Letters

LETTERS

Mike the Bike

September’s “Memories of Mike the Bike” by Pete Lyons was great. I hope to see more like it. I’ve been reading about Mike Hailwood for years, but never knew the details. Also, the lead illustration by Hector Luis Bergandi is one of the nicest I have seen in any motorcycle magazine.

Donald W. Killmeyer Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

I just finished reading and enjoying the article on Mike the Bike, and couldn’t help but notice the accompanying photos. The classic is the Volker Rauch shot of the rear of Hailwood’s Six leaned over. It shows not only excellent composition, but also just how good a well-done black-and-white photo can be. Jeffrey F. Wagner

Gurnee, Illinois

Hey, Sycle Wurld, in the otherwise excellent Mike Hailwood article, there was an editing flub. MV Agusta was misspelled “MV Augusta.” No excuses! Count Agusta should haunt you forever! Drew Winter

Detroit, Michigan

Pete Lyons wrote that Hailwood was killed when he “drove into a truck that was making a U-turn.” True, but incomplete, leaving a shading of doubt about Mike being at fault.

In fact, Mike was driving at night, on a pizza run with his kids. Police reports indicate that the truck was making an illegal U-turn and may have stalled. It had no side reflectors. There was no way Mike could have seen it.

Thanks, though, for honoring such a great racer with Lyons’ excellent article and Bergandi’s magic art.

By the way, the great Italian racebike referred to in the story was an MV Agusta, not an “MV Augusta.”

John Joss Los Altos, California

We know, we know.

What about Ago?

Not to take anything away from Mike the Bike-he was one of the greatest-but here’s a question: Who won four more GP world championships than Hailwood (a feat yet to be equalled by anyone), edged Hailwood out of the number-one spot at Agusta, beat everyone in his only U.S. appearance, yet has never had a retrospective written about him in Cycle World? Mario Caruso

Sarasota, Florida

Look, we have a hard enough time spelling MV Agusta. We ’re working up to Giacomo Agostini.

Manx on high

Thanks for David Edwards’ editorial on Buddy Parriott (see “An American racer,” Up Front, September, 1992). It’s nice to see a real racer get some credit. It should be mentioned that Buddy’s leathers seldom stayed retired for long. He and son Mike Parriott were among the first to herd vicious, wiggling Kawasaki Z-ls around the racetrack, doing development work for Yoshimura in the early ’70s. I’ve never seen a man look so calm and steady astride a machine that was doing everything it could to throw him off and stomp on him. He also came out for a series of vintage races I organized in the late 1970s, riding his Manx as smooth as ever.

If there’s a racetrack in heaven, I know Buddy’s out finding a faster way around it right now.

Jim Haberlin San Luis Obispo, California

Egan’s Electra Glide

So, Peter Egan bought a HarleyDavidson Electra Glide Sport (see Leanings, September, 1992). Can it be that he has discovered what many of us already know? That it is all right to sit upright while riding and “smell the roses,” as he puts it, not simply pass through the countryside at the maximum possible velocity? Perhaps this is a natural evolution of wanting to experience the feeling that is unique to riding a Harley.

I say welcome to the club, Pete. Ride free, ride safe. Murrell H. Worth Camarillo, California

Peter Egan’s “Electra Glide” column came awfully close to causing me to buy a Harley. Then I decided if I want to slow down and smell the roses, I’ll just ease off the throttle of my 1983 Suzuki GS1100E. It runs well at any speed. Ronnie Dean Holman

LaPorte City, Iowa □

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