Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

cades in Ru idoso, New Mexico, have drawn as many as 8 ,000. This year's events in clude a number of unique activities, such as, two hour cruises w ith a buffet supper on board c ru ise boats plying the waters of Lake George. Dozens of seminars and clinics, and hundreds of troph ies and awards are addi tional enticements for the f irst 5,000 who register. Inf o is avai lable from Aspencade Motorcyclist Convention, P.O . Box 2205, Glens Falls, NY 12801 , or by calling 518 /656 -9367 between 3 and 9 . p.m. Eastern time. J apanese bike ex ports plummeted in ' 1981. accordin g lO a report in England's M ot or Cycle W eekl y. Onl y Honda ach ieved its export goals in 1982 and Yamah a offi ci all y a n noun ced th at th ey are no lon ger a ttem p ting lO top H onda. In an inter'view with th e J apan ese finan cial paper Nikk eiSanguo Shimbum , Yama ha 's president Hisao Koike a n nounced tha t h is com pa n y had " lost " the sales war with Honda and would be pursuing a mu ch less aggressive marketing cam pai gn in 1983. Koik e told the paper tha t in 1981, Yamaha export s hit a hi gh o f 1.112,032 - 134% up on 1980 a nd o n ly 92.487 sh ort of H onda's 1981 tota l. But the latest figures sho w on ly H onda achieved their increased export goal in 1982.whil e Yamaha was 40% short with just 1,100.000 exports . Actual export figu res for 1982 a re up by seven per cent to 3.290.000. That compares with a 29.2% in crease in 1981 over 1980. _ That seven per cent in crease is solely accounted for by Honda who exported 300.481more ma chines in 1982 - a f! increase o f 25% as Yamaha. S uzu ki and Kaw asak i exported less mach in es. Yamaha 's 1,100.000 export figure is actually down 12.000 on 1981 whil e Suzuki was 51,000 downand Kawasaki 6.000 down. Road rac ing engineer Erik Buell has purchased an Armstrong 750-4 racer from it s English manufacturers after the 750cc project neve r really got off the ground in Eng land. Buell w ill ma nufacture spares for the engine and possibly complete engines in t he future. Arm strong has retai ned engines for thei r own development pu rposes . Buell has plans to attack the one ho urtop speed closed course world record w ith Richard Schlachter doing the rid ing according to Brita in 's Motor Cycle Weekly. Camel Pro Series Champion R icky Graham. Ba ttle of the Twins Road R a ce Series National Champion J im m y Adamo and road racer Fred - Merkel have been contracted as Team Ca strol riders according to Castrol 's racin g coordina tor , Wa lter von Sch onfeld. In addition. Castrol has posted a $27,000 contingency fu nd for the camel Pro Series. In 1984 there will be a Trial des Nations pitting national teams of observed trials riders against one another as in the Trophee and Motocross des Nations. The site for the world team trial will be selected at the FIM Spring Congress. Former Worl d Champion roa d racer Barr y Sheene rode a Suz uki RG500 in a practice session a t Don in gron Park in England last week. just six months after su fferin g serious injuries in a practi ce cras h. Sheene also bumpstarted th e bik e lO prove he's fit enough lO " go rac ing." Bo th of Sheen e's legs wer e broken in th e , August - accid ent a nd , h e' s, walking one straight u p . the opposite of the NS. Yamaha's wea pon is a watercoo led twin called the RS250R . Suzuki wi ll probably counter with an RG250. and riding 'around with pins an d p lat es in bo th. True grit! ''I've really got too much work to do to get ready for the upcoming Camel Pro Series season to take time off and race in the Daytona Dirt Track Series :' said veteran Gary Scott of his 13th season on the AMA Grand National Cham pionship trail. " It would be good to run for practice, to get the machinery sorted out and to, hopefully, make some money. However, I want t o be really fit for the season and the back inj ury I sustained during last year's Santa Fe TT is still bothering me ." Scott apparently compressed one or more vertebrae in the accident, but didn 't seek medical advice until the end of the season. It" good to see Russ Sanford and the Motorcycle Owners, Riders and Enthusiasts (M.O .R.E.) back u p and in an active stance on California