',VO E
IC S:..
America's weekly motorcycle newspaper
Letters totheecfltor,'
V olum e XXXI
SharonClayton. President
Micha el Ir fw $50.00perY"'" by
Cyde News. Inc..2201 CherryAv"" ee, LongIIeach. CA 9OIIll6.
Second class postage paid .t LongIIeach. CA.c.n.d.t I'c6t
International Publications Mail 1S46615.
You tell us
Let's see if I've got this right (Dual Sport
Extreme, November 23, Issue #46):
- A new KLX650: $5399 (plus applicable taxes, freight, prep and the get-away
plates).
- Suggested modifica tions: $3865
(plus the carbon-fiber bits).
Results: A cover shot of the decalladen... "Ultimate dual sport bike?"
Which by your own experience exhibited the following traits:
"..eager to cough and die when entering comers."
" ...Cold starting required approximately five minutes of kicking ."
" .. .Iow-speed
riding .. .coolant
boiled ..."
All this for only $10,200 out the door!
What am I missing here? Am I stupid?
Do you think your readers are stupid ?
Or is this what six full pag es of closely
juxtaposed corporate ad vertising bu ys?
I know it' s hard to fill up the pages of
Cycle News during th e wi nte r season,
but send this sort of stuff to Ripley' S.
Bruce Armstrong
. Santa Barba ra, CA
We don't think our readers are stupid.
'11zey are our number-one priority and that
is why we try to provide stories we think
they will find both interesting and informa tive (on both stock and modified motorcycles). We try to provide both the negative
and positive aspects of the bikes we test,
among those are some you quoteyourse in
lf
your letter. Youfailed, houeoer, to quotethe
section which read, "..jew of the mods are
cheap. This is an interesting machine, and
while we wouldn't expect the average dual
sport enthusiast to build a replica, the bike
may give you some ideas. Thi s could
answer your first question. In response to
question number four, our editorial and
advertising departments are completely separate. The KLX belongs to IMS manager
Dave Doughty, and he chose all the modifications '(and decals). Some of the companies
advertise with us, others don'LEditor
U
Grand Prix answers
Dear Kenny and SCRAMP, et al. There
are some reasons I feel contributed to
the failure (financial) of the Laguna Seca
motorcycle Grand Prix in 1994. My wife
and I have attended every GP since the
very first one, and four or five AMA
Nationals before that. We did not attend
th e 1994 event due to my ha ving had
hip su rgery.
I would like to go back to th e very
first Grand Prix . We had some 80,000
POSThIASTElCSend oddrao cNngos" Cycl. N..... r.o.
80.495, Long Ileadl, CA 90lI01004'18.
To ddflmine the apintion dAle of yOUl subsaiption, cb«k
the four numbers on the tint line of your ~ LJbe'L The
fint two digib indiate th~ wi isau~ nllDlberyou11receive
and Ilw
"ttwo cIwac:krs indicate
spectators and it was exciting. They ran
out of souvenirs, hot dogs, etc., long
before the end of th e event - yet there
were no complaints. It took us four hours
by car to get from the track to our motel
(approximately 2-3 miles) - still, no complaints. For those of you who rode your
bikes, th ings weren 't quite as bad
because you were allowed to pass on
both sides at the rate of about a 1000 a
minute. Still no problem. We love motorcycles - we just don't happen to'own one.
Then prices started going up - $35,
$45, $65. Still, no compaints. After all, it
was a great race. Then in 1993 you made
what I feel was a major mistake. We
arrived at the track at around noo n on
Friday after having driven up from
West Covina, expecting to enjoy yet
another grea t weekend of racing. But
w ait - what's th is ? Leave your car
behind and take the bus? What about
our chairs, our cooler, our camera
equipment and last b ut not least, my
bike? Bad decision by race management.
You see, yo u mu st treat us car drivers
who are either too old or too chicken to
ride a motorcycle right - otherwise we
wo n 't be ba ck. You th row in a $250
camping fee and a fe w othe r th ings
and...well, you get the picture.
Well, now the Grand Prix is gone, at
least for no w. Maybe we'll ge t it back,
maybe not. If not, how abou t a World
Championship Superbike event in 1995?
In the meantime, we plan to attend the
AMA Na tional in '95. See you at the
Corkscrew.
