Letters

LETTERS

WHY? BECAUSE WE LIKE YOU!

Your editorials are well written, your criticisms are apt and intelligent. It would follow that since you have such a multitude of readers and adherents, they too must be capable of some discrimination and critique also. Then, sir, why oh why did you let all that “kustom krome” clutter up your thoroughbred pages?

You said that you were an independent voice; you said and you showed that you liked good motorcycles, and then . . . You are to be congratulated of course, on your vituperation against “ape hangers” and certain inequities of race ruling which favor old, outmoded engine designs.

RICHARD A. MONTAGUE, JR.

Concord, Mass.

. . . concerning customs and high riser bars I agree with you completely. I have an old Harley which is getting the custom treatment. I feel customs are some of the sharpest things on wheels but when it comes to high risers I deviate from the idea.

A set of 9 to 13 inch high bars is about right for me. Above that they’re uncomfortable, hard to handle, and look odd.

DICK SMITH Boulder, Colorado

... in regard to your answer to William Smith (Letters, CW August ’63 issue), I thoroughly agree with your feelings towards ape hangers and customs. I believe ape hangers are stupid.

WALT FULTON Bass Lake, Calif.

. . . CYCLE WORLD is now complete. Oh, that August issue and those beautiful customs; more, more, more.

SAL CALDERONE Hollywood, Calif.

AH WILDERNESS

You Parkhurst. My pulse raced to 150/min. when I read your answer to Name Withheld, Argentina, concerning trail bikes. Such a response to an individual, interested in saving a precious wilderness environment, was rude. Open land is shrinking in this country; so is the ability for an individual to remove from suggestions of our age.

Prior logic chopping and stumbling apologies are now outdated. The implications of this limited topic, for those with a little good will, are clear. My credo now; actively deny all use of public lands, that are unique, from casual use of drivers except where planned .^by . The knowledgeable.

Thanks for interesting reading, cancel my subscription. In answer to your question; the hunter is pure, probably enthusiastic, maybe, a popinjay.

MICHAEL LEONHARD Adelphis, Maryland

You Michael. Why did you ever buy a motorcycle magazine in the first place? It is obvious you are not an enthusiast. As for your prior logic and stumbling apologies summation, you overestimated

us; you, too, will just simply have to find someplace else to take that girl. We can only hope that the great sport of motorcycle trailing will not be hampered by smug, narrow minded and unrealistic thinking like yours. We also perceive the pattern of someone who hopes to be one of the “knowledgeable,” whatever they are, perhaps even a popinjay, whatever he is. Ed.

FAMILY AFFAIR

I like CW very much and I am happy to say so does my wife. If Mr. Brock Morris has any more articles to offer, print them quickly. I think “The Road Angel In Africa” was the most enjoyable story you have ever carried. I hope to see many more just like it.

I also enjoyed your various types of articles on touring, particularly the one on Europe, as my wife and I plan a trip there next summer.

HARRY E. COOPER Berkeley, 111.

MORE FOR MANN

More power to Dick Mann and the rest of the hard working guys who are victims of the AMA’s unfair and biased practices. Why all of the fuss over switching, frames? Come to think of it, I’ve not seen a “45” H-D’ with a rigid rear suspension on the street since a friend of mine fired up his WLDR to bring it to an antique show.

While on the subject, the BSA Gold Star rigid frame didn’t seem to enjoy much popularity among the “simple folk” either.

Since Matchless has met the AMA requirement of 25 G-50 machines in roadgoing trim, the AMA should keep its end of the deal and not rule out Matchless because it offers a choice of frames for the G-50. Other makes, competing in Class C events, offer optional frames for the varying conditions encountered in road racing, dirt track and TT events.

DAVE JORGENSEN Tunisia

MOTORCYCLE ELOQUENCE

The following poem appeared in a recent edition of the British magazine Punch. We gratefully submit it to the readers of CYCLE WORLD as the most eloquent piece ever written about the sport — indeed, the life — of motorcycling.

TO MERCURY,

WITH A CRASH HELMET God of all ways of going, I am old,

Or aging, and my motor-bike is sold.

