Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125883
Recommended reading from Cycle News Products ORDER THESE BOOKS • • Motorcycle tuning for perfonnance How to Win • eO. Motocross Tells yo u everv th ing taught in Gary Bailey's rae S '·. ing school s. An swers all the quest ions about equipment, starts, corners and rough stuff, whoops and downh ills, mud and passing, and expert tricks . A great $ 6 confidence-builder. 7' it 176 How to ride Observed Trials ' The Boonie Book New, second edi tion explains how to ride the dirt, make you r bike work for you, tr icks of maintenance, safety and what to do for many happy tankfuls of trai l riding joy. Covers $ 6 everything except ecology. u p -to -d a te pages , o ver 300 il· I ustrat ions show ing ho w to get the max imum speed, torque and gear ing out of your present setup. Also advice on trick modifications. This books plus your owner's man-$ 6 ual is all you need to go fast . Read thi s book and refer to it for everyth ing needed to excel and have fun in the " rid e anywhere" sport of trials. Riding techniques, bi ke mod if icat ions, organizing tr ialS' $ 6 rul es, charts, everything. start . Well get to the causes in a minute but let's deal with th e more important matter first. The clubs and the District sho uld immediately ma ke it clear that figh ting will no t be tolera te d by a dopt ing th e follow ing rules: I.) An yone wh o sta rts a fight , even by so mu ch as a rou gh shove. should b e immediately disq ualified from th e event. 2.) He should be expelled fro m his club and 3 .) His district card should be lifted. 'These measures should have two effects. First they should dis courage any but the m ost belligerent in divi d ual, because starti ng a fight would vir tual ly end a rider's par t icipa tion in the spo rt . Secon dl y , these rul es, if enacted an d enforced should convince authorities that such conduct is no t an integral part ' of th e sport. Then if something gross does ha p pe n one of these days. the sport might survive in spi te o f it. The mos t im mediate cause fo r fights in t his last end uro was th e fact tha t th ere were a number of b o t tlen ec ks. Bottlenec ks are fru strat ing. You sit · th ere watching you r p oints disappear whil e so me clod t ries to horse his bike over a rock yo u 're sure yo u co uld ride a ten-spe ed bi cycle o ver . Then, after yo u've los t ten minutes an d all cha nce fo r a t ro phy, ju st as it's your turn to go, an other guy slide s by yo u, has th e mom en tum, st icks his fro nt wheel in front of yours and yo u wait so me m or e. It 's bad eno ugh if th e guy is reall y a . b et ter rid er and get t hro ugh quickly and disap pears. Bu t if he takes longer th an that, your bloo d really boils, right? "inning when I have no ch anc e. By the same tok en , this bit o f lining up like cus to me rs in a supermarke t seems ridi culous. It's not that kind of sport. The ones who insist on lining up in an orderly sing le file are usually th e sa me ones wh o take ten minutes to crawl over a rock th ey shoul d have jumped. The poi nt of no t to uch ing so meo ne else's b ike o r body see ms to me th e bes t criterion because i t's an easy o ne to observe. Not cutting a line is an impossib le cri terio n. Wh at co nstitutes a line ? Two squirrels line up behind a six-inc h bump? Most often there are a t least two ways through any bo ttl eneck , bu t th e second way is a lot harder. Anyone who wan ts to get thro ugh the line to try the harder way should be a l lo wed th rough , in my opinion. End uros are a test of ridi ng skill so it see ms to me that anyone who wants to exhibit a h igh er order of ski ll sho uld be encourage d . Besides it mi ght be fun to watch him wedge his bike upsi de down between two ro c ks. If thi s cr ite rio n o f not touching in any co n trolled sit ua t ion wer e; ad o p ted by th e Distri ct o r t he AMA, it would e n d the provocation for fighting im mediately. Th e offended rider would simply protest th e o ffe ns ive rid er and have hi m di squ alified . It would work like thi s. Suppo se th a t a rider attem pted to cu t in to a line wh ere th ere was not a large eno ugh hole and he wound up kno cking aga inst t he o the r rid ers front wh eel. The rider wh ose wh eel has been hit simply yells " Pro test," and mak es a me ntal note of the rider's n umber and Absol utely t he finest book on off-road motorcycle rid ing techniques ever offered, Bill Brokaw , Expert rider, tells how to ride th e hard stuff, eas y. Illustrated , lat est ed ition . Escape by T rail Bike only $3.75 HANGUP-GUARANTEED CAFE HONDA with H o l l y w o o d Hills signs in background . 111, x 2', full color, matte finish. Mailed in tube. $2.75 Columni st M aure en L ee le afs through th e 21 j,·Ib . "Draft Envi ronm ental Impa ct Sta t emen t" o n t he Barst ow-Vegas ra ce, pre p a r e d b y t he Bur e a u o f L a nd M anag e m e n t at t he insistence of e co logy p r e ss u r e groups. O ne w ond e r s h ow m a n y trees h a d to be gro und into p ul p to p r o d u c e a ll th e cop ies o f the BLM b o ok. Mai l order is fun. Send check or money order to Cycl e News Prod uc ts, Bo x 498 , Long Beach , CA 90801 Please rush me th e items I have check ed below. I am enclosing a check or money order fo r total pr ice plu s 50 cents sh ipping. (Cal ifo rn ia residents please ad d 6% sa les tax .) [ 1 How to Win Motocro ss [ I Moto rcycle tu ni ng fo r performa nce _ 56 .00 _ 6 .00 6.00 6.00 3.75 [ 1 The Boon ie Boo k [ 1 How to ride Ob served Tr ials [ 1 Escape by T rai l Bike [ 1 Caf e 2_75 Honda post er Name _ Address, City _ St ate _ _ _ _ Z ip, Allow 3 weeks for delivery. ADDRESS : Cycle News Products, Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801 22 _ What are the principles in suc h a case? As far as I know the re is nothing authorative that has been written about the subject. The best I can do is offer my views on t he subject an d suggest a code be fo rm ulated by the District , or po ssibl y by th e AMA. In a bottleneck situ ation , I don't wait in line if I can see a diffe rent way th rough , or if there is a " hol e" in the line where I can get my front wheel in . I figu re that serious riders will be anxio us and will keep th e line cl osed and th at non-serious riders can wait. But I rega rd it as im pro pe r to tou ch ano ther guy 's b ike or body , as lon g as he d oesn't deliberately stic k an arm or foo t in fron t o f me . I figur e as lon g as I don 't tou ch h im , its sim ply a matt er o f my de te rminatio n and ski ll vers us h is and if I be at him o u t he 's go t no more sq ua w k th an if I passed him o n a rock y hill. . As a matter o f co urtesy and recogn iti on o f ab ili ty, I let kn own , bet ter ride rs in ah ead of me. And in fact I wo uld probabl y let any rider in wh o told me he had a good run go ing, unless I had a winning run go ing myself. It seems unsportsm a nlik e to me to hold up better rid ers wh o h ave a chance of the number of someone else nearby who saw what happened. (If th ere 's no o ne aro und, it is no t a bottleneck, right?) If th e o ffe nsi ve ride r keeps go ing, the pro test is file d (no filing fee on this , I sho uld thi nk), and the co mpet iti o n com m ittee decides if it is valid . If th is ru le we re use d often, it wo ul d require some tigh tening up. But it would wo r k th e same as it does in boat ra cing : Come as close as you dare but do n' t touch o r yo u 're o ut of the game. En d uros should n't have bottlenecks, but often they are the lesser of th e evils. As rid ing ar eas get fewer a nd sm aller, an d every rid abl e trail has been ridden a tho usa nd tim es, o ne can hardly blam e a clu b for tryi ng to make its run int eresting, or a t any rat e unforgettable, by ins erting a Iitt le pi ece o f hard trail . With decent pl acem ent of checks , a bottlen eck o f moderat e proporti on doesn 't even hu rt any th ing. But we are very much ove rd ue for a co de o f co nd uct at bottlenecks , and a way of resolv ing con fl icts short of muscles , mayh em or murder. Ron Schneiders