Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

i ~·Minute Interview IMeet the Dealer I By sui Harmer MIKE NORTH 12-year-old MIKE NORTH Ls a 7th grader at Garside Jr. HighiDLas Vep.s, Nev. After 3 years of TTcampa1gD1DgOl1 his llttle Bridgestone which Is maiDtained by Tom's Cycle Center of Las Vegas, Nev., he and ' I11s reputatioo for rapid riding are known throughout b1s home state as well as Cal1torDis, where he bas collected many tropl11es. There's notblng much more Important tbaD bike racing In Mlke's young We and be plana on competing just as long as his folks will take him to the TT races. By Delmer O. Oa ache " Motor cycllng bas improved so much . ince I started ridinr tbat you can ' t belleve it," declared Tony J . Scbatz, owner of Sea- Tac Cycle iD Renton, Wasbinlrton. Tony began r iding iD 1951 at the age of 25. " I bought my first bike iD a llttle town outside of Tacoma called Ediewood, " Tony recalled. " 1 was at th1s place tbat collected and sold old machinery. I was there looldngat an old car but you could never belleve tile stuff they bad in tbat old barn. I was looIdng around tIlere and 1 bappened to see th1s old 1913 Excelsior motorcycle. Well, my brotheriD-law bad the lDd1an franchise iD Tacoma and I figured be might want tbis old bike. Anyway I bought it for $25.00. "1 wasn't much of a motorcycle enthusiast at th1s time, but I took tbat old bike home and cleaned it UP. Then I tried to start it. I would turn over but wouIdD' t fire. F1na1ly my brother-in-law and 1 checked It all over and discovered the piston was full of 011. We dnJned It and then 1 kicked It over and she started. And sbe smokedl Man, how she smokedl Then, once the bike was running I decided to keep it. I got to rldinr It around the track between races JWlt to show it ott to the people. And tbat's the way I got started riding." Tony'S brother-iD-law went out of busi ness wben the Indian Companyfolded. "He bad a lot of parta lett over from his stock," Tony sa.ld, "and we decided to fix uP an old lDd1an Warrior tl».t the Harley shop iD Tacoma bad In a box iD tIletr basement. I was farming at tbat Ume and I traded a slaughtered bor for tbis Indian Warrior. After we got tile lDd1an together, I started riding on tile back roads and tratLs with otller motor cycll sts. These guys wer eallrldingover my bead and I just couldn' t keep UP. "About this same Ume I found an old rusty 1917 Harley and cleaned it up, I paid $l5.oo for the Harley. Later I sold both the Harley and the Excelsior to a Harley dealer iD Seattle who collected bikes . He offered me $65.00 for both mach1nes and I sold tIlem. The next bike Tony owned was a 200cc Francis- Barnett. " There wa sn't any ORANGE COAST DEALERS FOR HUSQVARNA PENTON ALL MODELS IN STOCK FOR I EDIATE DELIVERY PARTS - SERVICE - ACCESSORIES ALL TORSTEN HALLMAN MOTO-X ACCESSORIES HADDOCK'S OUTDOOR WORLD 2300 W. COAST HIWAY , NEWPO RT BEAC H (714) 645-1562 ALSO DEALERS FOR: MEYERS MANX - MEYERS TOW'D LYNX MINI BIKES Tony J . Scbatz. class at that Ume for s maller bikes &0 I and a couple of other fellows kept badger ing the race promoters to establ1sh a class and give us a trophy for a 200cc race. They told us to get six guys tagether and they'd provide a trophy. We did and that was tile beg1Jl1l1Dg at the l1ghtwelgbt cIassesiD Tacoma scrambles and enduros." Later on, Tony and 5Omeofhisfrlends talked the promoter of the mldiet bowl iD Olympia to let them s tap motorcycle races between the heats of the midget program. " By golly," Tony said, " we brought quite a few people from Tacoma with us to watch the cycle races and the cr owd iDcreased for the midget races. We rode there quite awh1Ie and it helped the motorcycle racing program iD this area a lat." Tony now bas about 150 trophies and bas wnn mos t of the scrambles and enduran ce events held in the Pacific Nor thwes t. "Exper lence counts for s o much," be sald. " When I tlrst s tarte d r iding It took