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/126627
WEST America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Sharo n Cl ayton, Publish er . Ca roli ne G endrv. Execu tive Secretary to th e Pu bl ishe r L isa Schorr, Advertising/ Edi to ria l Assistant. Editorial Dale Brown , Senior Ed itor. Lance Bryso n , Ed ito r. Karel Kramer . Edi tor . Advertising Sk ip J ohnson , Na tio na l Sa les Manag er. Terry Prau, Sa les Manage r. Du ane John so n , Sal es Man ag er. Steve Wil son, Sa les Manager . L inda Brown, Adverti sing Coo rdi nator. Nancy Danger . Advertisin g Assista nt. Graphics and Production Kristin Coo per. Gra phic Artis t. Ron a Kramer , Assista nt. Mari on H arashi ta . Typography . Denn is Gr eene, Lab or ato ry. Accounting/Data Processing Mike Klin ger, Co nt ro ller. Don na Bryan, Acco unts Receiv a bl e Coo rdi na tor. Ge neva Repass. Assistant. Terry Dailey, Credit Manager. Circulation Rh eb a Sm it h , Man a g er. M ichell e Hann a, Sarah T a ylo r, Debbi e Walker , Lyna H oo d . Assis ta nts. Want Ads Lo ah Corr y, Wa nt Ad Sales. Dealer Sales and Service Na ncy Emde Bro gger , Deal er Sales Manager. Service and Support Ch ris Aitch eson, Receptio ni st. G regory H an son , S&S. West 2201 Cherry Ave.. Long Beach , CA P.O. Bo x 498, Long Beach, CA 90801· 0498. (2U) 427·7433; L. A. L in e 636·88 44. East 4190 First Ave.. Tucker, GA. P.O. Box 805, Tucker, G A 30084·0805. (404) 934· 7850. Cycle News/West (US PS 141·340) is pu blished weekl y exce p t th e fir st a nd last we ek o f the calendar year fo r $20 per year by Cycle News , In c., 2201 Cherry Avenue, Long Beach , CA 90806. Second class postage p aid a t Long Beach , CA . POSTMASTER: Send form 357!Ho Cycle News. P.O. BOll 498. Long Beach. CA 90801-0498. . Su bscrip tio n rates: One year. seco nd class mail. $20; two yea rs, seco nd class mail. $35; th ree years, second clas s mail. $53; 25 weeks, $1I. Fo rei gn ra tes ava ila ble on request. Cycle New s welc om es un so licit ed edito ria l mat er ial in cluding sto ries, carloons, ph otos. etc. Suc h material, if pu blished . becomes th e excl usive prop· ertv of Cycle New s. Such acce p ted materi al is su bjec t to rev ision as is n ecessary in th e so le d iscreti on of Cycle News. Unso licited mat eri al which is not used will be ret urn ed if accom pan ied by a self addressed s ta m ped en velope. All unsolicited mat er ial wiJI be handled wit h reason ab le care, h ow ever. Cycle New s assumes no responsibilit y for th e safe ty. loss or da ma ge to suc h mat erial. Rep rinting in wh ol e o r pa rt o n ly by per mi ssio n of th e publish er. Adveru sin g rat es a nd circ u la tio n in for ma tio n will be send u pon request. See S.R.D .S. Copyrigh~ Cycle News. Inc. 19B3. Trademark Cycle News registered U.S . Patent Office. All rights reserved . ONTHE FRONTPAGE: Bob Hannah stormed to a double win in Seattle. Photo by Karel Kramer. 4 VOICES More H-D views... I'd like to comment o n Kerry Brethors t's letter " sett ing Harley-Dav idson 's record straight. " Harley-Davidson o n ly ap pea ls to a very limited segment of th e marketplace. That's exactly th e way they wan t it. Wh en is the last time you purchased a 500cc sport bike or a du al purpose on/off road bike from your Harley dealer? Talk about XR7 50s! Show me Harley's street production version of th eir XR 750 and I might be more than interested. So much for stead y and diligent development. The point is obvious. No matter wh at the Japanese do with th eir warehouses of motorcycles, unless you want a rustic chopper or a giant full dress tourer, you won't go to a Harley dealer. Kerr y talks of how we should support our last remaining American motorcycle manufacturer. I think he has it backwards. Harley-Davidson should first support us by producing motorcycles that .we want and then we can support them by bu ying their bikes . BOB DUNN Redwood City, CA After reading that, on Jan. 20, 1983, the International Trade Commission had agreed with the primary complaint of Harley-Davidson Motor Company - that the large number of imported Japan ese motorcycles threaten to injure their market - I was stu n nedl I believe it is not the Japanese motorcycles that threaten Harley, but Harley themselves. First of all , a very large percentage of the Japanese motorcycle market is in the mid-size engine range, a market in which Harley-Davidson does not even compete! Another major market is the off-road market, and Harley-Davidson does not compete in this market either! I also believe that if Harley-Davidson would build motorcycles of equal quality and offer them at a price in the sa me range as a comparable J apanese model, they would not be in the trouble the y are in . Some of the models of J a pa nese bikes that are competin g head to head with Harley are in fact built right here in the United -States . Also , if a person could figu re the number of American citiz ens wh o are employed, either directly or indirectly. / by the factories, di stributor s, dealers , accessory manufacturers, advertising ag encies, etc., because of the Japanese motorcycle industry, I'm sure the figures would get your attention. I don 't believe that Harley employs an ywhere near