Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

'Wntin' Cfiround by C. Clayton I am off to Texas with my dO-it-yourownself newspaper kit. Old Number One Van is pOlished, gassed and packed with paraphernalia and impedimenta way over its one quarter-toD design limit, to wic: One Dirt Motorcycle with California plate, typewriter, two T-squares, 30 and 90 degree red plastic triangles, two Art Boards, 40-single-edge razor blades, four tablets tissue tracing, one ream typing paper, one Rapidograph pen and in k sup ply, miscellaneous pencils and ballpoint pens, swivel chair, riding togs, business suit, work c1omes. Old Number One Van and its do-it·yourownself newspaper kit and its owner have launched three successful motorcycle publications and if Cycle News Central succeeds, it wiJl be the fourth in a kind of sibling rivalry that tries to do in journalism what General Motors did witR cars. Each of the Cycle New papers is independent in all the creative areas of ads and editorial material. They pool their newsgathering capacity and share eacR olhers' copyrights. The business end is handled centrally tor efficiency sake, and th.us the economic and timesaving advan tages of big business are added to the benefits of local newspapers operating together on a national scale. It works. The effect is to journalism what a chord is to music. I nstead of a single note struck on a single string, four notes blend their harmonics to produce a fuller, richer tone. The result may be counterpoint, with all editions sounding different lines that, taken together, explore all of the ideas inheren t in a subject. As publisher I am to this concert like a conductor, setting tempos and bringing up the brass or percussion for effect. I am the listener or, to abandon that conceit, the reader, a role I share with all readers except the editors and ad people. They are too dose to the medium to rea t to it like anybody else would. They arc making it, so they can't judge it. To me, owning a publication is like fathering a child you can kill. There are STD. 50·30Wt. OIL TCRCO 2CYCLE * * * (Please turn to pg. 23) understanding of just about any .. ther subjec.t under the stars. So that's how I justify circulating all these newspapers. ~.$Il.~ Sale $6.88 SALE 49C EACH * BLACK MX BARS NOW 59C * Desert Daisies are going to put on a Hare Scrambles next year. Anybody who thinks it will be an easy one is invited to try to catch one of those ladies in a race sometime.. 1 got a sneak-peek at some of the items they are considering as tropbies and they will be collectors' items some day. This one wilJ be a "don't miss" for everyone. ... OIL SAI,..E suzuJJ earlier? That's what four years of college taught me is an "analogy," relating two unlike things. If editors can use the .motorcycle as one half of an analogy, they' can presen t a better VBA SPARK PLUGS a.. jammed, screaming on full th mttle and Cary, his vgice up three octaves and rising, danced around the bike, yanking at Bob's jersey, hair and britches, trying to drag him off the tonured machinc so he could reach the kill bUll on, and getting buried by the hailstorm of dirt being thrown up by the madly spinning rear wheel. In his excitement Cary stuffed his foot through the rear spokes, effectively killing the engine, and nearly breaking his fOOl. One spectator was roUing on the ground, clutching his aching sides, tears streaming down his face, begging them to stop th rough gasp of: choking laughter. In spite of Cary's help, Bob man.,t to un tangle his Ieathe rs from til., b;ors and staggered away from tile site. Gary limping sligh tly , backed lhe from under the tailgate and pushed it into the truck. Bob had regained his composure and saw one last chance to vindiute himsdf. The 125 Suzuki they nad offered to take home for a friClld still had to be put in the truck and with tRe other two bikes to use as guide posts it would be al snap to ride the 125 into the bed. And it was. Bob rode the little Suzuki right mto the truck, only slightJ'y mashing the knuckles of both hands while discovering that three bikes won.'t fit in the truck handlebar-to·handleb.,.; the middle one has to go in backwards. Well, you just sorta' had to be there. by Alice Khea After Rams' Hare and Hound recently, Team Suzuki (so called even though one member recen tly purchased a Husky) provided great entertainment. Loading rime came and Cary, the Pfc. of the outfit, was delegated to area clean up while Bob, the leader. said he would single handedly load the bikes. All went well. Cary had gathered an impressive amount of trash and Bob had ridden the 400 Husky into the truck and tied it down. . ow for Cary's Suzuki, his brand-new pride and joy. Bob rode the Suz in a circle around the truck and lined up with the ramp. Full throttle, a little wheelie, up the ramp and, arrggg! Crash! Thump! t+$%/&! How embarrassing. The rear wheel missed the ramp and the Suzuki teetered. with Bob astride, dnagling by its bash plate, while Cary danced madly around giving Ris imitation of an angry Donald Duck, shaking the bike from side to side, trying to dislodge it, while Bob clung for his life and groped wildly for a toehold. With the Suzuki safely back on th-c ground, Bob assured the quivering Cary that there really was no problem, and he could handle loading the Suzuki. Cary, one baleful eye riveted on Bob, reluctantly went bock to his trash collecting. Bob jumped back in the saddle, cranked the Suz and made another circle around the track, lining up carefully with the ramp. Wishing to vindicate himself' in front of club members, who by now had gathered as inconspicuously as possible and were surreptitiously wat hing, Bob approached the ramp at a good clip. Oomph! This time the front wheel missed the ramp and the front tire jammed under the tailgate, spitting Bob into the truck bed, and catching the tops of his leathers in the handlebars, clutch and brake levers. The Suzuki was BARDAHL NGK no laws against publicide. If one of my publications doesn't measure up to my admittedly lenien t requiremen ts of it, I would reel proud of sacrificing it to the greater glory of journalism. The survivors would feed upon its bones. I hate to see a publication that is j 0 urnaJistically dead continuing to occupy time and space simply because it continues to make money. Readers may continue to buy it out of habit, even read it out of curiosity or disgust-lust. But such books waste a precious resource, reading time, that this world no longer has enough of. Why pro~ce motorcycle newspaper, then, when human events of less frivolity go unreported and misunderstood? Why get and spend a million bucks a year to make newspaper that may never seU more than 8S,OOO copies of a given issue, when there are five to twelve million motorcycle enthusiasts in the United States? Welt, because out survey. leU us that the average copy sold is read by three people, and altogether we distributed over 3,2.50,000 copies of Cycle -News this year, so that's a potential readersnip of ten million American bikers. Even if we only enlighten I/Hl' of one percent that's 10,000 better-informed bikers ancl that's a sizeable minority to mobilize at anyone time. By "mobilize" [ don't mean con troJ. I think that the people who read motorcycle newspapers are quicker than anybo<;ly to recognize and reject overt attempts manipulate their individualities. But imagine if 10,000 motorcycle fans each wrote a letter a year to some' public-sensitive agency ...That kind of minority gets action! With the combined insensitivities of government and big business taking evermore ravenous chunks out of our humanity, I think it is my mission to mobilize the disparate minorities who see motorcycling not just as a game played with wheels and motors, but as a symbol and fulcrum of human nobility and cussedness. This is the heavy part: You remember [ used some words associated with music to clarify a poin t or two INY UR EARi Dir•••• 69C CYCLE CARRIERS Will fit up to 4" Tire FULL COVERAGE HELMET :Be I $12!6 NOW Now • 1 &:&:::: S14.!i- BBWALKER LACE UP BOOTS WEDGE SOLE ~ SHUR TYPE TIE DOWN STRAPS DIAMOND No. 50 530x104 CHAIN ENGLISH DUNLOP K70UNIV y-;zp, t ()

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