Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Opinion tinker's . damn abo ut wo r kin g wi th u s o nly to pull the wo ol over th e p oor sappy motorcyclist's eyes, an d you kn o w , they did a pretty good job! But now we kn ow wh at the y are, we don't have to be nice and negotiat e any more and th ey re ally don 't have a dam n t hi ng to say in defense, either . **** * Update: Jus t as I was abo ut to depart Madder'n a wet Motor Maid I'm irate! I even put off writing this because every' time I think of the content the blood pressure reaches simmer. < In "Voices" a reader to ok th e AMA to task pretty badl y. He crit icizes the AMA new sletter as containing nothing but " fat motor t 36 maids and stories o f ol d farts . . . " This ch ap is a desert rider an d is disturbed because he is on the endangere d specie s list now. The letter he wrote to the A. \IA was I c o pi ed by him fro m o ne of Rick Selman 's p iec es in Modem Cycle (the language h as the Siernan touch ) and if he read th e AMA newsletter for God's sa ke , he 'd find so mething out abo u t wh at we ar e up against in the bat tle for o ur righ t to ride. It 's all there , in th at littl e newsletter th at so many of you j ust throw away without bothering to o pen it. In th e Sep tem ber issu e, on the back page , is a p iece by Ed Youngbloo d entitled " Loo k Who 's Calling th e Kettle Black." The tal e I'm abou t to tell is fr om th at Youngblo od article and you can look up his so urc e in the AugustTl , 1975 Issue of Tim e. I q uo te Ed directl y I:. be cause he says it so well. " I learned th at th e Sierra Club, that formidable fighter of air pollution, op en " pit mining, pipeline digging and tr ee cutting owns st ock in General Motors, U.S. Steel , Te nneco and Weyerhauser. I learned that the Enviro nmental Defense Fund, th at very gro up that sued again st the Alaska pipeline and is currently opposing our motorized use of the desert, owns stock in Exxon. I learned that the National Audubon Society, th at leather of oil spills has leased o u t the oil and gas righ ts to some of its wildlife sanctuaries." N ow perhaps y o u can see what kind of cat the Sierra Club is. A nice altered domestic tabby treading with care ful paws on fr agile ground and smelling th e flowers in public , who at th e dark of the moon tu rns in to th e fiercest kind of predator. And predators are just wh at big companies are. "Save th e redwoodsl Don 't cu t down our big trees" cheers th e Sierra Club white getting dividend chec ks from Wyerhauser. " Yo ur m otorcycles ruin the de sert flo or, you ruin th e desert terrain," as the great strip mining machines make re ady right now to te ar up a portion of Death Valley, one of th e de sert 's most st ar kly be autiful place s. I co uld go on, b ut yo u get the picture . For so very long, many desert people regarded the Sierra Club (an d the o the r " enviro nmen tal pro te ct o rs") as so rt o f a n uns ophi st icated , simple woo d sy gro up who we re ju st a bit ignorant. On ce they understoo d us, th ey 'd fall in lin e. And th e Sierra Clu b , God bless 'em" j ust let u s go alo ng in believing that , im a g e whil e qu ietl y an d sm ilingly de positi ng th ose di vidend chec ks. Now yo u see what we have been figh t in g. Yes , I kno w all abo ut t he energy crisis an d that we will alwa ys have t o take from th e lan d wisely or per ish , but th at re all y is not t he issu e. The issue is that the sanc timoneous S i erra Clu b (and t he o thers) are hypocri tes . In so me circles a co n flic t o f inter est lik e they have go ing for them co uld b e gro unds for impeachment. So th e nex t tim e yo u read so me th ing like the arti cles by th at Sierra Club be r like Donal d Mu rchi e who tri ed oh so hard to unders tand us and our