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/125851
motocroas rrracbdrre R & D 'ing the new Puch 125 >- 1: e a: ~ ~ ...JO Test rider Je ff Wri~t banzais the d ropaway do wnhill at Va lley Cyde Park on the new 125 Puch mo tocross. Motocross In the U .5. IS fast becoming a family sport. Whereas Dad used to think of baseball and wanted Junior to become another Mickey Mantle, now Dad is likely to wan t him to become another Roger DeCoster or Joel Robert. The result is a very large and com petitive market fo r motorcycle manufacturers a nd , in th is market, the 125 cc class is th e hottest and most volatile be cause the new rid er usually starts with a ligh ter bike wh ich h as eno ugh power to do the jo b but is not un controllable. Honda, Suzu ki an d t he others hav e come o ut with th eir Ready-To-Race 12 5 motocross m ach in es. Now, Pu ch has decided to beat th em a t th eir o wn game. The objective was to build the bes t . han d ling 125 with enough power t o win , and st ill main ta in reli ability. In other words, it w as n o good to be fir st off the lin e and n o t fin ish the race . About tw o years ago , Harry Everts and Christian G ouverneur, two y o ung Belgians, ca me to th e U.S . with their 125 Puchs and blew everybody in to th e weeds virtually every time th ey rac ed. Jeff Wright also had one of th ese "works" Pu ch 125s and thoroughl y dominatcd lo ca l 125 motocross in this time period, particularly at fast, tigh t CMC AscOL These mac hines were not the same bikes that yo u co uld buy off the sho wroo m floor or y our Puch dealer and, as that fact became known, didn't help Puch sales all that much . This situation w as unac ceptable to th e importer, former d esert ra cer, and (S OT medalist T ed Lapadakis . He wanted a works bike th at he co uld sell to anybody right o ut th e door. On e that would win, like th e specials o f Everts , Gouverneur, and Wright. We su p pose " U that every importer would like such a 125 . Ted really got serious in August of 1973. He went to the factory in Austria fo r a se ries o f meeting with th e top design en ginners. It took a lo t o f time an d effo rt but the Pu ch engineers finally agre ed to go all o ut and build a co m ple te ly new co m pe tion m ach in e. They th rew away a ll th e ol d fr ames and engi nes ' and st arted building fro m scratch. First th ey built the new chassis an d test ed it extensi vely o n the lo cal trac k . The engi ne sa t 2 16" lower in the crad le. In fac t, t he wh ol e siloue tt e was low ered 216". T he rim s were A kr o n t-type alloy. The fron t hub was redesigned to be ligh ter an d co nical. A sm all fuel ta n k was fab ricat ed o ut of ro tationally spun ny ron unbreakable plastic , as wer e the fender s. A larger chain w as added for rel iabilit y . They used th e b asic low en d of t he su ccessful Puch engine but w ith forged steel gear s. T he n new p ort tim in g was developed for th e cy lin der. They ship ped th e finished b ik e b y a ir to Southern Cali fornia an d told Lapadakis t o have it ridden hard and get the bu gs o u t of it , reporting back d aily as they wanted to go into prod ucti on i m me dia t el y upon com pleti o n of testing. Ted go t th e bike in Cali fornia Januar y 15 of this ye ar and immediately pUI it o n the dyno to set th e proper je tting for m aximum output and cle an runnin g. Then, they c hanged th e gearin g to a 14T co un tershaft sprocket and 5 8 on the rear. Out in th e d esert, Jeff Wrighl put 100 mileson the bik e and found th at nothing broke. It handled sup er-good an d was able t o stay up w ith lar ger d isplacemen t machines in a d rag race. Agai n, the bike was brought b ack t o th e sh op and th e mechanic, Don Lyle , ch ec ke d it a ll ove r and pu t it b ack on th e dyno fo r more je tting changes as the y prepar ed it fo r J eff t o st art com pe ting in lo cal moto cr oss events o n th is st oc k pre-producti on model. On e Friday n ight, Jeff signe d up in th e 125 Exp ert class a t Indian Dunes, and, surp risingly was able t o take second in the firs t m o ta . He had respectable rides in the next tw o motos t o ta ke home so me money o n hi s first ride on th e m ach ine . Nex t Sunday, the bike wa s taken t o Vall ey Cycl e Park for a 5 1000 purse Grand Prix -t y pe run . T his was a 45 -min ute ra ce over a verycho ppy , h illy co urse agai nst so me of the bes t rid ers in th e state ; a fair test fo r any mach in e. Bu t fo r this st ocker it may have bee n asking too m uc h. It was a Le Mans start. At the signal, all th e ride rs ra n for their bi kes and J eff was firs t off the lin e o n th e 125 Pu ch. He led th e race for six laps, endi ng up a respe ctable third and pic king u p 595 for his efforts. Wrigh t's com ments on the bik e: "It's a very forgiving m achin e. I got a little ti red a t the end of th e ra ce and fo r some reason , touched the rear brake. I go t out o f shape co m in g over th e top of th e b ig . hill and landed sid eways. I j ust h eld the throttle on and it straighten ed out wi th no sweat. The handling makes y o u feet that you can go into the berms very deep , alm ost out of sh ape, j ust lay it down and power th rough." The nex t Sunday, Ted Lapadakis and his crew took the bike out to the desert again. They rode it for another 100 miles as hard as they could and still nothing broke. In this, testing he finalized the proper j etting, gearing, and type o f handlebars that would come over on th e production model. The first ones should be in the States during March. Ted Lapadakis is close to getting what he wanted: a Puch motocross machine that ca n win the 125 dass o ut of the box . Testing and development of the 125 Pu ch are still go in g on. T hey have now ac hieved 2 2 HP on th e dyno, following factory racing sp ecs as adapted to the lo cal environmen t (Differen t ambient temperatures, co urse co nditio ns and the like.] T he fac t o ry specs in th ree stage. of tune will be proven au t and made availab le to the cu st o me r when he buys his 125 Puch. The idea, already being p ur sued by at least one other importer, is to give the buyer-ra cer a machine that he can tune to be co m pe ti t ive ' to his needs while main taining reliability. It seems like a step in the right direction towards giving the public the work. racing machines they have always coveted. • I.oi ..red engine posit ion and sea t height of a new fnllne prcwide wood stability. >- !: o a: ~ " u a C:=:!:..~~~;;;iIi.