Why were the 70s and 80s so good?

[merv]

Yep '74 and '79 were the two oil crises - had quite a bit to do with the Yanks as usual protecting their wealth and they had been friendly with the Shah of Iran and in the end he got ousted and the non- Yank friendly Arabs seem to take some control and tightened the pricing.

Dudes have you heard about the mortgage rates back then and how high inflation was?

We suffered the igmony of speed limits being reduced from 55mph general open road and 60mph fast open roads, down to 50mph, later 80km/hr everywhere and goddamn it they are at it again with reductions by stealth.

The good times were i biking - we had the Marlboro series wehn no one worried about cigarette sponsorship - check some of this out on my exhibition thread here http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...450#post875450

[beyond]

Main reason is that cars were very expensive, even older ones. No one could afford them unless you had rich parents or grandparents.

But, second hand bikes and new bikes were heaps cheaper in comparison. Myself and all my mates had motorbikes as that was all we could afford.

With the advent of less control on motor vehicle import licences and the beginning of cheap imported cars, it was virtually the same price to buy a resonable car as it was a motorbike.

Now all of us 'older' buggers are getting back into bikes with all the sprogs off our hands. The mortgages have been knocked back a bit, more discretionary income and the baby boomers (as we are known) are now reliving their youth

[Bonez]

I don't know why regos shot up in about 1970, but the boom times ended because imports of cheap Japanese used cars made car prices cheap enough so normal people could afford one instead of a motorcycle.

Normal folk have alway had used cars. Ask my Dad. Valients and Holdens. No poxy Fords or Jap crap(they where too small for the fadamally to go out in) at our place. Drycleaner by trade. Use to cart us 4 kids everywhere. Back then you could live in the back of station wagon.

Edit-Dad and mum also had the nouse to purchase their new house, which they still live in, at the tender age of 22.

[Disco Dan]

. i was born in 1991 too

fark! that makes me feel old!! and im 23!!!

[degrom]

i do all the maintanance and work on my bike and a couple cars... i was born in 1991 too

Good on you mate...

(But then again GN's tend to maintain them selfs... LOL)

[scumdog]

Normal folk have alway had used cars. Ask my Dad. Valients and Holdens. No poxy Fords or Jap crap(they where too small for the fadamally to go out in) at our place.

Fords? The streets were full of 'em - Falcons, Zephyrs, Fairlanes etc - good family cars and held their value too.

Anglias etc for those too poor to buy a big car (Chrysler and Holden didn't cater for THAT segment of the market).

[Bonez]

Fords? The streets were full of 'em - Falcons, Zephyrs, Fairlanes etc - good family cars and held their value too.

Anglias etc for those too poor to buy a big car (Chrysler and Holden didn't cater for THAT segment of the market).

I know Fords were everywhere. Somehow on dads and mum's meger wages, she was a seamtress, they managed to own a largish car. Dad managed to also keep some asside for his motorcycling. One thing they didn't do is piss their earnings against the wall like a few of their kin have. Other priorities-ie bringing us kids up.

Holden had a rebadged Viva called the Torana for what you refer to as the poor mans market btw-
http://www.canberratoranaclub.com/history/hb.htm

[Motu]

There were plenty of cheap cars around back then - I paid $150 for my 1938 Chev Coupe,$250 for my International truck...for $50 you could buy a car and drive it home.Same with bikes,you could ride a $50 Triumph 650 home.I helped my older brother buy his first bike - for $300 he got a 1957 T110 that had been fully rebuilt from the ground up,every single thing that could be replaced was replaced....new fork bushes and seals,brakes,swingarm bushes,full engine rebuild with 11:1 pistons,imported race cams,9 stud top end with twin brand new Amal concentrics,Dunstal exhausts.For $300 you could buy a brand new Suzuki AC50 - come on,which bike would you have as your first bike for $300? !!

The early '70's was a very special time to be on bikes - the first superbikes,The Norton Commando,the Trident/Rocket 3,and then the Honda 4 (don't let them tell you the Honda was the first 750 superbike,Norton was there first) There were the Japanese 250;s and 350's,most 2 stroke,but Honda were 4 stroke.Every pimply faced kid had one of those.There were the last of the British Twins,and the Triples,giving the handling that the Jap bikes lacked....but the kids who rode the Jap stuff never knew the difference....but we did.Trail bikes first came out in 1970 too,and I got my first one in 1971,and just rode it anywhere I liked.

Bikes were everywhere from 1970 to 1990,then they started to fade away....and rich people started to buy flash bikes and not ride them...only on weekends.

[doc]

My dad was in the car business then, to buy a new car not assembled in New Zealand you had to have overseas funds and I think if you sold it before 2 years ownership passed you had to sell it back to the dealer you purchased it from. In those days the magazines all critised jap bike for their standard of welding and handled like rubber bands. Now days jap stuff is used as the standard everything is measured by.

[stevedee]

I remember in the early 70s wanting nothing more than an RT or DT Yamaha or Suzuki TS trailbike, you could ride on any subdivision, any firebreak, and ALL my mates had trail bikes. I spent most of my teen years on the firebreaks around the Hutt, and over in Wainui. Used to knock of work and then ride on the trails until dark at least 3 or 4 times a week. Man did we have some fun.

[Ixion]

The Honda stepthrough. Electric starters. And a booming economy.

The Honda made motorcyling respectable. The electric start made it easy.

In the 50s and 60s bikes with any performance were a man's man thing. Kickstart only , you needed to be hard. And the image was bad, big hairy bikies raping your daughter. Along came the step through, and the daughter was a biker. Woo-hoo. And the big bikes had leccy legs. Now wimps could ride (still are ).

And the economy was booming . Everyone had a job. Pay was good. Bikes were cheap Petrol was dear, cars were too. No-one was on a benefit.

Add it all up, and everyone flocked to their neighbourhood bike shop. Every local shopping centre had a bike shop, they were as common (almost) as fish n chip shops. Intersections in down town Auckland were pemanently smoky - two stroke smoke from the 20 or 30 bikes waiting to drag off from the front of the queues at the lights.

And then it all collapsed. Mrs Grundy legislation. Scared mums. Cheap Jap import cars. A recession. The growth of a massive benefit dependant subclass. By the mid 90s I thought I was the last survivor of a lost species. I really thought that bikes would die out completely. They very nearly did.

Too many crashes. Those chickies on the Honda stepthroughs didn't know how to ride. Wimpy bikers - the wusses who needed electric starts weren't going to stand up and resist the Gubbernmint. Cheap cars. With back seats .

Take heed. Don't let the 90s be repeated!

[Bonez]

Thought cars were bought as mobile sterio system transporters, bit like Goldwings really, by young'ns these days?

[digsaw]

Farmers,farm bikes,sales tax refunds and bike sales boomed,then they stopped the sales tax refunds so farmers didnt reg their bikes so they didnt show up in the stats,then ACC on bike regos climbed real fast and cheap jap cars caused many a bike shop to fold.1968-69 a farm bike cost a large sum of about $450 so they were very cheap and i remember selling 96 of them in 3 weeks, it was a bit like a turkey shoot and just as much fun selling them.

[Motu]

Farmers could buy one every year...or was it 2 years tax free - so if you wanted a new bike minus tax you got a farmer to buy it for you.That's how a lot of trials bikes were bought.

[MattRSK]

Where is Indiana Jones?