Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125553
YAMAHA ENDURO 250 TRAIL TEST Siory and Pholo ... 00 i··················· .. Fil lron Air Filters, Judson Prods. .. Fran cis co Cas loroll , Dri-sllde, FItil .. glass tanks &: sea ts, Joh n Cooper &: SI: .. lIil: John llool s. All Available From .. ~ ~ .. SIMPSON MOTORS .. .. 4210 San Fernando Rd. Glendale, Calif. 91204 r.J .. ...::l .. .. .. ~ Georl:e Marti n The li tile 250Cc s ingle was pulllng like a tractor, and the r ear wheel spun mad ly, clawing for a grip on the cla y slope and driving the bike upward toward the trall cutting diagonally across the hill . At the trall I turned right, putted along for a few yards and then sto pped, cut the engine and looked out over the Richmond Ramblers s cr ambles course at Point Richmond. .. .. (213\ 247-3068 .. G******************* U .. MOTORCYCLES HE st.blis"-* Sinn 79U· Autilorixod Co. ler TRIUMPH e HONDA • BMW SUZUKI • PIREUI TIRES D. ... SPUD·SP ORT MOTOR OIL USED CYCLES Pam, Supplies & Repairs Bank Financing ~ ~ {::' ~~ . 283-42771 280-8244 I OPEN M• • , P.M. FRID ys Till 9 P.M. CLOUD SUNO...YS lir MOND...YS Clean lines of the Yamaha 2S0 Enduro are craphlcally expressed In this shot. Recently Introduced slnele Is already m aklne a name for Itself overentire U.S. San Francisco Bay was aark gray, dotted with whitecaps, and the first raindrops wer e jus t beginnlng to fall, turning the ochre-yellow earth todarkbrown where they landed . Anybody with an ounce of brains would have gone back to his warm parlor at that point, but I had been r iding a new Yamaha 250 Enduro for two hours and was hopelessly in love with It, so back down the h1ll I went to discover a new trail or another slope . Yamaha is Jus tly pro ud of the Enduro , the company' s first " real" dir t machlne i1 .~ .-, BULTACO' GREEVES Fiberglass Tanks '40. wi cap PLUS' co.. l. e line 01 FlRIIaIi parts lor Bull.co MaO Order 10: VEGAS CYCLE CE NTER 1020 Fremont. La .. Vep... .Ne". 89101 The knobbyish tires grip quite nicely and riding position is very comfortable. although my six feet two inches could have us ed the seat about two inches farther back. Wide, r ather moto-cross.tsh bars are rttted. and the foot controls are handily placed. Yamaha' s engine ers have created a mechanically poetic rtve speed gearbox for the Enduro. J us t a short dab at the lever sends the box s moothly and sUe nt ly into the next gear. It's down for low, with neutral between first and second. This takes a s ensitive toe, because there Is so li tile throw between first and sec ond, but after a few tries I was grabbing neutral unerringly, even with the machine s topped. Appr oaching the Rambler s tra ck, a large hillside area near the bay, I was a bit nervous. My dirt riding experience is strictl y li mited, and I didn·t want to bend Karl 's pretty new bike . But the Yamaha is a real confidence giver . The front forks, Enduro -travel Yamaha calls them, look like Cer lan1s on the outside .and see m to share the Itali an product 's un c a n n y ablllty .to sm ooth out ruts and bumps uncompla.lningly. Grab the fron t brake and lean hard on the bars and there is a nearly sUent "whoo sh" and the forks sink six-plus inches. On the go, they follow the land beautifu lly, never bottoming, al though they occasionally " top" when the wheel drop s Into a deep hole or come s off the ground . My fir st rather tentative foot-down slides went so well that 1 found myself gleefully going faster and faster untli the front wheel erred Into a deep r ut and deposited me r ight on my dignity with a resounding thud. Cursing my ineptness and thinking up apologies to Karl Huth, 1 pic ked up the Yamaha and found it un b en t and unmark ed. Clearly, the machine is built to take It. A s tab on the kick starter had the engine per king again and off we went togeth er bounding ove r bumps and dips, sliding around turn s and In gener al having a total bal l . The Enduro' s engine is a masterpiece or torque; It seems to pull from al mos t zero r pms. The boos ter por ts, which are just grooves In the cylinde r which li ne up with holes in the piston s kir ts, allow extra -generous now area combined with mUd port timing. All it take s Is a tug on the bars and a twist or the throttle to make the fron t wheel extremely light . Wheelies are a snap. For the r eally hairy of chest, Yamaha has a GYT (genuine Yamaha.tuning) kit that rai s es the 21 hor s epower machine to a nice round 30, at some sacrifice In low end tor que. The bike abo unds In little niceties qn1ck change carburetor jets, easlly deta chable lights , a tuned, clos ely tucked away exhaust pipe , and spring-loaded folding pegs. Yamaha cla.lms 9.5 Inches of ground clearance. 