Cycle World Roundup
Creative writing 101
CYCLE WORLD ROUNDUP
The Motorcyclist-As-LeatherClad-Wreaker-of-Havoc stereotype always has had more than its share of reinforcement.
Never mind that there are doctors, lawyers, police officers, bankers, preachers and teachers who ride bikes. Mention motorcycle, and you might as well have mentioned the PLO. A lot of people automatically think The Wild OneJHell's Angels on Wheels/ Leader of the Pack.
Well, outlaw-cyclist movies are few and far between these days, and it's been awhile since Born to Be Wild was in the Top 40. But, as much as we’d like it to, the tired, bigoted stereotype just won’t disappear. There're still folks out there who are willing to add their uninformed, unenlightened reinforcement.
The latest example of that comes from the monthly magazine Madison Avenue,
the $40-a-year Bible of the nation's trendsetters, tastemakers and soapsellers: the advertising industry.
“One sound associated with the summer nights that'll soon be here ... is the full-throated, vindictive roar of a big V-Twin engine motorcycle pulling out of the tristful dark, its Honda or BMW or Kawasaki or Harley (preferably) rider heading out on God only knows what kind of arcane mission," begins a story by MA’s Richard Szathmary on the advertising campaign for Yamaha’s new line of Riva scooters.
BMW V-Twin? Kawasaki V-Twin? Oh, well. The story, we're sorry to say, doesn’t get any better. Szathmary goes on to cite Marlon Brando, “iron horsemen," “the usual beer and tattoo pit image (of) many motorcycle dealerships," and even throws in the Hell’s Angels, Pagans, Outlaws and Bandidos for good measure.
The gist of the story is that advertising for the 50-80180cc scooters is not being aimed at the traditional motorcycle market. Big surprise there, eh? Instead, the Rivas are courting affluent women, says Szathmary.
As a result, the ads show the stepthroughs “in such non-motorcycle places as tennis clubs . . . roadside picnics . . . and in front of the LA County Museum of Art, with a woman in sequins and a man in black tie walking arm-in-arm behind a strategically parked Riva 180 the exact shade of moonlight striking a dark velvet gown,” he says.
The advertising campaign is careful to disassociate the scooters and their purchasers from their, shudder, colleagues: motorcycles and motorcyclists. “10-40W motor oil, after all,” sniffs Szathmary, “stains designer jeans and silk blouses, and engineer boots aren’t as graceful as hand-sewn Italian loafers or pastel canvas espadrilles.”
Instead, the ads stress things like “enough package capacity front and rear to allow for a loaf of sourdough bread and a jar of confiture framboises from Bloomingdale’s, a bottle of wine and even a briefcase for office paperwork.”
Szathmary lauds the campaign for “taking a nearfeminist position” in depicting women on two wheels, neatly overlooking all of the mid-’60s advertising that showed women aboard everything from Honda stepthroughs to pint-sized Harleys. His conclusion is that feminist leaders Betty Friedan, Germaine Greer and Gloria Steinern probably would approve of the advertising.
Then, in another story in the same issue, Szathmary has this to say about the vacation packages offered by the new Harley Owners Group:
“One basic requirement (is) that you have to own a Harley, which already makes it a fairly exclusive group, many of whose most rascally brethren will reportedly face severe Justice Department pressure in the next year.
“The very idea of fullthrottle, crank-filled outlaw type bikers basking on the beach at Papeete, Tahiti, in their black leather bikinis, beer bellies and tattoos by
day, then causing massive grief for the gendarmerie by night, is an interesting if appalling one . . . We have no idea of what sort of tour guidance H.O.G. members will be under (but) a cynical friend suggests armed agents of the ATF division of the Treasury" Department.”
So, in two short stories, Szathmary establishes that: — Motorcyclists are undesirables, terrors of the night.
Women don’t ride motorcycles.
Only women ride scooters.
And motorcyclists don’t play tennis, go picnicking, visit museums, or appreciate good food, fine wine and stylish clothes.
Wrong. On all counts.
We think that the whole thing smacks of stereotype, bigotry, exploitation and, yes, sexism. And we can't be sure, but we think Mses. Friedan, Greer and Steinern probably would agree.
