Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1542196
36 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com did manage to correct some of them. And yet, Frank had two things working directly against him. First was money. Any business startup requires a substan- al amount of capital, upon which a return on that investment in a reasonable amount of me is cri cal. According to reports from those who were there at the me, Frank was indeed selling bikes and was making money. He had hit his target price point with produc on costs, and dealers were selling the bikes in a sweet spot between the Japanese and European markets. And yet, Cooper began to have to reinvest in correc ng the issues with those early bikes, which were ea ng into his profits. The second issue was me. The Cooper motorcycle's basic design and execu on were quite good for the early 1970s. However, anyone who was around at the me knew that the motorcycle industry, especially the off-road segment and in par cular Motocross models, was evolving at a tremendous rate. Those who know suggest that Frank's motorcycles hit the market two years too late. When they were intro- duced in 1973, the Cooper motorcycles were pre y good. Over the next couple of years, Frank's bikes were just about obsolete, from the perspec ve of race bikes. And so '73 turned to '74, and then '75, and Frank found it increasingly difficult to sell his un- changed-from-1973 bikes. Plus, increasing material and produc on costs had begun to erase his price advantage over the compe on. The end of the line was basically inevitable, and Cooper eventually wrapped things up. Was this the end for Cooper-Islo motorcycles? Actually, no. Along came Gary and Don Jones. Papa Don, who, together with sons Gary and DeWayne, was largely responsible for the development of the first true Yamaha Motocrossers. Gary went on to use one of their bikes to win the inaugural 250 outdoor Mo- tocross Na onal Championship in 1972. Gary then switched to team Honda and repeated his tle in '73, then did the same again in '74 aboard a Can- Am. Unfortunately for Gary, a serious leg injury at