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/126624
from making and selling better motorcycles in America on the basis that Harley refuses to produce a modern, affordable motorcycle. just think; if Harley made slide rules, they would have had the government stop th e import of hand calculators because they ref used to recognize the existence ofthe computer chip. And where would we all be then? The government's decision was nei ther righ t nor fair for American motorcycle riders. WEST DEAN BURNElT Burbank, CA P .S. Regardless of the decis ion, it won't make me buy H arley-Davidson motorcycles l America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Sharon Clayton, Publisher Caro line Gendry. Executive Secre ta ry to the P ubl ish er Li sa Sch orr, Advert isin g/ Edi tori al Assistant. Editorial Dale Brown, Se nior Ed it or . Lance Bryson , Editor. Karel Kramer, Ed itor. Jim Bowman. Edi tor . Advertising Skip J ohnson, Nation al Sales Manage r. T erry Pratt. Sales Manager . Duane Johnson. Sal es Manager. Steve Wil son. Sales Manager. Limb Brown. Advertising Coordinator. Nancy Danger. Advertising Assistant. Graphics and Production Kristin Cooper, Graphic Artist. Rona Kram er. Assistant. Marion Hatashita, Typo grap hy . Dennis Greene, Laboratory . Accounting/Data Processing Mike Klinger. Controller. Donna Bryan, Accounts Re ceivable Coord inator. Geneva Repass. Assistant. Terry Dailey. . Credit Ma nager . Circulation Rheba Smith , Manager. Mi ch elle Hanna, Sarah T a ylo r, Debbie Walker, Lyna Hood. Assistants. Want Ads Loah Corry, Want Ad Sales . Dealer Sales and Service Nancy Emde Bragger. Dealer Sales Manager. . Service and Support Chris Aitcheson , Receptionist. Gregory Hanson. 511:5. West 2201 Ch erry Ave.. Long Beach. CA P.O . Box 498, Long Beach. CA 908010498. (213) 427-7433; L.A. Line 636-8844. East 4190 First Ave.. T u cker, GA. P.O . Box 805, Tucker , GA 30084-0805. (404 ) 934·7850. Cycle New s/West (U SPS 14f ·34 0) is publish ed weekl y excep t the fi rst a nd last week o f th e calenda r year fo r $20 pe r year by Cycle News. In c.. 2201 Ch err y Aven ue, Lon g Beach, CA 90806. Seco nd class postage p aid a t Lo ng Beach . CA. POSTMASTER: Send form 3679 to Cycle News, P.O. Box 498. Long Beech, CA 90801 -0498 . Su bscr ip tio n rates: One yea r. seco nd clas s mail, $20 ; two yea rs. second class m ail , $35; three years. sec o n d class mail, $53; 25 week s, $11. Fo reign ra tes a vaila ble o n request. Cycle News welc omes un solicit ed edito ria l materi al includin g stories. cartoons , photo s. etc. Su ch materi al , if p ublish ed. becom es th e excl usive pr operty of Cycle News. S uc h a ccepted malerial is su bject to revisi on as is necessary in the so le di scretion of Cycle New s. Un so lici ted mat erial which is not used will be returned if a ccompanied by a self add ressed sta m ped en velope. All unsolicited material will be handled with reasonable care, h owev er. Cycle . News assu mes no responsibility Ior th e safety. loss or damage to such material. Reprinting in wh ole o r pan onl y by pe rm issio n 9 £ the publisher. Advertising rates a n d cir culation information will be sen d upon req uest, See S.R.D .S. Copyrigh~ Cycle News, Inc. 1983. Tredemerl< Cycle New. registered U.S. Patent Office. All rights re- served. ON THE FRONT PAGE: Our ece tester enjoys spring end springing .on the XR200, Photo by Karel Kramer, :4 ' Memories of Jon Woo Last summer my II-year-old son Gary II and I did something that we had been putting off for several years, and that was to attend a road race. Gary, who is currently campaigning a Kawasaki KDX80 in mini motocross , and I. a dirt rider turned Feather River Canyon street rider. thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and are definitely hooked on Superbikes, The riders. promoters and operators at Sears Point International Raceway were especially cordial all day long, making our August day at the races all the more fun . The object of this letter is that we didn't realize what a special day it would tum out to be for us. Although we were very di sheartened and sad to hear the news of jon Woo's very untimely death. we had th e pleasure o f meeting and conversing with him for a few minutes waiting for th e resta n of th e las t race. j on was as described by many kind. friendly a nd fiercely co m petitive on the Kawasaki again st th e alm ost insurmo un ta ble odds of th e factory competition. Although we met briefly with suc h n am es as Wa yn e Ra in e y. W es Cooley. Mike Baldwin, etc., a ll of whom were also ex tre mely co rdia