Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ~Q~~NCH l3 ~ 22 Get a grip T hose black rubber things on each end of your handlebars are ugly. You want those new florescent jobs, the ones tha t'll make Damon Bradshaw cringe with envy. Either that or those black grips are ju st plain worn ou t, and conservative you wants to replace them with the same boring black ones. But changi ng those grips is a job you've been putting off. Memories of your childhood attempts at changing the grips on your Schwinn still hau nt you. The damn thi ngs just don' t want to come off an d the new ones don't want to go on. It's like the han dlebar hates the grip, and vice versa. They just don 't want to mate, and you're one step away from just wrapping duct tape around both ends of the bars to be done with it, Well, we are go ing to try to help you through this pai nful grip extraction, and even help you get those Iloro jobs on. Let's start with getting those grips off, sha ll we? There're prob abl y more ways to do this than there are helium atoms . We'll take a loo k at three ways. If you want to save those black beauties for the day when you've outgrown those new wave jobs, then the object is to remove them without destroying them. One way is to use an air compressor. After getting some lubrication into the soon -to-be-stored-in -the -gargage grip, all you do is blow 'air in one end, hold your finger over the hole in the grip at the other end, and presto. No mas grip. Repeat the process at the other end and you're ready to put the new ones on. Another method is for those without the air comp resso r. Simply slide a screwdriver between the bar and the grip, squirt some kind of detergent-based liquid in the opening you've created, pull the screwdriver out and start working the grip off the bar. Again, perform the same maneuver to the other end. The easiest way is saved for those of you who are smar t enoug h to know that storing something you'll pro bably never use agai n anyway is pretty stupid. You know how hard it is to find a sevenyear old pai r of handlebar grips when they're thrown in a box full of high school yearbooks? Grab a razorblade and cut the damn things off, throw them in the trash and save th e a ttic space for Christmas ornaments. Okay, now we're ready to spruce up those bars with a nifty pa ir of brandspanking new grips. A lot of people spray contact cleaner into the new grips and slide them on. But we seem to think that contact cleaner is too expensive and has too man y other uses to be used as a lubricant. Kinda like using beer for mouthwash. We op t for clear "pai nt". Think about it, when was the last time you wanted to paint somethi ng clear? You spray the paint on the inside of the grip, slide them on and you're set, The paint hardens when dry and sets up like a glue. Since you really want to look like a factory star, the next hot tip is to wire them babies in place. You not only look like you know wha t you're doing, but the grips will stay on the bars and may save you some money on dental work down the road. Since most grips have little grooves, usually not quite an inch in on both ends, the safety wire sort of has a ho me away from hom e. Wrap the wire around the grip at both ends, twist the wire together, cut the excess off as close as to the grip as possible, and pound the twisted end into the grips so the wire doesn 't catch your gloves. We prefer the twisty part of the wire to be in our pa lms, ra th er than o ur fingers, so pl an accordingly. Voila! your bars look trick. EDITOR'S MEGAPHONE By Paul Carruthers t's bad enough to read the da il y newspap er every da y a nd never see a wo rd about mo torcycle raci ng. It 's even worse tha t whe n motorcycle racing does see the light o f day in th e sports page, it 's no th in g but Ba r r y Sheene bad-mouthi ng Lag una Seca R aceway a nd ca lling for a rider s' bo yco tt of nex t year's Gra nd P ri x. It 's hard for me todefen d Lagu na Seca because I ha ve bee n so mew h a t cr i tica l of th e ra ce track since th e fi rs t U.S. GP was held th ere three years ago. But eno ugh's eno ug h . I do n' t h a ve a p rob lem wit h the riders' com p lai nts a bo ut th e circuit, after all I ag ree that it's not the safest race track i n the world, and