Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

POLITICAL HOTLINE Yes, we gat he red all tha t p olitical crap th at yo u'd rath er not read and got it together in one sectio n tha t you'd ra ther not read . Trouble is, wh at's happening here is going to happen whether you choose to ignor e it or no t. And the m ore you igno re it , th e mor e it's going to happen. What's in here? Bulle tins of pen ding gove rn me nt actions, meeting not ices, bits of ne ws an d adv ice th at are too lon g for Pap a Wealey (0 1' boy 's attention span is rathe r sho rt ; he' s getti ng senile) and too short for a full-fledged column. It's open to you . If you're working yo ur buns off for the good of th e sport, let us kn ow it, wh at yo u're doing, what you r problem s are, and blow yo ur horn wh en yo u win a ro und . Public meeting co ming u p in yo u r area? Don 't j ust assume we'll know abou t it ; drop us a notice. Mark th e st uff for Polit ical Hotline and help us get the wo rd out. Where to go and whom to call Beginning on Page 23 is a legislative reference p ull out o n California . Our thanks t o the sta ff of Assemblyman Paul Carpenter for getting us the material to put in it : th e names and ad d resses of all o ur st at e legislat o rs along with the maps to help us find who represents us in o ur home areas . I T o get a sim ilar package to gether for each stat e in the Cy cle New s West re ading area is our go al, but to do it, we're go ing to need so m e help. This is a straigh tfo rward pl ea for riders in o th er I st a tes to gat her up simila r info rmat io n so we can run reference sheets o n y o ur area. First o ne t o ge t us a packa ge on Ore gon or Arizo na gets th eir nam e in Gycle New s, a Biker pi n and tons o f thank-yous. What 's it all for? Because for every Sie rra Clu bb er or bu rea ucrat trying t o do us harm, there 's may be five or 10 bikers sitting on th eir t h umbs, sayi ng, "Duh, I'd w rit e a letter b ut I don 't know who to wri te o r where . In sho rt , y our own ignorance is our worst enemy . tI Where's the industry and 'why aren't they helping? If th ere 's anythi n g th at's keeping in di vi d u a l bikers fro m reall y gettin g off the dime and getting politically ac t ive, it 's the forl orn hope th at somed ay the motorcycle in d ustry will see how much o f a bi nd it 's in and magicall y ap pear with tons o f money backed by hordes of lawyers to save us all. Fo rge t it. Look at th e track rec ord of the aut o indu stry . Her e is a near -m o nopo ly b usi ness co n tr o lled by fo ur giant fir ms '" that one way or ano ther use d to provide . one in every seve n Americans w it h a ·j o b. Here were a bunch of execu tives o w ho belonged to t he same clubs and sip ped th e same martinis wh o co u ld , by act in g together , literally sh ut this coun try down h ad they see n r easo n t o do so. When faced, nearl y 10 years ago, with Fed er al regulations that .we re go ing to ad d h undreds o f do lla rs in infl ationary costs to each vehicle , make every car ru n po sit ivel y r otten , and blow th e average leadb ar ge's gas mil eage (already horribl e) co m pletely t o hell , th ey had reaso n to fight. But th ey di dn' t. Maybe at th e ti me th ey were t oo he avil y in t o defense co n trac ting fo r their d aily bread , Maybe there was nobody in their heirarch y with foresigh t to see that soone r o r later t he ir cap t ive cu sto mers w ou ld reb el agai nst paying m or e and more for cars that did less and less. But t hey d idn't, and we 're all paying the price today . By co m par iso n, loo k at th e m otorcycl e indus try . Her e is a bu siness do minated b y fo reign fir ms who depend o n the gove rn ment's favo r just t o be able to import th eir p ro d uct. Aside from th at , their econo mic im pact is miniscule com pared to most domestic co rpo rations. In short, th ey are scar ed of their shado ws fro m th e sta rt , reall y afraid o f any direct co n fro n ta t io n w ith an agency of th e Federal go vern men t . Add to t hat, the fact that they are u p to their ears in product liability lawsuit s. That's right, d oc t ors ar e not th e only o nes being d rive n up the wall by th e co mbina tio n of ambu lance-chasing law yers and everyday h uman greed. On e of the Big Fo u r is said to have more th an $2 milli on in a u tstanding lawsu its ta ng led up so mewhere in th e legal sys tem. It so happens that when a product is covered under an in d ustry-w id e performan ce st an dard, the m aker is less liable to lawsui t when so me nerd mis uses it. And if that