Roundup
ROUNDUP
ON THE TRAIL WITH THE DUCK
MARCH 1978
VOL. 17 NO. 3
Once again our semi-legendary friend, the Phantom Duck of The Desert,
has pulled it off. The annual unorganized trail ride from Barstow. California to Las Vegas. Nevada took place without major incident, or harassment or with any damage to the environment.
All credit to the Duck, w hose title is used because we truly don't know his name. All we know is, when the Barstow-to-Vegas race, formerly the best and most famous of the desert races, was shut down because the Bureau of Land Management denied the use permit, the Duck didn’t give up. He decided that every year there would be a ride across the desert, using public land already open for riding. The ride isn't organized because while there’s no rule against motorcycles, there are firm rules against motorcycle events, which is how the race was stopped in the first place. So. Although there was no organization there were volunteers to mark the trail. There were maps. There were reminders to close gates when the ride went across land owned by friendly ranchers. There was a Jeep riding sweep (and handy it was, too. We picked up one guy who'd fallen and the Jeep gave him a ride to the next gas stop.)
About 200 people, all ages and equipment and experience, rode the 130 miles. At the site of the former finish line there was good spirits, even finisher pins. No charge. The Duck had done the entire project out of his own pocket. Perhaps the happiest note is that donations from the riders paid for all the expenses and then some. The surplus income was donated to Rescue 3, a Barstow, California-based volunteer outfit that's saved scores of lives in the desert.
There was one flaw this year. Our most dedicated cowtrailer rode the B-to-V last year and spent one full year telling the rest of the staff about the ride down a canyon with a stream in it. There’s a mountain with a spring at its peak and the spring trickles all the way down. Over the ages it carved a path, scattered with greenery, between the walls and boulders. This path survived years of hiking, riding and even the race itself, with no damage or loss of its wilderness aspect.
No more. We got to the top and where once the water sparkled, there was a muddy place. In the middle of a bulldozed trail.
Seems some optimist filed 206, yeah. 206 mining claims near the spring. Federal law still allows for that. And the guy was legally entitled to have access to his claims, so without having to deal with the red tape or environmental concerns that, say, motorcyclists deal with, he took a bulldozer and ripped the canyon and gorge and spring, from one end to the other.
So it goes. CW contributor Lane Campbell reports that the saddest face at the ride’s end was that of the environmentalist who’d come out to record the damage done by the bikes. He went home glum because he couldn't find any. Volunteers even cleaned up the starting area where some of the riders camped.
The Duck has his detractors. There weren’t many serious racers on the ride. Some of the racing clubs in the area believe that riding the old race course will offend the BLM. They schedule races elsewhere on the day of the ride, to keep people away.
We don’t agree. Sometimes, as in New England, cooperation with the controlling bodies works. In this case, we worked with the BLM and the Barstow-to-Vegas race was stopped. What will it hurt if we protest, instead?
Unofficial count for the 1977 ride was 200 bikes, plus as many pit crews, wives and husbands and parents. The Duck hopes if enough people show up, eventually there will be public support to petition for restoration of competition permits.
Because the ride isn't organized one cannot issue invitations to it. But in case any readers have their bikes east of Harvard Road on the north side of Interstate 15 about 8 a.m. on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, why, you're probably riding the same direction we are, so let’s go riding together. Just don’t pass the guy with the feathers on his helmet.
ENCOURAGING NOTES
excellent article in Medical Times, a magazine for doctors.
The author, Richard D. Meyer. M.D., is a regional medical director for the AMA; he knows about medicine and about motorcycles.
Also he knows about the games one can play with figures. The article is advice to doctors, about treating motorcycle-related
injuries. In it, Dr. Meyers show's a graph, illustrating fatalities per 10,000 registrations, from 1963 to 1975.
Interesting. In 1963, the rate was about 10 deaths per 10,000 registrations for motorcycles, and a fraction over 4:10,000 for cars. Both increased a fraction in 1965— ’66 and both have decreased since. The 1975 rate for cars was approximately 2.5.
For bikes, 3.5. In short, the death-permotorcycle rate now is lower than the rate for cars 15 years ago. Roads are getting safer, riders and drivers may be improving, the machines are better . . . the reasons continue to be argued. But we can say that by one statistical measure, riding a motorcycle is as safe now as driving a car was in 1963.
FIGURES VS FACTS
The continuing struggle to prove or disprove safety campaigns becomes
ever more complicated.
The American Motorcycle Association has just issued a reply to a Department of Transportation report concerned with accident figures in states which have repealed mandatory helmets laws.
