Lynn Weiland info (SP)

[Paul Danik]

Recently the name of Lynn Weiland (name possibly misspelled) came up in a conversation about long ago motorcycling events, ISDTs and Rickman motorcycles. If I remember correctly he wrote some articles about ISDT events many years ago. I have done searches for info on this gentleman but have come up empty, obviously if I have his name misspelled the internet searches would be fruitless, I have tried numerous variations of the spelling with no success.

    Do any of you remember this gentleman, know the correct spelling of his name, or have any remembrances of him?

Thank you,
Paul

[Farmjohnny]

Hi Paul,
I was lucky to have had dinner with him many years ago out in Victorville, CA. He had a ton of Rickman stuff at the time.
He was a cool cat.
http://www.hotrod.com/features/history/stories/0207rc-life-of-lynn-wineland/

Tom

[Farmjohnny]

Here is another good write up.
http://www.vitalmx.com/forums/Old-School-Moto,22/A-tribute-to-Lynn-Wineland,404700

[Paul Danik]

Tom,

   Thank you, I appreciate the information.  I am now looking for a connection between Lynn and the 1973 ISDT held in the USA, not sure there is one, but some information indicates that he may have played a role in that event.

Paul

[Paul Danik]

Good info here on Lynn's involvement in the ISDT with Steve McQueen and for a number of years afterward.

http://www.mcqueenonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1585

[Dale Fisher]

I wrote this article for a BSA club newsletter several years ago about Lynn Wineland. For those of you that don't know Lynn, I think you will be surprised at his envolvement in all things Rickman and the part he played in getting European accessories to the USA. This story chronicles how we got Rickmans to the USA and part of Lynn's very interesting life. I am sorry to loose a good friend but he is surely in a better place.


Lynn Wineland-The Rickman Connection
by Lynn Bennett

I first met Lynn Wineland at Steens in Alhambra in 1967. Steens, a mini-bike manufacturer, had become the American distributors and a sales point for Rickman frames, Ceriani forks, and eventually Magura controls. Lynn headed up the portion of Steens that covered those products and was the "sales" person who helped me when I purchased a Rickman Mark III frame kit for my 1966 Triumph TR6SC 650 cc twin. He of course was very helpful, machining some steering head adapters to allow the use of tapered roller steering head bearings, while I waited. I again talked with him about 5 years ago while searching out a set of rings for a Weslake BSA 500cc engine (he had no Weslake 500 parts, unfortunately). My most recent meeting has been a whole lot more extensive while searching out Rickman Montesa parts. In fact I like to consider Lynn as a new found friend. He is also one of the BSAOC's newest members.

Lynn was born in 1928 and attended the same elementary school in Long Beach, CA as I did, albeit decades earlier than me, and resided about two blocks down the same street in Long Beach. He moved from there in the 1940's to Coalinga, California nearly a half decade before I ever moved to Long Beach. After high school he started a stint in the Air Force as a P-80 jet fighter mechanic and had duty at Murdoc Dry Lake where he witnessed the Bell X-1's first sonic boom. But hot rodding lured him from the Air Force even in the light of a potential West Point appointment. His next stop was the Dayton Art Institute for study in transportation leading to a job with Ford in Detroit. Lynn tired of the big company atmosphere (politics), the lack of meaningful work (newbies were never trusted with anything meaningful and bosses took credit for some of his ideas), and the Detroit winter weather that was not conducive to driving in his California style hot rod. His next job was as Art Director for Rod and Custom magazine back in California. He went through several career moves and ended up at Steens. Through out this period he used his art talent to design logos (some still in use today), do advertising art, and provide industrial design for various products including companies like Ancra.

Lynn's interest in hot rods led to drag racing. He used innovation within the rules to beat everyone in his class only to be rewarded week after week with mandatory tear downs imposed by challenges from his fellow competitors. A friend introduced Lynn to motorcycles and he eventually attended a race and found the competitors there to be friendly, unlike what he had seen in drag racing. He progressed through the desert racing scene and eventually won a ride on Matchless finishing in the top ten consistently. This brought him recognition in 1964 from Johnson Motors (JOMO), the Triumph distributor for the west coast of the US: he was typically the only non Triumph top ten finisher in the Southern California AMA District 37 Desert events. So they gave him a ride to change that.

