Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

. ~ Q. .... en M M WARREN WILSON MOTORS " LL MONr"E"s"A" ,""""""""." ~ 7 Z ~f_~ __.:t' •A • w oJ r ~ Sale. Service South o t Nordoff in Sepu lveda , Ca lif. (213) 894-92 18 w . Motorcycle 9000 SEPULVEDA BLVD. .. .ci - -. ~ ~ "" ~ ..,k1f/_ 4 ..... / - - . tJ >tJ AKE CHOSE W E£i SMITH E NGINEE RING \Nhy not you? A K E JONSSON WI NS 9 STRA IG HT TRANS-AMA MOTO-Xs USING MAICO ACCESSOR IES E XPA NS ION CHA MBERS AL LOY B RAK E PEDA L ALLOY T O RQ UE AR M/ CH AIN G U ID E. A IR BO X R ING A L L O Y FOOT PEGS FLOATI NG BRAK ES W 36 35 W. McFadden Santa Ana . Ca . 9 2704 1714 18 39-0 150 U I SM I TH - E NGINEE RING 1 0 (.->'1 ~m, 0 -=:: , ~~~ SAL ES SEPV ICE Welding Port ing Accessories ' ~~ BAY AREA BULTACO * Inc. 1 3~2 C eo n ne ta, W . L o s A n geles * C nrller of Sa n ta Monic a B lvd . & C ent m eta Open 9 am to 6 pm M o n . t hr u Sa t . JX1 S.n~ :'I.1uni u 8 1vd ;. ~ W+E , - ;". ~ H od ~ kol ~- N S S.. ln I.4i :'I.l n n iC'a Fr w v , . Sp ecia lists - Co mplet e st ock of 213 826- 7856 H od aka Motorcycles and parts . Get acq uain t ed Speci al 10% Sayings on a ll pa rts-servtce-ma cn tnes :.. ;. 3 c '" NGK p lU9S - 75' Plu g Carriers - $3.79 All ey Of f·Road C y cle 562 0 East L a Palm a Anaheim , California 9 28 0 6 Loca ted b y ~~\ON~ Riverside F w y . at I m per ial Hwy. (714) 99 3 -5070 - 3 ,30 ·9 ,00 p .rn , Weekdays. 9- 5 S a t u rda y . S • DISC BRAKES FO R YOUR ~ A L E S ~~o~ ~ ~ . 7"ORC'(t~ E Rusqvarna 1'I@:!!P AT H ALF T HE F ACTO RY COST BY USING "'WSA NEEDS NO SPEC IA L T OOLS $ 3995 $ 5250 (C A . RES . ADD 5 %» FOR KIT OR DETAILS WRI T E RUBSCO MFG. P.O .BOX31271 -S .F .,CA .94131 ~ H0DAKA ADAPTOR KIT MOTO ~VC L . S AND ST AN DA RD USED HON DA PARTS KIT SING LE DISC ONL Y DOUBLE DISC - s " We have the parts" Desert and Moto-X Preparat ion Com plete machine & weld ing shop 785-4289 8730 Sep u l ved a. Se pulveda, Ca . (Just nort h of Partheni a) ... ~. In Defense of FreedoDl b y J. G . Krol One of the m ost st ri k ing th in gs ab out mo to rcy clis ts is th e ir will ingness to be scapegoats. T rue, part o f this is due t o n othing m ore profound than a so rt o f dunde rh eaded fac tionalism - d ir t riders against street riders, st ree t ri de rs against ch op perites, c h op p eri te s ag ai ns t the world , th a t so rt of th in g - but th er e is, I think, a de eper an d more important reas on. Motorcy cli sts see m almos t infi ni tely gu llib le wh en co n fro n ted with d emago gic rh e toric. T h is is as true o f ele m en ts il'\ th e m otorcycle industry and press as of the o rd inary man in th e sad dle . A re you planning to stic k it to m oto rcyclist s fo r so me p erson al reasons o f you rs, ra ti on al o r o therw ise? Here's th e h ot tip. Just ch an t a few Ho ly Words like " sa fety", "fragi le wilderness res ources" , o r " n a tio n al priorities". Y ou 'll be p leasantly su rp rise d to find some motorc yclist s wh o are will in g, even eage r. torank th eir ow n in te rests a t the ve ry bottom o f an y list e xp ed ien t for y o u to propose. T he stran ge thing is that most o f the relatively few (b u t h ighl y vo cal ) b ike-baiters w h o u se this te chnique most effe ctively d o so for p e rsonal reason s which , upon ca re fu l e xa m in a tio n , d issolve in t o that n ethe r region boun de d on the on e side by th e silly, and on the o the r by the p a th e tic. Ho pl opho b es dwell n eare r the latter b oundary. T hey are people who have wild. excessive fears about th e phys ical dange r associated with motorcycling, th es e being a small subset of their broader fears ab o u t all kinds o f effective tools. H opl op h ob es can no t ge t enough of m o t o rcy cl e safe ty, until the last m o t o rcy cl e in th e world is mel