Letters
LETTERS
CHALK UP ONE
Just read your "The Road Bike in Tomorrow's World." Good show, ole boy! Like it very much and-with maybe a teeny exception here or thereagree with you right down the line.
According to the results of our Reader Survey, about 30.58 percent or so of our readers are going to see it. Wished I'd known it was coming outcould have plugged it in my column for December.
Anyhow, have no loubt you aia a lot of work on that one and hope it is properly appreciated. So when the out raged slings and arrows start arriving (and you'll no doubt get a few), put my mark on the "pro" tally.
ROG HULL Road Rider Magazine South Laguna, Calif.
A LOOK AT THE FUTURE
I found the article "Viewpoint" by Dan Hunt in the December 1971 CYCLE WORLD fascinating and pro vocative. As a touring cyclist and a professional in the field of population control research, I must take exception to Mr. Hunt's rather frightening extra polation regarding legislation on luxury vs. voluntary sterilization.
Although it is commonly believed that all inner city members of the poor minority groups own large and expen sive cars, this is not the case. The underpaid or jobless inner city dwellers do, however, contribute most heavily to the overpopulation problem. A steriliza tion program aimed at reducing either population growth or vehicles would bear most heavily on the more educated middle and upper classes who now, or previously, voluntarily limit their family to a figure close to zero population growth (perhaps something like 2.3 chil dren per family). Thus the law would not be effective in reaching the class of individuals at which it would be di rected.
The concept is so frightening from a humanistic standpoint that if the manu facturers and owners of large vehicles do not effectively oppose it, I can assure you the medical profession would not cooperate, and would, indeed, violently oppose such a measure on the grounds of the use of medicine as a punitive rather than a therapeutic or preventive profession.
There is an element of faulty logic implicit in Mr. Hunt's argument, too, and that is that one could, by steriliza tion, eliminate the genetic class of indi viduals who purchase large cars. Of course, he doesn't really mean this, but suggests the sterilization measure only to terrify the potential large car buyer to change his mind. I submit that we cannot solve any of our pollution, over population or minority class problems through threats of punishment (witness gun laws, capital punishment for mur der, etc.). The solution will have to be technological, but I thank Mr. Hunt for shocking us into searching for accept able alternatives to his horrifying predic tion.
I am now about to leave for my lab on my H-D 74, to work harder on the population problem. I leave the engi neering to you and your other readers.
LUCAS S. VAN ORDEN, M.D., Ph.D. Assoc. Prof. of Pharmacology University of Iowa
And Mr. Hunt replies, "Thanks for such a constructive critique-to which I might add a few points. While the medical professional could argue that `luxury sterilization' is punitive, the measure does, indeed, offer a modicum of free choice. If medicine is, in fact, a preventive profession, what could be more preventive than avoiding the as sorted woes of overpopulation?
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"I must emphasize that my little tract was in no way directed to under paid inner city dwellers; if anything it strikes at the heart of an over-indulged upper middle class. The luxury steriliza tion law does not preclude ownership of a useful motor vehicle; every ghettoman should be so lucky as to own the smallest of cars without penalty. It does deter people from buying a product which carries only five or six people, and yet occupies excessive space and consumes enough raw material to carry 10 or 12 people. It also deters people from buying more than fundamentally sound, comfortable, efficient trans portation.
"For example, I had the privilege of driving through Europe in a Ferrari 365 G TB Daytona, constantly maintaining speeds of 110 to 150 mph. It was thrilling, of course, but I can hardly claim that it improved the quality of my life, physically or mentally, in anything more than a superficial way.
"One reason the educated classes already limit the size of their families is that they `ye come to realize that they can have more money for more luxuries if they don't spend it on raising chil dren. In effect, they are already prac ticing luxury sterilization.
"I'm just carrying the extrapolation further, out to the point when our luxuries make us all poor and oppressed beyond comprehension.
"The luxury sterilization law is re served for the day when everything else fails. As you say, it is a surety that the automobile industry would do its best to make sure that such a law never came to pass.
"To me, in the seat of a small car or on the saddle of a small but powerful motorcycle, the space and environment taxes seem quite humane-and quite probable. "-Ed.
DYNAMITE DOG
I've been reading your magazine for quite some time now, and I must say your road test on the "Ten-Teat Canis Familiaris" in the November `7 1 issue was the funniest and the best road test I've ever read. I just want to congratu late whoever did it. All I can say is it was really dynamite.
