Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ w Z W ...J U > U I'I~I II•• Am eri ca 's Number 1 weekl y motorcycle newspaper. You 'll alwa ys see it fir st in Cy cle News M ~ r- ~ Member MOTORCYCLE INDUSTR Y COUNCIL Internal 8necs DESERT : And he lp fo r' ECMC 8 EN DU RO : URA and fro zen ca ct us 10 NORTH: They're staying indoors during t his season 12 LEGIS LATI ON: What THEY are doing to you 15 LOCAL MOT OC ROSS: A bigg ie at Muntz 16 CA RT OON : At the end 20 GA LL ERY : John Hateley by Dan Mahony 24 SMOOTH TRACK : S lid ing around 26 ROAD T EST : The Honda 500 Four 28 INDUSTRY: The Long Beach Dea ler show 30 MORE MOTOCR OSS ' 32 SAVIN G YOUR LIF E: Medic -Alert 36 NEW MO D ELS : The '73 Hondas .... . .. .. ... .. ... .... ..•. ... ... . .39 CA LEN DAR : The future .40 TECHNI CA L: Yo ur carb : .43 RESU LT: The fa cts .44 OP INIO N: Just t hat .48 NEW PRODUCTS : Etc . . 50 HERE'S A CHANCE TO SHOW 'EM , AMA Charles Clayton . . • . • •• • •. . . . . Pu b li sh er Sha ron Clayt o n •.•.••• . Bus iness Manager Tom cu re . . • . . . . . • •• • .Genera l Manager John H u ett er • . .• . .• . •. • Ma naging Edi t o r A rt Fr i edman •. . • . . . • . • • • • • •. • • . Ed it o r Dave Scho o nma k er .. . . • . Assi stant Ed it o r Ed Drech sler . . . .• . . . Ad vert ising M a n ager Howie Fowler . • A ss' t. Advert is i ng Manager Nancy Goodman . . . . Ad vert ising Ass istan t Rheba Smith .. •••. .. C ir cu lation Manager Mar la Tarb et . . • . . • • C ircu la t ion A ssi stan t Che ry l Ste inberg •. • • C irc u lation A s sistan t Leroy Chandler . • . . . Ci rc u la ti o n Assistan t Pau l B oudreau •.. . . . . Pr oduc ti on Ma n ager Terry Fadd en . .. • .. . Pr od u c ti on As sist an t M ichael Coli ka s . . ... Pr od uction A ssistant Larry G roves .• •-•• . . .. . • . Lab Techn ic ian Mar ion Hata sh it a • . . .. . . . . . • •T y pgraPher Melvin Phelps . .• • •. A ssis t an t Typographer Randy Die tz el • .• . .. . . . . . • • B o o k k ee p er Barba r a aeo ec k . . .. B o o kkeep ing A ssi st ant Marilyn K irk . . • . . . B o okk eep ing Assista nt Sq u eak y H aynes . • .. C yc le N ews Pr o d uc t s Hect or Agu il er a .. . • . Com p ut e r Te ch n ician We nd y Bla n ! On . . . . . . . • . . . . R ecepti o n ist Nat io na l Ad ver t ising Directo r: Tom Cu lp Cycle News West and Headq uart ers P.O . Bo x 498, Long Beac h Cal iforn ia 90801 (21 3) 427 ·7433 ; L.A. 636·8 84 4 TELE X NO . 673-4 74 Cy cle New s, East ern 0 ivisio n 373 17 Detr o it Road Avo n, Oh io Cycle News, Dix ie Ed it io n 4190 First Avenue Tucker, Geo rgia Cycle News , Centra l Ed it io n 1118 West 6t h Street A ust in, Texas It has co me to my attention that the Richmond Ramblers M.C. co urt appeal on their "Save the Hills" proj ec t has come up for a cour t date. I feel th at th e far -reaching implications of this decision could have a very adverse effect on all of motorcycling and express a fear that unless something is done to assist th e club and its lawyer, Mr. T om Shelby, the sport of motorcycling may en d. For th os e reaso n s, I appeal to th e AMA for assistance and to y our office so tha t this spo rt I enjoy can continue. WILLIAM H . SP ENCER District 36 Director WAIT TIL THE ADVERTISERS HERE ABOUT THIS ! While m ost advertisements register between 10 and 15 on th e Beaufort Scale, CN's claims are a refreshing change. (Le., e.g, and viz. - they're true) You guys cla im your adv ertising works and somewhere near this letter are two clippings from the L.A. Times that docurnen t this clai m . The glasses both gen tlem en are wearing were part of the veritable co rn uc opia of reasonable to super trick gifts featured in your paper j us t before Chris tmas. Emerson Fittipaldi sees they're need ed wh en racing Brussels and Lt . Comdr. T om Green knows they're a must wh en d oing wh at th e military does so well: spitting in the wind. The photos ap peared just three or four