High Rev'ing Reverend

HIGH REV'ING REVEREND

JOSEPH C. PARKHURST

For those who are always looking for people in the motorcycle industry to point at as being the really "good guys," I offer the Reverend Ray Lieber of Schenectady, New York. Better known as "Rev' Ray," Pastor of the Pilgrim Congregational Church, and owner of Honda of Schenectady. Skepticism is the usual reaction from people, the Reverend claims, but they soon accept the fact, and as he says, "Why not? It's good exercise, it takes a firm hand and strong muscles to control a motorcycle. It is an outlet for my excess energy." Further, "It's hard work and you've got to be in shape, especially riding on mountain roads or up steep hills."

The Reverend feels one must have some danger involved in a sport, that it provides a little excitement in life and that motorcycling is his channel to "let loose." All of which I could not agree with more. I will not be led into the continual persuance of justifying motorcycling and

proving its acceptable image by citing all of the good guys I run into, worse, to pointing at all of the movie stars who ride bikes. (Plain facts are I wish some of the Hollywood "personality" types would take up something else; they are giving motorcycling a bad name.) But, for those who need reasons, I can find fewer examples any better than the simple fact that all kinds of people ride bikes, good and bad. The same as all kinds of people drive cars, fly planes, and sail boats. To a certain motor scooter distributor who takes glee in condemning motorcycles in his advertising, the most recent of which presents a distasteful display of three priests sitting on scooters saying something about "social stigmas"; give Rev. Ray a buzz, maybe they can form a new religion based on motorcycling, and scootering of course. My thanks to C. Robert Callahan for the story on Rev. Ray.