ELLEN GAUB Browntown, N.J.
BMW SLIGHTED
In November's issue of CYCLE WORLD Dan Hunt's article on the Kawasaki 750 states that the only 750 on the market weighing less is the Norton Commando.
Let me remind you of the great and fantastic BMW 7 50/5. If my subtraction is right, the BMW 750 is lighter than the Kawasaki 750 by approximately 15 lb. in dry form.
RANDY TOWNE Burlington, Vt.
Since we quoted curb weight (or wet weight), the BMW 750 is actually a few pounds heavier than the Kawasaki 750. Our apologies, however, for omitting its mention. -Ed.
MOTORCYCLE ENGINEERING
On page 24 of the October `66 issue of CW, in reply to James Putnam's letter, two books are mentioned: Motor cycle Engineering by Paul Irving, and Cycle World Technical Manual. Are either of these publications avail able? If so, what are their costs?
STEPHEN C. MOENNING Seattle, Wash.
Noted with interest the exchange between you and Robert Hayden (De cember issue) on the subject of engine balance. Particularly your statement "If you are lucky enough to find a copy of P.E. Irving's Motorcycle Engineering, you will read
Whether Mr. Hayden is right or wrong in taking you to task on the technical point, he is certainly right in his opening observation that the average motorcycle rider is not very knowledge able. Having enjoyed both sports cars and cycles as a hobby, I have been impressed many times by the amount of mechanical understanding developed by amateur car racers as opposed to the sometimes astonishing misinformation passed around among cyclists. True, good info on the automobiles is abun dant and easy to find.
To save this good book Motorcycle Engineering from extinction, I may have cornered most of the supply by author izing a new printing (also motivated by crass commercialism), and I have a bunch of them in stock.
I beg to announce that you don't really have to be lucky to get a copy. You have to have $5. Which you send to: The Dirt Rider, P.O. Box 14422, Albuquerque, N.M. 87111.
CARL SHIPMAN Albuquerque, N.M.
It's nice when we can answer a reader's question with a reader's answer. To which we can add, the Cycle World Technical Manual is available by sending $3 to Cycle World, 1499 Monrovia Ave., Newport Beach, Calif. 92663.-Ed.
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LAPPING IT UP!
I would like to sincerely thank you for your support in furnishing lap money for the October 17 Ontario Road Race. It is good to see the motorcycle industry taking an active interest in professional racing.
As leader of the lap which you sponsored, I want to thank you per sonally for your contribution.
YVON DUHAMEL LaSalle, P.Q., Canada
FICTION BECOME TRUTH
Not long ago, CYCLE WORLD fea tured a piece of fiction about a lawyer's fight to keep prohibition of motorcy cling from becoming the law of the land. It didn't seem all that unreal at the time, much less now.
The day the first section of the San Juan-Ponce toliroad opened we dis covered Puerto Rico's Ley de Auto pistas (Freeway Law), Law 86 of June, 197 1. This law is intended to control vehicular traffic on the new toliroad. Banned are all the usual types of slowmoving vehicles, but it turns out some legislator(s) also slipped in motorcycles. How motorcycles got added to the list of no-nos I can't seem to ascertain. But one of the local newspapers printed the Highways Authority's answer that "Motorcyclists could lose their balance and cause accidents." And if it wasn't this reason it was probably one equally ridiculous.
All this is very strange indeed when one considers that the Puerto Rican motorcyclist enjoys more freedom than his stateside counterpart. Motorcycles are allowed to be (and usually are) ridden in almost any manner here "As long as you don't cause an accident," according to the police. Anyone who has driven in a Latin-American country can testify that driving habits are some what out of the ordinary, euphemistical ly speaking.
Losing the right to use a short section of the new toliroad is really not much of a loss. There are back roads through the sugar cane fields along the route that are much more fun and, besides, putting along at 65 mph on a road built for 80 or 90 is not my idea of ecstasy. But when the road is completed it will cut driving time to San Juan in half, and, too, Puerto Rico is very mountainous, so it should be at least more interesting than the average Mon tana plains freeway.
We have our work cut out for us. If the law can be contested in court we will start there. Fortunately for us we have a prominent local lawyer who is a Honda 750 owner and very much con cerned. If we can't go through the courts we will have to find a legislator with a sympathetic ear and supply him with some facts so that he can introduce legislation to repeal that portion of the law. Any suggestions you might have in obtaining facts and statistics for this purpose are solicited.
