Nineteen Seventy Four Cycle World Show
NINETEEN SEVENTY FOUR CYCLE WORLD SHOW
It was bigger and better than ever.
Joe Parkhurst
ATHOUGH poorly-supported by the industry it serves, the CYCLE WORLD Show took off again from its customary slot at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in April. This was the 11th year for the show, and the Tridents Car Club again staged its annual display of wild cars and paint jobs in the lower parts of the enormous building.
Stars of the show for 1974 were customs and sidecars. For the latter we must express great thanks to Doug Bingham of Side Striders, the Side Hack Association and Keith McCartney of the Side Car Riders’ Association.
McCartney’s SS Sidecar Stunt Team riders put on a demonstraron of trick riding during the onow that turned out to be one of the most popular features this year. Keith’s riders crash through burning walls and houses and put various sidecar rigs through some pretty impressive girations.
Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, Harley-Davidson, Premier Motors, Triumph-Norton, Jawa/CZ, Yoshimura and a few other firms dominated the show, but a lot of familiar faces were missing. This didn’t deter more than 140,000 people from attending though.
Robert Arlie Marshall’s handmade ceramic motorcycle riders were used as trophies again. These highly-original works of art have become the most sought-after show prizes around.
ach individual statue is patterned after the bikes and riders in the class it represents. The classes to be judged were expanded to include such things as mini-bikes, three-wheelers that don’t use bike engines, full-dress road bikes, bikes that don’t use motorcycle engines and even the most radical customs.
Since the very first show in 1963, Clyde Earl has put together the movie theater that has set the pattern for all other shows, but that has never been successfully imitated. This is largely due to Clyde’s vast influence in the movie business and his uncanny ability to assemble the very latest and best available films dealing with bikes and competition.
The Yamaha-produced film on the 1973 Scottish Six Days Trial was the hit of the series. Hodaka Distributors PABATCO’s film on the Bad Rock ISDT qualifier was not far behind in popularity. Clyde projected more than two-and-onehalf hours of never-or-rarely-seen motorcycle movies on a giant screen suspended from the arena ceiling. Our show would be far less without Clyde.
Throughout the entire four days of the show, several bicycle motocross clubs staged races and demonstrations of pedalcross riding techniques on a special indoor track. These next-generation motorcyclists are really something to watch. Yamaha previewed their new pedalcross bike, allowing a couple of the hottest pedalers a few laps on it. It looks like a pedal-powered YZ.
CYCLE WORLD’S Show is surpassed in attendance only by the mammoth European shows in Cologne and Milan. We will make an even more intense effort next year to get the industry, particularly those who sell dirt bikes, back into the show.
Other winners (and the categories they represented), whose bikes are not pictured here, were: Arthur Apple (Honda), full-dress touring; Paul Wheeler for his Corvair-powered twowheeler; Larry Mittleman (H-D), street custom domestic; Mitch Derena (H-D), show custom domestic; Robert Kuran (BSA), radical custom foreign; Purfy Castruita (H-D), radical custom domestic.
The list of winners also included: Dick James (Norton), best unrestored antique; Barry Taylor (Triumph), best frame; Dean Lanza (H-D), best modified tank. Marvin Kaufman’s display took 2nd, while Raymond Silva’s copped the special display award.
Spectators are polled as to their choice of the best bike in the show. This year they selected Wayne Krueger’s 1971 Honda as their favorite. A special award was made to the best SS sidecar racer for his “close-in sidecar riding.” It went to Cecil Piaz, who was really something to see.