that many people. Many of today 's motorcycle consumers bu y motorcycles because they are inexpens ive and very economical to commute with. If Harley-Davidson bu ilt a motorcycle to fulfill thes e consumer needs , I'm sure they would have a larger market share. So why won't Harley-Davidson spend less time and money on lawyers and more time and money on engineers to build a motorcycle th at is what the American consumer wants and can afford, and can compete with the Japanese. After all, motorcycles are not 'crea ted eq ua l - people are. And the Japanese are people too! M. HISUL Butte, MT Mr. Brethorst's emotional letter about Harley's need for government intervention to stave off Japanese competition was patriotically based, but wa y off in factual base . So let'sset a few of these " facts" straight. The glut of Japanese motorcycles in the Uni ted States, as well as the rest ofthe world, was caused by the global recession, not to create an " all out sales war." Even as such a sales war might occur, it would be good for we ·co n· su mers as well as Harley. If you look at an y of the sales curves for the last decade, the more bikes th e Japanese sold, the more Harley sold. When the market place is good, it's good for everyone. To say that the .Japanese ha ve " mim icked" the Harley V-twin styling is absolute boloney. Harley did not invent the V-twin engine. Indian and Vincent were more lik e " m imicked " F-twin designs, and look what good it did them. As far as styling goes . Harley is being hypocritical to claim the Japanese are copy cats. Just take a look back 15 o r 20 years ago in any motorcycle magazine and you will see where Low Riders came from, and it was not Milwaukee. The success that the Japanese have had with V-engines has nothing to do with Harley any more than the folks in Milwaukee can lay cla im to design0 ing the V or Low Riders. Mr. Brethorst makes note of Harley's long dominance of dirt track racing with their XR750. I won't dispute that fact. However , it raises two big questions. If the XR750 is so good, why hasn't Harley (logically) ever put the bike into production as a street bike? Since they. haven 't, and since Harley's smallest street engined bike is a 1000cc, why is the whopping import tax penalty put on "all" 700cc a nd over motorcycles , Europeans included? In these cases Harley has proven its inability to produce a price/ performance/reliability competit ive 750ccstreet motorcycle. And the huge import penalty will penalize motorcycle makers and enthusiasts from half a dozen (non-Harley-competitive) countries. Is that fair? Hell nol It is un correct to think the proposed import penalties will create more jobs for Americans. In fact , just the opposite will happen. If the Japanese and European over-700cc motorcycles are so over-taxed people will simply not bu y them. They will not run down the street and jump on an over-priced, over-size. over-the-hill clunker like a Harley instead. That means a lot of lost motorcycle sal es, a lot of American made accessory sales and, as a result, a lot of lost jobs . A lot more jo bs will be lost in this way, thousands, than if Harley could even double sa les and hire a hundred or so extra hands. It's time to face the fact that th e people that will be unfairly hurt by the added import duty can least afford it : European manufacturers, American bu yers, American dealers and American workers. Packard and Kaiser and Eds el, with the same protectionist tariff, would be of no worldly good to any American had they survived in such a manner. You are right, Mr. Brethorst, that it would be a shame and a loss for H arley not to survive. But we all have to pay the piper. No one knows why : Harley has never made a modern, upto-date motorcycle. No one knows why they can make a great racing bike, ' but not translate that into a great sport bike. No one knows wh y . they continued to pay tall stock dividends instead of investing in R&D for the past 20 years. But we all know the inevitable answer to playing Rip Van Winkle. You mention that Harley has been aro u nd sin ce the first airplane flight. Okay, but imagine how successful a Wright Brothers special would be in the aircraft business against a 747 or F-16 or Space Shuttle. By the way , whatever did happen to the Wright Brothers? The dinosaur disappeared millions of years ago because it could not change. Harley, sad as it may be, may not su rvive because they will not change. I very highly resent H arley and the government jeopardizing m y business, m y job and myfamily's welfare just so they can contin ue to make "boat a nchors." The other industries Mr. Brethor st mentioned: auto, ste el; have only made dynamic technological and product quality progress after foreign competition. What he advocates is to continue to make Hogs by the old hammer and anvil manner. If that's the way you want your motorcycles. fine . But have the consideration to allow foreign products like -' motorcycles to enjoy competing equally in your " free enterprise" system without " un fair " penalty to so many. RALPH PRESTON Pub lished letters do not necessarily ref lec t t he posit ion of Cycle New s. In c. Send letters t o Voi ces. Box 498. Long Beac h. CA 90801 .