I enjoyed reading Rob Dingman’s explanation of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, and AMA’s relationship with the FIM, in the December issue of American Motorcyclist (“The AMA And The FIM”).

I would opine that this relationship has lacked understanding by the AMA membership and, oftentimes, even by AMA’s Board of Directors.

Much of the value in the relationship is provided by the AMA’s ability to influence motorcycle sport’s championship calendar and, thereby, protect its own national championship series.

In addition, as FIM’s largest federation, the AMA is able to lend its considerable expertise to both competition, and non-competition, aspects of motorcycling. This has proved valuable time and time again in communicating the importance of rider involvement in public policy on an international level.

Robert Rasor

Honorary FIM Vice President | Columbus, Ohio

Escape Plan

I enjoyed your article about proper foot placement when stopped from your Ask The MSF column. One habit that I’ve developed when stopping in traffic is to do it on the fog line, to the right, rear of the vehicle in front of me.

This gets me out of the way of the car that could otherwise rear-end me and, should the person actually rear-end me (moving out of the lane center as they finish that all important text), I wouldn’t be crushed between two vehicles but rather be propelled ahead, hopefully risking less damage to me and the bike.

Gary Lowe | Portsmouth, N.H.

Benefits Of Membership

I read with interest Rob Dingman’s article on his Charter Life Member status in the November issue (“Membership Milestone”). …

I have been an AMA member for the last 20 years. I can honestly say that I have no idea what all the benefits of membership are. I have never used any of the benefits, and I don’t really care.

Why don’t I care? Because, frankly, benefits are not the most important aspect of AMA membership. What is? It is the fact that AMA has our backs in ways that no one else does. This organization stands up for our rights at every turn. Motorcycle-only checkpoints? The AMA is there. E15? There again. Closed trails? The AMA is on it. Supporting racing, dual sport and adventure series? AMA supports us.

Bottom line? If you ride motorcycles, if we want our rights to remain and grow, you must be an AMA member. That really is all that matters.

John Ciribassi | Carol Stream, Ill.

Thanks John for pointing out what is, arguably, the greatest “benefit” of being an AMA member! 

Unrestored Perfection

“Back In The Family” (September issue) really hit home.

I’m from Pennsylvania and had a similar experience in 1971. I was good friends with Chris in high school. He had a ’57 or ’59 BMW and I had a 250 Yamaha. His father owned a 1948 H-D. During our college days he would invite me to his pool. I always asked his dad if he would sell his bike. “I’m going to dig a big hole and bury it, you guys are going to chop it.” I said I was looking for a stock street bike. One Saturday his dad came home from work and came over to the pool and asked if I was still interested in the bike. I jumped-YES ! He let me take it for a ride, with his son on his BMW into Ridley Creek State Park. An hour later we were back. I asked, “how much do you want for it?” Then immediately replied, “sold!”

Enclosed is a picture of an unrestored 1948 FL that I still ride today. Not a bad present for my 21st birthday.

Frank Balawejder | Garnet Valley, Pa.

 

 

Performance Enhancing

In Rob’s recent editorial about the FIM (“The AMA And The FIM,” December), he alludes to the issues that surround the WADA situation in MX/SX. I understand not wanting to go into depth on the topic, but it really is the point of the whole piece. He finishes by saying “Hopefully, some of those changes might even improve the image of the FIM here in the United States.”

The image of the FIM here is terrible and for good reason. The FIM has adopted rules, processes and punishments that truly don’t belong in pro motorcycle racing or the United States.

The punishments are extreme, especially in the length of time a rider is banned from competition. They are set more toward the four-year cycle of the Olympics than the short span of a motorcycle racer’s career.

The rules are rigid (any presence of a substance is a violation whether a trace amount would lend advantage or is likely the result of ingested/environmental contamination), and the process is European bureaucratic to the extreme.

Obviously, [performance enhancing drugs] have no place in American motorcycle competition, but we need to tailor the rules to fit our unique sport. When pro athletes earning millions in other sports are benched for a few games for violations, it’s clearly unfair to end a struggling racer’s career over a questionable test result (trace quantities?) and subject them to the horrible process and treatment that they receive from the FIM.

As a manufacturer of powersports products, we work hard to grow the sport as a whole and need the powersports industry to be healthy. There’s no benefit to saying something can’t be changed or that it wouldn’t matter, and the WADA scandal is surely holding us back. Let’s treat our athletes in a fair manner that allows them to have as good a career as is possible in this high-attrition arena.

John Light

Evans Powersports | Suffield, Conn.