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Hard to believe that this issue is
40 years old—until you open it up
and see all of the bikes, people and
tech that are no longer around. We
couldn’t help but notice the late Al
Baker’s “Wing Nut” tech column,
the interview with the late Marty
Moates, the close-up looks at the
Bultacos of the late Rich Eierstedt
and Kenny Zahrt, the Honda Type
2 of the late Jim Pomeroy, and
the Maico 250 of the late Gaylon
Mosier. We miss these guys.
The only bike tested in the
August 1977 issue was the 1977
Montesa 250VB. Of course,
Montesa doesn’t make motocross bikes anymore, but they still
produce trials bikes in Spain—
although Honda owns the brand
now. Looking at the specs of the
1977 250VB is like looking through
a list of now-defunct parts suppliers. The forks were magnesium
Marzocchis with 240mm of travel
( 9. 5 inches). The shocks were the
dreaded “gas Betors.” The gas
tank was fiberglass. The petcocks
were the infamous Montesticle
units that used a steel ball bearing in a rubber tube to turn the
gas on and off. The rims were
green-label, shoulder-less Akronts
(the shoulder-less part was what
made them special). The conical
front hub required three differ-ent-length spokes. The ignition
was a Motoplat. The carb was a
Bing V54, which we wired on to
keep it from popping off. The retail
price was $1799.
The 1977 Hangtown 125/250
National was covered in this issue.
Several things were notable about
Hangtown ’77: (1) Prior to the 1977
AMA National Championships,
only two riders had ever won the
AMA 250 National Championship
(Gary Jones and Tony DiStefano
won the first seven series). ( 2)
The 250 entry list included bikes
from Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki,
Kawasaki, Harley-Davidson (Marty
Tripes), Can-Am (Jimmy Ellis),
Penton (Don Kudalski), Montesa
(Mickey Kessler), Maico (Gaylon
Mosier), Bultaco (Rich Eierstedt),
KTM (Steve Rhyan) and Husqvarna
(Kent Howerton). ( 3) The 1977
Hangtown 125/250 National was
the only double National of 1977.
Every other National that year was
a stand-alone 125, 250 or 500
event. ❑
MOTOCROSS ACTION Magazine (ISSN 0146-3292) Canada GST 12500#9266RT, CPC INT’L. PUB MAIL #40612608; AUGUST 2017, Volume 45, Issue 8 i
40 YEARS AGO IN MXA—AUGUST 1977
GREATMOMENTS
