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/125892
The mos t interes ting d evelopment in the sport th L oast year, a nd one I \ ex pec t to sec reall'} take o ff next year, is bicy cle moto c ros s. This lS 'a kid s' sport whic h offers m an y o r the th rills of rea l m,ato cro ss with little of the risk a nd expense. Since the ioudest noise in the race is heavy-breathing, the kids ca n have tracks on practically any vacant lot. Kids need exercise that they do n't get when an engine does all the work, and they don't need the injuries associated with real motocross, so I'm quite enthusiastic about this newest addition to the sport. The environment and us Looking back in anger ~ forward in hope Writers traditionally like to end the year by sticking one foot gingerly into the new year and gazing both forward and backward in time. Thus shakily fixed over a metaphysical po in t, they feel supremely confident of their ability to criticize th e past, explain the .. o't\eS t.'c:,c:,e .., SS ;; _ I Alloy Tickler Specially shrouded and easier to operate. • BURAK BYE·PRDDUCTS • v ee Nuys C.A .. BOOT~ 4213) 780 ·1768 largest Seie.:t:c!'! Top Geilf Buckle ~ igh Lace Cycle S59 . wlue 35. ~ l ue $44 .95 Acme Cowboy Durango Harness Oanpex, 25 . wlue 17 . wh. 60 . wlue 25 . ... Iue 25. \4 1..,. 25 . ".lue 17.95 19 .95 34 .95 17.9S 11 .95 13.95 L~ 26.95 Engineer Oress ZIppers Work Shaft 20 . .. I ~ 12.95 Add $ 2 .00 M ail O rde r p l us t ax Work Shoes Unlimi1ed 12086 Brookhurst , Garden Grove 714 ·537-6535 177 2 No . Tus t in Ave.• Orange 12522 Westm inste r at 17th S1". Santa Ana Distrib ut or fo r vendromini Bo o b .~~ . ~, Seasons Greetings to our students and friends Husqvama Int'l Training Ctr Carlsbad Raceway, Carlsbad, CA Best Wishes from Rolf, Mickey, Mitch, & Nancee. Merry Christmas from Team Husqvarna . 34 present, and thus fo retell the future. The motorcycle journalist, however. finds his task confounded bv the fact that the past (in the rOnD or the monthly magazines) coexists quite comfortably with the present (Cycle News) . With th e past residing in the present, there is no springboard to the future, In pan ic he looks to the Hand writin g On Th e Wall for a glim pse of th e fu t u re. Unfo rt u na te ly , in my nei gh bo rhood th e h an dwri t ing on the wall has usu all y been d one by an a ngry yo u ng Ch ican o wit h a ca n of spray pain t, and while it m ay well tell o r the fut u re, I d on 't h ave th e co u rage to stand her e all so be r a nd straigh t and gaze in to that fu t ure. Having thus d ro wn ed time in th e win c of Klein, I invite yo u to jo in me in a trip through th e bottle. If o u r luck is go od , we shall see Go d or Ete rni ty or Japan . If not , we sha ll wind up s tilTing into our o wn ex haust p ipes. bu t in an y " ven t it will not be nearly as exhaust ing as trying to share a perch on a metaph ysi cal po int. An y pause in a journ ey th rough tim e or space or ge ometrical constru ction is a logi cal oc casion - for ' questions: Where ar e we? Where are we goi ng? Or more to th e poin t , are we go ing in th e right directio n? D uri ng the last year we have travele d through me an te rrito ry. Let's look at so me specific aspects o f o u r sport. Competition Competition machinery seems to be losing much of its form er interest for average riders. An average rider co uld ta ke quite an interest in machinery when it was a q uestion of John Banks' four-stroke CZ . There was observable. ap p reciab le differences between an AJS trials bike a nd a Bultaco Sherpa T . But now. particularly in the past year, things have changed . The bikes have achieved such a uniformly high design sta nda rd that Marv in McAverage is often unable to tell the difference between two high-quality m o to cro sse rs , except by the name on the tank. We can see the results in brand switching. In the 50's and 60's, a brand switch was as traumatic as a divorce and remarriage. Bud Ekins was "Triumph forever," and made news wh en he rode a Husky in one race. Torsten Hallman was m ore closely associated wi th Hu sky than with Sweden. Now you have to look at the program to tell who's rid ing what. tn the past a rider bel ieved th at his b ra nd was fundamcntally better than any other, even in off-years, But with motocross bikes having no more difference among them than baseball bats, a rider picks one that feels good and pays well today in the full knowledge that his opinion might change tomorrow. Some of the im p licat io ns of uniform design excelle nce arc not reassuring. With a lessening of brand loyalty among riders, and a lessening of permanent brand associatio n, we can expect a num ber o f manufacturers to drop out of com petitio n permanently a nd o thers to drop out period ical ly . m uc h the same as Ford, Ch evy , and Dodge do in th e car raci ng scene. Secondly , we ca n ex pect both tr ials and moto cr o ss to be come primarily ath lc tic eve nts (an d in fact they already are, at th e ch am p ionsh ip level ). But sinc e m ost motorc ycle riders of m or e av erage ta lent are in th is particu la r s po rt becaus e or th e me ch anical asp ect (if th ey were athletes, th ey would probably pl ay