ways in th e des ert , rem em ber those blue chip stocks, and how fun n y we earnest so uls must seem to them . And also , won der like I d id abo u t why we never fo und out a bo u t thi s before. The only o ther men tion I fo un d i s in Moto rcycle Industry magazine wh ich is strictly for industry peo ple poin tin g out a Lo s Angeles T ime s article abo ut the m on ey in pollution an d n amin g the same stock and st o ck holders as the Tim e pie ce . Why didn 't we find these things o u t long ago in our battles? How co me M.O.R.E. h asn 't blown the whi stl e ? Or the motorcycl e ri der s wh o have worked their way into th e Sierra Club , o ne o f wh om was a Distric t 37 officer and st ill sits on the Board . As a biker I thank the AMA for that information (alth ou gh Lord know s how man y words we 've had ove r t he years). It was the M IA n ew sle tt er that poin ted this o ut, not the motorcycle medi a pu blicati ons. All th at ti me and effort ove r the year s we 've put in tr y ing to set up th in gs Iike " T he Ou tdoor Na tio n" so all o f us an tago nis ts co uld get toge th er an d work to gether have been in vain. The envi ronmentali sts never had car ed a in a cloud of st eam , here co mes th e postman , and a groovy poster from the Ph antom Du ck o f the De sert. Ph antom Du c k asks yo u to join the Firs t Ann ual Barstow to Vegas un organ ized Trail Ride. Th e Phantom Duck will le ave Harvard Ro ad on the 1974 start line , he ad fo r th e 19 74 smoke bomb and foll ow the 1974 trail. Every thing else is as it was in '74 , 'ce p t there 's no entry fee, no ribbon , n o lime , n o marked trail as it is over an area th at the BLM has designated as op en for use on exist ing ro ads and trails. Thre e ch eers fo r the Phanto m Du ck and long may h e qu ack. OK de sert typ es an d yo u n o t-so-desert types bu t wh o value y our rights, ge t in there Saturday, Novem be r 29 an d go for a trail ride. Bu t sho uld the San Gabriel Valley M.C. h ave their race, then en ter it and have fun. Maureen Lee FREE WHEELING The Fed s never quit. As if they hadn't stirred up en ou gh of a hornet's nest over co mpulsory helmet laws, the bureau crats in th e black hats are prep arin g th e same bla ckmail tact ics to en force th e 55 mph " Na t io na l Sp e ed Limi t. " (Questi on - How'd it get to be natio nal ? I neve r go t to vo t e o n it ... ) "Aww, Camp bell," y o u say . " You j ust like t o go fast ." Sure I do . Sure , I do n't like ge t t in g bus ted fo r d o ing so me th ing I enj o y - I st o od that ris k before th e 55 limit. What I really don ' t like abo ut it , one of th e ca rbook guys al ready sta ted in p lai n language: It's the dumbes t law since Pro hibition. A s a Fu e l- sa v i n g m e asur e, it discrimina tes against the owne rs o f small , effi cien t veh icles (whic h are also fas t ) so that Fat Dadd y can get 'a fe w m ore years ' use o ut o f h is Cad illac . It 's p o lit ically expedie n t because Congress pe rcei ves more Fat Daddies out the re than small ve hicle en th us iasts . As a life-saving me asure it sid est eps the p rime ca u se o f accid en ts - d u mb dr ivers - p ostpon in g indefin it ely the t ime of reckon in g with th e pro blem. Again it's politicall y ex pedient bec ause Congress per cei ves mo re d umb d rivers o ut there th an fas t d rivers (or bi kers). It 's o ur o wn faul t th at the law exi st s, bec ause we 've done li ttle to alter the perception of Congress. Wh en I say " we ," I'm lumping bi kers to ge th er with small ca r en th usiasts who (fo r better or wo rse ) h a ve t heir o wn ent h usiast publ ications to co unsel. Sp eaking as a bi ker, I hav e a vehicle that d oe s 75-80 mph part-thrott le an d gets 4 0 to 50 mil es per gallo n while doing so . You do too. If we 