Letters

LETTERS

N.Y. BILLS PENDING

Three bills are pending in the New York State legislature on motorcycle issues. Namely: a bill to repeal the motorcycle ban, a bill to repeal the mandatory helmet law, and a bill to legalize quartz-halogen headlamps on bikes. To get all three bills passed, we're going to have to do a lot of lobbying. You can help by writing or calling vour N.Y. assembly person and senator and asking them where they stand on all three issues.

For more detailed information, or to volunteer to help lobby for passage of the bills, please call 212-471-5197 between 8 and 10 p.m. and ask for Diane Landry. We're trying to arrange for public hearings on all three issues and hope to see hundreds (thousands?) of motorcyclists turn out for them.

Diane Landry Far Rockaway. N.Y.

RIDER EDUCATION

In regard to your Mav issue article. “Numbers Game." Steve Kottemann. M.D. (Letters. “Credits Lady Luck”) can see the need for schooling on the proper evasive action under various traffic and road conditions. Too bad Ms. Joan C. of you-know-who can't understand her own figures. She says: “Rider education programs would not lower the accident rate.” Using this thinking, driver education training is a waste of time and money too. But insurance rates for those who have had driver ed. courses are lower - they are safer automobile operators. Why would motorcycle operation be any different?

Joan knows but lies. Wonder why?

J. Scott Haralson

This is more a result of statistical confusion and misleading names than it is direct misstatement of facts.

Nearly as we know, insurance companies give discounts to young drivers with driver ed. training because the training sounds like a good idea.

Next, young drivers in states with driver ed. have about the same crash and accident experience as they do in states with no training. A nd kids are more likely to get the family car if they've passed the course, which means more young drivers on the road.

That's why Ms. Claybrook and staff say more training equals more riders equals more injury.

But that's not fair. Driver ed. doesn't teach you to drive. It helps you pass the test, which isn 7 the same thing at all.

The good rider training courses, like the ones done under guidance of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, teach people how' to ride.

New riders who know how are bound to be better and safer than new' riders who learn how in traffic. Proper rider training, in schools especially, should be tops on NUTS A's list.

ENERGY AX TO GRIND

The following letter was sent to the President and my congressmen. H ope i does some good.

Dear Mr. President:

I am writing in response to your request to hear from the American people during your national address of July 15. on the issues you presented.

I agree that one of the paramount problems to be resolved before definite corrective action on energy can be achieved is communication and input between the powers that be in Washington and the people.

My personal “ax to grind” has to do with the recent proposals emitting from the NHSTA regarding motorcycles. My wife and I ride motorcycles for fuel savings and recreational enjoyment. We are both in our 30’s, hold responsible positions in our community and are raising a family. The majority of the three to four million motorcyclists falls into the same basic category.

Our family has taken measures to conserve energy by insulating the house, turning dowm the thermostat and by reducing automobile trips by using our fuel-efficient motorcycle w henever appropriate.

It is confusing to us why government policy is so inconsistent regarding energy. I am to be rewarded by a tax credit from the 1RS to insulate my house but the NHTSA proposes that I be penalized by alloting my motorcycle only 10 percent of the gasoline a car would get should rationing be implemented. Other proposals recommended by the NHTSA regarding motorcycles seem to be geared toward discouraging the use of a vehicle that is two to three times more fuel efficient than an automobile.

What is the rationale behind this thinking. Mr. President? Is it a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing?

I urge you to consider the plight of this segment of Americans, as our numbers are growing by the thousands each day.

I know that most Americans are beginning to do their part to conserve.

I live in a state that depends heavily on tourism to function economically. Travel on our highways is 50 percent of what it was a year ago. resulting in many businesses suffering losses they will never recoup. People ARE making sacrifices.

As we do our part. Mr. President, we’re looking to you to provide leadership and bring the right and left hands together to work harmoniously for the benefit of all.

Gordon Lokke Sioux Palls, S.D.

IN A CLASS BY ITSELF

Why would anyone want to ride a CBX? Well it's like this. I own one and it's in a class by itself. With that motor hanging out on both sides and that tremendous rush just at your fingertips, it's great. You don't have to race anybody to prove anything. They all know it's the fastest just by looking at it.

But it’s more than all that. It's when vou pull into the hamburger stand and the guv on his three-wheeler hog comes over and comments about how clean your hike looks for having six cylinders. I hen a kid delivering newspapers pulls up on his Honda Express and asks me how many ce is it. Then asks how fast it goes. Then he asks me how much gas mileage I get. I tell him about 33 mpg. He tells me he gets 100 mpg. smiles and rides off.

The C BX is more than just another bike.

It’s a conversation piece, an attention getterit’s No. I. The kid on the Express probably wouldn’t trade bikes. His Express is what he wants. The guy on the hog wouldn't either, hut they still admire the CBX for what it is. and stands for freedom of choice.

I hope we never lose that freedom.

Gilbert Beckmann Republic. Mich.

STILL MAKING WAVES

Let me commend you on an excellent issue (June 1979) and especially the “Up Front” and “Roundup” sections.

Sorry to say I missed the CBS “60 Minutes” program or would have ottered my own two cents to them. Their biased coverage of the Mojave Desert riders and the impact on local citizens is somewhat reminiscent of the Department of Transportation's “selective statistics” and “program justifications” which all of us have been exposed to in the past. I was sorry to note that your magazine is even remotely affiliated with their organization, although all of us have relatives we don’t like to talk about. Impact journalism (as you term it) isn’t anything new to us and we’ve had to cope with it for years since “The Wild One” hit the screens.

