Johnny's correct, the Euro bikes were more than capable right up until the end of the seventies but by 1975 all of the Japanese had set up an efficient and widespread dealer networks, their advertising budget was bottomless and their bikes were comparatively cheap, making them easily accessible to the emerging baby boomer dirt bike market. The quality range of bikes available for the 250 class in 1974 was the best and most varied our sport would ever see.....The OSSA Phantom, Montesa VR, Bultaco Pursang, Husky MAG are today all keynote bikes in vintage racing yet the Honda Elsinore outsold them tenfold. The Honda was (and still is) a great bike itself but it wasn't better than the previously mention four....equal, sure but it wasn't the best 250 of 1974. Even the much maligned 250 Maico was a good bike, helped by having the best chassis/suspension package of that year, and the CZ was still winning....(remember a bloke named Falta?).
The Honda Elsinore has been swept up in a rose coloured glasses tinged history. Don't get me wrong, it was a great bike but it didn't dominate as much as many believe. The bike wasn't even the best Japanese bike of 1974, the Yamaha YZ250-A was a much better bike. Where Honda gained its place in history from is by its sheer numbers. They sold shiploads of them...they were everywhere. Imagine history if Bultaco had possessed the financial clout of Honda instead of being a tiny company rapidly collapsing under Spains faltering fascist political system, the Pursang might well be enjoying the cult like following that the Elsinore enjoys today. The Japanese big four had wiped most of the small European companies off the map by the end of the seventies. History will tell us that the political problems in Spain, managerial ineptitude at Maico and the impenetrable Iron Curtain in CZ's case killed the Euros but the main reason was their inability to compete against a bottomless Japanese budget. By the early 80's they were all, except for KTM, gone or on their death beds .