tennis). J ex pect a breech of inter es t to d evel op between ave rag e rid ers an d serio us co m pe t it io n riders. Bu t to co m pe nsa te, there alrea dy seems to be a gro u p o r comple tel y non -pa rtic ipant fans d ev eloping . Soon w e m ight have Mon d ay Nigh t Mo tocross. Look out. Co sell! Th e en d uro scene. at least in Southern Cal iforn ia, is a co m p le te disas ter. Worse, I ca nno t see a way to rescu e it , nor any sign in dicating th at others h ave good ideas. Back in th e dim dark days (ab o u t five years ago) end ures a ttrac te d two bas ic types of rid er , th e "old salt" who had hung it al l out for 10 years o f desert racing. an d the yo ungs te r who wasn't quite ready to hang it all out. In with th ese two major groups were two s m ail er groups, the ded i cated time -k eeping, mathematical enduro frea ks some o f whom actually carried two clo cks, a nd the tr ail rid ers who wer e willing t o pay $4 to have someone lay out an SO·m ile trail ride for them. Then , suddenly we had motocross every weekend, desert ra cing on several different skill levels, and "family" endures. The fa mi ly enduros go t most of th e trail riders and a lot of the kids. Motocross and low-level desert raci ng go t what kids were left . All that remain are the old salts a nd timekeepers , also mostly o n the o lder side. These two groups have a perpetual wa r going: exquisitely acc u ra t e timekeeping even ts o f moderate difficulty versus John Wayne give-ern-hell type exercises in masochism. Neither group particularly cares whether the event is interesting or fun to ride in non-competitive terms. There is less about ecology in the newspapers today because the issues are movi ng into the legislature and the courts. The people have already decided th a t ecology as a concept is both via ble and needed. It remains now to see to what extent the people are ready to foot the b ill. . It see ms to me that a No. I New Year 's resolu tio n for every m otorcyclist, street and dirt , should be to m a ke so m ething similar to w ha t Cath ol ics call an Examination of Co nscie nce. In mo torcycling terms , this m eans to th ink a bo ut th e issues and decide what , if an ything, yo u are vo lu ntari ly willin g to give up, wh at you a re w illing to give up by d efault , wha t you are w illing to figh t for, and how hard you are p repared to fight . The environmental issues on wh ich we will be challenged are: (I) noise , (21 air po llu tion , (3) damage by tires. (4 wildlife harm, and (5) aesthetic da mage . It remains to be see n ho w much or a case will be brough t against us in each instance and h ow well we will defend ourselves. Manufacturers will have to deal with the areas of noise and pollution, b ut how they deal with the problems will depend to a great extent on the atti tude of their customers. As a customer, I will no t buy another noisy m o to rc ycle for many reasons, bu t primarily because noisy bikes kee p us o ut of good riding areas. So be it. If a few thousand or you o ut there wrote a few manufacturers and ex pressed similar senti m ents, yo u better believe we'd get qu iet bikes in a h urry . I d o n ' t thi nk the press is d o in g its job in giving us reliable, meaningful data o n th is issue yet, eith er. Poll u tion is p ro bl em No.2. Cycle m anufa c tur ers, a n d p ar ticularly tw o-stroke ma n ufactu re rs , will be u p again st th at one for su re this y ear. They are already m aneuvering for dela ys and reductions of st an dards. What do yo u think about it? As a Lo s Angeles res ident who consid ers breathing a No. I priority it em , I don't favo r a ny de la ys for a nyo ne in the sm og c on trol pr ogr am. The oth er th re e ite ms a re extremely contro versial and ce rta inly ca n' t be d ealt with in a few lin es, so I'm go ing to offer ju st this o ne th ough t : 1975 is th e t i me t o start accep tin g pers onal responsibil it y for o ur actio ns . This mean s that if a Sierra Clubber says th at yo u are scaring th e wild armad illos in so me pa rt icular area, you should be prepared to de al with h im in some ra tio nal and responsibl e fashion. T elli n g th e Sierra Clubber to " go take a hik e" Dr m aking som e other hostile remark is hardly a responsibl e reaction . T h e past year has seen a fa irly dramatic in crease in the amount o f hostility of both motorcy clists and anti-motorcyclists. Motorcyclists have been venting their hostility with bumper stickers, but th e o ther side has been getting a bit physical. Motorcyclists have been shot at, run off the road, run down on the trails with jeeps and, in the latest action subjected to a technique from Vietnam war d ays. Spikes have been fastened to something solid and buried in sandwashes, business en d u p , to flatten ti res. If there is one thing that both we and th e anti forces should remember from Vietnam, it is that wh ile lots of people can be hurt , no one ca n win a guerilla war against determined opposition. This land is our land In a pig's eye. There may be some q uestion of who the lan d should belong to, but the past year leaves no doubt that it does not in fact belong to us. Paperwork hassles have driven us