Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

ca m pa ig n . This led to th e defeat of mandatory helmet laws in many states. We heard " relia ble" testimon y assuri ~g us that onl y a sma ll percen tag e of nders would so negl ect their safety as to not wear a helm et. However , when driving th rough th e sta tes. without helmet law s, I see at least eigh t o u t of 10 cycl ists witho u t helmets. As Toudo uze po inted o u t, mo st of t~ese rid ers have a person a l o bliga u on to a fami ly an d com m u ni ty. Well . . . I feel that AMA ha s been " had." U n less some way is fou nd to con vince th e maj ority o f rid ers to wea r helmets, the AMA a nd the ind ustr y sho ul d re verse its posi tion o n manda tory helm et law s. WEST .... V ..0 8 V ;.. o Z America's weekly m ot orcy c le newspaper LAWRENCE WISE Cos mo poli tan Motors, In c. H atbo ro, PA Sha ro n Cla yto n . Pub lish er Mi ke Klin gl·r.Co m pt roller Skip j ohnson . Assoriotr Pu blishrrt N at iona l Sa les Mantl/{t"r Caro lin e Gt-ndry .' Exe cutive Se crrta ry to lil t' Publishe r Edito rial J ohn l llric h. Edi tor K i l Palmer. A.\'\lH'i(/tt' Edit o r .' ~ J; ll l Hil , tl'Ul. :rg-. A .\.\'O l x e/fl f(' Ed itor Pa u l Carrurl u-rs. .tssocintr Ed ito r Advert ising T~' rry P ra ll Sa tes M anlJ.!{rr T im Ryan. Sal es AlanaKt'r !\I.ark T home. Salt's M anae er Li nd a Brown A dvertising Coo rd ina to r ~ Nar~ cy Wastell, Ad vertising t Edi to rinl Assistant Grap hics and Produ ction DeV~ul . Product io n M anag er Malc:ol~ Wil son . G rap hic Artist Gi nger Manon Hatashita , Tv pesr tter Carolyn Branham , T vpeseu er Dennis Green e. Lab . Tech. Accounting/Data Processing Donna Brya n. A CCO Wlts R eceiva ble Coord inato r Ge neva Repa ss. Assistant Fra n Ha mw ev. Credit Circu lation ~he ba Sm ith . Manag n Sara h Tayle r, Assistan t Ly na H ood. Assi stan t Rebecca Brank. Assistant Alma Ang-uiano. Assistan t Dealer Sales and Serv ice Bob Elliott . Dealer Salt's Ma'lflgt'T Want Ads Ca ndy Hand. Wan t A d Sal t's Service and Support Ch ris An ch eson . R eception ist Leonard H erring, SiTS W est 220 1 C herry Ave.. Lo n g Beach, CA 90806 . P.O. Box 498. Lo ng Beach. CA 9080 1-0498 (213) ·127-7433: L.A. L ine 636 -8814- East 4190 First Ave.• T ucker. GA . 30084. P .O. Box 805. Tucker. G A 30085-0805. (104) 931-7850. < :;Yel New s/West (USPS H 1-310) is pube llshed weekl y exce p t the first a nd la st week o f t he ca lenda r yea r Io r 525 pe r year by Cycle Ne ws. l nc..220 1Ch erry Avenue. Lo ng Be ach, CA 90806. Second class postage paid ut Lo ng Beach , CA. POSTMASTER : Send f orm 3579 to Cycle N ews. P.O. Box 498. Long Beach. CA 90801-0498. S u ~scrip tion ra tes: One year, se cond clas s mad. $25: two yea rs. seco n d cl ass mail. $45: three yea ~s . seco nd class mai l, $68; 25 weeks. $13. Foreign rat es ava ila b le o n req ues t. Cycle News welcom es unsolicited ed itoria l ma teri al includi ng ,slor it'$: cartoo ns . photos. etc. Suc h ma terial , Ir published , beco mes the exc lusive prope r ty o f Cycl e News. Such accepted mat erial is su bjec t to revision as is n~cessa r y in. th e sole d iscreti on or Cycle N ~ws . U nsol icited mat erial wh ich is not use d Will be ret urned if accom pa nied b y a sell addressed stamped en velo pe . All un solicited mat eri a l wi ll be hand led wi th reason ab le ca rl', h owever , Cyc le N ew s a ss u mes n o respon sibi l~ I Y Ior Ihe.saf,t'IY ~o ss o r dam age to . suc h ma l en~l.. Rep rinting In whole or pan onJyby JX'f!Jl ISMO~ or the publisher. Ad ve rtising ra tes and circu la tio n in fo rm a tion wilt fe sem upon req uest. Set- S.R, D.S. Co pyright ® Cycle News. Inc . 