Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

F d Ind W E S VOICES OYearT H E i~n~tions T En d La st Bla sts an ~ w Z W ..J U >- U DEAR SANT A I have an AJS 250 and I would like to get a small plastic gas tank for il.l am wonder ing if you have any tanks from 1 to IY, gallons that would fit my AJS. SO far I haven't been able Lo find any tanks made for my bike so if you have any or know of anyone who has any I would appreci ate your telling me. Also 1 would like to know exactly how much an XL "ylon jersey with an AJS emblem printed on it would cost, total, because I would like to order one right away. Also could you send me a Itst of all the MX leathers and boots you have, or better yet, a catalog if you have one. MIKE FLATL EY 4126 Fairland s Dr. Pleasan ton, Calif. 94566 Cycle News is not that far into the accessories business, Mike. Would some dealers ~ho can help this lad send him a catalog or three? .. Ed. IT'S NOT THAT EASY You calenda r of events lists our (C.E. R .A.) Easy One Enduro as ·'Novit. es". Some people who have not ridden it in the past may mis-con strue this to mean Novices Only, or that it is just anotller of those lack luster family Enduros . While neither is the truth. The "Easy One" is the original easy enduro, But we hasten to add. it is an Enduro l All classes will be run Novice, Amateu r and Expert. The enduro is rated as a three (3) star event on our scale of 10, so it is recomm ended for Novice s and Beginne rs who want to ride an enduro. We might add, its 90% virgin terrain. We agree with Ron Schneid ers on his opinion thaL Class A events. should have results and trophies the same day and will attemp t this on the "Easy One."l f anyone has any questio ns regardin g this event they should call Lhe number s listed in the calenda r of Events. ED WIGllT Presider rt C.E.R.A . MAKIN G CLEAR ANOT HER PLOT UNCO VERE D Shortly after a gentlem an from La Mirada criticize d my refusal· to submit to that Higher Moral Duty which requires all motorcy clists to prostrat e themsel ves before the every whim of Sierra Club pol icy, a simulta neous Durry of similarl y critical letters appeare d in C from Mr. Gams of the Wm. Neff High chool (which is in La Mirada, just a block away from the Buena Park border) , from Mr. Robbin s also of La Mirada, from 1\1r. Hanson of Fullerto n (an English teacher at an unspeci fied school) and from Mr. Cain of Ruena Park. For those not familiar with the area, La I\lirada, Buena Park and Fullerto n are three small, contiguo u's cities, and all five gentlem en appear to Jive and/or work within a five mile radius of one another . Since none of these letters, as publish ed, gives the sligh test hint that these writers are related to one another or LO the Sierra Club, this seems to be a rather remark able geo-sta tistical coincid ence. Firmly believin g that everyon e has the righ t to advocat e his views openly, honestl y and ironical ly, but th:Lt no one has the righ t to subrep tion ...and -being naturall y curious .. .! am prompt ed by this coincid ence to ask these five gentlem en: PERF ECTLY IT I am writing this lettcr in hopes of dispellin g any false concept ions Lhilt mighL have been formed from my lelter as printed in the Decemb er 19, 1972 issue of CYCLE :-:E\\'S WEST. First, I would like Lo say thaL the fourtb paragra ph of my letter was printed a bit differen tly then I wroLe it. My paragra ph stated; "If the EI Cajon Valley ~I.C. has the judicial ability to show the inequiti es of the S.L.U.P . in court. and-LO defeat it, then fine. But if they are destroy ed in court then 1 am afraid that the "conser vationis ts", news media, and the public will throw it back in our faces as a "victor y" by the "good" guys over the irrespon sible dirt . riders." Most importa n tly I would like to state that my original letter was written under certain false and lack of informa tion. I have since been informe d that C.O.R.V .A. has been in contact with EI Cajon M.C. and that their test case was well though t out and their race was not run over an "archeo logical area" as I was previou sly erroneo usly informe d. If I have insulted