me so long to wiD a trophy. I rode iD the , snow, raiD, mud and I was always tra1l1Dg along beh1nd the rest. I didn' t know anY tblng about tuning, I tried one way and then another an all tile Ume the other guys went sc r eaming bY me. Then tlnally I started wlJlIl1Dg 8.Il<1 from tIlen 011 I could hardly mIA. But what counts DOW 1& for kids to start young with the llttJe macb1nes.8esldesexperieoce, you've got to keep your react10na sbarp and stay In tile groove. NotII1Dg 11 more tun than motorcycllng. To me, It's a question of what I can do with tile machine , I Ialow th8 mac h1De can cl1mb a b1ll, for example, but can I stay with It? I think It's the most thr11l1nlr sport iD the wOr ld." Sea-Tac Cycle Is iDvolved primarily iD scrambles and endures, In the lastfew years, they bave usually manapdtotake home the majority of trophies iD the events they bave entered. This year SeaTac Cycle will be sponsor ing BtU stutb, a Novice who has done quite well1Dana scrambles and cross-country events. " I can't sponsor a big mac hIne," TOllY explaiDed, " becaWie neither YamaII& or Greeves bas a big machine." Last year Tony rode several races iD the Expert class at Grabam 011 a 250 Greeves. "Of course," be explalned, "1 didn't have much cbaDce to wiD. Tbisyear,however, Greeves will have a 360 andI'Ubetrylng It out iD compeUtion." Like all dealers In the area, Tony feels tbat the motorcycle 1eg1slatlon during the past year has hurt sales. " The a1es will pick back up though," be sa1d. "I went and took my driver's exam. I pUsed but there were some tb1Dgs iDit that I thought misleadIng, Ianawered the questions from the state's poiDt of View rather than from my own experience. IF I would have answered some at the q _ tions the way I would have l1ke to, rather tbaD second guessing and giving them the answers I thought they wanted, tbeIl I would bave m1ued those questions. For example: wilen IWroacb1n&' gravel do you 1. slow down, 2. speed UP. 3. ma1IItaln speed? I wanted to mark speed ~ because wben I hit gravel I speed up to maintaIn control. I knew they cI1GI't wut speed up for an answer 50 I marked slow down. Afterward, someone expla1Ded to me tbat the state ' wants a rider to 8low down before be gets onto the gravel, The word IWroech1Dc 11 the key word but I'm sure some experienced riders are lolng to mIA this and some of the other questions because they are s JJcht1Y mis- • 1 leadlng. " As for the road test, lbadaguy come iD here who's r idden a Trlumpb to work for 15 years and be falled the test because be couIdD't make the turns 1D the road course. However, iD talIdng with offlclaLs I bave discovered tbat the road course has been widened because even the official mach1nes could not make It through In passing style." In summation, Tony bad this to say about the motor cycle business In tile puget Sound area. " Some dealers say we are reaching a saturaUon point iD tile number of dealerships because they are not sel11Dg as many bikes as they did two and three years ago. Well, I didn't sell as many bikes last year as the year before, but I made more money because of parts. I used to think there wer e two many shops iD the Renton area . There were se ven when I first opened up here. Now there are three and I feel we do ea ch othe r a lot of good because a lot of people come out here for the simple tact they can look over three shops with seven ditterent brands In a matter of two blocks . The business Is good and It's getting better In spite of legislation and the number of dealerships iD the area. Competition Is getting stronger and every year more meets are held. It's changed a lot siDce 1951, and It's all been for the better, I belleve." • USED PARTS ALL MAKES , , 400;" TO 60% OFF YAMAHA DEALER . SCRAMBLER MOTORCYCLES 0) 1101 'It. Burbank Blvd. Burbank, CI IiI. 849' 5907 or 845.. 731 Ell. • 7 SALES·SERVICE PARTS' 1M... OM) BSIW '.

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