Cw 25 Years Ago May, 1964

CW 25 YEARS AGO May, 1964

ROUNDUP

I'D HAVE RATHER BEEN WHERE Cycle World was for its May, 1964, issue than where I was. The end of my junior year. A dormitory student. La Sierra College, now a part of Loma Linda University in Southern California. My bike, a Puch 250, was miles away and under lock and key. My father, patiently paying my tuition. had that key. To get it. I needed serious grades. I rarely saw the Puch.

But Cycle World. 25 years ago this month, published its “Daytona Report." I was dissecting frogs, humming the tunes of the newly discovered Bob Dylan and devouring this very issue which resided on the desk in mv j dorm room, getting far more attention than anv textbook. Seems like J yesterday, but a look at the mastJ J head and the adverts reveals the cruelty of time: Henry N. Manney and Tony Hogg, later to become not only treasured colleagues but heavyhitters on the staff of CW's sister publication Road & Track, were contributors. Both men now have passed on. Also gone are most of the major advertisers in that May. I 964. issue— Parilia, Bul taco. Triumph. BSA and others.

But what man can make, man can make again; thus vintage examples of the very bikes advertised 25 years ago now bellow' w ith renewed vigor and those very brands continue to be represented in vintage races at Daytona, which remains a spiritual landmark of sorts, an anchor in time. I'll be there this year. Daytona, finally. Beats dissecting frogs.

Jon F. Thompson