Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Unconstitutional Helmet Committee, c/o Motorcyclist's Post, Stiles Lake Ave., Leicester, Mass., 01524); "Easyriders" regularly devotes three pages to brief newsnotes about government activities, some of this infonnation being won the hard way by readers in their encO\wters with Big Brother; eclitor Lou Kimzey appeared on KNXT to rebut that TV station's editorial demand for lights-on-at-all-hours. What happened to the editors of all the other LA-based bike books? Then there's the uRed Freak Rider" cartoon strip, the scatte.red cartoon:!, the promised S 10,000 award to the custom bike voted best by the readers, the classified ads with their appeals for mail by residents of various federal and state institutions, the one-page how-to's ranging from obscure Harley tricks to such gems of practicality as fennenting frozen orange juice into wine - if the California Vintner's Association will permit me to caU it that - in a plastic bottle which, hopefully, has had most of the bleach residue rinsed out ("Don't rinse 'er out too good, Reno. That extra kick is like ...heavy".) And ... then there's fiction which is not quite sophisticated enough to qualify as hard core pornography, and there's chopper artwork which is really good, e.g., the collection in the October issue, and there's an occasional technical article which is a masterpiece of its kind. The engineering stress analysis of chopper chassis and the nationwide survey of motorcycle accident injury statistics (Oct.) are each unsurpassed by anything I was able to find in any other motorcycle magazine. "Easyriders" is able to contain this astonishing potpourri in only 70 pages since it has little advertising, and that which it does have is dominated by D&D Distributors and a sprinkling of obscure post office box numbers. If "Easyriders" is somebody's captive publication, however, it really doesn't matter since the one staple item of chopper magazine fare that it does not have is the test of/report on/evaluation of/how-to-with feature of commercial items. There is no disguised advertising. If "Easyriders" is successful I'd expect it to go to a regular monthly schedule; it started up only in 1971. "Easyriders" is fresh, unique, and orginal. In its way, it is every bit as daring and innovative as "Cycle World" was when it first appeared a decade earlier. You may be turned off by its unremitting vulgarity, and so be it, but I'm doing my best to call 'em as they are, so I have to describe "Easyriders" as a brill ian t tour de force and by far the most entertaining magazine in the choPller field. Hot Bike (TRM Publications, [nc., 731 Melrose Avenue, Placentia, CA, 92670) HE is TRM's entry in the performance bike field. The first issue I saw, in 1971, was packed with letters of effusive praise from dozens of name-racers; all agreed that HB was the greatest thing in publishing since moveable type. Overdone, perhaps, but not especially noteworthy ...except for one little thing. I was reacting VI, n 1 - the first issue that had ever existed. So how could all these people have an opinion to offer at all? Clearly they had received pre-publication copies for review, along with who-knows-what inducement to write a favorable letter. Or had they received any HB was launched with all the pre-merchandising promotion normally attendant to a new hairspray or mou thwash. 