1985. Trademark Cycle New s registe red U.S. Patent Office. A ll rights reserved. ON THE FRONT PAGE : The 100th anniversary of t he mot orcycle is Novem ber 10. Pict ured f rom t op t o bottom is a 1 9 B5 BMW K100 , 1 92 3 BMW R32. 18 94 Hildebrand & W olfmuller. and th e first bike ever, the 1BB5 Daim ler / M aybach. 4 Guzzi Wizard I am wri ting to sing the prai ses of a Guzzi Wizard whose work mu st be recogni zed by riders an d manufa cturers alike. After years of LeMans Iust, I purchased a new 1985 1000 LeMan s.last .Ma y fro m Rocking M Enterprises In H arpu rsvill e, Ne w York. I barely had tim e to fami lia rize m yself with the sw itches wh en a bu sin ess move too k me to Ca liforn ia indefinitely. I rode the long-aw ai ted beast ~c~oss the co untry, a nd to m y chagn n it turned ou t to be j us t th at , a beast. T he mo to rcycle was riddled with prob lems: th e 16- in ch front wh eel wa s cons tant ly search ing for somethi ng o n the pavem ent and required m y unwaveri ng a ttention mile after mile to keep it true. T he inte~ra ted br~kin g system , n ot to m y likmg even In th eo ry, lacked th e crisp ness a nd pU!1ch of asingle di sc, aging J apanese middleweight. The ignition was so lo usy th at no a mo u nt o f timing magic, premium gas or p remium spark plugs co u ld change that. I cou ld barely ava il m yself o f half of th e pow er provided by the new valve set, ca m an d 40mm Dell'Ortos for fear of pitting a piston. Additio~ally , th e throttle, in dire combat WIth th e carbs, required a Neandenhalian wr ist and wou ld not open th e pumper s co m p letely with one turn . Although I am o f n o-lesst~ an:average streng th, over a long ride It was enough to g ive mea n h ritic cha nges.in th e right hand. The list of com p la ints I had with th e much touted new motor goes on but th e bottom line is that though the plant made good power , it was simply not very ndeabl e. T he addition of a Bub Enterpri ses p ip e helped somewhat , bu t I was not quest in g for ex tra ~erf? rma nce, but rather p ro pe r fun cuorung o f th e compone nts a lready there. In the Au gu st Moto G uzzi Na tional .owne rs ' Clu b News , I foun d reference to Charles R ice of Rennsport Cycle Works in Sa nt a Barba ra Ca lifornia an d h is use of Lectro n carbs o n the bik e. I contacted Cha rles a nd after meeting a nd tal king to him , I left him m y bike for a mild bui ld. Wh at the g uy has don e for m y mot or cycle is noth in g s'hort of mi raa cu lo us. The porter , twin- plug he- ds hav.e elim ina.ted ig ni tio n problem s , en tirely a nd In com bina tio n with a bea u ti fu lIy-in st all ed , re v-li m ited Dyna ignition produces the kind of faultl ess, ' piston-sla m ming spa rk I kn ew the bike wa s capa ble of. T he Lectr on carbs, controlled by a featherto uc h, sh ort-throw Magura throttle, meter th e fuel to perfecti on a nd a re sim p licity itself wh en it comes to fu nc tio n and adjus tment. Mr. Rice' s val ve j ob ha s m ad e th e eng i ne smoother and more willing tha n I h ad ever dreamed pos sible. Since he was a lready inside th e bik e I took his sugges tio n an d popped fdr a Norris SS ca m , th e finishing touch o n a mar velous mot or. As if hi s engine work was not enoug h, Rice then a ttac ked th e brakes s~para ti ng th e fro nt a nd rear, instal : ling ~ new rea r master cylinder, an d hooking up braided steel lines. Th is ~as given m~ the kind