Round Up
ROUND UP
JOE PARKHURST
INDUSTRY PROSPECTS
The motorcycle industry looks like it is approaching a stabilizing point. After the most fantastic period of growth any sport has ever seen—over 1000 percent since 1960—things seem to be leveling off. All we experts have been predicting the occasion for some time, and it’s a shame we didn’t start a pool when we were all making our wild forecasts.
According to Ward’s Automotive Reports, 500,000 motorcycles were sold last year, and 1969 should see almost the same number sold, rather than the continuation of the incredible growth pattern bike sales have enjoyed from the day CYCLE WORLD started. Ward’s also points out a trend toward the purchase of larger machines by the “average” consumer. We could have spotted that, merely by reading the letters from our readers for the past few years, and studying the sales trends in the industry.
Even Ward’s, an extremely conservative publishing company, admits that motorcycles are no longer a fad, and that they have lost some of their novelty appeal. Personally, I’m glad. Being a motorcycle enthusiast and rider for 28 years made the word “fad” sort of grate on me. It was never a “fad” for me. I’ve been madly in love with them since I was about 14 years old or so. I decided they were the greatest sporting tools man ever created from the moment I crashed into the rear of a car in the parking lot of Ralph’s market, on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, Calif., while learning to ride what seemed, at the time, to be the world’s largest motorcycle, an Indian. My brother had borrowed it from a friend, whom, I’m fairly certain, soon became an ex-friend.
Ward’s says that last year motorcycles generated a trade volume of some $350 million. The company also points at an alarming increase in injuries due to motorcycle accidents, but fails to add that the old familiar “miles traveled per accident” level has dropped considerably, while the number of machines on the roads has increased dramatically. On the other hand, the report very fairly points out that driver awareness and training programs, with accents on safety, are on the increase.
During the first six months of 1968, to quote the report, imports decreased by 16.6 percent over the same period in 1967, and are running at about the same level as in 1966. Ward’s also, and very astutely, points out that model announcements for 1969, particularly from the Japanese firms, are leaning toward even more larger machines. Note the scoop on the 750-cc Honda Four in this issue, and, even earlier, the story on the bike in last month’s “Report From Japan.” CW’s Editor, Ivan Wagar, is, at this very moment, in Japan, testing yet another sensational new large displacement machine from that country.
Let me quote Ward’s a little further. The accompanying table describes sales of imported motorcycles and their displacements, for the January through June period, 1968.
YOUR LAND IS MY LAND
A few issues back, I reported that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is showing an increasing interest in activities of off-road vehicles, which includes motorcycles, on federal lands. Recently the BLM released a marvelously comprehensive, sensitive and intelligent report, The California Desert. It is a 378-page bound study of the California desert, its geography, climate, topography, analysis of its geology, mineralogy, paleontology, morphology, archaeology, history, and last, not least, recreational use. The latter is the true reason for the report. The fantastic increase in use of desert lands by motorcycles, 4wd vehicles, dune buggies, campers, hikers, rockhounds, and thousands of others who simply wish to escape the hectic life of the cities, is becoming a serious problem. People are running over almost every inch of the precious, wild, and mostly publicly owned California desert.
Big Brother is coming! It will not be long before the BLM will tell desert recreation seekers where and when they can ride on public lands. I cannot condemn the BLM’s reasons entirely. Only a blind fool would not be aware of the increasing population and the need to make the widest use of lands owned by all of us, the taxpayers, and the use of that land by the greatest possible number of people, based on the desires of all who express an interest. Motorcycling is only one sport, but motorcycling represents thousands of people who ask for their rightful share of the wilds.
The BLM is well aware that motorcycling has increased by about 300 percent in the past five years. I do not have accurate figures on hand, but I’m relatively certain that four-wheel drive nuts have probably multiplied ten times in the same period. The entire sport of dune buggies has grown from nothing into what it is today in even less than five years. At present, there are an estimated 75,000 dune buggies running around the open country of the U.S. I am continually amazed at the number of tents and campers that fill the attractive and inviting corners of the desert during spring and summer months. In short, there are a lot of people who use the deserts. There will be a lot more in time. Each one has his rights. And rights of the individual is one of the most controversial subjects of our times.
