Cycle Round Up
CYCLE ROUND UP
JOSEPH C. PARKHURST
MOTORCYCLING TOOK ANOTHER step towards wider acceptance in Los Angeles not long ago when this efficient looking Harley 74 rider took to the maze of Los Angeles freeways (turnpikes to our Eastern readers), keeping tabs on the awesome flow of traffic for radio station KMPC which broadcasts the information for the ofttimes hapless motorists. Dressed in fire engine red, Lyle Carmody, in coordination with Captain Max Schumacher, pilot of the helicopter hovering behind, works his 80 mile “beat" watching for accidents and traffic tie-ups to which he is relayed by the all-seeing helicopter.
“When we have an accident, cars start to pile up within seconds and within minutes cars are immobilized,” says Carmody; “Mobile radio units speeding to the scene are stuck too, of course, and only a bike can get through.” To perform his duties, Lyle, a 20-year veteran member of the AMA and a member of the famed Victor McLaglen Motorcycle Corps, is continually improving his radio equipment. His latest novelty has been an astronaut’s microphone, built into his helmet and allowing him to talk without taking his hands from the handlebars. Lyle is currently the envy of the cycle riders of the California Highway Patrol for his bike.
AMA AGAINST THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY
We often find ourselves at odds with the American Motorcycle Association, and have cast several barbed remarks in their direction at various times. It would be less than honest if we were to allow their skulduggeries to slip by without commenting upon them; and it would be less than fair if we did not offer praise when it is due.
The AMA has acted in motorcyclists’ (indeed, everyone’s) best interests in a battle being waged with the State of New Jersey’s Turnpike Commission. The Commission had arbitrarily ruled motorcycles off the state’s turnpikes, and would very likely have gotten away with it had not the AMA secured a restraining order through the New Jersey Supreme Court w'hich will prevent the bike-ban from going into effect, until the matter can be settled in court.
Legislation such as this can be fought, as I have said on these pages before, and it takes the concentrated efforts of large bodies of people or organizations that can concentrate large amounts of effort and money into combatting such gross injustices as the one planned by the narrow-
minded New Jersey Turnpike Commission. It strikes me that if one single bloody red cent of gasoline or license tax money derived from motorcycles and scooters is used in building these toll roads they cannot constitutionally be denied the right to ride upon them. Our compliments to the A.M.A., I recommend all New Jersey residents concerned put the proper pressure on their political representatives; numbers count.
NEW MOTORCYCLE PUBLICATION
Motorcycle enthusiasts in Southern California are now being treated to the presence of a new publication, that of the Motorcycle Journal. A weekly newspaper devoted to all phases of motorcycle activity in California, Editor/Publisher Roy White pleads a slightly overstated need for his publication in the first issue of the well assembled paper. We welcome them to the fastest growing sport in the country, I agree that we do indeed need a good motorcycling newspaper.
CLUB IS HONORED
Members of the Milwaukee Civic Riders Motorcycle Club received special commendation from the Chief of Police of Brown Deer, a Milwaukee suburb, for their community spirit in assisting a high school homecoming parade. Club members in the picture are; Tom Schroeder. AÍ Aspden. Gene Castona. Ernie Pieper, Andy Koenig. Bob Oilke, Henry Witte, Bill Smith and Whitey Dolhopf.
OTTO WALKER PASSES AWAY
H. Otto Walker of Oakland, California, the first motorcyclist to exceed 100 miles per hour and champion rider in the years from 1911 to 1921, died December 18th at the age of 73. He gained fafne in 1915 when he won the Dodge City, Iowa, championships at 104 mph. For the past 30 years he has skippered the fishing party boat “Keesa” on San Francisco Bay. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Grace Walker, a daughter, sister and a brother.
SKULL WORK
Motorcycle rider James F. Mooney spotted a makeshift grave while riding in Pipe Canyon near Los Angeles,digging, he found what he believed was the skeleton of a child and a skull; he called authorities. Sheriff George Walsh said the skull in the twig-marked grave was made of plaster and the skeleton was that of an animal.
A MOTORCYCLE IS BORN
CYCLE WORLD has been handed what amounts to a scoop. A short time ago I was invited to visit the Pacific Basin Trading Company’s headquarters in Athena, Oregon, to see the prototype of the first really “new” motorcycle to appear on the American market in some time. After a few hours riding the new Hodaka Ace 90 in the wild country surrounding this little Oregon town. Henry Koepke, Sales Manager of PABATCO as it is known, had made a new fan for his pet. Koepke is virtual designer of the new bike, the results of much experimenting with the now defunct Yamaguehi line PABATCO imported, and an extensive session with the builders of the bike in Japan, the Hodaka engine company.
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Hodaka manufactured the power plant used by the Yamaguehi motorcycles and PABATCO stocks a complete line of replacement parts for Yamaguehi though no new units are available. I was given a guided tour of the parts department and can bear witness to the extent of the Yamaguehi parts stock which shares their large quarters with parts for PABATCO's other bikes, the Cotton scrambler, trials machine, and Telstar road racer.
The machine I rode, shown on this page, though an advanced prototype and differing considerably from what the standard models will be, was one of the best handling lightweights I have had the pleasure of trying. Shortly we will have the opportunity to spend more time with one in a Trail Test. Major differences between the model shown here, and what the ultimate machine will be, are; the gasoline tank, a hastily made mock-up, luggage rack, muffler, air cleaner, and a few minor changes.
The 90cc, single-cylinder, two-stroke Hodaka engine is the major product of the Hodaka company who are engine manufacturers primarily. They also supply the 55cc and 80cc engines mentioned in CYCLE WORLD last month for which we must correct the prices given. The Hodaka 55cc retails for $114.75, and the 80cc is priced at $121.34. Exactly the opposite from what we listed. (Ulp, Ed.).
G. M. Whitney, head of PABATCO, Chuck Swanson, Service Mgr., Koepke and I spent a pleasant, though chilly, afternoon with the little jewel, trying our best to break it, without success. Designed as a more or less double-purpose street/trail bike, the Ace 90 sports many interesting innovations, not the least of which is the all-tube frame, 8-inch ground clearance, four-speed gearbox employing Hodaka’s patented constant-mesh gear engagement system, a wide and comfortable foam rubber seat, huge and more than ample sealed beam headlight and other features that will be dealt with in our trail test later. If the lightweight class succeeds, it will be due to such bikes as this.
