Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Crooked dealers had be tter start behaving themselves. m.o.&e~ from tbe capitol By Russ Sanford In what has been described as "one of the most c o mprehensive consumer p rotection acts of all time", th e California Legislature a nd Governor Reagan have put their stamp o f approval on Senat or An th ony Beilenson's .. Automotive Repair A ct". This Act extends to the motorist the same type of fair practice protection that he has come to exp ec t from TV repairmen, doctors , nurses , pharmacists, and a host of other professions. The act als o elevates motor vehicle repair, including motorcycle repair, to the ranks of professionalism . A t first glance, one would think th at this legisl ation would h ave been bitterly opposed by the m otor vehicle repair industry. But, this is not true! The m o tor veh icle repair in d ust ry strongly supported this act because it el iminates the unscrup u lo us shade-tree me ch anic and brings credi t a nd professi onalism to the resp onsibl e and legitima t e d ealer. Th e act creates a Bureau o f A u to motive Repair within th e Department o f Consumer Affairs. The Bureau serves many func tio ns, not th e lea st of which is the certification o f m o t o r vehicle repair shops. Withou t such ce rti ficat ion, a m o tor vehicle rep air shop is p roh ibi ted from doing business after Ju ne 30. 19 72. A rigid set of rules a nd regu latio ns have been established and a repair dealer who d oes not abide by th ese ru les will lose his certificati o n and is subjec t to fines, im prisonment, and ci vil lawsuit . Some of the ac tio ns o n the part of a repair d eale r which w ill res ult in the loss o f ce rtification arc : - :'>1aking o r au thorizing in any man ner o r by any means wha tever any sta t em en t written o r oral which is un true or misl eadin g, and wh ich is kn own, o r which b y th e exercise of re asonable care sho u ld be kn o wn, t o b e untrue or mi sleading. - Causing o r allo wing a cust om er to sign any work o rd er which d oes not state the repairs requested b y th e customer or the automobile 's odometer read in g at t he time of rep air. - Failinz o r refu sin g t o give to a customer a c op y of any document re quiring his signature, as soon as the custome r signs such docume nt . - Any other conduct which constitutes fraud. - Co nd uc t c onstituting ros s negligence. - Fail u re in an y material resp ect t o comply with the provisions o f th is ch apter or re gulations ad o p te d pursuan t to it. -Any willful departure fro m o r disregard of accepted trade st andards for good and workmanlike repair in any material respect, which is prejudici al t o ano ther without con sen t o f th e owner or his duJ y authorized rep resentative. - Mak ing fal se promises of a characte r likely t o influen ce, persuade, o r induce a c ustomer t o au tho rize the rep air, servic e or maintenance of automobiles. - Havin g repair work done b y so m eone other than the d ea ler or his employees without the knowledge o r co nse n t of the cust o m er unless th e dealer ca n d emonstrate th at th e cus t o me r could not r easo nably h ave bee n n otified. Some o ther provisions which are d esigned t o protec t th e c onsu m er are : - All work done b y an a u to m o tive repair dealer, including all warra nty w ork , shall be reco rd ed on a n invoice a nd shall describe all service wo rk d o n e a nd parts su pp lied. If any used , rebuilt, or recondi tioned parts are supplied, the invo ice shall clearly state that fa ct. If a part of a co mp o ne n t system is composed of new and used. reb uil t or reconditioned parts, such in vo ice sha ll clearly state that fact. O ne copy shall be given to the customer a nd one co p y sh all be re tain ed b y th e auto motive repair d ea le r . - The au t orn o tive repair d ealer shall give to t he c us tom er a written estimated pri ce for labor a n d p ar t s necessary for a specific job a nd sh all not ch arge fo r work d one or p arts sup p lie d in excess