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It is certainly interesting that our legislators didn't realize that a logical extension of the reasoning applied to writing Law 86 could have been its application to the other freeways here, which have a maximum speed of only five mph less than the tollr'oad, and then to the other roads down the scale a little further. But it is a start in that direction by any stretch of the imagination, and, with a little time, Puerto Rico may be ahead of everyone in motorcycle legisla tion.
VICTOR H. HANSON President Caribe Motorcycle Club Villalba, Puerto Rico
BRAKE MEAN EXERTED PRESSURE
November's "Compression Ratios, Plain and Fancy," was informative and interesting. But why not express the goings-on as B.M.E.P.? Brake Mean Ex erted Pressure is the average force inside an engine per operating cycle normally expressed as pressure in terms of "psi" or Kg/Cm/Cm. B.M.E.P. would be es pecially helpful in predicting engine life or octane requirements, more so than a geometric expression like R or RE. - -
M. LAVALLEE JR. Alfred, N.Y.
STICKY BAFFLES
Your "Less Sound, More Ground" campaign is to be applauded; efforts to reduce the level of motorcycle exhaust noise is long overdue.
I think, however, you slightly over stated your argument in your terse reply to Tim McConnell (November CYCLE WORLD, "Feedback") concerning his suggestion that Kawasaki make the baffles easier to remove on the Mach III.
I agree with McConnell: the baffles on the H-i are too hard to get out. I am one of those people who removes his mufflers fairly consistently, like about every 1000 miles, for a complete and thorough cleaning. If a lot of `roundtown riding is done during that period, baffle sticking is a definite problem.
ROBERT M. JOHNSON Oakland, Calif.
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PRO OR CON?
This is in regard to your article in the June 1971 issue, "Voting an `Anti' Out: Case History," in which you state that Arlen Gregorio defeated Carl Britschgi in a State Assembly race. The article stated that Gregorio was "pro" motor cyclist.
I just thought you'd like to know that while reading Cycle News, Novem ber 16, I discovered that the paper reported Arlen Gregorio voted for As sembly Bill AB 3069 which is a mis-use of the funds derived for motorcycle and minibike parks. Just thought you'd like to know.
LARRY THEOBALD (No address given)
COMMENTS ON BALANCING
This letter isn't meant to criticize but to give a few additions to a fine article, "Balancing the Mighty Multi." -
First off, I had one hell of a time finding some of the material to build the tester. The one that I thought would be the easiest was the hardest to find, the glass tubing. After hunting over most of Portland, Ore. for 5/32-in. tubing, all the glass ti~ibing I did find in the small sizes was in 4-ft. lengths. Nobody carried 5/32 in. They had lots of 1/8 in. or 3/16 in.
Getting down to the nitty-gritty, I decided to settle on plastic tubing in the firm, clear 3/16-in. i.d. and 1/4-in. o.d. I threaded a length of 1/8-in, nylon rope through it, poured boiling water over it 2 in. off center, and formed my U-tubes on empty thread spool held in a vice. The nylon rope kept the plastic from collapsing. The only other changes I made were securing four yardsticks in the center of the U-tubes when I mounted them to the plywood back board, and using 24 clear plastic mirror holders, six to each U-tube, to fasten to the backboard.
I used more mercury than was pre scribed, about 15 ccs to each U-tube. Now, I think this is very important: If all four bends on the U-tube don't look alike, don't worry, but measure out exactly the same amount of mercury into each U-tube. The vacuum doesn't care how sloppy the U-tube is, as long as it isn't collapsed, but it does care about the weight it pulls. Now, align them even across the backboard.
And a last note: When you raise the back of the tank to make the adjustments, don't do like I did, and run out of gas. Make sure you have at least a half-tank.
KENNETH G. ROBERTSON Washougal, Wash.
A CALIFORNIA PUT-DOWN
In reference to the October issue and in particular to the article on Bart Markel.
In my opinion, when a leading mo torcycle magazine allows publication of such a poorly written and completely distasteful article of this caliber, it is a disgrace to a fine magazine.
This article has the odor of a Califor nia put-down to a man who has just reached the top of his racing profession. Mr. Scaizo cannot put Mr. Markel down; however, he sure did lower CYCLE WORLD.
A Honda rider for 10 years from Springfield, Ohio
How about signing your own put downs in the future?-Ed.
