Letters
LETTERS
Doctors in the house
David Edwards’ February Up Front column, “Doctor’s Orders,” really hit home. Health-care reform has initiated many changes, including large cuts in professional reimbursements, forcing doctors to give up their exotic cars, private planes, etc. They should do as I have and discover the many rewards that motorcycling has to offer. I cannot think of any other prescription that offers so much for so little.
Riding 50,000 miles during the past three years has convinced me that the rider has considerable control over the inherent dangers of motorcycling. Continuing education, protective clothing and a professional sober attitude will help keep your contact patch out of the ER and on your favorite black top. Ted Manny, MD
Lubbock, Texas
As a motorcyclist and a physician specializing in emergency medicine, 1 enjoyed your February editorial “Doctors Orders.” My own experiences of beginning to ride closely mirror those of Dr. Murphy. I would like to address several issues mentioned in this piece.
The way many physicians speak about motorcycle accidents, one would think that it is difficult to walk through the average emergency room, given the dead bodies strewn about, all caused by motorcycles. Ironically, I had a similar impression before I practiced emergency medicine; I have since observed that this is not the case.
Although the risks involved in riding a motorcycle are undeniable, the result is not the human carnage many health-care professionals say they have seen. The vast majority of the people telling such stories have never even worked in an ER.
In my experience, there are some important common threads in the vast majority of motorcycle accidents: 1) Alcohol is very frequently involved, even if the rider was not over the legal limit; 2) the accident situations seem to follow the patterns shown by Harry Hurt's now-famous study-e.g. a car making a left turn in front of the rider; 3) the riders have not undertaken any formal training; and 4) single-vehicle accidents usually involve excess speed and/or alcohol.
I keep these things in mind every time I ride. Mark C. Ahearn, MD Scottsdale, Arizona
Birth of the Norvin
Referencing your article "Norvin: The Ultimate Cafe-Racer" in the Feb ruary issue, your readers may be inter ested to know how the hybrid caferacer trend got started.
Soon after the end of World War II, the Cooper Car Company developed a rear-engined 500cc race car. Cooper furnished complete rolling chassis, customers the 500cc engines.
The engine of choice was the 500cc
Manx Norton. The Norton company, in their wisdom (and who could blame them) only sold complete motorcycles. Cooper owners, therefore, purchased the complete Manx Norton, removed the engine, and disposed of the Norton rolling chassis for a song. The new owner of the chassis now needed a fast engine that could provide all the Street necessities, such as kickstarter and charging system. While not plentiful, there were certainly enough Triumph engines available to fill the need.
I clearly remember the first one that I saw. It was parked outside a cafe (where else'?) near the Brands Hatch race circuit. The workmanship was flawless. Just looking at it, I thought I had died and gone to motorcycle heaven. Roy Prichard
Maryville, Tennessee
Bye-bye Beemer
So, BMW will discontinue its jewellike K75, with its super-smooth, threecylinder engine, fuel injection and shaft drive, and replace it with some one else's chain-driven, carbureted Sin gle (see Roundup, February).
What kind of progress is that? The K75 standard is not only a great mo torcycle, it's the only bike in BMW's lineup that's not grossly overpriced.
Charles Johnston
Gardiner, Maine
Ohmmm, ohmmm...
I have seen the impossible: an ugly Italian motorcycle. Of course, I am re ferring to the Bimota Mantra, seen in January's Cologne Show report. Is "mantra" the word for "pregnant guppy" in some Italian dialect?
Reading farther, I understood it all. The thing was designed by a French man. Now it all makes sense. Looked at a Citroën lately?
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Really, the only thing I have seen that is as bulbously terrible on two wheels are some of those Arlen Ness customs that look like they have WonderBras for fairings.
Dana Woodaman
San Francisco, California
Biker blues
I am writing to remind people about something they may have forgotten. Most new Harley riders do not have the slightest idea what it’s like to be a biker. It was an image built and lived by bikers on a day-to-day basis, not just on warm weekend days. Now, that same image is being store-bought by a different breed of people-I like to call them “Sunday riders”-who know nothing about the image they are shattering. Sure, they can put in 50, 100 or, on a really good day, maybe 150 miles, but this does not make them bikers. I know better. I've seen the odometers of some of these bikes-hell, 1 have more miles on my bicycle.
Riding is my main means of transportation, by choice. 1 am proud to say I ride everyday in all types of weather conditions. My leathers are worn from natural weathering, they were not store-bought that way. My point being, I think it is great that more and more people are becoming interested in riding-as voters, they may help to keep Congress from passing any more unreasonable laws. Enjoy rides on your days off when the weather is good, but please call yourselves “motorcycle enthusiasts,” not “bikers,” It gives the rest of us who live this lifestyle a bad name. Michael J. Steffy Greeley, Colorado
Kick me, I'm Canadian
Excuse me, but something’s missing here and has been for sometime: kickstarters. I’ve always considered it a unique and intregal part of the art of motorcycling.
Are there enough purists out there to convince the manufacturers to bring them back, or am I forever trapped in the kingdom of older motorcycles?
Wayne Ransom Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada
Consider yourself trapped. Why is it not surprising that a guy who lives in a place with "British ” in its name longs for a kickstarter? Perhaps we can interest you in oil leaks and crappy electrics, too? E3
