Letters
LETTERS
Man to Mann
Although Dick Mann's riding ability and contribution to American motorcycle racing cannot be disputed, his view of Mr. France’s decision to exclude F-1 racing from Daytona is a bit short-sighted.
If the idea of racing were only for “riders to race each other,” as Mr. Mann states, then we should put the Spencers, Lawsons and Mamolas on identically prepared production machines (that Mr. Mann says are only of interest to those who race them) and find out who really is the fastest. But racing is far more; it also challenges technology to continually produce machines that allow those few gifted riders (by the way, seven riders shared the winners circle in last year's 500cc GP championship, not three or four as Mr. Mann stated) to go faster than ever before.
Formula One machines are our glimpse at the future of motorcycling, and Formula One competition is the guarantee that the future will be even more wonderful than the present. It demands that technology must always be improved upon; without that demand for improvement, the entire motorcycle industry would be content producing Hardly-Ablesons, placing our sport firmly stuck in time. A production GSX-R or FZ is no doubt capable of even greater performance than Mr. Mann’s “exotic” CR750s of 1 5 years ago. It doesn’t take very much close scrutiny to notice the similarity of Suzuki’s revolutionary GSX-R chassis to their F-l racebike campaigned by Yoshimura and Wes Cooley only four years ago. The dimensions and
frame configurations are identical, inch for inch, tube for tube; only the frame material differs. Racing does improve the breed—Formula racing, not modified production racing. The finest and most technologically advanced sportbikes in the world today—Suzuki’s Gamma. Honda's NS400R and Yamaha’s RZ500—all were born of F-l racer parents. If there were no F-l competition, stimulating the need for the RGs, NSs and OWs, we would not be blessed with their descendants.
For the factories, winning races with high-tech exotica facilitates advertising campaigns that sell enough motorcycles to afford superior technological research and development programs that can produce motorcycles that win races, and so on and so on.
Don't get me wrong, I love Superbike racing. Watching Spencer and Lawson slide both ends of a 390-
pound Superbike is a humbling experience to any motorcyclist, but watching Roberts perform his highspeed ballet on an OW is no less humbling and perhaps a bit more beautiful. Mr. France's decision is the first step on the road to destroying that beauty and all it offers to the future of motorcycling. So let us not allow he and Dick Mann to rob us of that future while they revel in their past.
Bob Buchsbaum
Harris Performance Products
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Please send a copy of “A Mann’s Point of View” (June, 1986) to the AMA and anyone else that argues Formula One should be the feature race at AMA roadracing events.
Dick Mann’s article hit the nail right on the head. From the action at Daytona, maybe “roadracing in America finally might be headed in the right direction.” Thanks for giving us a point of view from someone who has the experience to allow true insight.
Terry Vance
Vance & Hines Raeing Inc.
Santa Fe Springs, California
A question of speed
Just re-read your December, 1985. issue (“The Fastest Day”) while recuperating from a severe case of road rash. On page 39 (“For the Record”), the old 1 1-hour record is shown as 105.531 mph. The old 1 2-hour record is shown as 1 1 8.506 mph. The numbers don't compute. The setter of the 12-hour record should also have set a higher
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1 1-hour record. If they hadn’t, they must have gone at least 262 mph during the 12th hour.
Were the Kawasaki team’s times not recorded for 8910and-1 1 hour marks or is this a glitch? This doesn’t reflect on your effort or the GSX-R, just my curiosity. I’ve been passed so quickly by Suzuki's pocket rockets while laying flat-out on my FJóOO’s tank that I’ve had an almost uncontrollable urge to get off and see why my bike stopped.
Mike Bertalot
Memphis, Tennessee
Those numbers are correct. The discrepancy stems from the FI M's decision back in the late Fifties to eliminate the categories for all hourly speed records except for 1, 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours. Because the records for the discontinued categories still are Usted in the FI M's record book, we weren 't aware of this change when we applied for our sanction. And the FIM never informed us that some of the categories we applied for were no longer recognized. Even the FIM officials who attended our event were not aware of this change, and we didn 7 learn about it until fust recently. Consequently, although we did actually break the records for 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 7-, 8-, 9-, 10and 11-hour periods, the onl y official FIM records we set were for 6,12 and 24 hours.
