Letters
LETTERS
SOME KIND WORDS
Thanks for the Sherpa T test in the July issue. It’s nice to know there's a magazine that hasn't forgotten about us trials riders.
Also, the pietures were excellent. Goes to show you that a trials bike in the hands of a good rider can be every bit as exciting, challenging and rewarding as a race across Baja or bustin' berms alongside Bob Hannah.
Maybe the American trials boom didn't come off like the Japanese manufacturers hoped, but the sport is still alive and well. With the help of magazines like yours perhaps more people will be introduced to this great form of motorcycling. Jay E. Martin Leechburg. Pa.
WHO’S THE CHAMP?
First, I would like to compliment you on the Yoshimura road race article (May. 1979) and the Vance and Hines drag race article (Aug. 1979). They were both excellent.
However. 1 would like to point out a few discrepancies on page 53 of Cycle World's August issue (paragraphs one and two)
about who the record holder and 1976 champion was Bob Carpenter or Terrv Vance.
Paragraph one: You stated that Vance went on to take the pro stock championship for the year setting the record at 9.74 sec. at 137.19 mph. Where in fact. Bob Carpenter went on to take the championship for that year and also held the mile per hour record at 139.96. Vance held only the E.T. record.
Paragraph two: You stated that Vance and Hines switched to Kawasaki, setting a 1976 record at 9.66 sec. at 139.90 mph. Where in fact. Carpenter held the record in I DBA at 9.50 sec. and AM DR A at 9.5 1 sec. Vance and Hines held only the speed record for that year.
Although these differences may seem trivial, to someone like Bob who has spent most of his adult life and devoted so much of his time, energy and money trying to achieve these goals, it is very important. Dennis McCabe CM Performance Products
Carpenter held the 1975 championship in the now-defunct AMDRA. Vance and Hines did switch to Kawasaki and set a new I DBA record in 1976. Carpenter broke that
record later in the season, but Vance won the I DBA championship.
THE BEST PEOPLE
Thanks for printing my letter (March, 1979). As the result my bike has been identified and dated.
Thanks to all the people who wrote and called. I may not get back to all of you but don't think 1 don’t appreciate it because I do, very much. To the man in Boston, it was nice talking to you but 1 forgot your name.
All the help I've gotten proves that hikin' people are the best people.
Anybody know where I can find a 12257 HRD model 90 frame? Tonv Weeks P.O.' Box 93 Sheridon, Ore. 97378
LOVERS’ QUARREL
My boyfriend has a Faverda Jota. 1 like bikes, but he is a real cafe freak and insists that it is “incorrect” for the passenger to hang onto the driver. Since the Jota doesn’t have a handle, that leaves me nothing to hang on to. He says a good rider should use legs only, but I don’t know if I’ll live long enough to become one at this rate. I was all excited when he got the bike but this is making riding with him a real nightmare. I tell him he's been riding too long with guys on the back, and he’s missing the whole point of having a bike. So whose got the problem, him or me? Cynthia Bloor Santa Fe, N.M.
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continued from page 10
Half the fun of a fast bike is that it makes girls hold on tight. You'll only be able to safely hold on solelv with your legs if your boyfriend never gasses it.
Sporting two-up riding works best when the passenger has her (or his) weight firmly braced, so the rider only needs to balance the bike and doesn't have to guard against weight shifting at the wrong time.
RACE WATCH
Please note a correction to the Race Watch article about the AFM “On Any Sunday II” six-hour endurance race in the August issue.
The motorcycle ridden by Kevin Stafford and Steve Sowden to fifth place overall was owned and prepared by myself. I am an independent mechanic specializing in the modification of Kawasaki 900s and lOOOs.
The motorcycle was based on a 1976 KZ900. It’s displacement was 987cc.
Tom Morgan San Diego, Calif.
DEFINITELY THE BEST
Just brousing through your September issue, glad to see you testing the smaller bikes (Suzuki GS425). I’ve always been partial to these bikes (Honda CB400F, 63,250 miles; CB450. 36,012 miles so far).
English riding suits are definitely the best. I still own a vintage 1971 Belstaff Trailmaster 500XL suit that is now about 80 percent waterproof. The lining has gotten frayed. The snaps and zippers work good.
Heavy rain will bring seepage at the knees and elbows after a half-hour. The early style pants lock the snap at the waist. Cost in 1971 in Germany was 425 DM (4 DM=S1) so costs are not up that much.
The Parilia story brings me back to 1964-65 and the Parilia was the hot set-up. Beautiful motorcycle. Alan R. Stanley Hemet, Calif. >
GUZZI DELIGHT
As an older Guzzi rider (the Guzzi a 1969 and me a 1932 model), I was delighted to see the editorial and Roundup sections of your magazine reminding our people that motorcycling isn’t like it used to be and won’t ever be that way again. The editorial on the vintage racing hit an old soft spot for me. Keep it up.
After reading “Another Law” and “High Priority” in the Roundup section, I came away a bit sad and disgusted with those who make up our federal government. It would seem that they’ve forgotten that safety, like religion, just can’t be forcefed effectively. The people just spit it out when they are out of sight of the person administering it. I wish Calamity Claybrook and her NHTSA circus would smarten up and realize that if they haven’t been able to reduce motorcycling accidents and fatalities with the nearly 15 years they’ve had to work on it, there’s a strong indication that they’ve blown the whole mess and it’s time for them to let the motorcycling organizations do something about it. After all, at least the motorcyclists have the expertise and the will to do something realistic about motorcycling safety, their motive’s the best there is—their lives!
As a parting thought. I'd like to recommend that those really interested in motorcycles and motorcycling start getting involved in one or more of the motorcycling organizations that are trying to keep the bureaucrats out of our personal lives and our machines, and then get personally involved in what that organization is trying to do for the nation’s motorcyclists. Lee Van Hoesen Jr. Weaver, Ala.
COIN’S OTHER SIDE
After reading your Up Front column in July, I thought that you might like to hear about the other side of the coin.
During a motorcycle trip from Germany through the Swiss Alps and the south of France to Spain, my wife and I spent most nights in modest pensions. However, we planned our trip so that we could splurge at three of France’s finest hotels. Our treatment there would serve as a good example to the management of the hotel you visited.
For example, we rode up to the Jules Cesar Hotel in Arles, road-dusty and especially grimey after a maintenance problem. The staff demonstrated why this hotel has its five stars. They treated us as though we had just stepped out of a chauffeured Mercedes limo.
Somehow Europeans seem to have a much more mature and enlightened attitude toward bikers. Richard W. Selph Austria