politics, including the publi shing of a monthly newsletter. Membership to M .O .R.E. is $25 per year per family, and $50 per year for clubs and bu,ines,es. You can contact 0 1 Russ and crew at ' 9100 Billy Mitchell Blvd., Ro..ville, CA 95678, 916 /969-9414. Brad Lackey confirmed that he has retired - at least for th e year 1983. " I' ve got a lot of ot her things to do, so I guess the best thing to do is ~etire. and then hit it next year - possibly, I had some deals , but I didn 't think they were substantia l enough to win , and I'm not going back to Europe to place seco nd. If it lakes a year off lO put these things log,~lher, the.n that's what I' ll have lO do. Lackey IS teaming up with Kenn y Ro berts o n the Fox Actionwear clothes lines, and said, " T h a t' s ta king up a lot more time than I thought it would." • The 1983 Nati onal Sideca r Rall y will tak e pl ace in Lak e Tahoe, California. on June 23-26. Tours. an awards dinn er, sidecar clinics, field event s. kid s ga mes, movi es. door pr izes, a cha m pagne reception. and a 5 ~ /5 0 dr awing a re so me o f the happenin gs th at wi ll tak e pl ace a t th e four-day affa ir. For info, write : USA - Norcal Chapter, 1310 Gold Rush Wa y, Penryn . CA 95663. or ca ll 916/ 663-2201. E:DITORIA~ I' ' , IJ Germany's famed Nurburgring road race circuit is the site of the ' 2 1st Annual BMW Clubs Europe Nurburgring Riding School which this year will be held from June 23 to 26. Stressing safe, high-speed rid ing , the sc hool i s conducted on the Nurburg r ing race co urse . Umited t o BMWs, the sc hool w ill cost approximately $300 . Th is includes all meals and accommodations for the three-day event. Rental bikes are avai lable for use during the sc hool . For further info, contact: Rob Beach Jr., Beach's Motorcycle Adventures Ltd. , Box 36 , Dept. 28, 2763 West River Pkwy., Grand Island, NY 140 7 2 (7 16 /77 3-4 9 6 0 ). Why can't Harley build motorcycles lik e they do i n Japan? J udged by th e letters we get at Cycle News, everybody is asking the question, "Why can 't Harley build motorcycles like they do April 2-3 will see the Kyle Fleming Memorial Motocross run at Canyon Raceway in Phoen ix , AZ. in memory of Bruce Bunc h , Ri ck Hem me and Kyle Fleming. T he tw~-day ' event will feature over $20.000 10 cash and product awards. All c1asse~ ~i ll run . including a $1000 purse Mini Expert race and a ' $2000 (minimum) purse for Pro s. Mail entries close March 21. so write lO Canyon Raceway, Box 1594. Black Canyon Stage I. Phoen ix . AZ 85029, or call 602/583-0575. Speedway will kick off w ith a bang In southern California, starting the first week of March. The Spring Classic kicks off at Ol'lmge County Fairgrounds in Costa Me.. at 8 p.m, on Merch 4 . Then the brakeIe.. wonders show up at Ventura Fairgrounds on Saturday, March 6. The only daytime show of the year will begin at noon on Sunday, March 6 at the Orange Show Fairground. in San Bernardino. Then to cap off the week with a twist as British League racer Ron Preston will promote a speedwily event on Wednesday evening, March 9, at the Imperial County Fairgrounds i n EI Centro, CA. The regular speedway ..ason will start in April and run through the end of September. Too bad we can't get in on it over here : The Australian motorcycle press is reporting a war o f sorts. invo lving high performance water-cooled 250cc two -stro kes ' for the street. Honda's entry is a V-3 MVX250F. It loo ks like the NS500. except that in its 90° V has . two.cylin ders pointing Iorwardand • I in Japan? " Surel y if America can put men o n the moon. it can put us on something a liu le more modern than 40 cu bic inc h cylinders and rio center sta n ds. Well , as our President says, you gorta u nderstand somet hing about Harlev to u nderstand th e answer to the question. First of all real ize that H -D has built all kinds of different motorcycles in th eir 80 years . Some of them didn ' I , make it to market. O n ce they showed me a 750cc straight four that would have predated the Universal Japanese Motorcycle by five years : Why didn' t they manufacture il? Their dealers di dn 't want it l At that time H- D was selling all the V-iwins it could pr~ duel'. Their studies showed that their customers