Letters
LETTERS
PROFESSOR'S DAUGHTER
I happen to be the daughter of a college professor. I guess some kids would like this, but some kids don't like motorcycles.
My father says, in one sentence, motorcycles are dangerous, only for boys, not for nice people, expensive and I want one for a status symbol and not for the investment, even though he has never ridden even a moped and he is scared of them, he refuses to look at any facts or figures about them, and the president of the college's son has one.
How about a plan of action to bring him around? I'm willing to pay for a cycle with the baby-sitter money I can get plus my allowance.
LI~JvYaI1~~. BECKIE AUTHRUND Thibodaux, Louisiana
That's a pretty long sentence; he isn't an English Prof. is he?-Ed.
HIGH CORRECTION
In your March or April 1965 issue of CW the Editor mentioned participating in the Cal Poly Hi-Mountain Enduro and something about Paso Robles by the sea. I noticed also in the January `66 issue, speaking of the Los Padres National Forest Regions, you referred to Paso Robles again and mentioned the Enduro. Having attended Calif. State Polytechnic College for three years and graduating in June `65, I was a member of the Pen quins and worked on the Enduro com mittee during this last year. I remember seeing a white Matchless single and leath ered rider while helping some riders on small two-strokes on those nice hills just out of noon check. We were very happy you enjoyed the route as we did our best to include a variety of scenery and terrain.
However the real scene of the Enduro centers around San Luis Obispo, Calif., where the Cal Poly Campus is located. Along the route itself I could see where you may have been confused; your first glimpse of the ocean was Morro Rock, from Perfumo Canyon, later you arrived in Pismo Beach, where you crossed over Highway 101 and then into Los Padres and the vicinity of Pozo. The starting and finishing points were in San Luis Obispo however, which is only 11 or so miles north of the sea and 35 miles south of Paso Robles. I hope you do attend the `66 Hi-Mountain Enduro and enjoy it, be cause this is the reason the Penquins, Campus Ham Radio Club, and many student volunteers work to put it over every year, so that hill riders do have a fun Sunday.
RUSS TAYLOR King City, Calif.
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SOUR BRITISH GRAPES
Really Mr. Parkhurst, this time you have outdone yourself! You have become increasingly well known for your questionable statements, but to compare Tony Murphy with Bill Ivy (Jan. “Roundup”) is stretching even the weirdest of imaginations to the absolute limit.
I know both of these fine riders very well personally, and have competed with both. I value Tony’s friendship and feel sure he would be the first person to admit that he couldn’t begin to compete with the vast experience and «brilliance of Motor Cycling’s 1965 “Man of the Year.” I would be amused to learn who your “experts” are, and to ask if they really believe Tony capable of lapping the Isle of Man in practice, on a completely strange, tired, prototype 125cc machine, in excess of the lap record, from a standing start? Or dusting off the likes of Mike Hailwood, Derek Minier, John Cooper, etc., with unbelievable regularity around the British short circuits?
Really Mr. Parkhurst. Have your “experts” look again, explain where Tony got his “considerable experience on the RD-56,” then tell me what that has to do with riding a four-cylinder 250cc and a 125cc capable of speeds in excess of anything I have ever seen him ride.
Had you and your party done a little less socializing and a little more observ-
ing on your visits to Britain and the Isle of Man, this letter would have been unnecessary. Perhaps you would also have noticed that there were two entries from California in the T.T., which seemed to escape your attention. However we are more than compensated for in this respect when a certain member of your staff competes locally, by a minimum of three pages in the magazine on “How I would have won, but —
One further gripe, if you would be so kind? Why persist in advertising the “CYCLE WORLD Records?” Why not the Stanley Schofield Records, imported and distributed by CYCLE WORLD? This surely is the usual form adopted by your less conceited advertiser customers.
So please Mr. Parkhurst let us have a Motorcycle magazine with Motorcycle news, not a monthly CYCLE WORLD Staff biography. If I might make a suggestion? Utilize the valuable advertising space in the magazine, and buy a large mirror for the CYCLE WORLD office wall.
I will squander a further 50<¡for the next issue in anticipation of your inevitable remarks. But please, before accusing me of being too pro-British, call Tony and ask where he originated. Thank you for your time and good luck to your magazine, properly edited, in the future.
MERVYN WRIGHT
El Sobrante, Calif.
