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/125795
1 N .... '" - Ererytlling You Always Wanted To Know About Road Testing ~ w Z W ..J U > U (Previously unpublished as: AN}' BIKER CAN) by. Amos CardJin Add the fol/owing course to your 1972 edition of Cycle News Col/ege Catatog (Long Beach Campus only). COURSE R/T 101 TITLE Introduction to Road Testing Prerequisites:: Minimum two yurs of boring motorcycle magazine reading. Scope and Purpose: Motorcycle road testing highlights, evaluation. critique writing. technical platitudes. da's and nyet·s. The following phuses should be memorized for future application to ..11 road t"est essays. 1. Stump-pulling torque. 2. The first thing our editorial staff would do is throwaway those fish oil shocks. 3. Frankly. the bike wa.s unsuitable for desert. MX. fire trailing. and street. Maybe, with more rake and plastic fenders ... 4. The era n k sh aft center line is bc'\ow the wheel axle for good handling. 5. The crankshaft center line is above the wheel axle for good ground clearance. 6. Too pipey. 7. OK for motocross but not desert. 8. OK for desert but not MX. 9. Too heavy. 10. The suspension was so perfect as to make the bike equally at home on both desert and MX course. 11. No spark arrestor. 12. Lights can be quickly detached. 13. Jerking off the lights is a four hour job. 14. Leaks oil profusely. 15. Fork bottoms on the slightest bump. 16. Shocks too stiff. 17. Carburetor was not set up by distributor. 18.The distributor assured us that future models will have that corrected. 19. Rubber swing arm bushings, yech. 20. Cruises effortlessly at 90 all day .. 21. Vibration was ungodly. 22. Unlike previous models.... 23. >Ca'!!' Amal carburetion. 24. Though it's outr..geously expensive. the serious racers will appreciate ... 25. Pistons cost S92.69. 26. What's gotta be the biggest main bearings we have seen ... 27. Groovy non-slip folding foot pegs. 2il. Foot pegs too slippery. 29. It seems that Percy Lucas and Reginald Amal grew up in the same neighborhood. 30. The bike gets lighter with ea.ch mile traveled. as nuts. bolts. bits and pieces fall off. littering the trail. We strongly recommend that the prospective buyer ..rm himself with a g..lIon can of Loctite and ~ mile of safety wire. 31. Gearbox full of neutrals. 32. Two massive chrome moly furnace steel downtubes gracefully curve from the heavily gusseted billet steeringhead and trunion to a stout forging under the sturdy engine cases, which serve as an indestructible torque box. Frqm there. a bend routes the I beams and cantilevers to a huge top tube. forming an unbreakable nickel plated polyzoid. 33. Front end can be lofted at will: 34. You swear the front wheel is connected to the throttle. 35. Azunga! Those dumkopfs connected the front wheel to the throttle! 36. Ceriani type front forks.. 37. We a.dvise changing the air e1eaner immediately. 38. Clutch less shifts all day. 39. Shifts effortlessly like knife through butter. 40. Weak geuboxes: better usc clutch. 41. Through the cylinder is similar to the DT2. it is more like a CL 77 and not interchangeable with a ULH. 42. Seems like the factory got their pastafazoola together and finally re:"ized what the American rider wants. 43. The factory didn't get their pastafazool a together. didn't apply what they learned from the racing prototypes. and the 72's arc just as evil handling as the 71's, espec.ially in the s:lnd. 44. Over 50 changes in the engine alnne! 45. Free instructions in the tool kit on bow to convert to a real racer. 46. Almost identical to the works machine ridden by... 47. It's a real slider. 48. The engine must be kept on the pipe and frequent shifting is required t extract maxiluum performance. 49. At 102mm'X 40mm, the engin_e is definitely oversquare. 50. The port area is massive. Five huge transfer ports tunnel behind the fins, and work in conjunction with 7 finger ports which intervent through eleven holes in the piston. Additional boost ports supplement the cylinder filling. The exhaust port has 6 bridges and is an honest 7 inches wide: count 'em. 31 ports all told. 51. More of a street bike than a desert rig. 52. The bike is definitely more at home in the desert. 53. The rear chain is made up of massive forged sidelinks. There arc two preloaded taper bearings for every roller, each with its own little variable speed oil pump and supply tank. 54. Each machine is individually hand assembled and road tested, a tribute to the high quality control standards and pride of workmanship which has made this marque world famous. 