I was excited to see Gary Nixon’s Triumph road racer on your latest cover, but imagine my TOTAL surprise to find an article on my very first REAL motorcycle, a 1970 Yamaha 90 Enduro! My Dad bought it for “us” new (he had ridden Harleys quite a bit before I arrived on the scene) in late 1969. While all my friends had DT-1 250s and CT-1 175s, I guess Dad thought I’d be “safer” on a smaller bike. I resented the idea of having to work so much harder than all my friends on the sand dunes and trails in the San Francisco area (there were plenty of places to ride off road if you knew where to look). But in hindsight, it definitely made me a better rider and I moved up to a used 1969 DT-1 in a year. I have ridden/raced/restored motorcycles ever since, and now have nine bikes in my collection. I live on the Oregon coast and ride at least once a week, street or woods. Life is good!
I also loved the article on the Honda Elsinore. In about 1972, my friends and I went to watch a national motocross race at Carnegie Cycle Park. There was an “unmarked” 2-stroke in the 250 class, and it was fast. I don’t remember who was riding it or where he finished, but we were floored to find out it was the prototype Honda CR250 being tested — especially after Mr. Honda had said they would never build a 2-stroke! Over the years, I learned a lot of interesting things about Mr. Honda (particularly from Jim Redman and other people who raced for the man), but that, as they say, is for another time. Attached is a photo of me on that 90. It was WHEELIE fun, LOL! Keep up the great work. I love your magazine.
Eric Bickel/Florence, Oregon
Nixon’s Daytona racer
I just got my latest copy with Gary Nixon’s Daytona winning bike on the cover. I just wanted to tell you that it’s one of the greatest articles I have ever read. I was enjoying it so much that I had to read the first four paragraphs five times because I enjoyed reading them so much. Dain, you are magical with a pencil. Keep up the good work.
Anthony Nunes/Narragansett,
Rhode Island
Paper woes
I love the magazine, always great content and good variety of bikes as well as great writing and photos. It seems the paper quality has dropped a notch so the photos don’t look quite as good. The blacks are not quite as deep (sorry, my years as a photog make me cranky about such things). I understand that, given the state of the economy and supply chain issues sacrifices need to be made, but hopefully at some point you can bring the better paper back.
Dave Gess/via email
Hi Dave,
Thanks for the note. Our high-quality paper was unavailable at any cost for the September/October issue due to a global paper shortage. We used the best paper we could get our hands on, but unfortunately it was short of our standards. We are working hard to keep this from happening again.
This was not a cost-saving maneuver, and we will always print Motorcycle Classics on our high-quality paper as long as it is available. Thanks to all our readers who let us know a mistake might have been made. You all keep us on our toes, and we appreciate it! — Ed.
