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/125845
...... Walk before you run Mickey QuadeTibblin Then let Rolf and imp ro ve you r d irt -rid ing skill t une yo ur bod. Begin ne rs to p ro s. All make s of bi kes acc ep t ed - renta ls ava ilable. Tuition fee of $17 5 .00 covers all. Contact: lel Husqvarna International Training Center 4935 Mer cu ry, San Dieg o, Ca 92111 Ph . 7 14/29 2·0670 wasp SIDEC~ " MOTO CROSS MACHI NES All models stocked Import er - Dist. Bert us F,C,S, 1340 N. Hacienda La Puente, Calif, 9 1744 YETI BIKE SU IT Not j ust a windbreaker, not just water repellent. but an attractive, waterproof body heat contai ni ng - 1 piece zip up, all weather bike suit. At your local motorcycle dealer. -Atlentis lProducts Long Beach, CA jiM FishbAck's ~ YAMAHA';!p@~Ji] ). ),; ~ W l I (714) 822-2252 9008 Sierra Ave., Fontana, Ca. ~ Coast Moto Cy ,;le 2 3 3 4 N ewport BI. , C o st a Mesa 7 14/ 645 ·8008 . :' , ' SM~LER A com plet e tra vel tra ile r 'd esigned to carry 5 b ikes. JOURNEYMAN TRAIL ERS 10 1r)6l'4 Midw ay Ave .• c er r i to v, Ca 9 0701 , C 1 31 92ol ·2 38 9 2 Grit y o ur teeth and gas it . The SC-500 gets a little out of sha pe off a jum p preceded by bumps. Photos by Art F riedman and T o m Culp. Birds of a feather: Yamaha MX-100 & SC-500 You can lump Yamaha's biggest and littlest dirt racers together because they are very much alike. They are both moderately powerful with in their resp ecti ve classes, neither o ne handles exc ep tio nally well in stock form , and both are seemingly quite reliable. They bot h ease t heir ways in t o the classification of "playbike." whe re a reliable, easy-st arting, and eas ily ridden m otorcycle shines . What 's m ore, they ' re both yell ow a nd bl ack. The l\IX -IO O has seen much c hange from last year's 10 0cc mo to cro sse r, It has co me into 1974 with a new frame and imp rov ed power characte ris tics . plus a handful o f oth er cha nges. Las t year's frame was th e sam e as fo r the 100 end uro an d nev er let yo u fo rge t it. T his year, the m oto cr o sser got its own fr ame. Last year's 100 handled ba dly. T his year's handli ng ha s co me up t o med io cre o r even fair level d ep end in g o n th e rider's size . If you 've o nly ridden las t year's ve rsion. you'd b e awestru ck by th e imp ro vemen t. It is wha t yo u m ight ex pe ct from a $ 7 02 m o tocrosser. O r y ou migh t expect more. A bit m ore wh eelbase a nd improved geometry improve handling. However, a de cent suspension wo uld ma ke things downrigh t pleasant. : A 21 -inch fro n t wheel migh t he lp, too, It d oe sn ' t re ally get along with awful things like big bumps and whoop-de-does. The tires, esp eciall y when co up led t o the st ill-sh ort wheelbase, aren't really what th e d entist ordered. The rear wheel will sw in g from side to side rather violently at time s. One m us t keep reminding oneself t hat o ne only paid $702 for th e mach in e. If the im p ro veme n t in handling m igh t ha ve awed a Yamaha-only 100 class 'cro sser, th e improv em ent in us able po wer probably would have stunned h im se nseless. Ins tead of re acting like a gun w he n you feed it gas ( Bang .), th e ~ t X - I 00 now develo ps power in a grad ual an d us able m ann er . You ca n get the pow er o n so o ne r a nd ge t more o f it to t he gro u nd. And if you screw up a nd get the whole moto rcycle t o t he gro und , m o st of the co m p o n e n t s are pr etty st ro ng an d unli kel y to b re ak . Whi ch b ri ngs us b ack to th e p laybike concept. With the usable powerband, the bike can be used for fooling around somewhere off th e beaten motocross track. It's quiet and d oes good w heelies to impress yourself w ith yo ur skill. An d you don't h ave to risk getting bea ten by anybody else. If yo u should choose to ra ce it, you 'll find yourself in the sa me league as the other Japanese 100 class rnotocrossers, but yo u'll have m o re t rou ble with so me of th e better-handlin g Eu ro pean m a kes. On th e other han d , yo u a nd th e o ther guys o n Oriental machinery will be able to afford t o eat, If you don't want to eat, but still want to race a Yamaha in the 100 class, you can spend the m o ney to im pro ve it . T he 500 is m uc h the same way except t hat it has n' t been c h an ged mu ch sin ce last y ear. Ours was quieter and slower, possibly because it wasn 't jetted properly , but so me people felt th at the SC -500 's gain in silence a nd lack of speed wer e re la ted. It is a great d ea l like th e l\lX- 360, but with a more rel axed powerband. T he low en d was so great that you co uld loc k th e fr ont wheel, stand up and the re ar wh eel would co n tin ue to tu m a t a sta nd st ill in first gea r. The 500 wou ld