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/125831
October 23,1973 Page 26 OLD STAND-BY TAKES, Montesa King Scorpion • Yamaha OT-250 Enduro Motorcycle comparison tests often turn out as patchwork collections of opinions on bikes that mayor may not be comparable, depending upon the testers' attitudes on what the machines should offer. Motorcycles for combined street and trail use have proven quite popular wi th the growning number of moto-recreationists in America. The on/off-road bikes fill the gap between highway transportation machines and the highly specialized competition dirt bikes. To participate seriously in each category of the motorcycling sport, from touring to observed trials, would require at least eight motorcycles and a sizeable bank account. For the less enthusia.stic or more improverished recreational rider, dual purpose motorcycles are the answer. The question before the potential buyer is, which machine offers the best balance of compromises for the usage he intends. Will it be ridden on the road twenty percent of the time, or eighty percent? Will it be expected to perform considerable night time duty? Should it be easy to handle it tight, wooded trails or in powdery desert expanses? Should it be easy to repair if you're a hundred miles from everywhere and never used a screwdriver? Yamaha has sold what seems like se.veral milHon of the DT series, so there is Jittle doubt about the size of the market. Montesa has approached the double duty requirements more cautiously, but has now bowed to the Japanese stimulus for tidyness by offering oil injection for the first time. They have not yet included the feature of primary kick starting. One suspects they're going slow as they test the market reaction to the new model. At the same time, the Montesa offers morc serious enduro goodies than the Yamaha - including a chain tensioner, fork gaiters, knobby tires, folding-footpegs and instrumen t5 encased in rubber molding. The Spaniard also has well-designed luggage rack on the rear fender, a handy spot to accomodate extra tools. a sleeping bag or a cask of rum. The seat, however, has padding only marginally more resilient than the luggage rack. The Yamaha has an upswept exhaust system, out of the way of everything except the rear tire. Eyeball measurements indicate that mounting a large knobby would require the use of a hammer. (The Yamaha is fitted with trials universal tires.) Montesa has chosen, or used a down pipe arrangement, which leaves much of the expansion chamher exposed to rocks and logs. There is a fiberglass bash plate covering the lowermost extremities. The engines; both piston-port singles, are dissimilar in many respects. With a compression ratio of only 6.8: 1, the Yamaha still exhibits a slimmer power band than the Montesa, which is rated at 1 0: 1. The Montesa engine is basically iden tical to their VR motocross powerplant, with smaller carburetor, longer piston skirt and lower compression the only real differences. On acceleration the Yamaha is marginally faster than the Montesa but the Scorpion has a taller-than-necessary final drive ratio, presumably for highway riding. The countershaft sprocket could use a tooth less. The Ya.maha transmission shifted more positively than the Montesa's did. Although the Yamaha has slightly more wheelbase, (55.7" to 55.2"), the Montesa is more proficient in high speed handling. In part it's a result of the knobbed tires, but there also seems to be more motocross heritage lurking behind the Montesa's street legal hardware. The swing arm angle doesn't look right, nor do the rear shocks, which are canted inboard at the top. But the Montesa maintains its delivery Yamaha exhaust nearly touches tire.