Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

America's motorcycle newspaper Volume XXIV • Sharo n Clayto n. Publisher M ike K lin ~ . Compt TO ll~r Skip johnso n , Associate Publisb ert National So les Ma nagnJ ack Ma n ~, . Associa t~ Pub lish ed Edi to r Rh eba Smit h. C ircu latio n M ana~~r Ca rol ine Cend ry, Exec uti ve Suutary to t ht' Pub tisher Editorial Kit Palmer. Associate Editor Paul Carruthers . Ass ociate Editor Farr en Will iam s. Associa te Edi tor N at e Rauba . A ssociat e Edito r Ed w ina Man gu s. Calen dar Edi tor Advertising Terry Prall Sales MaPlagn Mar k T home. Sales Managt"r Mike Ch urch. Eastern Sal es Manager Mark Mitchell. Eastern Sa lt's ManagtT Thomas R. Gontf'r. Eastern Sales JUanagtT Ca lhy Corrao U't stM'n Ad Coo rdi nato r Carla Borden. Eastern Ad Coo rdinator Toni Do neske. Advertising As.fisstant H ere are excerp ts f rom letters readers sen t to Senator John C. Danforth (R M issouri) after he in troduced / 536, the 1987 Motorcycle Safety A ct. You can exp ress your opinion by writin g Se n at o r Danforth , 499 R ussell , Senate Office Bldg., Wash ingt on , DC 20510 .. . Ed itor. lies with the drivers, not the motorcycles. This problem can be easily ad dressed by requiring more stri ngent licensing requirements to rid e larger motorcycles. Dear Senator Danforth: Judging by the belligerent lon e of yo ur description of "superbikes,' I'm left to assume yo u hav e found them guilty of a crime only human err or, inexperience and bad judgement ca n commit. The need is not to stop su pp lying performance bikes that th e pub lic obviousl y wants a nd bu ys, but to educate these canyon sq u ids who a re racking themselves up on the Armco barriers and placing th em selves o n someo ne's hood for a n orna men t. There sho uld be tougher tests and a required rider 's schoo l to teach riders th e basics and to provide advanced training as well. GARYOPP Costa Mesa, CA Graphics and Production Malcol m ' .....il!i.On.P roduction ManagtT Dian a HiI ~enbeTg . G rap hi c Artist Pl1tRY Smi th , Gra p hi c Artift . Stacey C uen. G raph ic Artist Mari on Harash na , T vpeseu er Caro lyn Bran ha m. T YPt'5t'UfT Denni s Creme. LAb. T ech : Accounting /Data Processing Do nna Brya n. Au's R rceiuabte Coordinator Geneva Rf'Jh1~ . Ass istant From H am wev. C redit Circ ulation Sarah Taylor. Assis tan t Alma Anguiano. Ass istan t Che ri Chapma n . Assistant Mari la Adams. Assistant Want Ads Debbie wt nkler , Wan t Ad Salt's Dea ler Sales and Service Reuben Casa rez. Dealer Customer R ep . Service and Support Chris Ai tcheson . He adqua rters R ~apt ion i.~t Leo na rd He rring . Servi ce and Support National Headquarters :''20 1 Ch err y Ave.• Lo ng Beach . CA 90806. P.O . Bo x 198. Long Beach , CA 9080 14t9tol (2 13) 427· 7,133; 2 13/636·8844. FAX (2 13) 427·6685 FAX (4IH) 934·3 112 Eastern Office -t 190 First Ave.• Tucker . CA. 30084; mailin,.; add ress P.O. Box 805. Tucker . GA 30085080 5. (40-1)"934-7850 . C ycle Xew s (US PS 1·11·340) is pub li sh ed wee kly excep t th e first and la st week or th e ca lendar vea r Ior 552.00 pet year h y Cyc le :\'e w s, ln c., 2201 Ch erry Avenue . Long Beach . C \ 90806. Seco nd class postage paid Lo OK Beach . CA. and add itio na l mar ling o ffices. PO STM AS TER ; Sen d form 3 5 79 to Cycle News. P.O . Box 49B. long Beach. CA 9 0 80 1-0498 . ;:1 [ Subscr iption rates: On e ye seco nd cla ss ar. mail. $52.00. C ycl e ' l':ews welcomes unsoli cited editorial m at erial including stories , ca rtoon s, p h OIO'-. eu . Such mat er ial. if p u b lished . becomes th e excl usive pr operty of Cycle ~ e1\· S. Such ac cep ted mat eria l is subjec t to revi sion as is necessary in the so le disc retion or Cycle News. Unso licited ma teria l whi ch i'i no t use-d will he returned if acco mpanied by a !