Jack Penton interview IMS

[Jack Penton]

Hi Guys and Gals,

Here is an interview I did with the ISM people at the Cleveland show.
At the end I ask for your help. Please take a moment and think about what we enjoy because of motorcycles.

Will our children and grandchildren have that oportunity?

This is not somebody elses responsibility.

Have a great day! Love you all. Jack

http://community.motorcycleshows.com/_VIDEO-Jack-Penton-Interview/blog/3285420/151420.html?setId=89675&enlarge=true

[Jeff D]

Commenting on this for two reasons...
First:  OUTSTANDING interview!  You said in 3 minutes what others couldn't get across in an hour.
Second: This interview needs to get bumped to the top of the page every day until all of us see it.  I hope the AMA realizes how lucky it is to have you there, Jack!  Very well done.

Jeff DeBell

[t20sl]

No disrespect to Jack Penton, but the sound issue in my opinion( I work at a Harley dealership) is fairly simple and not something I see the AMA needs to fight in relationship to street bikes.  Drag pipes and aftermarket muffler SHOULD not be allowed PERIOD. Should not be manufactured, sold or installed. End of most of the problem.  Harley Davidson sold loud mufflers in their accessorie catalog up until around 2007.  They were in direct violation of many EPA state and federal laws.  Finally the motor company saw the light but what about all the aftermarket companies?  Why does the US let these companies manufacture non legal exhausts and then pay salaries to the government regulators to try and enforce the laws?  Sorry but I think the fines should be levied on the manufacturers and put them out ob business if they can't produce legal systems.  I think the AMA spending time and funds trying to fight laws banning loud bikes is a waste of membership dues.

Ted Atkinson

PS: Fighting helemt laws is also STUPID.  I have heard all the reasons why and I am sorry, sometimes you have to protect the stupid from themselves.

[brian kirby]

Hiring Jack is the smartest thing the AMA has done in decades.

Brian

[Mick Milakovic]

Thank you Jack, I'm a member of the AMA, POG, AHRMA, and a local vintage group.  Without grass-roots support they all will vanish.

Mick

[Bob Kent]

Exactly my point on another thread, "AMA in retrospect." I belong to AMA, OVBSAOC, POG, CVMG, BSAOC ONTARIO, and my local AMA club. I agree with Mick wholeheartedly about grass-roots support, and with Brian on Jack's hiring.

Bob

[wfopete]

First off, I am Pro AMA.  For all the faults, the AMA is by far our biggest & strongest ally in motorcycling.  I also support the Blue Ribbon Coaliltion and other that support our sport. As far as the helmet law issue, I believe the AMA is fighting the issue of government getting into personal choice NOT if you should or should not wear a helmet, of which I again support the AMA.

That said I'd like to post the following a friend sent me and get some verification from folks on this:

The first thing I noticed about this link was the "Progressive" ad on the video tab. We should remember that that this insurance company is headed by Peter B. Lewis who is strongly anti-ohv.

It is known, for example, that he gave at least $100,000 to the Sierra Club.

He also gave $2.1 million dollars to a pressure group called Sustainable Settings. They claim to be an organization, "dedicated to environmental sustainability practices." They aren't too fond of dirt bikes.

From Capital Research Center, "Peter B. Lewis is a billionaire insurance magnate — chairman of Progressive Casualty Insurance Co., the nation's third-largest automobile insurer. He gave $23 million to 527 groups in 2004." Each of these groups can easily be classified as hard left.

Bottom line, if you have Progressive Insurance, you are fueling the anti-ohv movement.

Dang that's MY insurance company!

Pete Petrick
175 Jackpiner
Slow but Good

[t20sl]

Speaking of motorcycle insurance, I have brought this up to the AMA on 2 occasions.  I feel the AMA should put effort into other areas as I stated.  Let the ALCU worry about "choice".  As a multi vehicle owner, as many of us are, I have never understood why the insurance industry makes us pay multiple times for the same coverage.  Other than greed and no organization like the AMA has tried to fight it.  For instance I several bikes which do not fall into "vintage" but are not late models either.  I am listed as the  "only" approved operator.  My issue is why do I need liability on each vehicle?  Why not a single liability policy rated for the most expensive/dangerous bike and that would cover all vehicles.  The AMA's reaction was that's the law, not wow maybe that is an issue that concerns our members and something we could look into .  How many of you have several street bikes or dual sports with multiple premiums?  If your the only rider doesn't it follow you can only ride 1 vehicle at a time.
Ted

[Jeff D]

Just a note on the noise issue (and also to bump this back up to the top of the stack!), it is not just street bikes that are the problem.  Back in the early 70s when I was getting started in the woods, the New England Trail Rider Association (NETRA) was very big on keeping sound levels down, and had strict sound tests even at the junior enduros.  There were sound tests at the 1973 ISDT taken midway through the daily acceleration test, although the penalty was very minor and most riders chose to take the penalty rather than let off the throttle and lose more valuable points in the acceleration test...but at least the effort was there and the point made.
Several years ago I bought a Big Gun exhaust for my KTM 400 because I knew Mike Young and wanted to support his business.  I even paid extra for the quiet insert and baffle.  A few months later I couldn't pass the relatively lax sound test at the Idaho City qualifier.  I hadn't brought the stock system with me and the only way I got in was by stuffing one of Randy Mastin's 27mm sockets in the back of the silencer backed up with some fiberglass insulation snatched from a nearby mobile home that was falling down.  The socket and glass was pulled out the following morning during the 15-minute work period and I rode the event "unbaffled".  I'm not up on the cam much anyway, and probably didn't make that much of a racket compared to the AA guys, but the lesson was learned and I put the stock (and quiet) KTM silencer back on once I got home.  
I'd forgotten the lessons of my youth and had become one of the "rogue riders" I'd railed about so much through the years.  Never again.  Just like the old stickers Darryl Bassani had...Less Sound Equals More Ground.

Jeff DeBell

[brian kirby]

Agreed Jeff. Even more ridiculous is seeing current 450s with ear-splittingly loud "performance" exhausts. A modern 450 makes so much power you could leave your 27mm socket and fiberglass in the bike and it would still have too much power for most non-AA riders. In this day, there is really no excuse to have a loud bike.

Brian

[454MRW]

Even the "kid sized" CRF150R's are very loud. They are just asking for trouble. Our new 2007 CR125R is a lot quieter, and the 2 stroke will be much cheaper when overhaul time comes. Mike

Michael R. Winter
I enjoy rebuilding and appreciating Pentons!
1974 250 HS Pentons-1980 KTM 175-400'S
75 Can Am 175 TNT & 77 250 Black Widow
1976-78 RM & 77-79 PE Suzuki's
74 CR250M 07 CR125R & CR150R