55. Stump pulling torque. (Sec Item No.1.) 56. Test rider was observed doing 70 mph across the desert, lofting the front wheel with Casco 57. We couldn't believe this bike was only a 50cc. 58. Although the machine is street ori~nted. we feel it would be up there with the biggies with modifications like long travel forks. softer shocks. pumper earb, wide ratio gear set. padded scat. fork brace, desert air cleaner, racing magneto. wider bars, lowered frame. rake plate. bigger gas tank. 21" wheel. smaller front brake, alloy rims. plastic fenders. quicker throttle, seven porting. knobbies. expansion chamber. folding pegs. unbreakable levers. water proofing. and a 100 Ibs. reduction in weight. A bike with these mods recently won a non-AMA motocross event in Bagdad, Arizona. . . 59. For serious off the road riding. we recommend removal of street paraphenalia such as signal lights, both mirrors and saddlebags. windshield, crash bars, battery, buddy pegs. scat hand rail. headlight, taillight, radio. starter, reflectors. cigarette lighter(s). speedo, tach. luggage rack. horn. floor boards. and both the chrome bulldog and the flying swan on the radiator. 60. The most forgiving handling machine we have ever... 61. This is a real racer and not recommended for the average hunyak. 62. On the first day, one of the shocks fell off. On the second day. we lost a foot peg and the expansion chamber. On the third day. the forks sprung a leak, the clutch burnt out. and the engine cases broke from vibration. We took the bike back to the dealer and told him to take it and ... 63. Though the machine will easily break loose the back wheel in fifth gear. it is surprisingly docile and may be used as a trail bike by the wife. 64. The shifter drum is hewed out of a sol1l one piece billet of 4130 super bo-diddly steel. 65. Countless one quarter mile runs were made on this box stock machine, in the low II's. without any clutch slippage whatsoever. 66. Though previous models were plagued with short crankshaft life. the distributor assured us that this was all ancient history and that present models... 67. The machine is as great as it is largely through the dedicated efforts of the distributor. a graduate engineer, who maintains a elose rapport with the factory. 68. The carburetor has a tendency to flood the crankcase unless the petcock is shut off five minutes before the engine. If it isn't. the machine must be leaned sharply to the left side, fresh spark plu~ installed, and abollt fifty kicks later ... 69. 'This is one kicker, folks. hot or cold. 70. The first three gears arc rather close together, with fourth serving as an overdrive. 71. Welds were sloppily applied, obviously by an apprentice "welder". 72. Our staff could not agree on the seat-footpegs-handle-bars rclationship. Those under 4'8" thought that ...while Fat Oscar (6'6", 310 pounds) felt that... 73. Unfortunately. the engine seized on our dyno, consequently horsepower readings over 3500 RPM were unobtainabk. 74. The dealer assured us that the factory has a kit that will solve this problem. 75. The double rotary valves result in an unusually wide engine. making the usage of the side stand all but impossible. 76. Why the f:lctory blatantly ignores this Achilles Heel that has plagued this model is something we will neVC'f understand! 77. While the whole machine is a quality control masterpiece. the gas tank cap is a cheap pbstic mold injection that cracks and leaks. 78. Because the swing arm is at an angle rather than being parallel to the ground. a moment is introduc~d about the pivot. making bike pitch on hoop-de-dos. 79. The 50cc. 125cc. 250cc. 409cc. and 505cc all share the same cases. frames. front ends. etc. Needless to say. the 50cc is a trifle heavy and the 505cc most unrealiable. 80. The power band is absolutely violent: the bike lurches and stumbles until it comes on the pipe with a rush that leaves you breathless and the front whed off the ground. . 81. Torque was abundant from zero to 9000 RPM. making the gearshift lever nothing morc than an unnecessary ornament. 82. So thcrt· you arc. In spite of its obvious flaws. such as poor acceleration. rottcn handling. and high price. it's still the best buy going.