st an dard is one imposed o n t he industry by go vern men t , t he protectio n is greater th an it is for a voluntary st andard . T his has th e motorcycle industry go ing to the govern men t to say , " Oh plea se regulate u s, bu t let us wri te t he regula t io ns ." It is, to put it d elicat ely , an aw kwa r d po sitio n - especially for t he poo r de vils wh o act ua lly have to pl ay th e g. me an d still be held resp onsible to ov er seas man agemen t. Get the picture? If we wa n t to keep public lands open, fight helmet laws , keep emissio n co nt ro ls fro m wr ecking our field of choice and keep noise standards from ge t t ing o u t of hand , we riders are go ing to have to do it o ursel ves , with o nly to ken help fr om the indus try. Wheth er we work through AMA, M.O .R.E . , C.O.O . L. , Na t ional Outdoor Co ali tion, A. B.A.T.E., MMA, SCMA, o r on o u r own or whatever - it 's o ur baby . What happened in Oregon? That 's what we'd like to know. How d id Oregon's Department of Envi ro nme n tal Qu ality (DEQ) get so far wi th their Chap ter 340 noise co ntrol rul es for th e sale of new motorcycl es. As rep orted earlier, o n ly six b rands of mo t o rc y cles we re certified, as of October 14, for sal e in the st at e af ter Jan uary I, 1976. Acco rd in g to DEQ's standar ds, the "certi fied " motorcycles ar e those which m eet an 83 dbA noi se lim it (a standard that apparently is written for testing at 5 0 ft .). Further, th is limit will go to 8 0 d b A in 19 77 , 75 dbA af ter 19781 Models acc ep ted so far: Duca ti 860 GT ( !) ; Hodaka Road Toad; m ost m odels of Hond a including th e CR250M Elsinore (wo nder how they go t th at do wn to 83 dbA) ; Mota Guzzi 850T, 1000 Converter ; most Ves pa mod els; and most Yam ah a models, including the GTMXC, MX 125C, and YZ80C. Accord ing to Ji m Ro ck st ad, Gen eral Manager of th e an nua l Po rtl an d Mo t orcycle Sh o w , th e firms left out eit he r have not y et respo n ded t o the DEQ's letters o r can 't m eet t he standard. We note th ere is no except io n for off-road bikes, o nly for "racing" machinery (more o n t ha t la ter). So far , the published ce rt ificatio n list means no mo re BMWs, Bultacos, CZs , Can-Ams , Har ley s, Husk ys, Kawasa kis, Maicos, No r to ns, O s sas , Mo n t e sa s , Perno n /K'I'Ms , Suzu kis or Triumphs (to nam e t he mo re obvious) can be so ld or even stocked by dealers in th e state o f Orego n a ft er the firs t of th e year, under pen alt y o f up to $5 00 per viol at ion . Accord ing to a letter written by Lo re n Kr am er , DEQ Direc to r , this co uld mean $500 per bike per day. We not e also th e presence of mor e t ha n o ne motocross bike · o n th e ce rt ifica t io n list for th e two "biggies" th at m ade th e grade. Without regard to how th e pare nt firms man aged to get th em certified to 83 dbA , th ere 's no qu est io n as to th e "why " o nce yo u u nd er st and t he prov isio ns of t he race bike exem p tio n. In o rd er to buy an u nc ert ified (rac e) b ike yo u an d your deal er have to fill o ut and get n otari zed a DE Q ap plication fo r exemp tio n. In o rder t o get yo ur applica ti o n ap proved, yo u must list th e racing organ izations to which yo u belong, up to five co mpet itio n events yo u 've en tered in the last y ear, and u p to five eve nts you pl an to ent er in the co ming ye ar . The Department has 10 days afte r receipt to approve or de n y your application. On approval, t he dealer may th en orde r yo ur mo to rcycle. You can't even loo k at a Hus k y 250 C R or a Pursang or an RM3 70 o n yo ur dealer' s floor because he 's forbidden by th e law to d isp lay o ne. So far, it ap pears th at th is regulation is goi ng to have the same e ffect as man y another government a ttem p t t o regu la te a given industry : th e giant co rpo ra tio ns manage to somehow mud dl e throug h wh ile th e individ ual ly owned and operated sh o ps ar e left t o hang. If th e Morgan s and the Ro c kefellers were in dustrial pirates, wh at do y ou ca ll a go vernmen t agency th at can at a stro ke de st roy market co m p et itio n an d hand a m on opoly to a favo red few ? Dire ctor Kramer co ncl udes his Oc tober 3 0 letter to the industry as foll ows: your uWe sinc erely appreciate co ncerns rega rdi ng t he ad m in istratio n of th e Oregon no ise regulati ons and we ho pe th at you u nders t and t h at t he goal o f our Commissio n is to red uce the im pact of th e nu mber o ne no ise problem in Oregon." It alics ou rs. It 's d isgu sti ng. CALIFORNIA CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION See map page 24. DISTR ICT 1. HAROLD T. JOHNSON (01 2. DON H. CLAUSEN (R) 3 . JOHN E. MOSS (D) 4. ROBERT L. LEGGEn(D) 5 . JOHN L. BURTON (D) 6 . PHI LLIP BURTON (D) 7. GEORGE MILLER (D) B. RONALD V. OELLUMS (D ) 9 , FORTNEY H. STARK (D) 10. DON EDWARDS (D) 11. LEO J . RYAN (D) 12. PAUL N. McCLOSKEY, JR. (R) 13. NORMAN Y. MINETA (D) 14 . JOHN J . McFALL (D) 15. B.F . SISK (D) 16. BURT L. TALCOn (R) 17. JOHN KREBS (D) ' 18. WILLIAM M. KETCHUM (R) 19. R O BE RT J. LAGOMARSINO (R) 20. BARRY M. GOLDWATER, JR (R) 21. JAMES C, CORMAN (D) 22. CARLOS J. MOORHEAD (R) 23. THOMAS M. REES (D) 24. HENRY A, WAXMAN (D ) 25. EDWARD R. ROYBAL (D ) 26. JOHN H. ROUSSE LOT (R ) 27 . ALPHONZO BELL (R) 28 . YVONNE BRATHWAITE BURKE (D) 29. AUGUSTUS F. HAWKINS (D) 30, GEORGE E. DANIELSON (D) 31 . CHARLES H. WILSON (D) 32. GLENN M. ANDERSON (D ) 33. DEL CLAWSON (R) 34. MARK HANNAFORD (D ) 35. JIM LLOYD (D) 36. GEORGE E. BROWN , JR . (D) 37. SH IRLEY PEniS (R) 38. JERRY PAnE RSON (D) 39. CHARLES E. WIGGINS (R) 40. ANDREW J . HINSHAW (R ) 41 . BOB WILSON (R) 42. LIONEL VAN DEERLIN (D) 43. CLAIR W. BURGENER (Rl Political happenings Even ts listed in th e new sec tion at righ t will be mee tings, rallies, fund-raisers, public hearings, special elections, an y thing tha t bears on government and ou r right to ride. Help us keep it fu ll by sending notice of happenings in yo ur area - do n 't just assume we'll know about it b y magic. BLM - CALIFORNIA SUSANVI LLE DISTRICT MU LTIPLE USE ADVISORY BOARD DAT E CH ANG E Meetin g ch anged fr o m Nov ember 18 an d 19 , 1975 t o Decemb er 4 an d 5, 19 75. BLM - CALIFORNIA FOLSOM DISTRICT MULTIPLE USE ADVISORY BOARD Fo lso m District Office, 6 3 Nato ma Street, Fo lso m, Califo m ia o n De cember 5, 19 75, a t 10 a. rn, Op en to the public. T ime will be made availab le beginnin g a t 3 p.m. for brie f statements by members of the p ub lic. Those wishing t o mak e oral statemen ts should inform the District Man ager . Wri tten statemen ts may be filed fo r t he Board's co nsiderat io n by su bmitting th em at the me eting or mailin g in advan ce to Alan P. Thomso n , Distri ct Man ager. 00 l-< I\) ..0 .8 I\) ::- o Z BLM - CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE DISTRICT MULTIPLE USE ADVISORY BOARD Decemb er 11 , and 12, 1975, at th e Hol id av Inn, 300 W. Palmdal e Blvd. , Palmdal e, CA. On Decem ber 12, 19 75, t he board will meet in join t session with th e Baker sfield Califo rn ia District Multiple Use Advisory Board for a briefing on the Draft Managemen t Framework Plan for the EI Paso-Re d Mo untain Resource Areas. The mee ti ng will he o pen to the p ublic. Time will be ava ilab le fo r a limited number of b rief state men ts by mem bers of th e public. Th ose wishing to make oral statements .shou ld notify the District Manager, Riverside District, 1695 Spruce si., Riverside, CA 9 25 07 . Written sta tements may be su b mitted at th e me etin g or m ailed to the Riverside Dist rict Manager at th e ab ove addres s. Furth er info : Go rd on Flint, PA O , (7 14) 78 7-1462. BLM - COLORADO STEERING COMMITIEE, NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD Dec ember 5 , 19 75 in De nve r, Col orad o, 8 a.rn. to 4 p.m.. Ro o m 708 o f th e Co lorado State Office, Bureau of La nd Management, Co lorado State Bank 1600 Broadway, Den ver, Buildi ng, Col o rado . Th e co m mi ttee will co nsider and mak e recommend at ion s co ncerni ng policy an d pro gram issues to be addresse d by th e National Ad visory Board. Those wishin g to mak e an oral state ment should notify the Colorado Burea u of Land St at e Directo r, Man agement, Col orad o Sta t e Bank Building, 16 0 0 Broadway, Denver , Colo rado 80 20 2, before t he close of business Wednesda y , December 3,19 75. Any in terest ed perso n may file a written sta te me n t conc erning suggested topics for Board considerat ion at th e meeting o r by mail to the Direct or (2 3 0), Bu re au of Lan d Managem ent, Wash ington, D.C. 202 4 0. information : Mr. G.C. Further Hin to n , Public Affairs Officer, (3 03) 837·44 8 1. BLM - NEW MEXICO LAS CRUCES DISTRICT MULTIPLE USE ADVISORY BOARD DATE CHANGE December 3, 19 75 at 9: 30 a.rn. at the District O ffice, 1705 N. Valley Dr ive , Las Cruces , New Mexico . The meeting will be open t o t he public. Anyo ne w ishing to make a prese n ta tio n t o t he board or submit a written sta t em ent sh o uld co ntact William K. Barker, Dis trict Manager, Bureau o f Land Management , Las New Mexico 88 0 0 1, C ruces, (5 23-5 5 71 ). • 15

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