My letter to Rick Sieman, again.

[Billy Golightly]

I haven't wrote a reply yet for the second "threewheeler feedback" column he made. Here is my letter, thus far. I plan on finishing it up with another paragraph or so.

Rick,


The only thing is, that trikes don’t attract any more irresponsible people then 2-wheelers do! I’m sure I could find some real jerks on dirt bikes out at Glamis during a Holiday weekend where you’ve got a drugged, drunk, and naked guy riding a wheelie in between campsites on a CR500. Am I right?

Not to long ago, the US forestry banned night riding of any off-road vehicle in the national forests anytime before dawn and after sunset. Main cause? Loud pipes from aftermarket exhaust systems, mostly 4 strokes. Are there some dirtbikes with insanely loud pipes that irritated this problem? Sure. Is there some quads with insanely loud pipes that irritated this problem? Sure. Were there any innocent riders with non-offensive exhausts getting blamed? Sure.

The Piersons milk vetch closing’s at Glamis in 2000 and 2001 were suppose to have been temporary, but from last account I read the BLM were going to keep them closed for a bit longer because “Lack of compliance” with the boundaries. Were there some three-wheeler riders involved with the lack of compliance? Probably. Dirt bikes, Quads, Buggies, Trucks too? Probably. Case in point, pickup the February ’05 edition of “Racer X” and turn to page 183 where there is a picture of a guy jumping over a fire on an XR50, from a ramp, wearing a baseball cap and tennis shoes. Does this qualify for “Responsible motorcyclists”? Is it an accurate portrayal of the average dirt bike rider? Does the general populace think it is?

The spin-off ATV magazine from Dirtbike, Dirtwheels, printed a 20 year anniversary article this month on the ATC250R. It is clear that some people are starting to recognize three-wheelers as what they are-an important piece of ATV history that should not be forgotten. As the Webmaster of a three-wheeler enthusiast and one of the forum admins at www.3wheelerworldforums.com all I’m asking for Rick is an equal opportunity to be respected as a conscious and responsible off-roader. Its bad enough fighting off the biased media and environmental groups, but having a fellow off-roader at your throat just isn’t good.

[Dammit!]

"then" in the first sentence should be "than"

"to" in the first sentence of the second paragraph should be "too"

"As the Webmaster of a three-wheeler enthusiast and one of the forum admins at www.3wheelerworldforums.com"

That just doesn't sound right.

All the points are well made. Those things just jumped out at me.

[Billy Golightly]

Oops, your right on the bottom part. I originally had the website address on there, but then took it out and didn't fix the rest of the sentance Fixed the grammar stuff. Anything else you guys would add to it? I'm not really sure what else to say...kind of out of points

[Mr. Sandman]

You've got some very valid and on the mark points and it does sound good so far. One thing that did strike me though was how the new letter starts. I know you want to go straight to the point but I'd like to suggest a more subtle approach. I don't mean any ass kissing but maybe thank him for responding and publishing the last letter. It may just help gain some more respect for our sport and once again prove that the majority of us who chose to ride on three wheels are not all bad. You already hit the nail on the head but to borrow an old cliche "a few bad apples spoil the whole bunch" (unfortunatley this is true in every aspect of life, every sport, activity, etc).

[hondatrikesrule22]

qoute: during a Holiday weekend where you've got a drugged, drunk, and naked guy riding a wheelie in between campsites on a CR500:qoute



You said you wouldn't tell!

[Rex Karz]

I think there are problems with the argument presented. It seems to infer that the reason 3-wheelers have been ostracised were because of a wreckless and irresponsible minority that existed and still exist in the off-road community. While it is TRUE, it completely ignores the facts that I think are more important:
Three-wheelers have a unique "Feel" to them. In the Handling, Types of terrain, styles of riding, etc. That is hard to explain to someone who has never ridden one.

I think, though that lots of us tend to downplay the dangers of the three wheelers. Three wheelers DO FLIP OVER EASILY!! They also LIKE TO RUN OVER YOUR FEET!!! It's part of the whole package. It takes a lot of skill to ride them. Even then, there is a smaller margin for error than with 2 and 4 wheelers. If you're not paying complete attention they will Bite You in the trailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro!!!!!

They are not for everybody. They take a lot of skill. But they will GO ANY-FREAKING-WHERE SIDEWAYS. They are FASTER than quads. They are, to put it simply, more FUN and there is nothing else like it.

Honestly, guys, don't bust a nut over what the masses do. Enjoy it. I do. They're also CHEAPER! Fer god sakes I have SIX of the damn things!!!

That's what I call having the last laugh!

[Mobular]

In addition to the above fixes, DW is actually celebrating it's 25th anniversary, not 20th.

