Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~hat?, hold American jobs. Stop for a m inute to cons ider what nearly unco n trolled fo reign tra de is doing to the Am erica n auto industry, steel manufactu rin g, and count less ot~er American indus tries. It's costi ng thousands of American jobs. T h is is happeni ng where I work with the shutdown of several de partments du e to the undercutting Japa nese products in the medical field. Whether you rid e the Japa!l~se .brand or the American bra nd, tt s time to take a serious look at what's at stake here. More jobs will be lost if thi.s.country does not becom e more sensitive to tts own well being as far as its own products and livelihoods are concerned. I'm not saying thai Japanese motorcycles have no placein the Ameri~n market and neither IS Harley-Davi dson since we all know th at competition within th e free enterprise system is good for the development of motorcycling. But with regard to t~e America n motorcycle, I feel that It would be an unquestiona ble shame and grea t loss to motorcycling as a whole if we were to see th e en d of the o n ly tr ue survivi ng America n motorcycle ma nufacturer left of over 140. Har ley-Da vidso n has been around since the year man first flew e!lgi n~- powered aircraft a nd deserves Its fair share of today's motorcycle ma rket. KER RY BRETHORST Norwalk, CA WEST America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Sharon Cl ayton . Publisher Caro line Gendry. Executive Secretar y to th e Pu blisher Lisa Scho rr. Advertising/ Editorial Assistant. Editorial Dale Brown. Sen ior Editor. Lance Bryron. Edit or. Karel Kram er . Editor. J im Bowman. Editor. Advertising Skip Johnson. National Sale. Manager. Terry Pratt. Sales Manager . Duane Johmon. Sale. Manager. Steve Wilro.n. Sal es Manager. Linda Bro wn . Adverti sing Coordinator. Nancy Danger. Adverrising Assistant. Graphics and Production Kri..in Cooper. Graphic Artist. R~na Kramer. Assiuant. Manon Haeash ita , T ypograph y. Dennis Greene . Laboratory. Accounting/Data Processing CORVA backs Duck Mike Klinger. Controller. Donna Bryan. Accounts Rece i vable Coord in at or. Geneva Repass. Assistant. Terry Dail cy. Credit Manager. Circulation Rheba Smith , Manager. Michelle Hanna, Sarah Taylor. Debb ie Walk er. Lyna Hood. Assistants. Want Ads Loah Corry, Want Ad Sales. Dealer Sales and Service Nancy Emde Bro gger , Dealer Sal es Manager. Service and Support Chris Aitcheson , Recep tio nist. Gregory Hanso n, SIl:S. West 2201 Cherry Ave., Long Beach, CA P.O. Box 498. Long Beach, CA 90801· 0498. (215) 427·7455; L.A. Line 656·8844. East 4190 First Ave.. Tucker, GA . P.O . Box 805, Tucker. GA 50084-0805. (404) 954·7850. Cycle News /West (USPS 141:540) is published weekly except the first and la.. week 01 the calendar year lor $20 per year by Cycle News, In c., 2201 Cherry Avenue. Long Beach , CA 90806. Seco nd class postage pa id at Long Beach , CA. POSTMASTE R; Send form 3679 to Cycle Newa. P.O . BOil 49B. Long Beech. CA 90801 ·0498. Subscription rates : One year. second cla ss mail, $20; two years, second cla ss ma il . $55; three yea rs. second class ma~I , $55; 25 weeks . $11. Foreign rate. ava ilabl e on request. Cycle News ."'el~mes .un ro lici.ted edilo rial material mcluding stones. ca rloons, photos. etc. Such ma.tttial. if published. become. the exclusive propert y 01 Cycle New s. Such accepted material is subject to revision 3 S is neces sary in th e rol e discretion 01 Cycle News. Unsolicited material which is not used will be returned il accompanied by a sell addressed sta mped envelope. All unsolicited material will be handled with reasonable care, however, Cycle New s assumes no responsibil ity [or th e sa[ct y, los s or damage to such material. Reprinting in whole or part only ~y permission 01 the pu blisher. Advertismg rat es and circulation inlormatio n will besend upon request. See S.R,D.S. Copyright4ll Cyc le Newa. Inc . 1983. Tredemerk Cycle Newa reg latered U.S . Patent Office. All rlghta re· ..rved . ON THE FRONT PAGE : Da v id Bai ley made a big splash at Anaheim. Story sta rts on page six . Photo by Lori Tyso n. ... ~ ~ .. Barstow to Vegas 1983 ma y actually bean approved race (don't believe it until the green flag drops, however). Whenever it happens, CORVA wishes-to gratefully acknowledge the source of that success, Louis H. McKey, the P ha nt o m Duck of the Desert. CO RVA knows that since the first permit was denied in 1974, the Phantom Duck has carried on an unceasing battle with the BL M to regain the race, and to protect off-readers ' rights to public lan ds; often alone and sometimes with disa ppointmen t, bu t carry o n he did, a nd thi s year we ma y all enj oy the frui ts of his labor. If the ba ttl e for Bvto-V has been won the war is far fro m over. The Phantom Du ck still has a lawsu it against the BLM to be heard ~oon , a nd there are oth er, more ommous issues loo ming on the hori zon . Some peo ple are saying the " land use issue is dead; we've won, now let's forget about fighting and go have some fun ." CO R VA