Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

MQTORCYCLE INDUSTRY S flANGE Nam ed Chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commissio n 's All-Terrain Vehicle Task For ce, Nick Marchica , 34, of Columbia , Maryland; form erly CPSC Acting Product Manager for Emerging H azards; Marchica is based in CPSC's Washington, D.C. headquarters. Scheduled A voluntary standards meeting of ATV manufacturers in Costa Mesa, California on Apri l 26; U.S. Consumer Product Safetv Commission ATV Task Force Chair· man Nick Ma'rchica and engi neer Roy Dep pa are schedu led to attend; meeti ng arranged by the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America (SVIA): Settled Litigation regarding ' patent infringements filed by National Cycle against Vetter Prod ucts; suit was over Vetter's use of National's pa tented "no h ole ball socket" design in Vetter's Ghost fairing; as part of the judgement, Vetter has been ordered to pay National an undisclosed sum of money for damages. Formed Effective March 18, a new division of U ,S. Suzuki Motor Corp ., the R&D Division , under the di rection ofTadaomi Shigenoya, who is in charge of research and development, product p lanning, testing and racing; Shigenoya reports d irectly to Et suo Yokouchi, Director of R&D, at Suzuki Motor Co. L td. in j a p an . Insiders say the establis hment o f the n ew division p recedes grea tly increased racing involvement by th e com pan y, especially in road racing. Named Director of Technical Services Division o f u.s. Suzu ki Mo tor Corp ., Masayu ki Itoh, replaci ng H . Kageyama , w ho returned to wo rk for . Suzu ki Motor Co. L td. o f j apan as Ma n a ger of O ver sea s Mo torcycle T ech n ical Service Dep artmen t. Opened Wes t coast offices of Bu rr o ug hs and Associates, In c., 2900 Bristo l St. , Suite 106A, Costa Mesa, CA 97626, 714/979- 1498; headed by company Vice P resident/ Acco u nt Ma nagem ent Supervisor Dick Hamer. Born To Sheri Oliphant, Vice President of Operations of Burr o ug hs a nd Associates, Inc., a son, P h illip Seth , on Ap ri l 3 at Ba p tist Hospital, in Nashville, Tennessee, Settled Nego tiations between the G ol d Wi ng Road Riders Associa tion, Inc. (GW RRA) and American H onda over the ma nufacturer's use of the Go ld Win g name a nd associated trademar ks; agree me nt allows G WRRA to co ntinue using existing names a n d logos th a t it has us ed over th e past severa l years, Moved To larger man ufactu ri ng fa cil it ies, Lectron Fuel Systems, Inc., to 54 Sou th Saginaw Street, Lapeer, MI 48446 , 313/664-0800. For r~view by the San Diego County (California) P la n n ing and Review Board before construe- Ready tion , San Diego International Raceway; proposed facility will co ver 520 acres n ear th e U.S./Mexica n border ; among th e events p la nned a re SCORE orr-roa d races a nd a ro und of the 500cc Road Racing World Cha m p ionshi p. Signed Sponsorship agreements wit h H ond a U K's m ot ocross team for 1985, Silkol en e Lubrican ts o f England ; Si lko lene is di stri but ed in th e U.S . by Answer Pr oducts, U A, a nd is used bv Tea m Can-Am 'sG eoff Ballard a nd' J ohn Mart in . Moved Paul T urner Raci ng En gines, tuner a nd en gi ne bu ilder for rno torcvcles a nd ATV s, to 2829 S. Rodeo Gulch Dr. , Su ite 2B, Soq uel, CA 95073; phone number is 408/ 4765666. Hired As Customer Service representative for SuperTrapp, Mich ael Spratt, 28, formerly parts and accessory manager for PCP Yamaha /Suzuki in Sacramento, Cal ifornia. Donated Over $150,000 in in structio na l a ids to the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute. Phoenix, Arizona, by American Honda; Doug las Oswald Sr. , Trai n ing Program Administrator for Ameri