One of my problems with the bike boom, in stock condition, the bikes were either really porky, or really expensive. The advent of the Japanese brought bikes priced in the low end of the 1970s, but competitive weight and component wise with the higher end bikes of the 1970s.

Many of us could not afford a decent bike in the 1970s. But for the same money in the 1980s, you could get a pretty nice bike. The low end bikes of the 1970s were just that, low end. To me, the comparison is more like a Chevy Vega to a Toyota Corolla. For the same money, the quality improvement and value was striking. Certainly a 1972 Camaro was a sweet car, but I didn't have that kind of money either.