Letters
LETTERS
Muffler music
I couldn’t help but respond to a wonderful article in your January issue by Steve Thompson, “From the Kirkka to the Kerker," because my entire life has been strongly influenced by great music and great machinery. Nineteen years ago, when I threw a leg over the first real motorcycle I ever owned, I knew motorcycling was for me. It didn’t take long before I figured out a way to bungee my bass trombone to my 1968 BMW R60 in order to get to virtually every rehearsal and concert of the National Symphony Orchestra here in Washington, D.C., where I’m beginning my 20th season.
It has always been a great feeling to know that the “high’’ of a good performance could always be extended by the ride home, and that even if a performance proved to be disappointing, I still had the joy of the ride.
To my ear, a well-ridden motorcycle is definitely preferable to poorly written music. Thanks for your insights. Steve.
Bob Kraft Washington, D.C.
Thanks for Steve Thompson’s At Large (“From the Kirkka to the Kerker’’) in the January, 1987, issue. His pairing of Kawasaki and Vivaldi knocks another sliver out of the “bonehead biker’’ cliche. I’ve never needed a stereo on a bike, since they all make their own music. Like the Harley’s engine pounding out Brahms’ First Piano Concerto. Or the day the BMW and I got two speeding tickets to “Death and Transfiguration.” Or the trusty Yamaha, slicing downtown traffic to Mahler’s Ninth. Along with “Born to be Wild” and all the rest.
We need this reminder that music is sport and sports are music, more on a motorcycle than in Candlestick Park.
Allan Slaughter San Francisco, California
Product evaluation
In reference to the Balance Plus product evaluation that appeared in your January, 1987, issue: The evaluation made a few statements that, while not completely incorrect, did indicate an obvious misunderstanding between me, the copy on the Balance Plus bottle and the CYCLE WORLD staff writer I spoke with when explaining the product’s benefits. If I had been more specific, perhaps there wouldn’t have been any misunderstanding.
I recommended that new tires be balanced with conventional weights prior to installing Balance Plus simply because this insures a more even distribution of the product for improved puncture protection, and for proper balance throughout the life of the tire. That statement was not made to contradict the label on the bottle, which says that Balance Plus serves as a balancer. Some dealers in fact feel that Balance Plus does a better job of balancing than most machine balancers. And a lot of riders prefer using Balance Plus to avoid the unsightly appearance that stick-on weights give to mag and cast wheels.
The new PJ 1 Balance Plus bottle recommends 8 ounces for the front and 12 ounces for rear tires 4.00 inches wide or larger. Your testers put 12 ounces of Balance Plus in the front tire of the FJ 1200 (after adding 4.5 ounces of weight), then said that a temporary imbalance was noticeable when the bike sat overnight. However, in the 16-inch FJl 100/1200 front tire, 8 ounces seem to work best, eliminating that temporary imbalance after sitting overnight. Eight ounces of Balance Plus will compensate for up to two ounces of imbalance.
Finally, as you said, “it would be extremely unlikely that a wheel imbalance would be as severe as the condition created on the FJ.” We always recommend that any ab-
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normal imbalance be corrected in ways other than just adding Balance Plus.
Des Bow man Advanced Cycle Products Santa Ana, California
Silver anniversary reflections
Surely all 25 most significant motorcycle lists are odious, but yours is ridiculous! Nine (count ’em!) Hondas and not a single BMW. The silly CX500 Turbo more significant than the BMW R90S and R 100RS . . . the latter introduced sport-touring as a concept.
Ridiculous, beneath contempt.
Robert Heilman Washington, D.C.
Thanks for a nostalgic stroll along memory lane with your 25th anniversary issue. 1 did find it conspicuously incomplete with no mention of the first motorcycle truly worthy of the title “superbike,” the Norton Commando. With the best vibration-damping system of the British bikes it still handles better than most road machines built today and has enough torque and power to hold its own on those twisty backroads. This bike has stood the test of time.
Gary Stephens Idyllwild, California
I was pleased to see in your 25th anniversary issue that English motorcycles were given quite a bit of attention. I was also interested to see the number of staff members who chose British bikes as the bike they miss the most.
However, I was furious (w'ell, slightly peeved, really) with Steve Thompson’s statement that the BSA 441 Victor was Britain’s worst. Admittedly it was not the best, but surely not the worst. The Ariel Pixie, for example, was worse. I could go on to wax lyrically on the Victor's virtues, like its simplicity or the flexibility (powerband three Gold Wings wide) of its engine, but previous experience has taught me to quit while I'm ahead.
I would also like to point out that the Victor was included in the book, “Great British Motorcycles of the Sixties.”
M.A. Hatfield Campbell River, B.C., Canada
Just because it 's published doesn 7 necessarily mean it's true. In the end, the Victor did for BSA w hat the Edsel did for Ford.