of two-fingered, sta nd -the-bike-on- its-nose stopping power a LeMans shou ld hav e. Last but not least, Charles all but el!minated th e sq u irrel y front end WItha Metzeler Laser tire, Telefix fork brace and a 17m m drop (the exact opposite of what one would expect to work) in th e tripl e clamp. I sho u ld like to stress that while I ran up quite a tab and the work done was extensive, the goal of the project wa s to a llow the engine an d chassis to function as they should have from th e sta n , and not to provide me with an Italian Ninja-killer. I cannot laud Charles Ri ce's efforts too highl y, and I can on ly hope that the Guzz i powers that be sit up and take note! ARTHUR ROSENFELD San Diego, CA Helmet laws Further to th e heart-breaking letter fro m Ron T oudouz e ( Cycle News, Octob er 16) a fter burying his best fr.lend .who was fatall y injured o n a bike WIthout a helmet; in 1969 wh en I served o n the AMA Executive Co m~.i ttee , we u nan im ously voted to in ma te a n a nti-co m p u lsory -he lme t Objection to CPSC On Thursday, O ctober 17, I a tten ded the 1! . ~. Consumer Product Safet y Com.mls sIO public hea ri ng on all.n terrain veh icles , I was in attendance from 3:30 through 7:30 p .m . During this time I he ard testimony from 25 peo~1e representing th e technica l, m e~ ICal , safety, user a nd user or gani zanon aspects o f ATV use. Only one representative, Mr. Dean Fisher from Bell Helmets, h ad hard fact s. The medical representatives did have exact accident cou nts but th ese were not accompanied by th e facts of how the injured were dressed, if th ey were supervised, if they had been in structed in th e operation of an ATV, or if they had been wearing a helmet. The rest of th e testimonies were peppered heavily with such adje ctives as: mostly, many, lo ts, few, etc. The primary question ask ed by the Commission was , " In your op inion is this vehicle inherently unstable?" Yet all of th e accident accounts consistentl y pointed at rider error; the rider either did no t have any equipme~t on, ha? on limited or faulty eq UI pment ( In one ca se a fatal i ty from he ad injuries with the rid er wearing a $3 h elmet purchased at a swap meet), or th e rider was unsuper_ vised and uninstructed. The ATV is not by design inherently unstable any more then are roller skates, skis, bicycles, motorcycles or other items used for p hysical recrea tion. Ra th er, I believe it is a fantastic recreational vehicle that is being mis used . And it is a problem th a t must be seriously addressed by AATVA, District 37, AMA , all motorcycle and motorcycle accessory man ufacturers and riders interested in the future of ATVs (with two. th ree or four wheels ). We are a llowing the acts of sheer stup id ity of ig!10rant riders to end anger our recreation and sport. Their disregard for safety and the righ ts of o thers are detrimental to maintain ing riding areas, im proving the image of off-road users and to preventing serious government intervention. I o bject to the Consumer P rod uct Safety Com m ission for singling ou t the ATV for this study, and the em phasis they are pl aci ng o n the design of the vehicles. Bu t, I also object to the wa y the vehicl es are being m isused. And I do not feel that the current attempts at rider education th rough advertising and instru ctional training are in any way sufficient to handle the severity of the problem. DANA BELL AMA #715457 Long Beach , CA Published letters do not necessarily reflect the pos ition of Cycle New s. Inc. I ,

• Cover