Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

CYCLE VETTER P TO 2 OF S Vetter Fairings is introduc i ng the Pbantom/ 2, newes t a ddi ti on to their line of fiberglass motorcycle fairings. The Pbantom/ 2 is the for erunner of a limited edition P han tom full fairing and has the di s ti nction of being the only frame moun ted fairing with an adjustable winds hield . Not attached to the forks, It offers no bias to s tee r ing, which increases the stability of the macbine. Th e new Vetter Pbantom/ 2 offe rs practi ca1ly all the protection and penetrating abili ty of the company' S full fairing (a t a cons iderabl e saving) and, like the r e st of the line, may be fitted to most popular motorcycle models. For further information write; Vetter Fai r ings , Dept . N, P.O. Box 3014, Champaign, Illinois 61820 PROF ILE: FRITZ HOLMBERG A Dealer W Sometbing to Say itb By Delmer O . Gasche New Vetter Phanto nV2 fi berglass fal ri ng attaches to lIle Irame. OREGON "'LL CLIMB By Vi rginia Co pe l a nd The Grants Pass Motorcycle Club of Grants Pass, Ore. held the ir firs t hillclimb of the season on Sunc::.y, February 18. With an eye cast a t the sky to see if the rain was going to hol d off, the sponsoring cl ub sent the flrs t of 39 riders up the hill . The 100 class was the flrst to run and since this class can not make It over the top of the hill the finish line for them is considerably lowe r . This class pr oved to be most interesting because it was made uP of new riders, all of them under 16 years of age . The winner of the 100 class ... as nine-year-old r Scotty McLane of Sunny Valley, Or e . riding a Bultaco. Scotty's best time was 5.5 seconds, with Dl.vid Hall of Grants Pass on a Hodaka running a close second with a 5.7 . Frank Word Jr. of Grants Pass mounted on a Bultaco cameinthlrd with a 6. even. This was the flrst time any of these boys had ridden competition and they did a great job. The 200 class ended in a tie with Bob Snoo1I:s of Sunny Valley, Ore., riding a Bultaco , and Dale Hall Jr., Grants Pass, also on a Bultaco, both making It over the top with a 13.7. To break the tie they had a run-off an d Bob beat Dale out for fi rst place. Karen Word of Grants Pass, the only femaie rider competing, looIt third on her Bul taco. Ken Dole came over fr om Medford to take flrst place in the 250 class . Ri ding a C.Z. OWBed by Walt Gib bs, he 'IIent over the hill in 12.5, an d running a very close second was Wes Wor d, Grants Pass, on a Bultaco with a 12 .6. Coming in t!'l rd was Larry McLane from Sunny Valley on a Bultaco with a 12.8. The 500 class saw a 450 Honda owned by Pollock's Marina. and ridden by Gene Schneider of Grants Pass take flrst place with a 11. 5• Following Gene was Don Price of Medford ted on a Triump with a 12.1. Third place went , Grants Pass on a Trito Bob Va umph who made it over the top with a 12.2. The 650 class fairly flew over the crest with Dick Cham ber of Grants Pass doing the best when he seat his Triumph over in 10. flat. Greg Bowman, also of Grants Pass and 00 a Triumph, ran a close second with a 10.4. And with the 650's making thei r last run the hillclimb was over for the day, but they 'IIill be back again on SUnday, March 3rd. Fritz Holmberg , owner of Cascade Honda Sales in Ta coma, Washington is II dealer with something to say about the motorcycle industry. "I feel there is little too much gr eed -on the part of the parent companies," he began. " We wer e once the largest Honda dealer in this area but no lo nger. 1 feel that there has been too much discounting on the part of dealers an d that it has hurt business in this area. Within the last few years , dealerships in this area reached a saturation po int. I do think that things are beginning to clear up a little now but all of us were hurt by this. " A dealer can't do anything about this situation. The franchise ag reements one s igns ar ~ pr imaril y con cerned wiU, what the dealer will do for the factory rather than what the fa ctory will do for the dealer. A few companies - BSA and BMW come to my mind right now- seem to be pr e tt y fair about not overloading areas but most fa ctor ies seem to be willing to set up anybody who has alltUe money and will sign the agreement. "Another thing the factories a r e doing that hurts the business is allowing franchi s es to dealers In situations where the bikes are only an added attraction rathe r than the only means of li velihood. These dealers can afford to c ut prices and discount items. For example; a ski shop in this area is bandling bikes. The bike sales are all gravy to them since they make their main profit from ski equipment. I feel we've los t a hundred sales to them in the last year. This sort of thing tees me off. I'm in the motorcycling business and because of the greed of certain factories I'm losing sales to a ski shop. I don't believe anybody shonld be able to monopolize any item, but there should be some considerations given to those of us who make our living exclusively from that Item . " In the early '60'5 we were leading this area in sales an d we put a lot of our profit back into the business. I don't exactly know what happened but 1 guess the parent company flgured that u one dealer was doing that 'lle11, the n two dealers would do twice as wen. Every year the pi e gets cu t a little thinner, pl us the fact that it kills a dealer's incenti ve . I had been told that 1 co uld sutHlealers out in my area without worrying. Then one day I got word that one of my sub-dealer