Although not an avid off-roader. I sympathize with and support that part of motorcycling and the difficulties it is presently experiencing. I have worked to support every concept of motorcycling although the organization I am a part of is primarily for road-riders: ABATE No ... I am not a> chopper freak. In fact. I am a Moto Guzzi nut (of the first order) and enjoy the touring scene. I guess I’m just too old to travel in less than perfect comfort. Gary Winn (AMA) and I take a bit of riding about our Italian bikes, but we both consider the bikes more than worth it. Try one and see.

Keep up the good work and ride safe. There's a whole lot of scenery yet to be seen.

Lee Van Hoesen Jr. ABATE Region III (The Southerners)

“RETREADS”

At age 53. I am once again learning to appreciate the joys of riding a fine motorcycle and the GS750E Suzuki I ride is one fine piece of machinery. I am also surprised at the large number of older people from all walks of life who. like me. are returning to or discovering this interest.

I recently discovered a motorcycle club called the Retreads that has one prime requirement: The rider must be over 40. Threre are no rules, bylaws, etc. The group just gets together for interesting rides or tours and enjoys unrestricted social gatherings. I predict it has a bright future.

Walter Nicholson Arab. Ala.

There are active Retread regions around the country. Anyone interested in the organization can contact the Retreads, c/o Ona House, 8749 SW 21st, Route 8, Topeka, Kan. 66604.

NORTONS NOT EXTINCT

I don’t believe it! You guys actually wrote an article about a Norton ('Snow Place for a Motorcycle, May issue). I thought your magazine had written Nortons off and placed them on the extinct motorcycles list.

I had a similar experience driving an 850 Norton Commando home from Barrie to Niagara Falls, Ontario in a snowstorm (about 150 mi.).

I didn’t think it was that bad a ride except my hands kept on freezing so much I couldn't move them. A good trick to use when this happens is to put your hands (one at a time) behind the cylinder barrel while driving. In about five minutes, presto! I could move my hands again. The only thing is, I melted both my gloves.

Tim Gibbons Niagara Falls, Ontario

GOOD VIBRATIONS

With regard to long distance traveling, I feel the No. 1 factor that determines how comfortable the ride is going to be is the vibration level from the machine. I don’t mean to say this is the only factor. Of course there are many others—seat comfort, riding position, etc.—but I feel that vibration affects the whole body and so it has a greater effect. My point is that it would be very informing to know, relative to each other, how different motorcycles vibrate at given speeds.

Any road test I've ever read has always discussed a bike’s smoothness or lack thereof in terms of the writer’s opinion. This can leave a wide gap in credibility simply because one can only ride one bike at a time and the comparison of smoothness is always based on memory in part.

Would it be possible to use some sort of metering device during road tests? Anyway I’m not sure exactly how vibration can be reported. I would imagine it might involve amplitude and frequency, but it doesn’t seem to be an impossible task. Readings at different parts might also be involved; for instance, the seat, handlebars and footpegs.

What all this is getting to is exactly how a Yamaha 750, Honda 750 and Suzuki 750, etc. all compare in terms of smoothness of a factual basis.

Mike Campagna Tonawanda, N.Y.

We’ve given vibration testing some thought and, yes, it should be possible, once> we get our computer expansion program under wav; to have some sort of method hv which we can report, say, amplitude and frequency of the vibrations reaching the bars or pegs at given road speeds. Several oj the factories already do this research.

Next point. If the factories know about the vibrations, why are they there? Partially because any reciprocating internal combustion engine is gonna vibrate. When you convert up and down to round and round, it will shake somehow in some way. Beyond4 that, though, every rider reacts in his own way to every vibration. It's like seats and hars and pegs, we each know what suits us and when you suit one guy you'll annoy the next.

In short, we hope to someday report on how and where a test bike vibrates. We doubt we'll ever be able to predict whether you 'll object to it.

INSTEAD OF WALKING

The new BMW R65 has an emergeney gasoline reserve which should prove to be a boon to a person like myself who thinks* “I'll till up later“ and ends up walking to

get gas.

In the December, 1978 issue regarding your test of the R65, you discussed the 0.4 gallon of gasoline trapped in the righthand side of the tank, but speculated that amount to be part of the 0.5 gallon claimed reserve, leaving in theory only 0.1 gallon or 4.5 miles worth of reserve. The 0.5 gallon« claimed reserve does come out, with no other manipulation than turning the petcock handle. This amount of gasoline is on the left side of the gas tank with the petcock. plus some slosh from that trapped on the right side.

Now' here is what I think is worth the^ German Marks.

The R65 actually has a total of three reserves. The first one is the 0.5 gallon BMW claimed reserve. The other two derive from the gas trapped on the right side.

I call these the lean reserve, and the emergency reserve. Assuming 45 mpg. these^ three reserves give about 20 miles, 5 miles, and 15 miles, respectively.

The following is a scenario for using these reserves: After going on reserve and using up the claimed reserve, coast to the side of the road and stop. Lean the R65 to the left without dismounting, fire it up and . go an additional 5 miles or so. Out of gas* again, stop and remove the tank which is about a 10 second job. Tilt the tank back, roll the left side under while tilting forward. straighten it up and the emergency reserve is now' on the left side of the tank. Reinstall tank and proceed merrily on to that gas station 1 know' is open. Closed* Darn, now it’s walking time again.

Jay Weaver Casper, Wyo.