wonders if they know the BL M announced on Thursday, Dec. 23, 1982, their plans to impose a new set of " sta nda rds of conduct" on p ublic lands, incl uding " non - i~ tr~: sion o n other forms of recreation and " unr ea so na ble noise" regulations, tha t carry a $1,000 fi ne and~or 12 months of imprisonment for VIO' lation. Bo th CORVA and the Phan tom Duck are protesting the proposed rulemaking, and are submitting alternatives to the Department of Interior. as always. CO RVA would like to ask you to help us help the Duck! and help us help you in fighting to preserve our rights to use of p ubliclan ds. CO RVA is o nce agai n do nating 25% of all new membership fees collected over the next 10 weeks to the Duck. The remai ni ng fees are used by CO RVA to take you r message to the BL M and other govern ment agencies that we will n ot stop fighting u n til 0((roaders' rights are assured. So, for $20, you ca n send some bucks to the Duck , help CO RVA fund its programs. a nd receive ~h e benefits of CORVA membersh ip, 10eluding a year's sub scription to th e COR VA N ews publication, .too . We urge you to jo in us in conri n ui ngah e Published letters do not necessarily reflect the pos ition of Cycle News. Inc. Send letters to Vo ices. Box 498. Long Beach. CA 90801 . figh t; it's an easy and inexpensive way to "getting involved" in defen ding yourself. T here is a special CO RVA/ Phantom Duck membership application in this issue of Cycle News. Please use it l For additional applications or more information, contact CO RVA at5518 Colorado Drive, Concord, CA 94521,415/672·8278 (or call me at the number below ). We need you now to keep the drive alive and to show the Duck our support. Thank you in adva nce for standing up to becountedl DO NNA CARNAGEY P ub lic Rela tions O fficer 805/ 498·0830 Newbury Park, CA · .. . ...... · ·~U··· ·W ... ·~· · .... . ... nmeRlder Motorcycle-oriented cinema in th is coun try, in most countries for that matter, is sadlylacking. Movies like On Any Sunday are as rare as '83 Pen tons and as far bet ween as Pa ris to Dakar. We went a nd too k in the movie T ime R ider the o ther n igh t, and since it is notget~i~g th e best of in k from your local entre, we felt we better shed some light on a fine motorcycle movie. Anyo ne involved in off-road racing of any kind. or any motorcyclist, should find T ime R ider a lot of fun. Typical western bad guy versus the badder bad guy scenes are a li ttle sch maltzy, bu t some biker humor is interjected that wo uld wheelie right over the heads of the uninitiated. We don 't want to give away the story li ne, bu t th e movie has gi rls, outlaws. good ti mes and ti me warp confusion. The reason the movie makes it with motorcyclists is the di rector. Ge nuine off-road, Class 8 SCORE truck racer a nd motorcyclist Michael Nesmith, formerly of the television show T he Monkees, was the producer and co-writer, H e also wrote the score. The bike is real, a o ne-off co nstructed of iden tifiable pans, but real. (It loo ked to us like the front forks were a littl e soft a nd the rear shocks a little sti ff.) John Hateley, 'the " Li ttl e John" of AMA flat track fame handles the rid ing cho res, and form~r female motocrosser Marcia H olley does stunt ~ ork in. th e fil!D' We liked it. T here is partial nudit y a nd bad lan g uage, so use judgem~n! if there are Pee Wee o r young Mini racers clamoring for tickets. The movie is p layin g now in th e L?s Angeles area and sho u ld open In other pl aces soo n. Set H-D record straight Le t's set the record straigh t on H arley-Da vids on's peti ti0!l ~o th e Intern ational T rad e CommISSIOn re~rdi ng Japanese mo torcycles. H ·D tS o bjecting to ",:hat th ey. feel are unfair trade pracn ces. T heir market surveys found that at current overall motorcycle sales levels, wa reho uses of Japanese manufacturers have inventories that will take two years to sell. An all-out sales war d ue to this stockpile could, they feel. destroy the American market. With regard to this market, some claim that H -D appeals to only a very narrow segment of the marketplace. If H-D has been so "wrong and antiquated" ~s som.e have. clai~ed in staying with thei r V-twin design for so many years , have those ardent critics ever asked themselves why Honda and Yamaha ha ve spent so m uch m on ey a nd effort to market the V· twi n desig ns and "mimic" H·D styl ing in their mult is as well as V-twi n? The resem blence in styli ng is far fro m coincidental. T hose who claim that H-D prod uces no thing but " boa t anchor" motorcycles o bviously have had their eyes closed around the AMA Pro di rt track scene. H- D's efforts in dirt track racing hav e earned them , through steady a nd diligent develop ment, the almost total domination of dirt track racing for the past 10years with their XR750. It 's iron ic that those so eager to knock Harley-David son a re not real izing th at th ey are Am ericans riding J apanese m o to rcycl es wh o,' g uess I " (J •• , I • , I ,,, ! Karel Kramer

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