Letters
LETTERS
Letters to the editor are welcomed and should be addressed to: Cycle World Editor, 1499 Monrovia Ave., Newport Beach, Calif. 92663. All letters are subject to editing and cannot be returned.
A GOOD THING GOING
All right, you guys! What the hell’s going on? I’m referring to The Sunday Ride, Alice’s Restaurant by Bill Shiffmann.
Being a Bay area boy, I’ve been taking Highway 35 from 92 to Santa Cruz for many a year, and I’ve enjoyed almost every trip. The scenery is the best and it’s almost always uncluttered by black and whites.
But boasting about it the way he did is like covering your tent with honey in Yosemite. . .you’re just asking for trouble.
Wayne Arnold Half Moon Bay, Calif.
I was saddened to see an article on Alice’s Restaurant in the October issue. Not sad for myself, but for the local riders.
Being a canyon nut for several years in southern California, I have witnessed the decrease in the quality of riding conditions. Places such as Angeles Crest Highway and areas in the Malibu Mountains are attracting increased attention by the California Highway Patrol. These areas are now devoid of the highly skilled riders who would teach and take care of fledgling canyon riders.
My point is: if you really want to glorify a particularly nice riding spot, be very close-mouthed and only share it with your most trusted riding buddies.
Mark Fare Los Angeles, Calif
We’re aware of the conflict between informing our readers and preserving secret riding areas. In this case, and other Sunday Rides that will appear, the locations are well enough known that they are no longer secrets. Besides, we trust our readers with the information.
HELMET INFO
The original Integral Nava 2 did incorporate snaps on the face shield for positive locking of the shield in the closed position.
The Fibernet shield hinge will lock the shield open approximately 1 in. from the shell if the shield is moved out from the shell to the first open position and the bayonet shield fasteners are pressed solidly back toward the shell. You will hear a definite click sound indicating that the locking mechanism is in place. These locking hinges will hold the shield open in this position under almost any riding conditions. The locking mechanism can be over-ridden with a short blow by the hand to the top center of the face shield. This locking hinge mechanism has also been incorporated on the Integral Nava 2 in the latest production.
This new locking system will be prominently mentioned in all future literature.
Jack Latta General Manager Nava USA Virginia Beach, Va.
READER INFORMATION
Editorial offices are located at 1499 Monrovia Ave., Newport Beach, Calif. 92663. Editorial contributions are welcomed, but cannot be considered unless sent only to Cycle World. Not responsible for return of unsolicited material unless accompanied by selfaddressed, stamped envelope. Rates on request.
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Advertising: See SRDS. Circulation audited by ABC.
In reply to John Korenjak in your January Letters column, he can replace his Bell Super Magnum with any of Bell's current helmets and get it in International Orange.
Bell offers this service to boat racers and others whose sanctioning organizations require this helmet color. All he needs to do is find a dealer willing to place the special order. Delivery time averages four to six weeks.
Nick Jones
New Rochelle, N.Y.
HELP IN NEW YORK
I just finished reading my January 1983 issue. The Up Front article by Allan Girdler should be mounted in a sheet of diamond plate steel and dropped on Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Ducati, Moto Guzzi and BMW factory reps and design engineers. Why not use universal parts to keep us on the road?
A few pages later I see this magazine is owned by CBS, Inc.. Okay, but what is done at 51 W. 52nd St. for motorcycling? I work at the CBS studios of W. 57th St. and ride to work as much as possible. So do a number of other employees here. Lately we’ve been getting tickets for parking outside the building. There’s a bicycle rack for those who ride their bikes to keep them safe. But for us motorcyclists, nothing! Tom Wyman, help us! We need space for maybe 10 bikes to park and lock. Every year a number of bikes are stolen.
Alex Ciecierski Cedar Grove, N.J.
This letter has been forwarded to Tom Wyman, president of CBS, Inc., at the CBS headquarters at 51 W. 52nd St., New York, N. Y.
We have no knowledge of the parking situation there because Cycle World's eastern offices are located many blocks away.
OWN IDENTITY
I read your Great Expectations article in the January issue and some of it struck home.
I have been riding for 22 years and have ridden everything from Triumph Bonnevilles to my present bike, a 1978 Suzuki 750E. For the last year or so, something has been missing from my enjoyment of motorcycling. It took awhile, but I think that I know what’s wrong. I thought that maybe since I was getting a little older, that just maybe those cold Ohio evenings made my bones ache a little more than I cared to admit. Maybe that was the problem. I then mounted the Suzuki for one more short ride before I turned in for the evening. It was when I came to a traffic light, that everything came into focus. While waiting for the light to turn green, three other bikes pulled up alongside. Suddenly I realized that the other 750 Suzuki, 750 Honda, and 750 Kawasaki, while different, were really very much the same. Three of us had Kerker pipes, backrests, and crash bars. The gas tanks looked very similar, even though three manufacturers were represented. And when we took off from the light together, we all sounded the SAME. I don’t think that it is the large choices that are being thrust upon us, but the lack of the ability of the individual, rider to identify with a machine that he can truly identify as his OWN.
