Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

scramliDn'arounif fo r the masses to really listen an d think a bit. This y ear some of the masses w oke up a bit and reali zed th at the majority o f moto cr oss riders who can o nly affo rd o ne bike were ge t ti ng sku nked by th e o nes who could a ff o rd tw o becau se of the wa y the p oints were paid. Not only th at, but if y o u really get into th at (if y ou'll exc u se th e expression) ru le b o ok, y ou can read it for y o urself th at th e p oints w ere b ein g p aid incorrectly. Tony Rogers m ade the official protest o n th is but h e was not the only one the Co mmittee heard from on the subject. Personally, we h eard riders expressing the o p inio n t hey didn't like it and a lo t o f them were struggli ng for a lower two-digit number just as hard as the b oys riding for that number o ne. Getting one of the top 20 can me an more to y o u th an one starting in the 30 's or 40 's . I once danced fo r an hour wh en I finally got a two-digit, No . 98, and was happy as a clam th e next year when I - dropped it in t o the seventies. Super-b rai n I am n ot but it's very clear that a number o f p eople ar e a bit th ick as to h ow the Grand Prix p oints affe cted th at rac e for th e numb er one, so I'll explain as simply as possible and hope-t o-P ete y ou 'll understand it if y ou sti ll can 't see the reasoning of the Competition Committee. The first statement I get is something lie, "So wh at ? You can ride any number of bi kes you choose. It's only the best ride o f th e day you get p aid p oints for," Correct. If you are a scram b les or a de sert rider, regardless of weight division, y o ur best ride gets you the points. So, ride three bikes in the Lightweight divisions Saturday and y our best ride wiIl earn y o u the points for the Lightweight plate y ou'r e going after . With me so far ? The rides y o u put in Sunday in the heavies earn points fo r the Heavyweigh t class . In motocross there are no divisions as By Maureen Lee Well, Cycle News will b e cl osed fo r vacation for two w eeks so fo r two weeks I figured you'll need something to chew on. Even th ough we 'll try and keep this in a ligh t tone it is a p roblem and one that is approach in g a head ; the "Masters" class. By nature Am ericans are indep endent and mo torc yclists are even more so . Getting a team to work o u t a problem can be as h ard as getting two strings of bulldogs on amicable terms. Ever since the District 37 Competition Committee o rd ere d the re-count of motocross points w hich gave the numb er one plate to Tony Rogers instead of John Ri ce, we 've been up to our cars in various stories as to why it was done or to cu t out the folderole. Rumors ar e rampant ! So we'll start with that situation an d th en progress o n to the creation of a Masters class , should this come about. And I repeat: "Should it com e abou t." It will even bring the District Board of Directors into it b ecause like the U.S. Government, the District is run by a system of checks and balances, w ith each branch of the Commitee h aving enough power to stop one faction o f it running off half-coc ked in the wrong direction. The motocross plate. One rum o r is that John R. lost it because of pressures brough t to b ear because he's a sponsored. or "professional " , rider. Now, whoever thought that o n e up has to b e daft. If that was the reason just about everyone who has a number one District plate this year would fall into that classification, right? That had . n othing to do with it . What did it was the Grand Prix situation. Last y ear there w er e rumbles about the wa y points were paid in Grand Prix to those going for motocross points but no one rumbled loud enough W ritin' Around, ........".,'."'.,' ,..,•••••••••••••••',•••" •• BJ Cbarles C~n ~I.,I' NEEDED: A new American motorcycle manufacturer With h is recent decision to devalue the dollar, coming on top of the import surcharge , President Nixon has opened wide the opportunity for a new American motorcycle manufacturer to st art in business. The price of im p o rt ed machines up to now has made it impossible for an y domestic manufacturer except Harley-Davidson and some -minib ike assem blers to even think of competing. Besides, much of U.S. manufacturing was concentrated on ' producing war material, a no-risk, cost-plus operation. Now, with the war winding down and imports looking to cost as much as I/5th higher than they used to, and the motorcycle market still heading straigh t up through the ' 70s, a new American brand on th e motorcycle market is needed as ne ver before. Recent exp erienc e should have made