America's
motorcycle newspaper
Volume XXIII: Number 48
Sharon Claylon, Publisher
Mike Klinger. Comptrolkr
Skip Johnson, Associate Publisher!
National Sales Manager
Jack Mangus, Associate Publisher/Editor
Rheba SmiLh, Circulation Manager
Carolint' Gendry, Executive Secretary to
the Publisher
Editorial
Kit Palmer. Associate Editor
Paul CarrutherS. Associate Editor
Farren Williams, A.J.fociale Editor
Mike 1..d material is sujbect to revision as is
necess~ry in the sole disaction of Cycle
Nev.'s. Unsolicited materiaJ which is not used
will be relUnled if accompanied by a seH
addressed s.amped envelop:. All unsolicited
material will be handled with reasonable
care. however. Cycle News assumes no rcspon·
siblity for the safety, loss or damage to such
mate~ia~. Reprinting i!" wholc?rpart only by
permU!slon o~ the I?u.bhsher: Advertising rates
and clrculauon mformanon wiU be sent
upon request. See S..R.D.S,
Copyrigh~CycIeNew••
lnc.1986. Trsde·
mark Cycle NeW. ,.giatered U.S. Patent
Office. All rights .....rvod.
4
ON THE FRONT PAGE: The
Nikon of Henny Ray AbrBms
caught Malcolm Fo'rbes' HarleyDavidson balloon, while Kit
Palmer's Nikon clicked the pic
of the Harley-DBvidson Low
Rider Custom.
How Cranston could lose
The recent guest editorial "How
Cranston Won" By Dave Holeman
was appreciated. Even though Dave
stretched the truth a bit, hi point is
well. taken. Aware voter turn-out is
~n essential part of protecting the
mterests of motorcycling, a part that
apparently only we can make happen.
The Cranston problem sure didn't
take care of itself, or just go away.
Yes, we a II need to stay on top of
who our elected officials are. And how
to contact them. It's good if you ever
contact them at all, but sometimes we
need to do so in a big hurry to let our
feelings and interests be known. One
easy way.to find out who these people
are is to call your city hall and request
the names and phone number of the
following: Your senators (who deal
with issues at the federal level), state
senators, congresspersons, and assemblypersons. They can also provide
you with county supervisors, etc.,
should you have a local problem. No
city hall? Call your local chamber of
commerce as they also know.
Now diat you have names and
numbers, call these offices for accurate and current addresses of same.
This. can also be considered prerunr:ung the phone numbers in preparatIon for battle. But at the same
time, even Senator Cranston's office
will be polite to you if you are polite
to them. You can't reason with peo·
pIe by screaming at them. It is to our
advantage to project a positive image.
Go ahead and scribble while you
are on the phone, Then make a
somewhat organized list of all this
acquired information. Put it where
you can find it, even if that means in
your tool box. The next time the
bureaucrats threaten our sport, as
well as our civil liberties, you will be
armed with valuable knowledge.
.Ye~, Sen~tor Cranton is trying to
stIck 1l to hiS own state (California) at
t~e federal level. That is why we
kmdly request all Americans to contact their respective senators to voice
opposition to Senate Bill SB2061. If
Big Brother gets away with shutting
down southern California by simply
labeling it a "wilderness area:' then a
very dangerous precedent has been
set. What part of the country do the
eco-freaks go after next? The Colorado 500 could be history within sev-eral years, for example. And to add
insult to injury, the term 'wilderness'
in most cases, if not all, would be a lie
according to Webster's Dictionary.
We can't say it enough, if you are of
voting age, then do so. Register to
vote. When you move to a different
- address, re-register. Even though
Cranston won. the senate race, perhaps we, theo[l·roading public, made
a difference in the Cranston vs. Zschau
match. H nothing else we made Cranston sweat when Zschau took the
early lead. When Cranston went on
to pull-outan 11 th hour victory, by a
rather slim margin, maybe be g-ollhe
message that he's not as popular as he
thought and that a great many Californians are mad as hell about what
he. is doing with SB2061. Unfortunately, there were not enough of us at
the polls to make the ultimate differ~nce..
Evaluate the situation. Put it in
your own words and terms. Think
about it. Have you ever noticed that
sometimes when you're riding how
easy it .can be to really think clearly?
Even Lf you're racing? Makes ya
wonder.
When the banner's up and I look
up and down the start line at the competition, I see a defense of the true
pioneer spirit that made this country
free. That's what our great sport
means to me. This is something worth
protectmg.
We can do something about the
problem of politicians wanting to
shackle us out of existence. At least in
(his country we still can. We must
stand up for our rights. We'll never
know unless we try.
TOM MARSHALL
Canyon Country, CA
Right on the money
Dave Holeman was right on the
money in his guest editorial (Cycle
News, Nov. 26/Dec. 19). We blew it
in November at the polls.
