Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

By Pete Szilagyi Recently a friend of mine blundered into the state of matrimony for the first time. He came across his ten'year collection of cycle magazines while preparing for the move to the cottage with the white picket' fence. Not wishing to offend the lady with his seedy past, he reluctantly made me a gift of the collection. I've always been an avid reader of motorcycle mags, so his well-kept library came into appreciative hands. It made me wonder what had happ,ned to all the magazines that I'd bought through the years. I'm sorry that I let them get s'canned after the coffee table-garage-bathroom circuit. Reading eight-year-old motorcycle magazines is much the, same as going through Life, Time, and Colliers from the 1940's. You know, the ones with the faded pictures of a chastened Hirohito, or the Ford ads se,lIing a new 1940 model for $900. But one doesn't have to go that far back to find real motorcycle nostalgia. Paging through those old magazines almost made me feel sheepish about the way I marvelled at the wonders they beheld when current. The old journals show how far we have come in the last few years. They also provide a compact history of our sport. Comparisons between then and now come easy. The Gold Stars, Harley KR's, and Matchless G-50's. Not too long ago all the AMA "Class C" (professional) stars were riding machines that were top-notch then, but are now considered relics. 1 particularly liked Elliot Shultz' Enfield and Dick Mann's G-50 with the giant "NGK" on the gas tank. All the guys wore look·alike leathers that never really seemed to fit right. A far cry from today's professionalism. Maybe motorcycling's haberdashers learned a lesson from the European Speedway circuit riders. Those guys must spend a lot of time thinking up the outlandish emblems and festoonery they display on their riding togs. The crowds love it. There wasn't as much concern for rider safety back then and some AMA National events were run on really crummy tracks. Like the Windber Fire Department National Road Race, held in a small burg in Pennsylvania. The race track was nothing but a series of park roads connected to form a circuit. Giant trees stood at the end of almost every straightaway, and crowds of eager spectators (a la Mexican 1000) made the track very narrow. At least the AMA showed some mercy by only making the guys race for 50 miles at Windber City Park. Few really good race tracks were available for motorcycle events, so the second rate facilities had to do; but it was fun, and there was no S8.50 spectator fee either! Motorcycling has always had a cause to pursue. It's easy to follow the parade of defensive counterplays in the' magazines. The contemporary less-sound-more·ground campaign replaced the compulsory helmet law furor, which replaced the effort to clean up motorcycling's image. After the 1965 Laconia riots, the magazines from that era were full of shocked editorials and indignant letters-to-the-editor. Everyone was sorry that so few individuals could ruin the image of so many. I happened to be in lJ.aconia during the riots, as an innocent beer-drinker, not a rock thrower. It's my opinion that the Weirs Beach disturbance was blown out of proportion by the press and was trifling compared to some of the biggies we've had since then. But motorcycling's social consciousness was shocked at a time when it least needed the trauma. The incident was a real bummer for the motorcycle industry and our enthusiasts' magazines tried to set the record straight. Clean up your act everyone; folks WILL meet the nicest people on a Honda! In Venice, one of the few places in Southern California where a pocket of outlaws still lives, the 1'roers are now considered 'an amusing part of the scenery. Local color, you know. Not nearly the threat they seemed when the media was giving big ink to the baddies. This same moral fiber was abraded in the late 60's, albeit on a milder scale. A couple of bike distributors placed ads in the monthlies displaying their wares along with a chickie displaying hers. Apparently a lot of people thought that associating sex with motorcycles was a step backward in 'the struggle to clean up the image. Or maybe they just didn't like girls. I'm sure the magazines were flooded by many more complaints than they printed in their letters·to-the-editor columns. The editors' glib replies to the letters didn't belie the fact that a lot of people were. really mad, though the ads seems pretty innocuous when viewed by 197.1 standards. Our personal social consciousness is also reflected in our own particular brand of special-interest journalism. I was reading a report O'n the 1965 Heidelberg 15-mile National. There was a short blurb in the story about the death during the race of "Wee Willie" Moye, a colored rider. I did a double take A colored rider? Oh, you mean a black rider! A black rider named "Wee Willie?" I'm glad Parkhurst tiptoed that one past H. Rap and friends. I think that the pop art of motorycling resides in the advertising in the old magazines. You'll find the same type of peddling in the' old general-interest magazines. The hard-sell approach was stil! a baby and the ads remind you of a nun wearing cheap costume jewelry. The product is good and should sell itself, but they dress up the ads a bit just in cas.,. it doesn't. Take, for instance, the Hodaka campaign of the mid 60's when the 90 was heralded as the "Ace of Hots". Of. course, the "Ace of Hots" had to be .........""