Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

fur t he r information to be released by the Energy Planning Counci l, motorcycles will be exempted from those provisions that establish minimum . purchases in terms of gallons and/or dollars, as well as the requirement that fuel tanks must be less than half-full before purchases can be made. M.O.R.E. reports that the Lt. Governor's office is giving further c o n s i de ra ti on to exempting motorcycles from the odd/ even license number retailing system. In still further developments, Resolutions were introduced in both the Assembly and the Senate to exempt motorcycles from the same types o f gasoline retailing controls discussed above. At the urging of M.O.R.E. lobbyist Russ Sanford, the Senate Resol ution (SR 89( was introduced by Senator Clare Berryhill and the Assembly Resolution (ACR 191) was introduced by Assemblyman Eugene A. Ch ap p ie , All mo torcyclists are enco uraged to write their State Legislators and encourage the passage of these two Resolutions. In consonance with the foregoing, the M.O .R.E. Representa t ive in Los Angeles learned last week tha t th e L. A. Co unty Boa rd of Supervisors was goi ng to be presen te d with a proposed ordinance similar to the types of controls stated above. Through the intervention of the M.O. R .E. Representative, the proposed ordinance was rewritten to exempt motorcycles from suc h controls. Containers for flammable liquids Assemblyman Ed Z 'berg has introduced AB 3051 which is in two parts in its current form. The first part would prohibit the dispensing of fuel into any container with a capacity of less than 120 gallons unless the container has been approved by the Department of Transportation or the Underwr iter's Labora tory. The second-part of the Bill prohibits anyone from operating a passenger vehicle (includes vans, pickups, etc.) upon the highway if there is in such vehicle a portable container having a shell full capacity of more than one gallon and which contains any flammable liquid. The two parts of this Bill are contradictory to each other, and we have brought this to Mr . Z'berg's attention. Not only is the Bill contradictory, hut it would eliminate the possibility of taking gasoline with you ' on ou ti ngs. It has the same effect upon boating and n um erou s other types of vehicular activities. Upon po in ting out these problems to Mr. Z'berg, he asked Russ Sanford to rewrite the Bill to m ee t with the outdoor recreationist's approval and still provide the necessary degree of safety. Red Rock Canyon Assembly Bill 2645 by Assemblyman Ray Gonzales, has passed the Senate Natural R esources Committee with a one-vote margin. This Bill, which would reverse the State Parks and Recreation Commission's decision to classify Red Rock Canyon as a State Re creation Area, and have the Legislature classify the area as a State Park, met with heavy opposition from many quarters. Numerous letters were written by con sti t uen ts wi th very little opposition from the 'preservationists. ' In spite of this, five of the nin e-member Senate Natural Resources Committee voted in favor of the Bill. Those voting for the Bill were Senators Nejedly, Ayala, Behr, Gregorio, and Wedworth. AB 2645 must n e x t go to the Senate Finance Committee, but there is little hope of ' killing it' there. Following that , AB 2645 will go to the full Senate and then to the Governor for signature. Our best bet at this late point in time is to write a le tt er to "The Honorable Ronald Reagan, Governor of California, State Capi to l Building, Sacramento , CA 958 14" and 'ask him to "Uphold the decision of the State Parks an d Recreatio n Commission and the opinion of the general public by vetoing AB 2645." That is all that you need to say , and if enough of us write that one si mple letter, he will have the ammunition that he needs to veto the Bill in our favor. Proposed off-road vehicle regulations and administrative instructions The U.S. Forest Service published th e subjec t repo r t. We hear tily suggest that all users of the National Forest lands obtain a copy by wr iting to t he National Technical Information. Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22151. The report is quite lengthy but condenses down to the pro h ib itio n of o ff-r oad vehicles except on those areas wherein signs an d other designations have been made for such use. Areas and trails to be so established, will only be done following public hearings. We also suggest that you send us your comments after you have obtained and studied the Report. I sUPP-9se all of us are still spinning wheels over this gasoline situation. It's been commented on by every other writer as to whose fault it 'is etc., so I won't add to the same old chant. Just toss in a couple of fresh ones on my own. While tootIing around, either on assign men ts or plain old house errands I've noticed a lot of gas tankers filling station tanks in daylight hours. Except for very rare occasions, this was always done at night. Could it be that the refineries have so much gas tha t they top up a dealers tank as soon as he can take on mo re ? Total puzzlement occurs when one can drive from one station to another six or seven blocks away and find a five cent per gallon price d iffer ence. I did it yesterday. If I'd taken a slightly lo nger tri p of a co uple of m iles the price was 10 cents cheaper. Yet all t he gas comes out of th e same holding ta nks and close to our location as we live in the oil producing area cof Signal Hill and Long Beach. Then one of m y g rapevines who"s a business man dabbling in all kinds of interesting things fo r motorcycles, race cars, and Lear jets came forth with so me information at the Ascot 100 lap per. A friend of his builds the tanks for gas stations. Right now he is going through a b oo m like he 's never had before. Companies are ordering more and bigger tanks and he's gone to three shifts a day just endeavouring