Motorcycling 33 years ago

I just came across a' Motorcycles' book written by former Cycle editor Phil Schilling. It is a state of motorcycling in 1975. Many of us know how we look back on classic machines, some of us remember owning those bikes.

It could be interesting to see how points of view have changed.

Modern Classics.

BSA GoldStar
BMW R60
Honda CB77 SuperHawk
Triumph Bonneville
HD Sportster
Kawasaki H1 500
Honda 750 K0

The Goldie was the archetype classic long stroke British single. This was a full size machine not a punched out junior. It was also a multi-purpose machine; road races, trials, flat tracks and road riding. It was relatively light , narrow, agile and simple. A universal bike.

This was a 50s bike with roots back to the 30s.

The BMW R60 was a gentlemans ride; silent, smooth, reliable and fine. The Beemer was seen as civilized, silent and comfortable if slow. A friend at the time had one of the new generation R75s and he bought one of the older classic R60s a 59 for his wife. He liked the 59 so much that the 75 was gathering dust, so he sold it.

The Honda Super Hawk was a game changer; a high performance 305 that could hit the ton and keep up with 650s. It had an electric starter at a time when the BMW still had a kick starter, was oil tight and had Honda reliability.

The Triumph Bonneville...." signified style, power handling and reliability......class" "Sportsters had more power; Featherbed Nortons steered better; BMWs ran longer, but the Triumph had.....balance".

Suzuki X6 250 had shocking power, it could rocket through the 1/4 in 15.3 seconds a full second faster than other middleweights. Unlike the Yamahas of the time according to Schilling the X-6 with it's sixspeed, oil injection and alloy cylinders was reliable. It was fast, peaky and could stop with it's huge brakes.

The 55 inch Sportster of 68 was huge, brutal, basic and fast with a 13.5 second quarter. " In an age when most big motorcycles leaked oil....vibrated....kickstarted with grim reluctance, snuffed out lightbulbs and handled fast corners with uncertain malevolence, the Sportster was king."

Kawasaki 500 H1 was a gunshot motorcycle, the king of the dragstrip good for the high 12s and 100 mph in the quarter. Handling and comfort were not part of the deal, but wheelies, noise and wobbles were. It could eat 750s for lunch in a straight line.

The Honda 750 K0 was unique for it's time; dazzling for it's speed, smoothness, handling and reliability. It brought us the disc brake and the fivespeed to big bikes and had a sound to die for. Those of a certain age remember where they were when they first saw one. I do.

The first modern mass produced four immediately changed the game again for everyone.

What are your memories or thoughts on these bikes? What is your idea of a modern classic, 30 years later and why?
Cheers ..Scrap!
:ohmy:

Hey Scrap,

Back in them days I had just traded my 250 Triumph for an H1. Man was I hooked! My favorite street maneuver was to ride some cage's tail at 5k, till the window through the traffic opened, and then just Smoke'em as I blasted past, at what I thought of as Light Speed. I was gone and they was hoping that the smoke would soon clear.

Unfortunately, the H series triples can't do the long rides, even a 90 miler would leave me wondering how the motor could keep going with that many ball bearings thrashing about.

During the Summer of 1976 I decided that I needed a better long distance bike. The only motorcycle dealer within three hours was Miller Hilda, who also handled Kawasakis. I first rode the very well put together Hilda 750. I judged it respectable but nothing deserving of a step up from an H1! Next I took the KZ900 out and there was no going BACKWARDS!

I still own that 900 though I don't ride it much.