>CH addressed stamped envelope. All unsolicited material will be ha nd led wnh reasonable ca re. however. Cycle Xews assu mes no r ~f.'()nsi hi ljI Y for the safety, loss or damage 10 su ch ma teria l. Rep rintin g in who le o r Pint o n ly by perm issio n of th e publish er . Adv erti sin~ rates a nd circ ulation informa tio n will be- seru upon req uest, See S. R.D.S. Copy r i g ht & Cycle N ews. Inc . 1 9 8 7 . Trade-mark Cycle News registered U.S . Pat e nt Office . All righ t s re se rve d . BPA Consumer Aud it Division M ember . ship Applied Fo r Dec ember 19 8 6 . I agree with yo u who lehea rtedly, we need legi slation to stop some of th ese rider s from killin~ th emselves .. . I think th e maj ority of th e fault lies in th at very few states, in cluding California , have tough licensing standards. ERNEST AG UILAR Walnut, CA Get smart, Senator Danforth , introduce legis lation that forces people to learn how to ride a motorcycle of the '80s safely, instead of trying to force th em to rid e a ma chi ne that is no lo nger wanted and no longer exists and allowing the same inexperienced yo u th to rid e it. ROBERT NEVOLA National H a ndica p Motorcyclist Assn . , Jackson H eights, NY One so lution, favorab le to me, would be implem entati on o f a twostep licen sing program. For exa mp le, a Class I licen se for mo tor cyclists rid ing bikes of up to 500cc, and a Class 2 pe rm it for bik es 50 Icc a nd above . JOH N M. SWE NSE N (Address wi thheld on request ) Frankly, it (5 1536) is like kill ing t he pa tie nt to cu re th e di sease . . . Your bill ga lls me because it is not th e a nswer. Ed uca tion is, a nd proper licen sing a nd trai ning is. G UY PALMIOTTO Brookl yn , NY If vou want to do th e most logi cal thing, th en restrict licen sin g of th e larger bikes. It's not a kid 's fa ult that he can wa lk into a ny sho wroom and purch ase a big bike; it's the federal govern ment that sho u ld restri ct (via licensin g ) but not ban ! PA UL W. LEFORT JR. T hi boda ux, LA 4 ON TH E FRONT PAG E; We ri de 19 8 8 Yamaha YZ prep rod uct ion MXers (top). See page 14. Bub ba Shobert (below) wins Spring f ield M ile . See page 6 . File ph oto by Bert Shepard. I agree with you that excep tio na lly powerfu l mo torcycles in the hands of ama teur drivers is da ng ero us . However, as a mo tor cvcle rid er of 16 years, I a m conv inced th e problem SCHUYLER M..MOORE Los Angeles, CA JEFFGEH RS Marketing Director, RPS Long Beach , CA Senator, I beli eve that yo u are " ba rking up th e wrong tree" in dealing with th e hardware. Prohibitio n has not and do es not cu re problem s. It is irrational a nd irresponsible to call these bikes " killer bik es." The problem lies not with th e machine but with the operator. PETER STAR R Peter Starr Entertainment Ltd. Woodland Hills, CA Every vehicle I have ever ridden, driven or flown has an accelera tio n (speed) contro l operated by the right hand or foot. The performance you quote is the maximum achievable! These vehicles will also accelerate at the rat e of a Model "T " if properly contro lled. Many of thes e high-tech machines may actually be safer , in ap pro pria te hands, d ue to superior handling and outsta nd ing braking characteristics. Accelera tio n does no t kill a nd may in itself be a safe ty factor in som e motorcycli ng situations, DON GONYOU Mt. Clemens, MI Right riders, wrong bikes The AMA screwed up with the Motocross des Nations team. Thev ha ve th e right rid ers, but on th e wro ng size bik es! J eff Ward ca n 't ride a 500 to save hi s life this yea r. H