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/125798
practical than the more usual type, and there's less to go wrong with it. The footpegs are non-folding mild steel types. Gene remarked that he bent them a couple times and was able to simply straighten them out with a rock. The Jawa comes with a set of tools and spare parts that is absolutely unreal. Besides a full set of dt:cen t quality wrenches, there is a special folding screw driver with two hlades, and a combination wrench that fits all the nuts on the rear wheel. Two little parts cans are included. One contains a full set of spare ligh t bulbs and the other has miscellaneous parts, extra nuts and bolts, a spare set of points, a spare carburetor return spring, some extra valve cores and caps, and a full jet block. Also in the tool kit are extra cables, rubber bands, and even about three feet of baling wire. One unusual item is an air bottle that weighs about three pounds complete with brass fittings. Gene says, "That's the biggest one I've ever seen. ] have some of those little C02 cartridges that you get from Webco with a little adaptor for the valve stem, and a patch kit that ['11 probably carry. One C02 cartridge will fill the front tire but it takes two of them to put about 22 pounds of pressure in the M ~ CL N .... '" .n c. " l/J ~ W Z W ..J U >U rear." I found the bike to be suhstan tially quicker than most enduro bikes, with a power band that just won't quit. Third gear feels like it~ good for anything between 10 and 60 mph. Handling for my style of riding, (endurosand not too fast at that), was about perfect. It steers well, has no tendency to loop coming off a jump, slides controllably, and has excellen t suspension. Gene rides quite a bit faster than [ do - like 30 mph or so - anll he was a bit more critical. He said, "It\ pretty easy to ride, bu t you have to 'stand up and ride it all the time, You can't sit down and go fast over rough terrain or it wiJI spit you righ t off. Its quite a bit different from my Yamaha. Where the Yamaha is really good over high speed rough stuff, this is just the opposite, a lot better at low speed stufL" Back at the garage we had a chance to discuss some of the more general aspects of the ISDT team effort. Gene feels that our chances of doing well this year are "pretty good", but doing well would be about fifth place. "It's pretty hard to beat Czech oslovakia, East and West Germany, and Sweden as far as the trophy teams go," he said. Gene didn't want to comment on the makeup of the team this year, except to say that he felt I'd been a bit unfair to his buddy Jeff Heininger in my analysis a few weeks back. He cited an impressive list of Jeff's accomplishements, which include first 125 in several desert races and a second overall in the Sobolia Grand Prix. He agreed with me that it seemed unfair that Dave Lathem, a very qualified rider, had been left off the team, but always willing to look at the positive side, he said, .tMaybe it was an honest mistake," on the part of the AMA ~lection committee. Gene's only real criticism of the process, if indeed it can be called that, concerned the fact that the AMA is selecting the teams at all. "You know the AMA is right when they say they want to keep politics out of the ISDT effort, but the thing is, they go to the manufacturers and say, We wan t you to send over a team, prepare the bikes and all that, but we want to pick the team. Any manufacturer or distributor, such as Ted Lapadakis, who has a racing program, knows best of all what riders are qualified for his team. And he's going to use the best riders that he can because he wants to further his product. So here is the AMA back in Ohio telling the distributor what riders to put on his bikes. I can see the manufacturer's resenting that. tt For any riders who might like to get on next yean ISDT team, here's how Gene gets in shape. He does a daily workout with weights at his job (he's an LA City police officer), and when he gets home he rides in the hills around his house. But not on a motorcycle. He pedals, often going twen ty miles in an evening, and since pedaling up hills is bit too easy"he packs his daughter, Shelby, about age six, on the back! That's all there is to it, gang. Czech, Czech and Triple Check... Gene gives the bike a thorough bath. He still has some detail work to do it: when he finished soaking it, it wouldn't start. , AI - 1 ~ ., • The bike slides easily and controllably. ,. • to ' . . . . . - .. - - - ..