Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

birthday one week before the start of the ISDE. He placed 16th in the Fourstroke class and took home a silver medaL .. Of the 19 nations taking part in the ISDE, II had riders who won gold medals. The host country, Holland, led the tally with II to Italy's nine. East German riders won seven while Swedi h riders took home five. The U.S. and Finland were next at four each .. The East Germans got the most from their II rider entry with four silver medals added to their seven golds... The host country is allowed to add a few riders to the entry, but the Dutch overdid it a bit by starting 122. Interestingly, their largest entry - 38 riders - was in the Four-stroke class. • Offered Rebates on HarleyDavidsons, ranging from $800 on XR andXL\OOOS to$IOOOon FX models to $1200 on FL models; from participating dealers and Harley-Davidson Motor Co. Posted Prizes for the AFM North "Halloween Enduro" four-hour road race, scheduled for October 28 at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, California, including products Crom SuperTrapp, Refined Motion Engineering and South City Cycle Salvage. Filmed The October 13 Frontier 500 off-road race, by Tatum Communications; Bruce Penhall wil1 host Tatum's production of the race for its Recreation Network Action' Sports series, which is produced in association with Metromedia Television of Los Angeles. Left Cycle News after seven and a haH years, Senior Edi tor Dale Brown, 30, to freelance. Scheduled Motorcycle racing footage, every Thursday at 4:30 p.m. on En Vivo, Channel 18 (Los Angeles), the film shot by Linda Rhodes. Folded Velasco Exhaust Systems, manufacturer of high-performance systems pipes by noted Team'Honda tuner Mike Velasco; General Manager joe Weinroth has joined the sales staff at Honda/BMW of Hollywood, California, citing Velasco's lack of time to devote to the business as the reason behind the shutdown. Appointed President of Yamaha Motor Canada, Ltd., Mark Aoba, formerly Director of MitsuiYamaha in England. Moved Motorcycle Safety Foundation, from Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania to 3151 Airway Ave., Bldg. K-200, Co ta Mesa, CA 92626, phone 714/241-9922. Born Dana Laurie McAndrews, to Mike McAndrews, mechanic for motocrosser jeff Ward, and wife Tina, in Oceanside, California, October 16. IIqal,,~t GOVf:RNMENT B.S. No leaded gas7 By Matt Benson Pull up to the pump on your slreet bike and choose a nozzle. Chances are, unless you ride a catalytic RZ350, you'll pick one that dispenses leaded gasoline, because of the price and because of its octane rating. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will decide soon whether to narrow your choices to unleaded regular and lead-Cree premium. Or the agency may mandate a lead level so low it may damage any engine designed to run on leaded gasoline. For the majority of the 5.5 million motorcycles on the road today, either change wouldn't present much of a problem. But there may be as many as two million motorcycles throughout the nation - licensed or not - which must burn leaded gas, and the EPA proposal could essentially consign these machines to garage ornaments. In addition to perhaps one million "antique" bikes, lead is a necessary diet ingredient for all Harley-Davidsons (estimated by company officials at 500,000 still operating) and all European brands, with the exception of post-1979 BMWs. If you've got one of these machines, or a japanese bike produced before the mid-1970s, you'd better get out your letter-writing equipment and state your case to the EPA. Without your involvement, come 1988 you may find lead levels too low for safe operation of your engine, or that by 1995 you ,can't buy leaded gas at all. And if you think those dates are too far removed to worry over, you should be aware that at a public hearing on the EPA lead proposal, there were people demanding that the agency get the lead out right now. The problems with lead are widely recognized. On the medical side, lead i a very toxic substance, and it has been traced from vehicle emissions to brain and other organ damage in human, especially urban children. The other problem has to do with drivers "misfueling" cars intended to burn only unleaded gas. In these vehicles, lead renders catalytic converters u eless and results in a highpollution car. The EPA says that in some places, over 40% of the cars designed for unleaded fuel only are burning leaded gas. The federal agency has been toying with the lead issue for more than a decade, but it seems to have done a quick, slipshod job of coming up with this "phase-down" plan. After all this time,the EPA's knowledge of the needs of lead-burning engines has gaps in it big enough to get the Victor McLaughlin drill learn through. What information the agency is relying on applies mostly to car engines and a bit to trucks. The EPA admits it hasn't done its homework on motorcycles and other small gasoline engines. Lead is a cheap octane booster, and for older four-stroke engine it also leaves a crucial powdery deposit on valve faces and valve seats, cushioning the impact of rapidly closing valves. These surfaces are hardened in newerstyle engines from japan and BMW. allowing them to burn unleaded fuel. But other engines will suffer valve recession as the valves gradually pound themselves into their seats. Burned valves and top-end jobs follow. How much lead is enough to ward 0(( such damage while helping to clean up the air? As mentioned, the EPA doesn't know. However, one study the agency cited in its proposal pointed out that valve damage associated with the use of unleaded gas in lead-requiring engines increases as a factory of engine speed. Another researcher has noted that such valve damage is compounded by air cooling an engine. So taken together, it's logical to assume that high-revving, air-cooled motorcycle engines intended to run on leaded gasoline could be in for