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/125891
chrome moly , hut ti taniu m h a ndlebars arc d eemed all righ t. The be tt e r racers cha nge the wh eel -base 10 suit th eir size, and c hange gearing for each d iffere n t track . Three-p iece c ra nks , such as road racin g bic yclist s use, are too fragil e for IlX , esp ec ia lly th os e th at use a tapered screw to hold th e c ran k to the sh aft. Xlot orc yclists wh o have own ed BSAs arc fam iliar with th e proble m, Several man u fac tu rers arc now offe ring complete mo tocross bicy c les. Th e most imp o rtan t at the momen t arc the Yamaha and the Xla t tb ews , but Kawasaki has o nc co m ing out in Marc h and Schwinn is also rumo red to have o ne a bou t ready. As most of the or iginal BX bikes wer e Sch w inn Sl ing Ray s. one wou ld think th a t Sch win n would be the nat ural heir of the b usi n ess , h u t according 10 Scot Hrcith aupt , "they 'll probahly screw up . T hey won 't have any warranty, the y'll he too safc tv -m indcd an d th ey'll make th e th in g 300 p ound s. " Is Sch win n rel a tc d to Il arle y -Da vid so n ? If $ 100 to S 180 fo r a comp lete m oto c ro ss bicycle is o ut of BXc r's price range , h e has a nothe r o p tio n. li e c an hu y a trick frame for a h o u t 560 and hang a ll th e stuff fro m hi s old S ting Ra y on it. Frames arc made by J eff Ward Ra c ing Prod uc ts (Sa n ta An a ), b y Matth ews (1-:1 ~I on t e ) , a nd hy Littlej ohn I\lu rph y (North lI oll ywo o d ). A Scot Breithaupt-designed frame will soon he ava ilable from Bardine I\lan ufa cluri ng (Sa n ta Ana). One would think that wit h a who le new area o f sport o pening up hicy cl c d ealers wo uld he ecstatic , hu t th .us not univ ersall y tr ue, Th is writ er stoppe d at a Sc hw inn d ea le rship less th an ..I m ile from th e B .U . ~ l. S . track in Long Beach, Ca lifornia . The owne r had one cop y of the IIX newspaper, which he refused t o sell. li e didn't carry the paper an d he d id n' t want the ll X trad e. lie ,assure d me th ai he kn ew ~ I r. Schwinn person all y an d th a t no BX Schw inn was forth com ing. lIe didn't want the kids' tradc because they we re " always break ing someth ing . And b es ides," h e sa id, while I 0 k ids st o od aro u nd , waiting to b u y something, "Ihc ad ults have all the mon ey. In sharp c o n trast is Tom Sneddon, a world class b icy c-l e racer, wh o h as a Schwin n dealersh ip in Mo nt ro se. California . Tom has a lo ng, lo ng row of Europ ean racin g mach inery , mo st with 15 gea rs and sew-up tires , but he recognizes the fact th at his younger c ustomers d ig motocross . .. ) thin k it's fairly obvi ou s:' he says , "that mo st of the kids are h caded for motorc ycl es.' but h is to n e says tha t he ho pes at least a few of the mure talented on es will stay with hicy cl es. ··'Vc're c arry ing a full lin e o f Bicycle-cross gear, including th e Littlejohn ~Iurphy mono-shock frame , w hic h we believe is th e best available . O f co urse w e 'rc hoping Sc hwin n w ill b ring o ut a really c o mp e titive b ike in the nea r future. " Ylo u t ro sc Cydc is sponsoring two racers . and in the spirit of the times o ne is a girl , ""1 ::? -ycar-old Sa lly Vogal. "Shes rac ing against th e guys and is beating them regu larly ," says To m. " No w if I co uld only get h er on a I (l-spccd . . .. " The last true kid's sport in this country was marbles. Everyth ing inven te d since then has required the parent s to he inv olved in some F ashion or other. Bicy cle mo tocross is nu except ion, bu t kids in th is sport might manage to avo id so me of th e mo re obscene pa ren tal excesses of litt lc league b ase b a ll, Th e first thi n g th e parent of a prospective IlXe r learns, to h is imm ensc relief. is th at bicycle motocrossing is a whole lot cheape r than motorcycle or minibike co m pe titio n . En try fces arc in the one-to-tw o -dol lar run ge rather th an th e Five- to-ten d ollar range . Trac ks arc mu ch near er , so driving time and gas arc c u t drast ic ally. Th is is especia lly im portant to the fa th e r who wo u ld ordinarily take h is so n o u t t o the desert to ride e nd u ro s rather th an allo w h im to ride normal moto cross . Fo r bic ycle motocross you 're usu ally tal king about less th an a 100·mile round trip as opposed to a n over 3 00·m ile tr ip to th e deser t. The money provider ge ts o ff a 10 1 lighter in other areas to o. A ll X li re costs S4 to S6 as op p o sed to 525 fo r an ~IX tire. And o f course there arc no spark pl ugs o r o ther ex pe nsive engine good ies to worry ab o u t. No r is O RV registration requir ed. Mo st track s now require BXcrs to wear helmets, hu t hoots and leathers arc not required and probably a re n ' t needed, A go o d p a ir of ~ IX hoots co sts as mu ch as a BX tric k fram e ! The n ext thing th e father is going to learn is that , un like spo rts suc h as quart er midge t racing, minibi ke racing, motocross . sin t-ear ra cing and soap-box derby raci ng, a parent's p otential influence is decided ly lim ited. lIe c a n spend , at mos t , probaably 5200 on Iri ck goodies for hi s kid and fro m then on h e 's strictly a spectator. A d oll a r 's worth of vitami ns and a dai ly live -m ile -run wi ll easily heat a th ou sand dollars wo rth of tit anium p arts . And he do esn 't have to brib e o r threaten a co ac h to get his son in the ac tio n e ith er. Perhaps the ne atest thi ng abou t BX from a parent's view is th e safe ty aspect. No a th leti c eve n t, and particu larly no ev e nt likely to cap tu re the imagination o f kids, is go ing 10 b e co m p le te ly safe , hut bicycle mo to cro ss is surely one of the safer , int eresting sports. ·I11e speeds arc quit e low, co mpared to motorcycles, and no fa ll th a t a kid ta ke s is likely to be as destru c ti ve as ....... 21