Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

. / r ---:t-=;.- . ) . ~::'-~.Ii ~ ~:-:--:- '~ - ~ :::; ~ w Z W ..J U > U VOICES OF THE WEST I Continued fro m page ·4 eval uate h is p osi t ion /proposals and decide how bes t t o deal with th e matter. We need you r in vest igati o n , y o u r rep orting. And, pe rhaps lat er , your p robing. As you well kn ow, m otorcy cle jou rnalism is a lot m o re than CMC results from Saddleback. BO B S AN FO RD Ga rd en a, Cali f. We are as co ncerned as you , or an y mo t or cyclist, should be ab out what the government agen cies are going to try next. We -fi nd that , too ofte n, when we do go into detail on plan s a nd programs affe cting mo torcy cling that nobody reads it. We are not ignoring the problem ; note for instance Ron Sch neiders in-de pt h inve tigati on of what the California Master Plan for land use will do to off-road b iking . But it takes voters to force change...Ed. SMOOTH TWENTY-ONE In the January 23 issue of Cycle News, there is an article written by Janis Randall on an Ossa set up fo r short -tr a ck! In the article, it 's m en tion ed that the "front and rear rims are th e 21" and 18 " ri ms from th e XL 250 Honda"! Are 2 1" wheels su ccessful on dirt trackers? And if so , wh at size tires are available ? RON CHiSNEY Redding, Cal if. . Nineteen-inch rims are still the bvored size for Hat-trackers, but some frames will just not ha ndle right without a twenty -one u p front. 3.00 to 3.50 x 21 front tires Coors' Beer. His rationale for advocating this Boycott is based on the allegation that the Co o rs Co mpany or Mr. Willia ms Coors (the Ch ief executive officer) has donated large 'su ms of money to the Sierra Club. Sh ou ld these allegations p ro ve correct, C .O.R.V.A . would be th e fir st to agree th at su ch a bo ycott is in order, and moreover our associa ti on would ass ist in promoting su ch a boy cott. If, on th e other hand, these a llega tio ns are b a sed on r u mors f ound ed o n mi s in f o rm a ti on ge ne ra te d b y a co m pe ti to r co mp any, or so me o the r so urce, CORVA feels o bliged to preven t any inj ustice from being pe rp e tr a ted up o n an in n oce n t party. Ba s ed . on every so urce wh ich CORVA h as been ab le to con tact , we are un able to su bstan tiate the charge that C oors' is a financial su p porter of th e Si erra Clu b. To th e co nt rary , we h ave foun d co ns iderab le evide nce th at Coors , j us t as alm os t an y oth er large manufa cturing conc e rn , has been faced with a d egree o f harrassment b y the Si erra Club. We also have re ceiv ed denial fro m th e Coo rs Company th at they have supported th e . ac tivities of the Sierra Club. C.O.R.V.A . request s that anyone with any su bstan tial evidence to the co n t rary b ring this evidence forward. Until such ti me as su ch eviden ce can be produced, let's not be come a part o f what is probably one of th e most clever sales devices ever co nco ct ed b y on e of Coors' co mp eti to rs. BOB HA N State Vice President Calif. O ff Road Vehicle Assn. Th.at 's the same story and info we got on the Coors'thing...Ed. \ \ \ \ "If I win just one more show, I will be able to afford pistons and a crank. shaft!" are ava ilable... Ed . HOW TO MAKE YOUR GREEN STICKlE WORK FOR YOU The o ff-road sticker $ 15 .00 returns $4.00 in -lieu tax money to co un t ies and cities and motorcyclists are wondering wh at is being done with this money. The Citizens' Council on M otorcy cles have been working with Contra Costa County and 14 cities within the cou n ty to form a J oint Powers Agreement to pool the in -lieu money into one fund to be used to obtain riding areas. The cities and county have tentatively agreed to the id ea and are working on th e wording of t he agree ment. O ur County Ad mi nistrator, Mr. J. P. Mc Brie n, has been in forming us of the amo unts returned each month. As of Fe bruary 7, 1973 , it totalled out at $3,784.60, with the county receivin g $ 1,998.72, and the 14 cities receiving a total of $1,785.88; this varied fro m $1.. 