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/141052
On the one hand we ar e told t ha t fire preven tion is necessary to preserve scenic values. On th e o ther hand, th e flre -flghting bure au cracy is con stantly wrin gin g its h ands ove r t h e "encroach ment of pe ople in to th e wildlands" . Wh at good is a pre t ty sce ne with out th e "enc ro achment " of so me people wh o can lo o k at it? Th e State and Federal fire- fighting establish me nt h as grown into mindless bureaucra ti c organism wi th its own internal drives fo r expansion. Like an y such emp ire, it evi de nces an insatiable hunger fo r m oney an d power. Gi ve n a law to req uire all dirt bikes to have sp ar k arresters, th e ch ief tai ns can req uest m o re man power to enforce th at law. From th ei r vie wp o int, m anda to ry an n ual inspections o f spark arresters wo uld be a step fo rw ard.iand monthly ins pections even be tte r. - Sh o rtl y afte r th e Cali fo rnia spark arres ter law we n t in to effect, a Divisio n of Forestry to rpedo st opped m e to ch eck o ut my bike. He m ade a great show o f paging thro ugh h is b o o kle ts and l o o se -I e af bind er s j ammed with e n fo r ce m e nt g ui de lines, list s of ap p ro ved arres ters , an d the lik e, but he co u ldn ' t fin d m y spark arre ste rs am o n g th e hundreds of m odels that had received ap p ro val . Ready to write me u p for a wh ac kin g big fi ne , he changed hi s mind at th e last mo me nt whe n I p oin ted out that if he cited me he 'd have to ci te him sel f, sin ce the spark a rr este rs on m y motorcy cle were ide n ti cal, right down to the e mbossed mod el numbers, t o t he spark arrester on the m o to r-d ri ven fire -fighting wa ter-pum p m oun ted on th e back of h is truck. In terestin gly , the be st reason he was abl e to give as to why m o t o rcy cle sp ark ar resters we re being re q ui re d, is that the necessit y o f suc h eq uip me n t w ould m ake riders mo re " fire conscio us 9t, hen ce less likel y to s tart fir es b y m ean s ot her than th eir b ikes' e x haus ts . In p ar t icular , motorcycl ists wh o we re " fire co n sci o us" wo uld be less lik el y to sm o ke while riding along a trail. Ever sin ce th en I've be en watching dirt rid ers t o sp o t o ne who was sm o king wh ile riding. So far I h aven 't spotted o ne. lf a fire is going t o be st arted by ex haus t sparks a t all, they certainly have to e xis t in su fficien t size , q uantity , and concen tr atio n . Wh at kind o f en gine they co me from is irr elevan t , Thus, if fire preven tion were · re ally the reason behind spark arresters , the performance specificati ons would be b ase d upon the total am oun t of emi tted sparks. This is not th e wa y the requir eme n ts are drawn. T o be approved, a spark arrester must provide a minimum prop ortional reduction in e xhaust solids. Thus we h ave th e ab su rd re sult th at a go ve rn ment bulldo zer , b usily c u t tin g fi re b reaks t o d estroy part of th e natural vegetation so th at the re st m ay be p ro tected, ma y very well e mi t seve ral ti mes as m an y sp arks thro ugh its legally -app ro ved spark arres ter as a ty p ical d irt b ike is c ap able of p ro ducing in the first p lace . A legally-safe logging truck could well throw more sparks than an u n .sp a rk-arrest ed, hen ce illegal , trail bike. Two things are needed. Firs t , th e fire-fig hting bureau crats should produce d ata to show wh at p ro p orti o n of fires if an y - have e ver bee n p rovably ca use d b y m o to rcy cle exhaust sparks. There is st rong reaso n t o ' s u s p e ct th a t m otorcy cli st s ar e b eing forced to pay orde rs to magn itude m o re for fire pr e ven ti on t h an th e d e m on strabl e m a rgin al co st of su ch fires as their exhaust sparks have caused . Second, e xhaus t sys te m requir ements sh ould b e b ased upon the size , quanti ty a nd con ce n tra tion o f in candescen t particles in the ex h au st. Fire s are starte d by th e ab so lu te amo u n t of sp ar ks, not b y some mysterious and arbitrary proportionality fac tor, so if anythin g need s to be con trolled, it is th e to tal emission. But if this we re d o n e , most if not all - motorcycles would sa tisfy th e re quire me nts without an y p iece o f special eq uip me n t. Pos sibly the real reason m otorcyclists ar e fo rce d to spe nd millions on useles s gimcracks is th at they are known, b y their govern me nt, to be hopele ss ma so ch ist s wh o roll ar ound in joy and scream, " Kick me ! Kick me ! Please, kick m e again!" , to an y se lf-see king crusade r wh o prono un ce s th e Holy ' Vords Hkevsafety " , "ecolo gy " , or "Fire preven tion " , How much o f a m aso ch ist a re yo u ? a The v iews ex pressed In th is column an d other column s appear ing on the f o ll o w i n g pages are sol el y those o f the authors and dO not n ecessar ily r eflect the off ic ia l pos iti o n of Cycle News We st o r C & S Pub liSh ing Co. Qua lified rea ders w ish ing free and equal reb u tta l sp ace shou ld con t act the M an agi n g Ed itor. N GEN"UIN"E I tl\/1C:: PLASTIC MOTORCYCLE COMPONENTS IN THE ROUGH AND TUMBLE SPORTS OF MOTO-X RACING. DESERT RAC- 11. REPUTATION AND ENGINEERING O F O NE OF AMERICA'S FOREMOST DEV ELO PERS OF SUPERIO R POLYM ERS. W ITH MOR E THAN 5800.000 SPENT M .: ON RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. YET GENUINE P.M .C. TANKS COST S M NO MORE. NOW AT DEALER EVERYWHERE - ASK FOR THE BY N AM E. 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