Really, Mr. Wright, we hardly expected such sour grapes from a dignified Englishman like yourself. Some of the world’s finest sportsmen are not riding in Inter-
national competition because too many people share your point of view. We were very much aware of two Englishmen, now from California, who were fortunate enough, thanks to their American-style prosperity, to be able to afford to go back home and ride the TT, thus realizing a lifetime dream. We know only too well how good Bill Ivy is, but remember the 1965 TT was not his first Island ride, and because the Isle of Man is a memory-work course we cannot expect an American, or anyone else, to do it the first time ever. On the other hand, Japan’s Suzuka circuit would have been a good course to try out some American talent. If you could stay on the same lap with Bill Ivy or Tony Murphy (Murphy, by the way, has spent considerable time on the RD-56 at Willow Springs, part of which was during CYCLE WORLD road testing periods), then you too would deserve a chance at a factory ride. Stanley Schofield approves, why shouldn’t you? Though it may wound your ex-English pride, very few people in the U.S. know the name Schofield, but the name CYCLE WORLD is quite well batted about, isn’t it! Heaven forbid we accuse you of being pro-British, but for clarification we called Tony, before he was inducted into the good ole’ U.S. Army, to ask him where he originated and he said something about God and his mother.Ed.
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WEIGHT VARIATIONS
In a recent issue your road test on the Triumph Bonneville lists “curb weight” of 392 pounds, while a Triumph advertisement lists the weight of 365 pounds. This represents a difference of 27 pounds or a difference of 7.4%. Assuming CYCLE WORLD weighs a cycle as it sits ready to be driven, how does the Triumph factory arrive at a weight which is much lower? Even if the bike was weighed dry, gas, oil and battery water can’t account for a 27-pound variance.
If the factory has so much trouble determining the weight of its cycles when it is such a simple procedure, how can any of their other figures be trusted? If their horsepower rating, which is a much more difficult property to measure, is in error by 7.4%, the actual horsepower would be just over 49 hp, instead of the listed 53 hp.
ROBERT BRUSCATO Elmwood Park, 111.
“Curb weight”, in our data panel, is the weight of the machine with a half-tank of gasoline, recommended amount of oil (when applicable), and of course the battery topped up, shown on our own scale. One U.S. gallon of gas weighs six pounds. -Ed.
INTELLIGENT CALCULATIONS
After reading William Kaysing’s “Intelligent Motorcycling, Part 8,” I felt compelled to do some calculations of horsepower-to-weight ratios. I find that the bigger machines come out ahead, all other factors (such as rider weight) remaining equal. This of course implies a burly brute of a rider weighing 150 or more pounds.
Once started on this amazing pastime, I ran a few more figures and got the following amazing and instructive table which I, rather than waste the effort, shot off to you. Some of the motor weights may be in error but that’s life. Starting with the two examples given, I got:
All of which means us heavyweights need bigger bikes.
FRANK J. HESTOR San Diego, Calif.
HORSE SENSE
I am writing to you for three reasons; one — to tell you how exceptionally good your magazine is; second — to tell you of an experience one of my buddies had; and third — to ask you about my bike.
If I said CYCLE WORLD was the worst motorcycle magazine on earth, then I also would be the biggest liar on earth. Your motorcycle publication is the best I have ever found, and 1 mean the best! No other magazine covers or explains this field better than you do. CYCLE WORLD is surely in the number one position and with the crew that it has behind it, it will stay there.
My buddy, George, after working hard in the field came home one peaceful evening only to find his horses had escaped. Upon looking further into the situation, he found three of these horses huddled around his new Yamaha 80 Trailmaster. When he arrived at the scene, believe it or not, he found that they had knocked over his bike, chewed off his handlegrips, torn off his buddy seat, and broken his chain in three places! Figure that last one out! In less than half an hour, after all this was over, the horses broke free and attempted the assault again! What had gotten into those crazy, bike-mad horses?
I own a Bultaco Mercurio 175 and would like to know what horsepower and performance I would gain by adding a Wal Phillips fuel injector and a tuned exhaust. Also, where can I obtain a tuned exhaust for my bike? I don’t know if you will print this letter or not but we (George and I) have our fingers crossed!
YOUR M. C. BUDDIES Ivan & George Craigmont, Idaho
Uncross your fingers. The carburetor fitted as standard to the Bultaco is excellent; as for the tuned exhaust you could realize a considerable gain. Unfortunately, you will have to make it yourself as we know of no firm commercially producing expansion chambers for these machines at this time. Check CW Nov. 1964 issue, for details. Now you know how horses feel about being replaced.—Ed.