13 for th e city of Hercules to $418.15 for the city of Concord. It is obvi ous th at this is not a sufficient amount to purch ase any land, but if all off-road riders, including th e mini-bikers, would buy their stic ke r, ma ybe we co uld purch ase some land for riding. We originally estimated 40,000 off-road cycles in Contra Costa County and since July 1972 slightly more than 900 cy clist s have purchased th e off-road sti ckers. That figure indicates that motorcy clists are not willing to support their own legi slative bills or ar e- n ot con vinc ed that the money will be used in their behalf. Motorcyclists in other co un ties sho uld con tact their Mayor or Ci ty County Manager with regard to this ta x money, Some cities arc not aware that this is restricted use tax money and should be set aside or accoun ted for as it is to be restriced for the establishmen t and mainte nance o f off-road ridin g areas, PDVMX Ha ve yo u any intentions of testing or even hear d about a m o to crosse r called a PDV? I have a pamphlet on it which says it has a chrome moly frame, Betor suspension front and rear. Weighs about 215 for the 360cc bike a nd it looks like th ey 'r e using last year's Yammie engines. Do you think you co uld swing a test of the 250 PDV ? ZANE FULMER Buena Park, Calif. w. called P D V a few weeks back abou t getting one of their MXers and found they are still try ing to 'Set up d ealer sh ip s nat ionwide. PD V bought the rights and tooling to build the non-reed valve Yamaha engines, so the powerplant is identical to a 01-1MX or RT ·1 MX mill. We 'll have a test soon as we can get the bike...Ed. COORS DIDN'T DO IT In hi s letter which ap pe a red in th e Feb. 2 7 issu e of Cycle News, Murray Gruber ad vo cates a gen eral Bo y cott of (Con ti n ued f ro m pag e seve n, don cha know ) Gary Fisher gets good starts. We've seen more o ld Daytona pictures of him lead in g the pack at the st art than we tho ught there were Daytonas that he had en te redo • • As you may have noticed, Uno Palm w ill be campa ign ing a 250 6-speed Puch in International motocrosses. They claim 35 BHP from the 70 by 64mm e ng ine at 7 ,500 R's. Look for an upcoming CN test of the 250 and fo r Puch to produce a 500cc · class co mpetitor at 386ee . That 500 is supposed t o weigh on ly 206 pou nds and have a bore-stroke set-up of 83 by 72 mm . T hi s year, the Swed ish rou nd of t he 250 Championsh ip w ill be he ld in Uno Palm 's home town, Ulr iceha mm . * * * Colin Seeley h as go tt e n backing from Kaw asaki to build ro ad ra cers using the w ailing 750. • • • Yamaha' s 250 tria ls b ike will have a completely new e ng ine a nd seems ve ry t ric k. * * a Champion-framed XS -2 bearing th e nu mber 80. We fooled with it and discovered that Kenny's ca rbs are out of sy nch. • • • ALMOST AS GOOD AS C .N. , ONLY NO PICTURES : Los Angeles folks can receive live coverage of t he entire Daytona 200. KBIG, 74 on your rad io's tachometer, w ill ha ve it a ll. Definitely the hot set up for qu ick results. * * * THE PLOT THICK ENS : Papa probably will go to Daytona, but n ot during speedwee k. What can th is mean? Why has he been doing research on garbage collec tio n? What's all this about 16 cy lind e rs? Are th e fo ur toads in the back of Bob Endicott's van anything like the Flying Frog? All these questions and more will b e an sw ered in future expisodes of The Lat est Poop. • • • DONT RIDE IN BEAN CANY ON OR YOU'LL BE SORRY . We have it on good authority fro m Sgt. Baker of the San Bernardino County S herriff's Rose rno un t sub-s tation th at yo u w ill ge t ticketed for riding in Bean Canyon. It h as not been re -opened and is n o t likely to be re-opened. T he working cop s are, appare ntly, trying to give riders a break but their superiors are serious about writing up bikers. Call the sarge for more detail s. • • • Renzo Paso lin i will be ridi n g a factory Harley-Dav idson at Dayto na . He placed third in hi s first American race, last year's Ontario National. * * * In abou t 60 days and for about S 1000 do!lars you m ay be able to buy a Yamaha 125 road ra cer. It co uld be that AMA Novice road ra cing will change to that di splacemen t ca tago ry . . * * * * The works Husky s have had to fill th eir frame s with lead in places to me et th e FIM minimum weight requirements. .* * * D ISCR IMINATION BY RELIG ION : There is a new hel met law in effect in England , and it has met with a good dea l of resist a nce f rom Br itain 's Sikh population . Their re ligion requires that t hey wear a Turban , you see . In the two world wa rs (one and two) they never had to wear he lmets in battle. They're bueking it . * * * Th e chain-d rive MV 750 has been homologated by th e FIM for Formula 750 racing eve n though the production machin e is sh aft -dri ven. • • • Dic k Mann seems t o hav e a chance of winn ing Daytona this year. At least , the la st two t imes that he has been on a certain make fo r the fi rst t ime he has wo n. Th is yea r he w ill rid e a T riumph . His last w in was o n th e same make he has ridden fo r the last two years, BSA . In 1970 he wo n on a Ho nda . * * * We we re over at Yamaha the o th e r day, picking up a test bike. While we were waiting in the lobby, our e yes fell upon Ace ~N contributing photog Steve French takes a warrn-ep spill from h is S ac hs at his Ap tos . Calif. practice track . Photo by Dave Decker/Brooks Institute.

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