Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

MEET THE RACERS Guy Louis, #21 By Jack Byrd This week you ar e going to meet a young fellow who rates we 11 up with t he greats of racing . He is the pro ud new possessor of National Number 27 , Guy Lo uis. T hi s young man be ga n racing in sc ram bles, TT' s a nd e ndures when he wa s only 13 years old , mo vin g to mon ey ra c e s o n t he half-mile as soon as pos s ibl e . He finish ed his fir s t season of Novice flattrack ra t ed fifth in t he ent i re U.S .. and th is af t er a rather mediocre beginning. Guy has ra c ed for five y ears professionally and during that time ha s be en sponsored by Sh ell Motors in Lynwood, riding a Royal Enfield. In his off-track moments, he is Sh op Manag e r for Sh ell. Guy is married and th e fath er of a 3-year-old boy a nd a little gi rl seven months old . His wif e , who approves of his ra cing, is pa rtic ularly happy when he c omes in first in a m c e! When asked what his in terests other than ra cing wer e. Guy mentioned ga rdening as his favorit e form of relaxation. We w on d e re d ho w his parents liked the idea of his sta rti ng t o ra c e at such a t end er a ge , but our con.c e rn was alleviated when we found that his parents pur chas e d hi s first racing moto rcycle for hi m! Guy still parti cipat es in s c ra mble s and ot he r sport in g e vents , but o nly to ke ep in s hape fo r his F ri da y ni ghts at Asc ot. W as ked Guy how he likes his e new R .E. t ea m partner, Blac kie Bruce. He .s poke ver y hi ghly of him . sayi ng t hat Blac ki e is " a great comp etitor and a real goo d ra c er." GUY' s former partner (a nd fo rmer holde r of National Number 27), Elliott Sc hul t z. ret i red from t rac k racing early last season. Watc h fo r t he o ra nge a nd white Royal E nfie ld #27 at As c ot ea c h F'riday night; you could be watching a fut ure c hampion. CHP OK'S 464 H-D'S The California Highway Patr ol, e xpe rt in tra ffic safety a nd lon g-time us er of Harley-Da vidson P olic e Spec ial mot orcycle s , re c en tly an noun c ed t he pur chas e of 464 of the C ompan y' s latest models . The orde r repre s en ts more than t hree -qua rt ers of a million dollars to th e Milwaukee bas ed firm . T he s e mot or cycle s will be us ed as replacemen t s for olde r machin es and to meet th e ne ed for addit ional motorcycles res ulting from th e Patrol's manpower, expa ns io n program. THE AFM SCENE By Tom Fi nlay Her e, as promised , is some ne ws of accom pli s hme nts of A F~ rid ers this s eason . plus som e time ly i nfo rmatio.n on ou r upc ornm g AFM POInts race at W hiteman St a di um in P ac oima. Also in the news is Marty Lunae , a First, let me take you "a cros s the former AF M rider , He recent ly score d a pond" to Englan d and belie ve it or not , s ixth place at the International meeting we are making some nois e over t~e re. at Snetterton circuit. This is the highest San Francisco AFM c h~te r P res ident placing ever by an American at an Bill Boyd lelt lor the BrItIsh Is les early Int ernati onal mce in Britain. One must in May with his wile Leslie and a brand be aware of how close the racing is in new Yamaha TDI B. Boyd, the 1965 AFM England to appreciate a fourth or sixth 250cc champ has already scored a lou~ place. Often the top five or six finish ers place at a major race 1R SCotland (Crtwill cross the line wit hin two or three mond) - and will be moving so~th ,to seconds of each ot her, with lead-s waptest his worth on more lamous CIrCUIts pin g taki ng pla ce during the entire race. ,s uch as Brands lIatch and Mallory Park. W hope, by organizin g professi onal e type races , to build the same caliber of Europea n sty le r 0 a d racin g in this country. Meanwhile, on our side of the ocean ; several AFM riders have been making nota ble progres s 0 1 late, One who has been in the headlines lor s ome time is Ron Grant. Ron is after the AFM titles in both the 250 and 350 classes and will be making a bid this Sunday at W eman hit lOOcc