Letters

LETTERS

INSPIRING

For the past couple of years now, I've been reading CYCLE WORLD and think it is really the greatest! While I was in the service, I always looked forward to my buddies' issue to arrive each month. Of course we had Playboy and a few other magazines to read, but CYCLE WORLD really grew on me.

Now that I'm a civilian again, I'm the proud owner of a (used) `66 Triumph Bonneville which I got last spring. Since then I've put on a lot of miles, consider ing this is my first cycle. A 1~t of people have the wrong idea about us cyclists, I feel, because of the attitude of a few. That's why the article on AAA and its program to inform the motoring public on motorcycling (CW, Nov. `68) sure was inspiring.

JOHN RYAN Racine, Wis.

THE CONFEDERATE

I’ll swanee, we got a motorcycle race heah in Montgomery that beats all. It’s called the Confederate (ain’t that noble) 24. First we calibrate the odometers, then we turn these fools loose for 24 hours to see who can register the most mileage.

Lawdy mercy, if it ain’t a tough race-maybe the toughest sportsman race of all! The all-paved track has eight turns and requires at least a dozen gear shifts per lap, which comes to one gear shift every 8 sec. and about 10,000 gear shifts during the 24 hours! Just to be ornery we limit it to one rider per motorcycle and one 5-min. rest stop every 2 hours. And just to make it more interesting, we prohibit any repairs (except brake adjustment), and disqualify any rider who takes a spill.

Land o’ Goshen, I almost swallowed my mint julep when I first heard about the so-called National 24 Marathon Championship in St. Louis. Seems this sissified event is run on a dirt track with maybe one or two gearshifts each lap and plenty of opportunity for wheelspin, which favors rear-wheel-driven speedometers. This year, bless his soul, the big National Marathon’s winner came down from Illinois to collect himself a trophy; and another fella from Pennsylvania, who was 2nd in his class in St. Louis, came down south, too.

One of these boys asked during the riders’ meeting if it would be all right to really let the motors out and hump it, and he was told okay as long as he wasn’t reckless. Well, at the 12-hour point, when he was running 5th and looked like he’d just stepped out of one of those old Bataan Death March phptos, he was told that now he could begin to open it up if he wanted to. Maybe he didn’t think it was too funny, especially when the 24 hours was up and he was in 5th place.

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Goodness, you gotta be as smart as ole Jeb Stuart to win this thing! Would y’all believe that the winner, Montgomery’s own Tommy Pearson, was being lapped three or four times per hour by the riders who finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th? Only thing is, Tommy was riding wide in very un-road race fashion and thereby picking up two or three hundred feet per lap on the other riders. It was the neatest trick since the invention of grits.

So, in conclusion, any time any of you sportsmen racers from St. Louis (or anywhere) think you’re man enough, come on down heah to Montgomery for the Confederate 24, the race with hair. But you better be prepared. One national motorcycle distributor, which mercifully shall be left nameless, sent a tech rep and three of his well-known motor cycles down 10 days before the race. Midnight oil was burned, mechanics worked, conferees conferred, riders were carefully selected, everything pos sible was done. For all this preparation, only one of the three finished, and it had no brakes left. So y'all come-if you think you can ride, and if you think you have a good motorcycle.

L& 111JL'.Jl JERRY H. HATFIELD Maxwell AFB, Ala.

ANTI-GRAVITY

After returning from the Inter national Moto-X at New Philadelphia, Ohio, I read in the local paper that the Nobel Prizes for 1968 had been awarded. Indeed, Luis Alvarez from the University of California deserves praise for his work in elementary particle physics; but to be awarded the Nobel Prize in physics when Joel Robert has visibly demonstrated by his riding at New Philadelphia that he has discovered a way to break the laws of gravity and momentum seems to be quite unfair. How can such a scientific discovery go unnoticed by the scientific community? We stand by while "Big Brother" tries to protect us and blind, elderly ladies in overpowered Chryslers turn into our paths, but this is too much. Motor cyclists, unite!

