Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ . .'" Uu:Lnginr• 0.. ,... M (l) o " §. < ;@ w AKE~ Z W ...J o >o # 44 10 Maico GP Seat $45.00 Maico wit h Ake's na me o n back in w h ite . A Visit to Governor Reagan and the Men in Sac'to So ld t hro.ugh au th o ri zed M / C D ealers Onl y. For deal er i n fo . w r i t e o r call : 5 345 Tl mke n S t .• La Me sa. Ca li f . 92 0 4l. (714) 460·1402/ (714) 460·6234 OFFICIAL RACING TEAM HOT for HATS CZ, MAICO , HUSKY , SUZUKI , YAMAHA, BULTACO, HONDA . KAWASAKI , TRIUMPH, HARLEY , PENTON. FACTORY ,E MBL E MS AND COLORS " A CYCLE NEWS PRODUCT " SE ND $1.25 to HOT HATS to P.O . BOX 663EL TORO, CALIFORNIA F 92675 . Spec ify size S , M, L and TEAM . Cal if. "f residents add 5 %. • ; L...==-":'". ....Dealer inq ui r ie s in vit ed. ....... ~ "ameki', I Yamaha , Suzuk i, Hodaka. Husk y Honda $8.95-$24.95 & 197 3 Accessor ies Catalog S ' .00 _ :K2Ie. haNGtd phoel a. Q% 85008 competition dynamicI Va lle ywide Catering, Inc . Special Events and Concessions 1146 6 Chan dler B lvd. North Hcu vwcoe , Ca . 916 01 (2 1 3 ) 766-4 3 13 LEATHERS - LEATHERS $25.00 Are you short and fa t then Good I have so m e Leathers fo r you . 34" & 36" wa ist, 27" & 27" in seam ca ll (213) 782-4940 . All II TAKES .to begin YOU R advertising campaign IS APHONE CALL to the advertising department at cycle news . C2l3} 427-7433 and our courteous staff will help you put it together DO IT TODAYI! Photo bv passerbv PaT .. "I ~ P,ndon. " We 're o ff t o see the gov'no r The Repu b lican go v'nor of Cal ... " - (sing to th em e of " Wizard of Oz ") b y J ohn D .lJlrich T he cl o ses t thing California h as t o a yellow b rick 'ro ad is a rain grooved freeway, b ut that did n ' t di minish m y fee lings o f excite men t as I he ad ed fo r Sacramento : E ven as I p ulle d o u t o f m y drivew ay o n m y ove rb urdened Hond a "Mobile Interview Cen ter " , th e worst part o f my t rip to the Capitol was behind me . T o me , th e lo ng road to me et with th e Governor of Cali fo rn ia will n ever just be In terst at e 5. My j o u rn ey of des tin y was already fou r an d one-half m onths o ld, an uncert ain path thro ugh a j ungle o f procedure. Every high pub lic o fficial is a knight p ro t ected by an armor of staff pe rsonnel, and Ronald R eagan is n o exception. With a staff of o ne h undred people , it is n o wonder that it took a long time for m e to get in touch w ith th e right people . Fo r all the lowe r echelons of s taff people knew, I was a loose n u t fa llen off a speedi ng ra dical ma chin e. GETTING THERE IS HALF THE FUN. My own p e rso nal efforts we re no t wo rking, so in Jan uary, 197 3 I asked Assemblyman J o e A. G on salves for help. O ne of m y mo re resp ect ed frie nds. J o e promised to d o some th in g. Just for goo d m e a sure , I also contac te d A ssemb lyman J ohn Bri ggs. a p atron of the st o re I work nigh ts at, an d Stat e Sen at o r Geo rge Du ekmejian , a st ro ng n o-fault in su ra nce fo e from Long Bea ch, who m I had m e t wh en he. sp oke at m y old high school in 19 7 I. A m o n th went by , and suddenl y all hell broke lo o se. I re ceived wo rd I h ad been gra n ted an in terview wi th J ess Un ru h, lo ng a m aj o r Dem o cratic part y leader in California . T wo d ays later I w as give n an appointment with Senator Alan Cran st on ; that meeti ng was to be before I m ee t w ith Unruh th e nex t wee k. Wh en I re t u rned ho me Mar ch 10 after tal kin g wi th Cran sto n , new s was 'wait in g fo r m e from Joe. He ha d ar ranged for me to see the Governor ! UN BE LIEVAB LE! Crans ton March 10 , Un ru h March 12, Reagan Ma rch 10 ! In te n d ays three h ot sh o t appointme nts! Un ruh had bee n be at en b y Reagan in th e last ra ce for governor. and at the time it was tho ught th at Reagan wo uld o p pose Cranst on fo r hi s Se natorial seat in 19 74. My mind was bl own . . March 19 I went to school as usu al, w ent to w ork as u sual, a n d rode up to Sacram e n to from La Mirada (su b urb of Los A ngele s) that night. It was a miserab le , co ld trip in d rivin g ra in ...5 0 0 m iles of to rme n t. I held at 8 0 MPH , telli ng my sel f that b y th e ne xt night 1 wo uld b e fa m ous and rich. ( Fa t cha nc e working in the m otorcycl e industry !) By eleven o 'clock March 2 0 I kn ew it was wo rt h it . There I was, in the o u te r o ff ic e s o f th e Gov ernor's o ffice co m ple x, tap e record er and cam e ra in hand, waitin g. O ne th ing w as ce rtai n ; it ma y b e d ifficult to ge t in t o th ose o ffi ces as an ything other th an a touris t, but if you d o, th e