Cycle Round Up
CYCLE ROUND UP
JOE PARKHURST
STAFF MACHINES
We receive a number of requests from our readers asking us which machines are the best, which are our choice as our own machines, and which ones they should buy. We of course cannot answer these questions and be fair to all machines, and all of our readers. We cannot possibly tell anyone which bike to buy for many reasons; personal preference and what the rider plans on doing with it are but two. prospects of a sizeable market over here for their 500cc motorcycles, recently brought Mr. Masashi Itoh, President of the Lilac Motorcycle Co., Ltd., of Hamamatsu, Japan. Lilac builds the 500cc Marusho horizontal twin for sale in this country through the U.S. Marusho Co., as announced in CYCLE WORLD last month. Mr. Itoh traveled in the company of Mr. Motohisa Sakai, his secretary, and was touring in the company of Mr. Sun Young Choy. Mr. Itoh was also in this country arranging for possible distribution of the 125cc and 250cc Lilac machines, an interesting series of twins using shaft drive that saw a brief spurt of popularity in the U.S. a few years ago but are not available at this time.
CYCLE WORLD’S staff members own and ride a wide assortment of motorcycles, such as; two Matchless G-80 scramblers; a Velocette MSS scrambler; a Matchless 650cc twin; a Cotton 250 Telstar road racer; a 350cc Honda road racing special that just lost its engine to the Cotton; a Triumph Bonneville record machine; a Honda Super Hawk; a Honda 110 converted to a scrambler; a Hodaka Ace 90; a Yamaha 80 Trailmastcr: two BSA Gold Star flattrackers; a Matchless flattracker.
Additions and alterations to the collection forthcoming include a Métisse conversion for one of the Matchless scramblers (to be the subject of an article as
well), a 350cc Ducati as soon as they are available, a BSA 650cc scrambler, a Triumph Cub, a possible H-D Sprint, and a bunch of wild ideas floating around that are too nebulous to mention at this time. Like we have been telling our readers for some time, we are indeed a bunch of motorcycle enthusiasts.
EUROPEAN CYCLE TOUR PLANS
Edison Dye informs me that his second annual Isle of Man Tour and European Rally is shaping up fast. Plans for the 1965 tour include either a BMW, BSA or Triumph motorcycle in the packaged tour deal, and an itinerary that is much more expansive than last year’s tour. Many prominent motorcycle industry people toured with Dye last year, including Norm Lee, Wilson Springer, and Ed Kretz, to name but three. I saw the group at the Isle of Man, clad in blue nylon jackets and white helmets, decorated with colorful emblems, all mounted on blue 650cc BSA twins and looking like a million dollars.
Scheduled for departure on May 20th, Dye will take the group to Copenhagen, Berlin (East and West), Vienna, Venice, Lucerne, and of course Douglas. Isle of Man, for the fabulous TT races. A total of 21 days of all-inclusive traveling, plus the motorcycle, are included in the total price. Anyone interested can contact Dye at Imperial Motor Sports, 4701 El Cajon Blvd.. San Diego 15, California. We will shortly publish a photographic story of last year’s TT/Rally tour, written by (of all people) Ed Dye!
CYCLE CLUB ON GOOD-WILL MISSION
The Artesia (California) Pioneers motorcycle club took on a sizeable project not long ago when they began an attempt to rectify the image motorcycling has in the Ramona, Hollister, Santa Maria area that was established several years back. Motorcyclists have raised so much hell in this part of California it is generally acknowledged that their antics inspired the making of that awful "Wild Ones” motion picture few people want us to forget. On the subject of that picture, Lee Marvin, one of the stars, is a motorcyclist in private life. I have wondered for years how he could lower himself to doing so much damage to his own best interest. The same applies to another well-known motorcyclist in L.A. who doubles as a motorcycle stunt man in some pretty deplorable movie trash doing nothing but harm to our fine sport.
The Pioneers staged a parade of about 200 motorcycles in town and “delighted the crowds with fancy maneuvers on their machines”, according to the Ramona Sentinel newspapers. They also catered a barbeque in a park and awarded trophies at Ramona Town Hall. So well mannered were they that the town welcomes them back at any time, particularly for their next Banner Grade Run.
