Letters

LETTERS

LIKES BIG BIKES

I seldom write to magazines, but here goes. I subscribe to CYCLE WORLD and to Cycle. However, I have been very disappointed in both mags, as it seems that all the articles are on dirt or small bikes. Once in awhile there is an article on a (big) 400 or 500cc. Well, I was real pleased, and surprised, with the August issue. There were two articles on big bikes.

You see, there are a lot of guys and gals who ride road bikes and like to see something in the magazines for them, as well as for the dirt riders. We don’t always want a test, just some good travel topics.

I’m 52 years old and have been riding for 35 years. All of my bikes have been Harleys, except one Indian. However, I am at present riding a 750 Suzuki. This spring I’m going to Italy, where I plan to buy a Moto Guzzi and tour. Please give us some more big bike stories.

G.D. Nogle Jr.

Fredericksburg, Texas

STICKS UP FOR SUZUKI

I’m persuaded to write this letter to you because of the reputation Suzuki has gotten around this damnable hick town of ours. Suzuki has vastly improved its line of bikes and is doing well in competition also. You mentioned Gary Nixon’s loss due to his wreck in the corners at Daytona. Think of the embarrassment to Yamaha had he held on and beaten them at their own game on a Suzuki! Then, if you want something that actually came about, there’s the matter of the Open class World Motocross Champion Roger DeCoster on a factory Suzuki for the past several years. And, until 1973, Joel Robert claimed the 250 class. Any bets that he’ll get it back?

In your competitor’s recent “Ten Best Buys,” Suzuki claimed number one (T500 Titan) and number five (TM125 Challenger). Although the TM lost in your recent MX comparison, you said some pretty nice things about it. A little porting work, decent brakes and tires and you’ve got a helluva bike. I agree with your statement that “with a little work on the owner’s part, TMs could easily be the machines to beat.” And at an affordable price. I own a 185 now and feel that in a couple of^ears Suzukis will get the respect i^P is coming to them.

Jeff Stetellon Amanda, Ohio

CAN'T RIDE IN ENGLAND

I am an American living in London and 1 love bikes. Unfortunately, I cannot yet legally ride on the street and, as I live centrally, I have no access to any trails. I am almost sixteen and I have been living here for four and a half years.

Sadly, motorcycling in this country is at a low ebb. The industry is having troubles and the public prefers to stifle itself in a tangle of small, noisy British and Japanese cars. There are virtually no choppers and only a small number of cafe-type racers. The vast majority of bikes are mopeds and small commuter bikes, predominantly Hondas. are, of course, the old BSA and Triumph thumpers.

Everything related to personal transportation is outrageously expensive. A gallon of gasoline costs between $1 and $1.50. A new Yamaha at discount prices Continued from page 10 is about $1100. Your good ol’ jurada CB250 is about the same, so you can see why the British aren’t terribly interested. Plus the facts that service is hard to find and the weather is usually deplorable.

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I have only ridden friends’ mini bikes while on vacation in the U.S. It was enough. The bug has bitten and I’m hooked. I must be satisfied with a racing bicycle—one of the few things the British make really well.

Anyhow, about your mag. I only found it today and I haven’t even read it all yet but I’m sending off for a subscription. It is a fantastic value considering that the top British mag is about twice as expensive, even with your overseas charge. Thanks for introducing me to your great magazine.

Mike Mendes London, Enj^^d

STAY OUT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

Tourists and campers, if you prefer to travel on vehicles with less than four wheels, stay out of New Hampshire. You will not find any camping areas open to you and you will be insulted and threatened with calls to the police if you ask why.

It matters not that you are 15-yearveteran family campers who have recently discovered the pleasures of motorcycle touring, or that you have camped across the country several times; you will be refused a place to sleep in New Hampshire. Nor does it matter that you are a N.H. resident or that you are a vacationing executive whose salary exceeds that of the governor. If you drive a vehicle with less than four wheels, you must go home orJg^e New Hampshire to sleep. Even GovSPIror Thomson would be rudely evicted if he drove in with a Honda, and he would have to drive to Maine, Massachusetts or Vermont to camp.