My first thought when the BLM report was brought to my attention was, indeed, the rights of the motorcyclist. The first thing I wanted to see in the BLM report was how, or if, the motorcycle rider has been taken into consideration. He has. If we must have control of this vital resource, and I do not know how some exercise of control cannot be effected considering the large number of people crying for their share, then I can honestly say that motorcyclists are being considered every inch of the way.
(Continued on page 10)
Continued from page 8
The BLM report covers the situation in painstaking detail, it describes with uncomfortable accuracy the damage being done by some motor vehicles and their careless operators. A few pictures of the kind of trash left by people who litter the desert is enough to put one fully on the side of those who hope to see all motor vehicles banned from the desert. I might point out that the BLM recognizes some groups of desert users, bike riders in particular, are far above average in their desire to leave the desert as they found it, taking most of their trash with them. But the leavings of human outings are only one of the problems—a minor one at that.
What disturbs most of those in the know is the damage to watershed areas, ground cover, wildlife, plants, historic treasures, archeaological sites, and the like, that dot the desert. Vehicles that cross certain lands repeatedly break .up the surface soil. This allows erosion during the sometimes violent rainstorms. Precious wildlife often is frightened away permanently, or their life cycles are disturbed beyond salvation by noisy and ubiquitous machines. Things that should be preserved for future generations, such as stands of rare plant growth, Indian campsites and burial grounds, and old towns and mine sites, can be destroyed by twoor fourwheeled machines. I may sound a little like a conservationist. I am, to a degree.
I am simply spelling out the case against overuse of precious natural resources.
The problem has come to the surface in California first, as is often the case in national trends. It will find its way to other states in due time. It will not be long, and the California problem is California’s alone now, but not for long. The BLM is an arm of the federal government. As such it will extend its power to every corner of the nation when the need arises. Without sounding like an alarmist, I cannot overemphasize the importance of the situation to those who treasure the great deserts of this marvelous country, and the profound pleasure we derive from being able to roam freely over them.
BLM has outlined a complex plan to be instrumented over a long period of time, and one that is not yet fully empowered. The bureau recognizes that special federal and state legislation will be necessary to implement the plan, offered as salvation of the wilderness. In short, the BLM hopes to be able to set aside certain desert lands for camping, hiking, wilderness areas and sanctuaries, and, of course, dune buggy and motorcycle playgrounds. The bureau’s plans for the motor vehicle areas include race tracks, cross-country loops based on a rotation system that would set aside several sections being used, while others would be fenced off while the earth recovered from the destruction caused by the previous use of the land as a race track.
In reality, these who wish to use the desert and sand dunes merely as a race track would be well provided for. These riders and drivers do not really seem to care very much what the area looks like as long as they can race on reasonably fresh cross-country territory. In this area, the BLM seems cognizant and fully sensitive to the needs of many.
My frustration, and that of many thousands of others, is simply that those of us who enjoy exploring the wilds on a motorcycle, simply to see them, to find clean air and open space, to be out in God’s world as it was made naturally, will suffer the fate of being told we can no longer pursue our pleasure while those who feel the same urge, but prefer to do so on foot or horseback, may continue without interruption. I am not so stupid as to realize that motor vehicles can, under certain conditions, do more damage than horses’ hooves or human feet. I have seen marks on the desert floor that I made many months earlier, and felt quite badly about it.
(Continued on page 98)
Continued from page 10
The future of the desert still is in the balance. The BLM report is only the first chapter in a vital program that will affect a vast number of Americans. Federal government agencies concerned hold autonomous guardianship over 11 million acres of California desert. The BLM was born as an outgrowth of the old General Land Office, and the Grazing Service. The balance of the total 16 million acres of desert lands is owned by private firms and individuals, state and county, and several military groups who do very little to preserve it in its original state. The hordes of people which swarm to the desert will destroy the very thing they come there to enjoy, according to the BLM. Management of the desert, made up largely of land most people don’t want to own or settle on, for varied reasons, will be left to the government. This, perhaps, is how it should be. The California Desert report is a set of recommendations; it details concepts and ideas for a solution to the preservation of these areas. Some of us will have to grin and bear it. The BLM believes a great heritage is in our hands, to enjoy, to damage or to destroy. I will keep CW readers posted on things as they progress. If you would like more information, write the Bureau of Land Management, Washington, D.C. The report was prepared by the California State Office of the BLM, and the Western Regional Office of the National Park Service. It is sub-titled: “A Recreation Study of the DESERT PUBLIC DOMAIN LANDS OF CALIFORNIA under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management.”
