Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

resp o ns ibility th at co me s with cas h in~ h is firs t check, a re- Benelli /Moto Guzzi North America has announced that two new. Moto Guzzis will be available to the U.S . market in the spring of 1986. (Above) . .The V-65 TT is Moto Guzzi 's entry into the dual-purpose market. The TT (TT standing for Tutto Te~reno, Ital.ian fo.r all-terrain) features a 643cc V-twin engine, Marzocchl suspension. disc brakes front and r~ar, and shaft drive . Claimed dry weight is 363 pounds. Su~gested retail for the V-65 TT is $3125 . (Below) The 1000 SP II (SP standing for Sp~da, syvord in Italian) is a sport touring model which features a 949cc V-tWin engine, a claimed 'd ry weight of 465 pound~, a!"d a 16-inch front wheel. The 1 OOOSPII will have a suggested retail price of $4512. a in O H 44052, or tell your KTM dea ier to rela y word of you r in terest to KT M America. Coast Ed itor Do n Pa rker, wh o is now looking for a job an d who can be reac hed a t 714/76 1-7953. • Multi-time MX Champion Bob Hannah and Dutchman Kees van der Ven will meet up in the upcoming 16th Annual Florida Winter AMA MX Series in January, Hannah will use the series to dial in the new Suzukis while KTM's'van der Ven, an acknowledged sand riding master, plans to use the series as training for his GP season. RISK By John U lrich Miller H igh Life Beer wi ll n o lon ger be associa ted wi th supercross in 1986, acco rd in g to Stadi u m Motorsports. The beer company 's marketplace com pe ti tion has forced a n advertisi ng stra tegy rea lignment . • MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRYS CtlANGE Promoted By Sears Point Raceway, Mary Jan uary, to Vice Presid ent; Jan uary was formerly th e d irector of marke ti ng. Folded Black Biker magazin e, as of November 25, accordi ng to West Cocaine It seems to me th a t if a racer is p aid to ra ce, h e's go t a certain sponsibility to n ot be a total jerk, to not us e drugs, to not be an alcoholic, to not en gage in crimi na l activities. Th e responsibility is to the fans and enth usiast s who make h is racing mean something, an d to th e ch ild ren of th ose fans and enth u siasts; without those fans an d their kids, without enth u sia sts to be im pre ssed by ra ce By Jack Mangus wins and tra ns late that impression In 1978 the weak Am erican into m oto rcycl e purchases, there would be no reason to race or to pay do llar forced Joh n Penton to profession al ra cers. Beyond that , the qui t importing th e Austrianfew guys who have factory support made motorcycles he had so ow e it to th e struggling p rivateers su ccessfully marketed with his name who h ope to someday be on a fac tory on the tan ks. It was a hard blow for team not to screw up their factory th e MattighoHen ,. Austria firm of . deals or racing in general. KTM to absorb, but absorb it they Wh ich brings us to th e a larming did, and n ow, some seven years lat er news th a t a t least th ree o f racing's they're on th e upswi n g . brightes t sta rs, a ll th ree h aving enTh e America n marketis an imporjoyed some measure of facto ry su p tant o ne to a motorcycle m anufacport in recent years, a re co nf irmed, turer. Penton mo torcycle sales pea ked hard-core, p art y-do wn co ke heads. around the 5000 ma rk in th e midBetw een the three o f them, th ey've seventies, bu t the n steadily decli ned won do zen s of Nation al races and as man ufactu rers faced th e co ld hard ha u led a way hundreds and h undreds fact that th e dirt bike boom was over. o f thousa n ds of dollars in factory . Penton called it qu its an d KTM was sa la ries , bonuses, su pport ; en joyed sudde n ly without a n im porter in the the fi nest m ach in ery o n th e track an d U.S. T hey quick ly established their full -time m ech anics to prepare a n d Lorain, . O hio-based American arm maintain tha t m achinery; bee n pa id with J ack Leh to at th e h elm. th ousands in sponsorshi p fees by Sales increased slowly bu t surely af termarket accessory and eq ui p me n t u nt il last year KTM America imported m anufacturers; won m ore p u rse a n d so ld over 2000 KTMs. Mr. KTM, money th an the to p 20 pri vateers Eric h T runkenpoltz, rewarded both com bi ned . the O hio-based employees a nd those This is n o mistake. T he evide nce is in KTM America 's