Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ ::; ~ w Z W ..J o >o a'I~1 I ••• Am er ica 's Number 1 wee k ly motorc ycle new spaper. You 'll always see it fir st in Cycle News M c: ~ Member MOTORCYCLE I NDUSTRY COUNCIL C harles C la y t o n • . . • • . • • . • . • . . Pub lisher Sharon Clayton . . . • .. . . Bu sin ess M anager T om C u lp • . ••• • . • . • • • •General Manager Randy D iet ze l Offi ce Ma nager Joh n H uetter • .•• . • • . . . • Manag ing Ed itor Art Friedma n • . • •. .--' . . . • ••. • ••• . Ed ltor Dave Schoonmaker . ... • . A ssistant Ed ito r Howle F o w ler . . Asst . Advert ising Mana ger W endy Blanton .. .• . Advert ising As sista nt Rheba Sm ith • . . . . . . . C irc ulation Ma nager Marla T a rbet •. • . . • . C irc u la tion A ssistant Ch e ryl St e i nberg •. •. C ircula tion Ass ist a nt Leroy Ch andler . . . . . C i rcu la tion A ssistant M ik e D illon ... . . •.. . Product ion Manager Terry F adden Prod uc tio n A ssistant Mi chae l Co ll kas • . • .. Product ion A5Sist ant H ect or Agu ilera L ab Tec hnic ian Ma rlon H a tashit a . . . . . . . •. . •T y po graPher Melvin Phelps • •• •. • As sistan t T ypograph er Da ye C rowe ., • • • . . • • .Co llec tion Manager Barbara Bebec k . . . . . A . coun tl ng A ssista nt c Maril y n K irk • • . . .• . Accoun ti ng Assistant Garnet Dunn •• . . . . . Account ing A 5S ant ist SQueeky Haynes . •..• • Services & Suppo rt Nancy Goodman . •. • .. ..... Recep tion ist Nat ional Advertising Director : Tom Culp Cycle News West and Headquarters p.O. Box 49B, Lo ng Beach California 90801 (213) 427 -7433; L.A. 636-8844 TE LEX NO. 673 -474 Cycle News, Eastern Divisio n 37317 Detroit Road Avon , Ohio Cycle News, Di xie Edition 4190 First Avenue Tucker, Georgia Cycle News, Central Ed ition 1118 West 6th Street Aust in, Texas Subscription : One year, second class ma il 2 years, second c lass ma il 3 years, second c lass ma il Sing le copy price 512.50 522.50 530.00 5 .50 Pub lished w ee k ly except the firs t and last week of the calendar yea r by Cycle News, Inc ., Post Office Box 498, Long Beach, California. Second Class Postage pa id at Lo ng Beach, Ca lif. Editorial stories, cartoons, photos. etc. are welcome. Addressed, stamped envelope assures return of ed itorial matter. Reprinting in whole or part only by permission of t he p ub lish e rs. A d ve rt ising rates and circulation information will b e sent upon request. See S.R .D.S. Copyright © Cycle News, Inc . 1973 all rights re served .. LESS SOUND _ Internal Specs COLUMN: Poop PRO MX : Winter-Am to who else NATIONA L ENDURO: Bohn gets Stone Mountain OPINION : Strictly their own : ENDURO : Curcified Coyote INTERNATIONAL MX : DeCoster gets off on the right fo o t TECHN ICAL : Tech in iKal ' INDUSTRY NEWS . . : . . ; ROAD RACING : Ontario wi t h no super stars ROAD TEST : Yamaha's 350 superb ike PERSONALITY: The truth about Kaw asa k i's ro ad racing chief PREVI EW: A gallery of who m ight w in Daytona OPIN ION: Some more SECTION : North LOCAL RACING : Osteens·Yamaha-To rco·Plunkett-etc. GP CALENDAR : The dating game R ESU LTS: The real story FICTI ON: The CZ strikes back CARTOON: MX Cat works an extra week 7 8 11 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 27 28 31 34 36 38 .42 52 55 VOICES OF THE WEST SELF-APPOINTED LEADE R OF TH OUSANDS After th e Re cre ational T rails Comm ittee heari ngs on Red Rock Canyon last week a t California City there are several points wh ich should be em p hasize d . I th in k it should be m ade clear th at m otorcyclists made m an y po in ts with th e com m ittee b ecause of th e sheer numbers wh o were concerned eno ugh to show up and speak on behalf o f design ating Red Rock Canyon as a " Recrea tion Area" and thus insuring that off-road vehicles will be allowed to con tin ue to operate there. Perhaps the position of th e off-road vehicle en th usiasts would be s tren gthened if th e California Associati on at Four Wheel Drive Clubs, In c. would issue an official state me n t of their position. Mr. Lansing Warren, ch ai rm an o f the Red Rock Canyon Citizen s' Advisory Committee, h as clai m ed that he represen ts 240 four wh eel-driv e clubs. T his claim see ms to indicate th at the Four Wheel - D rive Association backs his stance to classify Red R o ck as a "State Park " rather th an a " Recrea tio n Are a". However, at the ' California City hearings, several members of Four Wheel Dri ve Clubs (which a re in th e sta te association) spoke o n behal f of " R ecreatio n A rea" st atus fo r th e area. Sin ce there is presen tl y no m o torcycle rep rese ntative on th e ad visory com mittee, 1\Ir. Dean Carlberg who rep rese n ts the Cali fornia O ff . Ro ad Veh icle As sociation is the only voice favoring "R e c re a t i on Ar ea " classification. In vie w o f th e fac t tha t every m ajor off-road vehicle associa tion was presen t at the hearing speaking fo r recreat ion sta tus , it see ms inc on gruou s th at Mr. Warren 's testimony sho uld be cons true d to represent th e poin t of vie w of anyone o the r th an himsel f.. Am ong , th ose gro ups represented at th e hearin g wer e th e AMA, CMIC , MO RE , CO R VA, and CORL. Each o f th ese gr o ups spoke o n beh alf o f recr eation area sta tus. It is unfortunate th at no official rep resentative of th e Four Wheel Drive Asso ciation appeared to di spu te th e con te n tion th at Mr. Warren speaks fo r the Associatio n. . Since th e final classificati'on will be debated b y the p ark and recreation co mmissi o n later this mo nth, it is in cumben t upon the Four Wheel Associati o n to clarify th ei r p o sition and h opefull y to d iscredi t Mr. Warren 's cl aim as representative o f 24 0 Fo ur Wheel Drive Club. ROB E RT EA RLE San Marin o , Calif. FIR ST GEAR , IT'S AL L RIG HT MORE GROUND : th e Orange Coun ty Motorcycle Club p oin ts to th e fact th at a BLM (Bureau o f Land Manageme n t) supervised report states th at public lands sh o uld b e and can be man aged in suc h a w ay that all ty p es of widely di vergent interests can be ac co m moda ted. without d estroying - the envirome nt. We would subsc rib e to this position completely. We k now the h und r eds of m o t o r c ycle clubs throughout this country generally to be very responsibl e organizations who are every bi t as emironmentally conscious as man y o f the so calle d e nv iron mentalists themselves. T his is docu mented in a letter we received fro m Mr . John Clau sen of the Sunland Shamr ocks Motorcycle Club - he wines, "after each m ee t we clean u p o ur asse m b ly area before we lea ve. In ad d it io n we h old clean-u p par ties d uring which we di sp ose of tons o f o ld car bodies, refrige ra to rs, b ed st ead s , and " res pective ly " beer cans and bottles." We ar e e nclosing th e latest issue o f o ur Alu m iNe ws (An A d olph Coors house pu blicatio n... Ed.] wh ich details th e success o f o u r cash-fo r-can s p rogram to d at e. As y o u can see , t he Adolph Co ors Compan y is totall y d ed icated to th e co ncep t o f vo lu n tary recycling. We since rly beli e ve that environme ntal problems w ill not be so lved through p uni tive legislation wh e th er they be bee r cans or motorcy cles. T han ks very much for giving us th e opportuni ty to clarify o ursel ves on this subject. BERT SUMMERS Di rec to r o f Public Relations Coors Brewing Co . C 'mon y o u gu ys, does the H onda reall y have more steam than my trus ty Pursang/A stro? I hope not, as I still owe $599.99 'o n th e Astro. T he biggest question I ha ve is wh y the thing will cost so much mo re than the XL 250 which has al l the street garbage an d a more com plicated engine. Does th is mean re placemen t parts will be p rice d com parably to the European mach ines ? In closing, I th in k y our p ap er is w orth m ore th an any of th e m o n thly rags. GA RY LY NN 2 138 Gold St. Reddin g, Cali f. p.S . If an y one kn ows wh er e I can get a new ro tor fo r an A.R.D. ma g, pl ea se let m e kn ow. I've been trying to find one for two y ears . Based on limited competition exposure , the Honda Elsinore seems to do the job on even non-stock Astros. Main reason for the CR250 costing more than the XL250 is co mpo nents and metal cost : chrome-moly frame, better shocks, magnesium, etc . Parts won't be all that cheap or outrageous. An A.R.D . m.g ??..Ed. BOOTS ARE N'T WA LKIN' MADE FOR Your boot co mpariso n tes t m akes one mi st ake that consi derably reduces its effectivi ty . You fa ile d to methodicall y establish wh at a d esir abl e boot sh ould be lik e befo re the test started . Don 't feel bad. Most tes ts by mo torcy cle magazin es do t he sa me thi