[Mr. Sandman]

I think there are problems with the argument presented. It seems to infer that the reason 3-wheelers have been ostracised were because of a wreckless and irresponsible minority that existed and still exist in the off-road community. While it is TRUE, it completely ignores the facts that I think are more important:
Three-wheelers have a unique "Feel" to them. In the Handling, Types of terrain, styles of riding, etc. That is hard to explain to someone who has never ridden one.

I think, though that lots of us tend to downplay the dangers of the three wheelers. Three wheelers DO FLIP OVER EASILY!! They also LIKE TO RUN OVER YOUR FEET!!! It's part of the whole package. It takes a lot of skill to ride them. Even then, there is a smaller margin for error than with 2 and 4 wheelers. If you're not paying complete attention they will Bite You in the trailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro!!!!!

They are not for everybody. They take a lot of skill. But they will GO ANY-FREAKING-WHERE SIDEWAYS. They are FASTER than quads. They are, to put it simply, more FUN and there is nothing else like it.

Honestly, guys, don't bust a nut over what the masses do. Enjoy it. I do. They're also CHEAPER! Fer god sakes I have SIX of the damn things!!!

That's what I call having the last laugh!

Rex Karz, I think everyone understands what you're saying but it has been said before, time and time again. Being a fairly new member to the board, you may not have seen the whole picture. Do a search for Rick Sieman and read through the previous letters/responses that go back and forth between him and 3WW and you'll get the idea of where this latest letter is coming from and what the battle really is.

[Billy Golightly]

Rick,

Its taken me a little bit longer to write this letter, but I believe it is fairly accurate. I do appreciate you being open to debating this topic, because obviously we both feel it is worth our time to do so.

My main problem is justifying your comment on how three-wheeler riders in general are jerks. I’m sure I could find some real jerks on dirt bikes out at Glamis during a Holiday weekend where you’ve got a drugged, drunk, and naked guy riding a wheelie in between campsites on a CR500. Am I right?

The Piersons milk vetch closing’s at Glamis in 2000 and 2001 were suppose to have been temporary, but from last account I read the BLM were going to keep them closed for a bit longer because “Lack of compliance” with the boundaries. Were there some three-wheeler riders involved with the lack of compliance? Probably. Dirt bikes, Quads, Buggies, Trucks too? Probably. Case in point, pickup the February ’05 edition of “Racer X” and turn to page 183 where there is a picture of a guy jumping over a fire on an XR50, from a ramp, wearing a baseball cap and tennis shoes. Does this qualify for “Responsible motorcyclists”? Is it an accurate portrayal of the average dirt bike rider? Does the general populace think so?

Not to long ago, the US Forest Service banned night riding of any off-road vehicle in the Ocala, Apalachicola and Osceola national forests anytime before dawn and after sunset. Main cause? Loud pipes from aftermarket exhaust systems, mostly 4 strokes. Are there some dirt bikes with insanely loud pipes that irritated this problem? Sure. Are there some quads with insanely loud pipes that irritated this problem? Sure. Were there any innocent riders with non-offensive exhausts getting blamed? Sure. You know just as well as I do that there are “bad apples” in every group and form of recreation, unfortunately that’s just how it is. I honestly believe that there are no more bad apples in the three-wheeling group then there is in the dirt bike, or quad groups.

The spin-off ATV magazine from Dirt bike, Dirt wheels, printed a 25th year anniversary article February on the ATC250R. It is clear that some people are starting to recognize three-wheelers as what they are-an important piece of ATV history that should not be forgotten. Check page 18 of the March edition of Dirt wheels magazine, and you’ll see a picture of our group ride we had last year at Haspin Acres in Indiana. There were approximately 60 three-wheeler riders there last June and with national exposure from Dirt wheels magazine and ATV Sport earlier last year, we are expecting attendance to at least double. What I’m getting at with all of this is that there ARE irresponsible three-wheeler, two-wheeler, and four wheeler riders. But there are also RESPONSIBLE ones that receive the repercussions of you publicly condemning them, and I used Bennet Law Firm as an example in my previous letter.

As a three-wheeler enthusiast and one of the forum administrators at www.3wheelerworldforums.com all I’m asking for Rick is an equal opportunity to be respected as a conscious and responsible off-roader-Not shunned and scoffed at. It’s bad enough fighting off the biased media and environmental groups, but having a fellow off-roader at your throat when we are supposed to be working together just isn’t cool.


Billy Golightly
Live Oak, FL

[atczack]

Very good, you could also mention that there are people out there that can't distinguish the difference between an ATC, ATV or Dirtbike, and when he's badmouthing 3 wheeler's those people probably have a mental picture of ALL off road activity being bad. So he's getting people ticked off at all off road enthusiast's, which is going to make it harder to keep place's open to ride. He's basically shooting himself in the foot. You would think that being he is from California, where the tree hugging, whale saving, earth first type's are concentrating their strongest effort's to close down riding spot's, that he would keep his mouth closed about anything negative about the off road scene. That's just my .02 cent's.