Etc.
ETC.
SPARKPLUG HOTLINE
Champion’s technical-services department has announced its Motorsports Tech Hotline. If you have questions about sparkplugs, call 419/535-2443, Monday through Friday, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. (EST).
FIGHTING THEFT BY THE NUMBERS
You may know where your bike is right now, but because of rampant motorcycle thefts in England, an increasing number of British riders don’t.
In an effort to create at least a partial solution to the problem, Yamaha of Great Britain has introduced a microchip system, said to retail for about $60, that can be hidden aboard a motorcycle and found by police using a special detector gun. Each chip is a passive transponder that contains a number assigned to the bike’s registered owner. Get caught riding a bike with a number registered to someone else, and, at least in theory, you could go to jail.
The only limitation of the chips, which were developed in Germany, is that they cannot be read through steel.
Dealers have vowed to sell the chip kits, due in stores in early March, to all riders, not just Yamaha owners.
HONDA RIDER’S CLUB OF AMERICA
Honda motorcycle owners are eligible to join the Honda Rider’s Club of America. For the $35 annual fee, members receive computerized trip routing, emergency road service, discount travel coupons, rider education, specially tailored insurance programs and club apparel. Upcoming club events include a tour of Honda’s Marysville, Ohio, production plant and demonstration rides at the facility’s 7.5mile test track. For additional information, contact your local Honda dealer or call 800/3471289.
BIG BUCKS FOR FAST HARLEYS
Harley-Davidson will award $15,000 to anyone who breaks the current outright motorcycle landspeed record of 322 mph using a Harley-Davidson Evolution engine.
The record must be certified by a recognized timing association and the award will only be paid out to the person who holds the record at year’s end. Interested parties should contact Art Gomper, HarleyDavidson’s racing promotions manager, at 414/935-4588.
PACIFIC COAST TO THE RESCUE
Wondering what might have happened to all those Honda PC800 Pacific Coasts that nobody seemed to want? Here’s a clue: This paramedic version of the ill-fated PC800 turned up at the Tokyo motorcycle show. With its excellent storage capacity and user-friendly performance, the PC800 might just be the perfect choice for emergency-service riders.
FOR THE RECORD
Readers trying to reach Swiss artist Samuel Klambaur, creator of the America 1 ultrabike, should note that the fax number listed for Klambaur in a Roundup story in the March issue was incorrect. The correct fax number is 011 -41 -55381776.
Additionally, Z Leathers, makers of the Deer Traks gloves evaluated in the March issue, has moved. The new address for Z Leathers is 15902 Manufacture Ln., Huntington Beach, CA 92649. The firm’s new telephone number is 714/8905721.
