25 Years Ago September 1985

25 YEARS AGO SEPTEMBER 1985

"We Ride the Bikes of Italy—From the Mad to the Mundane," shout the main cover lines over the red, white and green colors of the Italian flag. Tech Editor Steve Anderson and Feature Editor David Edwards spent the better part of a month in Italy riding many of the diverse motorcycles built there and chronicling the undying passion of the people who ride them. As the story stated, Italy "is a country caught happily in the throes of a torrid love affair with motorcycling."

•Also featured was a comparison of the European 250cc motocross bikes—Can-Am (built in Canada but with an Austrian Rotax engine), Husqvarna, KTM and M-Star (formerly Maico). The M-Star emerged the winner, but in a separate shootout with the Kawasaki KX250, the green machine came out on top.

•In “Totally Touring,” Steve Thompson told the inside story of the annual Aspencade rally held for the third straight year in upstate New York. Thompson revealed how the event’s promoter, Bill Dutcher, had brought 15,000 attendees and $4.5 million in revenue to the Lake George area.

•Danny “Magoo” Chandler was the subject of the Race Watch lead that described how the talented American was contesting the World Motocross Championship in Europe as a privateer. Tragically, just a few months later, Chandler was permanently paralyzed in a motocross crash in Paris, and this past May 4, he passed away at age 50.

Paul Dean