notes@zeppo.UUCP (10/17/83)
#N:zeppo:6700003:000:4310
zeppo!mes Aug 25 12:41:00 1982
The following is a reply to an article I posted in net.auto. The original
dealt with the issue of motorcycle headlamp being on all the time, and
similar things - the topic having originally started with government
regulation of seat belts, air bags and the like. Alan has taken my original
arguement and expounded it into a discussion of governmental regulation of
motorcycles. I agree with most of his points, and would be interested in
other riders' opinions... a good discussion topic...
Mike Sajor
BTL Whippany NJ
zeppo!mes
From harpo!decvax!ittvax!swatt Wed Aug 25 11:56:45 1982
Date: Wed Aug 25 10:08:30 1982
To: decvax!harpo!zeppo!mes
Subject: MC headlights on all the time.
I own a '79 Suzuki GS850, with such features as hard-wired headlights
courtesy of Joan Claybrook and the NHTSA; it is a STUPID idea.
To my knowledge it does not affect headlight life; I don't know about
the gas milage, but I assume it's measureable, even if not drastic. My
objection is: with all the pollution control requirements on the
engine, it can be hard to start if not run recently. Having my Q-H
monster sucking on the battery at the same time has more than once made
the difference between starting the beast and getting the jumper
cables. The second time this happened I pulled the lightswitch apart
and filed off the part that prevented normal operation of the switch.
I dislike trying to kickstart a 4-cylinder 850, especially if it's
reluctant anyway, and MORE especially if I'm dressed in helmet, leather
jacket, and it's Summer. When things like that happen, I want to grab
the NHTSA jerks who don't ride motorcycles and say "here YOU get it
started".
Another STUPID idea out of NHTSA is the stiff throttle return springs;
they apparently thought there was danger of having a riderless
motorcycle out of control at full throttle. MC manufacturers used to
provide a throttle tension adjustment which put some drag on the
throttle, thus lessening the force the return springs put on your
hand. Well, thanks to the NHTSA, my throttle connected to 4 carbs has
enough return tension to qualify as a small catapult. You don't notice
it driving for 20 minutes around town, but after 2-3 hours on the
highway, my right hand is just plain numb. Guess which hand has to use
the front brakes? I figure that after an hour on the road, I HAVE
to stop for 5 or 10 minutes and let my wrist recover or I no longer
have effective control of the bike. This is one I haven't fixed yet,
mostly becuase I haven't done enough highway riding recently.
While I'm on the subject, YASI (Yet Another Stupid Idea) is the
mandated 1-down, 4-up shift pattern. Honda has always had this, but
other manufacturers had different patterns, typically 5-up (Kawasaki,
BMW, Triumph). Someone at NHTSA decided it was "unsafe" to have
someone kick the shift pedal down and end up in neutral (damn if I know
why, more likely they decided it was "unsafe" to have more than one
kind of shift pattern in the marketplace and picked Honda because they
were dominant at the time). Well I don't LIKE the 1-down, 4-up
pattern; it's too hard on every bike I've tried to find neutral without
looking at the instrument panel to see the neutral indicator light.
Most bikes "favor" hitting neutral from either 1st or 2nd; In my
Suzuki, I can almost never hit neutral from 1st -- I have to shift up
to 2nd, and then the 1/2 kick down to neutral. Even then I often take
two tries. My old Kawasaki was a 5-up pattern with neutral at the
bottom and it was a dream. Hitting neutral was so easy I would put the
bike in neutral and let out the clutch at stoplights, which saved
significantly on clutch wear, not to mention being easier on my left
hand.
If I had my 'druthers, the NHTSA would get kicked completely out of the
motorcycle design business; they don't ride them, and don't suffer the
consequences of their stupid regulations. As far as I can see, every
single one of the improvements that make my '79 Suzuki a vastly
superior machine to my '69 Kawasaki were introduced by free market
competition pressures, and everything that I DON'T like about the new
bike over the old one were mandated by the NHTSA.
- Alan S. Watt