Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

<0 car shop relates to a Ford or Chevr ole t deal er ship . This comparison with car s hops Is not lig htly taken by Moore . He aspires to becoming the George Barris of the cus tom motorcycle business . He may well succeed In this endeavor . According to his appraisal of custom motor.cycle marketing conditions, the situation for exploi tation Is ripe. Here he notes the past focus of Hollywood on hot rodding and the simultaneous bur geoning of a few speciallzed car shops as a kind of social indicator which is presently repeating its elf In the motorcycle game . According to his 0 w n E!xperience, Moor e believes his enterprise wlli be lucrative . For !Ive years Moore, now 23, built wild street bikes for himseU in his own garage. But he was never able to keep HEY, KIDS ! GET YOUR MEAN, ~ EVIL, FIRE-BELCHING CUSTOM ~ e, ~ ..... .... 0> .... M TORC LE AT YOUR LOCAL O YC CUSTOMCHOPPER M TOR YCLE O C STORE P hotos & Story by Darryl Skrahak About 15 years ago hot rodders were a national menace and Holl ywood made ~ movies about the dis sipated lives they led. So the nice kids who went to the ~ movies saw how neat hot rods were. ;; And they wanted r ods , too. 1: [zJ -.J o :>.. o - - - - I Cycl. D. llcat. ss . n proprl.tor Bob Moo", I s In cen ter, brother Don ( Ie lt) handl.s spe cla' paint work. J ames. RI ch (right) Is lOad manager. And they got them . Respectable-like. Today the nice kids can walk Into a car dealer's showroom and ord er a brand new supercar hot rod straight from Detroit. Or they can ma110rder a traditional rod built from new parts from any of several suppliers who adver tise in the car magazines. With the nice kids and now their parents all driving the latest appr oved model hot rod, Hollywood does n't make movies about hot rods anymore . Instead, Hollywood m a k e s movies about motorcycle gangs. And the nice kids, walking out of the movie house atter watching Peter Fonda race across the screen astride a quiver Ing, ro aring , pur ple illegiti mat e s ex symbo l, get to feeli ng that the machine you meet the nicest people on Isn't quite where It' s at. The nice kids want a mean , evil , firebelching cus tom chopper motorcycle. Wher e does a nice kid go to procure s uch a thing? We may assume, being an average nice kid, he Isn' t ready to disappear Into the underground c hop per motorcycle world and spend months learning to build one himself. So he simply goes down to his local custom chopper motorcycle store and buys one. r~~~~~~~~IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII This story, with a little cutting and ru ing, Is part of the business philosophy of Boh Moore. one . .." S S ~ Co Above: Bris tl ing BSA Is entered In many custom sh ows, this one In S. a tt l. W ash., and a lways plOveS a crow...pl.. .. r, B. low: Custom chopper under cons truction looks lI'k. runky Industri al ..;o~lk~S;U~I~t~u;t~. r ~C P r .. TO THE BIGGEST SELECTION OF NEW AND USED BIKES SEE WJrntreslU (we won't steer you wrong) ~dA " . ~. KAWASAKI MOTO BETA ~ THREE HUGE SOUTHLAND LOCATIONS 8) 15745 Lakewood Blvd. Param ount, Calif. (213) ME lH313 Moore's business Is supplying the custom chopper shop where nice people of all types - and all ages - can buy strange motorcycles. He runs the Cycle Delicatessen, loca ted at 1529 South Victory m vd. In Glendale, Cal1!. The visitor to Moore's shop will not !Ind the usual kind of motorcycle store. The rows of factory- neat new motor cycles are missing from the showroom . In their place are a few bikes, and these are obviously not factory models, but carefully detai led customs. . The parts department la cks the usual shelves full of boxed and numbered parts. The Cycle Delicatessen sells custom and antique parts, many manufactur ed In the shop, or remanufactured. The customer may pick and choose ac cording to what he wants , notby number, In the shop motorcycles aren't worked on so much as they are built. Frames are lurking about in various stages of mcdtncation, The engines glow with chrome parts and exotic color. In s hor t , the Cycle Delicatessen compares to the more usual motorcycle shop in about the same way that a custom 224 N. Anaheim Blvd . Anaheim. Calif. (71 4) 535-3647 9536 E. F ires tone Blvd. Downey. Cali f. (213) 86!H1600 I "I'd r ide It around for a bit, and then s omeone would see It and demand to buy it," Moor e says. "SO I'd sell It to him, us ually at a considerable profit. Then I'd build another bike and the same thing would happen all over again." A year ago Moore, together with his bro ther Don and some of his friends opened the Cycle Delicatessen. ' The fledgling busi ness did well, according to Moore. The shop was comple tely outtl tted with the tools and equip ment he used to prepare his previous machines. After a few months, a backl og of orders for 25 bikes had built up. Then disaster number one struck In the form of an auto accident In which Don Moore was seriously Injured. Disaster number two was another car wreck. This time Bob was out of action. The Cycle Delicatessen had to close Its doors. At this writing the Cycle Delicatessen is Jus t reopening. Much of its shop equipment is gone, sold to pay for the brothers' medical bills. Money Is short, and Bob is seaching for !Inanc1al assistance . He Is also lookIng for good buys in machinery to replac e his shop equipment. Among other Items he needs a lathe, milling machine, drill press, handsaw, air compres sor and spray painting equipment, so enterprising suppliers, please note . Despite his bad luck, Bob Moore is confident his business will prosper. To the visitor he proudly shows his completed bikes, and the ones under construction. Custom show pr omoters telephone him to contract for display of his mach ines . There are exam ple s on hand of the Harley- Davidson heads he modl!les to accept one car buretor a piece, and the disp lay case Is well stocked with parts a chopper builder needs. At present the Cycle Delicates sen Is undergoing a . "complete redecor atin." "Come by In about two months" Moore told this reporter . "We'll haV a ; grand opening and some new bikes. Guys who want to show their ownbike s or s tu!! they make can call me and we' ll have a real motorcycle show. There'll be alive hand and motorcycle movies and the place will really be !Ixed up," We can hardly walt. ,

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