SCOOTER CLUB FORMS
Trail scooter enthusiasts in the Southern California area will be happy to know that a new club has been formed. Users of all kinds of off-highway scooters and mini-bike type vehicles are invited to join. The club recently took part in a Walteria (Calif.) “Round-Up” days celebration parade, after which a barbeque and meeting was held which included a movie showing. Interested parties can obtain additional information about the club by contacting Ron Dirlam. 4934 West 99th Street, Inglewood, California.
MOTORCYCLE CLOTHING
Some time ago I mentioned the availability of motorcycle clothing from the D. Lewis company in London, England. A short time ago I received a copy of their newest catalog which now includes a dollar price supplement that makes it very easy for the buyer in this country to order from the firm by mail without the usual confusion of converting the money into dollars. The Lewis catalog is a marvel of useful items, and includes racing leathers (such as worn by yours truly on the test strip), racing and foul weather boots, cold weather “trials” clothing, gloves, helmets, cloth and leather jackets for touring and racing, and many other interesting items. I can personally assure any of our readers that the D. Lewis Ltd., despite the great distance and problems of ordering from abroad, is one of the most reputable firms in England and guarantees delivery. Their address is Department CW, 124 Great Portland Str., London, W. 1, England. They will send a catalog for 25 cents.
JAPANESE CYCLE EXECUTIVE VISITS U. S.
The fantastic growth of the popularity of motorcycles in this country, and the
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OLD TIMER RETIRES
One of the grand old-timers of motorcycling. Frank Tamas, has retired at 66 from his mechanic’s job at Knuth’s Harley-Davidson sales in Milwaukee. Frank has spent '50 of his 66 years on motorcycles, a respected elder statesman of the cycle world. He bought his first machine in 1913 and became a mechanic and tuner a few years later. He claims to have built the first machine especially equipped for hillclimbing in 1932. He called it the Harley "Home-Brew” since most of the parts he installed were his own creation. He presently rides a 1939 H-D he has logged over 150,000 miles on.
Frank has visited every state in the Union on two wheels and admits that motorcycling has changed a lot since his early days. "Too many boulevard riders today,” he says. “We rode horse trails, dried-up creekbeds and over anything we could find. You’ve got to get off the pavement to really enjoy a motorcycle,” says Frank. Frank has built and tuned many winning machines; his knowledge of machines is unbelievable, his friends say. Now that he has retired he’s not about to take up the rocking chair. As he puts it. "I’m going to ride my machine until there ain’t no place left to go.”
DEALER DISCOUNTING ADVICE
My compliments to Johnson Motors, distributors of Triumph motorcycles in the 19 western states, for their recently distributed booklet to Triumph dealers on the subject of discount selling. I have long felt that merchandise should be sold at a pre-established, standardized price that is more or less “fair trade.” Jomo’s pamphlet eloquently states the case that the need for discounting does not exist and proceeds to itemize more than a dozen reasons why this is so, citing concrete cases and giving irrefutable reasons.
Probably the most significant reason stated for not discounting retail prices on the sales floor is that most buyers are seeking primarily only a fair deal and are not necessarily buying price. If a dealer sells at the fair price and offers proper after-sales service and supports the warranty, he need not attempt to sell at a lower than standard price. Obviously this is oversimplified and does not really touch on the true value of the information being dispensed.
AMA SEEKS INTERNATIONAL STATUS
By the time you read this, the American Motorcycle Association’s application to the Federation Internationale Motorcycliste for membership in, and affiliation with, the organization, will have been decided upon by that august body of International motorcycle competition. If the AMA is accepted, and at the moment I cannot see any reason why they will not be, our sport will have arrived at the level it has long deserved. There will, of course, be many differences to be worked out, should our National organization become an affiliate of the International body. But the most important point is that now our leading riders will be able to compete with the rest of the world on an even basis and we may have an International event in this country that will be truly representative of our sport. I am extremely happy that the AMA has decided to drop their barriers and attempt to affiliate with the F.I.M.; it is something we have wanted to see for a long time and, in my estimate, will mark the beginning of the real maturing of motorcycling in our country. •