There will be no signs outside the campground to warn you, you must ask and be demeaned. Tourist information stands don’t tell you, nor does camping literature, but the bigotry is there. If you are on two or three wheels, get out of the state before dark. N.H. campgrounds are so paranoid that even tenspeed bikes must be pushed to the highway before they are ridden-as if the Hell’s Angels used bicycles. It’s not for safety; 10,000-pound, 60-foot-long Cadillac/Airstream rigs have no such restrictions.

It will be amusing to watch the inevitable future unfold. The price of gasoline rises to $1.50 a gallon in^fey four years and large campers and m^ror homes become parked permanently in (Continued on page 18) Continued from page 14 back yards and resort-area shant>^^ns. The roads will contain only underpowered trucks, mini cars and motorcycles. Private campgrounds will go bankrupt left and right, and the few remaining tourists (largely cyclists) will stay at nearly empty government camping areas. Motorcycle tourists will have the last laugh.

If your vehicle has fewer than four wheels, the “Welcome to New Hampshire” signs really say: “Keep Out of New Hampshire, Undesirable. This Means You.” Even if you live in New Hampshire as I do, I recommend touring Maine. There you can camp as any other motorist without this unfair discrimination.

I am sending this warning to you in the hope that it will prevent another tourist from making an unexpected 90-mile drive home in cold, ^ftny weather, late at night, with a^mild aboard, as I did. Our camping weekend was turned into a nightmare.

Jordan Spofford Kingston, N.H.

A WOMAN SCORNED

I hate to turn this into a gripe column, but as a female bike rider I feel I have some legitimate beefs. They are:

1. The age-old problem of inconsiderate auto drivers. You know the ones who pull out in front of you, make left turns from the right lane. I’ve seen bikers do it too. I have to assume I’m invisible.

2. I resent being called a dyke, a man-hater and having people identify me as being part of womens lib or something. I ride because 95 percent of the time I enjoy it. Pure and simp^^It’s not pleasant to be tailed on a hi^^ay at 55 mph by a truckload of toothless rednecks or to be crowded off the road by some idiot who looks the other way when he/she hears your horn. I don’t like giving up my right-of-way.

3. It’s a real down to be excluded from group conversations about bikes. Most guys seem to assume automatically that girls know nothing about mechanics or bikes. No one likes repeating something for the third time so someone realizes you said something. Thud! Bike salesmen I’ve found to be the worst. I include in this category being talked down to by pump jockeys who think they can snow me about the bike(s) I ride. “Well Mr. 305 Scrambler, how much have you ridden a BMW R75?” I get tempted to ask sometimes.

Most male riders that I meet are great guys who individually are glad tc^jwke talk with a girl. It’s the minorit^Rho are making things rough, the ones who’d (Continued on page 20) Continued from page 18 relegate women to 125s forever.

I’d like to hear from other female riders about anything pertaining to bikes...comments or suggestions, especially from Ohio. I’m 19 years old and I ride a Suzuki T500K and a BMW R75/6.

Su Johnston Columbus, Ohio

NO TRYING BEFORE BUYING

CYCLE WORLD’S road tests are very interesting and a big help to anyone about to purchase his first machine.

However, after making a partial decision about two or three bikes, the average person wishes to find out for himself just how the bike fits him for size, weight, seat height, etc., so off he goes to the various dealers.

When he enters the showroom there are signs on everything-“Do not touch,” “Keep off,” “Do not sit on motorcycles,” and so on.

Some dealers have ropes stretched around the motorcycles from one end of the store to the other. So how can anybody really pick the right bike if he cannot, or rather must not, mount it or even touch it.

It seems that you can only sit on a bike after you’ve already bought it, and then it’s too late to decide on a smaller or heavier bike.

Not everybody has a friend who happens to have just the right bike that may be perfect, or nearly so, for him.