big problems with very low lead levels or no lead at all. (There is also evidence to suggest that lead may help keep piston rings from sticking in two-strokes.) In spite of its lack of knowledge, the EPA is proposing to drop gasoline lead from one gram per gallon to 0.1 0 gram by january I, 1988. Nineteen pages of arguments in the Federal Register (August 2, 1984, issue) notwithstanding, the agency admits it is just guessing that this level will be OK for all engines that are still running in a little more than three years. Gary Winn of the American Motorcyclist Association's Government Relations Department (P.O. Box 141, Westerville, OH 43081) testified at the EPA's public hearing on lead, and the AMA in its wrillen comments on the proposal urges the agency to thoroughly consider the needs of motorcycles, the safety of riders (undoubtedly, some people would try to add lead themselves) and the fact that motorcycles playa significant role in national fuel-conservation goals. The EPA is accepting public comments on its lead proposal, and it's essential that as many motorcyclists as possible remind the agency of our existence. As quickly as possible, address your opinion to Docket No. EN -84-05, Central Docket Section (LE-131), Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M Street, SW, Washington, DC 20460. The health of your old lead-burner may depend on it. Promises. promises When Ronald Reagan asked the American voting public for ajobfouryearsago,hisre ume said he wa bigon tates'right, o much so that he pledged to repeal the national 55-mph speed limit and give speed jurisdiction back to late govern men ts. Well, we gave him the job, but he has yet to lift a finger toward ending the federal 55. If anything, be has drifted away from his states' rights theme, comi ng down wi th the "Washington-can-do-it-beller" syndrome that infects anyone who spends much time inside the Capital Beltway. Reagan's signingof legi lation creating, in essence, a national drinking age was among the latest signs that he has indeed caught federal fever. While in office the president has been rightly or wrongly accused of many things, fTom encouraging ruination of the environment to helping the automobile industry save a buck at the expense of lives. In his campaign mode, Reagan has been answering those crititisms by signing wilderness-designation legislation, issuing regulations on passive restraints for car and now allowing Republi an Party platform writers to drop the anti-55 sentiments from this year's list of election promises. As you read previously in these page ,the American Motorcyclist Association has begun a campaign aimed at repealing the national speed limit. Response from the as ociation's members and polls o( rider by other groups and publications overwhelmingly show that 55 is a law that we can live without, a law that (ew of us obey in a car or on a motorcycle. A decade ago, threatened by a real or imagined gas crisis, the U.S. Con- .--I gress usurped the states' authority to C(") establish a maximum speed limit. In l-o a.; recent years, with no shortage of fuel and with more than a lillie twisting ..0 of statistics, 55 has become a symbol for saving lives. u Coming out againsl 55 used to mean you were piggish and selfcentered; now it means you're for highway carnage. For the AMA, though, the campaign in not necessarily to raise the speed limit on all highways everywhere, but to return speed limits to the states, who are in a beller position to decide what speed is appropriate for their citizens. If Pennsylvania wants a 55-mph limit on I-SO, that's its prerogative. Likewise, ie-Nevada prefers_a limit of 70 on its stretch ofthat highway, so be it. The state which .has to enforce speed laws should be the one to set them. My guess is that 55 would disappear on most all (our-lane highways. With this in mind, the AMA has come up with the theme, Speed Law is State Law. The association will soon be distributing a series of graphics for motorcycling publications, making bikers aware of what the AMA is up to. At the same time, the AMA has begun to poll U.S. senators and representatives for their opinion on 55 before deciding who wil1 get campaign contributions from the American Motorcyclist Political Action Committee. At least two representatives who have helped motorcycling in the past have been erved notice they won't be getting AM PAC money thi year due to their support of 55. The amount of money is small, but the message is clear. H this repeal e((ort is to be successful, individual motorcyclists - make that all highway users fed up with 55 - have· gOt to get the allention of . their congressmen and senators. The very least you can do is write four lellers. Two go to the U.. senators representing your state and a third is for the representative [rom your congressional district. Tell them 55 is a sham concocted by self-serving safety group and inurance companies, that the federal government ha no business dictating speed law in all corners of the nation, that 55 ha turned us into a nation with lillie respect for the law. While it's best to find the correct office address of your elected officials, lellers may be sent to the U. . enate, Washington, DC20510, and the .s. House of Representative, Washington, DC 20515. The fourth letter is for the president. Tell him you're disappointed that he has reneged this important promise, that he is drifting away from his pledges to reduce the interference of the federal government in our Jives, that he has fallen for the rhetoric of 55 supporters. Of course, remind him this is an election year. The address for the White House is 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, DC 20500. You may al 0 register your opinion by phoneat the White House by dialing (202) 456-7639. You don't have to beelOQuent,just persistent. Get with it, or put up with 55 forever! • o ..... o 3

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