trea tm e n t is all firs t class! Engineer b o ots m ay n o t b e the ho t se t up in capito l co rrid o rs, but in th e Governor's office nob ody m inds. ON THE WAY D ue to th e G o verno r' s heavy s c h e du le, I first m et wi th Don Livi ngs ton , one o f the G o vern o r's . top me n , for a backgro und session. Mr . Livingston spoke for the Governor, relating to m e h is p o siti on o n various subjects of concern to m otorcycl ists. ~I y f irst question d ealt wi th c on su m er p ro tec ti on in the area o f m o to r vehicl e sa les , parts sales, and servi ce. In other in terviews. Senator Alan Cranston and Co ngressman Chet Holifield had told m e th a t th ey s u p ported very stro ng co n su mer p rotec tion leg islation in th is area. Congr essm an Bar ry Go ld wat er, Jr., h ad t o ld m e tha t th e co nsu m e r 's best p rotec tion w as hims elf, and op posed th e ty pe of legisla tion Cran ston and H oi ifie ld supported. Sen ato r J ohn T owe r o f Texas h ad sa id much th e sa me thi n g as Goldwater. T he big q uestion was, h ow d id R o nald R ea gan feel about this problem area ? "T he Gov ern or' s ph ilosoph y ", re la ted Livingston, " is th a t go vern me n t should be set up to prote ct us fro m each ot he r, but n ot p ro tect us fro m ourselves . In o ther w o rd s, we should h ave go vern ment regul a to ry age ncies wh ich are establishe d to pro te ct us fro m the sha dy o perator, the person wh o would act illegally o r take advantage of us. That is a proper func tion . of go vern ment. Bu t that sa me governme nt agency should no t be in the position o f leadin g us b y th e hand to tally, in th e marketpl ace. T here is a b alan ce that vo u have t o co nsider. In Californ ia we have probably the mos t sign ificant co ns u mer p rotec tion law s of a ny sta te in th e nation . In th e mo t orcy cle area, for exam p le , th e au to repai r legislation is rel ated als o t o m o t orcy cle repairs. Now , as o f July 1st of last year, w e have this new sta te agen cy , th e fir st of it s kind in th e n atio n , wh ich regul at es th e repair of all kin ds of m o t o r vehi cles , in clu d in g motorcycles . We fel t th er e was a need for tha t , b ecause there w as a great d eal o f ' fradulent p ractice going o n in the r e p a i r i n d u s try. T he G o ve rn o r supported th at program and signed it into law. "I was d irector o f the Dep artment o f Consu m e r Affairs up until June of las t year, and was re sp onsib le for get tin g th at bill to th e G ove rn o r' s d esk . T ha t age ncy is p roving to b e a n excellen t age n cy . We 're very pro ud of it . In fact wh ile y o u're in t own , yo u mi gh t lik e to go o ut and visit th e h ead offices . T hey' re rig h t h er e in to wn, an d yo u migh t w an t to talk wi th the chief of that Bureau . He 's a lot m o re d e tailed in th e kin ds of thi ngs you 're inte res ted in" continued Livingston. 1 was amazed. The next thi ng I knew . 1 h ad an appointme nt with Robert A lexander, ch ief of th e Bureau o f Automotive rep airs. for th at afternoon . T he Governor' s office wa s turning out to b e a very frie ndly place in eed. THE " GUEST STATUTE" T he next topic wa s th e re cen t California Sup reme Co urt de cision rep ealin g th e "gues t st a tu te" in tha t state's ins uran ce code s. Formerly. if a p assen ger in . o r on a motor vehicle as a gu est of h is o wn free wi ll w as injured in an accide nt, he c o uld n ot su e th e operat o r of th at veh icle for d am ages r e sul ting - fro m th e acci den t. T he S u p re me Court d ecision en de d t ha t. "The G overn or has n ot really e xp re ssed himself o n th e d ecis ion exc ep t in re spon se to qu estions asking wha t the affect of th at would b e. I th ink th a t every body agre es th at the effect of the d ecision to elimi nate the gues t statute is to rai se insu ran ce ra te s. In ot he r wo rd s, before , if yo u r p assen ge r rode wi th you, and w as in effec t your guest in th e car o r on the m o t o rc ycl e , they di d n 't h ave the righ t under th e law to sue you. Ko w with th e S upre me Court decision , they can . You co uld get into an ad versary p re ceding with a frie nd if they ar e i n jure d i n yo ur automo bile o r m o torcy cle acciden t. That's obviously goi ng t o in cr ease insurance costs". Speaking o f ins urance co sts, I ask ed, wh at about th e Governor's stand on No -Fault In su rance, speci fically th e plan sponso red b y J ack Fenton, which had just p assed the Asse mbly d ays ea rlier? Mr. Fenton h ad to ld m e tha t because of

• Cover