"A
rock guitarist," so the
saying goes, "plays five
chords for 10 thousand
people, while a jazz guitarist
plays 10 thousand chords for five
people." While both disciplines
produce music and both often
take place in smoke-filled audi-
toriums (though that haze may
emanate from different plant
varieties), it truly takes a purist
to appreciate the fingering and
the progressions involved with
the latter, while the former can be
enjoyed by anyone who can tune
an air guitar.
The intricacies involved with
motorcycle trials riding might be
likened to the skills displayed by
the trained jazz musician, who
has mastered the plucking of the
many notes needed to produce
musical art. In the motorcycling
world, there is likely nothing
more difficult to master than
trials. Yet, though it has enjoyed
brief spurts of popularity, this
difficult form of competition has
grown accustomed to taking a
back seat to motorcycle racing,
i.e., motocross, road racing and
flat track.
It was during one of those very
spurts that the Big Four manu-
facturers decided to join the
band. They (Honda, Yamaha, Ka-
wasaki and Suzuki) were already
dominating the motocross and
road racing scenes, so the world
of observed trials was the only
land left to conquer. In 1974, Su-
zuki released its RL 250 Exacta,
a trials bike designed to take on
the European trials scene in the
same way that its motocross
bikes had taken over Grand Prix
motocross racing.
Cycle News got its hands on
one of the new machines and
tested it for the July 9, 1974,
CNIIARCHIVES
P152
BY KENT TAYLOR
THE RL 250
SUZUKI
VENTURES
INTO
TRIALS
Even Suzuki dabbled in trials
in the early- to mid-'70s.
Even the Suzuki RL 250 Exacta trialer
made the cover in 1974.
EXACTA