11B, like "Chopper" and "Street Chopper", issues forth upon the world from the southeast corner of the AEE building in Placentia, a physical intimacy none of these magazines has ever thought worth noting or c01Umenting on. Could this be a mere oversight? When Tom McMullen appears in a photo in HE, as he not infrequently does, the typical caption identification is "AEE's Tom McMullen" (Dec. 1971), even though he is plainly listed on the masted as the president of TRM. This is as strange as if "Cycle World" described its publisher as "Laguna Beach innkeeper and musician,joe Parkhurst". Could this be a mere accident? After being treated to "Tom McMullen of A.E.E. Choppers" in the text (Feb.) and "AEE's Tom McMullen" in a caption, we get this remarkable caption under another photo: "Tom McMullen, TRtWs jim Clark, and Lenny Cenotti judged bikes for trophies". How can it be that HB Publications Manager Jim Clark t;:n be described as "TRM's" while in the same sentence Tom :\1cMullen is not linked to TRM in any way? Accorcling to the legally required statement the PO'st Office forces magazines to publish once a ye.ar, TRM is wholly owned by Thomas and Rosemarie McMullen. Isn't owning TRM Publishing Inc. a close enough relationship to the firm (Cont'd. from page 9) i 0.. M .... '" ~ ~ w 2 w ...J U >U Dirt Bike (Hi-Torque Publications, Inc., 16200 Ventura Blvd., Encino, CA, 91316) DB is the premia example of a special-interest motorcycle magazine, and the outstanding counter-example to my contention that infonnation and entertainment don't go together. If you're at all interested in dirt ricling, DB is in a class by itself. On the one hand it dives right in on the real gut-issues, presenting comprehensive, organized, invaluable data no other magazine wants to niess with. Are fuel additives worth anything? Run 'em on the dyno and let's see. Do different brands of gasoline make a difference? Try 'em on the dyno and let's find out. How much do replacement parts cost for all the popular competition bikes? Call up all the dealers, ask. and tabulate the results. How much do bikes really weigh, manufacturer's claims notwithstanding? Put every one of the 86 dirt bikes that there are on a set of scales and let's see. Egad! The MX is 33 pounds lighter than claimed! Is nothing sacred? On the other hand. DB is as entertaining as any magazine in the field: Witty, irreverent, briskly written, lmd outrageously opinionated. Who else would insist that the Suzuki TM 250j is exactly "114.67.84 percent better than the 400"? (Oct.) Then there was that memorable test of the 405 "American Turkey". And none of that double-dealing shilling for advertisers disguised as neutral reporting. 0 sir, Bunky, what you see is more like, "You're probably better of( buying one of the accessory brands offered by a 'Dirt Bike' advertiser. They've gOlla eat, ya know". (Oct.) If anyone were rash enough to write something like that for a TRM publication, he'd be excommunicated. The DB staff deserve compliments for the delightful blend of hard-headed factualjty and light-hearted humor which they regularly purvey but this is not, I think, all of their own doing. Part of it is due to the nature of cli,t riding itself, and consequently the natures of riders who are drawn to this facet of the sport. In comparison racers and chopperites take everything so seriously, and tourists - Oh, Lord! - as solemn as a priest at his mother's funeral. "Big Bike" and "Choppers", despite overlapping staffs, don't sparkle the way' DB does. If you don't like DB. you probably weren't cut out to be a din rider anyway, Dirt Cyeie (Countrywide Publications Inc. and/or Modem Day Periodicals Inc., 222 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10002) Another pale imia-tion from the "Cycle JUustrated/MoLOr Cycle World" shop. With a $1 cover price, there's no contest between DC and the real "Dirt Bike." If that price were cut in half, it would still be no contestr Easyriders (Paisano Publications, Inc" P, O. Box 2086, Seal Beach, CA, 90740) What would you expect from a bi·monthly chopper magazine whose masthead includes an Editor-at-Large, an Overworked Editor, a Mentor, an Editorial Flunky, an Arbitrator, a Wine Taster, a Man About Town, an Executive janitor, and an Office Cat named Black Dog? "Easyriders" is totally unlike any of the