to keep close to the demand. Because we mostly think dirt bikes we rarely check ads in newspapers for street machines but with this current s ituation we 've been doing so, especially since a friend whc is about to purchase his first bike for transportation to work pointed something out. Every time he'd check with a shop on what he's interested in, the price had taken another rise. So we checked the L.A. times classified. Phew ! A Honda shop in the Pasadena area jumped the 750 5300 in one week! The 500cc job that was 5 1299 three m on t hs ago is now 5 I 799 '5500 higher. Checking with a couple of people it seems that Honda is changing prices more rapidly than some of the other Japanese brands. Kawasaki ' s big mo n st er , the 900 is up 5280, not too bad I guess, but how about that cute little d ude, t he 90 MC IM. If you wanted one under the Christmas tree for your youngster yo u paid 5299. After Santa went back to the North Pole it was up to 5425. Only knowing that the daffodils are out in Saint James Park in London , as they were during the dar kest days of the blitz, gives me any hope for Britain and their bike industry. Norton's are up 5275 and a Bonneville (if you can find the rare breed) up $260 since '73. The galloping Japanese inflation is what's doing it and sending t hem rushing to build plants in America to produce bikes people can afford. We think we have in flation b u t it's no th ing co m pared to Japan. . .like $3.00 a p ound for hambu rger. Betty Crocker and her Hamburger Helper would do a lo usy business t here. So, if you own a nice little street bike you enjoy riding, hang on to it. It 's. not only saving you a few pennies o n gas but it may be the last one you11 ever want to pay for. In visiting bike shops I ran into a fellow Briton who is selling Hondas and Kawasakis in Long Beach. Ken and I had a good giggle over the current rage of cafe racers her e which is fast becoming the "in" thing. It 's funny how when something from another c oun try is copied by foreigners the connotation of the thing changes. Here, cafe racing is being taken so seriously that it makes you wonder how many folk know how the term came abou t . In England the not quite nice aspect of motorcycling belonged to "th e cafe racer, (Pronunce him correctly please, "Cafey racer" said quickly, not cafe as the French would say.) More often than not a cafe racer is a "Rocker" and may kit himself out in road racing gear that Mike Hailwood would wear. Inst ead o f b ravin g it on the track he makes runs ar ound t he neigh borho od from coffee bar to coffee bar taking on anyone who thi nks he can beat hi m ove r a given course, say something like a three mile stretch beginning at the Crown and ' Thistl e, through Little Button on the Tha mes and twice around the roundabout at the half way point and back to t he start. They are the types defini t ely not favored by Britons as protrayed by Robert Morley ! If you've rodeod, you know what you thought of the bods who used to show up in the fanciest shirts and boots etc. just to hang around the arena, not knowing one end of a horse from , ano th er. Drug store cowboys. That's your cafe racer using the real meaning of the terminology. Still, I like to see the term used as it is here because a good caf e racer bike is a beautiful machine and you can certainly have a ball with one on a good winding road. I'd like to own two; (providing of course I could hold one uprigh t at a red traffic ' light!), a red Dunstall I saw at a trade show, or the Rickman model . Super! A real quick tip. If yo u're a dirt rider who uses a ten-speed to keep your legs in condition as daily rides on your m o rocrosser are out of the question, you've no d o ub t noticed t hat more bicycle ride rs are gelling tickets. If you get na bbed for pulling a no no and are asked for identification don't use your drivers license. If that number ge ts on the citation, your insurance company will find o ut about it and may raise your rates because if you do silly things on a ten-speed you may well do them in your van. On the way to delivering this col um n to the paper I'm stopping at my accountant's office. Yo u see, I'm donating my personal papers to the AMA as a taxable deduction!! Maureen Lee Product evaluation Norstar boots By John Ulrich Norstar boots are available with either MX or ISOT soles for $69.50. If you 're wondering wh at these boots are lik e, think of old style Full Bores and change the front decoration. Voila ! Norstar boots ! The guy who makes Norstars is the brother of the guy who makes Full Bores. Pretty clever, eh? Some testers also fee l that the Norstar model has slightly more an kle protection to avoid patent lawsuits by Full Bore. After six months of testing, racing, trail riding, enduroing, crash ing, splashing through m ud. r'wallo wing in mud, wading through streams, walking around between motos taking pictures, and generally neglecting them the whole time, (as well as loaning them ou t to every turkey and his m o ther in between), we can honestly say that these boots are not going to fall ap art. The first few wearings were no fun at all. The boots come extremely stiff when you buy them. But after we aring the m a few out ings they become mo re and more comfortable. After the y have been broken in, they fee l just fi ne . Any discomfort from stiffness at first ' is more than made up for the excellent protection the boots provide. The ankle protection is outstanding. Sliding off a dirt ro ad into a ditch at 50 MPH wi th the rider's leg pinned under the bike proved that they work. The shin area of the boot is padded enough to prevent skin dings. The buckles are hard to cinch even though they're on swivel mounts. It takes several minutes to buckle up the boots. These are good boots, and they're semi-flashy, too. Seventy bucks is a lot, but then everything is a lo t now days. JOHN ULRICH has ...... 17

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