25 Years Ago March, 1979
25 YEARS AGO MARCH, 1979
ROUNDUP
Honda’s new XR500 made a snow-covered, um, cover, accompanied by the tag line, “A Big Bore Dirt Bike That Keeps Its Promise.” All we can really ask from an off-roader, really...
Selling for a measly buck, the issue boasted nearly 200 pages, which is how many were needed to fit five full tests, the abovementioned Honda being only the tip of the iceberg. Also included:
Maico 250 Magnum E (“a motocrosser wrapped in enduro clothes”); Suzuki GS850 (the company’s first shaftie); Yamaha XS650F (“the world’s best large vertical-Twin”); and Yamaha YZ250F, which despite being “effed” by name, was most definitely a two-stroke.
• Coverage of the fourth-annual Barstow-to-Vegas “unorganized trail ride” talked about the Bureau of Land Management’s injunction to stop what was referred to as a “non-event.” But the most interesting part of the story was a picture that included the old CW Dodge van, which was perhaps the world’s coolest bike-hauler. Why? Because it had been sliced down the middle, widened by about a foot and gloriously adorned with magazine logos. Surely, it had shag carpet, too, but the memory of staffers who were around at the time is a little foggy...
• On to Race Watch, where Bob Hannah was referred to as “Yamaha’s neutron bomb” because he blew away all comers in 1978. Another photo showed 17-year-old Broc Glover in the pits with a couple of pretty girls, the accompanying caption touting his second 125cc title. -Mark Hoyer
