Cycle World's 25th Anniversary

CYCLE WORLD'S 25TH ANNIVERSARY

SPECIAL SECTION

Celebrating a quarter-century in the cycle world

THE YEAR 1961 WAS winding to a close. John F. Kennedy was about to end the first year of his presidency; Roger Maris had hit 61 home runs, breaking Babe Ruth’s 34-year-old record of 60; John Glenn was preparing to become the first American to orbit the Earth; West Side Story won the Academy Award for Best Picture; Floyd Patterson was heavyweight champion of the world.

And in December of that year, a new magazine appeared on the newsstands, a publication that took a unique approach to motorcycle journalism at the time: It presumed that people who liked to read about motorcycles wanted to be entertained while doing so, rather than simply fed a steady diet of roughhewn information that read with all the excitement of a laundry list. The magazine was called CYCLE WORLD. And with that inaugural issue dated January, 1962, it ushered in a new era of motorcycle publishing, setting a trend that just about every other motorcycle magazine would soon emulate—and follow for years to come.

A lot of water has passed under motorcycling’s bridge since then. As chronicled over the years by CYCLE WORLD, the Jap-

anese literally fabricated a huge, new market for motorcycles, beginning with little bikes and gradually shifting their emphasis to ever-bigger, ever-faster, ever-more-sophisticated ones. Racing enthusiasts watched in awe as the European sport of motocross in-

vaded and thrilled America, and, a decadeand-a-half later, as Americans invaded and thrilled Europe by winning almost every world championship up for grabs. Model proliferation and specialization became the order of the day, resulting in a bike for every task and a task for every bike. Technological miracles occurred right before our eyes, bringing us mile-wide powerbands, bulletproof engines, and staggering performance way beyond the wildest dreams of the most far-thinking motorcyclists of 25 years ago.

Yep, they’ve been fun and exciting, these 25 years. And on this silver anniversary of our beginnings, we present, for your entertainment and enlightenment, the following special section. In it, we hope to share with you some of the people and the places, the motorcycles and the milestones that have helped to shape our favorite sport since 1962. So return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear....