Letters
LETTERS
Great Britten
This is the first I have heard of John Britten's passing. What a tragedy, a terrible loss for the worldwide racing community. Britten did what so many only dream of doing: designed and built a winner from scratch. Hopefully his innovations will be continued by those closest to him, and his legacy of unconventional solutions to common problems will live on with the bikes that bear his name.
Godspeed, John. We'll miss you.
Brian Goldberg Atlanta, Georgia
After reading that John Britten had died of cancer, the rest of the page became a bit too cloudy for me to finish. That this brilliant man chose to apply his genius to the objects which have meant so much to my life endeared him greatly to me. Motorcycles have not only provided a means of rocketing away from the humdrum of daily life, they have graced my humble existence with a wellspring of kindred souls-like John Britten.
It is always extremely painful when tragedy befalls a member of the family.
Cecil Golden Montgomery, Alabama
John Britten was a rare combination of a fertile, brilliant mind and the ability and pragmatism to bring his ideas to fruition. We have all seen bikes (or cars or furniture for that matter) that had been beautifully crafted, but worked poorly or showed no innovation. We’ve also seen bikes that are a collection of seemingly brilliant ideas that have no continuity and get beaten by conventional technology. With the Britten designs it all came together.
Ted Lumpkin Inglewood, California
Farewell, John, you will be sorely missed. Thanks for the wonderful sound of a full-tilt racing Twin on the Daytona high banks. The fruits of your mind are a pure treasure for us all.
Doug Harris Kemah, Texas
John Britten’s bikes were so wonderful, and his loss is so keenly felt by those of us who were delighted and thrilled by the genius of his designs. One of the things that keeps me fascinated with motorcycles is the amazing array of people who share this infatuation. Britten was a hero to those of us who love the roar that follows us down a deserted backroad as we whistle through the wind, unfolding the mysteries of the road ahead.
How stale our world of motorsport can seem when a light that burned as fiercely as John Britten is extinguished. We can only honor the man and the portions of his dreams he managed to share with us. On my next moonlit ride I will look skyward, and as I gaze at the stars that are sprinkled across
the flag of his homeland, I will offer my deepest thanks. Steve Roach
Novato, California
John Britten was an artisan, an inventor, a dreamer of dreams, a motivator of people, and a winner. A true hero of our times. As I sit at my desk writing this, I am listening to Van Morrison’s “Whenever God Shines His Light,” a song I’m told John listened to often in his final days. Its words are uplifting, and I only hope that he found solace in their meaning.
David Lamb Auckland, New Zealand
John Britten’s funeral in New Zealand was an inspiring and touching event. Andrew Stroud led the procession from the Britten home to Christchurch Cathedral on one of the VI000 racebikes. John’s coffin was borne by an ancient International truck that he had pulled out of a swamp years before and restored to a thing of beauty. As the procession wound through the city, the route was lined by hundreds of motorcyclists, who then joined in the service. The cathedral was filled beyond capacity, and there were nearly as many who stood outside for the entire service, braving a raw winter day to show their respects. The mayor of the city spoke; the prime minister, who could not attend, sent a very touching letter. In Auckland, a woman who had never met John hired a plane to fly over the city trailing a banner that read, “Good-bye John Britten. New Zealand needs more like you.”
All men are dreamers. Most of us, however, live our lives in the shadows cast by our dreams. Every now and then, perhaps only once in our lifetimes, we are fortunate enough to meet someone who will not live his life in those shadows, but who makes his dreams his life. John Britten was such a person. To have known him was to have, all too briefly, basked in the light of those dreams.
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Williamstown, Massachusetts
My dinner with Kevin
The December issue of Cycle World arrived today and, as I usually do, I began leafing through the pages, hitting article after article in random order. I eventually found my way to the technical article on Suzuki’s new GSX-R750 and began reading it from the last paragraph to the first-habit again. Beautifully descriptive phrases! Wonderfully written words! And then, there it was: Kevin Cameron’s byline. I should have known. Damn, this guy is good!
If I had a million dollars, I’d buy a Ducati 916 and use the remaining $985,000 to sign Kevin to a year’s contract that required him to fly in for dinner at my house a couple of times a month. Then, we’d retire to the garage and spend the rest of the evening talking shop. Money well spent.
Lindsey Leard Houston, Texas
Moffit's Motorcycle
The last thing I would ever care to do is take anything away from Ed Burke (see “Burke’s Bike,” Up Front, November CW). I’ve known him for years and think highly of him. ITowever, David Edwards’ column completely overlooks the introduction of the 1976 Kawasaki KZ900 LTD. The LTD used the very same kind of stepped seat, bobbed rear fender, fat back tire and pullback handlebar you said were found on the 1978 Yamaha XS650 Special. In addition, the LTD had mag wheels and a Jardine 4-into2 exhaust system. It was a widely acknowledged homerun, and we sold a lot of them.
What Yamaha did indeed do was infuse the aging XS650 with a whole new life. They also moved quickly to exploit the appeal of this styling genre by extending it to 400cc and 750cc models, and later, to their “Midnight” Specials in various displacements. Robert M. Moffit
Vice President, Sales Kawasaki Motors Corp. U.S.A.
Irvine, California
New math
The Fédération Internationale Motocycliste must be using the same statisticians that Newt Gingrich is using to balance the budget (“New Zealand Out-Rides The World,” Roundup, December). Using the LIM figure of 0.7 riders for every 100,000 Americans, with roughly 250 million people in these 50 states, that means there are only 1750 riders in the entire country.
My copy of the Motorcycle Industry Council’s 1994 Statistical Annual estimates that there were more than 5 million motorcycle, scooter and ATV owners in the United States in 1993. Divide that into 250 million, and one American in 50 was, we presume, a rider. Which means there were 2000 riders for every 100,000 population.
I certainly would like to know how the LIM does its figuring.
Clement Salvadori Atascadero, California
The LIM’s relative numbers are a fantasy; if we assume 0.7 riders per 100 people, not 100,000, we get about 2 million U.S. riders, which is about the number of motorcycles registered. But correcting the numbers similarly for the other countries, Sweden and New Zealand have more motorcyclists than population (maybe lots of tourists?) and half the people in Prance and Italy, including infants and the infirm, ride motorcycles. It doesn’t matter how you move the decimal point around, the numbers are inconsistent with reality. Rob Kelly Los Angeles, California
Like, uhh, according to your chart, huh-huh huh-huh huh, there’s like 2000 riders in the, uhh, whole country. You guys are dillweeds.
Butt-Head
Malonton, Manitoba, Canada
Good as gold
In reference to November’s “Solid Gold: 8 Kool Kal Kustoms” cover story, gold is currently about $5000 per pound. Therefore, a 400-pound sportbike would be about $2 million. Impressive. Mark Lawrence
Nevada City, California
Let’s see now...gold is about $386 an ounce, there’s 16 ounces per pound...now multiply 6176 x 400 pounds...say, you don’t happen to work for the FIM, do you?