Yes, I wrote letters. You read lhem
in Cycle News and (can I say it?) in
Dirt Rider.
Yes, I voted - for Ed Zschau - and
tried to make my voice heard in the
place where it really counts!
Apparently not enough other riders made thee((ort to do either. I hope
th!'-t somehow, somewhere, somebody
WIll get us off our collective butts and
get us organized. Apparently it won't
come from theAMA. Maybe the Califorma Off-Road Vehicle Association
(CORVA) will come through. Or
another Phantom Duck will,appear.
I'll keep trying ,to do our part.
What are the rest of you guys doing?
LYNN DOUGLAS HOWELL
Walnut, CA
The issue is money
This is about the renewed helmet
law controversy in California. I have
sent a similar letter to Assemblyman
Richard E. Floyd.
I personally wear a helmet. I like to
see my friends wear helmets, because
they:re ~ore likely to stay around
awhile if they do, and that' would
make my life better. But I feel that
people must be allowed to take risks
that don'tendanger others. Not wearing a helmet is just such it risk.
Part of the issue is individual freedom. It's a short step from requiring
helm~ts ~o saying it's illegal to go
walkmg m the desert in the summer,
because every year people do and die
as a. direct result. Many other things
are m that category and could be similarly controlled. Rock climbing,
scubadivmg, motorcyling itself, could
all be prohibited in· the name of the
social good. And where from there?
The other part of the issue is the
so-called social responsibility problem. Let's consider that objectively
for a moment. Let's consider only the
money, because that's the issue.
There's a lot of talk about the
expense of medical treatment hat"
must be picked up by the state when a
helmetless rider hurts himself worse
'than hewould have if he'd been wearing a helmet. Two big numbers are
getting completely ignored. One is
the amount of money that gets spent
when a helmet wearing rider survives
'an accident, with terrible and expen·
si.ve inj1;ITies, that would surely have
killed him had he not been wearing a
helmet. He may become a ward of the
state for life because he had a helmet
on. The second missing number is
~he amount of money that gets saved,
m a sense, when a helmet less rider
~e~s killed instead of surviving with
mJunes that would cost the state a lot
of money.
. This sounds morbid, but remember
the issue is money. If someone doesn';
like this argument, it's not the money
they don't like, it's the human side.
That's not the cost to society; but
speaks rather to the other problem
the queslion of whether we should
prevent people from taking risks. If
we're going to consider the dollar
costs, let's be honest about it.
No statistics I've seen address those
missing numbers. When they are taken
into account, we might even see that
it would save the state money to ban
helmets. I certainly don't advocate
that. The point is, we don't know
what the dollar costs are, because no
one's looked at the entire issue.
I'm happier to see anyone wearing
a helmet, because she/he probably
has people that care about her/him
and they could be longly saddened by
a minor accident. I would like to see
everyone equcated about the fragile·
ness of the brain and the protection
helmets provide. But it must remain
an individual choice. As for the dollar costs, people like to quote figures
that support their feelings, but so far
no one has looked at it objectively.
JAMES BRADLEY
Los Angeles, CA
Loose cannon rhetoric
It appears that it is Mr. Holeman's
bel ie£ that motorcycling is endan·
gered by the reelection of Senator
Cranston to another term of office.
What an extrordinary perception! His
recent guest editorial certainly leads
me to believe th;:tt it is much more
endangered by the likes of Mr. Hole·
man, standing on soap boxes!
His style and views represent to me'
th.e most embarrassing excesses of the
fr.mges of the motorcycling fraternity, (and, coincidentally, reminds
me of tbe tone of the recent Sena torial
campaign in California!!). His 'Ioose~nnon' rhetoric is potentially injurIOUS to everyone, both inside and outside of the sport. Any outsider, assuming that his violent diatribe typifies
the general. opinion of us all, can
only have hiS worst fears confirmed!!
. Fo~tunat~ly, I know there are many
m thIS busmess who are not tied to
his tangenti;:tl 'sling-shot' opinions.
We are not going to be 'buried' by
those categorized by Mr. Holeman as
'bums'!
We are going to continue to succeed by operating our businesses and
our lives with a rational, open mind,
aware of all the changing factors that
mfluenceevery day. In fact, they area
SIgn that there are slill opportunities
to create, and not just phantom ene·
mies to blame for our own shoncomings.
I counter the restrictions or controls on riding areas by doing all I
can to make sure my customers their
families and friends, ride respo~sibly
and safely, and respect with more
care the areas we do have, rather than
abuse the areas wedon'talways need,
Personally, I have little problem with
. a 55.mph limit if it extends the longevity of even a small number of my
customers! [ also understand tbe
simple relationship between cost of
repairs, the irresponsibility of riders
and insurance rates. I also trust motorcycle magazine edi tors not to get
(Continued to page 17)
