Letters
LETTERS
WHO WINS? The only problem with CYCLE WORLD IS that I have to race my wife to the mail box. KEN ALLEN Whitestone, Indiana
LIFE IN THE MAGAZINES
Every new cycle magazine seems to have a life cycle similar to us frail humans - it begins with great vigor, rapidly ascends to a luminous zenith, and then begins a long period of progressive decay. I hope that yours will prove to he the exception and remain perpetually youthful, crowded with pulsating life, and consumed with foolish adolescent idealism. So much for the blandishments, now for the incision! We cycling nuts being a motley crew, you cannot please all of us. However, we share one thing: an irrational interest in these socially suicidal contraptions. More comments about bikes please! Take a ride on an old one, a new one, dirt or road bikes, be specific about vibration, etc. Too bad you can't evolve a rating sheet which would give arm-chair buffs a glimmer of comparison. Do continue the technical articles. How about a few remarks as to how to repair the failings of the more common bikes (I have an uncommon machine). I am sure these suggestions are presumptuous since you have already considered them and more. Please accept my congratulations and hopes for your continued success. RICHARD SINGER. M.D. Manhasset, N.Y.
UNFOUNDED SUSPICIONS
Although I had previously suspected that your acceleration figures were slight ly less than accurate, the publication of the Road Test Annual has removed any doubt from my mind by condensing near ly all your abortive estimates into one ridiculous volume. Example: Honda Super Hawk, 0-30 mph, 2.2 sec onds Triumph TT Special. 0-30. 2.4 sec. Norton Atlas. 0-30, 1.1 sec. Yamaha YDS-2, 0-30. 1.9 sec. Honda Scrambler, 0-30. 2.7 sec. Harley-Davidson XLCH, 0-30, 2.8 sec. Do you actually believe a Honda Hawk could out-accelerate a Triumph IT Special 0 to 30 mph? Do all Honda Scrambler riders believe they beat a 55-inch Harley to 30 mph? I realize that these figures are difficult to obtain, but please do not merely insert them to fill up space. Some of us know better. What kind of a snow job can you give for this question? JOHN McLAIN Millbrae, Calif.
No snow-job; just an answer: We are perfectly aware that not all the perform aiice figures it'e report / it together as neat ly as it tuig/it seem they should. However, it is precisely because these i/sings cannot he predicted i/sal we do performance tests at all. 1/ we had souse magical formula to tell us these things wit/s absolute certainty, as you seem to have, then our staff would he spared a lot of often tedious, repetitious test riding.
(Continued on page 24)
Obviously, we could save ourselves a lot of trouble by "correcting" all acceleration figures so that times would drop in exact relationship to displacement. Now that really would be a snow-job. Ed.
REVOLUTIONARIES
You reached another level of quality with CW's August issue. Your publication is singularly bringing about a revolution concerning the layman's view on cycles.
For some time I have read about the Harley vs. the World war, but I feel that this should stop taking up space. The people who are staunch H-D fans feel no remorse when they call Honda riders "little boys" and "Honda transistors," but they become violent when someone says "hawg." It appears that people in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks.
WALTER NASH Phoenix, Arizona
ASCOT NEWCOMER
On the 3rd of July I raced at Ascot with some difficulties. I would like to thank all the riders and mechanics who helped me there because they are true sportsmen. Thanks, too, for a fine magazine.
JAMES JACKSON Expert #48N Houston, Texas
G1LERA CORRECTIONS
In the trail test of the Gilera =124cc Scrambler, the horsepower was listed at 7 horsepower at 5000 rpm. This is the horsepower rating of the 98cc Standard model Gilera. The 124cc is rated at 11.5 (C.U.N.A.) horsepower. Also, you stated that it had an iron barrel which is incorrect. It has a special light alloy cylinder, well finned with treated cast iron liner.
As a suggestion for the "Around the Industry" column, the following new models of Gilera are available: The 50cc and 80cc Scooter, both with four-cycle engines; a 98cc Scrambler and a 124cc Scrambler, also, a 200cc road bike, and a 200cc Scrambler. Special accessories now available for Gilera motorcycles include racks, specially made skid plates, and all sizes of over-lay sprockets.
JACK STEELE C & N Enterprises Long Beach, Calif.
HELMETS OR NOT
You state that you completely approve of a mandatory law requiring the wearing of helmets. I want to go on record at this time and state that I completely oppose such legislation. This is a curtailment of a man's basic freedom. Do not protect people from themselves! There are too many instances of such legislation; (a) do not swim near Cliff House in San Francisco because of rip tides; (B) do not climb cliffs near Daly City because they are dangerous. (Those two items are forbidden by law); (c) there are lifeguard-protected lakes and beaches where I have not been allowed to swim beyond the ropes regardless of the fact that I was wearing a skindiving lifebelt, have a Red Cross Lifesaving Certificate, and was on the water polo team in college!
If you really want to protect people may I suggest; (a) ban cars from this country (40,000 people were killed and millions injured by them last year alone); (b) forbid mountain climbing, skindiving, and like sports because there certainly is an element of risk; (c) and closer to home, how about outlawing motorcycle racing! Regardless of the fact that these men wear helmets and leathers there certainly are deaths and injuries here so let's protect these men from themselves too.
Let me at this time state that my wife and I both wear full-coverage helmets; however there are instances when I prefer to ride with nothing but goggles and I feel that it is really my own damn business if I get killed or maimed because of the lack of a helmet. And, I would hate like hell to be ticketed by some over-enthusiastic cop because I happen to be enjoying myself!