Many of us have gone into showrooms just to look and found ourselves owners an hour later.

I think the dealers are missing the point. I’ve been getting CYCLE WORLD for years and am convinced it is the best.

Laddy Krnak Lyons, 111.

You’re right to be upset about the fact that you generally don’t get to ride a machine at your dealer’s until after you’ve purchased it, but you must look at it also from a dealer’s point of view. He gets all sorts of people in every day. Some are people who have never ridden a bike before or have ridden so little that they can’t even remember which lever or twist grip or pedal does what.

There’re always the young kids. Now, while many of them are actually in the market for a bike, most of them are about as close to purchasing a motorcycle when they walk into a dealer’s showroom as you and we are to the moon. There are also other types varying from those who just want to take a bike for a free ride, to those who are going to take that demo bike and see just how far over redline that engine will (Continued on page 22) go before t-he piston and a valve make love.

Continued from page 20

We have staffers who’ve worked the retail end of motorcycle sales and believe us, these types of people do exist. And in surprising numbers. After sifting through all of these various and sundry types, you come to the real customer. The man who goes into a place where they sell motorcycles because he wants to buy a motorcycle. How can a dealer decide which is really which. The only way is through judgment. Some dealers possess good judgment while others are poor at it. You know you’re a sincere customer, but how does he know?

We, too, wish there were a way to distinguish one from the others because no true customer should be denied a ride on the bike he is planning to purchase; but there isn’t. And we know that dealers feel the same way, because they don’t like the thought of having to turn down a potential buyer. It’s a tough problem. —Ed.

LIKED THE LEATHERS

I am writing to thank you for recognizing the value of leather as both the functional and dressy clothing for motorcycle riders. I have no interest in the industry—I’m just a simple, ordinary cycle nut—but I’ve long felt we failed to tell the real story as far as leather garments for cycling are concerned. Way back leather got pegged as the typical black leather jacket of the Wild One or Hell’s Angel. It could just as easily have been a denim jacket that became the symbol of all that is bad about our sport.

Leather has so many values to our sport. It is the best protection from fall and slide burns, it is comfortable, it breathes so it isn’t too hot, it turns water, dust, mud etc., and, as you show so well, it can be made into very attractive and functional garments. I’ve often said that as far as the cost of a set of leathers, it is really a part of the cycle equipment, like wheels, engine, helmet etc., and should be considered as part of the investment.

So here is a vote to keep pushing leather motorcycle gear. And by the way, the chicks look real cool!

Frank Foster Westernport, Md.

CHANGING TIMES

Thomas Wolfe was right; you never can go home. Change is inevitable, irrevocable, constant. Motorcycling, though, has always stood apart and away from this; it has been pursued by few enough to be ignored by the public, the government, the “Establishment.” (Continued on page 24)

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Motorcycles have always beerl^the symbol of solitude; when riding one, you are alone and a loner, divorced from the world and all of its problems and pettiness.

Now, motorcycles are “in;” they are to become a major form of transportation. People who would not touch one 10 years ago now polish their Japanese 350s regularly. The government is taking bigger and more positive steps to regulate and control the use of motorcycles...motorcycling as I know it is dead. There used to be a few hundred thousand motorcyclists; there still are, plus maybe a million or more automobile drivers riding motorcycles.

I don’t believe motorcycling, or anything for that matter, can survive popularity. Popularity breeds change, control and abuse, and before long, all that remains is a mere shadow, hardly r^^gnizable, of what once was.

No, I won’t sell my bike, but like the Triumph 1 ride, I’ll just fade away from it all, continuing motorcycling as I feel it was meant to be, not as it is and will be.

Charles Noble Lansdale, Pa.

NOBODY’S PREFECT

In the October ’74 issue of CW on page 84, we goofed. The Honda XL 125 has a six-month /4000-mile warranty, not “none” as we stated. Everybody knows Honda is famous for its excellent warranty program, so we hope we didn’t mislead anyone.—Ed. loi