ng. Everyone cri ticizes from their own bias but al most n o o ne wants to ta ke th e ti me to figure out · wh a t "mould be " . ·A good m oto cro ss boot should have bonde d soles, ny lon arch insert, elasticized toe, instep peg groove , Vibram sole, d ouble leath e r toe , (No steel cap to p in ch toenails), buckl es like Hi -po in t , waterpro o f, good fit an d abou t 50 price. My opinion! WOL F VON SC HENK Fallo n, Nev. So unds like desirable design criteria for a boot that wouldn't retail at $50 ...or more. But it is your op inion , not the 90 -percentile rider... Ed. THE FINA L (WE HOPE) WORD To c o n f i r m our t el ephon e con versation o f Fe b ru ary 22, we would like to d o cument th e fact th a t we have n ev er, corp o rately o r in divi dually , contri b u te d mone y to th e S ierra C lu b. In April of 19 72, we received a lette r fro m th e Sierra Club requesting financial su p port fo r a cleanu p proj ect th e y were organizin g. Our co mpany rej ected su p port of this effort, no tin g in o ur reply , "We are d eepl y c om m i tted to th e recycling of o ur co m pany 's used bee r co ntaine rs . T hat p rogr am , co u pled with o u r en try in to a program of recycli ng of al l beer con tai ners , in C o lo ra do, preculdes o ur fin an cial p art i cip at i on in additio nal li tte r p ro grams." This request and our subsequen t re p ly re p resent o ur co m pany's only con tac t with this organization. In a letter t o me. Mr . Way ne King o f You 're welcome ... Ed. WH ER EWI TH JOURNALISM MOTORCYCLE T here is one area of coverage th at I feel continues to be n eglected b y Cycle N e w s : The r ep o rt age o f news, mo vemen 15, trends, etc. whi ch have an effect on th e in d ustry an d th e millions o f m otorcy cli sts ac ross the co un try. For in st an ce , you (as di d "Motor Cycle Weekly") carried, verb ati m, in y o ur Fe b: 20, 19 73 issue, th e M.LC.'s que sti on able press rele ase conce rning th e growth o f the ind us try ("T h e m otorcycle industry con ti n ue d its remarkab le growth tr end... ", e tc. ). Anybody with e ven th e slightest knowledge of th e indust ry had to rais e an eyebrow at th e glib use of those sta tistics. And One week later "Motor Cycle We ekl y" a ff i r m e d the ey ebrow-raisi ng , when they quoted a " M o to ICycle Dealer News " sto ry , which showed that th e growth trend had, in fa ct, d eclined. Of co urse, you ca n't be responsible fo r th e way th e M.LC. uses statistic s. But I do feel, co nsid e ri ng yo ur connec tio ns , kno wled ge and .a bilities, yo u could have in vestigated th e claims, or a t least put them in proper perspective. More important, at least to me , you have paid only ta cit attention to re cent moves b y the Departmen t of Interior. Ru ss March writes a letter, saying ev erything is j ust dandy . Maybe. Secretary o f th e In te rior, R ogers C.B. Morton , however, says in a recent press releas e, t hat hi s age ncy's resp onse to P r esid en t N i xon's n ow in famous executive o rd e r 11 644 a re "draft regulati on s" wh ich would "...in general p rovide th at the National Park Service, th e Bureau of R eclam ati on, an d the Bu rea u of Spo rt Fis heries and Wildlife wo uld, as in the p as t, cons ide r al l lands closed to specif ically mine). •, off-road vehicles unless opened to the m (italics Now, I d on ' t kn ow wh ether Morton's "draft regu lations" are good o r bad. But I would lik e m ore information on the subjec t than Russ March is ap paren tly will in g to give us" . Furtherm ore , I d etect a forth coming rad ical change in th e B.L .M.' s attitude to w ard off ro ad ve h icles. Fro m their p re s e n t "eve r y t hing-is-open-excepttha t-which- Is-closed " philo sophy, I see them s l o w ly s li p p i ng into a •' e v e r y thi n g -i s -c 10 se d -e xce p t - tha twh ich -is-open " p o sition. This is not ne cessarily b ad, ei ther, alth o ugh it very well co ul d be. We need more in formation than the scanty p res s re lease (an n o uncin g dates for public m eetings to di scuss the issue) that was buried on p age 3 9 of yo ur March 6, 197 3 edi tio n. We need to kn ow what it is, exactly. that state B.L .M. head, Russell Penny is tip to this time. We need to know the changes and conseq ue nc es here ; to o. We need to (Continued on page 5 4)

• Cover