Correction
in our test of the Yamaha XV500 Virago (Cycle World, June 1983), we inadvertantly reported the wrong figure for claimed power.
Yamaha claims an output of 44 bhp for the Virago 500, not the 33 bhp cited in the test. The correct figure was listed in the specifications chart.
Cycle World regrets the error.
Calling all underwriters...
Sharpen your pencils, heads down and no talking. It’s pop quiz time.
Now, say there're two motorcyclists. One is 17, been riding five months, and owns a 400cc commuter bike. The other is 23, been riding four years, and owns a 1 lOOcc superbike.
Everybody got that?
The question: which rider is more likely to be involved in a traffic accident. Think before you answer.
Ready? Time’s up.
Okay. All of you who answered that the superbike rider was more liable to have an accident, raise your hands.
You .fail.
According to studies released in Canada, engine displacement is not a significant factor in motorcycle accident rates. What is, though, is rider age and experience.
“Inexperienced (less than six months) as well as young drivers ( 19 years of age and less) are more at risk than other motorcyclists,” says the Traffic Injury Research Foundation of Canada. “The young, inexperienced rider (is in) a high-risk group.”
The report moved the Canadian Motorcycle and Moped Industry Council to conclude that there is “no relation between engine capacity and accidents, scuttling the theory that the more powerful motorcycles are contributing to accidents.”
Army reconsiders anti-bike stand
Here's one story with a happy ending.
It began in March 1982, when the U.S. Army turned aside motorcyclists arriving
at New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range for a landing of the space shuttle.
Either park the bikes at the gate and walk in, or leave, the Army said. Your choice.
Not much of one, pointed out the American Motorcyclist Association, which protested the no-bikes policy.
Army brass said they were concerned that some motorcyclists would strike out on their mounts across the desert into what the military considers “unauthorized areas.”
Fine, said the AMA. Valid concern. But what about the four-wheel drive, crosscountry trucks that were allowed to enter the base?
Well, after considering things for a few months, the Army allowed as how, maybe, it had been, perhaps, just a tad discriminatory.
As a result, licensed, helmeted motorcyclists will be allowed to enter White Sands on the special occasions the base is opened to the public.
In announcing the decision, Maj. Gen. Niles Fulwyler said the Army had determined that motorcyclists were indeed “a part of the general motoring public.”
Harley Streamliner to try for record
According to the man responsible for its design, “This is nothing but a big dirt bike." That’s how Denis Manning described the new Harley-powered streamliner
now being prepared for an assault on the motorcycle land speed record.
His description may be a little exaggerated, but Manning is a good storyteller. The dirt bike is more of a 22foot-long projectile. It is as narrow and low as it can be and still encapsule a rider, who in this case is successful club racer and Bonneville veteran Vance Breese.
The streamliner is not all Manning’s doing. The 11 5 c.i.d. Harley engine is being prepared by George Smith of S&S Cycle. It will be producing somewhere over 11 5 bhp, the power the builder says is needed to push the streamliner to well over 300 mph.
Since 1980 the motorcycle land speed record has been 318 mph, set by Don Vesco with a double Kawasaki engined, turbocharged streamliner. Vesco is also working on a new streamliner, one with a pair of 1 300cc Kawasaki six cylinder engines and turbocharging.
Obviously one HarleyDavidson engine, even an engine given the best parts from a company like S&S, is not going to put out as much power as a pair of big Kawasaki engines. Instead, Manning and his crew have worked to keep the aerodynamic drag as low as possible. When the shape of this streamliner was first tested more than a dozen years ago, it had a drag coefficient of 0.1 5. Its frontal area is about 3 sq.ft.
This all fits together nicely. The Harley motor is a perfect shape for the streamliner, sitting behind the driver and driving through a modified Sportster gearbox. Actually, the transmission is a 48 lb.
braced box filled with Sportster gears. That gearbox drives a single 525 chain coupled to the rear tire.
What the Harley streamliner will use instead of turbocharging is a nitrous oxide system. It won't be turned on until the streamliner is in fourth gear, going somewhere around 300 mph, and then Breese will hit the button and see how fast this compact hulk can go. No predictions have been made about ultimate top speed.