ted down for seat-be lt buckles . A n example of thi s a tt itu d e occurs in a British book on amate u r photomic rograp hy (I d on ' t know how to -prono unce it ei the r) . Awed by the deli cat e an d co mp le x proced u res the aut hor was d escribin g, I was pr epared to admit that thi s h obby was way ov er m y h ead , wh en I cam e u p on a rem a r ka bl e p assage ex p lai n in g the use of a h and m ic ro tome - a sort of preci sion-calib ra ted vise fro m which, using a straigh t ra zor, extre mely th in specimens can be sliced for viewing under a microscope . The author cau tio n ed, " Ne ve r leave the ra zor ope n on th e ben ch ( this is as d amaging for th e blade as f or the operato r) and never put the raz or a way w ith a damp blade. " T h e emph asis supplied here did n ot sin k in until a line late r, when the au tho r sugges te d th at, "If you find sec tion cu tting ted io u s or 'cut t hroa ts' te rrify yo u, buy ready-cu t sections and mount the m you rse lf." How ca n it b e that somebody wh o is evidently quit e skilled in working with the com p le x to o ls o f photomicrography sh o uld c h o o se to cal l so mundan e a tool as a hi gh -grade k n ife a " cu t- throa t"? Wh y sh ould suc h a p erson eve n sugges t tha t an edge d pi ece of carb on s teel coul d " te rri fy " an ybody a t all ? The a ns we rs t o th ese questions are difficult, b ut th ey are im por tan t , for th e ps y ch ol ogy wh ich underlies these od d remarks is p erh ap s th e m ost important single d riving for ce be h in d e xt reme b urden s pl aced upon motorcy cl ist s in the n am e of " safety " . H oploph obes are terri fied b y t ool s with wh ich they are ca pa b le o f harming themselves b ecause, in a d im and half-con sci ous w ay . they p erceive within th emselv es an ur ge to sel f-d es tru c tio n wh ich th ey can neither accept n or rej ect. Th er e a re people , observes th e British n ove list , A . Alv are z, in his fascinating studies o f suicide , "wh o will d o eve ry thi ng to d estro y themselves e xc ep t adm it th a t th at is wh at they are aft e r ; they will, th at is, d o every th ing excep t take the final re spon sibility for th eir actions." Karl Menninger called suc h people "ch ro nic suicid es" . A p er son wrapped up in this sad , cu ri o us way of life - or sh ould I say , d eath automatically assumes that everybody else is much like himself. Thus when h e sees others en gaged in any activity which in vo lves risks they cou ld possibly avoid, h e a u tomatically ass u mes that they are poised o n th e verge of a de ep, dark aby ss of self-d es truction , as h e h im sel f is. I t ho nes tly n ever oc c u rs to a h opl oph obe that the re are o thers wh o d o n o t possess h is u rge to se lf-destruction .. .le t a lo ne those wh o calm ly face a de cision t o en d th eir lives, lik e th e legendary 18 th ce n tury Fre nc h man w ho, in an era when th e p oli te res ponse to a frien d's su icide was a yawn, rep lie d to an invi tation to dine b y saying , " Wi th th e greates t p le as u re. Yet, now 1 th in k of it, I am particularly engaged to shoo t m y self. One can not get off such an engageme n t". Oh , there ar e sel f-d estructive m otorc y cli sts, I'm su re, j ust as th er e are p eople who so meh ow -m an age to elec trocu te th em sel ves wi th el ec tric toasters. Bu t , b y th e very n ature of th in gs, suc h p eople do n ot long remain motorcy cl ist s. Indeed, th e di sproportion atel y hi gh rate of se ri o us a n d fa t al injuries ' a m ong beginning mo torcy cli st s may be as m uch a result of in cho a te u rges to sel f-destruc tion as to the more co m monly di scussed fac tors of in experience , la ck o f train ing, and u nso un d j ud gm en t . . Consid er, as Alva rez d oes , " those th o usands o f fatal acciden ts - the good drivers w ho d ie in car crashes, th e careful p edestrian s who get th emse lves run over - wh ich n ever m a ke the suicide statistics.