Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

BRIDGESTONE IMPRESSIONS By George Manm The latest addition to the burgeoning 350cc market is the new Bridgestone GTR. Upon hearing of a model's existence in Northern California, 1 prompUy called Mr. Ed Little of Coast McCulloch in San Francisco and a~ ranged to take a ride. A unique electrical feature of the Little asked me to be a little easy on the throttle, since his new baby bad less than 50 miles on it. Then handing me a bunch of Bridgestone literature and an extra quart of oil he waved me off into san Francisco traffic for a weekend of getting acquainted with a new and very attractive toy. .Actually the Bridgestone is anything but a toy. It's a good sized motorcycle, with a wheelbase of 5572 inches, but it actually looks a lot larger. It is an extremely well-styled bike, gleaming with chrome and alloy and featuring a beautifully sculpted 4.a-gallon gas tank. The tank is narrow at the front, almos,t bulbous at the rear and very attractive all over. Immediately aft of it is an exceptionally well designed dual seat, extremely racylooking and covered in a super nonslip material that grips your behind with remarkable tenacity. You can almost hear it snarl and bite as you sit on it. In fact, the thought came to mind as I was tooling across the san Francisco Bay Bridge that if all cycles had this kind of seat, those laws trying to put safety belts on bikes would be unnecessary. We co uld just put some 30Q-pound state legislator on the seat and dare him to try and get off. He'd be stuck like a fly on flypaper and out would go his pet bill. Riding position is ·toury," with high, wide bars and footpegs placed conveniently for straight-up sitting. Suspension IS soft and freewaycomfy, but more about that later. The Bridgestone is full of little niceties that indicate the manufacturer sat down and gave the machine some .thought before cranking it out. The instruments, for example, are, bar none, the nicest I have ever seen. (Well, maybe discounting those huge black speedometers Vincents used to have.) They are finished in a dull black, with white, easy to read numerals and an efficient white dial tipped with a dot of fluorescent red. They are a bit over-optimistically calibrated - all the way to '140 mph and, 12,000 rpm. Don't count on actually going that fast, but I guess they are something to impress the girl friend with. At night, the instruments light up like the inside of a submarine, bright and clear. The other electrical bits and pieces are also very good, particularly the huge taillight which should act as a definite safety feature. machine was a little green light on the speedometer which clicks on when you hit fifth gear. This signals you have ·one more to go.· This feature would be more appreciated if it worlled off second gear, I think, because of the· neutral at the top· nature of the gearbox. There are six speeds, closely spaced, in the box and shifting around is great fun, although not really necessary because of the very wide power band. But gearing down for a corner, it is possible to lose track of just where you are and hit the lever once too often. ending up in neutral (and the ditch if you're not really alert.) This may sound far-fetched. but it happened to a racer of my acquaintance who did it to himself on a similarly-patterned Kawasaki. Going up the gears, the box was as sweet as sweet could be, but coming down there was a rather fat neutral between sixth and fifth that I kept getting tnto. The Bridgestone has an unusual way of changing the damping ~ction HousiAC 011 rlcht side of _&In. encloses ltawaukl carburetor and IOta'7 yaly•• :----------PASSENGER-: PEGS FOR t t , I TRAil MODELS: No. Y-100 Yamaha Foot Rests .••• $5.90 pro Ret. I i s special -". : PH. 589-5488,' Ji\ I , for ..q illS"'••" I WE DO SEE YOUR DEALER. RIDERS NOT SELL RETAIL I I , YAMAHA , t I : ~~ , OTHER MODELS Pho••• 213 519·5488 , The Bridgestone was consistently slower than the Yamaha, although it was running on a heavy oil ratio and on plugs which had been running nearly bathed in oil for 200 rather slow miles. The engine is a dual rotary valve design, running on four main bearings - all ball bearings by the way. A forced oil injection sYstem makes sure the main bearings, crank pins and lower connecting rod bearings gets lots of lubrication. Carburetors are 26mm each. The disc valves are phenolic resin. Output is claimed to be 37 horses at 7500 rpm. But speed aside, the engine's extreme tractability was laudable. In fifth gear it would accelerate from about 25 miles per hour, smoothly and effortlessly. Bridgestone's disc valve department seems If ADULT OCCUPATIOIIAL TUNlIGalTfl t t No. 1-0 1" Frame Clamp Foot Rests Complete $5.00 pro Ret. No. ~~s~s 11/8" Frame Clamp Foot: ..$5.00 pro Ret. No. 3·4 '%" Frame Clamp Foot Rests Complete $5.00 pro Ret. I t to have really earned its keep here. The machine scores high on comfort (the large. ·carved· handgrips are about the best around) and it pulls a passenger without breathing hard. Vibration is virtually nil. While riding it, I thought often of those articles you see now and then in cycle magazines about should you buY a lightweight or a heavyweight bike. You know. where the writer says, ·you know how heat you feel when you get off a small bike after a long ride•.•• Not so with the Bridge stone. I wouldn't hesitate to leap on one and head down for L.A. or up to Tahoe or anywhere. The bike has all the attributes of a great touring machine and potential for a more sporty rig. It will probably do an hQnest 100 mph and get there in a fairly brisk time. ,~~ ~~ ~~----~ ~- ~~----' HARLEV- DAVIDSON Of .... CI> .. CIl Good news for would-be motorcycle mecbanics and other interested parties is a course offered by the L.A. City SChools Audit Occupational Training Center in Woodl:.nd Hills. The 2Q-week course is being conducted by Dale Martin, formerly of the Johnson Motors Service Department, and enrollments are now open. The course starts September 11, registrations are still open, and late registrations will be permitted. Subjects covered will include repair of all makes of motorcycles as well as wheel spoking, cylinder boring, and valve and seat reconditioning. The costs are $5.00 for tuition, 25 cents for a Student Body card, and $7.00 shop fee. Class hours will be a a.m. to 2:30 p.m. weekdays. Interested individuals may enroll at ,Adult Occupational Training Center, 6200 Winnetka .Ave., Woodland Hills (half-mile north of the Ventura Freeway). Enrollment hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays. For additional information call (213) 346-3540. No. 7-8 %" Frame Clamp Foot Rests' Complete $5.00 pro Ret. , Complete .. , 4915 Pacific .....d•• V...o•• C06f. 90058 on its rear shocks; two shock mounting points. Moving the shock unit back a few inches gives it a better mechanical advantage and stiffens the rear suspe nsioD. I would recommend any new Bridgestone owner to do this stiffening procedure instanter, because on the .. soft· setting the machine has all the cornering stability of a Honda Dream. Combined with rather soft springing in the front forks, the rear llnits on the soft setting give you a bounding sensation in cornering that is not calculated to keep your pulse rate down. This probably won't bother the man who wants to go touring, but any of you country-road Mike Hailwoods are going to want to do some fast changi ng. Fork oil a few grades heavier than recommended wouldn't hurt things any too much, either. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to switch the shocks over, so I can't say how they would behave on the other setting. The brakes are adeQuate, although not exceptional. They did not fade appreciably during my riding, but I didn't use them very heavily. There was a bit of a spongy feel to them, possibly their newness, the· cable stretching or an adjustment problem. After getting 200 miles on the clock, I went out with a friend who owns a Yamaha 350 and tried a few spotlight grands prix. Long Spedil ~f Use4 '65 '66 Tri fro. $795 3654 ... L . .... liN. 426-71m . "'5 ~ S .~ -, ~ c.J ~ Col ..:l ~ U

• Cover