25 Years Ago December, 1976

25 YEARS AGO DECEMBER, 1976

ROUNDUP

Christmas, 1976, was a good time for horsepower junkies. The then-new Kawasaki KZ1000 made a claimed 83 bhp and knocked off a 12.19-second quartermile, making it the quickest stocker available. Doesn’t seem like much these days what with Suzuki’s 144bhp GSX-R1000 running in the high 9s, but I’m sure 25 years from now we’ll have a laugh about it in light of 2026 liter-bikes that make 185 bhp.

• After singing the praises of power, editors tackled a couple of “foo-foo” bikes, the Kawasaki KD125 and KD175, “two bikes an expert will buy.. .for somebody else to ride.” With price tags of $611 for the 125 and $719 for the 175, they were nonetheless rated as bargains.

• Perhaps the KDs would have been a good pair of machines for a day at SoCal’s Saddleback Park, which an ad claimed offered “family riding at its best.” Co-founded by Cl/l/’s Joe Parkhurst, the famed riding area and its “600 acres and 75 miles of scenic trails” bit the dust eight years later.

• A photo in Race Watch showed a very young-looking version of Harley-Davidson super-tuner Bill Werner wrenching on the bikes of an equally young factory dirt-tracker Jay Springsteen in the AMA’s Grand National series. Also in the section was an item titled “H-D does it,” which described the exploits of factory roadracer Walter Villa, who won both the 250 and 350cc world championships that year on Italianmade Aermacchis wearing H-D badges. It was a small item, but interesting nonetheless in light of Harley canceling its VR1000 Superbike program at the conclusion of this past season.

Mark Hoyer