..............",----_"""'_" ~ In Newhall, Saugus, Valencia ·asqv·.. .·-a .. V_·-'Wki choice of Champions '- "Wild", so if you want to "Play Your Cards Right", get a Hodaka. Ace 90 was "Dealer's Choice" and your "Ace in the Hole". I remember when Hooker sold his headers that way. In a subsequent ad, Hodaka's agency experienced a mild premonition of the Spiro Agnew-John Wayne type of patriotism popular at the end of the decade. Hodaka announced that "Our Trail Country Belongs to the Strong, Safe, Sensible" and it demands "Hodakability". Look in any current cycle magazine and you'll find that Pabatco's tone is less strident now. But those oldies must have worked because there are a lot of aged Hodakas around. Maybe it's just a coincidence that they're a damn good bike. Around the same time there was an ad that featur:ed Top 'l0 singing stars Dick and DeeDee singing the praises of the new Triumph. Included was a picture of the duo seated on a Triumph and an offer of a free copy of their new hit single. A lot of possibilities come to mind if their agency wanted to take the same approach nowdays. Maybe a picture of an acid-rock gr:oup lounging around a Triumph decorated with artifacts of the Love Generation. The free record offer would have to be nixed because it's hard to find a tune without sex or drug lyrics. Everyone knows that motorcyclists use neither. Another testimonial I found was one that showed Parnelli J ones telling readers how neat a particular motorcycle was. Just what in the hell does Parnelli Jones know about motorcycles? (For that matter, what qualifies Dick and DeeDee to sing the Triumph's praises?) I wish the company would have spent the money within the industry for more cereditable testimony. Parnelli probably didn't need the cash anyway. Motorcycle advertising of several years ago was on a shaky footing because the copywriters were probably not bikers. They had to use the formulas created for selling other products; slogans, unprovable claims such as "years ahead styling", and lots of bold upper case. Advertisers often tried to use a bike's mechanical features as selling poin ts, just as they do now. Perhaps it is only our retrospective view that allows us to spot an inflated claim. Some of the old cycle ads were bad, but so were the pitches of the dishwasher, soup, and soap makers. At least we've made an attempt to clean up our act. As I glance at the latest issue of my favorite monthly, I find that the advertising is geared more to the present state of the art and to the buyer's needs. Less sloganeering is used and machinery is touted for an alleged proven record of reliability and performance. Even if it still has neither. Just as surely as time marches on, today's motorcycle magazines will provide tomorrow's nostalgia. Perhaps in ten years I'll be fortunate enough to uncover another cache of bike books. Surely they will provide my daydream fodder as I jet off to the domed, air-conditioned, Astrodirt motocross track. ~rrillil ~\ h/ ~ MAIL ORDER. ~~kParts & Accessones Sales Service Parts Accessories ::BONUS :-AII items in stock ~~II ~~~~~:AYailable ""'" be shipped immediately ,\ " WEST'~ .III (805)255-1335 24610 Pine St., I NeWhall,,,;lQ. Open 6 days 9 • 6 M'lC -==::::.". BuKAMfRlCAJlD THE LITTLE BIKE THAT WINS THE BIG RACES MYTH: . ' MONTESA Molorcycle S.le. Service 9000 SEPULVEDA BLVD. South of Nordoff in Sepulveda, Calif. (213) 894-9218 ,. • , ' . DESERT RACERS The Sandblasters M.C. Hare Scrambles Dec. 19, 1971 WILL PA Y- DIST. 37 POINTS as per a decision handed down by the Competition Committee at the December District 37 meeting Limed from Red Mountain; JO:.OOam start; finishing pins; 2 30-mile loops. YOU SHOULDN'T GO TRAILING WITH' A RACEBIKE For years guys have been saying that any bike that could win races would be too temperamental for trailing, that the power band would be too narrow. They couldn't be more wrong. The same things that make a bike great for cross-country racing or moto-crossing make for a great trailbike: a wide power band with plenty of low-end torque, superb handling, and maximum reliability. W. put guys like Gene Cannady. Max Switz.r, Steve Hurd. Eric J.nsen, and Preston Petty on DKW. that ara _tiall¥ the same as the bikes w. sell for the trail - without hopped up. SUPet'-Peak.V .ngi.... They go out .nd win the toughest races th.... a.... Like the Baja 500 (2nd o_all this vear.!. the Baja 1000 .1-2-3 in cia..). Elsinore (4th in the 250cc class from 1000 .ntries. 2nd in the big biko cia.. from 700 .ntries). and Barstow·to·V811as (first in class) So if you want to use your racebika for trailing - or vice versa - have at it. If it·s a DKW. HERCULES DIST. LTD.' 9827 MASON AVENUE CHATSWORTH, CA. 91311 EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTOR FOR THE U.S. & TERRITORIES DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED '; lil' "_ :;; ''': N ~ C \1> ~ z ~ u ~

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