Letters

LETTERS

What goes around comes around

A few years back, Harley-Davidson ran a full-page advertisement which showed a wooden crate with the Harley-Davidson logo on the side. Above the crate in bold letters was written, “O.K. Japan, your next prototype custom is ready.” From the appearance of the Intruder, it seems that Suzuki was the first and only to arrive at the dockyard. I think Suzuki should run a similar ad showing Japanese workers crating an Intruder. On the crate should read, “O.K. Harley-Davidson, your next prototype custom is ready.” Dave Di Lanzo Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada

With Friends like this...

Please sign me up for a one-year trial membership in your “I Hate Harley-Davidson club.”

I really enjoyed it when you gave the intriguing, improved Sportster only marginal coverage, slighting the most important aspect of any motorcycle: How fast it must go. When you raved about the Honda Rebel you should have mentioned that it is almost as fast as the Sportster. The way it was written, everyone thinks that anyway. You were at your best when you said that Suzuki was mimicking Honda when they brought out their new Cavalcade. Honda does deserve credit for bringing the world that special Electra Glide look.

Despite delusions that this writer must be a Harley-riding, bearded malcontent, I should point out that I am the happy owner of a Yamaha tour bike and feel underdressed without a tie. I miss the days when motorcycle magazines knew what the word “objectivity” meant. There was a time when quarter-mile times and hp figures were entertaining but not important.

I’m sure you must own a great deal of Honda stock and you are just looking out for your best interests. Yet, for myself and a growing number of us who are a little tired of Japan’s marketing approach, Harley and BMW might be our future market. In the future perhaps you should point out how Suzuki’s Intruder copied Honda’s Shadow for that unique new look. Randall R. Friend Tooele, Utah

Great idea. We'll bring it up at the next Honda stockholders meeting.

Begging to differ

In reference to Paul Dean’s article, “Genesis of an Evolution” (August, 1985), he stated that, “When it came to old-fashioned, straight-line acceleration and the most fearsome exhaust rumble this side of Chuck Yeager’s X-l, the Sportster had no equal.” Well, the big, bad Sportsters of the Fifties did have more than an equal. May I present the 1952 Vincent Black Shadow, a bike that could not only “slither along a twisty road a bit faster,” but could also out-accelerate the Sportster. As far as fearsome exhaust rumble goes, I’ll take the wail of Roberts’ or Lawson’s outdated OW69 doing 200-plus down Daytona’s back straight. Neal Peters Kelseyville, California

Your comments on the Black Shadow are well-taken, but your estimate of an OW69's speed at Daytona is exaggerated. Those OW69s were thought to run just under 200 mph, not over it. Remember, he who lives by the nitpick dies by it.

Hip, hip, hooray

I enjoyed the “Two Faces of Daytona” in your June issue. We always hear about the Freddie Spencers of the racing circuit, whose only concern is getting a first-class plane ride to the track and jumping onto a factory-prepared bike to take the win. It was really heartwarming to hear the real story about the Scott Grays of the world. To meet and overcome all the setbacks for a chance to race at Daytona is what it’s all about. That kind of determination is what puts bikers in a class of their own. Three cheers for the privateers! Linda Rehak Manitowoc, Wisconsin

Brand-X Motoren Werke?

The letter from Peter W. Swanson (August, 1985) typifies the ego-oriented preference for BMWsby BMW owners. As a former BMW owner and rider, I can honestly say that my ’85 Aspencade is years ahead of any K100 or R100 ever made. BMW is now Brand X to me. Jim Caulder Auburndale, Florida

Sidestands forever

Re: Steve Thompson’s memo to the engineering department (At Large, September, 1985). HarleyDavidson has had a stand on its bikes for many years, and that stand will hold it up on concrete, asphalt, soft tar, off-camber dirt, and on an incline. I think they’ve used the same design for about 50 years or so. G. Tuck Fuller Dayton, Ohio

Well, that tells you something about the kinds of bikes Thompson has been riding lately.

You folks must be hard-up for material to waste most of a page railing about sidestands. The sensible thing to do with even the best sidestand is to take a good look at it and then ignore it forever. I have never used the sidestand on any of my three bikes: none of them have ever fallen down. Edward C. Miller Broomfield, Colorado

That's easy for you to say; it wasn't your expensive ear that was damaged when the bike fell off its sidestand. And doesn 7 the fact that you pay for a sidestand that you won't/can't use tell you something about their design?

One of your editors lately began his comments by complaining about inadequate sidestands on all new machinery and ended by threatening the directors of motorcycle companies with the same fate as that of the British concerns. Where I take exception to his views is his perception that only British bikes have ever vibrated, been unreliable or leaked oil. I’ve seen filthy, oil-puking messes of Japanese hardware stopped at the side of the road. I’ve seen new Japanese hardware being pushed down more than one road, and owners of these machines tell me after a 100-mph run about how they do vibrate.

Knowing full well I’ll never be able to halt the snide comments about an industry a decade dead, I have one request: Please take the likeness of my Norton out from under the sniveling nose of Steven L. Thompson. Buck Shull Phoenix, Arizona

No. We've ridden Japanese and British machinery, too, you know.

Lissen up, or else

In defense of Mrs. Alice Casey (July, 1985, Letters) and all women: Let me just say that Cycle Wor/cf s intelligence is microscopically small if y’all think only one percent of your readers are female. Come on— where do you think the dollars come from when Mr. X sends in his subscription? I would bet that 99 percent of your subscriptions were mailed in by women . . . even if they do have His name as the subscriber. Wise up on your management tactics, or you can bet this woman will stop buying Cycle World. A. L. Rankin Austin, Texas

Er, doesn 7 the Mr. Rankin you bu y it for have an y thing to say about that? And do you really believe that 99 percent of our readers are married males?

No Italophile here

Interesting article on the Italian bikes. The cover is a knockout and the large headlines gush with geewhiz enthusiasm for the latest crop of “works of art.” But the fine print reveals a few items:

1. The Italian manufacturers are merely trying to fill small niches of the market which the Japanese decided years ago were too insignificant to bother with.

2. Two of the larger companies are bankrupt and a third was started as a joke.

3. Most of the bikes are obscenely overpriced; one has a brake system apparently designed by Rube Goldberg which would not stop a tricycle. Various models are dubbed the “3'/2,” the Kanguro, the Camel and the Elefant. Suitable names, as not one of these monstrosities performs. They are obviously tailored for a market that wants to buy an expensive, unsafe, slow, ugly motorcycle.

Paul Dean’s editorial was inadvertently right about one thing: The product is garbage. So was your article. Arnold Pulda Worcester, Massachusetts

There are still only two

Regarding Mr. Dean’s editorial on Italian bikes in the September issue:

In this article it was mentioned that the only Japanese-built enduro bikes still sold in the U.S. are KDXs and ITs. If this is true, my Suzuki dealer sold me a fake PE 175. Alan Angelone Marlboro, New York

It's not fake, but it's also not a 1985 model. PE175s haven't been built since 1983.

Lake Erie logic

The reason I no longer wish to subscribe to Cycle World is because it is a Japanese magazine. I ride a Moto Guzzi and intend to do so in the future. The scant article you had in your September issue made it quite evident that Cycle World is owned by the Japanese. Ron Harvey Cleveland, Ohio

Gee, we knew Ted Turner and Jesse Helms had been trying to take over CBS, but we didn 7 know that the Japanese had succeeded.

Say, foo

I really enjoyed all the Italian motorcycles you reviewed. However, I have one question—how do you say “Foo-Foo Bike” in Italian? Alex Rossborough Rocky River, Ohio

The same way you say it in an y other language.