Seems the DOT came out with an announcement that said states which have repealed the law's have experienced a 20 percent increase in fatalities since the repeal. Then, eight months later, a DOT report said 18.9 percent. Both statements were concluded with a disclaimer stating that the results “were not conclusive evidence that an increase in fatalities actually resulted from repeal or weakening of helmet laws.”
AMA legislative analyst Gary Winn commented that while the mass media took instant note of the first parts of the DOT report, nobody seemed to notice the disclaimer.
Winn notes that the DOT didn't check or analyze the number of fatalities compared to motorcycle registrations, or even to the number of accidents. Or age of rider, a vital point in that three of the six states studied still require helmets for riders younger than 18. There wasn’t even any indication as to whether DOT had checked to see if or how many of the fatalities were wearing helmets.
From AMA's Ed Youngblood: “We’d like to see the Department of Transportation help us encourage voluntary helmet use. Unfortunately, the DOT has merely continued its lobbying for helmet laws and has generated biased, shallow' and premature, statistics to support its case.”
MORE FROM EUROPE
Laverda made the headlines at the Milan Show', but the other factories
haven’t been standing still.
Ducati has a pair of V-Tw ins. 500cc and 350cc. The engines are normal Ducati, 90deg. Vee with the crank running across the frame, like the current Ducati 900s and not like the newest Honda V-Twin 500. And not like the Ducati vertical Twin, either.
The frames are really different. Instead of the usual large, single tube for the backbone, the little Ducatis use four widely spaced and smaller tubes, a trellis sort of affair that looks like the space frames in racing cars of 10-15 years ago. By the book, the widely spaced smaller tubes are stronger and lighter than one big tube. And the size and freedom of location allow Ducati to route the swing arm pivot tube right through the rear of the engine cases.
The engines have single-overhead camshafts, driven by rubber belts. The two engines seem to be the same family, as the 500 has bore and stroke of 74 x 58 mm, and the 350 is 62 x 58 mm. Claimed power, at 9000 rpm, is 47.5 bhp for the 500. 37 bhp for the 350. Dry weight is listed as 419 lb., a bit heavy. Both models have electric starting. 5-speed gearbox, Bosch electronic ignition and Nippondenso electrics. They sound like fine little roadsters and we’ll order a pair soon as we know w hen and if the U.S. importer w ill be bringing them in.
Informed sources in Germany say there will be a smaller Single from BMW shortly, whatever that means.
And to show how world-wide these trends are. we’re told Jawa/CZ will be moving into four-strokes soon, with a BMW-style opposed Twin of 500ce or 350cc or both. Unless the market changes drastically, though, don’t expect them in the U.S. '
THE VAN VEEN IS COMING . . . AGAIN
That incredible Van Veen, die twinrotary-powered roeket announced a
few years ago and in development since, will be imported to the U.S. Kreider Imports, 2132 Cathedral Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008, has been designated the American distributor and will have bikes in June. The company says the Van Veen is just now going into limited production and that the total U.S. share of the factory’s initial output will be 30 bikes. Not that many people will be able to buy one. The price is $ 10.000-plus, making the Van Veen the most expensive production bike in the world. For the money, the buyer gets a W'ankel rotary, with twin rotors and a rated capacity of lOOOcc and 100 bhp. The factory says the OCR-1000 w ill do 0-60 mph in 3.8 sec.. 0-120 mph in 16 sec. and has a top speed of 130 mph. Weight is listed at 562 lb.
ALERTING THE PUBLIC
w estern/Eastern Road and Racing Association did some good for all
cyclists with its recent cross-country economy run. WERRA’s road division borrowed a selection of bikes, from full-dress HarleyDavidson to Honda and Yamaha 400s, signed up a fleet of riders and took the whole group from Philadelphia to Texas and then to California. Two experiments were involved. The riders kept careful check on miles-pergallon and swapped bikes on a regular basis, so that later the WERRA folks could get some notice of how good motorcycles are in terms of fuel economy. And because the advance work had been done, in many places the caravan was met at the city limits or even the state line. The bikers were escorted by police, elected
officials proclaimed a Motorcycle Day, television recorded all, etc. Nice work and good for all of us who ride on the street. The public relations gain can’t be measured. but for the record, the miles-pergallon worked out:
Harley-Davidson XLCR 52 mpg Honda Hawk 400A..............51.6 Yamaha XS400.................... 50.1 Kawasaki KZ1000................49.5 Honda 750A........................ 47.7 Yamaha XS650.................... 47.6 Kawasaki KZ650..................44.0 Honda G L 1000....................44.0 BMW R80/7........................ 43.5 Moto Guzzi 850T3..............42.8 Suzuki GS750...................... 41.5 Suzuki GS550...................... 40.5 Harley-Davidson FLH........37.3
