Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

We were over at BeIl Helmets re cen tly and aske d about the new Z-9 0 rul ing that calls for 120 degree peripheral vision. That is, 120 degr ees from cen ter which means 240 de gre es to tal . 1t also mean s that th e te mple area is exp osed to a large extent. If a fo otpeg or hand leb ar finds it s wa y into that are a, it's curtains. The BeIl people tol d us fran kly that they reco mm end their regul ar style Star o ver the new type with th e la rger window, although th e latter w ill probably appeal to de sert rid er s. T he th in g is th a t yo u can ' t buy a regu lar type S tar fr om a b ike dealer becau se of th e way th e ru ling read s. It doesn ' t meet th e requiremen ts ne ede d to b e so ld for m oto rcycle use. O f course , if you bough t one at an auto s u p ply store no bod y wo uld say a ny thi n g. S o t he w ho le thing discr imi na tes against bi ke deal ers. T h e w ay the requireme n t ca me into effec t was as might be ex p ected. T he board th at decided su ch thin gs has peopl e from th e ind ust ry, from the foo t ba ll field, an d just every day turkeys wh o bounced in off the street. One o f the h elm et tes ting fo rms w as at on e of th e mee tings, and this partic ular for m was marked to show wh a t w o ul d allow 240 degree vision as req ui red fo r footba ll helm e ts. Somebody saw th a t and decided that it wo uld b e a go od idea for bikies, So welcome to th e football club. We are heginn ing to feel that our society is suffe ring fro m too many ru le-ma kin g bodies wh o do n't feel th at they are fu nction ing as expected unless th ey are makin g rules, need ed or n o t. Loo k at the BLM. r- 8, '" Q. M ..... e> M ::; '" ~ w Z W ...J U >- U • • • A handy hint to owners of Bell Stars: if you have a problem with flip-up shield snapping around the pivot points, it is because the acetate gets cold and fractures . Try warm ing it with your hands on cold nights before you flip it up or down . * * * MISSP ELLI NG O F THE MO NT H: " Bau ghman " for " Ba uman n" [asIn Art Baumann). Seen in " Motor Cycle World " . T hey could at leas t have gone a u t on a li mb and spel led it " Bou ghman " . .. • LATEST OF THE NEW BREED OF SUPERBIKES is this 850 (act ually 828ecl Norton Commando. The ' machine has seen considerable reengineeri ng in its newer form. No rton claims 60 BHP for the machine at a mild 6.200 RPM . T he machine uses regular gas and has a lowe r com pressio n rati on at 8 .5 :1 . A quarte r mile figure of 12.53 seconds and a top speed of 125 are claimed . Weight ranges from 415 to 4 30 depending on mod el. Th e tra nsmission is a fou r-speed, Coupled to No rton 's tradit ional excellent hand ling and sm oot h ride t hrough their Isolastic engine . mou nt ing, th e beast promises to be a beauty . • Doe to a post office SNA FU entries for the OCMC Great Bear Grand Prix have been extended to March 12 . * * -* "Cycle Sport " a month ly ma gazin e out of Ne w England has been running a very good series o n road raci ng by Kevin Cam eron . It is prob abl y b e tt er than th e Day ton a p redict io ns in " Cycle" becau se it is more th or ou gh , Cameron' says th at tbings are goi ng to chan ge tbis ye ar. T he Kawasakis w ill have to get better mileage to fini sh the 75 mil e races with out a gas sto p. T he 180 MPH spe eds seen in tire tes ts will be rare. he says be cau se o f thi s c onsideration . He has a lo t to say about racin g, tuning , an d tun ers . among wh om he ra tes Kel Ca rru the rs an d Gin ger Malloy as th e best . • • • MAKING IT PE RFECTLY CLEAR : Th e Ind ian four-cy lin der me ntioned in t his co lum n last w eek is not a ne w des ign . It is t he sa me 1200cc Indi an of years past . It is bei ng bro ught back int o prod uct io n with a m in imum of changes. They have lon g ra nge pla ns to ente r t he b ig bike field a nd less lengthy pla ns that inclu d e a 175 fo r th is yea r o r next. * * * I F YOU CAWr GO TO DAYTONA , yo u can h ear what's hap pe ning o n KBIG AM, 74 on y o ur reddi o dial. Up to date broad cas ts will occur a t 8 :45 A.M. and 5 :45 P.M. star t ing March 7. T he big gy will co me up through the e ther at 10 A. M. Pa cific S tan d ard T ime on Sunday , th e 1 !th . • • • Last y ear's Nov ice pa veme nt flash, John Lo ng, ha s go t te n a Daytona ride on Ra nd y Hall 's