da ys after you r feature. Y e ss i r, proofpositive th at CN' s ad vertising is quicker than Monty's rev en ge. TOM MOORE Torrance, Calif. Subscript io n : One year, second class ma il . .. $ 12 .50 2 ye ars , second class mail . ; . . $ 22 .50 3 years, seco nd cla ss mail $ 30 .0 0 S ing le copy price $ .50 Pub lished we ekl y ex cept the first and last week of the ca lendar year by Cycle New s, Inc., Po st Off ice Bo x 498, Lon g Beach , Ca lifo rn ia . Second Class Postage pa id at Lo ng Beach, Cal if. Ed itorial sto ries, ca rt o o ns, photos, etc. are welcome. Add ressed , stamped envelope assures ret urn o f edi torial matter . Rep rinting in whole o r pa rt o nly by perm ission of the publishers. Adv e rti sing rates and circu lation informationwi ll be se nt upo n req uest . See S .R .D .S. _ The motorcycle shop where I buy all my parts and your paper informed me that you would be able to help me with my p roblem. I recently acquired a bicycle motorcycle combination called a MOBILETfE , this is the name on the side, on the front fork there is a name MOTOBELCANIE . Please send me any information on wh ere I might obtain an o wner 's man ual , and parts in th e future . I also would like to know if an yone in this state would handle this. GLENN LAING Phoenix, Ariz. Contact the French Trade Consul at the French Consulate in your city ...Ed. FLEET FINN Some con siderab le length of time past I saw an advertisement in y our "New Things 'n Stuff" section for some FL YING FINN FORK protectors. Right away I slipped a $1 O-b ucks bill in an envelope, ordering a set of sam e. Up to now I haven't hear d anything from my fork protectors, nor m y I O-bucks bill . Co uld you please send me th e name and address of the bird who ran that advertisement so I co uld start the bloodhounds on h is trail? Any help you can give me will be very m uch appreciated. MARK A. HOTCHKISS Silver City, N.M. If you stil l haven't gotten you r fo rkers, try Box 8415, Universal City, Calif. 91608. Th at 's F lying Fi nn Pr odu cts at 213 / 34 1-6755... Ed. SELF-IMAGE In accompaniment to m y recent ar ticle on the Yamaha " Learn to R ide " sch o ol which w as published in y o ur January 16 issue , I was di sturbed to find that y ou printed a picture wh ich was supposedly of me . Since all female Cycle N ews rep o rt ers are be autiful and voluptuous, this ob viou sly was not a picture of me . To eliminate the possibility of further mistakes on y our part, I have enclosed two pictures of my self which I feel are more typical of my appearance. One shows me out on an average day of casual street riding and the other was taken to show the way I usually look whil e covering a story for your newspaper. I hope in th e future you will use these p ictures of me when ne ed ed to illu strate my articles , as I hate to be grossly misrepresented to my fan s. I trust you will c orrec t this grievous erro r as soon as possibl e. K. C. BRI NTNALL Los Angeles, Calif. HIGH PRICE OF CYCLE NEWS I've been a Cycle News fan for so me ' years now and have enjoyed it very much . In fact, there was a time that I co uld hardly wait to get the next issue. This no longer is true. I can hardly justify fifty cen ts a week for your magazine. I will buy one on special occasions, but mu st stop my wee kly diet. I b o ugh t your J an uary 1973 issue to see wh at fifty cents will get a guy nowadays. Well, the color pictures were pretty, b ut n o t n eed ed, an d the story on Don Woods made a go od filler. The thickness of the paper is noticeable so I understand where the fifty cents goes, but still cann o t justify spending that much for your otherwise excellent paper. If th is is becoming a cost problem to more peop le in th e future, then may I make these sugg estions : 1. 1. Continue your weekly paper with a short dossier on th e different even ts and results on same. Possibly some other tasty tid-bits for the off -road enthusiast with o c casional me chanical help to give sp ice. But keep the weekly basic. 