Letters
LETTERS
BURNED UP OVER 'CHIPS'
This is a complaint, not about you. but TV. I watch "CHiPs" on our local station to humor my kids and it burns me up more each time I watch it.
The side by side riding shown on every program is probably one of the worst parts. We just had a young man cream his new Gold Wing with the same process. The guy on the inside of the turn hit sand and skidded outward. This brought him into contact with the Gold Wing and BANG. I asked how come they were riding side by side instead of staggered and the answer was, "Hell, that’s the right way. They do it that way in the California Highway Patrol."
I’d also like to know how in hell they talk to each other while riding down the freeway at the speeds required out there? In general, a lot of people are learning a lot of bad riding habits from the program and someone ought to at least mention it in your magazine.
I’ve been riding since 1946 and 1 like Allan Girdler’s comments a lot. My boy is 14 now' and has restored a 1953 H-D Pacer which he will ride from 15 to 16 years of age since they are restricted to less than 5
hp in that age group here in Florida. I'd just as soon he learned the right way and things like “CHiPs” don’t help a bit.
Jim De Lory Panama City, Fla.
MAY VARIETY
Congratulations on your May issue for being the best and most informative issue in a long time. 1 found a wide variety of subjects and no Honda magazine supplements stapled between your covers. Keep up the good work. Kent Gallaway Chico, Calif.
WHIZZER GIVEAWAY
Regarding “The New Whizzer” in your May issue, you blew it! That “drive-in” may look like 1950 but the $1.85 steak sandwich and BBQ Beef on the window' poster says that it is all 1979! Ken Kauffman Burnsville, Minn.
KAWASAKI BUG BITES
After an absence of four years from cycling, the bug bit agam and I am now' the proud ow ner of a Kawasaki KZ1300. I am happy to report this bike is everything your road test in the April issue said it was. This* tremendous machine never seems to be working hard, the ride is excellent and very quiet. Carl Piepora Hudson. N.H.4
NOTES FROM GERMANY
I am presently stationed in Erlangen, West Germany, and anticipate separation from the service in October of this year. ' Unlike military bases state-side, there, are few GI bikers here, owing probably to the red tape of bringing a presently ow ned^ machine over, the stupendous cost of insurance, and the high cost of a domestic oT imported-to-Germany machine. Not to be forgotten is the ridiculous exchange rate cTf 1.80 Deutsch Marks to each U.S. dollar This does not, however, keep soldiers like me from reading every two-wheeler pub I can reach, thinking of what I would be’ doing were I at home or checking out th<*. natives. Europeans, and particularly Germans are a people on two wheels. While the U.S. frets over the prospect of a dollar a gallon
gasoline. Germans pay 90 pfennig per litre"* (about $2.30 per gallon) and are glad it is^ that low. Mopeds ooze from the cobblestone. the BMW R100RS rules the autobahn and Honda 750s are quite com-1 mon. The “tuck it in" cafe style is in vogue.<, Most German riders are on lOOcc Hercules. 250 Yamahas, or some other suclrf mid-size machine, although 1 have seen an 1 100 Yamaha, two or three Kawasakis of the Z-l type, a brand spanking new CBX Honda, and would you believe a Gold’ Wing with clubman bars and a quarter-*, fairing (forgive me for looking).
We who ride motorcycles in the U.S. are^ fortunate. We are now in a position to view ourselves as participants in a many-faceted sport. With the present energv crunch, we are in a position to use the efficiency of" our mounts as legislative leverage. Would, you believe that there is a commercial on the Armed Forces network which pro^, motes the idea of motorcycles as transportation? We must not. however, sit back in our stepped seats and watch our engines being seized by Capitol Hill.
SGT Rickey T. Crosslin.
APO New York
YOSHIMURA GS1000
I just wanted to congratulate you for the excellent report on the Yoshimura GS1000 in the May issue. Your competition. Cycle, has covered various superbikes, the Vetter*1 Kawasaki and Longevity BMW to name-* the two most recent, but your coverage was far superior to theirs. -»
Even though I subscribe exclusively to Cycle World, 1 do buy issues of other* publications, especially if there is some article pertaining to roadracing or the men " and machines. Since you demonstrated.-, your willingness to expend time, energy and money to report on the GS1000, 1 want*, to express my thanks and encourage you to -j continue. Some other tests I would love to see are on the bigger GP bikes, much like ^ you have done with the Honda MT125R. Those of us w ho are pavement freaks wii?H love you for it!