As my recent law course taught me, legislation is not the sure cure for all problems! In the majority of cases legislation hinders and hurts rather than helps. My own reaction to stupid legislation is to ignore the law; as an individual I feel that (Continued on page 26) I have lost nearly all control over the law making process; my only protection is to ignore those laws which restrict my freedom. I feel that as long as I mind my own business and do not trespass on the rights of others then "they" do not have the right to harass me!
HENRY FREYNIK
Oakland, Calif.
There is a great deal to what you say; we are by all means completely in favor of personal freedom. Are we to assume that you are also against automobile seat belts, legislation of deadly drugs, laws concerning firearms and munitions, traffic laws, and many other laws and rules that infringe on your personal freedom? Your apparent disdain for the laws that do not suit you personally does indeed set you aside as an individual. We continue to endorse the use of helmets under most conditions, particularly on the highways and roads where cars are also operating, and of course when racing or riding hard anywhere. Motorcycles can be dangerous; the safety helmet can help to reduce this danger, eliminating some of the risk, thereby making the sport more appealing to a wider range of people. In effect, the use of helmets can promote motorcycling! Laws concerning safety glass in auto windshields were not put into effect to protect anyone but the operator of the vehicle and his passengers. We class the helmet rule in the same category.
LAWRENCE AS A CYCLIST
With the release of the film, "Lawrence of Arabia" last year, so much interest was stirred up concerning T. E. Lawrence, that I thought it might be of further interest to CW readers to know that Lawrence was an avid cyclist.
From what I can ascertain, he owned five machines over a period of four years, while stationed in England from about 1922 to 1926. All five were Brough-Superior "racing motor-bicycles," which he obtained from the company, "rode to death," and reported on. It seems that these machines were powered by supertuned OHV J.A.P. twins. The four-cycle engine had seven-to-one-compression, and had a final development, according to Lawrence, of fifty-two horsepower. (Quite a bike for a man 5' 5" tall.) The machine was capable of just over 100 mph. He called each bike "Boanerges," which means "sons of thunder."
Lawrence was a very literate man, and he wrote about the things he experienced. In a letter to British author Robert Graves, he wrote, "It's usually my satisfaction to purr along gently at 60 mph drinking in the air and the general view. I lose detail at even such moderate speeds but gain comprehension. When I open out a little more, as for instance across Salisbury Plain at 80 or so, I feel the earth moulding herself under me. It is me piling up this hill, hollowing this valley, stretching out this level place. Almost the earth comes alive, heaving and tossing on each side like a sea. That's a thing the slow coach will never feel. It is the reward of speed. I could write you pages on the lustfulness of moving swiftly."
In his book, The Mint, Lawrence summed up what many of us feel: "A skittish motor-bike with a touch of blood in it is better than all the riding animals on earth, because of its logical extension of our facilities, and the hint, the provocation, to excess conferred by its honeyed untiring smoothness."
It is, I think, refreshing to read such a fluent expression of the joy of motorcycling today, when there is so much factional feuding between people whose views of the sport are varied.
If CYCLE WORLD could find some added information or photographs on the BrouhSuperior racing motor-bicycle, it might make interesting and enjoyable reading.
JON R. SEAL Newport Beach, Calif.
SAFETY FACTS
I was noticing your comments in "Round Up" on motorcycle fatalities; I have some further statistics concerning this subject which were also obtained from the Travelers Insurance Co.
In 1963, there were 58,978,589 passengers and 771,552 motorcycles registered in the United States. Using the fatal and non-fatal accident figures found in the report, one finds that for 1963:
5.07% of the passenger cars registered were involved in non-fatal accidents and (Continued on page 28) .063% were involved in fatal accidents.
. . . while 5.15% of the motorcycles registered were involved in non-fatal accidents and .118% were involved in fatal accidents.
These figures indicate that as far as having an accident, it doesn't matter whether you drive a car or ride a cycle; however, if you are involved in an accident you have twice as good a chance to be killed on a cycle as in a car. Furthermore, if one considers the relative mileages driven by both types of vehicle, the chances of being involved in an accident (and the subsequent risk of being a fatality) is much greater for a cycle than for a car.
These statistics do not in the least dampen my personal enthusiasm for cycles but do point out the need for cyclists to do more defensive driving. I hope you can find room in the magazine for this letter or at least the statistics as it may serve as a timely reminder that the motorcycle can be very lethal if not used in a cautious manner.
ROBERT J. NORRIS JR.
Idaho Falls, Idaho
Amen. Ed.
NO CHEESE LOVER
For years now, I have been reading your competition's cheesecake and their "nothing ever goes wrong" test tours. I walked into a drug store in another part of the state recently and discovered CYCLE WORLD. Thank you for existing.
I believe your road tests are straightforward, accurate and more extensive than your competitive magazines.
HARVEY LOUCKS, JR.
Satanta, Kansas
CW SHOW
Thank you for the great motorcycle show. Will look forward to more on an annual basis. In addition to being a financial success, I believe it contributed immensely to the stature and public acceptance of cycling.
Also, as a pleased subscriber to CYCLE WORLD, permit me to express my appreciation and admiration for an outstanding job; the only way you can improve on it would be to bring it out twice a month. The extra space would permit more of everything, including restoring classics (like the Indian four and Ace), conversions (like the Norton/Vincent), and, I trust, the stimulating cerebrations of Gordon Jennings.
ELLIS A. BÜRGE
Los Angeles, Calif.
WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT
Just a word of encouragement from a fan of yours. You do a professional job with CYCLE WORLD. Contents, format, and range of coverage are exceptional for a neophyte magazine lacking the $$ backup of the Life/Time publications.
So far as the motorcycle is concerned, you are certainly on the back of an awakening giant; the nation's spenders are beginning to turn their heads, and when that happens ... !
VIC PREISSER, JR.
Palo Alto, Calif.