'r e forced t o ride at a d ull, sn orin g speed, fo uling plugs an d m uttering j ust so a bunch o f plutocrats in cars can co nt in ue playing "business as usual " at o ur ex pe nse , we ha ve a ver y dee p , person al reason fo r hat in g the 5 5 limit and all it stands fo r . No w t hat I've ha d time to digest the co n te n ts of th e September 9, 19 75 Federal Register , I can give yo u a few more reaso ns for hat in g it. Yup , sandwiche d in th ere between EPA ' s toleran c es fo r pesticide in c h i c ke n feed a nd Dep artmen t o f Interior 's sta n da rds for th e co nstru ct io n of refu se pil es (how appropriate! ) is t his littl e mi s siv e ent itl ed " N a ti o nal Maximum Speed Limit - Certificat ion of Sp eed Li mit En fo rceme nt. " It say s that in orde r to o b t ain ap pro val of Federal-aid proj ects under 23 USC 106, the Go vernor o f each state m ust certi fy th at his st at e is enfo rcin g th e 55 limit. Am ong the th in gs th e Govern or must provide the Feds ar e: I) A monthly co un t o f speedin g citations issu ed by st at e agencies. 2) A monthl y " s peed profile " d et e r m i n e d by hidden speed m onit or in g stat io ns scattered abo ut th e st at e 's major highway s. Want me to run th at by agai n? It me ans that whe rever y ou ride, sm ile , beca u se you m ig ht be on radar, beco ming a Feder al sta t istic. It means sp eeding ticket q uo tas set by Federal poli cy. And it means t hat an y state th at d oesn't to e the line be comes a can d ida te for sanction pro ceedings, j ust like w ith th e hel me t law . Aft er entertain ing co m ments from st at e e n f'o rc e m e nt ag e nci e s, but ap pare n tly n on e th at the y'd publicly ac kn ow ledge fro m us spe eders and ot her asso rte d rowdies, th ey made th e whole regu lat io n effec tiv e Se p te m ber 9, so we wo ul dn 't h ave t ime to bitch . Come Jan uary I , 19 76, they'll start deciding which states are "cer tifie d" speed traps. One m ar vel s a t t h e a mo u nt of bureaucrati c arrogance th is invo lves ! C on gr es s is already calling into qu estion their rig h t to use hi ghway- fund blac kmail to stu ff helmets o n our he ads. Cong ress has alre ad y repudiated the " p u blic b urden " fear by repealing the seat belt interlocks. Yet the Bureau blun der s ri gh t ahead, pursuing the same tired old objective s with the same o bj ec tio na ble te chniques. And it 's reall y o ur faul t be ca use as I said we 've lar gel y failed to alter t he per ception of Con gres s. If the po ls fail to perceive bi ker power wh en there are literall y mill ion s of us , it will be be cause we were bo th d u mb an d lazy . So af te r yo u finish yo ur letter to yo ur Con gres sman o n the helmet law (0 r o n th e de sert clo sures , or on po llutio n co n trols, or wh atever); how abo ut wr iting ano t her on th e 5 5 limit? Loo k at it th is way - an ab u se of power is an abuse of powe r, regar dl ess of the atten da n t publi city . If o ne suc h abuse alread y got y o u o ff t he dime, a sec ond o ne 0 f t he same kin d deserve s a respo nse, to o . That way the bureaucrats get the message - we do n't quit either. Lane Campbell Guest editorials Norton· Triumph , talks back On a rec en t sho rt visit to the West Coast I was both staggere d and disapp oin ted to read a leader article in Cycle News in whi ch Chuck Cla yt on w a s highly disparaging abo u t the Brit ish mo torcycle indu stry and about Norto n Tr iumph Corp or ati on in parti cular. I find it worryi ng t hat so m eone os te nsib ly as res p on sib le as Mr . Clayton di d not ta ke tim e o u t to ch ec k th e full fact s o f th e present situa tion . Fo r the record there are two prime fac to rs wh ich ca use NVT (the paren t

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