The Dream of Independence, Freedom, Personal Responsibility and Self-Sufficiency

Reader Contribution by Staff
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Way back in 1970, when I saw my first copy of Mother Earth News, I raced down to southern Ohio to meet its founder, John Shuttleworth. I found him upstairs in an old farmhouse surrounded by piles of turn-of-the century “how-to-farm” publications. These became the basis for those first Mother Earth News magazines. John and I quickly realized that we shared the same dream of independence, freedom, personal responsibility and self-sufficiency. His magazine went on to help many Americans follow that Dream.

For my part of the Dream, I went on to help Americans to consume less fuel by designing and inventing equipment that made motorcycle riding more comfortable and desirable. I thought of it as “Living better on less energy.” After all, consuming fuel at the rate of 40 mpg, as motorcycles did, was much better than that of cars of the day, which guzzled gas at the rate of 12 mpg. Not a BIG DEAL considering all the energy consumed in transportation … but it has occupied 40-plus years of my design career.

My major contribution has been designing and producing streamlined bodywork (fairings) that protect the rider from the wind, slip thru the air easier and burn less fuel. My Windjammer Fairing is still the most popular motorcycle fairing ever. By the late 1970s, cars began to improve their mileage, while motorcycles went the other way … getting worse mileage. The bigger motorcycles got, the more they guzzled.

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