25 Years Ago December, 1974
25 YEARS AGO DECEMBER, 1974
On this issue's cover, it was "zap" versus "grunt," underlining the differing essential characters of the Penton 400 and Maico 450 that took part in a motocross comparison. After 11 pages of scoring categories, parts prices, specs, dyno charts and lap times, testers declared the $1680 Penton good, the $1728 Maico great.
• Needing no declarations of greatness, Evel Knievel was also in the news. A couple of livers and many broken bones ago, he strapped himself into the steam-powered X-2 Skycycle for his ill-fated attempt at jumping the Snake River Canyon. The drogue parachute deployed upon take-off, and Evel drifted to the canyon bottom, on the same side as which he started. “For a doer like Evel Knievel, that really has to hurt,” editors concluded. Looking back, we’d say Caesar’s Palace hurt worse.
• While the Skycycle was admittedly cool, an infinitely more practical machine led the way in Roundup: “Honda’s long-awaited 1000 is here!” It was, of course, the 1975 GL1000. The author liked the
Gold Wing’s innovative features, but complained that it, like the rest of Big Red’s streetbike lineup, came with headand taillights that activated when the engine was started. This, he said, was the kind of “bigbrother influence we don’t need.”
• Last but certainly not least, buried in Talladega Grand National roadrace coverage was this gem: “Jim Evans looked especially confident on his Kevin Cameron-prepared TZ700 out of Boston Cycles.” Evans finished third. The winner? Young “Ken” Roberts.
Mark Hoyer
