Round Up
ROUND UP
JOE PARKHURST
LEGISLATORS ARE working feverishly these days, bent on protecting us motorcycle riders from ourselves, for the most part. Two bills now in the works are more than I can pass by without comment. New York State Senator Albert B. Lewis receives my newly created nit-wit award for suggesting the drafting of a bill that would force the installation of governors on motorcycles, limiting their speed to 35 mph. It would seem Senator Lewis would like to have all the riders in his state killed because their machines cannot accelerate out of danger, or from being run over on the road as the bike slows to a crawl at the slightest rise in the road or increase in the wind. I can cope with people trying to protect me, but it scares hell out of me when someone without a grain of common sense tries to do so much good for us it kills us. Riders of New York, watch this guy.
Out here in California we have another one, State Assemblyman Charles Chapel, but he is at least on the right track. Chapel has introduced a Bill, No. 35, that is becoming known among the boys as “Charlie's Beatnik Bill,” as it requires that “every person operating any motorcycle or motor-driven cycle on a highway shall wear a protective foot covering having a hard side.” I've complained here about riders going barefoot or wearing sandals; I had no idea such fast action would be forthcoming. It is a shame we must be legislated into common sense, but as long as motorcycle riders continue to ride illdressed and equipped, lawmakers are going to try to protect them.
NEW CYCLE WORLD BOOKS
Things are changing around the old CW offices these days. For one thing, we were getting tired of seeing bikes in automotive magazines, so we’ve come out with a book about a car. PARKHURST PUBLISHING COMPANY is releasing a new one-shot book on the Chevrolet Camaro (on your newsstands in the middle of March, but we'll send you one for seventy-five cents if you're interested). This doesn't mean that there won't be any more motorcycle magazines — only that we are expanding our field. We’ll follow it soon with a book on the fabulous dune buggies, and some others not yet formulated. We are also working on a hard bound book by Richard Renstrom. It is a history of some of the world’s competition motorcycles.
Our Guide To The Chevrolet Camaro was written by Gene Booth and Jim Wright, and edited by Dennis Shattuck.
Gene is a freelance automotive writer who has staffed for several national magazines, including Car Life. Jim Wright is one of the nation’s best known automotive writers, technical editor of Motor Trend magazine, and another big man in the automotive writing field. The third man in the Camaro, Dennis Shattuck, was editor of Competition Press, and Car Life magazine, and is now a consulting editor for publishers — among them our little company. A gold plated group of experts, all well qualified to put together a complete rundown on the hottest thing to come out of Detroit since the Suprêmes.
While on the subject of new things, we've got a new Stanley Schofield Sound Story for CYCLE WORLD Records. It’s the sounds of the 1966 Isle of Man TT races. New lower prices are possible through a special new pressing arrangement. LP-576 covers the 125cc, 250cc Junior TT, 50cc, and the 5OOcc Senior TTs, on a single record. Our TT record is on one disc for this year. We hope that with the lower prices and by producing only one record, to be able to bring the sounds of continental professional road racing to more people than ever before. Some of the riders and machines on this record are Bill Ivy on the Yamaha 125 twin, Giacomo Agostini on the wild MV three. Ralph Bryans, riding the 50cc Honda twin to a record lap of 86.5 mph average, and. of course. Mike Hailwood on the Honda fours and sixes winning both the 250cc and 5()0cc TTs. Superb fidelity is the trademark of Schofield recordings; the realism is simply shattering. Next best thing to being there, and a heck of a lot cheaper, too.
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IT’S A BEAR
Fgon Walther is the Triumph distributor in Denmark. He's not selling bears these days. The bear is a famous Danish landmark, but is thoroughly fastened to its base. Walther carefully positioned his truck, bearing a familiar portrait, in front of the statue and took the picture.
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MOTORCYCLE MECHANIC TRAINING
I am extremely pleased to reprint the following news release from BSA. Unlike most news releases — not just those from BSA, by the way — it deals with a subject that will be on the increase in the motorcycle industry. One of the most pressing needs among motorcycle dealers is for competent mechanics. Few young men are coming into the trade, due mainly to the lack of proper training for the job. Few dealers are prepared to offer on-the-job training of any kind, and at best, this is the hardest way to learn any trade. Now, the city of Los Angeles is preparing to launch a pioneer effort that should pave the way for the rest of the country. I’ll let BSA tell the story:
On February 6 at the beginning of the Spring semester, the Los Angeles City Schools will start, for the first time in the history of public education, a pre-employment class in motorcycle mechanics. The purpose of this class will be to tram young men to enter the motorcycle industry as beginning mechanics.
The Los Angeles City Schools and representatives of the motorcycle industry have held meetings during the past two months for the planning and development of this program. As a result of these meetings, the curriculum has been prepared and has received approval from the Advisory Committee representing the major motorcycle manufacturers.
This new and unique program will be housed at the Adult Occupational Training Center, 6200 Winnetka Avenue, Woodland Hills, California.
The course will provide 600 hours (approximately four and a half months) of concentrated classroom, laboratory, and live instruction. Stress will be placed on learning by doing, which is emphasized by the fact that the motorcycle industry and dealers have made available working models and running machines on which the students will perform.
Permission has also been given by the local dealers for the school to accept regular motorcycle repair jobs in the advanced stage of the course. This type of learning situation will closely parallel the kind of work performed in the industry and will equip each student with the skill and knowledge for entrance into the motorcycle industry.
The class will meet six hours per day, five days a week for a period of 20 weeks. However, the program will be flexible enough to allow students to enter at any time and continue in the program until they complete the training.
Mr. Dale Martin of Johnson Motors, Inc., has been employed as the instructor for this new program. He will begin his teaching career drawing from a rich background of training and experience in the motorcycle industry.
Those interested in obtaining additional information regarding the program or seeking enrollment, please call (213) 3463540 or contact the school at 6200 Winnetka Ave., Woodland Hills, California (across the street from Los Angeles Pierce College).
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Plans are also in progress to start a new two-year Associate of Arts Degree program in motorcycle mechanics at Los Angeles Trade-Tech College. This course will include approximately 2,000 hours of instruction, and is designed to provide indepth training for those interested in entering the motorcycle sales and service industry.
A SAFETY-ORIENTED INSURANCE COMPANY
There is a lot of talk these days about safety. Mostly talk, with little action, in most cases. Non-motorcycling people tend to get emotional about the subject of safety in regard to motorcycles and motorbikes. It will do little good for me to degrade the safety programs and intentions of some of the groups and organizations that have taken to attacking safety on motorcycles to gain favor among certain elements of the “general public.” Rather, I’ll tell you about a program recently launched by the Universal Underwriters Insurance Company’s Motorcycle Division, to further the cause of safety at the dealer/consumer level.
Universal recently sent me a sample flyer they have prepared for motorcycle dealers. It is simply a safety inspection program Universal is promoting. They are trying to encourage customers of the shops displaying the flyer to bring their machines in for a free inspection of mufflers, mirrors, brakes, tires, wheels, lights and cables, to determine whether they are safe and are in proper condition. You can ask what kind of a nut isn’t intelligent enough to know these things for himself, and a good number of people who sell bikes will tell you there are a mess of them.
It’s not a great big thing, but it is a step towards making riders more conscious of how important it is to keep such things in working order for their own good. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think many riders will take the dealers up on the offer, but what it will do, perhaps, is make them at least somewhat aware of the potential hazard a machine in poor condition constitutes. ■
