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/126297
Street is Neat Thirty yea rs ago the AMA sanetio ne d a race in Hollister, Cal ifornia . I know you' re prob ably wondering why I brought that up. Hang in there, and you'll soon know. You see, a bunch of guys that had recently been discharged from the Army after a little thing called World War Two 'were into rid ing motorcycles . They used to look forward to these races because it was a good time to get together with bikers -and party. We ll, they got together in Hollister .a.!ld partied. An d th e newspapers ha d ,a .field day with it. A sho rt time later, _ he movies jumped into the act and [p roduced a little number called "The Wild O nes" with newcomer Marlon Bra ndo. · That set the image for street riders for the next three decades, and it's still with us today. m Of course , Hollister was just one item. At about the same time there h vyere headlines about other "bikers" taking over town s. O ne in R iverside , <~a l i fo rni a had headlines \ that read ': One killed and twenty-eight a rrested in motorcycle town takeover." In actuality, the one killed was in a n auto .a cciden t a t the other end of the §?'u nt y, and t here wasn't even a l IJ.l.otorcycle or motorcyclist involved in it, The arrests were trumped-up things Y disturbing the peace and drunk in ,ke Rublic. Even the sheriffs office sent ~qu t a press rele ase telling the real 0 u .t.. ry. but th e papers didn't print it. e" .wha t it a ll boils down to is th is. For years, the street riding biker has been ' sadd led with an image of being a bad -gu y. If a car driver is in an accident ra nd killed, it is written up "m a n killed. " If it's a biker , it reads "another , moto rcyclist killed ." . Even the TV situation comedies are in on it. In a recent Happy Days program one of the stars was almost killed. Naturally. he was on a motorcycle . What caught in m y craw ~was the way they kept saying they were ,gl. d he was wearing his helmet. If it a was such a big deal, why was he in critical shape and not expected to live. SEunds like the helmet d idn't help m uch. • 'tBu t anothe r generation of bikers, or wou ld -be bikers, has been saddled ";ith the image of being possessed by a death wish or something. Du m b , just plain dumb . Maybe someday the stigma of being 'wild" will d isappear . May be someday the d um mies who are trying to ou tlaw bikes will realize how much nicer it would be on a crowded freeway if they were all bikes. How m uch fuel we wou ld be saving. But no, they' ll just keep on outl aw ing freedom and po isoning the minds of the newcomers . · Why doesn't General Motors - or whoever is behind this - just start making motorcycles and stop figh ting us? I guess there isn 't as much money in bikes as there is in cars, huh? . -x Bob Bitchi n What's happening? CALENDAR TERR }TCABLE T he Te f lon Super Sm oo t h Cab le *Complete line for racing bikes *Requires no oiling *Smoothest pulling cable *Flexible throttle wire gives long life *Heavy duty housing. resists stretch and abuse W rite fo r F ree l ite ra tu re Terrycable PO Box 13 21 , Hesperia , CA 92345 (7 14 ) 247-2646 ' Out of sta te call toll free (BOOI 854-4691 St ... S hM '50_00 strap.1 .oo T-shirt " .00 Boots ' 50.00 Sizes 6 to 13 0 width Al l prices plus C.O.D. & PostaRe Top competitors ~ insist on alloy competition rims .,un * Ben ke Pipes Seats, Pilleons * MoIorcycl& covers. Ode brakes, wheels, Hubs, sprockets. & more Also everything fo r spe ed wav See your neares t dealer Sun Metal Products, Inc. PO BOIl 178 . Wa rsa w . IN 46 580 17 14 1 7 35 ,0 5 4 0 MAELY ENTS.. Rt . 2. B o x 75B R53 0 Bedford Mtr Way. Cor ona . CA 91720 5