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TAKE THAT, WICKHAM!
Regarding your daring to print a letter from one J. E. Wickham, and his prediction of your magazine receiving many more complaints, he’s dead right! Elere’s mine.
Who in the hubs of hades do these guys think they are, anyway? Maybe you should give him the whole damn magazine for his club news.
If he wants a magazine published for his club let him print it himself. I was going to write and tell you how thoroughly I enjoy your magazine anyway, and this gives me a two-fold opportunity.
Don’t let the complainers get you down. For every complaint you receive, there are hundreds of satisfied readers. The few complaints I have I wouldn’t even mention in view of all your good points.
JERRY J. CRAWFORD Pasadena, Md.
Boy, are you appreciated around here! — Ed.
MOTORCYCLE LICENSING
Referring to your January issue, specifically Mr. Wallace’s letter, I have a few comments.
A special license requirement would obviously decrease the sales of motorcycles as it is just one more thing that would interfere (granted not always significantly) in the buyer’s decision to make the step. If he had a car that was too small to transport his bike to the nearest parking lot, or if he had no friend with a license to drive it there for him, he would also have no way to legally prepare for his test . . . and I can just see Boston Honda giving driving lessons in downtown Boston!
Granted it might save a few lives — which is reason enough for plenty of people — but let’s face it, what percentage of motorcycle deaths are caused by unfamiliarity with the machine rather than by sirrrnle poor judgment, i.e.; too great a rate of speed under existing conditions? Also, I wonder if Mr. Wallace thinks that there should be a different license for each make bike — I’m sure that it is as dangerous for me to hop on my friend’s BSA from my Yamaha because of the reversed brake and shift levers, as it is for an inexperienced friend to take a spin around the block on a Honda 50.
You definitely have a magazine that’s worth my money, whether or not you give Mr. Wickham his “rights” to space in it. I’ll have to admit though that this letter does little more than let me blow off steam at the world.
I think I’m about to throw a rod.
SAM POWERS
Ithaca, New York
PS: I wear a Bell 500 TX helmet for any distance farther than out of my garage. It keeps my hair in place. The issue of mandatory driver licensing for motorcycle riders is one that looms large on the horizon for all riders. We observe that drivers’ licenses for automobiles haven’t hurt their sales a bit. Nor have airplane pilots’ special licenses slowed things down for that expensive sport. Granted there will be problems administering the license examinations and qualification tests, but they will be overcome.—Ed.
H-D BORE & STROKE
In the past we’ve found your figures on road tests to be accurate. In the January issue, in the H-D Sprint CR road test, I noted that the bore and stroke in inches, 2.60 x 2.84, was under-square while the metric measurement was 72mm x 61mm, or over-square. Using the time tested 2.51mm per inch, I found that the inch conversion came out to 66mm x 72mm. This is what it reads in their catalog. Looking further, I noted that the special factory racer that was run at Bonneville, with the all new alloy engine, has the 72 x 61 measure. By the looks of things the scrambler tested just has the standard road engine hopped up.
N. BYRON TOUSTON
Madison, Wisconsin
You are correct, we did in fact use the millimeter measurements for the 1966 CR-TT engine. The inch measurements are correct for the engine in our test machine. — Ed.
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AND THE ANGELS STAND . . .
A recent Harris Poll established that belief or disbelief in a person’s constitutional right to demonstrate against government policies was determined largely by educational and economic status. The lower the status, the higher the passions ran, not only in favor of our present policy in Viet Nam, but also against the right to disagree with this policy.
It comes as no surprise then, when I read of the enthusiasm this policy has generated among members of the American Nazi Party, the Ku Klux Klan, Hells Angels, and similar Neanderthal species.
The “stand” the Angels took in attacking the Viet Nam Day Committee marches, which you and Mr. Estes find so laudable, does not enhance the image of American motorcycling but merely confirms a popular belief that the sport is made up of high school drop-outs with a Klan mentality that favors leather jackets over bed sheets.
MICHAEL GALLAGHER Tallahassee, Florida
You, and a few others of our readers, missed the humor in our answer to Mr. Estes’ letter. Do not mistake our attitude toward the Hells Angels as commendation; we simply made the point that, in our opinion, they performed a little something worthwhile.—Ed.