Kawa saki while y oungster Te d Henter also ha s a Green Three, the on e Ga ry Nix on rode last year. Sc ott Bre lsfo rd . who fail ed t o sco re enough roa d rac ing po ints to transfer to Expert o n asp halt , will have the o nly fact o ry X R in th ~ yell ow p lat e br igade. * * * Will West Coast Novi ce scratcher Wes Cooley. Jr. ride a 35 0-4 Ho nda at Daytona ? • • • The Invad er s MC is provid ing $ 10 0 ded uctible ins uran ce to all ride rs at their Ha re-and- Ho und at no charge. • • • Loo k for a test next week on the Yama ha SC-500 motocrosser . * * * • • • AKE JONSSON was in Yapan re cen tly to test a ne w Jamaha rno ty -cro sser fi tted w ith a radic al n ew fram e . Seems Ake liked the old one better. Th e Yamaha 50 0 four cylinder ru de ricer should be screa ming around Europ ean Grand Pr ix circu its by April. The 750 is prov ing to be mo re of a pr o b lem since that b ig, w ide. high eng ine makes it ha ndle not-sa-good. The Y a m a h a Wanke l has encountered coo ling problems in d evel o pment. * * * MARK BRE LS FO RD like s Newcastle br own ale . That's what hap pens afte r a trip to England. • • • three brand ne w carb ure to rs. Kawasaki th inks th at the old tire was the source of a " p ossib le " handling pr oblem. T he car b ure to rs had a sligh t difficulty in th at a few rare cases of stic king th rottles have b een rep orted d ue to a jet mal fun cti o n . So , wh y no t ta ke th em up on it ? We thin k it's fantastic th a t any dis tributo r wo uld ad mi t th a t any thing was wrong let alon e do so meth ing abo ut it. Ho ora y for Kawasaki. • • • AT DA YT O NA , Steve Mc Laughlin had turned fast ti me of 2 : 19. 5 o n t he fact ory Honda as of a we ek ago. McLaugh lin, Nixo n and DuHam el are a ll circu lating w ith in about a second of each other and do ing it right ra pid ly . * * * • • • Post en t ry for th e Mini-Mint in Las Vegas o n March 16 will b e the same as mail-in . h owev e r, e nt ran ts mu st have a current Youth -AvlA card to ru n. The Badg ers, which is a clu b of and for po lice ty pes in motorcycling, has no w T here has been so me int erest in a gotten w it h the current thi ng : o bse rved sportsma n event in t he LA Col iseu m th e t rials . Believe it or not, this was o ne day before (or a fte r) the Superbowl. If even t t hat Det ect ive Se rgeant Gene yo u read last week 's letters column . you'll remember that the pro moters , _ Ca nnad y d idn 't wi n. May be because he wasn' t entered . Gene Borremenes was Leis uretech in Sacramento , Ca lif., are the be st plo nking cop o n a Honda 160. st ill t ry ing to determi ne if t here 's * * * enough int erest at $ 10 a head to just ify renting t he Coliseum for an extra day . Can trary to what you m ay have glean ed prepping the track, ate. from less reliable sou rces, the AMA will b e the o nly organiz at ion sanctionin g * * * Sco tt Bre lsford is still classified by th e Half-mile a t As cot Park. Tbey start AMA as a Junior at road racing. Ap ril 6 . • • • HOTCHA , THE CALIFORN IA LAND RUSH IS STILL ON . Husqvarna has just leased the secondary motocross course at Carlsbad , for five years. Supposedly they are going to run a motocross training center for their team effort. They have already begun to dig it up to make it su it their needs. * * * While off at a loca l dealer with a sick sc ooter re cen tl y , w e got a pe e k into Tony Muccitell i from the Red Dots M .C. tells us tha t thi s is the hot set-up for solo be nch -rac ing, Note the extra long pegs to serve as curb feele rs in 0 -37 desert rock runs. We don 't know abou t the tenn ies, though. what was go ing on with the Kawasaki warran ty sys te m. We th ough t so me bod y was kidding u s. If yo u have a Kaw asaki 750 just boogey o n down to yo ur local d ealer and pick up on so me n ew free parts. You can get a new fro n t tire and • • • NICE GUY OF THE WEEK AWARD goes to Kenneth Brown, the promoter of the Nassau County (N .Y.) Col iseum Show (of wh ich Evel Knieve l was one act) who screwed up his sched ule cancelled ' some of the events. didn't refund the spectator's money, and sprayed them with Mace when they demanded their money back . * * * • • • A Kawasaki H2- R road ra cer is so fast th a t the editor has passed in to a time-warp. Mo re upco ming. (Mo re Poo p on page 54)

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