Letters
LETTERS
THE HELMET ISSUE
Having been involved in improved helmet technology prior to Dr. George Snively’s Snell Foundation Standards, let me compliment you on your fine, “The Helmet Man” articles.
Your writings embrace a rare motorsports article aspect—the “total environment.” Researched and recorded in this manner you do the best possible job for the rider, the ethical manufacturer/advertiser, the government, and the publisher. And, the most effective testing agency.
It is inevitable that you’ll receive bitter complaints from certain “hurt” ($?) manufacturers; however, one nice thing about plastics are myriad specification sheets showing such things as the full spectrum of properties. Fifteen years ago we had champions of several layers of shellaced linen, many caps consisting of kid leather over thin cork liners, stamped sheet steel lids (which left a lasting impression), and more than one nylon shell. Thus, manufacturers should be able to read words and numbers. Keep up the fine work!
Norman Benedict Lomita, Calif.
When I picked up the June issue of your magazine, I turned to the article on the Snell tests and began to read with great vigor. When I came to the part that stated that Alabama did not accept the Snell standards, I was horrified beyond belief, shocked, dumbfounded, crestfallen, and otherwise confounded and bemused.
Ordinarily I am able to tolerate the goings-on of those who push the buttons and pull the strings in our state government. However, upon reading this statement, I lost what little faith I had in the sanity of those infallible decision-makers on the little hill in Montgomery.
Clay Massey Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Re: Mr. Krol’s analysis of the helmet situation-1 find myself awe-struck at the amount of homework done, and the de Tocqueville punchline. With him, I prefer not to see whatever law we get become a joke, nor any joke become law—we have enough of those now.
Wish I had more time to help in the effort, but like most, I don’t earn my
living with my pen. Thank Mr. Krol for me.
John H. Willey San Francisco, Calif.
I should like to call your attention to an error which appears in the second article on helmets, in the July 1972 issue of CYCLE WORLD. The statement is made that the Snell Foundation is active in “legislation.” In point of fact, the Snell Foundation is precluded by its Articles of Incorporation from attempting to influence legislation through lobbying or similar approaches.
I have personally appeared before a number of legislative committees to give testimony concerning helmets, but have done so as a member of either the California Medical Association Committee for Traffic Safety or the American Medical Association Committee for the same.
The above distinction, although seemingly minor, is significant to the Snell Foundation and I am sure the result of a simple misunderstanding.
I must take this opportunity to extend my appreciation to Mr. Krol for having done a very thoughtful and provocative and very complete article on helmets.
George G. Snively, M.D.
Director of Research Snell Memorial Foundation Sacramento, Calif.
THE JUMPING SCENE
I was under the impression that Evel Knievel later made a successful jump over the Caesar’s Palace fountain and this was the world’s record jump. I think Blackwell, Davis, and Knievel are great, but just who does hold the record for the longest cycle jump? Personally I only count the successful jumps when a rider doesn’t fall.
Johnny C. Perry Granite Falls, N.C.
The longest jump record depends upon who is claiming it at the time. By your criteria, Knievel'’s Caesar Palace jump was not too successful, as he really wasted himself Really, we don’t care who has the record. The whole thing is better left cloaked in ambiguity and deception. —Ed.
Why did you find it necessary to ridicule and degrade Evel Knievel in order to write the article? I feel the references made about Knievel (July 1972) are totally uncalled for and extremely distasteful to me and all of Knievel’s many, many fans.
D.A. Gibson Butte, Mont.
You don’t read between the lines too well, do you, D.A.?—Ed.
I personally am a big Evel Knievel (Continued on page 10) fan and I would like to see you do an article on him such as the one of Super Joe. I admit the one on Super Joe was well done, but you should not shoot down Evel like that. He is getting old, but he will probably be jumping his motorcycle for a while longer.
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I enjoy your magazine very much and I hope you keep going like you have for years to come.
John Hietikko DeKalb, 111.
If we can keep going under adversity anything like Evel has experienced, we will be fair nigh to bulletproof.—Ed.
DEAR YOU DIRTY RAT
Your irresponsible, untrustworthy yellow journal ought to be burned for the rag that it is. Your nasty trash should be kept out of the hands of innocent women and children. Your overwhelming bias and vicious distortions make Nazi propaganda read like something by Dr. Soose, or Suezz, or however that foreigner spells his name.
Your reckless trickery has been found out! No longer can you get away with exploiting a trusting public. Your mad-dog deceptions have been discovered, and I can provide the documented proof.
On page 43 of the February issue you show a picture of rider No. 25 crossing a dirt road and imply this is happening at the Rams Hare & Hound at Red Rock Canyon. Then on page 27 of the August issue you report on the Greenhorn Enduro and you show the same picture.
Yes, that’s February 1962 and August 1962, and you probably thought that you had been successful in pulling off this horrid bilking of the public. But the arm of justice is longer than the arm of Plastikman and you cannot escape so easily.
I shudder to think how many lives have been shattered by the lies and falsehoods you pumped into the defenseless minds of people who placed their faith in you, and were duped into believing that No. 25 was in two different events at the same time. Do you feel no responsibility at all to your readership?
Our great motorcycle heros of the past, like the anonymous No. 25, deserve better treatment than to have their memories besmirched by double-dealing magazine hacks.
Watch your step!