l to Gary II, we didn 't know at that time who jon Woo was . Believe me, by th e time the day was over, we knew and so did everyone else. Yes. our day at the Superbike races wa s very special indeed! GARY N. NINMAN Central Vall ey, CA Are these guys OK? I have come to accept many of the oddities invo lved with trail riding in remote forest areas, but one of th e oddities keeps reoccurring, although in slightly different forms. I have freq uented the Gorman area for many years as a trail rider and camper. Over the last three years or so I have encountered, numerous times. the red and gold jerseys of the Checkpoint M.e. My first encounter with the Checkpoints was probably about three years ago as I was camping atop Alamo Mountain. After a hard day's ride, my buddy and I had settled in for a good night's sleep near a natural spring that fountained out of the ground into a water trough. This area is well known to many riders. Along about II p .m. we heard what sounded like a mass of motorcycles climbing a hill. The sound intensity increased for the next 10 minutes as half a dozen or so headlights came dicing down a fireroad toward the spring. The riders stopped for a quick drink of.water, noticed my buddy and I, introduced themselves. commented on the beautiful evening, and sped off down the fireroad to continue their trek . More recently, say within the last co u p le of months, I have witnessed Checlc.point members riding down Snowy Trail with cross-country skis and poles fastened to packboards on th eir backs . It wasn't until last week that my m ind was really blown. As m y buddy and I were managing o ur wa y down Long Dave Canyon, we saw two guys rid ing mountain bikes on the same trail. This trail is tough for motorcycles with suspensio n. but for bicycles - yuki The two ' rider s sported Checkpoint M.C. jerseys. Are th ese guys OK? Buy one nowl .I'm rushing right down to buy a new bike after seeing the news last night. I'm not going to a Harley dealership, I'm going to look at a Honda Gold Wing or Sabre. Then I'm going to the Yamaha dealer to price a Venture and a Vision. Next are the Kawasaki and Suzuki dealers. The embargo to be placed on the japanese bikes by the Feds is because. Milwaukee can't compete with qual- ' ity products that we can buy for less than an $8,000 Harley. While those top notch, affordable japanese bikes are available I'm going to buy one. Harley says they have troubles because they must sell 35,000 bikes to . break even. Heck, the japanese are supposed to have well over a million new bikes to sell right now, and Harley thinks they have problems. How would th ey like to have a million bikes to have to sell. It would only take them 27 years and seven months. And it isn 't like Harley hasn 't been given fair warning to modernize their bikes. The first 750 Honda four was sold here about 15 years ago. Harley says the japanese have even "stolen" their chopper and V-twin designs. I guess that means that Harley has had the Hells Angels employed as design consultants. It must also mean that Ducati, Mota Guzzi, Mota Morini and the like also robbed them of something. If Detroit had gotten away with this type of embargo against the japanese, we'd all be driving DeSotos and Kaiser pickups while th e rest of the world passed us by. If Harley wants m e to buy one of their bikes, they will have to make something better than what I can buy at any Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki or Kawasaki dealer. If I can 't do that I'll take the cost of a Harley and bu y two compact cars for the same money. One for me and one for the wife. ARTHUR L. McPHERSON Verdugo City, CA BOB ONEBA & JACK PANEL Santa Fe Springs, CA Harley-Davidson: bad play On last night 's TV news I witnessed a truly wrong decision by.our government: To penalize the japanese for Harley-Davidson 's ineptitude. Harley claims that the japanese big bikes are unfair competition because they are better and cheaper than America 's only remaining manufacturer. Well the japanese do make big bikes better and cheaper than Harley does, by a long shot. But that isn 't anyone's fault but Harley's, They, by their own admission, have had 80 years to make "new" motorcycles but have chosen.not to. That is not the fault of the japanese who have only been in the U.S . motorcycle market for one-fourth that time. Harley baked their own cake and should eat it . There simply is no sensible reason .(o.stoP. the japanese Published letters do not necesnrily reflect the position of Cyc le New s, Inc. Send letters to Voi~s, Box 498, Long Beech, CA 90801.