can Honda, made the dona tion on beh alf of the manufacturer. Wanted Speedway riders to rid e two tra cks for a full season of racing in Arizona; contact American Raceways , Speedway Division, 218 Alta St., Santa Monica, CA 90402, or 714/ 840-6468. Still Mending From two broken bones in his left forearm , 1983 National Enduro Champion Mik e Melton. The Team Husqvarna rider reports increased use of his arm , but still experiences numbness in his fingers . P la ns for a return to action 'are indefinite. By M~ico of West Germany for their facto ry GP motocross team , Swedish rider Leif Niklasson, 25, to ride in 250cc GPs, Signed Born Wester Sco tt Cooley, March 29 in Escondido, California, to two time U.S . Superbike Champion Wes Coo ley a nd wi fe Nancy. Featured I n Midget &: Mini Sprint Raci ng News, an automotive magazine , a series of articles on former dirt tracker Bill Wildt's Motorsport Advancement Crusade; first article appears in the Ap ri l issue; call 614/ 245-5519 to obtain a copy. Proposal Made To add the Isle of Ma n TT to the World Championship Endurance Road Race Series; proposal was recently passed by England 's Auto-Cycle Union General Council; approval from the.Isle of Man Tourist Boa rd must be made before the race can be submitted to the FIM. Hired Former Team H on da. dirt track bike tuner Dave Hu binsky, by th e Dan G u rn ey/ Mik e Curb Indy Cdr tea m ; H ubi ns ky will be worki ng for driver Tom S neva. ' Now Appearing On Ha rley-Davidson motorcycles, a sticker bearing the logo of the All ied In d ustr ial Wo rkers of America/ International Associa tion of Machinists union, whose members work at the manufacturer 's assembly p lants; sticker appears on right-hand downtube n car the steering h ead. • Estimated •• • InjurIes exceed ATV numbers 1979-1983 , PS C C looks at dirt bikes By John Ulrich LONG BEACH , CA, APR. 18 A U .S. Consumer Product Sa fety Commission document ob-. tained through the Freedom of Information Act says that more people were hurt on dirt bik es th an o n ATVs in a recent five-year p eriod. The int ernal CPSC m em o d at ed March 15 co m pared 1979-1983 estimat ed annual em ergency-room-treated injuri es associated with ATVs , dirt bikes a nd snowmobiles. According to the m emo, sent from Robert E. Frye, Director of the CPSC Hazard Analysis Division to other members of the CPSC sta ff and to th e four Commissioners, dirt bikes accounted for more injuries than ATVs in the five-year period, totalling 160,643 compared to 50,024 for ATVs. Snowmobile inj uries for th e sa me period totalled 65,247. Acco rd ing to the memo, estim a ted ATV -involved injuries increased from 2948 in 1979 to 27,554 in 1983; estimated inj uries for 1980 were 4929, compared to 6008 in 1981 and 8585 in 1982. Estimated dirt-bike injuries listed in th e memo showed 29,483 in 1979 and 30,437 in 1983; estimated injuries for 1980 were 35,249 , compared to 34,522 in 1981 and 30,952 in 1982. . Snowmobile-related estimated injuries ranged from 14,804 in 1979 to 11,156 in 1983, with 18,229 in 1980, 8932 in 1981, and 11,826 in 1982. The memo listed th e National Electronic Injury Surveillance System a nd the C PSC Directorate for Epidemiology as sources for the numbers. The CPSC recen tly launched a full investigation into the issu e of ATV safety, and Commissioner Stuart M. Statler ha s advocated an immediate ban and recall of a ll three-wheeled ATVs despite the fact that th e CPSC's own inv estigations show that many injuries associated with ATV use involve rider mis-use (such as riding .do u ble, riding on roads o r riding drunk) and non -use of safet y equipmen t (suc h as helmets, boot s, gloves), T he CPSCs reaction to ATV injury n um bers has ca