Round Up
ROUND UP
JOE PARKHURST
AN ORGAN CONCERT in a motorcycle shop made newspaper headlines in CYCLE WORLD's home town of Long Beach, Calif., during the 1969-70 holidays. Joe Koons' BSA shop is the home of a fine pipe organ that Joe constructed from components gathered from various places such as a dismantled theater in St. Louis, Mo., and an old club in Santa Monica, Calif. Koons invited about 150 people to his shop one night to hear several different organists entertain, surrounded by motorcycle tires and accessories. One newspaper columnist who attended commented on the setting, with particular attention to the “Please Don’t Ask To Borrow Tools” signs. Organ music rolled on into the night. Though my bag leans more towards Booker T. or Jimmy Smith, I understand it was a gas.
OHIO MOTORCYCLE DEALERS MARCH ON
I receive a lot of news, all of it good, concerning the Motorcycle Dealers Association of Ohio. This exemplary group ot men can offer good advice to motorcycle dealers everywhere.
I have often bemoaned the lack of motorcycle dealer organization, particularly in such concentrated motorcycling areas as Southern California, where our so-called “dealers association” degenerated into a mere social club, then to non-existence years ago. Members of the industry in California continue to honor the name “Southern California Motorcycle Dealers Association,” but only as an excuse for no-host social functions every now and then. CYCLE WORLD has hosted several, the most noteworthy of which is the annual affair on the SS Princess Louise Restaurant in Los Angeles Harbor prior to the Inter-Am Saddleback Motocross event which CW sponsors.
The Ohio group recently managed to persuade the Ohio Director of Highway Safety to change his attitude towards motorcycle driver eye protection regulations, a task more suited to the powerful Motorcycle Industry Council than a dealer group. The organization was instrumental in the changing of motorcycle licensing program procedures, is working on a driver education program for Ohio public schools, has studied complex areas of law definitions, and generally promotes good motorcycling throughout the state. Their publication, “The Spoke,” spreads the word. Altogether it is an outstanding organization* setting an example I hope to see followed more closely.
