Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126007
FREE WHEELING c razy eno ugh to try to meet th~ d is tr i b u tor's st an dard s of size and volume. Ye t they m ak e it on th eir o wn terms. The lo cal car dealer wil l p robabl y sell Hondas as a sideline. and th e p eople wh o bu y th e Hondas will ta ke th em else wh e re to get d ecen t serv ice . The only other d ealer in town m ay h ave a h odg e-p odge of off-b reed m otorcy cles to sell, but h e fills in the h ollow sp o ts in h is day by sortin g o ut diseased Hond as, UP FROM THE ASHES WITH THE MOM e POPSHOP Big town, small town, leavin g the sys te m " as-is " poin ts to the sa me d ead e n d t h e ca r bu s in es s is in : Manufacturers I di strib u to rs trying to salvage saggi ng vo lu m e with re bates, only su cceeding in m ortgagin g future de v e l o pm e n t b y fore going present pro fits, solving lit tl e, fin ding th ern sleves forced to ra ise p rices over and o ver to re coup the losses. And li ke a dark clo ud o ve r it all , th e initiative-destroyin g presence of government bureaucracy . For once I've found a governme n t statistic I can agree with . I think our 01' Simon Sez released this one sayin g th at " ha rd times are goo d for sm all bus iness." Need to do a double-take on th at one? S e ems th at eve n th ou gh busin es s f ail u r e s rise du rin g rec essi ons (an d 99% o f d ropouts are sm all, weak firms), overall, t he number of n ew busin esses formed far o uts trips th e fai lures. It 's become a se t p attern th at when jo b-h olders see the ru g cut from unde r th em b y wi despread lay o ffs, th ey counter by going in to b usin ess fo r themselves. It m ay see m cr azy, b u t it's tr ue . The "business" may start as a desp erat ion sea rch fo r odd -j o b work, an ythin g the ne wly -laid-off can do wi th their hand s an d whate ve r t o ols t hey 've s al vaged. Those that h us tle su rv ive. Some m ay drop out wi th the return of good t imes and steady work, others hi t th e m agic co mbinatio n of successful growth and work satisfaction, never to p u nc h a clock again. Departmen t of Commerce an d Small Busin ess Admini stratio n statist ics tend to bear th is o ut. What this m eans to th e mo tor c ycl e b us i ness is t hat th e conven tional wisdom o f the " tra de." -th at th e tr end is to fewer an d bigger dealerships, m or e diversifi cation under one ro of, m ore sli ck m arketeering with its attendant co sts , m ore de b t to be wr itten off agai ns t fu ture gro w th - is so m ew hat out of date. Conventional wisdom is based o n a mar ke t th at doubled every three to five years. Th e latest re port to cross my des k say s for the fir st half of 197 5 , sales are o ff 3 6 percent from 19 74 , and 19 74 wasn't ex actl y a ban ner year. Conventional wisdom h as said th at the Mom an d Pop shop is d ead ; th at th er e ' 5 no room i n the go -go m er ch andisin g world for anybody who doesn 't have ac res of floor sp ace , a hi gh - re n t l ocatio n, w all -t o - w a ll carpeting, salesmen in neckties , and (oh yeah) a b urden of d e bt and overhead th at would stagger a h o rse. In the big citi e s, wh e r e t he plas tic-fan tas t ic dealersh ip has ta ken o v e r, t h e sm all op erat ors h a ve responded the way th e little people have done nation wide : by dropping o ut o f the sy stem an d m aking do on their o wn terms. They've sai d, " O K, I can't af fo rd a fran ch ised de alership , 111 do wi tho u t". An d they 're making it - by tappin g th e great bac klog of se rvic e business, by riding th e b oomin g g ro w t h in aftermarket eq uip m en t, and by making f ac e-t o-Iac e, one-on-one relationships with their cu stomers payoff better than one-sh o t huckstering. While it works fo r them , it sure takes a lot of people who could be se\ling new motorcycles out of circulation , huh ? And wh at of the places between the citi es? In th e towns where you can still buy a family-size house for under $12,000, where the starting wage scale is still $2.59 an hour , where assets grow by sweat, not by debt? Many brands of motorcycles sim ply don 't get sold there because none of the existing dealers are