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/125855
lock than is acceptab le for ser ious
competition, Sames goes for the idle :
it's good, but not good enough, Again,
it reminds us of earlier Pioneers we 've
ridden , It idles with a slight lu m p iness
and a tendency to surge, (W~ suspect
this is due 10 a tendency for the
so lid-state ignition to "hunt" for its
firing point at ultra-low crankshaft
speeds.] In a tight section, t his surging
tendency is bad news; the slightest chain
snatch can and will kill the engine at
that very slowest point in the trap.
The fork stops can be filed back
abou I a quarter-inch on each side
wi thou I doing violence 10 the tank, and
much of the lumpiness can be tuned out
of the idle by diddling with the jetting
and liming. Wilh these bits of
preparation, the bike's abilities are far
b e II e r
t han
t h o se
of t h e
Novice/Amateur rider who will most
likely be campaigning with it.
As to- the other side of th e
dual-purpose coin, what about the
Explorer as an enduro bike ? T he basic
equipment is there, The sp eed o is
rese ttable, the solid state ignit io n is
fully encapsulated top and bottom. The
primary wiring between upper an d
lower un it is, however, vulnerab le to
water in spots, like next to the terminals
of the upp~r unit . After a fai rly
thorough washing, the ignition d id arc
over at this point due to water, and it
had to be dried before the fire would
light. Earlier model Pioneers had a nice
close-fitting boot for this terminal area
which was not filled 10 the Explorer,
That boot would about cure this
" Achill es' heel syndrome."
The brakes are progressive to the
point of being spongy. They felt weak
on the flat, but just about perfect on
long nasty downhills. Again, the tires
got in the way of our evaluation, The
front would wash out and lock up, but
we feel that with better traction at the
front the brakes would be perfectly
matched 10 the typical rear-to-front
weigh I transfer of downhill riding.
W~'v~ had the opportunity to compare
several different trials bikes with several
different kinds of rubber, and feel that
tires, rather than brakes, are the true
culprit.
What about riding at end uro speeds?
In su per rough country, under near ly
impossible conditions, a trials bike is
probably the fastest thing in the woods,
simply because n o thing will bog the
engine, part-throttle response is near
perfect, and there's darn Iittle the
machine can't be ridden over . Pressing
the Explorer over co bb y ground , along
rocky be ds , sandy washes, up ridge lines
and ac ross steep ravines, we feel that a
12 MPH average would be duck so up
under condi tions where such an average
would be in effect, Even 24 MPH is
readily obtainable, but in this mode,
you have to think a little fart her ahead
of the Explorer than yo u would, say, a
Pio neer, The softer t rials suspension
works harder at speed, and uses up m ore
of its travel for a given impact. If you
berserk it 10 make up time, you better
expect to lose it in a big way.
The suspension that works in such
great harmo ny with the engine at low
speeds b~com~s a diff~r~nt an imal if
you try to sluff it hard into a turn in
fourth or fifth ~ar. If you bobbl~ a bit,
th~ chassis will want to continu~ to
porpoi~ on you. Your natural instinct
will b~ to gas iI, and if th~ traction is
th~r~, yo u can r~co~r il. If it's not
th~r~ (and again, tir~s ar~ critical) you'll
crash.
This is th~ pric~ you pay for trials
susp~nsion and st~~ring g~om~try. If
yo u want to rid~ it fast, you'll hav~ to
adapt to th~ m ac h in ~ ; it will not adapt
to you.
. If it s~~ms w~'v~ ~~n hyp~r·critical
of th~ Ossa Explor~r, w~ hav~ b~~n,
with a p urpos~ . It's difficult ~nough to
b uild a m ot orcycl ~ that 's comp~titiv~ in
on~ field. It's n ~arl y impossibl~ to build
on~ Iha l will do two or m or~ things
sup~rlatively. A dual-purpoSe m ach in ~ ,
by its v~ry nat ure , is call~d upo n to do
al most too m uc h. W~'ve delib~rately
look~d at th~ Ossa Explor~r through th~
eyes of the serious enduro or trials
competitor,
be cause
we
thi nk
, everybody who rid~s on~ will b~ at I~ast
t~mpt~d to comp~t~.
In a ~nse , w~ 'r~ r~f1~cting th~
Am~rican dirt bik~ m ark~t, whos~ t3St~
has b~~n mad~ hyp~r