th ey are the o nes that have to race on it. Bu t when for mer Wo rld Champio n Sheene co mes o ut and states: "The place (Lag u na Seca) is a dump. If I was sti ll ridin g, the re is no way I wo u ld race th ere," I fin d that irritating. H o w ca n a TV co m me n tator in Au st ralia sit back a nd lash o ut a t a race h e didn 't eve n attend? T o th e best o f my kn o wl edge, Mr. Sheene 's n ever even been to Lag una Seca , And this j u dgeme nt co me s from a man who purchased hi s Surfer 's Parad ise mansi on o n mo ney m ad e from raci n g at da ngerous circu it s lik e Scarboroug h , Irn a tra , th e old Spa-Fra ncorcha mps, a nd Ulste r, to name a few . And let's not forget th at Sh eene's ca reer was effec tive ly ended whe n he su ffere d seri o us injuri es at Sil versto ne in En gland - a track noted for its abu ndance of ru n -off areas, a tra ck mad e famou s by being sa fe. And n o w h e wa nts to lead a rid ers ' bo ycott o f L ag u na Seca . Wh y do n 't we leave th at de cisi on up to th e riders, Sir Barry? I "But when former World Champion . Sheene comes out and states: 'The place (Laguna Seca) is a dump. If I was still riding, there is no way I would race there.' I find that irritating." I ac tually ca n' t see wh ere we ca n bl am e a ny o f the acci de n ts tha t occurred at Laguna Seca directly on th e race tr ack itself. Eddi e L aw son su dde n ly fo u n d h i m se lf w ithout br ak es as h e approache d tu rn two at rough ly ISO mp h d uri n g qua lif ying. Bu t if yo u ru n o ut o f brak es a t ISO mp h o n an y GP race track i n th e wo rl d yo u a re go in g to en d up h itting so me thi ng. At Spa -Fr a ncorc ham ps in Belgi u m it would likely be th e pub th at si ts o utsi de o f th e La So u rce ha irp in. Wa yn e Gardn er h igh sid ed h is H onda in turn six beca u se of a co ld rear tire. H e bruised the ou tside of hi s foo t in the get-off, bu t h is injury didn 't occur because of a lack of r un off area. He was injured because he grabbed a han dfu l of thrott le o n a very powerful mo torcycle, and sp un o u t. La st year h e broke his leg in th e sa me spo t, but agai n it wa s th rou gh no fa ult of the race tra ck. Gardner sa id last year th at h is leg was brok en before he eve n got to th e h ay bal es. I'm th e last person th at likes seei ng someone cra sh. Last year' s incident inv olving Bubba Shobe rt and Kevin Mag ee sickened me, bu t again it wa s not the fault of the race tra ck. T his yea r's se rio us injury a lso bo the rs me. I kn ow a nd like Kevin Magee a lot. But wh en the Au stralia n hi gh sided h is Su zuki o n th e exi t of turn six h e was i njured becau se h is head sla m me d against th e pavement. Agai n , it was not the fa ult of the circui t. Soo n after th e race I ha d a conversation with Gard ner. At tha t tim e he thou ght Magee had hi t head first into th e hay ba le-lined ret ainin g wa ll on th e exi t o f tu rn si x. Sim p ly not tru e. "Not even close," Kevin Schwantz said when questioned as to which is more dangerous, Spa or Laguna? "Spa." What we have th ese da ys is h ig h - . pressure racing o n hi gh -h o rsepow er motorcycl es. Men maki n g a lo t o f money to ride their m ot orcycl es a t the limit, and so meti me s beyond. So it 's u nders ta ndable th at th er e are crashes, a n d su bseq ue n t injuries. The goal of these racers is to h ave race tr ack s o n which to race th a t will a llow for error wi thou t takin g lives. An d th at is a lso u nder standable. " Look, we we re two a nd a h alf seco n ds fast er a t Suz uka this yea r, a n d a sec o nd fa ste r at Laguna," Wo r ld Champio ns hi p leader a n d two-time U.S . GP wi nner Wa yn e Ra in ey sa id in reg ard to the recent acci de nts at L ag u na . " We h ave so much damn horsepower now that th e fin e lin e is even finer - especia lly at race track s whe re yo u us e low geari n g. You lose tr action a n d yo u ca n' t get it back . Bu t th ose crashe s were n ' t th e race track 's fault. T hose g uys sp u n o u t because of too much thrott le." T he re is no d oubt th at Laguna Seca need s so me work to mak e i t sa fer. The bl ind cres t that ca us es riders' heart s to p lu m met to th eir sto mac h s as th ey negotiate fla t-o ut tu rn tw o