WILLIAM E. BARNHART Cincinnati, Ohio

GP ADJUSTMENT

I am writing this letter in response to the many “competitionless” grands prix in the motorcycle world, especially since Honda and Suzuki dropped out. There always seem to be two races, a works four-cylinder Yamaha and a works three-cylinder MV head to tail, then the pack of singleand twin-cylinder privateers scrapping for 3rd place. I don’t feel justified in criticizing something unless I have a better idea (Ford must have a lot of criticisms), so here’s my 2 cents’ worth.

I think we can learn a lot from the four-wheel boys on this subject. In international grand prix racing, the FIA has Formula I, Formula II, Formula III, etc., so instead of having six different championships as the FIM has it, there should be one main grand prix with others of less exotic equipment, but not necessarily of less competition. So, the manufacturers could spend their works money in one class instead of spreading it out over six. These should be about 300-cc machines, as 250-cc bikes hold the record at a lot of tracks now except for the big ones where the 500s can use their brute power. Of course, these bikes would follow the existing rules of the FIM. Then a “Formula II” class could be made up of bikes limited to production crankcases, cylinders, and heads, but with no other limitations. These could be limited to 500 or 650 cc to accept the popular Triumphs and BSAs, etc. Then you could have another class similar to this, except limited to 250 cc.

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I believe this would be more competitive for the works machines as well as the privateers, who probably are getting a little tired of chasing six cylinders and 24 valves screaming at 18,000 rpm already five laps ahead of them.

JULIAN FOSTER FPO, New York, N. Y.

PLEASED

Was real pleased to read your road test on the Sears SR250 (CW, Nov. `68). Being the owner of same, I can truly say the article was realistic. I was rather disappointed at the beginning with my machine, but it sort of grows on one after daily trips of 25 miles to and from work. It has just turned 4000 miles and never has let me down. Still running the same plugs that came in the bike. I just completed decoking the machine, but it was not hurting. It could have gone another thousand.

I wrote you shortly after acquiring the bike, complaining about having sent it back to the store for harsh shifting and vibration coming at 38 mph, which they did nothing to correct. I appreciate your forwarding my letter to the home office of Sears. I received a fine letter from Mr. Ansell (Service Engineer). He also took the problem up with the local store and assured me it would be corrected. Frankly, I didn’t take the cycle back although it still shifts harshly and vibrates considerably, but this doesn't seem to hurt the bike, so as long as it gives good service I can live with it.

JAMES HOLLOMAN Byron, Ga.

ENGLISCH?

I am writing to enlist your aid. I now own two BMW R51/3 motorcycles, one a 1953, one a 1951. I bought the 1951 as a wreck and am trying to rebuild it. I also do most of my own repairs on the 1953. However, I have been unable to find an English language edition of the R5 1/3 shop service manual. Perhaps one of your readers has such a manual which they would like to sell or would allow me to photocopy. If you would make a note of my need in your Letters or Service column, perhaps some noble reader would come to my aid.

THOMAS P. BLINN 9 Broadway Terrace New York, NY 10040

PRECAUTION

Taking the precaution of rolling up a photostatic copy of registration or title and slipping it inside the handlebar of your motorcycle whenever applying a new grip may save the bike for you in the future.

Police, of course, eventually can identify stolen motorcycles by the serial number on either the frame or engine but, of course, it takes time to check through, whenever the subject is in doubt. If the owner can state positively that a copy of his title can be found inside the handlebar, where it isn’t too difficult to remove, he can often reclaim the motorcycle from the police before it is transferred to the city car pound where transport and storage charges come into the picture.

I was able to prove ownership of my own bike in a few minutes’ time when police found it abandoned miles out in the country. If it hadn’t been for the title inside the handlebar (which the sheriff’s deputy extracted himself, following my instructions), several days would have elapsed before I could prove ownership.

ROBERT A. LATIMER Denver, Cob.

SUPERB

Just finished building my Protar miniature Norton Manx 500. The Provini models are truly superb in finish and detail. The next addition to this fine line of model kits has just got to be the pride and joy of Phil Vincent. Meanwhile, I’m keeping busy assembling my new Protar Moto-Guzzi V-8.

G. MICHAELS Belmont, Calif.