rejected non-traditional engine designs. Until recently H -D co m pe ted headto- head with the full -li ne im port companies. For a while they offered everythin g: mopeds , scooters, dl.rt bikes. th ree-wheelers . you name n, Bu t on ly th e big V-twi ns sold. Yo u go 10 a H arley dealer to bu y Harleys, not mopeds or two-stro kes or scooters. Stuck in the ma trix of their repu tation, H -D made the best of it, and contin ued to de velop wh at it could sell - the tradi tio nal Hog and Sporty, H arl ey design engi neers have not been entirely idl e. however. Alwa ys a ne w engine or engines is in developmemo Being located so far from the nest of the motor cycle press, and given the secrecy of these projects , little news fillers out to th e general p ub lic abo ut H -D's technical progress. We have shown gl im pses of pro tot ype water-cooled fo urs and overhead cam twins. But what you see is not what you get. You 'll get a new "panhead" engine and a Sportster " XR" this season. The exo tic Sluff will wait until it and the ma rke t are ready for som ething a lt o g e ther new from tla,l,e)'I ' : :: I ': I I · I 'i Ij • : :: • • M Every few years the mo torcycle ge!s re-invented. and another econ omic " boo m" occu rs. Remem ber the scooter boo m (1955-65) the dirt bike 'boom (1965 to present) and witness now the ATV boom. These happ y times in the motorcycle business de pend on a new model or models th at sati sfy a need, affordably. A number of new riders are attracted that otherwise would not have been able to participate in the lu xu ry of motorcycling. Thanks lo the diffidence of the U.S. auto industry. there is now a need fo r exciting, affordable new transportarion. Americans are responding to the high price and dubious integrity of new cars by keepi ng their old ones lo nger. T~e average car is seven years ol d. ThIS trend creates a need for midsize to . ligh tweigh t motorcycles that satisfy that urge toward a h igh standard o f liv ing, while exte nding the useful life of the fam ily sedan. Enter the H o nda a nd Yamaha 500 V-lw ins . T hese new models, from the IWO giants of in dustry. are of course wha t we've all been pleading with HarleyDa vidson for , lillie "Harleys." Few of us really need mor e than 500cc lo gel around smartly on , two wheels. And the fla ttery of H -D styling is tri b ute to the design that spells " MO T O R CYCL E" in the hearts of America. I don 't know if experienced bikers will desire the Iittle Vel's. but if I was a begin ner again, I sure would be interested. Charles Clayton THE NATIONAL PAPERS T h e g u y makes Gomer Pyle sound like a college graduate. In th e p ast some of his words and actions have had hundreds of motorcycl e racing fans laughing in the aisles. He som etimes wears high top work shoes, bi b overalls, and plaid sh irts when making p ublic appearances. The shoes often have some u nknown su bstance on them. He was never blessed wit h a factory ride. In four yea rs he hired and fired more mechanics than most riders have in a dozen years. He hired one mechanic who spoke .on lv French; the ri der did not speak a word of Fre nch . He writes songs about animals. H e bu ilds h is own country/western ba nd wit h some mem bers playing instrume n IS for the first time. His singin g voi ce has been described as being anywhere fro m so unding like .fi~ gernai ls across a blackboard 10 Wl lh e Nelson with h is mouth full of grits and broken glass . In pa st seasons he has had sponsors ra nging from foreign rug merchants 10 Yankee shop pin g center builders. He first became kn own in the mid to late ' ' 70s with a sm ile that was ' gen u ine and a handshake that was : fir m t o one and all . He never really won anything until 1979 a nd now he ha s retired from motorcycle racing at th e end of '82. . T hey sa y he is still the on ly race r sm art enough. an d maybe considera te en o ugh, 10 call the Dayto na International Speedway official s a few weeks p rior 10 every ann ual race week . an d offer to do p ub licity work for the event. A couple of years ago he designed a set of u nderwear for an animal and the Iirst time the lillie bugger wore (Continued •to rhav e 27) 'I • i P I I • t ' 1 • " J I i I J I ••• , •• S I '. .. 7

• Cover