of th e est imated p ric e without the oral o r writt en co nsen t o f th e custo me r which sh all b e o b tain ed a t some time after it is d et ermined th at th e estimated pric e is insufficient a n d before th e w ork not estimated is done or the p arts not estimated are supplied . N othin g in this sec t io n shall be co nstrued as requirin g an a u t om o tive repair de aler to give a written es timated price if the dealer d oes no t agr ee to perform the requested rep air. - Up o n req ues t o f th e customer a t the time the work order is taken, the automotive re pair dealer shall ret u rn replaced parts to the customer a t the time of the completion of the work excepting such parts as may be exempt because of size, weigh t , or other similar factors from this requirement by regulations of the dep artment and ex cepting such parts as the automotive repair dealer is required to return to t he manufacturer or distributor und er a warranty arrangement. If such parts must be returned to the manufa cturer or distributor, the dealer at the time the work o rd er is t aken shall o ffer to show , a nd upon acceptance of such o ffer or request shall sh ow, su ch parts to the customer upon completion of the work, except that the dealer shall not be required to show a replaced part when no ch ar ge is being made fo r the rep lacement part. - Ea ch automotive repair dealer sh all maintain su ch re cords as are required by regulations adopted to carr y o u t the provisions of this ch ap t er. Such re cords shall be open for reasonab le inspection by t he c hi ef o r other law enforcement officials. All suc h records shall be maintained for at least two years. Als o, th e ac t states th at, "N o p erson required to h ave a valid r egist ration un d er th e provisions of this cha p ter shall have the be ne fit of any lien fo r labor o r materials o r the right to sue o n a c o ntrac t. for moto r veh icl e repairs d o ne b y him u nl ess he h as su ch a va lid registration ." Certified re p air deal er s will pa y an ann ual regist ration fee ran gin g fro m 25 t? $50, and in ~xcha nge will be give n sign s to be conspicuously posted in their places of business indicating that t hey are ce rtified. The sign will also inform th e public of the p ro tection wh ich they ar e affo rde d a nd w ill further note t he m eth od of in it ia ti ng action agai nst u ns crupulous r ep air d ealers . Ma ke n o m ist a ke abo ut it! T h is new ret most assuredly creates mo re red tap e m d m o re hea d aches fo r th e legit im a t e and scrup ulous m otor veh icle rep air dealers : but, it 's th e p ric e th at th ey are willi ng t o p ay to rid th eir ra nks of th e and price-gougin g u n s crup ul o us elemen t. As co nsumers. w e must stand and offer a sa lu te to Senator Beilenson, the California Legislatu re, Govern or Re agan, and the "new breed o f professionals". Sometimes. Big Bro th er works for us , too. Address all co m m en ts and in q uiries to r 1.0.R.E. , P.O. Bo x 26062, .. Sacrame nto, CA 95826 . _oramilln'aro undr By Maureen Lee A great big t ip of our helmet goes to a new Distri ct 3 7 club this week, th e Lig h tweigh ts M.C . If t he name seems fam iliar it's because there o nce was a club b y that name a few m o ons ago, but this is a new o rga nizat io n solely to p romote scrambles, a nd a fine job they're doing. It 's not eas y to be a new club and pick up a schedule o f ra ces th ey h ave. Scrambles was dying on the vine bu t they have filled up the calend a r wi th 'em . Our scrambles scene will be further b righ te ned with th e return o f Joh n R. J oh n, who quit scrambles for the more popular form of motocross and th en fou nd th e old bod cou ld n't take th e p o und in g a ft e r his last unload up in Ca na da. Fair warnin g t o the troops: he's after that Number One again . Wonder if h e k nows th at Dave Bickers, who 's abo ut J oh n' s age, has a b ad enough back to make hi m sleep on h is tum my so m e nigh ts. All yo u get out of Dave when h e lo o ks a bit under