25 Years Ago January, 1978

25 YEARS AGO JANUARY, 1978

Yamaha’s “great pulsating beast,” the single-cylinder SR500, got top billing this month, along with rave reviews for its handling. “Imagine the unlikely mixture of the jack rabbit agility of a Yamaha RD or Ducati GT 500 and the locomotive stability of the Laverda Jota or Kawasaki KZ1000,” wrote the author of the test.

• Speaking of Yamaha, the Japanese bike-maker loaded up on ad pages this month. Heavystock inserts offered studio photos of factory racebikes, engine cutaways and foldouts announcing the new YZs and XS Eleven, the latter billed as “possibly the fastest production four-stroke ever built.” Best of all, though, was the shot of a jubilant Bob Hannah hoisting the bubbly in celebration of his first AMA Supercross title.

• This month’s how-to, “Rebuild Your Brakes,” addressed hydraulic discs. “As you’ll see, the more efficient disc brake is easier to maintain than its drum counterpart,” noted Technical Editor Len Vucci.

• Racing figured prominently in this issue, too. Highlight was “The (Almost) Motorcycle Olympics,” which was penned by Our Friend, the late Henry Manney. Precursor to the made-for-television Superbikers series-and today’s supermotard racing-the event pitted “trialing flat-trackers vs. roadrace motocrossers vs. drag-racing enduros.” Manney called it all “very stimulating, even if the ‘Best All-Around Motorcyclist’ tag is a bit presumptuous.”

Matthew Miles