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/127870
• tion, and alt ho ug h we can unders tand the reason th at most o f the d irt track . raci ng co mmunity ha s b ee n s low in d evelop ing new eq uipme nt to meet the futu re program, we were just a bit impatient to wait for a glim pse of wha t these motorcycles cou ld rea listically look like in racing trim . So, w e contacted not ed ' Eu ro pea n mot or cycle stylist / gra p hic artist John Keogh of Eng lan d .. Although his drawings can be foun d in motorcycle publications worldwide, Keog h is not just a pen -and-ink ma n. He has worked wit h several motorcycle designs from conception through the mock-up stage . Distinctive designs bearing the Keogh touch include the Ducatipowered Vee-Two Squalo and, most recently , th e Taylormade Triumph superbike that will see action in Europe and p ossibl y in th e United States. But aside fro m the fact tha t he is an allaround cool dude, it is his abil ity to turn little more than verbal descriptions into working concepts on pa per tha t impress us the most. That's exac tly how the dirt track concep ts on these pages were prod uced . Armed with little more than a few ph otos a nd th e overzealous ram bli ngs of associa te editor Scott Rousseau regarding how the motorcycles should look nam ely that they retain an appearance that is not far removed fro m that of the "c u rrent" dirt track equipment (t ha t statement in itself mad e the Englishman ch uc kle) - Keog h went to wor k, We thi nk he did a great job , but keep in mind th at these are concep ts. Whether or not the actual ma chin es bear a rese mbla nce to w ha t yo u see here, they are fuel for the imagina tion. Enjoy them as such, and feel free to let us know what you think . . 1::\ " I'm working on a Harley-Davidson as we speak," says Moroney's Harley-Dav idson team boss Pat Moroney, for whom Davey Camlin and Mike Hacker currently race, " I' m gonna have less money in this whole bike than I would have in a go od XR engine - abo ut $8500 - and it should make 5 to 10 more horse powe r, with nearly the same po wer characterist ics. Hopefully, ours will be ready in time for the Indy trade show. When yo u hear abo ut so mething for the first tim e, you're skeptic al, but after I th ought abou t this deal , I'm very happy with the new·rules. I've got a lot of afte rma rket companies hel pi ng me as opposed to havin g to buy on ly Harley parts at rid iculously expensive pr ices. I still think th at the Harleys will be the ho t setu p, even though they won't have the most horsepower: ' " Toward the end of 1974, Yamahas were peaking out," says Gene Romero, who wore Yamaha factory colo rs on bo th the dirt and the asphalt In the early '70s before late r becoming Honda 's fact ory d irt track team manager. " The Yamahas were nice engines, but th e problem they had was that the frames were a bit lazy-handli ng, and the eng ines had less flywheel effect than the Triumphs and Harleys, though they wo rked real well at places like Indy and Asco t: ' Upon spy ing our Yamaha TRX1ooOKR, Rome ro responded, " From what I see in this ill ustrat ion, th is loo ks more like an RS750. Of all the (Pro ject 2000) stuff I' ve seen , I would throw a leg over something like thi s before any1hing else. I could see 60 to 80 of these things out at the race track, but my concern is that for this to work, we need some factory invo lve ment not necessarily race teams: ' 15