Letters
LETTERS
ALL ALONE?
A few months ago I spent quite a bit of money rebuilding my 1969 T120 Bonneville. I really love that good handling, light, old British Twin. I have a 2-into-1 exhaust, mega-cycle 1080 cams, 750 Routt kit, and a new 5-speed with the ability to pull taller gearing with a decent getaway. So you think I’d be happy with my beloved trumpet? Not so. Every brand of premium gas available pings at less than half throttle on initial take off. Now I hear that all the oil companies are doing away with premium altogether. For all those who are outraged, please write to the oil companies and maybe we’ll change their minds. I’ve got a feeling I’m not alone!
Chris Icanberry
Alameda, Calif.
A NOTE FROM NORWAY
I really enjoyed reading about your trip through Norway with Malcolm Forbes and the Faceless Four.
It is always nice to hear what foreign riders think about one’s own country but the hair on my head started rising when I realized you really meant miles per hour when you wrote miles per hour. If you were really riding at 75 to 80 mph (and not kilometers) much of the time, you were lucky not to be spotted by a radar used by the traffic police. The speed limit here is 80 kilometers per hour and the law is strictly enforced. At 80 mph your wallet is guaranteed to lighten and you also risk losing your license.
Oystein Myhre Trondheim, Norway.
TRIALS AND TRIBUTES
I have enjoyed and relied upon CycU World since I started riding about years ago. Your feature articles are inter esting, and your competition coverage ha; me on the edge of my seat. Sometimes even find myself leaning as I read. Tht importance of objective, sometimes criti cal testing was underscored in Up Fron (Feb.). Even the most helpful dealers wil not let a bike out for a test ride, dealer; have simply suggested that I, “Read test”. It’s a tribute to your magazine that always got what I wanted, or at least knev what I was getting.
Your evaluation of the Swarup in the same issue was also helpful. In an age Pentroof heads, TSCC, and YICS, seemed a great way to bolt on powei cheaply. A friend ordered a set for hi: RD400, but as yet they haven’t arrived. wonder if he’ll get the same dramatic re suits your staffer did, a sudden (although temporary) loss of $38.95. Thanks agair for an informative, well written magazine
Jim Haines Keasbey, N.J
I am glad to read of your review of tht product Swarup. It is about time thi: product was evaluated by your magazine To anyone with a little technical knowl edge it seems very unlikely that anythin« that restricts the intake could produce tht claims made by this company. This prod uct tries to imitate designs such a: Suzuki’s TSCC, which creates swirls as suring air-fuel mixture. I hope the rest o your readers will take the time to investi gate the sometimes exaggerated claims o products such Swarup.
I am some what dismayed at your mag azine however in that you still advertis* this product in the very issue that it wa tested.
Charles Barone Glenwood Landing, N.Y
For the record, our man did get hi money back, before the evaluation ap peared in print.
As for advertising, the advertisers hav< rights, too. Publishers have the right ti reject ads on the basis of poor taste, fo instance, but they cannot reject an ad o, the basis of performance claims, at leas not without factual evidence. A free pres means advertising as well as editorial ma terial has the right to appear and b judged on its merits.
THE BEST DEAL
With riders spending so much time trying to find the best deal on a new bike, I’d like to remind them that the best deal is rarely money. It’s the dealership and the service department that is most important.
I own one of the first CX500s and found out just how valuable and professional a good dealer can be. There was a few problems with my chain tensioner and they got on it immediately. They kept close touch ^with the Honda rep, fought for me, helped me and always made me feel welcome. I moved 2400 miles away , and they still helped when I needed service.The Honda dealer ten miles away couldn’t have cared less.
Men like Richard Hall and Tim Beatty át the Cycle Ranch are the good deals that bikers should be looking for.
Stu Kellogg El Paso,Tex.
SINGLED OUT
I’ve only been riding for six months now and never have I had so many bizarre experiences. It seems that if a group of cars and one motorcycle are going along at 70 mph, the biker will always be the one stopped by the Highway patrol. I’ve been magged twice in the same spot and was told I must be riding low on my bike in arder to get more speed—like those cafe racers. Imagine that on a TX500!
