Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

I We're not o ut to establish dealers like other fact ori es though. What we are looking for are a sm all number o f st rong deal e rs. \Ve are n ' t a s uper pow er an d don't plan t o be. What we wan t t o d o is mak e th e Nor t o n-Triumph fra nc h ise so valua ble t ha t everyone w ill want o ne . Th e o nly wa y t o do th at is to keep th e numb er of d e al er s d own so th at everyone has a bigger slice of t he p ie . And , w hen w e enhan ce th e dealer wit h a Top Gea r franchise t hat he can really make m one y o n, th e va lue w ill in crease. It w ill make th e d ealer almost ex clusive . Th e dealer 's st re ngth w ill lie in t he new product s t ha t are co m ing and the T op Gear lin e. We've go t so me pl ans fo r other th ings th at I'm d ying t o men ti on , b ut ca n' t righ t no w. Three or fo ur years from now I t hi n k th e No rton-T rium p h franchise will b e o ne of the m ost profitable to hav e. CN: Isn't it ab o ut time that so m e of the engines in the model line were updated ? IT: True, the older models are due for updates. However, the engineers haven 't been drinking tea o ver th e last five or so years; t hey've been designing engines. We haven't seen th em in this m ar ke t , although we will, because they 've been waiting uritil th ey really knew they co uld sell it in this m arket. Hindsight is alw ays 20 -20 . If they had m ade these d evelopments before it would have made o ur p rob lem s less difficult. CN : Norton -Triumph has abs orbed th e distributi on for th e V. S. from Berlin er Co rp o ra tio n ? Right ? TT: R ight. No rto n-Vill iers Cor po ration in En gland reach ed an agree me nt wit h When you make a motorcycle as good as the Alpina ... you don't need to say great things about it . . . other people do it for you! Here's what Cycle World magazine and Motorcyclist magazine had to say in thei r recent tests of the Alpina: \ "St ick it any wh ere in the midd le of th ickly wooded terrain, wh ere th e twisty t rails abound . . . t hrow in a co u ple of rocky creek beds , logs acr oss t he trail. . .you name it. What yo u have is Alpina terri to ry ." CW 7/75 "Sm o oth power impulses on th e low end and plen ty of torque w ill take y o u u p a n d over som e incred ible o bst acles w ith nary an effort ." CW 7/7 5 Berlin er th at wo uld allow th e Duarte , California o ffice t o t ak e over th e entire V .S . distribution as of May 20. We no w ha ve t otal di stribution in th e V .S . for b oth Norton and Triumph which is o ne st ep toward making o ur job easier . We ca n n o w co n solida te our n a t ional advert ising as we ll as many o t her t hin gs th at will m ak e things run smoo t her in th e long run . CN: You alw ays see m t o b e in a posit io n that o ffers cha llenge . TT: Guaranteed th e job is a challenge , alt ho ugh no o ne guy ca n do anything in this industry because it has to be the joint effort ofa lo t of p eople. I th ink it's go ing t o b e fun because th e whole ind ust ry is just waiting for us to fall on our fa ces. We ' re not going to. To use a cl ic he, we have to ge t OUf act t o gether. It's hard to co me into a position and after a couple of months say that this and that have to be changed, but if t his co mpan y is to reall y go ahead and be a m ajor force in the industry it has t o m ake so me majo r ch anges . We' ve made so me already and t here are more that we have to m ake . It all boils dow n to m akin g the franchise va luable and to do t his we've got to get our act back toge ther in the V.S. and give England the marketing info th at the y need t o design what we want for th is market. We 've got a lot of advert ising th at needs to be changed . We'v e got to let pe ople know we 're here. • "The fro nt end can be lofted at will, fork s do a superb job of soa king up th e rough stuff and th e engine happ ily grunts along." CW 7/7 5 "The 350 is a t ractor , grinn ing at loves th e rough st uff." CW 7/75 l o w - R PM running; it " Now t he Alp is firm ly placed in the market, it' s the bike lo r goin g where , if you had no other choice, yo u'd walk." MM 2/75 "Non-lipped Akro nt hardened rims, sta inless stee l spokes, and aluminu m allo y nipples help in making th ese t he very lightest we ight whee ls in the industry." MM 2/7 5 ... Nuff said? BULTACO SALE " Act ually th e best step forward made with the 7 5 model is the swit ch t o a ch rome-mo ly stee l tu be frame. Dimensio nally t he same as last yea r's 'lo nger-ta ller' Alp, the change in mat erial saved the m a tot al of 8 pounds." MM 2/75 "I I you want t o learn to do wheelies, t his is the bike ." MM 2/75 BULTACO INTERNATIONAL LTD. P.O.Box 62547 Virg inia Beach VA 23462 75 BULTACOS Alpi na 250 , , , , , .$ 947 Fro ntera 250 . . . .$ 1193 Fron tera 360 ., . ,$ 1259 Pursang 125 "" ,$1021 Pursang 250 . . ...$1197 Pursang 360 , . . , ,$ 128 7 Heckel Boots . , .,$ 74 ~w~~s'!!:!Aa,e~nterprlseS Call us & make a dea l wh ile stock lasts speci aliZing in Bult aco - Miura Prod ucts 109 60 Hole Ave ., Riverside , CA 92505 We ship an y w here in U .S.A. Free 100% f inanci ng avai lab le 10 :00 /5 :30 Clo sed Sunday & Mo ndav 714-689-3166 Large parts stock Fast service o n mail orde r / o ut-of-state orders. Wrong size? N o charge o n exc hanges , .......... ' '. And remember our motto ... "We can beat any legitimate deal." 11

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