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/126078
FREE WHEELING· Congrat ulations Marla nd, w hat now Japa n7 t..O r-- "lIl';'.·""c.~"i· ~ . Going right down to the wire with Montesa's Don Sweet, Mar' la n d Whaley won his second straight U.S . Trials Championship, his third straight win in the NATC Series, destroying the myth that Southern California riders can't win in the East . He has won for his sponsor, Honda , a coup which that firm had been a iming toward ever since they hired Sammy Miller and decided to get serious about trials. The machine he rode is a third generation development in a truly trial-and-error process. Marland 's championship is a testament to h is ability - as was his near- upset of the Europeans at Gold Ba r. His bike is a ' testament to the d ed ica tion and ability of experienced trialers like Sammy Miller and Bob Nic kelsen , backed by Honda's engineering horsepower. You know what's really sad? After all this, after tucking away two national championships, American Honda, for 1977 , doesn't even have a trials bike in the lineup! I'm not picking on Honda alone . Yamaha, after investing in Mick Andrews and in several highly successful trials promotions, is still eating TY-series trials bikes. Suzuki is/has dumped its RLs (though continuing R&D on the Euro-front): Kawasaki is doing likewise. 1 think what happened to Japan, Inc. with trials is that while the riders refused to tak e the bikes seriously, the companies took themselves TOO seriously. . Trials riders are traditionalists , and popular tradition has it that a serious trials motorcycle has to com e from Spain. Anything that' is not Spanish is not serious , t h erefore should be priced seve ral hundred dollars less. Unfortunately , coinpetition results tended to bear this out, especi ally with the first · generation Japanese trialers , Now that the distributor/dealer. network is pricing the bikes down in a desperation -dump, the riders perceive them as bargains; but at the same time the mass-ma rketeers view them as something to be rid of forever . And that is very bad for motorcycling. For I have now seen that to open a bureaucrat's eyes about offroad motorcycling, all you have to do is fire up one of Japan's lightweight trialers and wait for a passing car to drown out its exhaust note. Or let a forest ranger do an environmental impact assessment after a group of trialers have come plonking by. To teach a tyro how to ride a motorcycle safely, whether in the school system or outside, all you have to do is put him /her on a lightweight trials bi ke. Honda's TL125, Yamaha's TY175 and TYSO were out-of-the-box natura ls for a " p ro d u c t ion" instructor's motorcycle. Can you begin to see the lost opportunities? Ca n you be gin to see the lost fut ure sales? Do you realize that the limits to sa les growth a re in p la ce , un less there's some sort of b r eak -through? T hat t rials t echnology , so painfully won, is too valuable to wri te off, just be cause you can' t sell a "serious" b ogw h eel e r. VVhat now, Japan? VVha t now? Lane Campbell top 25 as of Dec. 3 Dick Burleson Carl Crenke Rogar DeCo ster J im A shback Jo hn Hateley Ric k Hocking Kent Howerton Brad Lackey DickMann Tom Penton Jack Penton Jim Pomeroy I Kenny Roberts Larry Roeseler Me lco lm Smith Jay Springsteen Gary Scott Rolf Ti bblln Tom Brooks Cordis Brooks Bob Hanna h Gary Nixon BiIIUhl Jim We inert I O=~i::I------R---o--c-----------1 I Cycle News Ballots w ill BAL LOT I I I I I I I I I I be counted RI D ER NAME CO UNTR Y 1_--.---------.-----------.---------------..--------------...... ....------ 2 _ ._ ....-------- -.- .. . . ._ __ 3. ---------..--..---- - --..---- MAl L T O : --------- - --.. ---- -. I I I I . I RACE OF CHAMP IO NS I I 12862 Garden Names are not fi nal. Wilson/May nard Promot ion Grove Blvd .• Suite E Garden Gro ve. 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