CLASS in both classes. In the 250 class Grant has scored two firsts and one second riding several diflerent mac h i n e s(would you believe - Har-Dav Sprint. P arill a . Suzuki X-6 and Bultaco 6 Spd, wate r cooled? ) Ron has also gai ned three firs ts in the 350 class , aboa rd the potent Bob Vineya rd Honda lIa wk. NIGHT TT SCRAMBLES Suzuki are here , and in a big way. T he Suzuki team may well dominate three Lodi Cycle Bowl, June 11, 1966 classes of AFM raci ng this year . Th ey have a works water coole d twin 50cc 90cc NOVICE MAIN for that clas s that is reall y fast (over 105 mphj - us well as a 125 wate r cooled HODAKA 1. JiII1es Brachetta 8 spd, twin for the 125 class and anothe r (125) for the 250 class. And they HODAKA 2. Kenny Roberts are winning. having scored wins in clas s eve ry time but once , when Kos hino had 3, Jerry Shahan HODAKA to drop out wit h mecha nica l diffic ulty. Th e only riders to sh ow the works suz125cc AMATEUR /EXPERT MAIN ukis a rear ti re this seas on ar e Don Ans elm and Barry Herrmann, of the I, Jerry Clark HODAKA Power Res earch Racin g Team. T his was 3, Jack sargenti HODAKA at Whiteman on May 29th. and this s hort course may prove to be an equalize r. LIO NSM. C. M TOCRO O SS Koshino. of course , won the 50cc class as Anselm and Herrmann were on 100cc Mirill1ar Mesa, June 26, 1966 cl ass Yamahas. T he P ower Res earch Racing Team is to be comme nded on the 90cc NOVICE /EXPERT thorough prepara tion given thei rmachin es. They are always immaculate and run I, W ayne Hosaka HODAKA quite fast and reliably. W al ways encourage lac tory and e HODAKABILITY DID IT FOR shop sponsored machines , as they add to the specta tors enioyment and we a re THEM - IT'LL DO IT FOR tai loring our events to pleas e you, M r. YOU TO & Mrs. Racefan. If you are a racin g Ian or a potential spectator and would lik e AREA DISTRIBUTOR IN SOUTHERN CA LIF. to see some exciting compe titi on between a group 0 1 highly skill ed riders BELOW KERN COUNTY LINE 1t0DAKA 90 FIRST PLACE • HODAKABILITY Wins H. A. NELSON (2 13) 243-101 7 Gle nd ale. Calif. SEE YO UR HOD A KA DEALER ONE YEAR ROAD TEST OF THE 1966 BSA LIGHTNING 650 • • By th e Cycle Ne ws staIr a nd guest ri de rs TEST REPORT (Cont inue d from last week ) Aft er t he fi rst i ns tallm ent of this s eries de s cnnm g our test expe riences wi t h th e 1966 BSA L i ghtni ng appeare d last we e k. we re ce i ve d a telephone call from Oaklan d. T o m Gat es, BSA W estern 's esteemed s ervice manager info rmed us that J os eph Lu c a s Ltd., th e Briti sh el ectrical parts manufacture rs , have lately produ c ed a ne w batt ery for t he 12- vol t BSA's whi ch in corporat e s an ove rflow tube that s hou ld help eliminate t he co rrosio n ca used by batte ry b oil-over. as not ed last we ek. W will have this new ba t t ery in s talled . an d e s hall rep ort our fi ndi ngs whe n we ha ve tested it. Gat e s be lieves that the spill-ove r which irked us , and ot he r BSA own er s, is caused by vibration of the batt er y . more than ove rchargi ng , so owners are ca utioned not to alter th e charging rat e. GENERAL IM P RE SSIONS After a short t ri p o n our BSA Li ght ning, another ne wsm an descr ibed it as ~ th e Cadillac of Britis h motor cy cl e s. " Th e description fit s , except for th e fact that nobody rac es Cadillac s any mor e. We have ne ver o wne d a more comfortable feeling motorcy cl e, and t his s entimen t i s echoed by th e oft en ne gl ect ed pillion pass en ger. Start in g with t he plush dual s e at , t he BSA is lavi sh with c re ature comforts . Shock and fo rk sp ri ng rates ar e ide al fo r a ll kinds of highway ridi ng . combining as th ey do both bump abso rption and th e qui ck reco ve ry damping ne eded for sporty c o rne ri ng o n bumpy roads . No other bike i n our e xpe rie nce (and t lia t in cludes all but a few of th e latest models) has achi e ved quite the Id eal balance of comfo rt and handlin g that th e BSA has. We find th e standard handl ebars a trifl e forward for