Cw 25 Years Ago July, 1965
CW 25 YEARS AGO July, 1965
ROUNDUP
Cycle World's SECOND-ANNUAL motorcycle show was the cover subject in July, 1965. Every production motorcycle that was available in the U.S. at the time was shown at this elaborate exhibition, held in Los Angeles. But that wasn’t all. The show also exposed viewers to many customized streetbikes, as well as one-off road-racers and dirtbikes. More than 85,000 people viewed the spectacular display of machines.
Motorcycle enthusiasm was running so high that “Cycle Worlds Theatre,” which featured films of motorcycle racing, was constantly packed, and Editor and Publisher Joe Parkhurst promised he would increase the size of the theater for the next year’s show.
Deeper into the magazine, a nice feature story about Harley-Davidson, complete with photos of the company’s founding fathers—William, Walter and Arthur Davidson, and William Harley— and their original factory, an 8 x 10-foot shed, provided interesting production figures for those fledgling days: One motorcycle was produced that first year. But the next year, 1904, things really took off, and production jumped to eight machines. By 1906, when 50 bikes were built, the growing company had five assistants.
As I looked though this old issue, a picture of a Harley-Davidson K model, the forerunner of the Sportster, instantly revived an old longing. I test-rode a new K model in ’55, but it dragged so badly when I blitzed through a corner, I decided to keep my BSA 650 Road Rocket. I’d like to have both bikes now.
—Ron Griewe