MOTORCYCLE SAFETY COUNCIL
I’d like to pause for a moment, to give credit to a group of men from several areas of the motorcycle industry who are really trying to do something on behalf of motorcycling. Specifically, this group is the Motorcycle Safety Council. It is an organization made of men from several motorcycle distributors and allied companies which are directly involved with the sport and its problems. Anyone who has paid the least attention to the current state of things must have noticed how serious the problem of safety has become. Heart of the problem continues to be new riders. Injuries and deaths among the newest riders are the biggest problems that face the growth and welfare of motorcycling.
The MSC was formed among leaders of the major firms, primarily to promote safety, and to improve the training for those new to bikes. Learning the safe ways to ride, how best to avoid impending disasters on the road, how to handle the machine under adverse conditions, all of these items were placed on the group’s agenda. Getting the information to concerned civic groups, driver training agencies, departments of motor vehicles, etc., presented the most difficult task.
The Council’s list of achievements is too lengthy to fully describe here. Members have accomplished many things with various civic groups, educators and legislators. The accompanying photograph shows the group poised, ready to strike on behalf of all motorcyclists in the United States. Members are, seated, left to right, K. Iizuka, executive sales vice president, U.S. Suzuki; E.J. Miller, vice president and general manager, Triumph Corp.; D.J. Brown, vice president and general manager, BSA, Inc.; Dean Willard Edwards, dean of instructional services, San Fernando Valley State College; Thornton Cooke, vice president, Universal Underwriters Insurance; R.U. Robison, general counsel, Automobile Club of Southern California; E.W. Coleman, vice president and general manager, BSA Western; H. Kawashima, vice president and general manager, Yamaha International; K. Hamawaki, executive vice president, American Kawasaki; and H.G. Nakamura, vice president and general manager, American Honda; and, standing, T. Kaneda, Time-Life, Tokyo, and H. Nakamura, sales director, American Honda.
This is truly the first instance that the top management of all U.S. companies have joined in one meeting. These men are not just lower echelon people delegated to attend a Council meeting. These are the guns of member companies-and they’re being brought to bear on the problems of motorcycling.
NEW ISLE OF MAN RECORDS
In a performance that I have come to expect to always be superb, Stanley Schofield’s Sound Stories crew has produced the 1968 Isle of Man TT recordings for CYCLE WORLD Records. It is available in two volumes of absolute realism, taped on the spot during TT week. Both long-playing, high fidelity records were pressed by Capitol Records from magnetic tape recordings provided by Schofield. Total playing time is 90 min. Captured in sound is much of the marvelous atmosphere that exists on the island for one week each June. For the first time, most of the commentary was recorded during actual races, while Peter Arnold described things for spectators. Arnold is one of England’s most famous sports broadcast commentators. He is backed by World Champion Mike Hailwood, who relates in detail the perils and pitfalls of riding in two major races, the 350-cc Junior and 500-cc Senior TTs.
Interviews with top European and British riders, before and after the races, are prime features of this pair of discs. Included is some pre-race conversation between Bill Ivy and Phil Read, which helped to set in motion the present bitter rivalry between the two champions. The last recorded interview with the late John Hartle also is a memorable part of the new series. The first of the two-volume set, LP-581, features the 125-cc, 250-cc and sidecar events. The second, LP-582, covers the 350-cc, 500-cc, 50-cc and the hair-raising production bike races. The advertisement on page 89 of this edition tells how to order these outstanding records. Just thought I would let readers know how happy CW is to offer them.
