Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

all. Is communism far away? Of the government officials who have de cided for u s, how man y ride motorcycles? If thi s is a true democracy, why doesn 't th e government let th e motorcyclists vote on the issue, and let the majority rule? KEVIN DENMAN Ontar io , CA America's motorcycle newspaper Volume XXV Sharon Clayton. Pu blish er Mike Kli n ger ,Com p tr oll erSkip Johnson . Associate Pu bl ishrr t N ational Sales Managa Jack Man gu s, A ssociate Publish ert Ed ito r Rheb a Sm ith . Circul ation Man ager Caroline Gendry, Execu tive SeCTetary to th e Pu blish er Editorial Kit Palmer , Ass ociate Edi to r Paul Carruthers, A ssociate Ed ito r t Nate Rauba. As socia te Editor Bria n Ca tterso n. Associate Editor T yro ne van Hoo vdon k. Ass istan t Edi tOT Edwi na Mangus. Calro dar Editor Advertising Mik e Ch urch . Senior Sa les Manager Terry Pratt Seni or Sales Manager Ma rk Thorne, Wt'stt"T1l Sa les Ma nager Do n Stoeber, Westt'1'n Sales M anag er Mar k Mitchell , Eastern Sa les Mana ger Thomas R . Gon ter , Eastern Sales Mana ger Cathy Co rrao Wt" stem Ad Coordinato r Ca rla Bord en , Eastern Ad Coordi nato r Ton i Doneske. Advertising A ssistan t Graphics and Production Malcolm Wilson,P rod u£tion Mana ger Dia na Hi lgenberg. G rap hic Ar tist Sta cey O uest. G rap hic Art ist Ji m mie O 'Dell , Grap hic Artist Ma ndy Loa, G rap hi c A rtis t Derri ck Pressley, G rap h ic A rtist Mar ion Hatash ita , Tvpeseuer Carolyn Bra nham, T yp esettn Den n is Greene . Lab. T ech . Accounting /Data Processing Donna Brya n, Accts R eceivable Coo rdinalor Geneva Repass. A ssistan t Fran H arnwey. Credit Circulation Sara h Tay lor, As sistan t Alma Anguia no, A ssistant Cheri Cha pman, Assistan t Mari ta Adam s, A ssistant Circulation Development Ron Davidson, Managn Want Ads Debb ie w inkl er, Wan t Ad Sales Service and Support Ch ris Aitch eson , H ead quartirs R ecept ion ist Leo nard He rri ng , Serv ice and Support National Headquarters 2201 Che rry Ave., Long Beach , CA 90806. P.O. Bo x 498. Lo ng Beach . CA 9080 1·0498 (2 13) 427-7433; 2 13/636-8844. FAX (2 13) 427-6685 Eastern Office 4190 First Ave" T ucker. GA, 30084: mailing addr ess P .O . Box 805, Tucker, GA 30085· 0805. (404) 934-7850. FAX (404) 934-3 112 Cycle News (US PS 141-3-10) is pu bli shed weekly excep t the first and last week of th e ca lendar yea r for S 32. 50~ pet year by Cycle News , Inc., 220 1 Che rry Avenue. Lo ng Beach, CA 90806. Second class pos tage paid a t Lon g Beach , CA, and additiona l ma iling o ffices. POSTMASTER ; Send form 3579 to , Cycle News. P .O . Box 498. Long Beech. CA 90B01 ·0498. Su bscrip tio n ra tes: One year. second cla ss ma il. $32.50. ' Cycle News we lco mes unsolicited edi tori al materia l includin g sto ries. cartoo ns, ph otos, etc. Su ch mat eria l. ir published . becom es th e exclusive ptofH:ny o r Cycle New s. Such accepted material is su bject to revisio n as is necessary in the so le discr etion or Cycle New s. Unsolicited mat erial wh ich is no t used will be returned if acco mp an ied by a self addressed sta mped envelope. All un soli cited ma teria l will he handled wit h reasona ble ca re, however , Cycl e News assu mes no respo nsibi lity Ior th e safely . loss or da mag e to such mate rial. Repri nt in g in whole or pan on ly by permission of the publisher. Advertising ra tes a nd circula tio n infor mat ion will be sent u po n request. See S.R.D.S. SPA Consumer Audit Division Membership Applied For . Copyright" Cycle News. Inc. 1988. Trade -mark Cycle News registered U.S. Patent Office. All right. reserved , ~ ,( •• S 1"W 4 Off-roaders who care _Well, the California Parks and Recreation Commission did it to us againl In a thinly veiled attempt to correct a prior possible illega l hearin g (in which they decided to ban all off-road riding in State Parks), the co mmi ssion gave th e "guilty party a fair triall" Even though the hear ing was in Morro Bay, severa l off-road