Letter of the Month

Praise For Single Issue

It seems to me that motorcycle magazines come and go. Most recently, one of my favorites, MCN, gave up and disappeared.

I just can’t get hooked on online issues, because I live on a farm in a remote area in upstate New York and do not have good internet connections. So, I love/need my print issues.

I am an avid bike rider, owning eight currently, from dirt to dual sport to full-on road bikes.
 When AMA went to two issues of American Motorcyclist, I was saddened, because I like to read about all the varieties of our sport. I know I could have paid to get the other (dirt/competition) version, but I didn’t.

I applaud your decision to go back to one issue covering it all.

I am concerned that all this back and forth might result in American Motorcyclist going away completely. Please say that won’t happen.

Any magazine that features our sport is the only thing that helps us deal with 200-plus inches of snow during the winter months. I am always looking for a publication to replace those that are no longer delivered to my mailbox. It’s just getting harder and harder to do.

Thanks for being there for us.

George Gridley | Fayetteville, N.Y.

Great Motorcycling Stories

I had just finished reading “The Role of Autonomous Unmanned Vehicle Technologies in Defense Applications” in the current issue of Aerospace & Defense Technologies when I picked up the current issue of American Motorcyclist. “Hmm,” I thought, “it feels thicker and heavier than I recall.”

I turned to the back page, as I am wont to do. The need to find the “perfect” motorcycle can indeed be an ongoing quest. I then read the staff column and understood why the magazine felt different.

Converting the magazine to a single-issue version will give the members [a chance] to see the many sides of motorcycling. The articles were well-written and very enjoyable.

“Capturing Speed, Creating Taste,” by Andrew Wheeler was, in my opinion, an exceptional article. Following that was a great article on “Motorcycles and Art,” by Michael Lichter. Those two articles dovetailed nicely.

The whole magazine felt improved. Thank you. I look forward to the following issues.

George Badger | Soquel, Calif.

Pinning It

I really enjoy reading my American Motorcyclist magazine each month. I really enjoyed reading the article in the October 2020 issue, “A Lifetime On Two Wheels,” about Roy Dyckman.

I’ve been riding for 40 years, minus a small gap to raise a family. I got back into riding 12 years ago and took my first road trip in 2010 on a small Kawasaki Vulcan 800. I try to take several trips a year now. I currently am riding a 2004 Honda Gold Wing trike.

Reading the article about Roy Dyckman and his collection of pins on a denim vest touched my soul, because I started a collection of pins on my leather vest eight years ago. These pins are reminders of the memories associated with each trip.

I’ve only been a member for six years, but I will continue to support the AMA. Thanks for all you do to keep the sport alive and safe.

Robert Torrey | St. Pauls, N.C.

Continuing The Quest

Ted Freeman nailed it (“Searching For the Perfect Motorcycle,” November). I have been on the quest since 1966, having purchased 35 bikes, 10 different brands.

Racing short track in the 1960s, I built a screaming Honda S90. Perfect! Actually, not for long. In the ’70s, I raced my Bultaco Pursang, surely a cut above the rest.

My Harley-Davidson Sportster was a lot of fun in the ’80s, and, once again, I built the engine to scream.

Back to the dirt in the 1990s with my off-road racer, a Kawasaki KDX250.

Living in the new millennium, I desert raced a Honda XR650, and, of course, built the engine, looking for a bit more speed. The next decade, I took a huge turn and bought a Honda Gold Wing, riding it with my wife and a pop-top tent trailer in every state of the lower 48.

And now? Still have the Wing, plus a Yamaha FZ-09, a wonderful bike. And for the dirt, a 2020 KTM 300 XC TPI. Very, very close to perfection.

Still riding, dirt and street, and searching, searching for that perfect bike. The joy is in that journey, too.

Kevin B. Parsons | Meridian, Idaho

Reflections

As I read Ted Freeman’s article, “Searching for the Perfect Motorcycle,” I thought I was looking into a mirror.

I came up with 27 [motorcycles I’ve owned,] including the four in my garage right now, and [I] can’t think of one that I disliked.

I started in the mid-1960s, as well, with a ’53 Harley-Davidson K Model and have had everything from a Kawasaki Z125 to a Ducati 900SS and [Honda] VF1000R.

I’m still looking, as I will be 79 next month and want something that can be more easily loaded on the back rack of the car for use when traveling.

I must disagree somewhat with Ted, in that there are three kinds of motorcycles. The ones you have, the ones you want, and the ones you wish you had kept.

Gerald Mason | Naples, Fla.

Finding Perfection

Reading “Searching For the Perfect Motorcycle” (November) reminded me how the perfect motorcycle has been whatever one was between my legs at the time.

In 20 years as a daily rider who bought what was available used, I’ve had eight bikes, none of which was a particularly popular model and a few, like a [Kawasaki] ZR-7S, [that are] effectively forgotten today.

All remain in my memories, from cross-country trips to daily commutes. And my personal favorite [memory]: quite a few young girls excited to realize girls ride, too.

Thanks for the trip down so many miles of Memory Lane.

Danielle White | Houston, Texas

Promoting Helmet Use

Please allow me to offer my suggestion that a more appropriate cover photo could have been used for your November issue. Yeah, I might be splitting hairs, since the photo shows a mostly silhouetted rider with what looks like a bare cranium, but I’m really big on promoting helmet use, having had several personal experiences of their lifesaving capabilities.

Reading the cover story (with four additional helmetless photos) prompts me to ponder what the fatality stats are for riders who chose the “freedom” of riding without a helmet at Sturgis over the years. I bet it is in the hundreds.

I wore a T-shirt at the rally one year that read “Motorcyclists That Don’t Wear A Helmet Probably Don’t Have A Brain To Protect Anyway.” I didn’t get many thumbs up.

Paul Golde | Landers, Calif.

Failing To Leap

My copy of American Motorcyclist arrived the other day, and I sent out scans of the column (“Time Traveling at Speed,” December) to a number of people. I received lots of reactions, all of them positive. I even got a message from someone in Florida I don’t know via LinkedIn, apparently an AMA member. So, thank you very much.

I have to mention that, in the same issue, Heather Wilson (“Celebrating 100 Years of History and Service,” December) alleges that 100 years is 36,500 days, apparently forgetting that some years have 366 days.

NASA calculates that there are 365.2422 days in a year, on average, which I think would add about 24 days to a century. See pumas.nasa.gov/files/04_21_97_1.pdf for details.

You might want to pass that along to Ms. Wilson for future reference.

Arthur Ranney | Platteville, Wis.

Final Ride Memories

The guest column by Douglas Colligan in the October issue (“The Final Ride,” October) really hit home for me. I felt like I was right there with Doug and his brother-in-law, Rob.

Nice to see brothers-in-law getting along and sharing those special rides together. Rob certainly lives on for me in memories of those great rides.

I have had some great rides with my own brother-in-law and other old friends no longer with us.

Joe Mason | Fairview, N.C.

A Slip On The Oil

So, I’m reading along in the current (November) issue, and I find an article with recipes.

Hooray!

Except that in Andrew Wheeler’s recipe for Fideuà, the first ingredient call-out is for “1/4 milliliter olive oil.”

A quarter of a milliliter is an exceedingly tiny amount for all the uses to which he puts the oil. I suspect that what was meant was 1/4 liter (250 ml), as that would be close to a proper amount for oiling a “wide frying pan” and cooking the pasta, then sauteeing the salami and vegetables.

Other than that, killer recipes, which have been entered into my recipe database, and, as soon as I get enough “round tuits,” will get tried out.

Dave Drum | Plainfield, Ill.