Here is my helmet. Let it not be said I so assumed survival as to make No proper offering now that I forsake The balanced wheel and the wind, and have instead

A wheel-base and a roof over my head:

But take my helmet, Mercury, and take All that it meant, danger and fear and fall. Splendour and speed and peace, Mercury take them all.

Mercury take my solitude, which bound My still mind in a cell of moving sound, Walled with the wind of my own going, freed

From the hand-touch and the affinities of mind Of the warm world caught up and cast behind: Now no more can I keep for all my need. The inviolable secrecy of speed Behind my walls of wind, but am resigned To await what comes and let the world intrude, As the world will. Mercury take my solitude.

Mercury take the blinding rain, which hid From puckered eyes the mischief that it did, Sapping assayed safeties, wearing thin Remarked margins, very quick to spread A wet treachery under the tyres’ tread, Wielding my own speed and driving in Cold between helmet and hair, scarf and skin, Wearing down body and heart and head: This I shall screened see, but not again Feel it in all my bones. Mercury take the rain.

Mercury take the breathless curves, when I Sat stable pivot to a heeling sky, The sweet, inevitable line I rode, Leaning upon my speed, hung in the huge Sustaining circle of the centrifuge, With all my senses centred on the node Where the tyres’ screaming crenels bit the road. Now I am old, Mercury be my judge, I lift this loved load from my hand and nerves Before they fail my need. Mercury take the curves. Mercury take the timeless cold, which beat Feeling and strength from finger-tips and feet, Little by little, as a fire starts, Stealthily driving back the dividing line Between sense and senseless, metal and mind, to combine Hand and handle-bar, foot-rest and foot, as parts Of a galloping steel-cold beast with twin hearts, The fire in the belly of the bike and the fire in mine, Seats of beset heat, which yet controlled Bone intergrown with steel. Mercury take the cold.

Mercury take my helmet. It has been Symbol and safeguard, and has stood between My mind and fear, my head and the hard blows Of many roads and weathers. It has stood On scruffy cafe tables while my blood Recalled to pain my finger-tips and toes. It has gone with me wherever a man goes By land. But now I hand it up for good. So to your keeping. Mercury, I commit This helmet, since I have no further use for it. — P. M. Hubbard Submitted by: NORM PEDDIE, H-D XLCH HAL WHIPPLE, Honda 305 SS Champaign, 111.

SWIFT I ES RETURN I got a great kick out of your swifties.

It makes a guy feel good to know that even a magazine as large as CW kids around once in a while. So, while you’re in a humorous mood, “What do you mean you can’t approve the frame on my Matchless?,” asked Dick Mannfully. GEORGE McCLUSKEY Portsmouth, N.H.

INSURANCE PROBLEMS

After recently purchasing a new BSA 650, I have encountered nothing but despair in trying to obtain insurance. Living in Virginia it seems that only on an assigned risk basis (2 to 3 times the normal rate), can a motorcyclist be insured. As I deem this very important, I am turning to you in hopes that you will publish this letter so that perhaps one of CW’s readers can furnish me with helpful information. W. JOHN ABBOTT 3000 South Eads St.

Arlington, Virginia

STOLEN CYCLES

The theft of late model motorcycles is on the rise. These machines are usually stripped and sold for parts or shipped to another part of the country. I’ve been thinking and have come up with an idea. If CYCLE WORLD were to publish complete lists of stolen late model bikes once every three months, your large circulation would put this list in almost every motorcycle shop in the country. I had my new Harley stolen out of my garage; not a trace has been found. This project would not stop thefts overnight but I feel that in a year or two, the cycle owners who have their machines returned might show their thanks. RICHARD KREBS Deluxe Motorcycle Sales St. Clair Shores, Mich.

Your suggestion has merit up to a point. Due to the extreme delays in preparing a national magazine, though, a stolen bike would have vanished completely, been stripped, painted, and numbers changed by the time the magazine came out, never to be seen again. That, plus the enormous amount of space required to list the thousands of machines stolen across the nation would be prohibitive and the huge job of maintaining the list, keeping it current, etc., staggers our imaginations.