Roundup
ROUNDUP
CYCLE WORLD
DECEMBER 1977
VOL. 16 NO. 12
AN OPEN LETTER TO ANN LANDERS
Dear Ann Landers: This is a response to one of your recent columns, in which a man wrote to you asking that mention be made of the various things careless drivers do which put motorcycle riders in jeopardy. He listed dumping burning cigars and hamburger wrappers, cutting in front of bikes, pulling into a lane already occupied by a motorcycle, etc. The list was accurate. If anything, it was incomplete.
Your reply was an attack. You wrote, “Now that you’ve had your say, may I ask a question? Why don’t you people who want to live support legislation to make helmets mandatory instead of screaming about your Constitutional rights?”
C’mon, Ann. The man said some drivers are thoughtless, which they are. Where did the helmet issue come from? The guy said nothing about helmets. We wear helmets. We hope your reader does, too.
But a helmet isn’t sure-fire when a truck cartwheels a motorcycle across the center divider.
You made a strange division. You implied that either we want to live or we want to “scream” about our rights. You mean if we insist on free press and fair trial we wish to die? Nuts.
And that word, “Scream.” Look into your files, and show us where you’ve written that blacks “scream” for civil rights, where you’ve referred to women “screaming” for recognition as human beings.
We bikers may not be a fashionable minority. But as your reader said, we pay taxes, we conserve fuel . . . and we have rights.
You were asked for help. You had a chance to influence drivers. The lives you could perhaps have saved could be ours.
Know what we think? We think you don’t like motorcycles. We think you used that letter just so you could lash out with that bit about choosing the Constitution or life itself.
We also think you owe motorcyclists an apology.
The CYCLE WORLD Staff
RECORDS
From England (where else?) comes news of two world records, both involving motorcycles in sort of an off-hand way.
In the endurance class, 12 members of the Corby and Kettering MC pushed a Triumph TR6 non-stop for 12 hours, using two-man teams in relays. The club set a world record—no sign of whether there was a record to be broken or not—of 52.3 miles non-stop machine-pushing. (To be fair, the club raised $900 for a local hospital’s ambulance fund.)
For speed, former world trials champion Martin Lampkin teamed with a sidecar trials Bultaco rig and professional golfer Graham Webster to take the record for fastest 18 holes of golf.
Webster completed 18 holes of golf in 25 min., 36.6 sec. His score wasn’t listed. But the story says Webster also holds the record for number of holes (277) played in daylight.
Lampkin naturally did the driving, er, controlled the controls of the motorcycle. He said he had the bike in top gear down the fairways but always selected neutral and rolled onto the greens so as not to scar the course.
FUEL FILL RULES
The California Air Resources Board has ordered that beginning with 1980 model year motorcycles, there will be a three-year plan requiring motorcycle fuel filler pipes to conform to anti-emissions specifications.
The intent is obvious. Now that most stationary sources and motor vehicles have their emissions-controlled, fumes from gasoline pumps, that is, the fumes which escape while the nozzle is pumping fuel into the tank, are a measurable source of pollution. So cars and gas stations are required to have fillers and nozzles which seal against each other, keeping the fumes out of the air.
The CARB plan is complicated beyond
description, but in general it exempts roadgoing two-strokes, off-road motorcycles and mopeds and allows the factories to convert a percentage of models over a three-year span. Hard to fault that.
But. First the factories are pressured to have fuel caps that are safe, and now they must have caps that are sure to be bulky, complicated, expensive, obtrusive and so forth.
Road bikes are less than two percent of the traffic stream. A fill-up involves pumping two to five gallons. How much of the fumes from gas stations are coming from motorcycles? How much cleaner will the air be? How much is this going to cost us?
ADVANCED RIDER TRAINING
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is asking for bids to develop a training program for advanced riders, defined as experienced motorcyclists who’d like more training or some brushing up, graduates of the Motorcycle
Safety Foundation's beginning riding course who wish to keep on learning, per haps even riders who keep getting tickets and would not like to. The proposal is just that, but we'll keep track of the idea. >
Peter Howdle
BROUGH SS100
The annual rally of the Brough Superior Owners Club this year featured surely the most famous Brough of all time, the SS 100 owned by Lawrence of Arabia. John Weekly, new owner of the machine, is shown with the bike at the rally.
Lawrence became famous as a soldier/ politician working for Arab independence. The British government didn't see things his way and Lawrence retreated to private life, as an enlisted man in the army. He was
throw n from the Brough after swerving to avoid two young bicyclists.
