Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

PUTchaSeilIB co In;e~n~" • tional, a marketing firm, and IB CO Gaskets, Inc., by Barry Ferency, from Anker Laursen. .. _- ---- -liD --.- ~,..II~ -=~ • 'separa'te 'company' IOcatea in Warrensburg, New York. Gioia says TG. and Tiani both supply boots to Trim/ Transworld in Savannah, Georgia, and that Littler is a principle in the parent company, located in Germany. The boots are made in Mauritius out of American-made parts. But according to Jeff Hoffman, ownerofTiani Imports, he is the sole U.S. importer and supplies Trim boots to TG. R.ace Works and Trim/ Transworld., who act as' distributors of the boots. Ho((man says "Every boot I've brought in this year has a full leather liner. The boots are being made to my specifications, now are completely leather lined through the upper. I ~ill begin 'domestic manufacturing, in the U.S., in 1985, and the boots will be 100% leather with a lamination over the top." According to HoUman, the boots now on sale do not wear compl~tely through all their layers of construction during crashes, and provide good protection. Unfortunately, some decent people - including TG. Race Works -who sell Trim boots to retail customers may be the big losers in this fraud. But as I see it, people who sell vinyl boots and claim they're leather should be obligated to refund money to anybody who bought the boots and thought they were leather. • By John Ulrich A couple of issues ago we ran a New Products item about Trim road racing boots, as sold by T.G. Race Works, Box 19, Brooklyn, NY 11224, 212/448-1402. The good news is that we had the price wrong, listing it as $1!l9.95. That price came off an out-dated price sheet sent to us with the boots, earlier this year. The price is $119.95. The bad news is that the boots are made of vinyl. That's right, vinyl; imitation leather; a type of plastic. The shocking part is that Trim honcho Brian Littler stood in the pits at Road Atlanta late last year and told me all about the "laser-permeated leather" used to construct the boots; detailed the "glove leather" lining; raved about the ballistics felt used between layers of "leather" to provide crash protection for critical areas of the foot. There may be some leather used in the boot, but the primary material, the stuff used to build most of the boot, is vinyl. I found out because a couple of my friends have bought the boots and crashed in them, and the vinyl, predictably enough, melted and tore and wore right through. It's easier to be fooled by these boots than you'd think; they're embossed and appear to be made of cowhide. According to T.G.. Race Works' Tony Gioia, the "inner boot is leather. It looks like a little boot inside, from the ankle down. The top coat is PVC (polyvinyl chloride). But they're going to all-leather construction." Gioia points out that the literature distributed on the boots by TG. Race Works describes the outer layer as being PVC, with a leather inner boot. Gioia says that there are many advantages to the outer coating, which is indeed "laser-permeated," saying the outer layer has a wicking material attached to it which draws sweat away from the rider's foot. Gioia says that Trim boots are imported by TG. Race Works, a company he runs to support his own road racing, and by Tiani Imports, a By Matt Hilgenberg On Competition Factory participation always has and probably always will be in existance in Nationalcaliber motorcycle racing. As of late, there has been controversy as to whether participation with special, one-off works bikes is good for the sport or not. Some believe that it is necessary for further development and modernization of future machines. Others, such as Yamaha's motocross team, contest that proper development work can be done with produc. tion bikes. The controversy envelopes not only motocross, but other types of motorcycle racing as well. In the National motocross scene, it is obvious that a normal privateer is not competitive with the factories. In a way, that defeats the purpose of racing. If only a certain number of riders are on capable machinery, a race is not really a race. Team Yamaha has made the first move, since the claiming rule scare of the mid-70s, to use modified production machinery to contest the National circuit. If a privateer is inventive enough, and if he has enough talent, that rider can be on par with Yamaha. The other major factories have resisted the move, but is that necessarily an intelligent decision? Although motorcycle and.automobile racing are two separate entities, no one can deny the success of NASCAR. The reason for the success is that everyone is put on the same level through strict limitations set by the governing body. This is done to provide the most competitive, and therefore exciting, racing. A sport, any sport, must be appealing to the average spectator to be successful. Dirt track racing is a good example in the motorcycling world:. Since the basic design of HarleyDavidson's V-twin that is currently being used on half mile and mile circui ts is 12 years old, many people have a vast amount of knowledge about the mill. That puts the private tuners on par with the factories. When everyone is using the same basic motorcycle, a high level of competition is present. The very same motorcycles that Team Harley-Davidson uses are available to the privateer, creating a NASCAR-typeof equality. Competition in a near-perfect form. Honda's move into dirt track has created brand competition, something that hasn't existed since Yamaha backedoutofthecompetition in 1977 with their