Cycle News Archives
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Here are a few things that a motorcycle buff might find under the Christmas tree in 1975.
By Kent Taylor
It’s Christmas, circa 1975, and if you’re lucky, your parents will buy you A Night At The Opera by Queen on vinyl (’cuz in 1975, everything was on vinyl), and you can sing along to “Bohemian Rhapsody” while you kick it in your new leisure suit. Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Need more gift ideas? Read on and escape from reality!
Only a true motorcycle geek will appreciate the tedium involved with cylinder boring, but for these riders, watching those thin shards of metal being methodically shaved away from your chamber is like witnessing a rebirth for your engine. J-Mac Motorcycle (Hodaka, Maico and Can-Am) understands people like us, and they will bore your cylinder “while you wait.”
Worried that your rhododendron is lonely and depressed? Now you can be at ease knowing that your houseplants are having lively conversations in your absence. This mechanism, which was actually shown in Cycle News’ new product section, is a “battery-operated phonograph device,” guaranteed to keep your peace lily peaceful and your parlor palm calm, eagerly awaiting your return home with your freshly bored cylinder. Prices range from $9.95 to $19.95.
The secret to being a World Champion? It’s a secret no more, Baruffaldi goggles! Yep! Roger DeCoster and Harry Everts wore Baruffaldi goggles during the 1970s and won lots of titles. For some reason, however, these classic Italian-made goggles weren’t popular outside of Belgium. Clearly, these champs literally saw something the rest of us, with our less manly eye protectors, couldn’t see. No excuses, as they were only $6.95 from Cosmopolitan Motors.
Most MX history buffs will remember DeCoster wearing Hi-Point motocross boots, but here are a pair of Torsten Hallman’s with an endorsement from Roger himself. No price listed, but if you want to be like “The Man,” then pay up like a man and don’t ask any questions.
Saving face is more than just a good way to avoid embarrassment. The Casler Face Saver will also protect your smiling mug from “raspberries on your nose” and “chinkelberries on your chin.” Just $7.50 while you wait one more year for the full-faced Bell Moto Star.
What kid wouldn’t want to find a real, Ron Wood Norton flat tracker, ridden by Rob Morrison and Alex Jorgensen, in their Christmas stocking? A good deal at $3500 ($21,000 in 2025). Like all sophisticated Brits, Nortons are sensitive to tosspots and plonkers, so “please do not call unless you are sincere.”
Finally, are you just a poor boy? Nobody loves you? No factory ride and no major wins? No problem! You might not be as fast as Roger DeCoster or Kenny Roberts or any other big-time racer who gets their picture in Cycle News, but you can be smarter—and just as famous! For your $11.50 subscription fee, Cycle News will publish your photo in the December 1975 issue. You provide the pic (preferably in black and white), and they provide the fame. Magnifico-o-o-oh! CN
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