25 Years Ago June, 1974
25 YEARS AGO JUNE, 1974
Honda's new CB550 Four, throwing spray toward Kawasaki's new KX250 motocrosser, graced our mid-summer cover. Kawi’s first dedicated 250cc MX effort, the $1150 KX was hailed as a success. Coupled to a tightly spaced five-speed transmission, the Green Machine’s piston-port, two-stroke Single produced “plenty of beans.” Meanwhile, Honda’s new 550 was labeled a better 500. The 50cc of extra grunt, and improvements to the transmission and clutch, made the $1671 Four “an ideal short-or long-haul commuter.”
• Commuting, at that time, was very much on the country’s mind. The oil embargo had been lifted in March, but its effect was clearly evident in this issue’s advertising. Kawasaki’s brilliant, Norman Rockwell-esque spread touted the 50mpg rating of its new KZ400, while Honda ads hyped the new XLs as “gas-saving shoppers” that were an economical way to get to work.
• On the competition front, readers were subjected to a five-page spread on the World Trials Championship, won by Ulf Karlsson on a stone-stock Montesa. And then there was Fernando Belair’s scolding guest editorial, “Act Sane in Spain or Don’t Get on the Plane,” lambasting U.S. trials riders’ “atrocious conduct” abroad.
• Closer to home, “Daytona Desperados” chronicled Giacomo Agostini’s victory aboard his Yamaha TZ700 in the 180-mile event (shortened due to the energy crisis). Ago waltzed home in first after late-race leader Gary Nixon “tipped over” his factory Suzuki in the final laps.
Paul Seredynski
