Letters
LETTERS
Sticker shocked
If there is one problem with our beloved sport, it’s got to be the high price of everything to do with it. Premium tires, $150; helmets, $300, sky-high insurance rates and the prices of the machines themselves. Six-cylinder Gold Wings for almost $11,000, the latest FZR1000 for $7700, and can you believe $5000 for a 600 Hurricane? It’s been a while since I was able to walk into a dealer with a fist full of hard-earned dollars and get any kind of a deal.
Honda, did we ask for a plasticdipped V-Twin “sport” tourer (the Pacific Coast) that costs $6500, or for a GB500 Single with wire wheels that costs $4200?
I’ve spent money on a new bike every year for the last five, not because I was unhappy with the previous bike but because I wanted to reap the benefits of new technology and sample some of the great new machines being offered. At 1989’s prices, it looks like I’ll be riding my old, cheap, slow KLR650 into the ’Nineties.
Bob Murphy
Napa, California
I have just received your ’89 motorcycle preview issue, and I have come to the conclusion that I will probably never be able to afford a new motorcycle. With the price of a new motorcycle, insurance, etc. going off into the wild blue yonder, what is a normal guy to do? Personally, I would like to see a larger version of the YSR50, say, about 125cc and retailing for somewhere around $ 1700. Is anyone listening?
John Gillespie Detroit, Michigan
Come on guys, the prices on these ’89 bikes have to be a bad joke. Over $4000 for a Honda CR500R and over $6000 for a Pacific Coast 800.
I was hoping, maybe this year, to buy a new motorcycle, but I am not that dumb. You might as well be robbed.
Michael May Little Rock, Arkansas
Up with engineers
As a sophomore engineering student at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and an avid reader of Cycle World, I found Steven L. Thompson’s editorial, “Engineers,” (December,
1988) one of the best I’ve ever read in a magazine. Many people seem to forget that many of the conveniences we enjoy are the result of an engineer’s talent. Hopefully your writing talent will bring more people to the engineering sciences so that we may keep pace with other countries.
David Crutchfield Vienna, Virginia
To Steven L. Thompson, who gave thanks to engineers, you’re welcome. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if this country produced 10 engineers to one lawyer instead of the reverse. Now we know why most high-tech machines are from Japan and Europe, where engineers are considered members of an elite profession.
Phil Lewis
San Bruno, California
Short subjects
I just finished reading the piece of crap your “magazine” ran about Robbie Knievel.
Darren D. Hensel Ballston Spa, New York
Come on, tell us what you really think. You won 7 hurt our feelings.
I’m 23 years old and have been riding street bikes for 7 years. My dream is to be another Eddie Lawson.
Martin Erickson Upland, California
Take a number, Martin, and come stand in line with the rest of us. Œ
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MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRY COUNCIL,INC.