TESTING, THE HARD WAY
Concerning your comments on the adhesion qualities of tires (e.g. Honda 450 tests one and two), how do you tell? In particular, I want to know your methods for testing tires. Almost as often as not, mine has been done while sitting on the pavement watching and listening to my machine slide along the road ahead of me. I hope your methods are more subtle, and that you will describe them, so that I can learn and apply them.
As I recall, my old Dunlop Universal (standard rear road tire on most British bikes in the last few years), even though worn to a nice “V” shape, would slide out noiselessly, quickly, mercilessly, and with no warning. Its replacement K-70 would screech, leave black marks, and allow the rider enough of an appeal to avoid due justice. How, now, can I find out how the Pirellis on my lightweight will behave without risking skin and paint?
My appreciation for the occasional touring article — thought I’d better let you know that somebody reads them.
T. DE FAZIO Cambridge, Mass.
To be truthful, we use the same laboratory. Perhaps the fact that we are on a race track with a clean, oil-and dirt-free surface, dry of course, comprised of corners we are familiar with, around which we have been many times on many different machines with many different tires, makes the difference. This is not to say, of course, that we have not sat in the same spot, watching the same lousy show. -Ed.
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M.R.I. SEEKS MEMBERS
“Motorcycle Racers Incorporated” is a non-profit riders’ association, registered under the State of California Corporation Law. This association is dedicated to maintaining the highest racing standards possible, for riders, owners and mechanics.
The need for an effective riders’ association is obvious. It is essential that the people involved in motorcycle racing stand up and be counted by putting forth their efforts towards the common goal, “Professionalism.” There have been many occasions when riders have suffered inequities at the hands of promoters and owners of race tracks throughout the nation. In order to correct these, it is necessary to have an effective program of collective bargaining. Just stop and think; what impact has a single voice of protest in the path of authority? It is not hard to conceive; the impact is nil.
The professional riders have two factions governing their profession: 1) The American Motorcycle Association; 2) Promoters and owners of race tracks. The A.M.A. governs the rules and conditions we race under. It is not our intent to undermine the A.M.A. because the majority of the races we compete in are under their jurisdiction and sanction; however, there is much to be desired. Let’s ask ourselves the question — “Have motorcycle racers been given their due recognition?” The answer is obvious when you make a comparison of other professional sports or competition, where speed is the determining factor.
It seems that every time someone tries to talk about the programs we are attempting to put over, the response is one of disinterest and apathy. Therefore, Motorcycle Racers Incorporated have adopted the following resolutions: To
submit proposals and bargain for up-to-date rule changes, standard purses throughout the nation, improved insurance, better shows, improved safety conditions, and other benefits not now available to riders.
It should be noted that we have proposed, for the past three years, that 40% of the gate be paid at all national dirt track events, and have been rejected by the National Competition Committee on each occasion. As a result of these circumstances, it is necessary to implement an organizing drive for new members and by the start of nevt season we hope to represent the majority of Formula “C” riders, owners and mechanics throughout the nation.
The Officers of the Motorcycle Racers Incorporated are: Neil Keen, President; Jerry Crivello, Secretary; Sam Tanner, Board Member; Ralph White, Board Member; Dennis “Blackie” Bruce, Board Member; Herb Litch, Board Member. If you are interested in becoming a member, to have a voice and play an important part in the things that affect motorcycle racing, please write :
MOTORCYCLE RACERS, INC.
Box 90221 Airport Station
Los Angeles, California 90009
MONTESA STORY
In your “Letters” section in the January, 1966 issue appeared a letter from Mr. Robert D. Purves from Metairie, Louisiana. This has me very concerned as he told only half the story. Being a Montesa owner myself I feel it my duty to tell your many readers the whole truth. The reason for Mr. Purves’ front wheel rim being out of line is that he replaced it with a smaller tire size and ran low tire pressure. He forgot to mention he was jumping logs with same, also the fact that he looped it on a 100 ft. hill and let it go riderless end over end approximately two or three times.
As far as the front forks go, they naturally would not stay true under such adverse conditions. Also the same motorcycle ran into a telephone pole after the rider fell off. As far as the other complaints go I’m sure anyone can pick any motorcycle to pieces if he tries. There is no such thing as a perfect motorcycle. I’ve never yet owned a machine that came from the factory exactly as I wanted it. I’m sure you haven’t either. Motorcycles are made to suit the general public, not individuals.
ROY L. SCHMIDT, JR.
Kenner, La.
