CN
III VOICES
W H A T Y O U A R E S A Y I N G
"Any one of a handful of riders can win on any
given Saturday night."
Daytona TT
The best race of the night and
a portent of things to come was
[the battle] between Jared Mees
and JD Beach in the heats. The
Indian and new Yamaha were
equal in speed and accelera-
tion on the track. The two riders
battled on equal terms with
Beach hitting the finish line only
two tenths of a second ahead
of him.
James Edward Zeiser
Briar Bauman had some great
lines in the S-turns and was able
to change lines without pitch-
back—just keeping the gas on
and turning the bike underneath
him. He used his long legs as
shock absorbers in the rough—a
thing of beauty.
Henry Wiles also handled the
funky track pretty well.
Jake Johnson was all over the
place but on the gas.
Wildbill N. Willis
Lowside: The
Changing Face Of
Motorcycle Riding
I agree with some of the com-
ments in Rennie's commentary
last week, with the emphasis on
some.
Yes, a new motorcycle might
cost $15,000, but at that price
point what do you get in a car?
A basic transportation box and
nothing more. But for that same
$15K, you can buy one of the
most advanced vehicles on two
wheels, with technology out the
wazoo! It's not an appropriate
or even fair comment! And, as
he also notes, you can buy a
near new Ducati, Suzuki, Honda
or BMW for as little as a third
of that. In the last six-seven
months, I've purchased a Ducati
Monster 1100 with 3771 miles,
and in virtually as new condition
for under $6K, and a slightly
used BMW R 1200 GS for well
under half of new retail value.
On the I-don't-agree side, I
have to say, wages are anything
but stagnant, and better than
decent paying jobs go begging
every day. One of my son's (a
U.S. Naval Academy Grad in
2017) contemporaries, did a
brief stint in the Air Force, and
now makes $125K-plus a year
with only a high school educa-
tion. We have the (effectively)
lowest unemployment rate in
decades. So, I am not sure how
his "times are tough" position is
justified.
People make their own edu-
cated decisions to follow their
passion, and at times, it means
you take a job because you love
the work, and you accept that
it is a labor of love, not money!
With few exceptions in both
time and in economic history,
motorcycles have always been
a discretionary purchase, and
now is no different. Yes, mo-
torcycle sales are down, but
at the same time, motorcycle
sales were substantial for so
many years, and the potential
market has been (accord-
ingly) saturated for years. Many
manufacturers offer sub $10K
models that are amazing both
in performance and style, and
as Rennie posits in his article,
"there have never been so many
ways to get onto a bike as there
are now." The bottom line is that
sales figures are not a uniformly
and permanently growing fact of
life, get over it. Manufacturers
need to adjust to the demand
accordingly, and stop believing
that infinitely increasing sales
are the norm.
In the meantime, find a model
you like, new or used, based
upon your realistic financial situ-
ation, and go riding!
Richard T. Haight
Indianapolis
Supercross
Another great race. This year's
supercross season has been ex-
cellent and highly entertaining.
Any one of a handful of riders
can win on any given Saturday
night. It was only a matter of
time that Marvin Musquin got
his first win of the year. Now that
he's broken through, perhaps
he can run down his teammate
(Cooper Webb) for the champi-
onship.
It should be an interesting
remaining six rounds.
And, I should mention that
Ricky Carmichael is warming up
to his new job as commentator.
Frank Armstrong
P6
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