Lots of teams head to the salt flats each year, and only a few set new records. But Manning and the rest of this crew have an impressive track record. Before Manning set up BUB Enterprises and began building exhaust systems, he worked on a previous Harley-Davidson streamliner, the machine that carried Cal Rayborn to the world's speed record. He has been involved in five speed attempts.
The streamliner is supported by the Harley Owners Group. The bodywork has been made by the Rifle Fairing Co., which holds the current motorcycle fuel economy record of 284 mpg.
Anti-noise measure postponed by EPA
The Environmental Protection Agency temporarily has withdrawn a proposal that would have required the disassembly of all “easily removable" parts of a motorcycle’s exhaust system before it underwent mandatory sound-level checks.
The proposal would have made it much more difficult for motorcycles to meet federal anti-noise standards.
The EPA was concerned that new owners were modifying the exhaust systems on their motorcyles, discarding such easy-toremove pieces as exhaust baffles.
So, if a piece were easily removed, it shouldn’t be considered part of the exhaust system during testing, the,agency said.
The requirement would serve as an incentive for
manufacturers to build tamper-proof exhausts, with fewer owner-removable pieces, the EPA said.
In granting a reprieve, the agency said it decided to survey just how much tampering occurs, before considering whether the measure was needed.
Yamaha and Kawasaki deny merger rumor
There’s been much speculation lately that Yamaha and Kawasaki are considering a joint operating agreement that would create a partnership between the second-largest and smallest of Japan's Big Four motorcycle manufacturers.
Spokesmen for the two manufacturers have strongly denied that any kind of trade agreement is being considered.
The rumor had been floating around for some time, but it gained new life with the increase last April of the tariff on imports of largedisplacement motorcycles.
The surcharge exempts foreign bikes manufactured or assembled in the United States.
According to the rumor, a partnership would allow Yamaha, second-largest of the Big Four, to produce its flagship l'200cc Venture touring bike at Kawasaki’s plant in Nebraska, and thus avoid the import surcharge. That would greatly benefit Yamaha, since the Venture's competition, the Honda Gold Wing, already is being assembled at the Honda plant in Ohio.
In return for lending its American plant, the rumor goes, Kawasaki would be allowed access to Yamaha’s vast dealership network, greatly increasing the number of outlets for its models.
At the U.S. marketing subsidiaries of the two companies, though, spokesmen maintained that the rumor was groundless.
“We've heard the rumor, but that’s all it is: a rumor," said Ed Burke of Yamaha Motors Corp. “We’ve heard nothing that would substantiate it."
“Nothing to it," said Mike Vaughn of the Kawasaki
Motor Corp., U.S.A.
And, referring to the speculation that Kawasaki might be willing to share its American plant with a competitor, Vaughn said, “Yamaha'd have everything to gain; Kawasaki’d have nothing to gain. We don’t intend to throw away that trump card we have."
Triumph, Maico go money-hunting
This last year, it seems, was not kind to small manufacturers of motorcycles.
Perennially beleaguered Triumph, the sole bearer of England's motorcycle torch, ceased production in February. After a half-dozen last breaths and as many lastminute rescues, Triumph again found itself short of capital.
Company officials have been courting the British government and private investors, trying to obtain loans to move assembly facilities from Meriden back to Coventry, which Triumph left during World War II.
“This is a major thing we're talking about," said a spokesman for Triumph Motorcycles of America, the company’s United States distributor. “The logistics are pretty involved: getting the loans, moving, setting up, beginning production again.
It just takes time.
“But we’re optimistic," the spokesman said. “We haven’t gotten any good news yet, but we haven’t gotten any bad news either. That’s a sign, isn’t it?"
And in West Germany, Maico also is looking for money, after the bankruptcy of one of its three divisions.
The bankruptcy involved Maico's assembly division. Production was halted for three days in May, while the other two divisions, which owned the assembly facilities and equipment, were reorganized.
Meanwhile, Maico is cutting back its work force from 250 to 90. The company also plans to concentrate solely on the American offroad market, dropping several European-market off-road and street bikes from its lineup.
