Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

i The First Two-Stroke is Still One of the Best ~ ~ ~~ ~,r,' 0> Your choice. DKW 125 Hornet (with Beto",l. or Motocross (with springer): By John Huetter In 1920, the DKW motorc-ycle works DKWs will be sold on looks rather than began production of a two-stroke ability of the rider to get the most out engine, around 50cc displacement, of the precise controJ they provide. mounted on the rear wheel of a bicycle. On rough, cobby stuff, the Betors, Five years later, some 50,000 of the like any telescopic, will still transmit the little beasties had been produced and up and down jolts to the hands. The DKW came out with their first racer, a - springer front end doesn't. The 175cc competition two-stroke. DKW movement of the springer fork is a fairly went on builtling and innovating, slow, dampened back and forth winning national championships in motion in the horizontal plane, which is Germany and generally dominating a lot easier to hold onto at speed. most classes in Europe throughout the Stories that they are not as precise in 1930's. tracking are, for 95% of alJ riders, In 1966, the DKW Motorcycle works nonsense. You stick the springer DKW into a comer and hold it on a line and it was acquired by Fichel-Sachs, a German conglomerate, and the lightweights stays there. The springer has a tendency came into this country under the Sachs to right the bike when it gets sideways name. The unconventional little bikes which is damned desirable when with the leading link front suspensions charging over the desert, so you have to were obviously not styled for mass hold it down where you want it, but it's American market appeal, and they cost not any great effort. The Betors, of more than the Japanese lightweights. course, just stay wherever they Jast were But they won races. put, either by you or the terrain. You The springer front ends, at the time have to weigh the plus and 'minus, and found eJsewhere only on G.reeves and ask yourself honestly if you can really the Wasp sidecars, soaked up the jolts, afford, or need, that kind of precision bumps and rocks allowing riders to go front end placement, when it might be . faster without getting off. The little precisely where it'll put you on your engine surprised everybody with its head. The springer provides an easier, power and, mainly, dependability, as more comfortable, and ultimately more the 125cc machine consistently beat confidence-inspiring ride. They are both machines with three and four times the good, but I found myself pushing the tlisplacement. It's no accident that the springer harder because I didn't think same Sachs engine appears in most of I'.d go on my head as soon, or something the European ligh tweigh t specialty like that. machine. The engine. Very, very nice. The Finally, about two years ago the Type B engine is so reliable and so DKW was given back its rightful name. tractable that pretty soon you forget The name change meant, if anything, about it. This allows that little space of that it was going to have to do even your mind that is normally spen t better in an increasingly competitive worrying about your motor to market. So the DKW won some races concentrate on riding. We commented and beat some big bikes in other races on its strength and power in the to finish right up there and people previous Penton test. (The Penton has started to figure out that it really was recently started using the same engine.) the same as the Sachs that had been It's all still true_ If anything, we found racing all along. the DKW engines a little easier to live But it's not the same old Sachs. The with. First kick starts always and plenty new DKW has kept the' things that make of [ow end, helped along with the it a desirable machine and added some evenly spaced six-speed ge,arbox. The new features that make it even more Motoplat ignition, also new on the Type desirable. The springer model for B, is excellent and reliable. I bought a motocross and cross-country is still spare plug at the beginning of the review there, but heavy duty Betor forks and never used it through four weeks replace the baby Cerianis found on the with both machines. telescopic fork models of last year. Yup, DKW definitely has their number there are two front ends for essentially dialed in with this particular motor. the same motorcycle: springer or There is probably more to be gotten out telescopic, take your choice. Both are of it, and if you're Cordis Brooks or outstanding units. The telescopic Gene Cannady maybe you can use it. Betors are a good match for the weight Otherwise, leave. it alone. It never and geometry of the machine. Front loaded up. balked or stuttered. wheel landings ne{-er fazed them, in fact Inadvertently leaving the fuel taps on it was possible to go faster over some during a ride to the test track didn't areas of a course employing this cause the 27mm Bing any apparent technique (You see the Europeans do it, harm. It still fired on the first kick (this right?). They are very precise but only on the springer model, but the engines the really outstanding rider will be able are identital). ~to- use ·their . tracking. , abilit)(. in ' On, th~e_ollt a£ four. of ,the T,ype B . ln1Ytotross.' M~re" o£(.,tfie.. llJduring our

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