2 . Create a monthly paper. In this y ou can have articles on what's happening in Sacramento and how it affects us ; road tests: and even articles on Don Woods if y o u deem it necessary. Basically what I'm saying is, if you co uld co me up with a weekly at a decent price, one wouldn't mi nd splurging once a m o n th on something with more mea t. I d on ' t mean to sound like I know it all, but rather to explain my posi tion, Your sales have prob abl y gone up since the p rice increase, which would n ullify th is plea for a cheaper weekly. In any case , best of lu ck an d reme mber, I'll still buy o n special occasions (NOT WEEKLY) . J AMES E. HOWE We are t rul y so rry t ha t you don 't fee l you can afford to keep up with Cycle News every week. But we think that the death of " Life" By the time they finally rasied their price to FOOT TROUBLE M O RE G R O U N D MOTOBELCANIE Here is the scene: Indian Dunes Park, home of the great events. Today the event is the Minibike Grand Prix. We are going to crown the champions of the United States . And they cam e , little kids from all over the co un try . Trucks all the w ay from Fl orida, and all th e local heroes. In fact , th er e wer e so many th ey were di vid ed into 28 groups. No, th ey did not h ave th at man y classes. They had th at m an y rid ers. By a co nse rvative co un t, there were about 18 kids in each mo to . Would yo u b elieve th at makes it abo ut 5 04 riders? And at the measly am oun t of S8 m ail en try an d $ 10 post it co m es to a minimum o f $4032 . That's th e size of a n ormal AMA Pr ofession al purse. Now guess wh at the little kids go t. in return ? Would yo u believe three laps per moto? It co mes to $ .8 9 p er lap . Now count the cost of ge tti ng there. Wha t price racing? If this happened at a big bike race, th e promoter would have terrib le pains at this time and m ost likely a b unch of knobby marks on his back. He told them all tha t ABC Wide World of Sp orts would be there to cover the event. If they were there, they shoul d get jobs with the CIA. That was the be st b unch of secret TV cam eramen ever. When we determine a National Champion, it has to be in a meaningful race: six to 10 lap s, three moros. Ho ld qualification races , then accept only the best of th e qualifiers . Don't let the greed for the buck result in the "joke " we witnessed. I sin cerely hope that the track owners d o n 't be come a part to this type of promotion . In fact, they sh ould con trol the promoters and sub-lease only to such that have the b est for racers. Not how to get rich in on e easy week end. GEORGE F. MOUDRY Santee, Calif. magazine te aches a lesson. " Life" tri ed yo ur suggestion som e years ago ; t hey cut th e editorial coverage and held the price down. They splurged on an occasional special issue. Copyright © Cycle News, Inc. 19 73 all rights reserved L ESS SOUN D THE GREAT MINIBIKE "RIP OFF" I'm writing in hopes that som e one reading Cycle News may be ab le to help me . My problem is boots. Do you, o r an yone, know o f a pl ace I can p urch ase a 15E or'EE desert or MX boots? I've written several manufacturers of boots in the last y ear, also suppliers that advertised in Cycle News, but no an swer to date. Please contact me at (8 05} 485-6246. J . A. ULINDSON Oxn ar d , Calif. SO cents, it was too late. We do n't intend to follow " Life" "Look" "Post " "Colliers" etc., to the' graveyard'. Whey' d on't yoJ subscripe, and get it for half- price ? •.C. Clayton . ENDURING I want to thank th e tw o guys who stopped to help me at th e Enduro in Indio on 1/7 /7 3 . One wore a Mission Honda shirt arid rode a Honda and the other one rode a Yamaha. Thank you for stopping, h elp ing me and staying wi th me . I'm aliv e an d living in Whittier. MICKE Y McGEE Whittier, Calif.

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