the need for more domestic manufacturers clear enough, as ships laden with merchandise waited a t anchor up to three months for striking cargo handlers to unload them, while dealers went hungry. All of the components of a new all-American motorcycle can be assem ble d from available domestic parts except engines and gearboxes. So essent ially , what I am looking fo r is a new American en gin e/gearbox manufacturer. Surely out there in this great land of technological know-how aremen with enough cranial candlepower to design a new motorcycle engine, and investors with enough foresight and determination to have it built! This newspaper will gladly serv e as th e com m u nica ti on medium to get the new all-Am erican motorcycle project together. S o if anyone reading th is has an engine-gearbox des ign in his h ead, o r a fe w thousand bucks to invest, or knows how to make forging dies, build a foundry , etc ., write me a line and tell me y our views on the subject. 1 p ersonally fantasize a slow-turning, torquey 4-s tro ke twin with a 5-speed gearb ox, utilizing au tom ob ile comp o nen ts as much as p ossible, with a built-up cran k (less costly in th e short run) and cases precisio n cas t b y the " los t-wax" process to minimize ma ch ining. What's your dream ? * * * • * * WHAT THE CALIFORNIA MIC IS DOING Last week I d ropped in on o ne of the new-member orien ta ti o n meetin gs pu t on b y th e CMIC , and was favorab ly impress ed by wh at I learned. Pre sident T ed Evans presented an audio-visu al glim ps e of wh at life would be li ke in t he Golden State were it n ot for the MIC an d CMIC an d Lobby ist Russ Sanfo rd's efforts in the state and nati onal legislatures. It wouldn't h av e been very p leasant. Then T om Heininger introduced his task force that has be en cruising the state th ese p ast weeks in a membership roundup. Tom briefl y o u tline d some of th e p ositi ve b en efits th at th e d ealer organizatio n ca n win fo r itself, such as elect in g p oli tici ans wh o ar e favorab le to m otorcyclin g's future and vo ting o ut th ose who aren't. Heininger p ointed out that Presiden t Kenned y had be en el ected by a m er e 40 ,000 votes and we recalled that Nixon won office without even a maj o rity of the vote. " Wou ld n't it b e nice to have a President who rides a motorcycle?" co ncl uded Heininger. Politicians have done worse for the sa ke of a few vo tes. Getting organized w as just th e first step for CMIC. No w th at is acc om plish ed, with a full-time staff of five and nearly half the state's dealers as m embers, CMIC is devoting its energies to the big jobs ahead - m aking o ff-road registration work a nd advising the state on where to set up riding areas and trails; the looming no-fault insurance problem, from which street riders must be scrupulously excluded ; political p ressure for the benefit of motorcycling ; statewide public relations and sal es campaigns; and, we hope, some fun rides for the dealer and ind us try m embers, so it won't be all work and noplay/ i !) 'li I 6 ~ ) t':t' ):-01,.,,1 1' : ~ d. r ° .h. I l·~ l' lL # to lightw eight an d heavyweigh t. Only the o ne plate go ing to the number one man re gardless of what size machin e he rid es and this is th e little j ew el th at has caused th e ru ckus. Let's say a rid er going fo r th at pl ate rid es t w o bikes Saturday an d gets h is p oints for th e b est ride. He rides t wo bikes Sunday and gets p aid points for his best ride for the sam e pl ate. N ow wh ere d o es th at leav e ave rage Mr. Mot ocr oss wi th o ne bike? One ch ance for his p oin ts. If h e d oesn 't have two bikes he ri d es his o ne class as h e usually does and hopes to fin ish and get points. The gu y with more bikes ab le to ride b oth d ay s and finish es both da ys was r eceiving d ouble points for th at same pl ate. N ow if y ou can explain the fairn ess o f th at to me a nd the Competition Committee, go ahead, but d o y o u understand it now? Hope so . J ohn R. has o fte n says h e'll rid e for m oney, trophies , anything as long as he gets to rid e and n aturally it hurts to lose th at number one plate when yo u thought you had it. From m y "hot line" 1 ge t this feeling. Most people feel so rr y it happened but it was n't fair in th e firs t place and t h e sys tem just h appened to catch John R. They're also sorry th at the st ew ard, who had all his points made up h as to re -eheck the Grand Prix an d then the subsequent ch an ges wh en his hard work fo r th e season was ju st abou t done. Me ? 