Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

L.A. TRADE TECHNICAL COlLEGE'S MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS COURSE By Steven L. Greenberg They rode In - one by one and at different times - from New York, New Jersey, UlInois and a f ew f r om California. They all drove i nto Los Angeles on their cycles. It sounded like an old western badlands movie or a modern day motorcycle gang In the making. But ·these weren't cowboys or hoodlums. They were clean cut, well mannered and all had a high school diploma or its equivalent. These wer e the i ni tial students to compr i se the first two-year a c c red It e d juntor college course of Motorcycle Mechanics i n the United States, at Los Angeles Trade Technical College, one of the largest j unt or trade colleges In the country. The course started In April of 1967 with only four students. Now, one year later, there are a total of 20 day students, as well as 20 ni ght stu dents enrolled. Teaching these raw r ecruits is the job of Douglas L . Chri stopher . The school adm inistration had planned such a course for seve ral years and was very anxious to get It started . The school' s anticlpation of a good class was fu r th er heightened by th e promises of many, motorcycle manufacturers and i mporter s Honda , Harley-Davi dson, Yamaha, BSA, Triumph, BMW and several other known brand names - who pledge to aid i n supplying speci al tool s, moto rcycles an d other warranty parts . Now the course ls f inally on I ts feet, due to the hard work of the school faculty and th e Industry behind it. Beco ming a student is easy enough; None of those already taking the course fo und any dIfficuity getting In . However, just sitting down In the r oom doesn't mean that you' ve got It made. There is a lot mor e to this course than just snapping a cr esc ent wrench and turning. This i s a two -year course and a stude nt must have pa tience, becau se th e curriculum Is varied. Its goal i sn' t to cr eate a 20- week mechan i c who can wor k on one model and merely be a parts r eplacer . This course i s designed to turn out a motorcycle techniclan••• one who has all the quall ties of a master mechanic along with th e charm and abillty to communicate with the buying public. In reallty, a man as capable In the f ront of the shop as the back, or even capable of owning the shop. The motorcycle student must buy his own hand tools to use in the classroom. Upon first entering the class, the student i s banded a list of necessary_tools which he must have f or the course . The list stresses expensive lifetime guaranteed tools, because a tool must last a lifetime lD a mechanic and not j ust three or four years. The cost of the tooillst ls $250.00 However, this price ls deceiving. One must get an adequate toolboJ< to bouse his tools. Several of the students have rolla_y tool boxes that run over the $125.00 marie, aDd this seems lD be the trend. 'Ibere are many other tools that aren't on the list that a good meehanic must have. ODe sbould look forward lD spending at least $500.00 for his tool eJlI)eIlSe. Remember, that a motorcycle mechanlc can't get by on one set of tools like a plumber or electrician. A student must have three sets of tools; one for American machines, one for English machines, aDd one for machines ustng the metric system. our classroom lso't much to look at at the present time, but it's getting better. We spend ftve hours a day, five days a . week there. It's a one main room area with rooms for lockers and special tools. our most prized possess ion is a lathe. We have two valve grinders and three solvent tanks. We have many othe r too ls that are made available to us by means of a check-out too l crib mad e available for all the shop areas . our Instructor has incorporated hi s ei ght years of experience In the industry to do his best with what we have and set up our classroom i nto a motorcycle shop . Th e motorcycle stude nts do actual onthe-j ob type work. Customers br i ng their bikes through the door where they are then greeted by the class foreman of the week. Th e foreman wrItes up a worksheet as would a shop service manager or service writer. He rolls the bike to an out of the way area and then consults the i ns truc to r on the work order. Together they decide which student or students are capable, free, and ready for the assignment. When the machIne i s assi gned, the student works on it within his own area, free to ask any questions necessary to compl ete the job. Howeve r , the questions mus t be those not answered i n the service manuals. The students m us t wor k in clean white uniforms and con duct th em selves at all times in a bus iness-like way . They are expected to apply all available knowledge. The whole concept of this course is to get a student workIng i n a shop atmosphere so that when graduation rolls around , I t won't be a stud ent going from the classroom into the shop , but rather a mechanic going from one shop to another . Work i n th e cliSsroom i s varted, It i sn' t unusual for students to be working on lawnmower or outboard engi nes. The i ns truc tor s t re s s e s tha t the me chanic mu st have the abillty to adapt to any particular mo to r . He r epeatedly points out In th e daily hour l ect ur e period that changing engi ne designs and new m odels of cycl es constantly being pr oduced demand mechani cs who have th e ability to wor k with a wide variety. Ev ery new course s tarting out has I ts pr oblems , and this one Is no exception. It should be reme mbered that this Is the fir st time any city action has ev er fo rmed a co llege course on moto rcycle mechanics any where in the United Sta tes, so the re was no example for the school system to follow. We have much at our disposal as far as equipment, but it does not mee t the dem ands of a cycle class . Right now we hav e many valuable automotive