Letters
LETTERS
LETTING THE GOOD TIMES ROLL EVEN LONGER
In regard to the February 1975 issue of CYCLE WORLD, in which you ran a comparison test between Suzuki’s Rotary, the Kawasaki Z1 and BMW’s 900, I would like to mention the following serious error concerning the factory warranty. Kawasaki’s warranty is not four months or 4000 miles as indicated by your article, but actually six months with unlimited mileage, and an extended warranty option available to the customer that could give him as much as 12 months with unlimited mileage. This is perhaps the best warranty in the business today.
In comparing long-distance touring bikes where mileage restrictions on warranties are very critical, Kawasaki’s unlimited mileage warranty does unquestionably give it the best factory warranty in your test.
Leonard S. Sands Performance Cycle Atlantic City, N.J.
That’s an extra point for Kawasaki in the standings and one less for BMW. Suzuki stays where it is with the best warranty of the three. The new scores do not change the final placings, however.— Ed.
CONTROVERSY OVER RAINBOW
I thoroughly enjoy your magazine; I find it one of the best on the racks. I’m into motocross, woods, custom and touring. Your mag covers these and more.
I’m not normally the type to write letters, but the letter from Roger Rainbow in the April issue thoroughly infuriated me.
Obviously this guy is another bench racer. He probably sat on a Sportster one day and noticed that there weren’t two of everything on each side. Granted, because of the carb the right knee does protrude a little more than the left on a Sportster. But I doubt whether this is apt to cause any more leg injury than any other bike. The only bike that provides a degree of leg protection in stock form is a BMW (or an Electra-Glide with crash bars). Consequently, in a fall, no motorcycle will provide satisfactory protection from leg injury.
In case you didn’t already figure it out, I, by choice, ride a Sportster. No motorcycle is perfect and every rider has preferences. My hostility stems from the fact that uninformed morons like Roger Rainbow, who claim to be cyclists, are threatening our sport. But it’s an unalienable right that everyone is entitled to an opinion, even if they are using the wrong end for a brain.
I suggest that in the future Mr. Rainbow direct his letters to the Department of Transportation, as they may be impressed by his findings. I’m not.
Gary Schmidt New Orleans, La.
This letter was prompted by Roger Rainbow’s Sportster complaint. I don’t blame you for being irritated at Milwaukee, but really, Roger, shouldn’t you be mad at the guy with the shotgun who made you ride the bike? What? Nobody made you ride the bike? Really, Rog, you should pick a “safer” bike. Like maybe a Suzuki. No, wait, they have alloy control levers with balls on the ends that can break off and provide possible skin puncture. Ditto
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for Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki. And the gas tank! Right between the legs! Tsk.
How about an older Norton? Steel Lucas levers. There’s the gas tank, but what can you do? But look at the footpegs. Solid! No good.
Maybe a BMW? The cylinders stick out farther than a CH’s carb. Boo! Not to mention that all bikes have holes in the wheels that can cause instant digital subtraction.
So, what kind of vehicle can good ol’ Roger drive? It must be safe, don’t want to get hurt, you know.
Ah ha! I’ve got it. Gas tank is in a safe place, no holes to lose fingers in, all controls are collapsible, or break cleanly with no sharp edges. And four wheels instead of two for more stability. That’s it, Roger, go buy a Buick or something. If you have designs on becoming the motorcycle industry’s Ralph Nader, we don’t need you or your ideas. Please don’t blame the results of your incompetent riding on the bike.
Glenn Brady Niles, Ohio
Allow me to comment on Roger Rainbow’s letter in your April issue. Motorcycles do have problems— mechanical, aesthetic, safety, etc.—but why bring the government into the mess, as if we didn’t have enough controls already? Lawsuits and customer complaints will take care of anomalies in all consumer products eventually, motorcycles included. That is the American way.
We can’t forget how government strapped us into our automobiles and raised their cost prohibitively. Come on, Mr. Rainbow, help keep government’s costly bureaucrats and controls to a minimum. Afterall, Triumph did change its luggage rack without government’s assistance.
While I’m at it, Mr. Parkhurst’s shortsightedness surprised me—or perhaps I’m just gun-shy. It looks to me like the “Saved by the Helmet Club” could collect enough “for-instances” that they could be used as evidence for the need of helmet legislation. No thanks! Assure me this will never happen! We in Iowa are still fighting for our choice.
Mark G. Lorenz Cedar Rapids, Iowa
DEAR JOE PARKHURST:
I read your article, “On Helmets and Their Standards,” in the April, 1975, issue. It made me sick and very mad!
All people like you and Ivan Wagar
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should be sent to Russia or Cuba to live, where Big Brother can take care of you from womb to tomb. There don’t have to be mandatory helmet (or any other) laws so people can protect themselves against themselves. This is a direct violation of the U.S. Constitution.
You say that you’re against helmet laws, but then you say we’re losing, that all is lost, and the states left will fall too. This is a stupid, defeatist attitude, and is helping to promote, through the back door, helmet laws. Then you quote a woman who says that a helmet is not a matter of freedom. This is a damn lie!
You can’t assure me that helmet makers aren’t backing helmet laws. It’s a matter of economics. Know anything about that?
Who is paying for the SHCA (Safety Helmet Council of America)? How much federal funds filter down to you?