the weather fr om it is a grin an d the broad Suffolk-accented , VOICES (Cant 'd. from page 4) a race . l t ' s not worth it . The enthusiasm that m y two yo ung nephews had fo r b ikes m ay h ave been permanentl y dampened , th ough I hope n ot. K. DAVIS Long Bea ch, Cal if. Ron Ylncelle t re, president of t he SRA, stated he had heard nothin g about the matter when we conta cted him. "I really don 't know how it came about," he said. "We had three separate med ical facilit ies in the pits includ ing an ambulance , a jeep and another truck . I'm sorry to hear of it happening , but I just don 't see how it could have without me be ing no tifie d, especlallv if the two were hurt as b.d,~ Mr. IH-j,s ~ys ," .. Ed. UOw , it 's alright, you knowoow.' R emem b er all the flap about th e valves in last year's rule book when it looked like the big two-strokes were illegal to ru n sin ce there wasn't a class listed for them? Guess what, ladies and gentlemen? The rule book still re ads the same! Pop ul ar Bill Adams was elected as District 37's Congressman with L ynn Wineland as alternate. A good choice. Should our District be lucky enough to get the sigh t of the '73 ISDT, Lynn is a veritable go ld min e of information on that su bject. Unfortunatel y, I wasn't well en ough to attend as Mr. Sawbones is ge tting m e fit fo r surgery again (this time I'm going to have one of the nice la d ies from Bates ins tall a zip p er at the end of it all and dispense once and for all th is Mic key Mouse routine... a simp le un-z. ip and they can see what m y in nards are doing.) Anyway, I had a kind friend taking some notes so I h op e b etween what he wrote d own a nd wh at I think he wrote down we get so m e pretty good in fo rm a tio n . The in surance changes I w on't touch b ecause th ey arc to o important to b e told in a second -hand fash ion a nd should com e direct from Worthingt on, but here are some lit tl e gem s fo r y ou. :'>!oto cross is now o ff-lim its to professional Experts. I'll h ave t o ge t a clari ficat ion on th at. Does th e AMA m ea n a Clas s C professional? Or a moto cross Exp ert who has b een ridin g th e o th er pro events aro u nd? May b e so m e o f th e squawking abou t Mast er classes a nd re-clas sifying the b oys didn't fall on deaf ears. Contingency award s must n ot exceed S100. I'd like to take that to m ean th at at th e end of the season y o u r jolly sl! nsor S~~: p,:e , ,u h f b~ke : J!' made your N umber One on. In motocross, the Olympic scoring system shall be used . Hurray! M uch easier for the scorers . I'll ne ver fo rget poor Wes Co o ley (wh o started throwing motocrosses wh en half the people didn 't know how to spell it ) trred that one day. Oh , the gnashings of teeth · a nd wailings about "how it won't work out fairly" th at continues as Wes explained. It works perfectly, thank you, alth o ugh that day Wes was fo rced to go back to the old system. If you don't u nd ers t an d it , it works th is way, firs t ac ross t he line one point, number two gets two points, number 15 , 15 points. Then at the end of al l motos run the m an with the lowest number of points is t he wi nner. Saves the sc orers all th at h assle of co unting up such, "Ler's see, number 12 across earned 17 points . et c:' A mu ch ne ater system. Also, for m o to cro ss, you wi!1 be classified as A , B or Crid er s , C bei ng the Experts. Scramb les may no lo nger be called TT Scrambles. That famo us nam e has been taken awa y fo lks . It 's now a scram b les. Since Cal ifornia was th e h ome of the TT, I guess we can muddle alo ng. however. Hope y ou saw Wid e World o f Sports Carlsb ad co verage. Sup erb . Actuall y better than being jammed agai ns t a fen ce where all o ne can see is o ne turn. That cou rse is w hat I call a m o to cross a nd 111st ill st ick b y m y gu ns wh en I say th at m o st of th e m oto cross es we rid e h er e a re nothing m ore th an a good ol d ro ugh scram b les . It 's just "in " t o "ride moto cros s". The Europeans know it, th ough . Just watch th eir grins when y ou bring th e subject up. Th ey k now a scrambles co u rse isn 't going t o toughen y o u up t o their standards when they actuall y ride no th in but motocross. h~ .... "'i)l) 11 W ~ Movie review: '" '" '" C> Q. 