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/126423
Street i_Neat Free motorcycle era starts now Now that gasoline is going for $1 a gillion. it is suddenly pos. ible JO pay 'off a new motorcycle with what you save on fuel. Watch what happens: If the av~age motorist drives a 15-mile-pergallon guzzler 15,000 miles a year. he or she will spend $1,000 on gasoline each year. If a 50·mile·per gallon motorcycle were substituted for 10,000 of those miles, and the guzzler was used only for the trips where a car is really necessary, Mr. or Ms. Average would save nearly $500 a year that he or she might need worse than OPEC does. After four years or 50,000 miles of motorcycling, whichever came first, they'd've paid off a $2,400 roadster that would he worth over a grand, prohably. And every 100 miles from then on, they could pocket five bucks clear saving over what they would otherwise be paying to Exxon. It is no wonder that the demand for roadbikes i"S turning uP,. and it couldn't have come at a better time. ' Never before has there been on the market, such a swell array of high.' status roadsters. If America has to cUt back on our gas guzzling, as everybody says. at least we can <1.0 it in style. There are all kinds of economy cars available, too, for those who'd rather not let it all hang out, but 1 find them CTampy and lacking pep. 1 feel safer driving a big bike than crabbing about in a minicar. (I keep the sunroof open, • in case 1 have to eject.) And have you noticed all the old bikes that people are suddenly riding? Honda nightmares, Suzuki step·thrus, Sears Benellis - gadl All those riders ought to be allowed to park in the handicapped zones. Or..-(be twilight zone. Of course, all of "'s who already have a good street motorcycle have been reaping the economic benefits for some time. 1 wonder how many millionaire motorcyclists there are? Plenty, 1 bet, counting ex·bikers like Sam Hayakawa. Every tim" the 'Trailblazers M.C. gets together at the Pasadena Country Club, (as we did recently) somebody comments on the number of rich bikers, dealers an(I racers present. One old timer, who used to scrounge castoff parts OW of trashbins to keep his Triumph running, tells me he now owns a cudzu farm in Georgia and is ' building a private salvage yard on-his California estate., Must be nice . . . J asked him how he made his fOrlune and he said, "Welp, 1 had this old car that only got ten miles to the gallon. My Triumph would go 60' miles to the gallon. Gas was, what, 35~ then, so I rode my motorcycle and saved three cents a mile. After riding 3,3,000,000 miles, I'm a millionaire'" , _ .___ "'- CANOGA --Jl~;;;:============ vs8tJ.n ~==:s::;;~- It's Simple - We Want To Be Your Suzuki Dealer. , C versauHty.lt's the name Of the game In Whale-size WhoOps. The most adjust· racing shOCkS today. And WORKS able Shocks you can buy. Shocks that PERFORMANCE wrote the rules. WIth the ' are Winning races. For winners like: only true progressIVe clamping availHarTy Klnzmann, SuPerblke Road able. ProgressIVe springs, with dual and RacIng; Jeff Haney, Class C JunIOr; cart triple rates and a unique system Of , ennice and Jeff Fredette, ISOT; Mike crossover spacers that'll eat everything Hannon and Don 5anfOrd, NatIOnal frOm mean little stutter bumps to Enduro; Darrel Shultz and Jim GIbSOn, Motocross. WORKSPERFORIlANCEPRODUCTS-20970Knappst.-ChatsWOi tI.. CA91311-213-998-1977 3