supporters drove many miles to ma ke an attemp t to keep offroading alive in State Parks. ,These people closed their businesses or took leave to spend a full day fighting a bureau cracy th at doesn 't believe in multipl e use. Make no mistake about it, the o u tcome was pre-determ in ed. Eleven off-roa d warr ior s spo ke in opposition to th e anti-O H V policy bein g co nsidered. Curiously, all th e Sta te Par k Rangers and th e enviro nmen tal commu nity cou ld on ly muster 10 spea kers in favor of the pol icy. We actua lly had more spea kers than they did ! It is a sha me that on ly the off-road racers seem to get recognition for their acco mp lis hments . I want to publicl y recognize th e foll owing offroad ent h usias ts for the tim e and resou rces th ey dedicat e so th at we all ma y ha ve us e of public lands: CORVA President Rick Bat es and Vice President Sieve Kuehl , AMA rep Ed Waldheim, Phil Ca rni tses of the American T ria ls Association , Real Dyn ami cs' s St eve Bim son , Sig Hansen , Dr. Les Olden brook , Steve Schroeder, and OHV Commissioners J ohn Motl ey, Mar ge Sutton a nd Hu gh McGuigan. Sutton a n d McGuigan are Sierra Club acti vists who asked the comm issio n to let th e OHV perm it pl an proposed by State Pa rks Director Henry' Agonia have a year trial. There were man y in th e audience wh o didn 't spea k, but were th ere for moral sup po rt. T o all th e people wh o made the comm it men t to be th ere, a heartfelt thanks! MIKE BISHOP Santa Bar bara, CA Helmets and desert I just tho ug h t you might wa nt to kn ow th at yo u go t my attention , a nd even th ough I choose to wear a helmet, on occasion I lik e to take it off o n a near desert ed coun try road or on a twisting mountain road , just for that feelin g of freedom. So, I ~uess if it passes, ma ybe I'll meet you In jail somet ime. In regards to Cranston 's 57, I subscribe to Dirt Bike, MX Action , Dirt Rider and Super MX and have mail ed all th e tear- out cards th ey made avai lable to u s, plus some letters of m y ow n to abo ut 30 sena tors aski ng for a reply on how th ey stand o n 57. T he o nly replies I've gotten were Cranston and Wilso n 's form letters. I kind of get the feelin g these letters/ cards are bein g read by blind people. I wonder, are th ey really doing that mu ch good ? What else ca n be don e to stop thi s bill? H ow a bou t thi s? Wh y don't you peo ple and a ll the MX magazines get together and come up with a petition or letter and get some people to volunteer to ge t signatures at the local races and at major races? Maybe a letter with 40 to 50 thousand signatures might get someone's attention! This ma y be a little far fetched (if so, toss this in the round file) , and I know it would cost money and people's time; but my hand is raised as a volu nteer and I can miss a night at the 'wateri ng hole and send a check. What do you think? MEL HALE Valencia, CA 1 th ink that a petition like you sugges t might start a repeal movem ent, but wouldn 't beat back the bills this late in the race . . . CC. L etters of opposit ion to S7 received by Se n . Pete Wilson thus far in 1988 o u tn u m ber lett ers of support. But according to Lynda Royster, Sen. Wilson's deputy press secretary, th e amount of mail received in Wilson 's W ash in gt on office hasn 't been large en ough to place it among th e top 10 items of priority. However, S7 opposition mail received by W ilson last week outnumbered all other mail. Personal lett ers are th e way to go; for in form ati on on w ho to write, see pa g es 1I-12-13 of th is issu e . .. Ed it or. Write your senat or now! I'm mad dadgumrnit, and I'm not go ing to take it anymore! This is in reference to 57. But I'm no t actuall y mad at Cranston; rather my anger is now directed at all those co nnecte d with bikes of any form who are sitting on th eir thumbs. I am vehe ment at deal ers in my area wh o do not even know what 57 is! Wh at dodos! I'm livid at riders in any sta te who have not written th eir