The Brough has more than past ownership to recommend it. Brough Superiors were perhaps the most powerful road machines of their day and the SS100 was the fastest, as it was powered by a lOOOee JAP Vee Twin. Lawrence’s model has a 19-in. rear w heel (he was 5'5" tall) and cantilever rear suspension. The spring is barely visible beneath the seat —Peter Howdle
BOOK NEWS
Diffierent kinds of news, Hodaka, maker of those keen little trail bikes, are offering a riding booklet free for all who go to their nearest Hodaka dealership.
The title is How to Trail Ride, which pretty well explains itself. As you’d guess, the booklet is intended for the new offroad rider. It begins with a description of riding gear and basic stuff, then gets into how to cope with hills, sand, embankments, rocks, etc. All clearly described with good photographs. There is only the slightest hint of commercialism. The booklet would make a fine Christmas present for a kid who’ll be getting his first motorcycle shortly. (So would a Hodaka. End of commercial.)
Championship Enduro also explains itself. CW readers have already seen part of the book, as one chapter appeared in this magazine in the March issue. The book was written by Steve Booth and photographed by Brian Palormo. both CW contributors and both men of talent and industry.
They provide both a look at the major enduros, the Jack Pine, 49er et al, and a complete set of instructions for riders who’d like to compete in the biggies, or in club events.
Strictly speaking, this book cannot be reviewed yet because it’s at the printer as this is written. But we have no doubt it will be worth reading.
The publishers naturally hope to have national distribution, but because major bookstores aren’t usually wild about specialized books, the buyer’s best bet is to send $5.50 to Paragon Productions, 3106 Sweetbriar Circle, Lafayette, Calif. 94549.
TWO-STROKE RETREAT
Suzuki’s two-stroke Triples will not be on the U.S. market for the 1978 model year.
Suzuki’s U.S. branch is not too happy about the move. For years Suzuki was the company with a difference. Suzuki offered the public a choice. And Suzuki paid for it, as the motorcycling public voted with its money and bought four-stroke Multis from Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki.
Last model year Suzuki began the change, with the introduction of the GS400, GS550 and GS750. The switch worked better than the factory had dared to hope. All the GS550s and GS750s were sold by August 1. although the planners had expected to have 1977 models in stock until September 15. Meanwhile sales figures for the first half of the year show' sales of the big two-strokes down by 75 percent.
Suzuki could revise and modify the Triples to meet the approaching emissions rules. But it would cost money and would raise the prices of bikes that already aren’t selling. Suzuki officials figure it’s better to sell what sells than to continue trying to persuade people that two-strokes are what they want.
CALLING MAKE CLUBS
We’re planning a club directory, soon as we can compile one. Secretaries of make and model clubs, BMW. Gold Star, etc., are asked to write to Jean Crabb. CYCLE WORLD, 1499 Monrovia Ave., Newport Beach. Calif. 92663. and tell her the club’s name, address, purpose and so forth.
BIKES ON TV
Pennzoil and Gumout are sponsoring a half-hour TV special featuring motorcycles. From the description of the show, it's aimed at people who don’t know much about bikes, and it’s largely show business: hillclimbers, road racing with sidecars, minicycle racing, observed trials and an exhibition by a chap billed as King of the Wheelies. He holds the world record for same, 8V2 miles through the streets of a town with front wheel aloft, so he probably deserves his title.
Anyway, bikes are always fun to watch and if you can get some non-riding friends to tune in, they may understand your enthusiasm a little better. As a political thing, the better rating earned by motorcycle shows, the more such shows there will be and that can’t hurt, either.
The show is being booked and shown independently, so all we can advise is to check local listings for time and station. The title is “Two Wheels . . . Alive.”
STATES RIGHT AND WRONG
First, the villain. New Jersey Gov. Brendan Byrne proclaimed last August “Drive Your Motorcycle Defensively Month.” Quoting from the announcement, the state executive cited “the fuel efficiency and economical value of motorcycle riding,” then pointed out that there are “a significant number of motorcycle mishaps caused by the inability (emphasis supplied) of other motorists to see the motorcycle.”
New Jersey’s cure is to warn riders to look out for other users of the public roads.
The hero is Ohio, where that state’s government is conducting a campaign to alert other motorists to look out for motorcycles.
Sure, defensive riding is a must. But seeing as how we already know about cars and trucks, we think safety would be best served by telling them about us.
