25 Years Ago August, 1976
25 YEARS AGO AUGUST, 1976
ROUNDUP
Stealing the spotlight from the shaft-drive Yamaha 750 Triple featured on this issue’s cover was an inset photo of an even more intriguing Yamaha-Kenny Roberts’ works 0W72 dirttracker. This wasn’t the infamous TZ750-powered two-stroke with which Roberts won the Indy Mile (and which was duly banned by the AMA), but an even more expensive parallel-Twin loosely based on the production XS650. In a fascinating piece titled “The Story of 0,” long-time CW contributor Joe Scalzo detailed Yamaha’s efforts to produce a Harley-Davidson XR750-beater. It wasn’t: In its debut in front of a herd of Japanese engineers at the San Jose Mile, the OW suffered a broken coil wire on the starting line and Harleys claimed nine of the top-10 placings. The XS750 cover bike didn’t fare a whole lot better, as the editors deemed Yamaha’s first multi-cylinder streetbike, “stylish, soft-riding, but slow.”
• On the off-road front, there was a test of the new case-reed, sixspeed Suzuki RM125, which the editors discovered worked great once the front end from an RM250 was installed. The alternative was a Marty Smith Replica Honda CR125 Elsinore, a mouth-watering example of which appeared in an ad on page 27: “FMF Package Racer, $1425.” Seems cheap today.
• The Suzuki and Honda apparently needed a lot less work than a Yamaha, however, as another story detailed the editors’ attempts to make a YZ250 handle. Their solution: a C&J monoshock frame! Thank goodness they found the engine acceptable. -Brian Catterson