'ON THE LINE' By Charles Clay t o n " O N THE LINE" is a movie abou t mo to rcycles. but mo re than th at, it is abo ut the m en who ride them, and why. It is a dramatic docume ntary a notch o r so better than those two other famo us m o torc ycl e flicks , "Easy Ri de r" an d "Any Sunday." "On the Line" tells the story of three men who race the d esert. One is a songwriter·m usi cian (Me n t o r Williams, who composed th e film 's o u ts tand in g musical score); one is Lee Stan ley , co-p ro d ucer of the movie, a ma n of many in t erests . And one is J.N. R oberts , the greatest desert ra cer of all time. It is obvious th at Stanley and h is filming partner Tom Ha yden ( S t a n l e y / H ay d e n Produc tio n s , Hollywood) b oth kn ow and love no t only this desert racin g that they've chosen to m a k e their first fea tu re movie subject, bu t a lso the p eopl e in vo lved an d t he vanish ing desert it self. We are shown the livin g d esert quietly, in clo se-u p , before the cre d its co me o n the screen . There is the (Please turn to page 26) / 'Wl1tin' By Charles Clayton Werner Schutz h as returned to - Ge rma ny, they te ll me , so mewhat m iffed at the welc ome he didn't re ceive from that iras cible old co lu mn is t of Cycle News West, Pap a Weale y . who all b ut acc used Werner of cherry-pi cking th e virgi nal m o to cr o sse rs of the U.S . Wh at go t the old man o n his case was when AMA gran ted inst ant citizenship to th e European ace, al lowing h im t o race in the so-called "National" class at the las t coup le of T rans·AMA 's . We reminded Pap a that America is st ill th e land o f op port u nity as far as imm igrant s are conce rne d . Had we n o t acco rd ed th e honor t o such worthies as Lars Larsson and Gunnar Lindstrom, amo ng others ? You sh ould h ave seen his fa ce! "BUT THEY RAC E T IlE INTERNATIONAL CU,SS" he exploded . Okay , now th at Herr Schutz h as caught the pl ane ba ck to t he Fatherland I gu ess our a p o logies won 't m ake mu ch difference . Bu t should he ever d eci d e t o ret urn for go o d, I'd lik e t o make h is welcome more cordia l, as far as this newspaper is conce rned . Certainly our rid ers need str on ger com p e titi o n if they arc ever to devel op th e sk ill it takes to beat the Europeans in motocross . And if w e can'r go th ere, I guess we sh o uld appreciate Frank Cooper's bringi ng some Europ eans h ere for us to ride aga inst. But as it n ow stands, Kar l Wealey is still as isolationist as ever reg ardin g the National class. He lays the blame equall y on th e FI:'>! and A.\!A . California is n ot th e only state that passed an off-road registra t ion law recen tly . The State of Was hington started re gistering di rt vehicles last y ea r , excep t their legislation left a lot o f loopholes and unanswered quest ions that may keep it fr om bein g any th ing mo re than a "nuisance tax" for motorcyclists. in the Wo rst boondoggle Wash in gt o n schem e is th e provisio n th at m oney n o t spent for add ing t o and maintaining trails , goes into the general f und and th at is the last the rid ers see o f it. Mo re over, th e trail fu nd s a re not ad ministered by a nyo ne agency, as in California, but by the severa l state age ncies th at co n t ro l public lands. N o w an amendment is in the h opper t ha t would require registration ex cept o n machines ridden o n one's ow n land. In other words. as Mik e Halliday, to wh om I'm indeb ted fo r th is informa tio n, p o in ts o u t , " th o u shalt n ot ride unlicensed in your neigh bor' s ya rd, even if h e asks you to co me over for a beer." Whew ! There, but for the gra ve o f Russ Sanford , goeth California. ---.,.,c:Around • ,_ . ~ - , .......~ - "t""';); N ,... Ol .ci tf en ~ Z ~ o ~

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