Cycle World Letters
CYCLE WORLD LETTERS
A Tale of Two Champions
Jerry Hatfield's A Tale of Two Champions (July, 1984) was both entertaining and educational. However, the statement that no rider since Joe Leonard in 1954 has won more than six nationals in one season is incorrect. Jay Springsteen won seven nationals in 1976, a remarkable feat for which he should be given credit.
The author is correct in stating that there were only about half as many national championship races per year 30 years ago as there are now. For that reason the seven races won by Springsteen in 1976 were only 25 percent of all the nationals run that year, while Leonard’s eight wins in 1954 totaled 44.4 percent.
In terms of percentages, 1957 was Leonard’s best year, with his four wins representing 50 percent of the eight nationals run that year.
Jim Davis Middletown, Ohio
Efficient commute
In response to Don Whalen’s letter in the July issue lamenting his ticket for using the commute lanes on Highway 101, I, too, am puzzled.
The irony of this situation is that motorcycles are allowed to cross the Golden Gate bridge for free during specified commute hours as efficient commute vehicles.
Look at the bright side, Whalen: If you were southbound during those hours you saved yourself $1 ($2 on Friday) to help pay for your terrible crime.
Michael Rich Cotati, Calif.
Up front
Congratulations on your April editorial. It caught me smiling, thinking and laughing.
I daresay a lot of women, as I do, probably dream of whizzing about on their own motorcycle. It’s quite a hard sport to break into and probably one of the most difficult for a woman, as a participant, to maintain any sense of femininity. However, it can be done. Thanks to Cycle World and the AAMRR, you just might see me grinning ear to ear on my new little Yamaha. I'll still ask questions with wide eyes and marvel inwardly and sincerely at your knowledge.
Jacko Norwood New York, N.Y.
l00cc difference
To make a purchasing decision, I need to know why Honda, in a basically similar engine, gave the Interceptor only 998cc, and the Sabre and Magna 1098cc. I realize the latter two are shafties, but did Honda need lOOcc to make up the difference? Besides, if they had the 1098cc engine anyway, why not make the Interceptor that much more of a bomb and stuff the 1098cc in it, too?
William M. Reeves
Fort Bragg, N.C.
The VF1000F engine is based on the 750cc chaindrive Interceptor motor, and the largest displacement Honda felt safe in using with that design was 998cc. Honda’s l lOOcc V-Fours are considerably heavier than the 750s (or 700s), and using one of them as a basis for the big Interceptor motor would have yielded a much heavier machine overall, even with chain drive.
Dealer attitudes
Harley-Davidson’s SuperRider program is a great idea, but I fear it will not dramatically increase sales unless there is an attitude change on the part of Harley owners and dealers. BMW riders have been stereotyped as being stuffy and exclusionary, but in my experience the riders that most often shun riders of other marques are H-D owners.
My case in point. Twice in the past six months I have dropped by my nearby Harley dealer to eyeball their latest machines. Never did I receive more than a grunted hello from salesmen. Even after lingering in excess of five or more minutes, I continued to be ignored while men in black boots, leather vests and caps were treated like royalty.
I can only conclude that my ill treatment was brought about by my choice of attire and transportation . . . my Saturday morning Nikes and sport shirt, and my Yamaha SR500.
Wise up, Harley folks, maybe we’d like to join your club.
Geoff Braun Garden Grove, Calif.
Harley applause
After seeing some of the new Japanese street cruisers, it’s easy to understand how Harley could come back strong in the V-Twin market (even at eight grand per shot). The Big Four cruisers look like they were designed by interior decorators and they sure don’t look like the Harley-Davidsons they’re trying to imitate.
We all should applaud Harley for backing up their tariff work with some new designs that seem to function well.
Paul Lindgren Austin, Texas
Ultimate reliability
According to your test on the Harley-Davidson FXRDG in June, 1984, the bike will do about 11 3 mph and get about 48 mpg. >
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NIMBI R
The 1938 Harley 74 flathead would, in 1956, get about 43 mpg and go about 106 mph; all this without electronic ignition, aluminum cylinders or a high compression engine. But the best bike Harley ever built was a pre-WWI Har ley 45. It was ultimate reliability with 55 mpg at 55 mph. In eighteen years it is very doubtful whether there will be even a single presently-made Harley around to withstand any tests that might be given. Aforementioned gadgetry makes a motorcycle harder to repair and far less reliable.
Harley-Davidson should manufacture those outstanding pre-war motorcycles again instead of progressing into oblivion as they are now doing.
John Reilly Los Angeles, Calif.
Parts challenge
Here is my response to Mr. Maris/ O’Leary’s challenge that a “big four” factory can’t match Harley-Davidson’s care for its customers. (Letters, July, 1984).
My 1979 Suzuki GS1000 required a fuel tank replacement in 1983 and the local dealer ordered same. A week later I learned that no such tank was in stock, in my red color, in the United States. However, the factory response was an air shipment of a new tank. Now my problem was the discovery that the petcock design had been modified and my original petcock would not fit.