West Coast faci lin eyew itness reports of specific inciity in Sa n Diego wi th an a ll expe~ses dents, in co llabora ting p hysica l ap pai d tri p to Austria. I' m not tal ki ng pearance and p oor performa nces imabou t certai n em p loyees; every KT M me diately following co ke-Iests, in Am eri ca emp loyee jett ed to Austria co mpla ints from a parent of o ne of for a wee k's vaca tion . the three of a serious coke u se p robT his year American sal es topped lem an d a documented trip to a de the 2600 mark, re-establ ishing KTM toxifica tion p ro gram by th e. same as a force to be recko ned with. rider. U nfortuna tel y, th e res u lts of A visit to th e Ma tt igh offen factory th e de -tox tri p , wh ile effec tive, didn ' t reveals new additions under conla st fo r long, and n ow the g uy in struction; one to house a new elecquestion is a coke-snortiri' ringl eader tronic' d yn a mo meter, the other to among race rs. allow expansion o f KTM 's radiat or All that 's kep t their n ames o ut of man ufac turing div ision. Radia tors the news as being drug abusers so far a re now being m ad e at Mattig hoffen is th e absence of a police rep ort, a for not on ly their own water-cooled bust , a search a nd seizure a t an airport . units, but for o th er firms such as Cocaine is na sty stuff. A guy I H usqvarna and BMW . know transformed h im self from an T here are n o secrets at KTM . Ask a effective, professional, ra ce-wi nning q uestion, you 'll get a straight answer. m echanic into a sniffling, d isorga nWill th e new wa ter-cool ed, fourized foo l who missed practice sesstro ke 500 LC4 be on th e market sions and who sh owed u p late for soon? No, probably not for a year. ra ces because he couldn't stay awake Has everyon e been pl eased w ith 16 co n secu tive h ours. The guy would th e new 80cc minibike? No , we've snort a co uple of g ra m s in aday , then had co m p la ints abo ut th e length of dri n k two six-packs so he could sleep; th e swingarm, slow revv ing, and th e when he slept, h e'd be out for ha lf a fa ct we shipped units to Am erica day or a day or two days, a nd h is with the wrong fork springs. lungs ratt led like th e des cription of What will be the actual displaceJoh n Belush i in th e book " Wired ." m ent of the new 350? 343cc. Wi ll it T he guy bui lt race-losing motorcyh ave Digital Con tro l, KTM 's cC?mp~ cles whill' all the time den yin g he ha d terized ig ni tio n system? No , It WIll any problem a nd telling frien ds tha t have a Motop lat sys tem at first and he didn't need cocaine a n d that as t he n later i t w i ll have D i g it a l lon g as h e got enough sleep, h e'd be Co ntrol. fin e. In th e m eantime, cocai ne took Are th ere a ny ch a nges pl anned for co n trol of his life and m ade him n ext the wo rks G P bikes? Yes, the 250s to use less in his chosen p ro fession , wi ll have power valves. a nd nothing anybody co u ld say or do Will th e production bik es hav e co u ld convince h im th at something power valves in 1987? Yes. was seriously wrong. Is Heinz Kin igadner , your twoWith cocaine, the three yo u ng ractim e 250cc MX World Champion, ers are betting th eir ca reers; n o reyour best so urce of in fo rm a tio n as far sponsible company , especia lly not a as rider feedba ck is co nce rned? No, responsible company based in Japa~, Kees van der Ven is th e best. He sen ses will tol era te drug use by racers paid thin gs and ca n p u t it all into words to represent th e co m pany a n d win bett er than a n y o f o u r ot h er riders . races. We expect him to do very well in th e I a m personally offended a n d sad500cc class this year. . dened that some o f racing's finest Better th an H einz? Yes. perform ers a re launching th em selves T he re' s much, much m ore 10 KTM a lon g th e sa me p ath that led to th e th an just straigh t forwardness; th ere 's ru in o f others. Beyond that.vI don 't a g enuine lov e of life and th e rewards kn ow exactly wliat to say o r do about th at hard work provide. We do know it. What wo uld yo u do? Something? , th at KTM will increase thei r bike Nothing? You tell us, and we 'll print sa les. It co u ldn't happen to a n icer th e best letters in th e weeks to come. bunch of peop le. • • 00 O"l ........ ........ ........ 3

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