KZCSI

Post edited by: KZCSI, at: 2008/03/06 20:22

remember the ol mans 75z1 in 1975,became my basketcase project in late 78-79 when he bought the 78a2B)

I had been overseas stationed on Okinawa prior to that time and came home bringing with me one of the worlds largest and fastest bikes... a 69 CB450 Govt of Japan cop bike... at least in 69 the 450 was pretty much on top of the heap in Japan. I bought the bike new in the box from a Honda dealer in 72... It had to have some conversion to import... stuff like fold up footpegs and a different speedo and headlight. While in Okinawa, the CB550 came out and made my 450 look small... then the two stroke Kawis and last the Z1. I was beginning to feel a bit puny but didn't have the money to buy another "big" streetbike, so imported the 450 in 75. The missus and I rode all over the country on that thing. I think we must have been a bit smaller then. It was also before I knew of "accessories" as we never had a backrest or shield or ANYTHING... just a stock bike. I also figured out pretty quickly that at US highway speeds, the 450 might not be the smoothest bike in the world... my fillings all rattled out during the year or so we had the bike... sold the bike when we got posted overseas in 76 as a civilian for the US Govt. Just like buying a computer today, a couple year old bike back then would be pretty much obsolete as the ground rules were evolving every year on size and power. We stayed overseas a few years (had some interesting bikes in that time) and when we got back, I ran down and bought a brand new 81 CB650C for $800. Figured out windshields, backrest and soft luggage by that time. Only problem was, the 650 vibrated worse than the 450 and we had gotten a bit... well larger hehe. We put thousands of miles on that thing before figuring out that bigger bikes were better and that was my last Honda... sold the thing about 83 or 84 for a GS1100.

Wiredgeorge where were you on Okinawa? I was there January of 1968 to September 1969. Aki Samyo!!

In June 1975 my old man ran 8.93@151mph on his 650 Bonneville bored to 750cc with a Shorrocks blower and 80% nitro making him the quickest in Europe and the first to break into the 8s on this side of the pond. It was a great year for us and for British drag racing B)

In 1975 I had a Z1B, was in graduate school at San Diego State University, was going through a divorce, and was renting a beach house...silly times. :laugh:

I LOOKED AT IT WITH LUST IN MY HEART !!!

With apologies to Jimmy Carter....

Yes, when this issue of CW hit the stands in early 1969, I almost read the print right off the pages from looking at the article so often. Can you imagine the excitement this created for us dyed-in-the-wool four stroke fans ??
Yes, the Big K had given us the H1....but it was only a 500 and it only had 3 cylinders and it was a 2 stroke.....same thing for the Cobra/Titan except it only had TWO cylinders. Owning a Brit bike like the Triumph T150 Trident 3 cylinder never even crossed my mind. I already knew about the Brit bike lack of dependability thing. I had previously owned a Honda 150 Benly and a Honda 305 Dream so that tells you a little about my conservative mindset when it came to bikes.
I ate, breathed and dreamed of owning that 4 cylinder roadburner. The only thing I had ever wanted as badly as this was my future wife.....and you can imagine what kind of lust THAT was !!!
In March of 1970 all my dreams came true and I bought and paid for one of the first of these bikes to hit Cowtown. (We never got any of the 1969 models. They all went to Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Calgary was NOT on the "manufacturers' maps" as a hotbed of motorcycling since we only had a population of ~180,000 or so. Just a small town in the grand scheme of things, really.)
So, when I hit the road on this baby, I instantly became famous......an Andy Warhol moment in time.
The reality was actually better than all the dreams. I rode that sucker every chance I got. I was now accepted into the sub-cult of performance riders in the Calgary area. I met lots of people and made friends with some of them. Those guys that I did make friends with are STILL my friends almost 40 years later. That says a lot about their forbearance to be able to put up with me for that long....right??!!??
For better or worse, this is the bike that REALLY started me on the way to where I am today.

Post edited by: H2RICK, at: 2008/03/07 22:16

Small world! I was stationed on the YO-179, White Beach, Okinawa from 3/69 - 9/70. And even with the typhoons I'd be happy to go "back to Naminoue one more time." Ed

a

We will get to the newer stuff later in the book. I thought it interesting to look at what an educated motorcyclist saw as classic and important bikes in 1975 compared to what we see as important now.

The idea was to use a snapshot in time to generate a number of topics different from the usual same old, same old. I hope people will feel free to agree or disagree.

Everyones perspective will be different and as well, riders and bikes have changed enormously over the last 30 plus years.
Cheeres Scrap

In 1975, i was on a electric powered cop motorcycle for kids! You know the ones, 4mph, your kids have em.. I was 4..
But i was hooked ever since!!