be alongside thetop riders ,the other
disciplineswould be the same though I’d
not ventured into MX or endurothen.
So,aswewandered the halls at Bristol
Docks itwasasfello wridersrather
than customer/dealer,Iadmit there
were some surprises as peoplespoke
butbecause theyweren’tinridinggear
or muddyittook thought tosee who
they were.
This show addressed all the concerns
we had about thelackofour typeof
bikes and packed somuch into the halls
thatwehad sensoryoverload.
Anyway,picking outjustone year from
the backissues ofTheMotorCycleisn’t
easy,but forno otherreason than the
headline of‘AnAbsoluteCrack er’and the
strapline ‘...big,brash and bulging with
goodies’ itis DirtBike81–actuallyheld
in 1980–whichisthe focus of this bit...
Onthe openingpageoftheshowreport, picturesof twoworldchampions
at theshowgivesanidea of the
importance the off-road industryplaced
on the Dirt Bike 81event. Theshowwas
openedby Graham Noyce assistedby
thenBBC personality Stuart Hallbefore
his fall from grace.In1980 Noyce was
in hischampionshipyear having been
crowned top of the MXworld in 1979;
flowninfromthe USAwas currentworld
trialschampion Californian