I.R. Atereader Downtown Tres Pinos, Calif.
Gosh, A tereader, I wasn’t even working here in 1962! — Ed.
SOME POTATOES!
To those who encounter difficulties with their shocks bottoming, etc., while carrying their wives around on the back like a bag of potatoes, let me submit that the best solution by far is to get the lady a bike of her own.
My wife, Kathy, and I are both enthusiastic about riding, and we each have our own 650 Triumph TR6R. This arrangement has much to recommend, as for one thing each motorcycle performs better and is therefore safer without a passenger, and as for another, it is incomparably more enjoyable for anyone to be an active rather than a passive rider. After all, when was the last time you voluntarily chose to be luggage when you ride your own?
George Young Los Angeles, Calif.
PARTING COMPANY
In a cloud of flying gravel yesterday I discovered the truth about bikes: It’s not if you fall, it’s when you fall. After 10,000 scratch-free miles, my shiny new 175 Honda and I finally parted company unexpectedly as I was whipping into the parking lot of the local ’burger joint.
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The crash produced only minor pavement rash on bike and body, but it raised some vital questions: Are we always doomed to crash? Is there any way to enjoy the essence of a bike, wailing along at exotic rpms all heeled over, bathed in speed and wind and joy, without suffering the nagging feeling that you will soon be bathed in liniment, swathed in bandages, as the Grim Reaper, tailgating you in a big semi, prepares to trundle you into oblivion?
In a recent trip home from work, a distance of two miles, I was crowded off the road by one car, ran into a load of haybales dumped by a passing truck at the entrance to the expressway, drafted by a Winnebago (an unnerving experience when your wick is turned all the way up and you have wall-to-wall traffic), nearly run over by a light-jumping Pontiac, then darted-at by two dogs and forced off the road again by another motorist. Know any safe ways to crash?
Bob Workman
Syracuse, N.Y.
THANKS FROM MORE
This is my first opportunity to extend my thanks and sincere appreciation for the opportunity to participate in your Los Angeles motorcycle show. Without a doubt, yours was the largest show in which we have yet exhibited. We gained a great deal of exposure with motorcyclists who were almost totally unaware of MORE’s existence and this was evidenced by the fact that we enrolled 267 new members during the show. Although this constituted a record for sign-ups at a single event, it may seem like a small figure to many persons. We consider this to be very good because we also handed-out more than 10,000 MORE Newsletters and Membership Application forms, many of which are now being received in our daily mail. Again, speaking for our entire 13,000-member organization, I wish to extend our sincerest thanks.
Russ Sanford, President Motorcycle Owners, Riders, Enthusiasts Sacramento, Calif.
STEERING PHENOMENA
Recently, while motoring through the Watchung Mountains on my SL350,
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I discovered an odd phenomenon. If I pulled the right steering grip toward me, and/or pushed on the left one, without leaning to one side or the other, the bike would steer left, not right. I’ve concluded that I was steering the center of gravity out from under me to the right, consequently falling (and thus turning) to the left. The old timers around here say I’ve been eating too many banana peels and hallucinating. Can you back me up?
B. Robinson Freehold, N.J.
Them oldtimers ought to congratulate you for your natural power of observation, Mr. Robinson, for you have expressed, in a simple way, the fundamental mechanics for steering any gyroscopically balanced two-wheels-in-line device. —Ed.
WAS IT FICTION?
That article in the April issue by Mr. Gilbert on touring the British Isles is fiction, isn’t it? I have been here in England for the past 3Vi years and I haven’t been treated like he was as of yet. Of course he wasn’t here very long.
If he had to stay any length of time I believe he would change his mind. For one thing parts, are impossible to find. True, I have a Japanese bike, but 11 months since I ordered a clutch hub for my Kawasaki is a bit much. It’s not much better for English bikes—a friend has a Bonnie and he waited 10 weeks for an air cleaner cover. Of course I know we are a whole 50 miles from Coventry. Another friend, who owns a Commando, had to order his parts from his brother in the states because he couldn’t get them here.
As to the polite drivers, I haven’t met any yet. Very seldom do they change lanes to pass a bike, but come close enough for one to swallow his gum and a few other things. A friend had his new CB750 bent when he was sideswiped while being passed as he was breaking in the engine.
If you like coming around a turn at night to find a lorry on your side of the road with only his parking lights on coming at you, well you can have my share. I will say that being over here has made me a better rider, but I wouldn’t advise it for anyone.
England may be a nice place to visit if you have money and are only going to be here for a short time. But for more than that, man, it just isn’t cool. I will agree that the real England is the villages and countryside, not London or the other big towns.
Burt L. Bnaford Soon to be in the states The one nice thing you learn while traveling in foreign countries is that your own country may not be so screwed up after all. —Ed.
LIKED “LITTLE RED”
Before I forget, please congratulate Mark G. Polak on his excellent satire— “Little Red Riding Helmet.”
We need more articles like this and talented people like Mr. Polak writing them. After 18 years of riding and reading, the business of which bike goes the fastest and which bike handles the best wears a little thin.
I am always delighted when someone can see humor in our religion. I am sure Archie Bunker would have to admit Mr. Polak is a credit to his name, probably because Bunker never saw any of Jackson Pollock’s art work. Mike Conboy Downers Grove, 111.
