Round Up

ROUND UP

JOE PARKHURST

MOTORCYCLE IMPORTS were up 59 percent for the first half of 1970. Japanese imports alone increased 62.2 percent, and now account for 84.7 percent of the total market. Motorcycles made in the United Kingdom represent only 5.2 percent of the market. Eight countries showed increases, three showed declines. In the 1969-70 period, motorcycle sales gained by 129.6 percent, but for the 1970-71 period, they are not expected to exceed an increase of over 100 percent.

One real oddity in the present statistics is the position of Taiwan, which jumped to 4th place in the standings with 15,302 units exported to the U.S., all of which were mini-bikes from San Tong and Hap Jones. One observer of this phenomenon, Ward’s Automotive Reports, predicts they will grow to second place in a year or two. But I don’t think it’s possible, considering the new machines due in 1971 from England and Italy, among them the 350-cc Triumph Twins and the BSA 500.

Bikes under 90cc account for 38.4 percent of the market, up 62.7 percent. Over 290cc, and I am not certain why the statisticians chose that as a breaking point, reflect a fantastic growth in the use of big-bore machines, which account for 29.3 percent of the market. This marks an almost unbelievable gain of 90.6 percent. Ninety to 190-cc bikes gained 37 percent, and claim 33.0 percent of the market.

The accompanying table indicates figures supplied by the U.S. Dept, of Commerce, Foreign Trade Division. It reflects imports, but not necessarily sales.

HAP ALZINA DIES

Several months ago one of the real pioneers in motorcycling died. Hap Alzina, a grand old man, died of a heart attack at 76. Hap was in the motorcycle industry for 56 years, retiring in 1965, when he sold his BSA distributorship to the BSA factory. The headquarters was subsequently moved to Duarte, Calif., from Oakland, where it had been located for 15 years.

Imports of Motorcycles By Country and CC Rating

Alzina was the western Indian distributor for most of his years in the trade, right through its collapse, which occurred not long after he took on BSA in 1949.

I will always remember him for his good-hearted attitude, his consistent friendliness, and the general good cheer that surrounded an encounter with him. He received me well in 1961, when I first started calling on people in the motorcycle trade as the brash new publisher of a motorcycle magazine “nobody needed.”

Hap was a full-fledged member of the old “belt drive bunch,” (which I now know to be a great bunch of old guys). They had the tiny motorcycle business in their hip pocket and weren’t about to

let a smart ass kid get into it. Nevertheless, he was always cordial and cooperative.

Hap was one of the first in the old industry to see the possibilities that were ahead for motorcycling in the early Sixties. It is almost humorous when one realizes that over five times more mini-bikes alone were sold in 1970 than total motorcycles in 1959.

Hap is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. Though he had been out of the industry directly for several years, we always saw him at races like Daytona or at social functions. He was a beautiful example of the successful American businessman who worked hard, started with nothing, and built a business with honesty and a straight-ahead, common sense approach. He made a lot of friends: I like to think I was one of them.