others who have a sweetheart who rides a machine that they would be proud to see on a Ladies Page in CYCLE WORLD.
I would also like to see an article in one of your future issues on Cycle Clubs. There are three main ones, racing, etc., here on Okinawa. Weather permitting, there are two to four races each month on three different tracks and numerous boondocking and road trips. There are quite a large number of American G.I.s on this small Pacific island (one third the size of Rhode Island) along with our Ryukyuan friends who are cycle enthusiasts and many of them are doing quite well on the track. I would appreciate your comments on these two suggestions, and if in the affirmative, how would one go about coordinating such an article as mentioned above with your publisher?
ROBERT F. WILLIAMS
APO San Francisco
We receive an occasional request for more news for the ladies, but try as we will, we cannot think of anything they do on motorcycles, men aren’t also doing, and better. But we are happy to add a little now and then, such as running the photo of your attractive wife, who is not exactly the most typical cyclist we have seen. We do not feature motorcycle clubs, as there are so many we cannot do any of them real justice. The A.M.A.’s own magazine does an excellent job with their affiliate club news. Remember, the only people who really care about club news, are the members of the club being mentioned, and that is only a very few people at a time. We must try to please thousands each issue, and it is not an easy job. Club news would mean that we would need to shorten our road tests, technical features, touring stories, etc., and we fear our other readers would not be too happy. Ed.
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MAKES SENSE
I enjoy watching road racing very much and someday hope to be able to start racing myself. I have a problem. How does one find out when and where races are being held? The promoters of road races are aiming at a very small segment of the population when they send posters to motorcycle shops. The crowds at races would more than double if the races were advertised by radio, television, newspapers and magazines. I know the location of more top-secret missile bases than race courses. (Maybe the race promoters should get jobs with the government.) Just a sentence in a newspaper brings crowds in the thousands to Ascot; imagine what a paragraph could do.
If a few people would get on the ball, motorcycle racing would be as big here, as it is in Europe. The only coverage the National Championships at Daytona got was a small picture of some guy landing on his head; no results, no story. If publicity is too expensive, why not try to get manufacturers to foot some of the bill? The makers of motorcycles spend fantastic amounts of money on machines and riders — for what? So a few thousand people can read about it in your magazine. Motorcycle racing should be every bit as big as auto racing in this country. I would appreciate it, and so would many others, if you would publish a complete list of all upcoming races in California and elsewhere.
One thing that would greatly increase participation in racing, would be the starting of a stock production class. What I mean to say is, my Yamaha 250 is no match for a “production” TD-1. What prompted me to want to start racing was my first look at “racing”(?) at Carlsbad. I expected a complete field of Mike Hailwoods. What I saw, was a field of riders not much better than myself. Immediately some of my friends and I got the racing bug. But what cooled us was the fact we could not afford a competitive racing machine, or even fix up the bikes we owned, and there were too few races to warrant the expense for racing togs and license.
There is a fantastic potential for the growth of motorcycle racing in this country. I am a bicycle racer (the kind one pedals). There are about 3,000 active racers in the, U.S., but not one is a match for the average European rider. Why? Because in Europe the sport is a thousand times more popular, so it has many more people to draw riders from. The same thing can be applied to motorcycle racing in this country. Who starts racing? The people with the money and knowhow.
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Let’s say one out of every ten people who buys a motorcycle thinks he would like to try his hand at racing. He is unwilling to invest the time and money to find out if he is wrong. He could probably not afford to buy a second bike and keep it in racing shape. He is probably short on mechanical knowledge. He does not want to jump from a street bike to a racing machine.
If someone would start classes for stock, lightweight street machines, just as they come off the showroom floor, no racing tires, tuned exhaust, or other speed equipment, just think of all the people with their Hondas, Yamahas, Suzukis(?), and other machines that would and could start racing. Who knows, perhaps right at this very minute, on his way to the supermarket is a potential Mike Hailwood. There is only one way to find out; get him racing.
Now, I will probably sound like I am defeating my cause. One thing that I noticed at Carlsbad was the sloppy appearance of some of the riders and machines. You are always talking about public image. Well, one place it can be improved is at the track. Somebody ought to get some of these guys to polish their leathers, shine their boots, and clean the grease and dirt off their bikes. One guy I saw even had a papier maché fairing. Another thing, some of the Novice “racers” could use a course in how to drive a motorcycle. I realize they’re new to the sport, but really, some of the lines through turns, missing turns that a truck could take faster, panic stops, and missing gears . . . I’m not much better or worse, but I still got some good laughs from the Novice races.
I think the main reason for racing is to put on a good show for the public, to have a good, safe time yourself, and lastly to prove who is best. So it’s up to the riders to make it look good, look neat and clean, and look like they know what they are doing.