My 1968 Bonneville had no warning lights, it vibrated, it coughed once in a while, but God, it had character. I felt good on it, and while there were other Triumphs on the road, it was mine. I feel that Harley riders may be the only riders that can so readily identify with their bikes, in this day of mass-production. I know, Harleys are mass-produced, but somehow they still have character. Since then, lawsuits have been filed against the Japanese manufacturers for patent infringement, breach of contract and other damages.
This brings me to an interesting point. I wrote the Chairman of the Board of Harley-Davidson a few months ago, and two weeks later received a full page let ter, thanking me for my comments. I wrote my Suzuki representative three times, finally received a pre-printed re ply with my name spelled wrong.
Dave Wahi Hartville, Ohio
CREDIT WHERE DUE
There is such a thing as a straw that breaks a camel's back.
Ihe straw that spurred me to write this letter to you was my reading the cur rent Honda advertisement for their 198~ model CR48OR which contains their statement, "It's no coincidence that four years ago we started backing up our rid ers with the first rising-rate single-shock rear suspension system ever designed." It was no coincidence either than in September 1975 I was issued a U.S. Pat ent for a rising-rate, single-shock rear suspension system for motorcycles.
In 1975 1 displayed plans and drawings to all of the Japanese manufac turers. Suzuki and I entered into an agreement to develop a rising-rate sus pension for them. Just prior to produc tion, Suzuki cancelled the agreement.
I had been content, quietly awaiting my now scheduled days in court to ar rive-but reading that incorrect state ment in Honda's advertising was too much to let go b~
It is time that the world knew the truth about one of the most advanced improve ments in motorcycle engineering. The truth is that rising-rate, single-shock sus pension was invented in an American home-garage by modifying a personally owned Yamaha 125. And the Japanese manufacturers are taking the credit. They are relying on their almost unlim ited funds and defense lawyers to pull it off. But this American is going to fight it to an end that will prove the credit be longs to America.
Don G. Richardson Honolulu, Hawaii
A copy of U.S. Patent No. 3,907,332 for a rising rate suspension system was included with Richardson's letter The patent is dated Nov. 25, 1974. Having heard only one side of this issue, we'll wait for the court to decide who was first.
MONEY'S WORTH
About eight months ago I joined th.. International CBX Owners Club. At first I was a bit skeptical, for the othef owners club I had been in just didn't pro duce what was promised. I must say I'm really impressed. Not only have I re ceived all benefits as mentioned in join ing, I've really gotten more.
New friends, tech info, and member help on the open road. The International CBX Owners Club really seems to have a system network that works. I have al ways loved my CBX, but I guess that now I'll have to keep my Six longer be cause of the quality of this organization. Ron Tomlinson Corsicana, Texas
HARLEY SPORT TWIN
That cheap car bogey should not have been made such a big part of your Har icy Sport Twin story in the January is sue. The American motorcycle industry had been sliding down for years prior to the 1 920s and for most of those years the cheap car was a Hank Ford Fantasy for the Future; it had not happened yet. En gland had more motorcycles and at the end of the decade Germany was chal lenging her for production lead and this country was in third olace.
So far as that Harley flat Twin was concerned, both it and the Indian Scout were the result of a military specifica tion and you can forget about that 1916 design beginning date. As a result of actual war experience the War Department issued the following specifications: roughly 600cc, gear primary drive, enclosed valve gear and trailing link forks. That model Harley was the only road version of that make to ever have trailing link forks. With the standard Harley pattern world famous and soon to be copied for production in England, those Sport model forks take some explaining!
Incidentally, Indian had (a few years earlier) an even cuter, lighter flat Twin and you can get a look at it at any classic bike doings. If you speak nicely you might even get a ride on it.
George Barnes Detroit, Mich.
HONDA PENTROOF
In your test of the Vision (May 1982) you say it has a pentroof combustion chamber, while on page 6 of the issue, Honda claims to have a trademark on that design. What gives?
John Boston Lancaster, Calif
Pentroof combustion chambers have been in use, and were described as pentroof, for decades before Honda used the word in its advertising. The design can be used by anyone, as can a TM label. Though this TM is not likely to hold up in court, if you believe Honda invented pentroof combusion chambers, it has done its job.
AUTOMATICALLY FASTER
After reading Automatically Faster—C.V.T. in November Roundup,
• I can’t hold off any longer.
Perhaps because of the configuration, no one mentioned one of the largest users of Salsbury vari-drives. . .Honda. All one needs to do is take a quick spin in a Honda Odyssey to really appreciate a C.V.T The effortless and smooth power transition from a low output 250cc engine driving a 425 plus lb. vehicle is hard to believe.
Our family race team consisting of four Odysseys in various stages of modification (for four classes of competition) run Salsbury units from stock to wildly modified. This type of transmission can be set up to handle any type of terrain or track, and engine modification from mild to ultra-pipey. You'll be seeing more of this trans, you can bank on that.
Oscar B. Will Simi Valley, Calif.