1 feel so rry for J ohn 's sponsor, E. C. Birt. E.C. feels he made the de cisions as to wh ere John would ride an d thereby cost h im th e number one. 1 th ink the decision would h ave co m e re gardless o f who was number one, and E.C. go t caught by the system. Kn owing John was getting double points for Grand Prix, he shunted his rider over t o make so me bread a t th e p aying motocrosses thinking the GP 's had that pl ate sewed up fo r them. If th at Masters clas s was in exi stence, th e sponsored rid ers would n ' t h ave to b e dashing around all ove r hell and hi gh water deciding wh ere to rid e and where n ot to ride. The Master pl ate w ould go to the rider wh o go t th e most Distri ct poin ts, while the true sp ortin g rider would b e b ash in g around for h is n umber o ne. N ow , we 'll give y ou the bit of fat to ch ew o n for th e next two we eks. How do y o u feel a Masters class could b e set up fai rly? I'm entitled to ch uc k in my tw o c ents worth a lthough 1 have n o vote on the Competit io n Committee. 1 stil l h ave my righ ts as a District member and 1 lean this wa y: The fact th at a man is sponsored shouldn' t au to ma t ically put h im in to th e Masters class. There are guys wh o luck o n to a sponsore d but sti1l d on't ge t way up there in to th e point sta n ding. But if a man has ridden successfully as a paid professional, y es. N o d oubt h e'll nev er make enough to live completely o n wha t h e c o uld make as a m o tocross rid er u ntil he be comes a Class C pro an d motocross grows up a bit more in th is country, but making nice little sums of money during the seaso n puts h im into th e Masters classificatio n. If he's o ne o f th e very top rid ers y ou can bet h e's being helped even if it's n ot a fu ll sp onsorship so h is move into the Masters class would be graded o n his finish ing performances. Say a rid er like J .N. Maybe they 'd better crea te a Super-Master class fo r him (don ' t have a c oronary o n th at o ne Larry Hale y ; I 'm kidding). L ots of thought will have to go into it for if it come s about. it will require anoth er ste war d . Me ? I'll ke ep m y finge r o n th at pie for th at new classification and wh ile they 're ab out it, how about another one ? That is, Heavyweight and a Lightweight motocross divisions? THE NEW ECONOMY " ask no t w hat your cou ntry can do f or yo u, but what you can do fo r y ou rself." - R ichard M. Nix on By Charles Clayton By now ' you may have noticed that the motorcycle economy is changing. . Yes, friends , the free ride is over. Americans now buy wate.!o--=-ptl1n\ drinking water - in bottles from a store and three dollars will g~,..y.oor-a ' . miss ion to ride your bike on a certain plot of earth. M~is'llie n\essage is, "manage it. n ..,....~ _ _.... \ How do you~eto ic\ crudding up the .w o rld 's lim~ re \ try and reveal in these pages But first , 'IS ' WHATADVE Every timely it? In the case '0 of the total p', William Puhlscem spends less on adv HOW TO ENJoi..TH£'NE Motorcycles hold their .vail There is just so much in th ' away. Generally the rule to \f the price of a n ew mach ine, jll When there is no way 0';" ~ing ·wh something you need in the wk - .,........ Many thriving businesses got (star e .....thar,.. .a.y-an;!; w motorcy~ing. Wherever there is a need, c o upl e opportumty. ~~ .. ~hat is what President Nixon' .' .~~ . po.!. i~t'\~ ... • . natroru H you aren't aIr If . tcom~~' j. controls all clearly favor ~ I\tw ~'&m;;my. Not every one relishes b\ a~Jltit--th . economy fo r the individu " b torc . Probably ..tk.best way t it as a btJ· -'-. claim tai h ave to b just en s Butch ~ Don" do bu,y y ou purch e, won't matte knock gobs of dollars O'Tr--ot around. _ ,,_ . .' we'll be presen ting some In th is an d upcoming issu es o f Cycl e Ne;S-durill&...; sp ecial articl es o n a number o f ways o f riding b etter while' controlling costs . There'll b e a series o f how-to-do-its o n setting up a nd eq uip p ing a b asic worksh op in your gar age or basement, p ieces 011 where to buy nuts an d bolts and small fittings a t manufacturer's cost, tips from promoters on how to stretch your ticket dollar and a bunch of co ns umer's r eports o n comparative valu es of popular acc esso ries lik e the various evaluations in this issue. Finally, since publications were exempted from the Pre sid ent's Ph ase 11 price freeze in order that the good old Post Office could double its second class postage rates, so reluctantly we'll be raising the price of Cycle News another nickel. We recommend that y ou call up and subscribe now, if you haven't already, and help figh t inflation. ~ I 'Think you,'Mi. -Prd;den t'! ·· 11 '''1.: \It. p \ ~ go 0.. ~ '" N g ..., ~ W Z W -' ~ U

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