Classic Dirt Bike – August 2019

30 |AUTUMN 2019

road stuff whileIdrooledover the dirty side of
things.
Bythe end of theSeventiesthere waslittle,if
anyoff-road element inageneral show. Yes, there
maybethetrailbikeshereand therebut I’dsaythe
majority of thesewereusedaroundtownaseasy
transport or in affluentareasasawinter machine to
savethebig bike forthe summer.
Somereading this mayrecallthe Racingand
Sporting Showwhichwasabig featureofthepress
during theSeventies. Looking through the photos
takenbylegendaryNickNicholls,andthereports
writtenatthat time,the idea behind theshow
wasexemplaryinthat competition bikesofall
disciplineswouldsit well together. Unfortunately
theexecution oftheshowandits location conspired
against this. Hiringashowvenue isn’tcheap and
an organising teamdon’twork for nothingand in
order to makeashowviabletherehas tobeasteady

footfall of people,orthecosts havetobereduced.

So the Racing and Sporting Showhadracing and

sporting machines–sporting meaning trials,

scrambles, enduro, grasstracketc–ondisplaybut

alsoroad machines andgraduallythese took more

and morespace until our sidewasrelegated to the

corridor,downthehall, wherethetoiletsare...

Then came therevelation...ashowfordirt

bikescalled TheDirt BikeShow.In itwereall the

disciplines us off-roaderswanted and all thebikes

wewanted to do themonand noroad machines

anywheretobeseen.Bikeswerelaunched,

distributorsflewstars in to be at the show,therewas

abuzzabouttheplace. Yeswewerecustomers, but

then, as indeednow,we wouldride alongsidethe

dealers whowerecompetitorstoo,norwastherethe

demarcationbetween clubmen andexpert.

At that timeeven anaverageridersuchas

myselfwouldbeabletorideinanational trial and

ABOVELEFT:Husqvarna

feltanautomatic,

developedfromtheir

militarymodels,was

thewayforward.

ABOVE:Maico

experimentedwith

crankcaseinduction.