...originally posted in rec.motorcycles, 07/01/93
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Subject:  Blast From the Past: Cycle World, August 1968

cover photo: Excelsior Manxman retrospect

ad for Jawa "Californian" 250/350 street bikes

ad for Maico dirt bikes

ad for Benelli 250cc Barracuda, featuring Chuck Connors.  

ad for Triumph Trophy 250 for $695.

set of photos for the Italian Cardani 500 triple racer.  Four stroke,
        500cc, air cooled, 4-valve, 75hp@13,000, 7-speed box.  And
        what happened to Cardani?  The bike looks fine to me.

photo of a 250cc Benelli Four, 4-valve, 55hp@16,000, air cooled,
        8-speed box.  Oddly, the 350 makes only 60hp@14,500 and has
        only 7 gears.

photos of the MV Agusta 500 triple, 80hp@13,000 RPM.  Four stroke,
        DOHC, dry clutch, air cooled.

photo of the Italian Paton racer, either a 350 or 500, the caption
        isn't clear.  Looks like sand-cast cases.  DOHC air cooled
        twin, wide cam spacing makes it look like it might use a
        hemispherical combustion chamber.  Never heard of them either.

ad for "Machine Mates", his & hers metalflake helmets.  Oh, joy...

ad for Ducati 250 OHC-mk III, with "150 mph speedo."  Only $449.
        Heck, they coulda put a 200 mph speed on it.

ad for BSA motorcycles, featuring a pair of slutty-looking blondes
        who look like they've been around the barn and back again.
        I've noticed most of the BSA ads throughout the late 1960s
        have some *rough* looking broads in them.  The kind who
        make you wonder if you might catch a social disease.  If the
        ads are intended to imply that's the kind of chick you can
        pick up with a BSA, I'd rather walk.

road test of the American Eagle 750 (Laverda) $1675, Montgomery Ward
        (Benelli Mojave 350 enduro ($899),

photo of CW editor Ivan Wagar on a Benelli 350 Four racer.  Caption:
        "...rider Renzo Pasolini and factory chief Mimo Benelli
        explain its intricacies."  Mr. Pasolini appears to be pointing
        to the tachometer, much to Mr. Wagar's confusion.

British readers of this newsgroup probably remember the "knee pad"
        furor by Britain's safety goobs five or six years ago.  These
        people, bent on protecting us from ourselves, had decided
        that "spiral fracture of the hip" was a major drain on the
        British National Health.  You evidently sustain spiral
        fracture if you head-on into something while riding a bike
        with handlebars high enough to catch you over the thighs.
        Ri-ight.  Anyway, the advocates for this "safety" plan had
        manufactured all sorts of statistics to show how head-ons
        accounted for a major proportion of crashes, and spiral
        fracture was the most common injury.  And if you believe
        that, I have a nice deal on a bridge...  Anyway, they
        wanted these huge "shock absorber pads" bolted to the sides
        of the bike, or a ramp on the gas tank to catapult you into
        the air and over (hopefully) the obstruction.  I am *not*
        fibbing - get up off the floor, wipe that smile off your
        face, and pay attention.

        Anyway, back in 1968 Cycle World ran an article written by
        some Brit, evidently connected to the University of
        Birmingham (NOT the one in Alabama), which was already
        whining about the same sort of thing.  Judging from the
        overall article, these creeps don't even RIDE motorcycles -
        their "safety" measures all seem to assume the rider will
        maintain a deathgrip on his machine and ride it to oblivion,
        rather than kicking the bastard as far away as he can, as
        normal American riders do.  The article raves on about
        padding, rider protection, and so forth, making wild claims
        that the chance of head injuries is minimized if the rider
        stays with the bike, that two-wheel-drive motorcycles are
        safer than rear-wheel-drive ones, and - ta daaa! - antiskid
        braking. Just to fire up the ABS flamewar again, let me
        quote the estimable Mr. Joseph Bloggs, perpetrator of the
        article:

        "Imagine what an advantage this could be for racing - a
        rider can tear into a bend, take a huge fistful of brake
        with the knowlege that it just cannot lock the front wheel!"

        Mr. Bloggs has either never ridden a motorcycle (probably)
        or never seen an antiskid system (also probable).  That
        particular scenario is my main example of when an ABS does
        NOT work.  The entire article is full of bullshit like this.

        The pictures are more fun.  There's the obligatory crash
        dummy, circa 1968, on some old girder-forked scoot attached
        to a car with outriggers.  The caption reads, "When the
        release mechanism is activated, the outriggers swing away
        and the dummy rider become (sic) a projectile aimed at a
        brick wall."  Interesting, if you like running crash dummies
        into brick walls, but what's the point?  The car is a
        pristine 1953 Studebaker Silver Hawk with Brit plates.  Oooh,
        car.  I love you, car.  I'm in lust.  Ooops.  This is wreck.moto.
        Bad cage.  Nasty cage.  Never have anything to do with 'em.
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