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/125880
difficult racing circuits "ever co n ceived , the Ameican Motorcycle Association Grand National Ch ampionship Cir cuit annually cr ow ns the most gifted and versatile m otorcycle racer in the world. An era ended at Daytona in 195 8 w hen E .C. Smith retired after 30 consecutive years of service as secretary of the Am eri can Mo tor c y cl e " Association. He thus closed ou t an illustrious career th at spanned ne arl y a half century of motorcycle involvement. Na med to replace Smith and thus faced with the d illi cu lt task of filling the greatest void ever felt in American mo t o r c y cling was Linton A. (Lin) Kuch ler who brought 26 years of his own mo to rcycle experience to the post. Kuchler had joined Smith's staff in 1955 . Originally from Milwaukee, he had been a sportsman rider him sel f and later a Harley-Davidson dealer in Ann Arbo r, M i c h i g a n . He was a bombardier-navigator in t he Air Fo rce in World War 11 an d t hen return ed to Milwa u kee w he re h e worked fo r Harley-Davidso n as a product ion layou t an d m an agem en t p lanner. It is an i n d ica t io n o f t he s e nsiti v i ty of Ha r ley- David so n to charges that it " own ed " th e AMA th at Ku ch ler's announce me nt mad e no mentio n of his pr e v i ou s i n v ol vem ent w ith th a t co m pany . His posi tio n with Ha rley-Davidson was describ ed in AMERICAN MOTORC YCLING as o ne with a "Milwaukee Co rp oration: ' THE KUC HL ER YEARS Not surprisingly, the first two years of K u c h l e r ' s te n ure w ere largely an extension of the E.C. Smith era. An organization so totally dominated by one force fo r so lo ng does n o t change quickly. Change it Ku chler d id , but the big impact wo uld no t be felt until the early '60s. The 1958 competition co mmittee meeting divided professional racers into th ree classlfications-novices, amateurs an d experts-and spen t considerable time dealing with p roblems rel ated to h are -and-hound and o ther o ff-road events wh ich, at th at time, were th e f astest gr owin g are a s o f AMA motorcycle act ivit y. A M E RIC AN MOTORCYCLING incr eased its price to 53 per ye ar in 19 59, and t h e subs crip tion rate remained at th at level for 15 y ears, until 1974. "Operat ion Motorcycle" w as a positive public rel ations effort o f 1959 as the AMA urged members to support the Red C ro ss by do nating blood to build-up the nation's blood banks . Eddie Mu lder of Burbank, California, mad e a splash in 1960 by winning th e Big Bear Run at the age of 16. A new decad e h ad arrived an d the American Mo torcycle Association chose 'to dub it the "Cycl in g Sixties:' Lin Kuchler an nounced at the onset of th e decad e a n atio n al p ublic re lations program o n behal f of motorcycling. The immediate objective was "to greatly increase the percen tage of peop le in favor of th e sport of motorcy cling, and per suad e man y o thers to ta ke a more to le r ant an d understandin g attit ude tow ard it." Oth er objectives incl ude d increasing AMA membersh ip , st rengt he ni ng the clubs , up gr ad in g n at i on a l racing act ivities and promo ti ng th e activities of mo torcycle enth usiasts in general. To help carry o ut th e p rogram , th e AMA retain ed th e p rofession al services of Klau-Va n Pie ters on -Dunlop , a pub lic relations firm with offices in Miawaukee an d Chicago. The first step in the public relations program was to distnb ute press kits fo r the 1960 running of the Daytona 200 . To help fund t he new program, the first dues increase in th e history of the AMA was made eff ect ive January I , 1 9 6 0 , when the c o s t of AMA m e m b e r s h ip rose from $1 to 52. Membership at the end of 1959 was announced at just over 70,000. The spring of 1960 also saw the fourth move in the history of th e AMA S&W shock absorbers will satisfy any riding requirement, whether it is street, tou ring, road racing, moto cross or other off-road activity. Superior performance comes from such advanced design features as: compression damping so bumps are absorbed by hydraulic action as well as by spring; rebound damping controlled byspring.loaded valves to assure consistent action; gradual hydraulic shut-off to prevent topping out: triple-lipped oil seal; chrome plated piston rod; double welded mounting eyes; lightweight spring retainers & perches, & dyno matched pair in each box foruniform damping. Univ. 12.0" shock absorber. $20.95 =2225-02 =2225-01 Univ. 12.5" shock absorber.. $20.95 ::2225-03 Univ. 13.0" shock absorber $20.95 =2225-04 Univ. 13.5" shock absorber $20.95 . =2225·06 Kawasaki 900 Z-1 shock absorber. $24.95 =2225·07 Yamaha dirt single shock absorber.. $20.95 =2225·09 Honda XL250, XL350 shock absorber $20.95 =2225-1 3 Honda 350-450 Twin; 500·550 ..Four" $24.95 =270 Honda SL350 K ; 750 "Four" ·l $24.95 (Price shown is per shock, without spring) Lin Kuchler replaced E.C. Smith as AMA Secretary after his ret irement in 1958. Kuchler led the AMA into the "Cycling Sixties". S&W shock absor ber springs. S&W sp rings are made from the finest wire obt ainable. They are designed for peak performance on the street. highway, or off the road in any kind of compet ition or pleasure r idi ng situation . S&W shock spr ings cost a little more th an ord inary springs. but t heir pre cise handling and extra long life make them worth it . To dete rm ine wh ich sp ring weight you shou ld use. apply the following formul a: R _ MY 4 wh ere R is recommended spnng rate, M IS sum of 65 % mach ine weig ht and 50 % rider weight ; and Y is swing arm length 'f rom pivot to axle eye, 'divided by swing arm lengt h from pivot lower sho ck eye. to Webto Number Weight 2123 35 1241 ·00 50·9.5 1241·01 50 ·10.5 2196 60·Pursang 1883 65 2073·00 75·9.0 2073·01 75 ·9.5 1583 82 274 90 1225 100 261 110 Color Cod e Price Each Webco Numb er white·wh ite sil·go ld gr·whl plain go·red-go go-grn go ·blu go·whl go·pink pur·go or·go $6.50 $6.25 $6.25 $6.85 $6.25 $6.25 $6.50 $6.25 $6.25 $6.25 $6.50 1729 1730 439 465 2208 2072·00 2072-01 1976 258 259 634 Wei z:ht 125 (black) 125 (C hrome) 135-9.0 135·9.5 45/70 60/90·9.0 60 /90·9.5 70/100 85/115 95/ 125 110/140 Color Code r·go r·go go ·blu·go go ·pin·go gold go·go brn ·go go·go·go red ·whl blu·whl pur ·wht Pr ice Each $6.50 $8.50 $6.85 $6.85 $6.50 $6.50 $6.85 $6.50 $6.50 $6.50 $6.85