or given the wrong impress ion Lo anyone by my earlier letter then I extend my persona l apologie s and support to Mr. Chick Diamon d and the EI Cajon M.C. As an individu al, I will support the Legal Fund. As an organiz ation, it will be up to the officers of C.O.R.V .A. to decide ils actiOl'f.' Let us now, for the record, make it known that I persona lly am against the S.L.U.P . and C.O.R.V .A. is against the unfair other any and S.L.U.P . prohibi ti9n of the righ IS of the Off-Roa der by the B.L.M. or any other agencyo for that malter. JAMES R. STRAC HAN C.O.R.V .A. Souther n Region Secreta ,y A FRIEN D FRIEN D 3. Gasolin e does not separate in storage. As usual, the poor consum er is caugh t in the middle. Politicia ns. gasolin e manuf acture rs, additive peddler s, and advenis ing ha,~kers are perpetu ally confusi ng the helpless consum er. Howeve r, there is always one roOLPR OOF SOLUT ION. The consum er has a friendly and impartia l ad\-isor, who charges nothing (or his services , and that person is the custom er relation s man at the engine manu factu rer (distr ibuto r) headqua rters. I f you are bewilde red by conflict ing evidenc e. invest six cents in a postcar d, write to the distribu tor, and find out. That will settle the lead or no-lead dispute . As for a gasoline not separati ng dUling storage, a simple visual inspecti on and a sniff test will show what gums-up the works. And as for "knock ing" not affectin g power, heed the words of the old sage: "He whose bag is knock in engine will wind-up with engine in, bag." I have no quarrel with Americ an Gil; they make pretty good brew. I have used it for years in my Excelsio r V-twin and the only time I had piston trouble was when 1 was in bed with this tremend ous hangove r and my gitlfrien d. Miss Push kin, did a top end on the bike and onc wristpin was too tight, so .Miss Pushkin heated· up the wristpin with my IN NEED IS A Americ an Oil Compa ny's Media Service Manage r, Mr. Will;am Adams claims that: 1.. No-lead gasoline is not detrime ntal to two-stro ke engines . 2. uKnock " never causes' loss in power. Wowl A wheelie! acetylen e outfit. except she used the cutting tip and hit the oxygen handle and fried a great big hole in the piston. But she put it back togethe r anyway , because the guys at the shop said that singles have more torque. Many years have passed, and also several generat ions, but 1 still have my old friend, the Excelsio r, and I still use Americ an zero-lea d fuels in it (the wheelba se is getting pretty shot), and as I look at the frayed and yellow photogr aph. I always wonder whateve r happene d to I\liss Push kin AMO CARDL lN So do we... Ed. PENTON HALF- MILER ? I don't know who to ask but 1 need help. In the Aug. 29; 72 issue of CN, page 5, test: New Penton 125 Trials many things are answere d but I need more. One - Does it tend to wheelie like the older IIodaka did? Two - Does it tend to shake its head - high speed lock to lock? Three - When set up for a hard track (Scramb les or half-mil e) Pirellis and a 19" spool up front will it still behave itself - no high speed wobble - and cross-up decen tly. F. R. SLINGE RLAND Rochest er, Wash. We refuse to be responsib le if you take a Penton 125 Trials out on a flat track. Don't do it, F.R!...Ed. Keith Arnold Photo. 1) What relation ship eXists among you, if any, other than your striking geograp hic proxim ity? In particul ar, did any two or more among you plan and act togethe r secretly from the readers of CN to send mutuall y-suppo rting letter? 