Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

AUTOMOTIVE BiG! AND MOTORCYCLE T he strong spark of the Motoplat electroni c igniti on and the performance of the 34mm Bing carb provided first kic k st ar ts when cold every time - after yo u tickled to overflow . Surprisingly, it so metimes took three o r four kicks to get it to light off when it was hot. Then sometimes, it didn 't. The powerful engine is mounted in the frame w ith new , very bu sine sslike brackets and longer ca se screw s have been u sed to ov ercom e some sidecase leaking enc o un te red on the ' 73 m odels. Ours Lurking behind the gree n number plate and " ca ppra 250 VR" stickie is a monstrous Twin A ir foam filter. Lurki n g in side t he flat blac k crin kly engine is 30 h o rsepowe r. was com pletely tig ht a fte r much har d usc. Th e sticky, wide block Pirelli motocross ru bb er which holds so well in the t urns wears quickly on hard surface tracks. Maybe six motos and it's gone. It is just right fo r soft dirt or mud. The rear cable-operated brake was very strong, strong enough to lock up the rear wheel and kill the engine un til you got used to it. The small brake tab always fell perfectly to foot but the brake took some getting use d to. The fro nt brake wa s exc ellen t in all respects and both stoppers proved fade-free under repeated hard application. We could never find any fa ult in th e five-speed gearbox or clutch action. The latter was rarely used. All throws w ere positive and ea ch gear sele cted cleanly . Stom p sh ifting without the clutch didn't cha nge that behavior. Whal really makes y ou fall for the Montesa, tho ugh, is how it co rn ers. How it co rn ers is . . . any way you want to . It will lead you through a turn effortlessly. Yo u can sq uare it off and fu llp o wer out, or you can slide aro un d the t urn. Yo u can get away w ith out j ust abo ut any t hing thr ou gh th e co rn ers. And the accelera tio n co ming out is inspiring. Yo u can flat ru le the co rn ers on thi s ma chine. T hrottle respo nse is immediate and impressive. T he cent er of gravity feels low and th e bike nev er want s to do anything aw kward th at will slow you down or sap you r co n fid en ce. Some tes ters felt th e sus pe nsion was st iff bu t it w as very pr ecise, tr ack ed co m p le te ly true , and never twi tc he d or kick ed b ac k land in g fro m jumps. Other riders thought it was just about right for hard charging . M 0 n t esa hav e been leaders in expansion chamber design for a long time. Th ey have come up with a pi pe to com p lem en t the VR engine that gets that 30 peak horses o ut of it and can still run with a silencer th a t is undoubtedly street legal . What th e quiet silence r allows yo u t o hear is how noisy th e engine is. Ever ybody co m m en ted on eng ine no ise but y ou had t o actu ally list en hard for th e e xhaust not e when kickstarting th e b ike to see if it had lit o ff. T he Mont esa VR has handling o f Grand Pri x ca liber , more · power than most of its owners are likely to ever use , and race-ready detailing right out of the cra te. It has also demonstrated, so far, a really imp ressive record of being breakproof once it's broken in correc tl y. The detail improvements (like the big Twin Air filter which Montesa Motors credits with some of t he po wer inc rease) h a v e all been made fo r strictly competition p urp ose s in a strict sense and no t for the sake of m od el change . We haven ' t rid de n all of the new 19 74 250 motocross m ach in es yet, but so fa r wha t the Mo n tesa VR ha s go ing for it is the simple fact th a t in its stock fo rm it has t he best handlin g fo r th e mo st rid ers, th e mo st power, and totall y co m pie te o u t ·of· t he ·cra te race preparation in every detail. The only t hing it n eed s t o be raced co m pe titively in every sk ill class is gas and oi l, and those may be harder to find . With no co mpro mises in a well tho ught out stock racing machine, Mon tesa looks like th e top buy in the fierce 250 m ot ocross class . And the gas cap didn't even leak. They've added another O-ring to it . • One very fi ne hub, brake , spokes, rim setu p. Little plastic strips ju st like the works bike had ca me taped to Mo ntesa's own f orks. CANNING'S SHOW HEADQUARTERS c..... _ __,._ _ Old ,0..0 _ . p.o ... .....:I I 0 סI o _ , , , t •• _ c :wn .... ~ .....:I _ .<,d _ __ , 10 ( .. , 10 _ 1 G. . .el OHKfl: G'. "ClIcl+or 4S UI.SfTtlPIM . ..,....... Cel f.... 90270 i ' N'-d 10 tt.. ..... 0...0" _ 0< Id !lell;" , '90<" . ...1 ....., " .00 . 0< 10100 .. 1 • 10' 'POe. .. .,.. po 0' lr _ 1 10< 01..... .. _ .I.. b l. 10' '10 00 pe r . _ rod .. dd j" o.... 1 '00'" '0 po . k , , ho" d,.. All ...... ..... _ 1 be ..... d. b, _ ;1 d.one. s....p., ,1 , .. .. , . .. ... to .. . . ,ndo - ' " Oftd ill . _ 1 , ...., 'PO • • bp ,1 o nd ..t>Cl .. II od d ,,_ r ,..1 ....._ ....,;... ,.. .." ,....OIQ .0< ..,,.. _ •• r» The Hang Ten U.S. Gran Prix IS COMING JU LY 14, A T CARLSBAD RACEWAY COMPANIES INTERESTED IN DISPLAY SPACE OR SELLING BOOTHS CALL RON HUNT ER (714)557-9243 31'

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