testers and devices which are being r eplaced by all new motor cycl e equipment . We still need mor e special too l s to work wlth, andhavebeenassured that we will have them shortly. A s ye t we don' t have a test ride area due to th e Ins urance requi r ements necessary. But with all these points , we find that we are making progress . The class has a bri ght future to l ook f orward to. A l ready th e school adm i nistration Is starting to get the motor cycle representatives organized i n their back i ng of this course. It Is exp ected that th e mo to r cycle i mpo r te r s will r ecruit the ir mechanics from those who grad uate th e course . T ools that we need to work on the cy cles are coming i n r i ght now. Soon we expect to get mor e shop working area. We expect to be getting many more bikes to work 011 as soon as we build up a shop reputation. Those now enrolled in the course can see the future developmen ts. The motorcycle industry i s growing rapidly, faster than ever anticlpated here in the Unit ed States. The need lor expert cy cle meehanics i s evident. One need only walk InlD a shop to fi nd ou t how great the demand Is, Those who graduate this class will find that there ls a place for them in the Industry. The mechanic will go Into a shop or cycle organization where he will earn a decent living. He will become one of the few people in life wbo enjoys the work he does, aDd it's all starting now, right here at Los Angeles Trade Technical College's MolDrcycle Mechanics class. S IDEWINDERS OPENER Flrst-of·tiI..seasCll _c"mess Is lYident at Orlcon Sidewinders 1961 ._I_II. .t. H..... a comerful of IlIti1llSlum - IIlI sblrt of till -A- Main Event. Slory and Pholos hy J.K. Lac ey You know it's that time again when the Or egon Sidewinders M .C . of Por tland, Or egon put on their first TT of the year• TT racing really gets Into full swing after that In the Pacific Northwest wi th almost more racing than the shift and turn boys can handle. With the weather not yet warm enough to begi n weekly night raci ng the ' winder s run a few Sunday events to get enth usiasm up, th en will switch to F r i day nights on M ay 17. Fr om then on it's ev ery F r i day ni ght until October, a July Cham pionshi p race Incl uded. Th e Novices really had a bash on Ap r il 21. A ll but Bill Cook . This Washington boy won th e Trophy Dash going away and only fo ught with Bultacomounted Gary Try on one lap before getting l oose and making It a race with himself. But wi th three laps to go motor trouble set in and Tryon repass ed along with Jess ee Rodriquez and th ey finished In that order. I think Cook co uld tell trouble was coming as th e Kawasaki sounded a bit off towards the last but came to life on th e last lap and almost over-hauled BOTH the ' Tacos. where the money i s aDd then went out and won it! lave Sheffel aDd Kent Han- sen. both just up from the Norice class also, put on a good battle with Tom Wood and Keith Nerseth. Wood got by all but Reed and Sheffel andsecondpIaceSbeffe1 really fought to keep It, but even so Wood got a well-deserved third while Trophy Dash winner Nerseth settled for fifth. The Expert A Main brought three National Numbers together plus abostof the local talent all wanti~ to win the fir s t ' un. Sonny Burres won his beat race; Emil Ahola, the pride from washington state, took second In his heat; Mark Wllliams, the natioo'slopAmateur last year and the man who won more races on this track last y ear than anyone, won his heat also; Gary lavis, Por tland' s own dock-worker, lop Expert at th e Sidewinders track last y ear and vo ted the most Improved r i der of th e y ear, back with a National Number. He won his heat and bested Burres an d Williams i n the dash for gol d; local 38q Bob F uller , always trying hard; Mark Fo rti er, just up f rom A mate ur ranks, transferred t o Main via se mi; and croWd favo rite T. L . Hoglan, an Expert for a bunch of y ears, to the Main also via s emi. Trophy Duh winners at Portland wIre (1 to 1ft rlCht) Novlel Bill Cook (86), Amateur Kllth Nersetll (97) and Expert Gary Davl s (14). The number one Novice r i der in 1967 is now an Amateur and might well prov e to be the top A mateur In '68. Ike Reed. sa w Reed ride at Cas tle Rock last m onth and was i mpr essed; he managed a fourth at Bo ise, and at Po r tland, well, he won the A Main. Reed didn' t win his neat, nor his se m i. But kep t eoough ahead of the score to make the Main One r e-start and a plug change later off the Exper ts storm, greying Mr . Davis on his Triumph grabbing the lead while Burres, William s, Fortier, and Hoglan drop in behind. Davis, Burres, and Williams charge around and around, Davis beginni ng to tire and Williams l ooking i mpa tient . Burres then breaks his chain on th e f r ont straight and i s out and Williams goes by Davis and starts putting daylight between th e two of them. Meanw blle Ahola and his Norton haven' t been wasting lime. Up through the pack he comes, one by one, and wi th two laps to go sets his sights on leader M . Williams. But this 19-year old Expert has been out front here befor e, picks his pace and It ends that way. A warm day l ull of sunshine, lop talent like we sa w perform, and a motorcycle club that obviously knows what i ts doing really starts the TT season off right. Looks like another good year, full of surprises an d IlI2IIY good races. (Results on page 20) I TH CH s (1bose seekiDC iDf.... tioo about this coursesllould conlactlle pidanee oRic e at L.A. Trade Tee....ieal College located at toO West Washington Boulevard. Los Angeles. California.) R;AMiu* HIGHEST TRADE-IN 239 N. AuHI. Blvd. Ana...... Cal. ..... (714) 533-1309 S R STATE QASS'C 11 SCRAIIILE.\ ILVE APRIL 28, 1968 1st BOB SAUNDERS /B 1 00 Di stributed by MI S S portscycles 311 E. Alexa deF Tacoma, Wash., 98421 ,

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