e sho uld be o n th e 125. Bob Hannah is faster o n a 250 than a 125. H e sho u ld ride th e 250. Ri ck J ohnson is great o n a 250, but he is th e fastest Am eri can o n a 500. H e sh ould com pete o n 'the 500. I thi nk we may lose thi s year and th e A~IA will be to blam e. G.K .SCOTT Newbury Park, CA Godspeed, Darell It was a very sad day at th e August 21, AMA Grand Nation al Ch am pi onship race at Hamburg, New York. The raci ng wor ld lost a fine com pet itor and a great frie nd. Hi s nam e - Darell Davis . He was runn in g for th e Juni or National Ch a m pi onship titl e a nd was always in th e hunt for th e win. He was involved in this tragi c acci dent whil e dici ng for a heat race win that left three in j ured a nd, unfortunat el y, took Dar ell's life. In my o pinio n, the 'track was in poor condition and th e paramedics di d not do their jo b. I don't usually attend an accident, but on this occasion I did. It is just a natural instinct to help wh en a friend goes down. The paramedics were' a ttending rid ers that were conscio us, moaning a nd groa n ing, wh ile Darell la y still a nd unconscious. Everyone knows com mo n sense tell s vou to attend a n unconscious person before a co nscio us person. Also, if th ere had been a heli copter o n hand, ma ybe Darell would hav e had a chance. Wh en a n accide n t like this happens I often think of quitti ng, but I know Darell wouldn 't want It that way. H e died doing what he did best and loved mo st. Darell would always go out of hi s wa y to sa y," H i," and help anyone who need ed it. H e was a true sportsma n. If I know Darell, he is up the re revving his engine and wat chi ng ra ces. Thanks for the memories and Godspeed, Darell - a true winner! BRIA N ATHERTO N - White Pigeo n , MI Dear Motorcyclist Your recent telephone call to Ms. Em erling regarding one of our Anacin televi sion commercials, has been forwarded to my attention. Please be assured that we did not develop thi s commercial to be derogatory toward motorcycles or motorcyclists. We beli eve that the proper use of motorcycles and their equipment do represent a sa fe form of transportation. We regret that your initial reaction to thi s co mmercial produced a negative reaction that we never intended to create. However, we hav e reexamined our advertising copy, and as a result, we have already removed this commerical from national television. As the makers of Anacin, we are very concerned about how peo ple, such as yourself , perceive our product and advertising (just like you are regarding the image of motorcycling) and we are always willing to rectify any misunders tand i ng cr ea ted by our ad vertisi ng. . Thank you for calling this matter to our attention. Enclosed is a bottle of Amici n along with a cou po n good on a next purch ase of Anacin which we would hope you would use to come back to the Anacin franchise. JOHN CASEY Group Product Manager Wh iteh all Laboratories New York, NY The above letter was received by readers who called (a similar lett er wa s sen t to readers who wrote) Wh itehall Laboratories and compla in ed about an Anacin television commercial that showed a mother telling her dau ghter that she wasn 't allowed to ride as a passenger on a motorcycle. We com m end Whitehall Laboratories on th eir quick response to th e motorcycl ing community, and we com mend all who took the time to w rite or call . . . Editor. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News. Inc, Letters are subject to. condensation due to space limitations. Anonymous letters will not be published. Send letters to Voices, P.O . Box 498. Long Beach, CA 90801-0498,

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