in-line twin. However, the pushrod vs. overhead cam battle is apparently becoming very one-sided. Maybe this will get the Harley folks onto some serious development work, and possibly get other manufacturers to compete, also. In the past, road racing has been concentrated on Formula One in the United States. Recently, talk has been to eliminate F-I racing in favor of Superbike events. This is not necessarily a wise move. The Superbikes were not designed to handle as much horsepower as tuners are putting in them, therefore parts break. A Formula I racer was designed to be raced, the internals are much stronger, and break much less often. Also, a twostroke multi-cylinder engine has many less parts to break. And, although the base price of the bike is much greater, the development and machine-type work needed to make the F-I racer competitive is much less, so the bike is less expensive to purchase and to operate for the duration of a season. If the factories would make the Formula I bikes that are marketed as competitive as the ones they're using - that is, ride what they sell - that desired level of competition would be present, and privateers could afford to compete. The factories must stand back and take a look. at what is happening. The right moves must be made to preserve motorcycle racing as we know it. Because, if the costs are driven too high for a privateer to be successful, participants will drop out. If the right answers are offered, spectators - which will follow hand-in-hand with participants - will multiply, much to the benefit of the motorcycling public. It will help two-wheelers gain universal acceptance. All of us should think about it. • DAVIDI on EVEl'Ylhind By David Aldana American endurance racers are getting a lot of altention world-wide. This year's World Championship Suzuka Eight Hour in Suzuka City, Japan, will include American Honda's Mike Baldwin and Fred Merkel; John Bettencourt and Sam McDonald on a Honda; Ricky Orlando and Rueben McMurte.r on a Honda; David Old and me on a Honda; and David Emde and Harry Klinzmann on a BMW. This race draws the big Japanese factories in a large force, 'cause it's in their own back yard and draws huge crowds. The World Championship Endurance teams are there, trying to get those very badly-needed points. do I'm sure tne Americans' can \~dl-' against the French, Belgians, Italians, English, and all others the World has to beat. The Yanks have won this race three times, the rider/bike combinations being me and Baldwin on a Honda, Baldwin and Wes Cooley on a Suzuki, and Cooley and New Zealander Graeme Crosby on a Suzuki. The only bad thing about it is that the race promoters, Hondaland Ltd. (they also own the track) are setting up sponsorship for Americans riding Hondas 10 the race, and refusing to help teams on other brands. Emde and Klirtzmarm are being sponsored by Moto Rider magazine of Japan, but for a private team without a big Japanese sponsor it would cost about $15,000 to go there and return. I was offered all expenses, but when I told the promoters I'd be riding with U.S. National Endurance Champions Team Hammer, they backed out on the o((er because Team Hammer rides Suzukis. When that deal died, I got hooked up with David Old on his Honda. It's too bad, because with Russ Paulk and me on one of Team Hammer's bikes I know we could win that race; the other team riders on the other bike could crack top five easily. • • • Riders who lose their tempers on the race track are not really racers. When you get on your bike you should know up front what you're getting into, the same as when you get on the freeway. Some.times it gets dirty, guys CUlling you off or ramming you. Racing is for racers. In speedway racing there's someone watching you all the time you're on the track, so if you're fouled, you don't have to take mallers into your own hands. I've seen people in the pits being chased by fellow racers with a hammer in their hand. Wow! I have always thought that was unnescessary to do that because I'd get another chance to get them back on the track. The only thing is, sometimes the guy you want to get quits racing. Bummer! • • • • • • I went to the Carlsbad 500cc MX Grand Prix to get a real good look at the bikes and racetrack. I can say it was a lot easier to get mud on myself - because they nearly rained out the track with the water truck - than it was to see what was new on the machines. The mechanics park themselves and the bikes so no one but no one sees anything the mechanics don't want them to see. I guess really, if you did see something you wanted for your bike you'd have to wait 'til next season to even see if it was a good idea for a production model. So maybe the factories are doing us racers a big favor by not showing us too much - or maybe they're just protecting secrets from other factories. If the rider is good, like Broc Glover was that day, he might do as well on a mountain bike. The crowd seemed to be a lillIe down' from before, but the races were great - a lillIe bad Iuck for David Bailey, however. Just a note about Raymond Roche. I said he was good, that with the right machinery he'd be in there. Now that Honda needs a rider to finish between Lawson and Spencer, guess who's got a factory bike and showing the world he's capable of getting the job done - Raymond Roche. Thatta boy, Raymond! I'll bet money that's making Mike Baldwin crazy! I'm sure Baldwin would give his eye tooth for another chance on the world championship circuit. We'll see how well he does at Laguna Se~. • 3

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