Round Up
ROUND UP
JOE PARKHURST
I LEARNED of the existence of a group of young people with a message that really interests me and some of my riding friends. I have, for many years, enjoyed my motorcycles largely for one reason: they allow me to get into the back country and to experience the real pleasure of seeing nature in its raw form. No other means of transportation can take you the places a bike will go with ease. I ride the mountain trails and the desert because I simply love to be out there. The occasional enduro I ride is a mere excuse to be out of doors and on a bike.
This group, the Ecology-Syntechnics, also appreciates the out-of-doors, and is doing something about preserving it. They say they are tired of rapping about the waste, pollution and filth that surrounds our lives and doing nothing about it. They also state that they are tired of the b.s. and lies they hear from just about everyone. So they have started an ecology movement. It has a symbol: a green and white American flag. The flag stands for pure air and green lands. The symbol can be left on garbage cans, dumps, factory installations and manufacturing plants. It could also be raised beside roads by those who are helping to clean up the beer cans, oil cans, bottles, paper, trash and what have you.
It seems to me that motorcycle riders and all other off-road vehicle drivers could also contribute a great deal to such an effort. It is not an unknown fact that many legislators are accusing we motorcycle riders of being destroyers of the land, and they believe that because we are so mobile we can move our trash even further back into the wilds than the ordinary despoilers. For some of our acquaintances this is quite true, unfortunately. I am sickened at the sight of the mess some of us leave in the desert and on the trails. Far too many show no regard for our precious natural resources, and as motorcyclists they should be the ones who care the most, for it is us who will suffer when the lands are closed to us, because we are too stupid to realize what we are doing.
Pollution means a lot of things. We are hearing a great deal these days about noise pollution, too. Those who have no regard for the rights of others but care only that things remain the way they prefer them, are quick to complain about the one offense that motorcycles are the guiltiest of: noise. We are going to be heavily legislated against from the city, county, state and federal level, if something isn’t done from within the motorcycle fraternity about the noise motorcycles are making. It takes a pretty intense bike enthusiast (and I’m sure as hell one of the most intense) to be unmoved by the week-end racer who’s destroying the peace and quiet around home by riding in the streets or the vacant lot down the street with his open megaphone or super tuned twostroke exhaust system on.
Noise pollution is as much an offense as the worst form of littering. The sooner more of us realize this and do something about it, the better. Ecology-Syntechnics didn’t say anything about noise; they’ve got enough to be concerned with as it is. If you’d like to join the movement, write them at 1984 California Street, Berkeley, CA 94703. They charge 35 cents for a flag decal and $10 for a 3 by 5 flag. Makes a nice helmet decoration, and it would show a lot of people that you care.
CYCLE WORLD PRODUCTS
If it sounds like we are trying to outdo Playboy in the products department, don’t pay any attention. But, needless to say, we are adding more products to our special division this month, and I think they are pretty exciting. To begin with, next month we’ll start advertising CYCLE WORLD jewelry with a handsome tie tack and key chain, featuring the front wheel of a bike and the CYCLE WORLD logotype that has appeared on the first page of the magazine since our first issue. The tie tack also makes a neat lapel pin. If you are really a CW fan and not ashamed to show it, watch for the ad next month.
Protar models in Italy have flooded our warehouse with four new models this month. The most exciting to me is the BMW sidecar kit. It’s a faithful reproduction of world champions Deubel and Horner’s 500-cc “Rennsport” road racing outfit that held the championship during the years 1961 through 1964. The kit contains 182 pieces, so it’s a little less complex than, say, the Honda Six kit. Also two new road racing motorcycles are joining the ranks. One is the 350-cc version of the six-cylinder Honda screamer that Hailwood rode to the world championship in 1964, ’65 and ’66. All six cylinders are clearly visible in this miniature version of the original 55-hp-at-17,500rpm bike, which ran up to about 150 mph through the traps on the Isle Of Man.
Tarquinio Pro vini, orginator of the Protar series, is also adding a 350-cc version of the Benelli Four that is now in the hands of Renzo Pasolini. Provini never rode it, but Pasolini was 1968 Italian champion on one. It is a whole new motorcycle, faithfully reproduced in miniature in the familiar 1 /9th scale. Last, and least, is a new kit of a 125-cc Vespa Primavera motor scooter. Scooters are a vanishing breed, but for those who want to remember them fondly, we offer a handsome model of an orange scooter of the kind seen in every Italian town, usually decorated with a handsome lass seated side-saddle on what is probably the most dangerous seat on wheels. It makes a nice model anyway.
CYCLE WORLD Posters grow by three this month. We’ve added Ken Olausson’s shot of the motocross rider taking a flyer at a French grand prix that was featured as a Slipstream photo in the April issue. The poster appears in the new advertisement this issue. Next month we’U add two new full color posters from Europe. Printed in Holland on super heavy glossy paper, one is an action shot of beautiful Agostini on the MV Four, and the other is of Renzo Pasolini on the Benelli Four. You’ll note both are also available as CYCLE WORLD models. Can’t say we aren’t covering the ground well these days. Both will sell for $3.00. They measure 18.5 in. by 26.5 in., and are only the first of a new series.