used some motorcycl e industry sources to worry that an investigation of and an a ttem p t to ban and or recall motorcycles could foliow. The discovery of the CPSC memo comparing injury figures for ATV s with th ose for dirt bikes ind ica tes th at th e federal a ge ncy is looking a t orr-road m otorcycl esafet y. 15K ~ ~ By J oh n U' d ch Last wee k I wrote a bou t th e curious difference in government rea ctio n to . in j uries in curred in vario us sports, notabl y ..... boa ting vs. ATV ri di ng._ It seemed ..... odd to me tha t wh en ta lk in g a bo ut p roblem s wi th boat ing safety, th e governmen t advoca ted educa tio n , wh ile when talkin g abou t ATV sa fet}' problems, th e go vernment ad voca ted reca ll a nd banning o f th e veh icle. And a s co inci dence wo u ld have it, a lett er fro m the Department of T ransporta tion 's U.S. Coa st Guard Auxiliary sho wed up a t Cycl e News o n Apri l 17. In th e lett er , Public Affai rs O fficer Ha rr y Wa sh in gton o f Ci vic Center Fl o tilla 11 o f th e U.S. Coast Guard Auxilia ry asked for help promoting a free boa tin g sk ills a nd sea m ansh ip co urse being o ffered by his group. As 1\1 r. Wa sh ington exp la ined it, " Boa tin g sa fety a s pro mo ted a n d taught by th e Co ast Guard Auxiliary toda y is doing a g reat job o f bringin g down th e number o f accide nt s a nd deaths ca use d by th e lack of kn owledge in pl easure boat operati on s." No doubt that 's true. But th e lett er I'm waiting for is o ne from the Consumer P roduct Safety Commission , which la tel y is goi ng a fter ATVs as being inherentl y un saf e. say in g th at "AT\' sa fety as p romot ed a nd ta ugh t by th e Specialty Vehicle Institu te of America ha s th e po tential to . brin g down the number o f acciden ts and deaths ca used by th e lack o f kn owledge in AT V ope ra tions." We'll probab ly never get th at Jetter, and if we don 't do so meth ing the CPSC will Iik elv 'd isco ver th at it's possible to tip ove r moto rcycles , too; it follows th at m otorcycles, looked at from a CPSC view po int, need to be recalled and banned as well as ATVs. The best we can do is fill CPSC headquarters with lett ers, The CPSC has a lready said and demonstrated th a t it doesn 't want to hear from ma n ufacturers, that what it cares about is people like you and me . And when President jimmy Carter (th e man who appointed Stuart Sta tler, the CPSC's one-man anti-ATV hitsquad) proposed halting all off-road vehicle use to conserve gasoline during the 1974 fuel cri sis, it was an avala nch e of mail that stopped him. The thing to do h ere is blast off a letter to Commissioner Statler today, with copies to CPSC Chairman Scanlon, Congressman Doug Barna rd , and yo u r local co ngressma n or congresswoman, If you've already done that, get so mebody who hasn 't written to write, today! It isn't important whether or not the letter's perfectly typed or whether or not the words are assembled with the skill of a Shakespeare. What matters is the clear, blunt expression' of how yo u feel about the governm ent proposing to cure safety problems by outlawing a n entire class of vehicle. It 's three wheelers today; it could be two-wheelers tomorrow - unless you do something about it now! Send your lett ers to: Stuart " Ba n 'em " Statler, CPSC, 1111 18th s., Washington , DC 20207 with copies to Terrence M. Scanlon , C PSC Chairman, III I 18th St. , Wa shington, DC 20207; Congressman Do ug Barn a rd , Ra yb urn House Office Bldg. Rm. B377, Washington, DC20515; and yo ur co ngressm a n or congr esswoman (ge t hi s or her name from you r local library or cit y hall ) Wa shington , DC 20515. • 5

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