1 didn't have a ruler handy, but that seems conservative If anything. The Enduro Is going to be one greats el11ng motorcycle , when they get some to the dealers . Let' s see, If I sell the Volkswagen.... FOREIGN MOTORCYCLE MANUFACTURERS CONTRACT FOR NEW YORK EXHIBITION . ~. 417 E. GARVEY· MONTEREY PARK 4 'loclu I." III G.rliold s ince It built a bat ch of Ascot- style TT motor s a few years ago. Everyone Is fami liar with the " street scramblers" s o prominent in the Yamaha line (and everybody else' s it seems) but the Enduro it! a special ettort, built from the groun d up to do a good job off the r oad. About the only n y in the Enduro ointment Is that most or the deal er s In Northern Callfornta at least , have one ( 1) Enduro In the store, and mos t or them aren' t selling at the moment, al though they' ll be happy to take your name and addr ess and a cash deposit. Karl Huth at Karl 's Motors In Ric hmond is using his Enduro as a demons trator, to keep his customers' blood pounding until the " for sale" models get here. " You want to r ide it?" he asked casually this week, and I began salivating heavUy. The bike had less than 200 mUes on It as I ro lled It out the door, so I was cautioned: "Ride it like a gentleman!' I had s everal er r ands to do, so I spe nt the rtrs t hour or so discovering that the Enduro is an enjoyable ru naround mount on the street as well as the dirt. New York City' s fir s t Inter natio nal Motorcycle Show sched ule d for the Easter weekend, AprU 11 to 14, at Manhattan's Coli seum w1ll feature a collection of di s play s representing motorcycl es manufa ctured in Italy, England, Japan, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Chec koslovakia and the United States. The motor cycle boom which hit the MiS WINS United States in 1965 with the mass intr oduction of lightweight models from Japan leveled of! dur ing the past 20 months . The current trend, In this $650 million United States cycle market, is definitely leani ng towar ds the larger models having piston displacement or anywhere fr om 350cc to l ,20Occ. Leadi ng the Indus try in " big bike " sales are such r ecognized br ands as Harley-Davidson (United Sta tes), BSA, Triumph, Nor ton (England), BMW(Ger many), Moto- Guzzi (Italy) and Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki (Japan). These are the models design ed spec lflcally for the sports enthusias ts and long dis tance touris ts who demand machines having 50 horsepower that can atta1n speeds in excess of 100 mUes per hour . Retall price of these ran ge anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000. An entire new class not considered "big bikes" and too large to be called lightweigh ts is the new category embr acing models from almost every man- N~tedydt" RICHMOND SCRAMBLES MARCH ~iili 1st 1 00-200cc AM/ E X JOHN DOTSON ,- - - ufacturer. Thes e have engine s of 350cc piston displac ement and are priced cons Iderably less than the big bikes. This new 350cc class Is being introduced by the manufacturers as the trade-up model for the al most one million new r iders who In the past 2 to 3 years purchased Japanese and ltallan lightweights ofte n in the under 125cc category. Major overseas exhlbitors whose numerous new models will be exhlbited at the Inter national Motorc ycle Show at the Colis eum include Kawasaki , Suzuld, Yamaha and Bridgestone fr om Japan . England's manufacturers include Norton, Ma tchles s and BSA. The ltallans, whose popular lightweights can be credi ted with the or iginal United States acceptance of s mall models, will be repr es ented by Ducati, Benelli , MV Agusta and MotoGuzzi . Other overseas manufacturer s displaying new models for 1968 include Zundapp from Germ any, Husqvarnafrom Sweden. Bultaco from Spain and Jawa from Czecho slovakia. THE 32 TO 40 TO 1 LUBE RACING CASTOR S PROCKETS TT SCRA BLES MARCH 1 1th 1st 1 00ce NOV. T M TYPER O Distributed by M/B Sportscycles 311 E, Alexander, Tacoma, Wash" 98421 Extrend» dean humiJlf!, . ~ UNEqUALLED for INJECTO R or GAS-O MIX IL A DDZIP ADDITIVE S 14 3 3 ·1 43 7 FIR ST S T . ESCALON . CALI FORNIA. . • • • • ....