Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125874
In th e m orning , before it see m ed decent t o start o n m y bot t le o f R ed Mountain, I wa n de re d aro u nd . lea ving my lon g-suffe ring wife to m in d the store. Some people were do in g very well : Mer cha nts wh o bo ugh t. new shiny an d seem ing ly underpriced merch an di se. A man an d a woman ,\rit h a di splay of to ol s were ta kin g in m on ey as fast as th e y co uld st u ff it a way . A tho roughl y obn o xious pl as t ic-sin cere super sal esm an with a truckload o f au to s te re o s. was busily p roving that given a su p p ly o f peop le, a salesman will d o all righ t regardless of his location. It 's hard to believe that people were buying s tere os of an unknown br and from so meo ne they would never be able to find again. but I t hink the guy so ld everything he brought wit h him . A few ama teurs were doing all righ t one way or anot her. Billy Clements was there wi th hi s surplus Husky gear. He pro bab ly ma de a coup le of bills. Bud Ekins was there lo o ki ng for par ts fo r his ma ny a n t ique m otorc ycl es. Bud kn o ws m ot or cy cles like few pe ople in th is co u n t ry . I sus pect he d id all right. A nd o f course in t he pro xim it y of such m en I co uld hardly be criticized fo r what I was do ing . Wh y, it's almost as if I we re wal ki ng a rm in arm with "Texas " J ohn Connolly and Henry Kiss inger. S o , s ec u re in m y see mingl y honorable ro le of m otor c ycle swa p per, I plied m y trade, such as it was. In fact I sol d m ost of m y "clut te r ." The ol d knob b ies wen t , a wat ch holder from a previous Matador went, t he old boots · . wen t , a p ai r of Cu rnutt shocks went (b u t n ot the Boges ], But nobody was in te rested in m y fine collectio n of sp rockets, one of which (I'm reas ona bly certain) would tum a Harley H ummer into a snor tin ' wild -man nered scrambler. An d nobo dy bough t m y Ma ta d or. But considering tha t the garage was so mewhat cleaner and we had mad e enough for a reasonably good d inner out, I su p pose the da y , on its own excruciatingly bo ri ng te rms , could be considered a success, were it not for Ti m Elliot. Elliot, of course, was wrong abo ut almos t eve ryt hing. All th e stuff I was trying to se ll was strict ly su rplus. But by accident he has h it upon one grain of t ruth . I am a h iker . Yes, it 's true. I eve n walked up Mount Whitney one t im e , th o ugh certain ly no t in t en nis shoes. Bu t so me how t his de vil has taken a stri ng of perfe ct ly innocent circumstances and come to the incredibly damaging conclus ion that I have "gone over to t he other side." To be truthful, I'm n o t sure wh at the "other side n is. but I'm sure it's despicable to .h a ve gone there. Temporarily now, I have stemmed this vicious rumor, but it will n ot die, o f that I a m su re. I will h ave to take further m easures to protect the Moto rcycle J ournalist, I have alr ead y burned the t ennis shoes. o f co u rse. There n ow remains the problem of Tim Elliot. but I think I know how to solve that. Re cently I was made a member of the Pasadena MC. I must say th at I would have been more dismay ed at being ele cted into the Man son family o r the Ni xon family , but it's close. Now. however, perhaps I can turn this unwelcome membe rship to m y advantage. Most of those guys in Pl\IC are cops, so maybe I can trade them a good w rite-up on their next enduro fo r a c o n tract on Elliot, Of course. there would still rem ain the guys who bought the kn obbies and s tu ff. They sa w the te nnis shoes. But sin ce they bo ught k nobbies, o b vio u s l y t h e y are motocrosscrs . If I can find out who they arc, perha ps I can bring some pressure to bea r through the AMA or the CMC, ge l th ei r cards lifted , That sho uld really clean up t he whole mess . But I really ca n 't understand how someone co uld m ake su ch a big thing out o f a thing so a bsurd as h i king tennis s hoes . Anybod y want to trade a 1\latador fo r a Hasselblad o r an airp lane? How a bo u t you. Die k? Trade yo u e ven fur San Clemen te , Ron Schneiders RICH EIERSTEDT Rich outran the field at the Hang Ten United States Motocross Grand Prix for the 250cc Class championship. His factory prepared Honda Elsinore gets lasting engine protect ion from Pennzoil 2-Stroke Motorcycle Oil (mixed 32 to 1). Take a ti p fro m Rich and his Honda teammates: get t he kind of engine protection it takes to be a stro ng finis her . .. ask you r mo to rcycle dealer fo r Pennzoi I. < ~....,. PENNZOILCOMPANY Oil City, Pennsylvania D~ DIA ? •' I - iJeJI - ,'~ • at the l\S(~ (rl' l)l\Il.' 1'. rl'. N l\rl"ONl\l~ 7/20 /7L l As k your Deal er for DIAMOND The Chain of Pro ven Performanc e! 1974 AMA CONTING ENCY PRIZE SPONSOR-we support the sport!! CZ SPECIALIST sales-serviGe-parts We have new Grand Prix & MX CZs at prices we are unable to advertise' I Coast Moto Cycle ' 2334 Newport Blvd. ,-~~ Costa Mesa, CA 92627 , . OJ 714-645-8008 j ~ t,.. ~_') ,~ Sweet Duck Suzuki Ucscrt a n d .\lX S pcrialists /I}/I} E. i~13)~~l·8~'4'{"ll. Ca. S u zuki & .Hall"O .\lllil Ord er Specialists Iv. ~ IM icl R 40 2 KEN TUCKY AVE NUE I NDI A NA PO LIS. INDI A NA 46225 _ _ ._ -0' ~~t.~~~\)\)\, ~ "'\\~'O $ Learn ho w to "\\\\' tune bi kes fro m the BURAK TUN ING SCHOOL for a profitable c aree r o r ho b by. • BURAK BYE-PRODUCTS 15170 Rayme r 51. • Van Nuys. CA (2 13) 780 - 1768 Mike Patrick's P.D.Bo x 6 2 5 41 , Virg inia Beacn , VA 2 3462 ~, YAMAHA of CORONA 1101 E. 6 th S t. - C or ona (714) 735·7721 Q U A LI TY ACC ESSO R IES fro m BULT AC O INTERNATIONAL , L TO. Magneto $79.95 Fits any 12 5 cc Yam ah a Endur o thru '75 or ~IX thru '7 3. Bo lts right o n. YaII1aha of E I Monte 21:\59 No. Durfee, El Monre, CA 91732 (2 13 ) 442-5800 17