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/125691
N .. 15. (/) ~ W Z W ..J U >- Whenever you read a test like this, you usuall'y haven't a clue who is feeding you the information. The editorial "we" that my contemporaries so love to use makes me think of a small crowd of people ranged around a typewriter, each with a single finger in the action or clambering onto the bike piggy back" hand on hand and foot on top of foot allover the controls. Having done my share of road tests for the magazines, I know this is not true, but the image persists every time I read "we had some difficulty finding neutral" (with seven size tens on .the pedal) or "we found the suspension much too soft as the shocks bottomed easily" (no wonder). .Four of us took turns singly with the subject of this test. Each of our individual impressions' agreed, as to the speed and handling of the Indian, but by pulling rank, I got more time at the handlebars than the rest, and so " am writing this test in the first person. The hell with customs. First impressions are the strongest and last longest. On seeing the Indian initially, at the foot of a steep dirt road leading t6 "motorcycle meadows", I licked my lips. This is a nervous gesture that my wife has come to recognize means I am looking at something good, I am at the stage in my motorcycling U career where I can tell just by examining a bike, how it's going to handle, whether it's going to hold together, even how it will probably perform. There are no trade secrets involved, everyone seems to develop the same facility after studiously experiencing several hundred different motorcycles over a period of years. One thing you learn is "if it LOOKS right, it usually IS right." At lrrst glance, the Indian, with its 100cc Minarelli engine, looks like a factory racer. Its geometry is similar to the Harley-Davidson Baja model. Surface resemblance to that other famous Amer-Italian trailbike stops there, however, and takes on a distinctly American flavor dictated by the "tear-loaf" tank and sculptured saddle. Nylon locking nuts (some with setscrews) keep everything fastened together. The modified Jawa trials type frame looks exceedingly rigid, and it is. Everything is laid out with room around it to work in. Design and craftsmanship of the basic components are ideal and materials are of very high quality, 'keeping the weight down to 168 lbs. That includes a steel rear fender and tank. It was obvious, however, that the 5 34" travel Marzocchi forks wouldn't take the pounding 1 was about to put them through with my 200 lbs. on the Win with Valerian's! , lWlnners wor. at V.......'~; Winners ....~ at ValerlGn's; pm ean_ a Winner too.) $ llodaka Montesa Gre",e" CYClE CITY ~ 34198 Coast Highway Dana Point, Calif. 92629 auzu",' Go Valerian's! , (714) 496-1001 Mottrcycles West.i.st.r Sport C,ele Guy R. Louis South Orange County Trillllph Headquarters Rlckl11lln ,Metls,se ' (114) 89.3-1051 7574 Westminster Ave•• Westminster, Ca. Contest Winner; Mrs. Ingrid 'R. Ferguson. Mike Patrick' s Congratulations Ingrid. YWHA of COlONA 1101 E. 6th St. - Corona (114) 135-1121 OO~O~!::~~A~~~:O~'~ Telephone: (213) 475-4541 Sales - Service - Accessories - Parts - Champion Leathers -ONLYALL NEW MOTORCYCLES SOLD WITH FACTORY WARRANTY ST.P'IIiTO TH. WlIIII. . .•• CIIICL HUSQVARNA . JAWA/CZ· SUZUKI' PENTON' MZ' MONTESA· ZUNOAPP • MINI·TRAILS TRIUMPH-HONDA-RSA RIDEIJ,S: The Finest In Metorgcle Service open monday through saturday 2040 S. Main St., Santa Ana, Ca. __-.;.etJ;..(I1~L5AO!O!l~~ .-1 Dyno Tuning & Custom Engine Work L Steve's BULTACO .]627 Van Nuys Blvd. 780-63~