senators. I am mad at thos e stre et riders who feel it is not th eir problem . Anyone who h as an y type of connect io n with motorcycles who does no t realize that thi s is only on e form of a ttack o n o ur en tire sport is a fooll I am sorry if thi s hurts someo ne 's feelings, but if this bill passes th ere will be n o off-road ridi ng in th e U.S. in a sh ort tim e. T he nex t step is th e street rid er wh o is already under siege from certain gro ups . As a businessm an I a m already being affected finan ciall y by the "bullet bik e" problem . Pl ease, no matter wh ere you live or wh at you ride, mak e your voice heard. Write yo ur senator now l GEORGE SPALDI NG Nederland, TX Spalding is a State Farm Insurance agent . . . Ed it or. let the majority rule I'm in furiat ed! What gives th e gove rn ment th e righ t to tell us to wear helmets? I wear one, but certainl y don 't like being told I have to wear one! A friend of mine on ce told me that we have democracy in th is co un try o nly because we're such a you ng co un try, com pared to o ther co untries . But , he said, over time th e government will little by little tak e our freedoms away, and we'll end up like China or Russia. The gov ernment is deciding what it feels is necessary for the " co mmo n good" of Always I enjoy reading Cycle News very much and am in accord with most of your editorials. However, I take exception to your latest, entitled Freedom Lost. The person who loses his life or becomes a life-long invalid because a helmet was not worn costs every motorcycle rider and taxpayer large sums of money. For myself, I wear a helfnetand that is always. FREDSARG Vero Beach, FL D isgu st ing , ab so lutely Chuck Clayton 's colum n Freedom Lost was absolu tely di sgusting. You can't live with a helmet law , don't ride a bike. You can't live with a seat belt law, ride a bus. If you ask all ci tizens of Cal ifornia wh ether or not th ey want a helmet law you would kn ow, wouldn 't you? Since th ey are th e o nes paying th e hospital bills th ey sho uld have a say in it and they a p paren tly have had th eir say. I've see n most of th e surveys, and numbers can be made to show what you want. Ask every filth y freak in L.A. o n a H arl ey and you can get it like you want it. The voters have made their own survey. I wonder what you have actually done for your cou ntry to keep the freedoms so many people have died for. One of which enabled the people of California to say enough is enough! Were you the gu y with the protest banner maybe? Your comment abou t " free coun try" really burns my ass. Take some of ,the mon ey from your high paying job, do a little traveling in the right places and you will see wh at free country reall y means. Maybe your intentions are honorable but I suspect not. People like you are doing more to damage our spo rt th an any in su rance co mpany or yen/ dolla r exchange. You, sir, are what the term jerk really means. Effective immediately, pl ease can cel my subscrip tio n to Cycl e News and mail the refund to my shop. Also, what other group of ma gazines does your par ent company own so I ca n ca ncel them ? CRAIG CRUMPLER Yamaha of Jacksonville J acksonville, NC Do yo u w an t it in dollars or yen? ATV N ews , Motorcycle Road Racer Illustrated an d Personal Wat ercraft Illustrated . . . CC . The wrong tack I can empathize with th e motor cycling public in Cal ifornia when it co mes to th e helm et law. We faced the same dil emma just a few years ago here and also go t sold down th e ri ver by the legi slature. We wrote a lo t of letters and scre amed a nd hollered at the tops of our voices, all to no avai l. Ostensibl y to protect th ose crazed bik ers from th emselves th e law passed' to assure the continued stead y flow of federal highwa y tax dollars into th e state. You see, Louisiana is broke! Your freedom to choose means very little when the bottom line of the ledger is blood red. Your situa-

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