If I sound cynical, I am really not trying to be. The motorcycle racing associations are doing a great job organizing and running races, and the riders do a great job racing them. I admire anyone who has the fortitude to race. It just seems to me that everybody is doing a poor job of getting to the public and potential that motorcycle racing can have.
BARRY ROBERTS Hollywood, Calif.
TECHNICAL MADMEN
In all my 33 years, I cannot recall being so pleased and upset, all at one time. It would be hard to say what has interested me more — the motorcycle — or the fine publication CYCLE WORLD. I was very pleased to see the fine article by Dan Hunt on “Basic Motorcycle Photography.”
What upset me no end was the one short term “the technical madness that is called modem day photography.”
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Friends, let me tell you something. Photography is my bread and butter, and if you think it’s technical madness, you should be on the outside looking at the world of motorcycles.
Here is some of what you will see: BHP @ rpm - 23 @ 6,500 Two-stroke single Two-cycle single
4 valve cylinder head configuration 175cc twin Wt. mach.
OHV
OHC
Leading link Swing arm Multi-disc, oil bath
I’m sure there are more, and I’m sure that if I read CYCLE WORLD long enough I’ll know what all those things mean and what they will do for me. I’m also sure if I read your good book long enough, I’ll find out how to clean a spark plug the right way, how to sit on my cycle for control over it, the right way to adjust the chain, what to look for when changing a tire, even some more tips on good cycle photography.
JOE BABIARZ Saginaw, Michigan
WOW!
I have read through your new lOOcc Motorbike book. My comments on this production are of such magnitude, that they could not possibly be contained in a single letter. Please remit by special delivery air mail, if not by wire, a round trip ticket for the soonest non-stop jet flight to Long Beach, so that I may be able to congratulate you in person, on this astounding, fantastic, overwhelming work of art. A titanic boost to the image, and added acceleration to the motorcycle industry! I could go on forever. Stupendous!
TERRENCE M. HALL Yakima, Washington Thank you, Terry. — Ed.
HOW ABOUT NEXT YEAR?
I am pleased to see you announce the CYCLE WORLD Team of Riders for the Isle of Man. I am with you 100 per cent. I have known of this for quite some time, as it was announced in “Motor Cycling” newspaper that you had reserved a place to work on the machines on the LO.M.
. . . “Motor Cycling” newspaper is the very best publication for motorcycle reporting throughout the world. I think CYCLE WORLD is the very best magazine in the world.
Thank you for making the I.O.M. possible for these riders. I hope in the future you will also send trials riders to compete in international events. Keep up the good work.
GEORGE WILSON Millersburg, Indiana
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TWO-WHEELERS AFLOAT
Just a note to let you know how much we enjoy your fine magazine here aboard the USS America.
We have quite a large group of enthusiasts aboard the America. To say that the few copies of CYCLE WORLD that we receive are well read, would be the understatement of the year.
I am seriously considering the motorcycle business, upon my retirement from the USN, and have made it a point to mention your magazine in all my inquiries to dealers.
Would also like to see a road test of the JAWA 250cc or 350cc Roadster in the near future. These machines came on strong in the late ‘40s, but like the early compact cars, I guess they were a bit ahead of the times. Now that the boom is on in the light weight and middle weight field, I would like to hear from them again.
Could we see a mention in your magazine of the motorcycle men of the USS America? Thanks much.
C. E. YOUNG, ENI, USN USS America
AHH-SO
It sure is sickening to read or see a Japanese article or ad on almost every other page.
Before you know it, they will own the magazine.
LOUIS E. KOSMA Anderson, South Carolina
BEHIND THE TIMES
I agree with David Davenport’s letter in the March issue. The Marlon Brando days of cycles are gone, yet this is the image the general public seems to have. I would like to see CYCLE WORLD print an article about the good aspects of the sport, which would show the general public why there is such a boom in the cycle industry. We can thank CYCLE WORLD for keeping the wheelie and street racing crowds out of their magazine.
MIKE McCLEARY Des Moines, Iowa
DISAPPOINTED
I was disappointed to see you agree with the narrow-minded view expressed by reader Richmond (May ’66). Mr. Richmond either fails to see, or refuses to see, the goal of a college education.
It is obviously unfair to expect a kid fresh out of engineering school to know all the details acquired by a mechanic in a lifetime’s experience in his trade. This knowledge, admittedly valuable, is not unique. Anyone with the necessary stick-to-itiveness can learn it. On the other hand, the new engineer knows things — math, solid and fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, etc., that can not be learned outside of a formal education.
Give the kid a fighting chance. Spot him a few years experience among the nuts and bolts people, then see who knows the most about both sides of the picture.
PAT CORBIN Champaign, Iillinois