I didn’t renew my subscription because of your lying and unconstitutional stand. I’ve been getting Road Rider for almost two years and have met Roger Hull. He’s my kind of editor. I like truth!
Let’s see you print this.
Rodney Davey Seattle, Wash.
You got it, Rodney. After you get back from your psychiatrist’s office to discuss your paranoia, you had best read years back in CYCLE WORLD. We have always taken a stand against mandatory helmet laws. . .and always will. We are losing the battle because, at present count, 46 states already have such laws. In California it is the subject of an Assembly Bill almost every year. In each case it has been defeated, as I mentioned in the April issue.
California has not railroaded a helmet bill through because there are also several other areas in which the state does not comply with the National Highway Safety Act. Continued failure to enact such laws may soon cost the state considerable federal highway funds. It would be naive not to expect this to occur sometime down the road. It is not defeatism that prompts me to say this, just practicality.
The Safety Helmet Council is funded by the leading makers of helmets, including Bell, McHal, Royal, etc. The SHCA receives funds from no one else. The Council has been dead against mandatory laws since its inception and continues to take this stand. It is absurd to believe that a manufacturers’ association would be paid for by the federal government. As for my receiving federal money, you had better have a talk with my tax man. If I remember correctly, I
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have been paying them for a number of years.
I agree that Roger Hull is a great guy and that Road Rider is a good magazine. But recognizing the facts and acknowledging them does not make one a liar. Besides, I don’t think I’d like living in Russia or Cuba. I thought we’d heard the last from people like you. And that sure-fire ploy to get your letter printed-‘‘Let’s see you print this.”—my how clever and original.-lot Parkhurst
NEW PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT
Well, ya done me in again. The “Road Riding” column in the May issue was totally unnecessary. I’ve been watching those jerks drag their feet from traffic light to traffic light for years and thought I finally found a way to make a buck on it.
I sent a letter to Honda suggesting that they omit footpegs on small intown type bikes. This would save valuable steel and rubber, probably enough to manufacture every 200th CB125 free. The weight lost in the process could be replaced by filling the frame structure with cement or concrete. Truly a valuable idea, and it would only cost them $5000 to use it. They didn’t seem too interested, so I’m trying to sell it to Suzuki.
Lacking any success there, I still have an ace in the hole. I’m going to produce motorcycling boots with little rollers on the heels. The rollers will be springloaded to retract for walking, and the boots will sell for $69.95 a pair. I’ll offer a $3 trade-in for any pair of footpegs in good condition. See, that’ll get me the rubber for the heels and the metal for the rollers. Smart, huh? And you guys almost blew it for me by telling all those clowns it wasn’t cool to drag their feet. I oughta sue!
Peter H. Gookins
Washington, D.C.
AN MXER BY ANY OTHER NAME
Outrageous! A veritable travesty! Parked at the curb was a Honda 350 enduro complete with Trials Universals, 21-in. front wheel and high pipes. But where 36-in. handlebars should have been, were road racing clip-ons. I came close to stacking up my car staring at it. As traffic moved on I calmed myself and slowly closed my gaping mouth. I remembered a time when all that was readily available in motorcycles were street machines, and the dirt bike boom was just beginning. It wasn’t considered exceptionally gross to chop the rear fender off, stick an oversize rear sprocket on and go blasting through the boonies.
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The recent growing trend toward cafe racers and the number of disenchanted motocrossers around might explain the ridiculous looking Honda. In fact, it may be the forerunner of an entirely new concept—possibly the “cafe crosser?”
Stanley W. Baldwin Palo Alto, Calif.
RAND CLEAN-UP ANNOUNCED
A major cleanup of the Rand Open Area planned for the weekend of November 1 and 2, 1975, was announced by the Inyokern Resource Area, Bakersfield District of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The Rand Open Area, located in the Rand Mountains and Fremont Valley, is a major off-road vehicle competition area under the BLM’s California Desert Vehicle Program.
The California Off-Road Vehicle Association (CORVA) and Motorcycle Owners, Riders and Enthusiasts (M.O.R.E.) are co-sponsoring the event with BLM. The cleanup, originally scheduled for early April, was postponed because of a scheduling conflict with a CORVA event. The two-day event in November will be divided into one work day and one fun day. Several motorcycle dealers and parts distributors have expressed interest in attending and setting up booths.
Anyone interested in participating in the cleanup should contact Dick Harlow or Joanne MacGregor Hanifan of the Inyokern Resource Area, Bureau of Land Management, 800 Truxton Ave., Room 311, Bakersfield, CA 93301, telephone (805) 861-4191.
U.S. Dept, of the Interior Bureau of Land Management
TRIALS NOTEBOOK EARNS AN A
This letter is in reference to the “Trials Notebook” by Mike Obermeyer and Bob Nickelsen. I ride trials and feel that the article is excellent. I’m not the only one who feels this way; many friends of mine have been buying CYCLE WORLD for one main reason: to read Mike and Bob’s article.
In closing, tell those guys to keep up the good work, the boys and I will be waiting for the next issue to come out.
Kenneth Dravis Warren, N.J.
I wish to compliment CYCLE WORLD on its publication of “Trials Notebook” by Bob Nickelsen and Mike Obermeyer. I hope it is a continuing thing. gin Hatchner
0 Boalsburg, Pa.