You were certainly right to feature Triumph in your anniversary issue, but how could you show us your founder, Joe Parkhurst. on a BMW R75/5 and forget to include the bike among the most significant motorcycles? The R75 popularized shaft drive and set new standards for smoothness and long-distance comfort. How about the R90S, which combined that comfort with superbike performance for the first time?
Regarding the quiz: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Motorcycles (E. Tragatch, ed.) says that the first production Honda (ever) was a twostroke, and although the test is vague on dates (and the picture captions are garbled), it must have been in the late Forties. I know, that was before you were born (me too).
David Tier Middlebury, Vermont
The contents of the 25 th anniversary section in the January issue w ere limited to the period between January of 1962 and the present, and, unless otherwise noted, referred onl y to motorcycle models sold in this country. Thus, any Honda two-stroke of the 1940s was ineligible. Our mistake was in not making that fact more clear in the section. And as far as BMW Boxer Twins are concerned, we calls 'em like we sees 'em.
Thanks for the moto-trivia quiz. I did well but not as well as I first thought. If memory serves, you missed one answer, as it seems to me the first fuel injectors were on the Yamaha two-stroke GL touring prototype of 1971. My source of reference had to be CYCLE WORLD
between December of’7 1 and March of '72. Did I catch a lowly copy boy sleeping or. . .?
Alfred Pearl Van Nuys, California
Nice try. Pearl, but no cigar. We were referring to production motorcycles, not prototypes. The Yamaha GL750 two-stroke Four (as described in answer No. 17 in the trivia quiz) never made it into production.
Dark clouds, silver money pit
In response to your December, 1986, editorial, “Dark clouds, silver linings,” you missed one very important reason for the decline in motorcycling. Not only do we have the high price of buying a motorcycle. but also the high cost of maintaining it.
For instance, $90 can be spent for a battery that can be held in one hand with a 90-day guarantee, vs. $50 for a car battery installed with a 60-month prorated guarantee, plus a
complimentry cup of coffee while waiting. A rear tire for that big touring machine will set you back $90 to $110, and another $25 if installed. And what do you get for that price— 40-50.000 miles? You silly goose, you get 1 5,000 miles if you don’t get cracks in the sidewall or tread first. And when it's time to get that big, four-cylinder, water-cooled beauty tuned up, for that cost of that tuneup you can have the family car tuned twice.
The there’s the high cost of accessories. More than $500 can be spent for a fairing, and $ 145 for one saddlebag. I need one saddlebag lid and can’t get it because the company went out of business. I guess I’ll have to buy a new set, only to experience this same nonsense again. How about paying top dollar for chrome accessories only to find the chrome peeling off in six months. I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
You are right, the increase in the import tax and the government looking over our shoulder aren’t helping, but that is only part of it. Isn’t it ironic that the people who are making their living from motorcycles are the very ones who are doing it in?
Robert Devine Lawrenceville, New Jersey
Is the party over?
I agree wholeheartedly with a lot of w'hat Paul Dean has to say in his December editorial, “Dark clouds, silver linings.” But the ending does sound like bad news. If the manufacturers do as he says, who is going to buy a 1992 Magna when they already have a 1985? Nobody I know would. We might as well close the doors and turn out the lights.
Steve Wilkinson Portland, Oregon
Paul Dean did not claim that such a thing would happen; that scenario was simply a worst-case example of what could happen. Besides, if people stop buying motorcycles just because bikes don V change every year or two, how do you explain the ongoing success of Harle ) - Da vidson VTwins and BM W Boxers? They've barely changed in four or five decades, yet people continue to bu y them. And not coincidentally, they also have considerably higher resale value than an ything else on the market, including all the machinery that is made obsolete every year.
A Bonnie good remembrance
Just had to w'rite to tell you how much I enjoyed your 25th Anniversary issue. To me. the best part was the Triumph article, because a '62 1120 had been mv first new bike. During the winter of '61 -'62. I made up my mind after riding an old Fifties Indian to buy a new' motorcycle. The first thing I did was to head to the newsstand for some magazines on motorcycles. And there it WAS-CYCLE WORLD’S first issue, with a test on one of the three bikes I was thinking about buying (the other two were a BSA Super Rocket and a Sportster). Well, the test sold me. I had to have one. So I headed to the local Triumph dealer about 35 miles away to put down some money for the first one he would get in the spring. I paid $ 1 I 77 for it, and rode it over I 2,000 miles that first year. I think I could write a book about all the good times on it that I'll never forget.
That Triumph isn't with me anymore. I sold it to a friend who later traded it to someone for a boat and a motor. I've heard that this fellow still has it, though. He rode it for a couple of years before sticking it in a corner of his garage to collect dust. Sometimes I sure miss that Bonnie. Maybe I should go see him this winter. I do have a little room between my Yamaha Turbo and my XT600 in the corner, next to the KZ200. Maybe I could talk him out of it.
Thanks for a great magazine. Keep it up for at least another 25 years.
R.K. Arnold Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin S