Pete Cordts
West Covina, CA
Keep Despain
I had to take the opportunity to agree
completely with fellow reader Tom
Hoffman (Voices, Issue #46; November
23). Hoffman commented on the good
and bad changes which have been made
to MotoWorid during its 10-year run.
With some of the things I have read
in Cycle News lately, I have feared that
Dave Despain may be leaving the show.
This would be a disaster! The maturity
and enthusiasm tha t Despain brings to
the anchor position cannot be matched.
Furthermore, the two-anchor system
should be scrapped - it is awkward and
distracting (this is no reflection on Art
. Ekman, who is an excellent reporter).
Seals Communications take note.
There are three th ings you should do
w ith MotoWorld: 1. Keep Dave Despain
a t all cost s; 2. Expand to a one-hour
broadcast; 3. Convince ESPN to air the
show on the same day and time, week in
and wee k ou t.
Bill Seymour
Glendora, CA
Davis quote
Ty Davis is quoted (pro Forma, Issue
, #44, November 9) as saying: "The sec-
ond loop was really stupid. I thought it
wasn't difficult at all - there was nothing
to it except go ing across some valleys
and chop, and he (Hamel) kind of
pulled away a little bit." Davis' opinion
has to be viewed from several viewpoints. The second loop was designed
with Beginners and Novices in mind
and what is stupid to a second-place
Expert can be challenging to a first-time
racer. And, as Davis admits, that loop
wasn't so stupid that Danny Ha mel
couldn't stretch out his lead on it.'
Those rid ers of lesser skill need to
have a course on which they can reason ably hope to finish. If those newcomers
to the sport don't return to race again,
they will stop buying dirt bikes - includ ing Kawasakis - and Team Green will
cease to exist 'a nd we won' t get to see
Davis following Hamel to the checkered
flag again.
F. Paul Russ ell, Jr.
Inglewood, CA
Godspeed, Kevin
On Saturday; November 12, we all lost a
good friend, Kevin Kipp, to a freak acci-
dent. As Kev in and 21 of his friend s
were beginning to make the historic trek
from Barstow to Laughlin on the historic
Mojave trail, he met his destiny with a
freight train. Kevin left all of us with
many great memories and I will always
remember him as the only guy I knew &
who made his CRSOO look like a 125.
And then there's the story of him and.i,
his buddy getting separated at Jawbone.
The buddy had to leave his bike and
walk out of a snow-filled valley. The
next weekend they returned and Kevin
muscled the bike through three feet of .
snow back to the truck. Kevin always
gave it his all in every situation.
Now Kevin is roosting on the clouds
and watching over all of us. A mem orial
cross will be erected at the site near Harvard Road so next time you make this
ride, pay your respects to a great person. Kevin is survived by his wife Lisa
and one-year-old son Tyler.
We'II be seeing you Kevin...
Do ug Mohr
Huntington Beach, CA
A fund has been established to provide
for the education of Kipp's son Tyler. Anyonewishing to make a donation Ciln do so by
making a check payable to the Tyler Garrett
Kipp Fund, account number 0-6942-14955,
Bank of America, attn. Michael J. McClare,
P.O. Box 25919, Santa Ana, CA 927995919... Editor.
th~ 'ftM of th~ lui issue .
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reglst.red u.s. r.tent Office. All righla......ed.
TRIALS
FEATURES
Tarres tames Valencia Indoor Trial 20
RACER TEST
Saxon Triumph
6
TIME REMEMBERED
Dirt track's wild-and-wooly 70s ....10
VINTAGE
Cal-Zona MX Series takes off ..........14
LEADERBOARD
EVEHTS
NEW PRODUCTS
CALENDAR
WANT ADS
TEARooWN
TEST
1995 KTM 250SX
DEPARTMENTS
:
18
LOOKING BACK
9
11
14
26
...29
_ .._ ..43
_ _ 43
, QN THE FRONT COVER
Cycle News rides the 1995 KTM 25OSX.
Photo by Ch ris [ onnu m , The full test
starts on page 18. Inset p hoto: The Saxon
Trium ph. Could this bike see the light of
Daytona? Check out pages 6-8. Photo by
Kyoichi Nakamura.
--.J