So watch out if you’re on highway 280 and God help you if you’re on a real cafe racer.
Dave Dell’Ara San Jose, Calif.
KICKSTART TIPSTER
Lots of folks have been lamenting the disappearance of the kickstarter from various assorted new scooters it seems. '\Vhat happens when the battery surrenders? Tell them to bump-start it. What’s ^ood for King Kenny is good for all of us.
Pvt. Andrew Reibson Fort Gordon, Ga. >
THE HELMET ISSUE
As a novice rider there is one thing I can agree with you on and that is wearing your helmet. Believe me I wear it because I want to and I wear a good one. Besides the obvious reasons of protection, it cuts th^ wind, and muffles the noise. Biking need not be a dangerous pursuit although that may be the attraction for many.
The solution to the helmet question is early education of new motorcyclists. That way a new generation of riders will be safety conscious in all aspects of< easyriding.
John Georges Brooklyn, N.Y.
I do believe you are right! After reading your Up Front in January, I realized how many times the officials of government (bo^ it Federal, State or local) fail to recall that basic foundation of human nature—if one is told what to do or how to do something, he is less likely to do the task as ordered than if the person is fully informed of the facts (risks, benefits, side effects on others, etc.) and allowed to act in a rational^ manner.
Francis Connolly, Jr.
Ithaca, N.Y.
You made some good points in the January Up Front column. But if you think that non-riders are about to change their hypocritical attitude about helmet laws, guess again. See the enclosed article from the Missouri AAA magazine.
Gene L. Downing Florissant, Mo.
The article mentioned was the result of a poll of AAA members in Missouri. Seems that mandatory helmets were favored by a margin of three to one, with nine percent having no opinion. For mandatory seatbelt use, though, the members were 62 percent opposed.
POTSHOTS
Your February Up Front was excellent and right on the mark. It’s editorials like this, and your tests, that I enjoy the most. But this is where the problem lies . . .1 can no longer support the CBS Publications/ Broadcast Group.
Last spring CBS television did a 30 min. segment on motorcycles and it presented a very bad, one-sided view toward motorcyclists. Then last October, 60 Minutes aired a program entitled Not On My Street where Dan Rather mentioned that one does not often have a choice of neighbors, i.e.; like the single young man who plays loud music and rides a motorcycle. There were several of us watching the program, all single, all males, and all motorcyclists. We sent a letter of protest to Mr. Rather. His office replied that Mr. Rather was referring to a young man who plays music too loudly and drives a noisy motorcycle but that the vast majority of viewers do realize that motorcyclists comprise a wide spectrum in age, occupation and temperament. Obviously, since he said motorcycle and not noisy motorcycle, he believes that all bikers are unwelcome neighbors and the vast majority of his viewers realize it also.
We feel that CBS should either stop bad-mouthing motorcyclists (who are riding fuel efficient vehicles) or get out of the motorcycle print business. Unless you can convince me otherwise, I want my subcription cancelled. I cannot give money to one branch of CBS while another takes potshots at me.
Richard B. Roche Ames, Iowa
As Henry Manney says, we all have relatives we don’t like to talk about. In Cycle World ’s case, we’re part of CBS Publishing, one branch of the holding company that also owns CBS television, one part of which is 60 Minutes.
We, that is, CW, have frequent bones to pick with 60 Minutes. They have been unfair to motorcycles, to motorized recreation and to various other people on severat occasions. We make telephones calls that aren’t returned and write letters which bring no reply.
Now. CBS, in publishing, in television and radio, believes in journalism and in self-control. We here at CW are free to test and review and publish as we think best with no censorship from CBS in any way. For this, we’re grateful.
But the same freedom for us means freedom for 60 Minutes. We don’t always' agree with what they say, but we have to defend their right to say it, even when it insults us and you. A
In sum, please don’t hold the sins of our misguided cousins against us.