other chopper mags. Let me count the ways. the pot-oriented ''Taking It Easy" column is the only feature I found in any bike book which is designed to appeal to the rider-readers but which has nothing to do with motorcycling. The Letters column is an endless series of mutual put-ons. "Bikers Digest" is so obvious when you see it, you wonder why nobody thought of it before; as its subtitle says, it consists of "miscellaneous quotes from other biker rags". The well-done custom bike features use only a limited amount of color photography, but usually show the owner, give good equipment of details, and include an actual action shot; there is usually a more-or-Iess clothed chick in the photo.s. Miraculous Mutha's "advice" column should be sufficiently crude and vulgar to satisfy the most demanding connoisseur, though it is closely rivalled in these qualities by the Mutha Goose page of poems. Yes, poems. Then there's "In the Wind"; reader photos, orne in color, of choppers actually being ridden. There's a captive organization called ABATE (Anarchistic Bikers Against the Establishment?) which is reported to have contributed $250 to Charles Simon's valiant legal struggle against government-coerced helmet-wearing ( ational X AS SPECIA SOUTH BAY MOTORCYCLES IAoNZ EN REE REC-PAC * Femsa Transistor Ignition * Sunburst Head Special set up at no extra charge * Mikuni Carb * Silencer ALL MODELS - NEW BIKES • P""9- -. .........oIIlII Now you •• CAN take it with Comfy BUY YOUR NEW CZ ALREADY EQUIPPED WITH SPECIAL GOODIES you! Light L. Get this Strong quality BIG Rigid designed Protective for off- road motorcycle use. ~ SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY JAWA 250 & 350cc STREE JAWA 31i01:c CAL.trOflNtllN «' <:'tU"''''l JAWA 250ec:CA\.trORNJAN II ~¥t'!llhII' JAWA DUAL CONT~OllED 1I(1/ (10,'" llduc;oHOO" SI>lI(i ~90 51195 a JAWA FREE SHIPPING 8Y TRUCI( ANYWHERE IN THE UNITED Sf ATES S£RV!CED BY COMMERCIAL CARRIERS JAWA DT 500 SPEEDWAY Buv you, s.-o-v tMIl......-d'l' ~IPfMd Wtttl 22".- ........ Ind$ou.«I pw"" AT NO EXTRA CHARGE. Send"lOnrf or1l* or ~·lm.dr. fOi 51,550 -W._IIlt\lP NEXT DAY "'C Figure price and send money order or cash ier's check and we will ship FREE within.5 days. 125 CZ -$975'250CZ -$1195400CZ -$1350 Calif. Residents add S% Tax ADD ON FOR THE FOLLOWING EXTRAS WHICH ARE APPROXIMArELY II RETAIL PRICE (EXCHANGE):SUNBURST HEAD (lM:10I''I' 1>1'0101'1'0- fep!kal • •• • SPECIAL .95 FR~fE;:~~~EN~'::!ST '-IJ~';'c=::C:=-'" ~" $24 • FEMSA TRANSISTORizeD IGNITION.. •.•. MODlFtEOEkPANS1QN CHAMBER 1I,lenarl •. STRONGER, BETTER GRIP, FOLDING I"EGS '" AKRCNT RIMS (fOfMd! """"" .-.-:11 Colors: Orange pac, white top, black nylon webbing, chrome hardware. , •.••• .$38 ..70 • ••!i REED VALVE SET-uP ON 125 CZ.... UNBREAKABLE PLASTIC GAS TANK... . UN8R&::AK.A8l..E PLASTIC FENDERS ItxMhl POLlS.l'tEO 4lUNlNUM lJ$A GAS TANK KONI SHOCKS Ii..,....., . . •... .... 450.'8 SARUM SUPER TRACTION REAR TIRE JOO.21llf320 .. 21BARUMFRONTTIRE... • _.. SOON·TO-8E REQUIRED COUNTER $HAFTSPROCKET COVER 20"\ DISCOUNT ON GENUINE CZ ,"ARTS C'OJoPLETE FACTORY ENGINE 0.104. TOOL "IT. NYLON MOTOCROSS RIDING SHIRT I coIoJl HIGH QUALITY MX AIOIHGGL.OYE5 l slal eXTRA COUNTEA.$HAFTSPAQCkETS EXTRA CARBURETOR JETS •• .• • ., • .a Order from: CYCLE NEWS PRODUCTS 2499 Cerritos Ave., Long Beach, Ca. 90806 ..JO • . •45 • .25 .20 .• 49 ...J9 .29 .19 •••• .sl ;e:p::;-mo;:r;;:;:;:~-J Send me one my free fitted ice chest. I enclose $24.9S in check or money order. FREE FREE !=REE !=A£E FREE Name This offer for a limited time only. California residents must add 5% for sales tax. SUUIt1 DAT MUIUK~T~LfS 2001 Artesia, Redondo Beach, Calif. 90278 Telephone (213) 379-3344 - 379-1083 - 722-1647 CZ and Dirt Bike Owners - WRITE FOR FREE BROCHURE ~ Address I I City, State & Zip 1.-.__ _ ....;._-oiIti.- _ _ -----------I.__..::::::=:::::...:..........J

• Cover