Lynn, never happy to leave a bike stock, worked with Pat Owens (a current BSAOC club member) to modify his desert racer (a 650 cc TR6) by stretching the frame an inch and a half and the swing arm the same. They added one inch of travel to the front forks and changed the rear dampers to BSA Road Rocket models which increased the rear travel a little as well. During this period Lynn developed a helmet mounted motion picture camera (the grand father of today's helmet cam). Yamaha asked him to do a promotion for them and from that JOMO decided that they wanted to film the 1964 International Six Days Trials (ISDT) that was to be held in East Germany. They asked Lynn to accompany the US Vase team, riding the course with the helmet cam running. The team that year was Bud and Dave Ekins, Cliff Coleman, John Steen and Steve McQueen. McQueen had progressed through the desert racing scene with Lynn. They had diced several times and had exchanged race talk so that Steve knew Lynn. While the relationship was not best buddies each respected the other for their racing ability, looking past the fact that Steve hated journalists (which Lynn definitely was) and Lynn had no place in his heart for the entertainment world (which Steve lived in).

Lynn was given a Triumph Bonneville (with high pipes, eastern US version) by the factory in England to use during the event. The kicker was that the event was in East Germany and the bike was delivered to Lynn in England. As there was no room in the van for his bike (it was filled with the team bikes) he had to ride it to the event following along behind the factory van. The first problem came when one of the non-riding members of the McQueen entourage was found with marijuana at a border crossing into East Germany. After a six hour delay they were freed and set on to the ISDT site, probably because of McQueen's notoriety. Initially the ISDT personnel were not going to let Lynn on the course but after a test ride by Lynn with the head ISDT official, he was given the OK to ride the course. Lynn carried the helmet cam, a 16 mm Bolex with several lens, a Minolta 35 mm camera and several lenses, and all the film needed for a weeks worth of shooting-quite a load. The scheme was to ride behind the British and US teams and film them on the go with the helmet cam, occasionally stopping at interesting sections and filming other riders negotiating it with the Bolex. Sometimes riding with him, carrying extra film as a ruse, were Mary Driver a former ISDT competitor and Bert Greeves of Greeves motorcycle fame. This first ISDT gave Lynn the opportunity of his life: he met influential European motorcycle industry people and was introduced to motorcycle products never before seen in the US. Among those were Fritz Wolf of Magura, Dr. Walter Kaden of MZ (father of the two stroke expansion chamber), and miscellaneous European products. When the ISDT was over Lynn was left in East Germany with a motorcycle, a bunch of equipment and film, and several days to get to a ferry boat to get back to the UK. The MZ people invited him to visit their plant and was asked to be a guest of the government (there were not too many people with helmet cams riding the ISDT in those days and that created recognition for Lynn). At the MZ factory they allowed him to ride a factory ISDT bike in the local forests to evaluate it but while Lynn liked the bike he professed that his evaluation could not be complete as they had no desert terrain as he had in So. Cal.

continued in next post.......


Dale Fisher
Penton Owners Group - President/Memberships
POG Merchandise
Mudlark Registry
Facebook - Penton Owners Group - Administrator
Facebook - Cheney Racing Group - Administrator

'70 Six-Day 125 - V2017
'72 Mudlark - W257
'73 Jackpiner - 175 21159727
'74 Berkshire 100 - 40171056
'98 HP-14 Hi-Point
And some silly other bikes...

[Dale Fisher]

continued....

Lynn left for the West being helped both in the East and the West by several motorcyclist along the way and arrived safely back in England. JOMO supported drag racing so they asked that Lynn join the drag racing circus traveling around the UK. Through the drag racing he was asked to come to a British scrambles where he competed on his stripped down loaner Bonneville. After the event he got to test ride a Rickman Metisse powered by a non unit Triumph 500cc engine. He was later introduced to the Rickman Brothers and subsequently ordered a Rickman kit, as the test ride was so impressive to Lynn. One of the scrambles competitors, Morris Arden, allowed Lynn to try out a bike equipped with Italian Ceriani forks. He found them so good he took home a set purchased from Morris on the spot. The Ceriani brand name was new to motorcycling as the founder, Arturo Ceriani, had originally made a dampener for washing machines to steady the rotating tub when out of balance from the wet clothes.

Lynn's trip to the ISDT introduced Lynn to many motorcycle industry people, many becoming life long friends, and a bunch of products completely new to Lynn and to the American market place. This turned out to be Lynn's future.

When he arrived home he put the Ceriani forks on his TR6 and was absolutely amazed at the difference. John Steen, a top finishing desert racer and business owner that used Lynn's services for catalog and ad design (not an employee), also rode it and was also impressed. Steens ordered 25 sets of forks. In their first desert race outing on Ron Nelson and Cliff Coleman's bikes they were so effective that not even Eddie Mulder could keep them in sight. Mulder promptly bought a set, just to be competitive. Once the word was out they sold like hot cakes.

The 1965 ISDT was suppose to be a repeat for Lynn, this time in the UK. Because the weather was so bad and his helmet cam was delayed in shipment, Lynn didn't ride but covered the course from a rental car and walking. Again relationships with MZ and others were cemented.

