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/125796
Instrumentation includes VDO speedometer with odometer reset by tenths. both backward and forward. The switch box on the left handlebar has light switch. kill outton. dimmer switch and hom. Good luck operating it by feel in the dark. Lighting is very good with a wide, flat low beam. Iteln. a pea I of you a.anylt.e By Ron Schneiders Free-lance journalism is a precarious profession. To survive in it you must write farily well all the time. As soon as you stop writing well, you start getting hungry. For most people, security involves many thinl\S like heal th care means that you doft't have to road test every piece of junk that some manufacturer decided to hang a nameplate on. That's a freedom that I particularly cherish because it means that I never had to "try to be fair" to a bike that I plans, pensions, paid vacations and unemploymen t insurance. Security for the free-lancer is having a month's worth of assignments. But the free lancer does have one thing going for him that others don't: the freedom to accept or reject assignments as he chooses.. This is particularly nice when it comes to doing road tests, because it I've eve,""""'" don't like. I test very few bikes, but every one of them is one that I thought, before the test, that I might like to own, that I might be willing to buy with my own money. A few times I've been wrong and had to write unfavorable reports which have kept some manufacturers mad at me for awhile. Each time that happens, I vow to be Opinion is very strong on the Monark's handling: riders really like it or really hate it. eN types liked it. more selective the next time. Road testing a lousy bike is a drag from beginning to end. The Monark is a bike that I wanted to test from the first moment that I saw it, almost a year ago. To be honest, the reason I was attracted to it was that it very strongly resembled the early model Pentons which I liked very much, and which I knew were due to be replaced. It has happened. The early Pentons are now history. But the basic design lives in the Monark. The early Penton and the Monark share many obvious similarities. Both utilize the well known Sachs engine, Sachs wheels, hubs, brakes and the excellent Magura controls. Both use Ceriani forks. The frames are quite similar, and the swingarms look identical, as do the basic foot peg assemblies. Both use the Girling shocks, and Bing Carburetor. they are, in fact, so similar that one is tempted to ask if they are both made by the same European factory. The answer is no. Monarks are produced by the MCB factory in S\)'eden while the Pen tons are built by KTM in Austria. Since both bikes, though, are made largely of proprietary components and it would not surprise me even a little bit to ·find that the same firm makes the frames for both bikes. The distributor says no, but he doesn't sound quite sure~ Monark Enduro has highl gro~ndl ~I~ranc" ,81so is geared too high in stock delivered form. Lack of tool box requires riders to bolt tools t~ frame. rt"t~· If'f''tl~'' I'" l~'" I II ~L. ,,"'I j l ... ) j..lJ ttl' Another reasonable question is which came first, the early Penton or the Monark. Again I can offer no deinite answer. The Monark is '!.. relatively new arrival in America but it has been establishing quite a reputation for itself in Europe since about 1968. It won its first gold medal in the ISDT in 1969. Pentson appeared here shortly before that. Both KTM and MCB have been building motorcycles in Europe for decades and have fine reputations. Enough of the similarities. Let's look at some of the differences. One of the most significan t differences is in the engine. The Monark is currently being sold with the Sachs "B" engine, while the earlier Pen tons were equipped with the U A" engines~ The main differences are slightly different porting for more power in the U B" engine and a new shifting mechanism. It's no secret that earlier Sachs engines had trouble with shifting, (though in my opinion, the trouble was exaggerated in the press). I had one of the earlier Sachs engines, and I did experience some trouble, but ~o\ b.e.fo~e.' (lie .bik', b',!d, ¥p6-i~~~~