spells Performance • Continuo us smooth torque and power cu rves fr om an ultra-narrow rotary valve engine. • Tec hnica lly advanced close-ratio transmi ssion in cor porati ng qu ick in-gear sta rti ng and pos itive shifti ng. • l o ng-t ravel fo rward-mou nted rea r shocks for precise handling. • Absolute frame rig id ity fr om perfect triang ulati on combin ing , sw ing-arm pivot with rear eng ine mount. • Magnesium and aluminum alloy componen ts guarantee extreme li ghtness for an ou tstand ing power-to-weight rat io. Lo oking in to the other end of the t el e sc o p e , we find the f orei gn manufacturers in between a rock and a hard place , face d with runaway inflation in th e country of o rigin and trying de speratel y to anticip ate th e ch an ges in the U.S. market. Are we d oomed to follow in the dinosaur tr ac ks of th e car business? Will th e manufacturers continue to build motorcycles that fe w can afford, while at the same time allowing themselve s to be wh ips awed by go ve rnm en t? WI1I they s t i ll c o ntinu e t o chop o ff their small-volume d eal e rs, while consciously m aki n g it hard er for new bl o od to get into th e game? If all this is co ming to p ass we m ay have .a sic k industry on our h ands. It shoul d n 't be. Th er e ar e so many p eople being dri ven out of car owner sh ip , b o th in terms of transportatio n an d pl e asure, th at m oto r cy cl e sale s shoul d be booming. The m oto rcy cle is th e only fu n fo rm of p riva te transportati on left. What 's keeping th e lid on sales? May be it's becau se th e people in the m otorcy cle b usi ness are becoming too much like th eir co un terp ar ts in the car b usiness. Maybe it's b ecause the m e-t o o feathermerchan ts wh o call th eir shop a lts to re" do n ' t k n o w what th eir cust om ers r e ally want and aren 't s e n d i n g th e right signals to their distributors. Maybe it's bec aus e the people wh o st ill ride every day and still drink beer with other m otorcycle riders h ave been carefully sh un te d o u tsi de the sys te m . Maybe it 's time th ey go t in vited back . Y ou m ass-m arketee rs who 've forgotten (o r never kn own) h ow much goo d b usi ness a s e lf- mo tivate d in d ividual can d o o ut of a h ole in the wall , m a y b e it's t im e t o leave Megalo p oli s an d learn h ow th e rest of th e world lives. Su re , if you let m ore sm all deal er s in to the gam e, a bunch of th em are go ing t o try an d die. But th e ones wh o are bound to survive - isn 't re fusin g th em entry cu tting you r own throat? The ru les have ch anged to day , an d th e solutions to our problems lie at th e grass roo ts , rath er th an in the cen ters of p o w e r. T ha t i s as tru e for th e motorcycle busin ess as it is fo r th e body poli ti c. If t he p o w e r -c enters refuse t o ac kn o w le dge th is new fac t , recen t h isto ry say s th is creates a vacuum fo r positive actio n - a vacuum which is filled by th e people out of power while the cen te r withers a way in political isol ation. I think this disease has gone to th e core of th e car business. It's startin g to h appen to th e motorcycle business. But unlike the car business, whose so ul was destroyed year s ago , there are still th e tens of thousands of one-family 0 ' · - r a t or s c arryin g on outside the do m ain of the major franchises. They and th eir customers are sti ll the soul of motorcycling, and the in dustry's real salvatio n in h ard times. Look 'em up , wh y don 't y ou? Lane Campbell motorcycles by bombardier Oistr lb uted by Bo m bard ier Co rp ., P.O . Box 6106 , Duluth, Mi nnes ota 55 806 A merican Federat ion of Moto rcycl ists Motorcycle Road Races September 21 Pre-run t he Nat ional! Ontario Raceway Interstate 10 to Haven Exit Ontario, CA Run on sa me co u n t er c lockw ise cou rse as t he Nati onal. Road racing school free wi t h new rider ent ry . A ll classes. Sign in closes 8 :30 for new riders. lO am fo r others. Entry $15 . 1975 AFM license o nly $7. Ad mission $2.50. under 14 $1.00 For more info call : 213-472-0272 AF M, 1230 Arthur Ave., Riverside, CA 92501 When it comes to Road Racing safety, one organiz ation sta nds out 17