Cycle Round Up
CYCLE ROUND UP
JOE PARKHURST
CYCLE WORLD'S MOTORCYCLE SHOW
As predicted, CYCLE WORLD'S First Annual Motorcycle Show was nothing short of a sensation. I am hard pressed to be reserved in my enthusiasm in describing the success at presenting the first show. Almost 70,000 enthusiasts crowded the handsome Los Angeles Sports Arena, the largest audience ever assembled for a motorcycle display. Virtually every member of the motorcycle industry took part by displaying their 1964/65 models, over 80 custom machines were viewed, and 30 machines of my own invitation were placed before a critical audience. Personally, I was probably most gratified to see the motorcycle industry cooperating for the first time in a genuine, unified effort to entertain the public.
Of course there exist other motorcycle shows, but they are either wholly custom shows or very small dealer showings. CYCLE WORLD'S first show was in effect a combination trade show, custom show, and a presentation of some of the better machines in California. Few members of the motorcycle industry of any consequence were not represented, and the custom entries had to be restricted in order to have enough room to properly arrange them for viewing. Such machines as the Triumph 230 mph streamliner and the Honda four were sensational, CYCLE WORLD'S own booth, manned by staff members, was often mobbed by well-wishing readers. We were happy and proud to meet so many of our readers and look forward to next year and the greeting of them, and more, again.
Industry members were overwhelmed by the avalanche of dealers and visitors swarming about during the show's busier hours, many of whom came hundreds, even thousands, of miles, to see the fabulous array of machines. We. in this case meaning I, hesitate to describe to people who did not attend the CYCLE WORLD Motorcycle Show, the enthusiasm and warmth with which the commercial members accepted our efforts.
As an editorial comment on our success, it is obviously nothing sensationally new to stage a show. The automotive industry enjoys several such events every year in various parts of the country. It is, though, deeply satisfying to prove that the automotive and motorcycle industries are not very far apart and that what works well for their interests, also works well for ours. We did no more than stage an event that is common activity to the automotive industry. For the first time (the "why" of this will forever remain a mystery), we assembled a custom / trade / motorcycle show on a large and professional basis and were overwhelmed with the extent and depth of its success.
Naturally I am preparing for another event next year; early indications are that it will be even larger in every respect. Again, it is quite difficult to be modest after such overwhelming success with our first show, but I'll try. It was an exciting experience every moment of the brief 29 hours it ran. 70,000 people in so short a time, crowding to see the most glamorous array of motorcycles ever viewed under one roof in the U.S. is a bit too much for us to be reserved over.
A MOTORCYCLE HERO
Careful scrutiny of the nearby photograph will reveal a young man being carried on the shoulders of several admirers and being followed by many hundreds more. The young man did not just finish winning the Olympics, or bringing some mortal enemy to his knees on behalf of his country, he simply won a motorcycle race in Italy. Even funnier, he isn't Italian; the adored fellow is Benedicto Caldarella from Argentina and he had just won the 500cc class of the Imola Gold Cup. Young Caldarella does owe his heritage to Italian parents. Gilera is concentrating their racing efforts on Italian riders and Calderalla is being hailed as another Juan Fangio, yet another Argentine of Italian parentage who did pretty well for himself in racing. It is common knowledge that Italians love Italians best and it would seem they find it easy to overlook a few thousand miles of ocean.
CYCLE WORLD GOES TO EUROPE
CYCLE WORLD'S September issue, the issue following, though it sounds like months away, will contain the report of an extensive trip Gordon Jennings, CW's Technical Editor, and I, will take to the Isle of Man for the TT reported elsewhere in this issue, and an extended visit to several manufacturing plants in England. The report on the TT by CW's B. R. NicholIs was rushed in order to make this issue. An extensive report on the TT from Gordon's and my standpoint will appear in the next issue along with an elaborate report of the motorcycle industry and sport in England today, including details of our visit to Triumph, BSA, Norton and Matchless, and whatever else we can cram into one short week. I think our readers will find our reporting of some interest since it will be the tale of the first such visit of a CW staff member to the British motorcycle industry.
We have been invited to several rather important and exciting events, one of which is to be a personally guided tour of the Isle of Man and the TT by Mr. Peter Crebbin, Chief Marshal for many years and an immortal figure in the TT. We will return with first hand reports on the technical and personal aspects of road racing, engine tuning and design, manufacturing and marketing of modern British machines, and a detailed report on our experiences in one of the world's motorcycling capitols. At this reading we will not have returned from England and one of the most exciting experiences of our history. We feel our readers will enjoy our reactions almost as much as we will the experience. We hope!
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CYCLE WORLD GOES TO A BUFFALO FEAST
We turned out early one morning last month and rode to Calico, a ghost town in the middle of the California desert, to sample a buffalo dinner dished up by three well-known purveyors of two-wheeled conveyances, Ed Kretz, Dave Mason and Skip Fordyce.
Riding this month's road test Triumph Thunderbird the 165 miles from Long
Beach to Calico nonstop in 2 hours and 15 minutes, we arrived in good time to inspect the ghost town, whose authenticity has survived the installation of numerous catch-penny devices, and sample the tasty buffalo, which compared favorably with swiss steak. The annual Buffalo Day is so popular with southwestern riders and their families (tickets sold this year: 600) that one buffalo barely serves the multitude.
USGP SCHEDULED
Though no one was more surprised than I. the most recent bulletin from the Federation Internationale Motorcycliste (F.I.M.), states that the United States Grand Prix is again scheduled to run in 1965. March 6th and 7th are the dates, and it is interesting to note that no mention is made of who the sponsoring organization will be, though I am certain it will again be the United States Motorcycle Club. The bulletin states that the organizers of the U.S.G.P. would be advised that they would have to adhere exactly to the F.I.M. rules. Pity there is no one who could advise them regarding a lot of other things.
JAPANESE DIGNITARIES IN THE U.S.
Some of the more important visitors to CYCLE WORLD'S Motorcycle Show at the Los Angeles Sports Arena were a pair of gentlemen from the Kawasaki Aircraft Co., Ltd., of Tokyo, Japan. Ken Kay, of the Distributing Company of the same name, was showing the pair how the American motorcycle market functions and arranging for the manufacture and delivery of several new models of the Trojan and Omega machines made by Kawasaki and distributed in this country by Kay. Among them are the 500cc Omega, the largest Japanese-made machine on the market and the portent of even more interesting things to come from the firm.
Mr. Keiji Suzuki, and Mr. T. Ichikawa spent several weeks in the United States, including a delightful visit with me discussing what I felt would do well on the American market. If the interest shown by these gentlemen and the hundreds of suggestions, including mine, they returned to Japan with are put to practice in the foreseeable future, we will see an even further expanding of the Japanese domination of the world's motorcycle market to include 500cc and larger machines. An interesting prospect.
MOTORCYCLE SHOW FOOTNOTE
In addition to the warm reception CYCLE WORLD'S first annual motorcycle show received from the enthusiasts in the West and the industry members who took part, we were further blessed with a marvelous rave notice from Southern California's motorcycling newspaper, Motorcycle Journal.
Under a huge headline; "80,000 View Motorcycle Show," Editor Roy White described our display as "fabulous" and the largest such ever assembled. We were highly flattered with their review, even if we did only draw just under 70,000 people. We would like to openly thank Motorcycle Journal for their kind words, and add that the motorcycle industry and sports needs more such cooperation.