••(su ch pe ople have) o n ly to surrender fo r a momen t to th e darkness benea th th e th resh o ld" . But op posed to this d ar kn ess, as the da y to nigh t , a re the thousands o f m otorcy cl ists w h o, each varying wide ly fro m th e o th er in skill an d n atural talent, easily m an age y ear after year to rid e just sh o rt 'of th e Ie ve! of effort that engende rs m o rtal risk. J us t the othe r d ay , in a fun, thi r ty -so me m ile trail ri de, I quo te -crashed-unq uo te a half d o zen times, yet withou t a single cut, or eve n b ruise. A rank ty ro, o r m e , o r a real ly good di rt rider m igh t traverse the same terrain at 10 ,30 or 60 MPH, respectively , b ut each of u s, ri ding at h is own speed, is as unlikel y to be serio usly inj ured by an emergency step-off as by taking a shower. Assuming, th a t is, that none of us is suffering from rep res sed te n dencies to self-destruction. When a h oplopho b e calls a Tazor a " c ut-throat" th e image in h is mi n d is n o t that of so me b andi t lea ping from a shadow an d slittin g hi m fro m ear to ear in order to swi pe h is Master Charge card. His terrib le, te rri fyi ng m en tal im a ge is o f u sing the razor to cut h is own th roat. If you are n o t a hoplop hobe, th is probably sounds c raz y to you , and perhaps "crazy" is as good a te rm as the more scientific-sounding " n eu ro tic ". But such people do exist. "The p rivate terror of th e lib eral spirit", Norman Mailer o nce observed, "Is inv ariably su ici d e , no t mu rd e r" . There are so me . like h a rd h ead ed p o litici an s an d insu rance: co mpan ies , who h ave perfectly rational - an d p er fec tl y selfish - reason s fo r inconvenienci ng an d re p ress ing m o t o rcy cl ist s in order to d o so me thi ng a bou t th e " safe ty pro bl em " , b ut th e und erl y in g, unsp o ken , unmenti onabl e th rust fo r su ch measu res co mes f ro m h op loph obes who a re p rojecti ng thei r in ner tormen ts upo n everybody e lse. Everybody who de man ds any legal re quireme n t or p roh ib it ion in th e name o f th e G rea t G od Safety ough t to be personally c h allen ged to test h im for hoplophobia. C ruel tho ug h it ma y see m , sick , n euro tic p eople should b e ex posed fo r what they are. In n o way d o their p e rs onal p ro b lems j ustify th e ir d ist ortin g th e de m o cratic p ro cess of d e termin in g against whom the armed m igh t of govern men t shall be directed into a p ub lic ce rem o n y of worship to thei r internalized d emo gorgon . If you are a " ch ron ic su ici de " , for heaven ' s sake, d o it. But if yo u are not, don 't le t su ch pathetic so u ls project their own inner fears on to y o u. T he re's no stone ta blet that says you have to b e so m eb ody else 's scap eg o a t. ABC to Feature Champ ionsh ip Motocross WEST ERVILLE , 01110 , Fe b. I , 19 73 The A m e ric an M otorcy cle Asso ci ation t od a y an no u nced th at th e 197 2 C arlsb ad , Califo'rnia Ch a mpion sh ip Motocross, known as th e Hang Ten Grand Pri x , will be seen on ABC-TV's "Wide World o f Sp orts" o n S aturday, February 10 , 197 3. The N ovember 5 th event was won b y Ake Jonsson of Sweden, who picked u p _ th e lion's share o f an es t ima ted 20 ,000 pay -off. ABC videotape crews were on hand to re cord th e eve nt for play-back this month. Vi ew ers are urged to c hec k their local listing fo r th e time and sta tio n , and plan to tune in for th is excitin g opportunit y to see - International Championship Motocross at its finest.

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