s was a dealer. This s ort of thing bur ns you up when it happens. "I can understand the views of the parent companies . I suppose they figure that competition a mong dealers in an area will weed ou t the weaker ones. However, I think the Japanese companies especially compete with each other to see who can get the most dealers into an area. Of course, there is a of diminishing returns for the parent companies who overload in this point manner. A lot of dealers ha ve gone under in the last few years. One of the dealers in this area who was the worst discounter has now lost his franchise . But all the same, he was in business almost two years and he cost us a lot of sales . " It' s too bad we dealers did not ge t or ganiZed at the beginning of !his growth period an d wor k out somethi ng to proleet ourselves from thi s overloading. It has always seemed to me that the motor cycle com panies coul d us e the num be r and kinds of a uto dealers in an area as some kind of criteria fo r judg_ ing how man y franchises to let out in tha t area. Some sy s tem s houl d be worked out, that's for certain. " Anothe r point, especlally with the Japanese bikes, Is the lack of inter changeabl e parts be tween the different models. A lot of our profit and working capital goes r ight back to the parent company for parts. One of these days eve ry dealer is going to have a buil di ng full of paris an d no wor king capital. "I am beg inning to believe that the parent companies are doing this on purpose. There are so many items which coul d easily be made in te r changeabl e . Eve ry model that comes out has a whole li ne of new parts. It's not onl y the lnltial cost of the paris that hurts the dealer , it's also taking the time to order them and creating places to kee p them . It just ge is more involved all the time and there seems to be no impr ove me nt In s lgbt. "We've got 60 to 70 differ e nt cables for lkmdas alone. Simple things - cl utch parts, gear parts, each is different in every new model. in nuts, bolts and screws for Hondas we have over 6,000 items. This represenis over $300 wholesale outlay for just nuts, bolts and screws! I' m certain the whole thi ng co uld have been covered with less than $100 worth if there was an y degree of int e r changeability. It just seems as U the parent companies are raking their dealers over the coals in a sly sor t of way. . " We used to have or ganizations whic h pretty much held di scountlng in check in this area. Sales stayed up an d dealer s co uld af ford to stock a lot of paris. Then the dealers go t to feUdi ng among thems elves . Here in the Northwesi the motorcycle business is seasonal and it is n' t the kind of business where yo u can suppor t price cutting an d fe uds be tween deale r s . We have to keep experienced help year around and pay them on the profits we make during the seas on . A dealer who bandies motor cycl es alone has to stretch his prof!ts fr om the seas on throughout the whole year an d it seems like the parent companies are hindering rather than helping him. The distributors make money but the dealers do not. The situation should be rectuied." F r i tz' s comments on present legislation were concise. l i lt' S r idi culous," be said. " A motorcycle isn't dangerous . I can look at a motorcycle all da y and it won't hurt me . It's the operator who may be dangerous. But an operator s houldn't be forced to protect himself. We seem ~ be developing a strongly protective soclety and I for one don't like it! The driver's test doesn't pr ove anything . Many accidenis are caused by a type of personality and temperament which isn't going to show up under test conditions. These laws aren't solving anything, just creating a lot of red tape for any potential motorcycle owner to go through before he buys his machine. " Motorcyclists are poorly organiZed and represented. We need a strong leader if we are going to improve this situation. All of us hear rumors of these laws before they passed. Now we' re hollering and it ' s r eally too late , and it's really our own fa ult. We should have acted earlier . It seems to me that what the society wants is for everybody to stand in one place and vibrate - that way none of us will bother each other l" . Fritz Hol mb e rg first en te red the motor cycle business in Missoula, Montana n 1957. "I was goi ng totheUniv ersity of Mexico prior to that, " he s tated, " an d a friend of mi ne there was writing articles for a Mexi co City mo torcycl e publication. I got to attendi ng meets and club meetings with him and one day I mentioned that we did not have a motorcycle shop in my home town. He suggested that when I returned to Missoula it mlgbt be a good business to start. I wrote some letters to Triumph and BSA and when I returned to Montana I bad a BSA franchise. in 1960, I left my shop in Montana and moved to Tacoma. I' ve been in business here since 1960." dn ~Ulm03 100A IIJdV WHITE INTERNATIONAL CORP. ~ O'N E\l ~\lc.,", \lESE a nd deve lopment co . .l69 O RANGE A VE• • GOl.ET A .CALlF • • !UOI7 P M. ~S -H "~9 19 THE HOME OF CH AMP IONS! MOlltesa - Hodaka - Ka1ll3SaJcj WESTMINSTER SPORT CYCLE Motorcycles G Y R. U Loui ~ mel 151-1151 751 4 WestminsterAve. Westminster. Cal. 0.. :G ~§A - - - --- -C"~er--- -,'. - -- a,,: H : I t., . '. 4t2J Se".Iw,. 391-6211 "-~------------ A.C.E. RIM .JACK DIstrIllutecl by: AMERICAN COMPETITION ENGINE ERING 163 S. Fairfax Ave. Los Angeles, Calif. 90036 _

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