In March of 1965 MZ sent Lynn a factory works ISDT style 250 cc two stroke bike asking Lynn to test it in his environment. By this time the Rickman kit was finished, with Triumph 500cc power. The first race on Saturday was a European Scramble with two races and the total scored for the day. There was a separate Enduro on Sunday. The Rickman chain popped off three or four times during the race and Lynn still won his class. The Mark III and Mark IV Rickmans use eccentric washer for the chain adjusters and they were back at home. The race referee allowed Lynn to ride the 250 MZ and it won the second race competing against 500cc machines. The next day the MZ finished the enduro but without a speedometer Lynn only finished 17th. When all was over Lynn was allowed to keep the MZ which he only recently sold to a collector in Iowa. Lynn snagged another MZ factory engine and sent it to the Rickmans in the UK to make a prototype frame. Lynn still has that bike today. The plan was to buy engines (both 250 and 350 cc), hubs and brakes (innovative brakes that reside on the exact centerline of the wheel reducing any tendency for the bike to pull to one side on slippery surfaces). But there was an up rising in Czechoslovakia which East German solders helped the Russians put down and the US government increased the duties from East Germany from 9% to 45% as a sanction against their actions. So there went the MZ Rickman.

In the early 1960's the Rickmans had used Bultaco engines but Bultaco pulled out of the agreement and copied the Rickman with their own version. The Rickmans sued and won so Bultaco brought out the Pursang. That door was closed. (Metisse means "b###h" in French and Pursang means thoroughbred in Spanish so Bultaco kind of got the last laugh). Yamaha agreed to sell 250 cc DT1 engines but after 75 were delivered Yamaha released a much more competitive engine to their own 250 motocrosser refusing to sell any new motors to the Rickmans. The first 25 were sold in a Desert Sand color but the dealers hated it and the last 50 were US Racing Blue. Lynn found Montesa receptive to the concept of selling motors only, at first providing the four speed 53M and latter the 63M five speed. Still later Rickman Montesa's had the VR motor, the best choice yet. The first Rickman Montesa's were sold in America in 1970 and all were Rickman Red.

Sachs had been contacted about providing the 125 cc motors but refused to provide the large finned version works motor. So Zundapp was recruited. The Rickmans had already jigged up for the Sachs so they were a little disappointed with Lynn and Steens for changing to the Zundapp engine but regained their enthusiasm after riding the prototype Zundapp Rickman.

Through Lynn's editorship of Rod and Custom and a Mini-bike event sponsored by them, he met Chuck Swanson who was the founder of Pacific Basin Trading Company (PABTCO). PABTCO's product was know as the Hodaka whose engine found itself in a Rickman frame but too late for the trail bike racing class in the desert which had died by then.

In the meantime Steens had become the distributor for Ceriani forks, Magura controls, Rickman Mark III and Mark IV kits and all was doing a land office business. Then Steens was sold. The new manager from the buyer's company only wanted to make mini-bikes which had been only a part of Steens business but not the mainstay. They dropped all contracts with Magura, Ceriani, Semi-chrome, and Rickman. All but Magura became shadows of their former selves and never really recovered. BSA/Triumph took over distributorship of the Rickman line but they were gone in just a few years as was the new Steens.

Over the years Lynn has invested in the stocks of closing companies like Rickman, and BSA/Triumph when they needed to liquidate their Rickman parts. He has been selling off the new old stock (NOS) parts through the intervening years and still has an excellent stock. There are of course some parts that are all sold out but you only have to ask to see if he still has the one you are looking for. Lynn has the original molds for the fiberglass parts and regularly makes up runs of those parts using modern resins in place of the MTBE susceptible original resins. Lynn's Target Motorsports business phone number is (760)247-0027 and is located in Apple Valley, CA (yes close to me!).

Lynn's 1964 ISDT working/riding trip led to importation and design of several of the Rickman models, the Ceriani forks and rear dampers, Magura controls, Endura riding gear, and many other products that were unknown to American riders. And it was Lynn that was the driving force behind making it all happen with the help of his many European friends.

Dale Fisher
Penton Owners Group - President/Memberships
POG Merchandise
Mudlark Registry
Facebook - Penton Owners Group - Administrator
Facebook - Cheney Racing Group - Administrator

'70 Six-Day 125 - V2017
'72 Mudlark - W257
'73 Jackpiner - 175 21159727
'74 Berkshire 100 - 40171056
'98 HP-14 Hi-Point
And some silly other bikes...

[Dale Fisher]

American Motorcyclist Magazine July 1972



Dale Fisher
Penton Owners Group - President/Memberships
POG Merchandise
Mudlark Registry
Facebook - Penton Owners Group - Administrator
Facebook - Cheney Racing Group - Administrator

'70 Six-Day 125 - V2017
'72 Mudlark - W257
'73 Jackpiner - 175 21159727
'74 Berkshire 100 - 40171056
'98 HP-14 Hi-Point
And some silly other bikes...