need s ch a n gi ng . An accident th ere wo u ld prove to be ho rrifi c. Bu t SC RAM P , promoter s o f the Laguna Seca races , h a s indicated th at they are looking to ha ve th e o u tsi de em ba n k me n t rem o ved to give rid ers run-off ro om i n ca se of an accide n t. .Wh en pri vat eer Peter L inden lost a p ortion of h is exh a u st pipe just o ver the cres t during the latter stages of th e 500cc G P , th e debris sat o n th e race lin e - o u t o f view from th e a p p ro ac h i ng riders. Accord ing to Spa n ia rd Jua n ' G arriga , o n ly th e sp lit-secon d de ci sio n of a corn er worker sav ed hi m fro m a p o tentia l cras h . No t onl y did th e marsha l wave th e yellow flag , but h e a lso p oin ted to wh ere th e debris lay, a nd Garriga was ab le to cha nge lines. Di sa ster avoide d . The bottom o f th a t fas t sectio n, whe re a brakel ess La wso n cras he d, co u ld u se a longer esca pe road . But th at's al rea dy th ere in the form of the o ld race trac k. All they have to do is relocate the spectators ' motorhomes a nd extend the escape ro ad down the o ld ra ce tr ack , a n d they' ll have p o ssibl y th e lo n gest escap e road in Grand Prix racing. The runo ff area o n th e a p p roach to th e corkscrew a lso needs to be en larged, a n d th ere needs to be a better method o f getti n g ambula nces a round the rac e tra ck. An o n-s ite m edica l center is a lso someth ing that sho u ld be addressed . Bu t I do n ' t think th e place n eeds a ch ica ne before turn six, the site of both Magee a n d Gardn er 's accidents , a lt h o ugh this has repo rt ed ly been put o n th e tab le by H RC. The rider s co m p lai n a bo u t tr ack s they ca ll " goca rt trac ks" a nd w it h a chica ne , Laguna would defi n itely be a go -cart tra ck. I don 't th ink t he answe r to safer co nd i tions is more firs t-gear co rners. Kevin Schwa n tz proved last Su nda y in turn I I th at yo u ca n br eak bones in fi rs t gear, too. So th ere a re cha n ges need ed a t Laguna Seca , b ut i t's not th e most dangero u s track cu rre ntly o n the FIM 's G ra n d Prix sche d u le. It 's re m ar ka b le th at nobody h as bee n serio us ly hurt a t SpaFrancorc ha m ps, for example, eve n in its revised sta te. "Not eve n close," Schwa ntz sa id w he n quest ion ed as to wh ic h is more dangerous, Spa or L agun a ? " Spa ." Wo rld Cha mp ionsh ip lead er , a nd two -ti me U.S. GP wi n ner, Rainey co nc urs . " T he re are certai n pl aces a t La guna th a t a re danger ous," he said. " Bu t th ere are da n ge rous p laces at ever y race trac k we go to." We mu st a ls o rem ember that wh en La g u n a Seca wa s in its worst sha p e, during th e fi rst U .S. G P held there three yea rs ago, it was not a wo rthy loca le for a GP. It was a bumpy mess with vi rt u a lly n o run-off areas an ywher e. Yet, th ere were no injuries th at year. Ba rr y Sheene, th e co m men ta to r, points his cri ticis m toward th e white lines that lin e Lag u n a 's race track . Barr y Sheene, the ra cer , earned a living ra cing o ver rai lroad tra cks , an d a t some p laces between cu rb s back when wh i te lin es were painted down th e middle o f the p ub lic roads th a t th en doubl ed a s rac e tracks . I guarantee that if wh ite li nes di d n ' t exis t o n the race track a t Lagu n a there wou ld be rider co m plaints of not bein g abl e to see th e edge of the race track. " I don 't think an ybody cras he d because of th e wh it e lines," Rai n ey sa id . Bu t Sh eene's L a guna Seca bashi n g sh ou ld be tak en wit h a g rain of salt. H e 's had a prob lem with th e Un i ted States ever si nce Kenny R ob erts fi rs t set foot in h is European do main in 1978, mar king the prema ture end of the Barr y Sheene era. "Those crashes weren't the race track's fault. Those guys spun out because of too much throttle.' , -Wayn e Ra i n ey So if we are goi n g' to point fi nger s at L aguna Seca , let 's a lso wave them else wh ere . And if th e rid ers deci de no t to ret urn to L agun a Seca , well, so be it. T hat wi ll be th eir deci si on - no t Barry Sh eene 's. " How ca n he (Sheene) co mment o n i t whe n he's just wa tchi ng i t o n TV? " Ra iney sai d. Amen .

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