Venture adventure
It is in response to your touring bike comparison (June, 1986, issue) that I write this letter.
There is no doubt that I might be slightly prejudiced, but the question that comes to mind is, how can your test riders believe the Honda Aspencade is the top tourer for 1 986? I always believed that the top touring bike of any year should not only be based on the tests done but what it has brought to the touring rider for that year. What I am getting at is that the SE-i is just a 1985 bike in new clothing, whereas the 1986 Venture is as complete a tourer as you can get. Plus, it does it with better handling, better power, better engineering and more comfort than that of the Honda. Also, to imply that the Honda can keep up with the Venture over mountain type roads is a foolish statement, to say the least.
How can you say that cost is not a factor? How many touring riders
have unlimited funds? You have to have a comparison on a dollar-fordollar value. That’s what makes the Venture number One. If gimmicks and gadgetry is your main criteria for a touring bike, then you’ve definitely picked the right one. Most people don't need to push several buttons to find out what time it is 1000 miles away.
On the other hand, Yamaha has had self-canceling turnsignals since 1 978. Guess what? Honda just discovered them a couple of years ago. Yamaha was first with the electronic cruise control and automatic volume gain in their stereos. Come on, guys, naturally everyone thinks their bike should be touring bike of the year, that’s why they bought it. But let's give Yamaha a little more credit for their efforts in trying to please a select market dominated by Honda.
Not to add insult to injury, your published specs are incorrect. The Venture comes with a 24-month/ 24,000 mile warranty. I won’t dispute any others such as gas mileage and accelertion because this depends on the riders, but they are questionable. And last, don’t you feel that a suspension system that works (even if you can’t fool with it while driving) is better than one that doesn't?
Joe Schaerer
Yamaha Touring Society
Las Vegas, Nevada
You're "slightlyprejudiced" in the same wa y that a V-Max is slightly fast. You 're correct about our error concerning the Venture's warranty, but we're sticking to our guns on our findings. We believe the Honda Aspencade is the top tourer of 1986 for one very good reason: It is.
Error of omission
I was most interested in your coast-to-coast touring-bike article in the June issue. As a long-time Honda fan and owner (cars as well as bikes), I was not surprised to see the Aspencade come out on top of the heap. I was surprised, however, to see the omission of a motorcycle that almost certainly should have been included in the comparison to fill out the field.
I refer, of course, to the Kawasaki Concours, to which I was introduced in your May edition. Granted, it is a
very different kind of touring machine than the boulevard behemoths that made up the bulk of your fleet, but it would still probably compare suitably against the BMDubber, which is also intended for a different brand of touring than the big highway cruisers. If the $5600 price quoted in your May article is at all close, the Concours undersells anything in your test group by a good $2000. I think you did us readers a disservice by not including it in the group so we could see just how it compares head-to-head with the other touring machines available.
Harwood W. Loomis
Woodbridge, Connecticut
We gave that concept some serious thought, but couldn't follow through simply because the Concours was not available at the time of our touring comparison. We tried to pry a pre-
production mode! from Kawasaki when we were in Da ytona so we could ride it back to California in company with the big-rig tourbikes, but we had no luck. Kawasaki officials felt that since they do not market the Concours as an American-style touring bike, including it in our comparison would not have been completely fair. Nevertheless, for some people, the Concours could prove to be an ideal open-road touring bike.
A thought to Klingon
In reference to article “Rewriting the rules for style,” so the Yamaha Fazer looks and seems like a good replacement for the fake Ferrari on Miami Vice. It has the flash and fury, is fast enough to outrun an Uzi and smooth enough to impress the ladies. But why call it a Fazer? Do the people of Yamaha watch Star Trek? All I can say is: Beam me up,
Scotty. There is no intelligent life in Yamaha’s motorcycle-naming department.
James Greig
Royal Oak, Michigan