The dealer apologized, after realizing he had failed to notice the factory report on this change. He sold me a new petcock assembly at his cost.
I don’t think Suzuki will have trouble getting my money next time I buy a motorcycle.
Jim Day
Long Beach, Calif.
Why can’t Honda supply parts for the 1984 Gold Wing? On my first run the fork seals leaked. It took five months to get new seals. (Two phone calls to American Honda in California informed me that the parts were available.) It took six months to get a saddlebag cover, six months to get a radio antenna bracket (they are out of radios and antennas for the Interstate) and I cannot buy a shop manual.
Needless to say, I don’t think Honda is worth a darn.
Kenneth Brown Delta, Utah
Helmet mixup
Why does the helmet on the rider of the Armstrong roadracer ( The Five Pound Special, May, 1984) say Arai on it when in fact it is a FiberNava helmet? Is this false advertising?
Mike Castro Lake Elisinore, Calif.
Can you spell “c-o-n-t-i-n-g-e-nc-y”? Actually, the helmet is not a FiberNava (which contains no fiberglass at all and is made of special Kevlar net material), but instead is an ill-fiberglass Nava model called the jran Prix.
The picture in question was taken at i race in Europe, and the rider had ipparently pasted on Arai sticker on his Wava so he could qualify (legally, if not norally) for Arai’s contingency awards. In the Real World of racing, things like this happen all the time.
Obscure enduros
I enjoyed your 250 enduro comparison test in the June, 1984 issue, but I have one complaint. You didn’t mention the SWM 250, Cagiva 250, Maico 250 or the Montesa 250. I know these bikes are rather obscure in the United States, but with a little more exposure they could show what fine bikes they really are.
R. Ward Lake Villa, 111.
That’s true. But Cagiva’s “250” enduro is actually a I98cc bike that competes in the 126-to-200cc enduro classes. We didn’t include the other bikes on your list for equally good . reasons. The SWM factory has effectively gone out of business. As of right now there is no such thing as a Maico (or M-Star) 250 enduro model. And although Montesa does have a small number of 250cc enduro machines for sale, these bikes are what the industry calls “non-current” models that are being sold as new but were manufactured a year or two ago.
In your ear
I was reading your June, ’84 issue and saw an advertisement for an intercom system that works between helmets. I have heard that these kinds of intercoms are illegal. Is that true? And if so, in what states?
Jim Jamison Addison, NY.
Intercoms are illegal in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, Virginia and Washington. In California and Minnesota the use of an intercom is permitted only if it is connected to just one ear on each rider. The other 41 states, including yours, New York, have no laws forbidding the use of an intercom.
Never Wait Again
Your article on left-turn traffic signals was very informative but I had to do a doubletake when I read the part that said, “Try mounting some kind of metal, preferably a pipe, under the engine, as close to the pavement as you dare.” Are you joking? This would have to be very daring or even stupid.
It occurred to me that an easier and less daring approach would be to simply set your sidestand either right above or right on the signal tripper. If you’re daring enough to mount a pipe under your bike, you should be daring enough tö try this solution. My sidestand hasn’t failed me yet.
Jeff Grunigen
Port Hueneme, Calif.
A less-than-tolerant viewpoint
Can the Harley mystique be distilled? Is there one word I can use to describe a bike with a 1340cc engine that would get eaten alive by the current crop of 550s, an engine that was obsolete when the first overhead-cam Hondas landed here in the late Fifties, a bike with minimal ground clearance, awkward controls, so-so braking and handling, and enough vibration to rattle the fillings from your teeth? How about “dinosaur.”
“It runs like the world’s biggest watch,” you said about Harley’s FXRDG (June 1984). Perhaps your idea of a watch more closely resembles a medieval tower clock where little guys with sledgehammers come out and beat> on things. I like to think more along the lines of a Rolex. If Harley is to break out of its traditional marketing slot— blue collar, long hair, beer bellies, tattoos, room-temperature IQs—and attract today’s affluent young professionals who grew up in the Sixties hearing “You meet the nicest people on a Honda,” not only must the product match the level of quality and sophistication available from the Japanese, but the image must change as well. And as far as the bikes themselves are concerned, what does Harley have to compete with a Gold Wing or a Venture, with an Interceptor or a Ninja? Certainly nothing that I would spend my money on.
James W. Phillips
Pittsburgh, Penn.
Rounding off
I don’t normally look for errors, but there were two that grabbed my eye in your Harley-Davidson FXRDG test in the June issue.
First, on page 61, you state the compression ratio as 8.8:1, and then on page 65 it is listed as 8.5:1. Which is it?
Then on page 63 you say engine speed is 2900 at 60 mph, and then on page 65, engine speed is 2870 at 60 mph. Are you rounding off or is it a misprint or none of the above?
George Coulbourn Seattle, Wash.
The compression ratio on page 61 is indeed a typographical error. Claimed compression ratio is 8.5:1. On page 63 our performance figures were rounded off to show engine speed at 60 mph to be 2900.
