AUTOS

Then There Were Four: A lesson taught in journalism school is “never assume.” To that we now add: Never, under any circumstances, say that something is “the only.” No matter how thorough the research, there’s almost always someone, somewhere, who will challenge that phrase.

In a recent article about a new Costa Mesa-based racing motorcycle maker, MCM Group, the “O” word was used in reporting that the company would be one of only three domestic dirt-bike makers. A few days later a fax arrived from the nation’s fourth dirt-bike company--Ron Wood Enterprises, located in Costa Mesa just a few block from MCM’s headquarters.

“But don’t worry about it,” wrote company manager Elliott Iverson. The company has carved a healthy niche for itself in the racing motorcycle world, and its bikes win lots of races, he said, but it is small--making just 50 machines a year--so it is easily overlooked. The industry journal, Cycle News magazine, doesn’t include Wood in its list of bike makers.