California tast e. On e of the modifications we will try in th e futu re is to fit a pai r of Barn ett bars to plac e the grips s lightly fart her back of th e ste ering pivot. T hi s location not only mak e s for a more comfo rtable riding po sition , but a l s o helps th e rider ke ep th e fron t whe el point ed s trai gh t when it is off t he gro und i n a wheeli e. Yes , e ve n a paragon of th e pavement like o ur test bike spends some of its road tim e on th e rear wheel onl y. At times like that we wish th e factory i ncl uded double damping fork s on th eir road machines , like th eir s cra mblers have. Two-way dampin g kits a re a vailable, of c ourse , but most riders will not ne ed t hem in normal us e . E a s y s tartin g i s one of the ' 66 Li ghtning' s ch i ef virtue s. Co ns id ering it s 9-to-on e co mpression rati o, we would e xpec t it to c all for a hefty lunge on t he starter . but it tak e s only a mild da b to set t he engine purrin g. We find it h el ps to " brea k" the cl utc h by pulling the le ver o n the left handle bar an d free-wheeling the kic k starter once before starti ng . If this drill is ne glecte d, th e cogs may gri nd whil e eng aging Ii rst ge ar. The ignition switch on th e s tee ri ng tube c uts off all juic e e xcept to th e horn when it i s turne d off . The ig m tion i s heavily a rmore d and should be di fficu lt for thieves to " hot wi re ." • • Being rather busy these days and unable to afford the luxury of performing our own maintenance on our machinery, we deci ded to try t reating the BSA as if it were a car as far as servicing the machine goes. Knowledgeable friends in the industry l aughed when we declared this intent. "Bikes need more attention" the y said. Yet the BSA ha d nearly 700 miles on the odometer when we took it back to Long Beach Honda for its first checkup and a bout 2500 the second time. I n th e fi rst 700 mil e s it j ettisoned a few loos e parts ( prima ry case ins pection plug , light switch knob ) and we caught a tail light lens a nd tank medallion j ust be for e they part ed co mpa ny with th e bik e. Both he a dligh t hi gh b eam a nd tail light bulbs needed to be repl ac ed and cons id era ble vi bration and loss of powe r developed from about 500 miles. Aft er the first tune up, oil c ha nge . etc . th e bike performed .muc h better tha n ne w and it fe lt i nc reasingly more po wer ful as th e miles loos e ned the e ngi ne up . We had int ended to do our 14-mile acc elleration tests at 1,000 mil e s , but t he bike did not fee l prop er ly bro ken in at that mil eage, so we waite d until over 2500 miles had gon e ben eath the wheels be fore burning it throug h t he Li ons drags. T hree runs t hro ugh t he li ght s were e nough to det ermine that th is mot orcyc le is a p roud pe rforme r. The fir st run is us ually the fa st e s t on a well t une d test bike, so we c lutche d off th e line and yanked up t he s li des for a 89 .37 mph top sp eed at t he end of th e quarter in 15. 19 s econds from a sta ndi ng s tart . Not bad s peed for a stoc k 40 in ch er, bu t we thoug h t he E .T . co uld be impro ved. So t he ne xt t rip we wound the e ngi ne t o 6.000 rpm o n t he lin e and flung th e c lut ch. The rear Dunl op immediat ely brok e tracti on a nd . s lightly s moki ng, delive red a time of 14.76 s ec onds wit h 88.23 top s pee d. The third run fell betwe en t he se times a nd co nfi rmed t he bi ke ' s co ns istent performance . Shi ft point s wer e a t a ppro xi mately 7,000 rpm from fi rst , 6500 from 2nd an d it wa s all peaked out i n 3rd. (T o be co ntinue d) 1966 Lightning has a road-going sport s appearanc e. Even eng ine Is aer odynamically sty led. • '. • on some exotic racin g motorcycles , Olen make Il'hiteman Stadium this Sunday, JulJ' lOth. See the ca le ndar 0 1 e vents for directions. IHth that I' U leave you with a teaser - the " King of Whiteman " is coming! Read Cycle Xews and keep posted ::::... _ - - -- -- -- - •

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