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Steve Lipper + Daleville, Ala. ^
MOTOCROSS HISTORY
I am gathering material for a book about the history of motocross. The book1, will cover from pre-Greeves to post-Maico Magnum Two. I would be grateful if yom would print this letter as 1 need your < readers’ help. 1 need material covering this period. I can use photos, articles, manuals, brochures, etc. I also need personal accounts, whether a good story or just a, comment about a particular bike’s traits. Nothing is too trivial; anything may be* helpful. Anyone wishing to help should^ send material to;
Blaine Archer 1227 S.W. 18th Portland, Ore. 97205^
"60 MINUTES"—BOTH SIDES
Just what did you expect from CBS^ News?! It’s an organization noted for slanted news bordering on but not quite falling into sensationalism all the way from Uncle Walter’s Evening News (aka the^ View' from Pomposity’s Head) down to the guys on “60 Minutes” who know who signS1 their paychecks.
“60 etc.” would like you to believe that* “w'e call ’em as we see ’em” but now' that, they’ve stirred up your California playground we know that ain’t quite so, don’t we.
Three cheers for Cycle World. Brave* souls.
P.S. We’d be interested in knowing* whether your paycheck arrived after that June issue hit the streets.
Henry Bloomer Waco, Texas
The parent company gives us the same journalistic freedom it gives the “60 Min-* utes” crew so, yes, we were paid without repercussions.
I feel I must comment on the Roundup^ Section in your June issue, “Looking Back I on 60 Minutes.” The segment was indeed«, unfair, but it accurately portrayed the experience that the non-biking public usu* ally has with the off-road rider.
Í am a rural landow ner and biker—both road and dirt. My land, unfortunately, is located near public property—a river. Dur-*4 ing the summer months, when sandbars-y are exposed in the river, there is open warfare between the bikers and four-» wheelers and the ow ners of the property> adjacent to the river. After chasing innu-* merable trespassers off my property. I have -come to regard a pickup truck with a dirt bike in the back as “the enemy.” /
I'm afraid the problem, created bv a minority of R.V. users, will force property* owners to demand legislation to stop the use of such equipment on public lands and'* greatly increase the present penalties for , aggravated trespass.
Again the majority will suffer for the acts of just a few.
Pat Fitzgerald 4 Shreveport. La.
-y
OLD-FASHIONED FATHERS
In your May Cycle World the letter sent to you by James Bertolucci and your an-„ swer was in my mind the most moving letter I had the pleasure of reading in a very long time.
The letter from the boy and the letter4' you sent to the boy's father came so close , to my life that I found tears coming down my face w hen I finished reading it.
I also wanted a cycle when I was 15. however my father was against it and so* very strongly that I gave up the idea of ever having one.
Later in life when I finally became the owner of a Harley-Davidson I began to understand why he was so against me riding. I also found out later in life that my father ran down a man riding a motorcycle and I'll bet he always remembers it.
In growing up and riding many motor-»
cycles I could tell you a lot of hair-raising
stories and dangers of cycling. However, b
have been very lucky and never been hurt J J ^ \ riding. I still ride and I don't see any
reason to stop at the age of 55.
We all love our children and trv to protect them from harm and agony. How-J ever, we must let them grow up and become as they w ish people of the world.
R.M. Hogan Flagstaff. Ariz.
Just wanted to mention that your letter to James Bertolucci was masterful. Verv4 fair, very honest. It really struck the right note with this biker—the one who still* carries pieces of Guatemalan street in his chin.
Charlie Fox
Los Angeles. Calif.4
Hello. I'm a beginner biker and an, article in your magazine caught my attention. that is. “One Old-Fashioned Fatherto Another.”
I've only been riding for two or three months. I have a '75 Honda 360T. It's mv1 first bike and I taught myself how to drive' it on a school parking lot. I spent 15 minutes getting acquainted with the bike* then I took it out on the road.
A lot of best friends have died on bikes but I don’t plan to go that way. I’m a new biker and I really enjoy the freedom it gives you.
Some friends are helping me with advice and knowledge they have acquired. One habit 1 picked up fast: I never ride without my helmet and gloves plus boots and jeans and a jacket.
All this w ith my father’s blessings—as he knows what it’s like. He owned a 600 BMW with sidecar for 10 years. I hope to enjoy myself on my new bike for years to come.
Peter Schonrock Oakville, Ontario
BOOKS WANTED
I’d like to ask some of your long-time readers to dust off their bookshelves. In the late 1960s and early ’70s, CYCLE WORLD BOOKS offered some books that slipped by before I became aware of them. Those, and a few other titles that have escaped me, are: Wheels of Fortune by Jim Redman My Son Mike by Stan Hailwood Past Masters of Speed by Dennis May Full Chat by Noel Pope and any of Joe Scalzo’s books on Dick Mann. Bart Market and Gary Nixon. If anyone can help me locate any of these books. I’d greatly appreciate it. It may help preserve the sanity of a snowbound New England rider. Douglas Whitbeck 139 Locust St. Swansea, Mass. 02777
BADGES ANYONE
As a collector of small metal (lapel type) motorcycle badges, I would like to contact fellow collectors in the U.S. so as to swap with them. I would be most interested in hearing from anyone who would like to swap club, rally, race meeting badges, etc. Terry Davis 42 Fisher St. Clifton 4361 Queensland, Australia
