Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128130
the real originator in the Sport Cruiser niche is the Moto Guzzi California line." 11 ••• Our Job? Cycle News must begin to push helmet makers to do a better job. I know two riders who have suffered permanent disability from head trauma. These riders had to have portions of their skulls removed to relieve brain pressure. One has been recovering since February of 2000. In both cases, the helmet shells remained in tact. The helmet makers continue to use a Styrofoam liner and call it impact absorbing. What a joke. Motocross has become far too extreme for the quality of helmets being produced. Major publications like Cycle News need to rally the public, and ultimately the manufacturers, to make helmets with materials that really absorb impacts and protect the head. Current fiberglass and Kevlar helmets may stop a bullet from piercing the shell, but do little to stop blunt trauma. Do something for your readers, take on the helmet makers. Make them make real helmets, not hard hats. steven Rodriguez Via the Intemet The Bulldog Thank you for the test on the Yamaha Bulldog. I currently ride a 1982 XV750 Virago which I bought new and converted to a "standard" bike with mid-mounted footpegs, a larger gas tank (Yamaha Euro) and flatter bars - along with some other modifications such as an oil cooler, braided brake lines, fork and shock springs, etc. The bike has served me well and the Bulldog seems like the next logical step. I love the low-end torque that does not require engine rpm to let the clutch out. The seat is great, and it ';ill run all day at 80 mph or so. The shortcomings are f1exi forks, a weak shock, gearing too low (or could use a sixth gear if the engine would pull it) and about 25 years (sic) of wear and tear. Now you show me the Bulldog with more power, better brakes, better suspension, and weight that is the same as myoId bike - and all at a fair price. You have my attention. After all that, now I have to admit that I am the target audience. Maybe not that much heavier than the younger riders, but the hair is gray. Good article. John Johnson Via the Intemet Sport Cruising After two years and countless articles written by your staff and others on the subject, I can't hold back any more. The Victory V92SC did not originate, innovate, or invent the Sport Cruiser. Nothing could be more damaging to your motojournalistic integrity than to regurgitate this oftcited market-speak rather than relying on facts and research. No sir, the real originator in the Sport Cruiser niche is the Moto Guzzi California line of motorcycles. That's right - available since the mid- '80s, with a sporting-derived frame, and since 1998 loaded with premium suspension, brakes, and tires. This motorcycle leads the way in the handling department for this category. While not absurdly large in the cubicinch department, this family of motorcycles possesses respectable acceleration (cruiser or not) and boasts the refinement of electronic fuel injection (available since 1997). Maybe you remember the Cycle World Cruiser Shootout in 1998. This has been the only comprehensive comparison of this class of motorcycle in which the Moto Guzzi was invited as a participant. The quirks and foibles were revealed for all to see, but it still netted top honors. So please do not rely on the marketing department to generate the spin. Instead, let the products do the talking. Craig M. Calmer Via the Internet In Defense Of Kopp Sorry Bill Allen (Voices, Issue #44, November 7), but I strongly disagree. Ricky Graham was certainly a special rider with many fans, me being one of them. However, Joe Kopp has earned the right to the number-three plate and to say he doesn't deserve it because he hasn't paid his dues is unfair to Joe. Marte and Kathy froelich Irish Hills, MI Air Fencing This letter is in response to Mr. Reynolds' concerns about safety in dirt track racing (Issue #44, November 7). He writes in response to Mr. Kremlacek's previous letter to which I have already responded. Before I begin, I want to thank this publication for all you have done, and for all that you are to the entire realm of motorcycling. I am a long-time fan of motorcycle racing, as I'm sure many of your other readers are as well. Please allow me to educate the concerned fans of racing in America, as to what they can do besides voting in the upcoming AMA Board of Trustees election. Mr. Reynolds, you are absolutely correct that the hay bale is an old, low-tech solution to impact protection. Advances have been made in handling and horsepower, driven by the desire to win (go faster)! The human body, at its best, can only hurtle itself along at about 20 mph, and doesn't seem to have evolved to protect itself in impacts even at that speed. The cow has no need to evolve with better, thicker hide; I'm not sure its DNA realizes we use it as a front-line defense in our sport. So where does that lead us to? Air Fence! I first saw this in use at Laguna Seca in '93 at the Grand Prix that used to come to America. Before turn 10 was reconfigured a few years ago, it was tighter, with woefully inadequate run-off, just like so many tracks in America that were designed for auto or horse racing. I could not believe the force that riders hit the Air Fence with - and they were able to get up and shake a fist at the guy that put them into it. Air Fence has continued to evolve to be even better today, and the list of riders in America that sing its praises grows longer every race weekend (did you see Aaron Yates' impact at Sears Point this year?). hundreds and hundreds of miles to see a national motorcycle race. At least we still have Southwick. LHaII Via the Intemet The VZ250F Debate Tony LeClair Via the Intemet I was perusing through Cycle News Online as I always do when my computer starts up and saw your online poll about the AMA requiring the 250F to go on a weight-gaining spree. I see both sides of the argument; one side says the four-stroke makes more obvious power due to the cc's and also tracks better due to the added strokes of the motor. I also have seen a naturally talented rider like Travis Pastrana smoke the four-strokes. Being from the old school of thought, I believe that learning how to ride correctly, staying in shape, and taking care of your equipment, allows you to close the gap that separates the differences between the two motors. I can see how making the fourstroke heavier will make it more of a burden to ride, but that depends on how much and where they put it. I have never ridden a 250F, but I have ridden the 426 and can say what an appreciative difference the fourstroke makes. I just don't know where to go with this one from a standpoint of choosing sides. I probably won't know until I get home from this deployment and line up against a YZ250F. Once I get back, I will find the first guy riding a YZ50F and ask him to let me take his bike out and see for myself. Oh, please forgive me for failing to mention the awesome talents of the KTM riders. Their 125s are equally incredible and if I did not currently own a 2002 YZ125, I would be on orange. Take care and see you soon America. LeClair reminds us that anyone wishing to contribute to the Roadracing World Action Fund (a fund in place to raise money for the purchase of Air Fence) can do so by calling 800/4648336... Editor Remember New England For the past 78 years, New Hampshire has been host to an annual motorcycle race - an event that started out in 1923 as the "Belknap classic" and is now known as "The Loudon Classic," a race that has been going on for more years than even the Daytona 200. Motorcycle enthusiasts have been racing at this event since before most of us were even born, and now I hear that it may all be coming to an end and will no longer be a stop for the AMA Superbike Series. I myself have ridden and raced at the New Hampshire International Speedway facility and I can understand the reluctance of the nationalcaliber riders to race there. I am not in favor of this decision, but considering some of the events in the past at this facility, I think that it was inevitable that something like this would happen. The track at Loudon is what it is and everybody has there own opinion about it. I am a New England resident and have been attending the Loudon Classic for many years and will be very sorry to see it go - Father's Day weekend will not be the same without it. We lost AMA National Supercross racing back in the early '80s and now this. It's getting so that racing fans from the Northeast have to travel cue I e n Joseph Adleslc Via the Intemet Adlesic writes from onboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt... Editor e _ S • NOVEMBER 14.2001 9