2) What relation ship exists between and so-call ed you 0 f e ac h envirom uen talist organiz ations like the Sierra Club? When the demon strated 3) preferen ce of motorcy clists is to ride in a certain area and the nationa l or local polITy of an enviro nment alist organiz ation is to expel them by force of governm ent arms, which side of the dispute would you come down on in the crunch? I'm quite sure the proxim ate origins of these five similar letters is merely a coincid ence. But I'd like to be absolut ely sure. J. G. KROL Anaheim , Calif. You're absolutely right, ). G. It was a conspira cy ... Ed. THE SHOW POSITION I t was nice of your publica tion to include in the Arroyo Team MX article the names of the first, second and third place finisher s in the Big Bore class. They rode their hind wheels off and deserve d any piece of 'newspr int you could spare. Your paragra ph on the Small Bore class raised a few questio ns: where was Tom Corley during the first half of that race? What distribu tor does Tom Corley rep? Is there a Tom Corley? Let me tell you a tale from the Small Bore race that day - I call it "The Pit-5ide Story" Once upon a time there was a team called Jeff Osborn and Robert Elliott. Osborn rode a venerab le and eccentri c Yamaha and Elliott rode a '71 Penton (The model with the knee-po lished metal sides on the gas tank). They were sponsor ed, respecti vely, by his-old· man and his-old- lady. The day of this story dawned fair and clear. The migb ty machine s moved out leaving our fiery, restive small bores to stamp and snort (and go to the bathroo m a lot) until 1 p.m. At one o'clock, our team lined up represen ted by Elliott and his classic Penton. Starting order was by natural selecti on; one of the Yamaha 's eccentri c ties involved not starting at under five MPH· and there they go Elliott Gallant ly allowing most of the field to depart before him. What sportsm anship, what nobility , what a dumb time to practice pumpin g on the starter. He's off! The classic Penton' s cracked piston gamely pumpin g up the first hill. The questio n at this point is -not where will they finish but will they finish. !Jere comes the first lap and Elliott is in third place? (Where did he find the hole?) Here com,e. lap two and Elliott is in front? (Good Lord!) Lap three - Elliott is lengthe ning his lead. (That piston has got to self-des truct.) And so it went for. the first 40 minutes , hysteria in the pits and a leader on the track. Then Osborn !lew out on his venerab le Yamaha . The Osborn -Yamah a stroy should be recorde d w.ith the great loves of history. Did Cleopat ra utterly reject her fourth gear, did Juliet have to be rewed flat out in third and double clutched to fifth? Yet, sir, Osborn does ride his Yamaha and still, sir, his Yamaha does win for Osborn . For the next 25 minutes Osbdm held the leading position . The Penton was prepare d and popping , Osborn in and Elliott off, changin g in a cloud of dusty glory, Alas, the dust was scrungy gloom as, limping with a broken shock, the Penton pitted 20 minutes later. There was no spare. One and one half hours stitl to go and all of it on the Yamaha . Elliott relieved Osborn and discove red another of the venerab le one's eccentri cities, a penchan t for shifting into surprisi ng gears while negotia ting bumpy turns, any gear but fourth, of course. Osborn rode the last 40 minutes hard and fast and well, looking good all the way to the checker ed flag for a third place finish. Epilogu e: I t does give us pause to reflect that enough lead was built up during the firu half of that race to lose, in the second half, seconds re-fuelin g in the pits, minutes malfunc tioning on the track and still come in third. I t does give us pause to then read in Cycle News, "Right away the race was between two teams ....\Il.ike Gibson and Toby Taki, both on Pen tons, nipped out Precisio n Cycle Tony Rogers, who raced a Hodaka Womba t, and Tom De Vore (Ric.) ...for the final judgem ent." J. L. Elliott Whittie r, Calif. A.ccording to our most recent informat ion, Gibson is ;it CMe Intermed iate ind should have been disqualif ied from running in that team race with Taki, an Expert. That would move up Rogers and Devore to first, making the Dynamic Duo second, in actuality . How 'bout that? ... Ed. WHERE'S MY GAS? To the Cactus Cats M.C. who were at the second gas stop on the Barstow -to-Veg as race. We wish to extend our sincere ~vrhank you" for pitting Jim Fishbac k,Jr. as he someho w missed his own pits. In his confusi on, the Cactus Cats lent their helping hand and got him back on the road. JIM FISHBA CK JR. 1488x RON LAMBE RT Servo Mgr. Y-amaha of Fontafla Continue d on page 64.

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