Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

things happened to m oto cross last yea r. They we re called Els in ore and YZ. Suddenly' all th e Eu ropean style in th e world w o uldn' t get y o u through th e first tum in th e lead. Wha t 's m ore, th e guy who zap p ed you o n hi s J apan ese J uggernau t go t off wi th a b ar gain on origin al p rice an d on spare pa rts. It was a pisser to say the leas t. There are th ose w ho d oubted t ha t the European m an u fact ure rs co uld respond to th e J ap anese challenge an d still m ak e a m otorc ycle econom ical ly . What a joke. A guy starts to race in the 25 0 Nervous Nu t class an d to ge t to th e sta rting gate, rub ber bands having go ne the way of th e Dit One, he ha d to second m ort gage h is home. . T hat w as las t year . T his ye a r things are go in g to be d iffer en t. T he Bultaco J PR , Mo ntesa VR , Pen t on Hare Scram bl er , an d th e new m agnesium Husky 25 0 CR are proof th at th e Eu ropeans have d on e their home work a nd are not goi n g to give up th e m otocro ss sce ne without a fight. This willi ngness t o lo ck bars with the Japanese ex te n ds to even th e J aw a-CZ works in Czechoslovakia. CZ, long a favorite of American racers, watched p rog ress pass th em by as the com pe tition in creased horsepower and de creased weigh t. The once popular CZ faded in t o th at category of motorcycles that is referred to as the "rcl iab le" and "sturdy." Yyyeecchhh! You wouldn't date a girl tha t was "reliable" o r " st urdy " would y o u ? Thin gs lo oked rather bl eak for CZ fans. Last y ear 's change t o a five speed gear box and some minor cosmetic sty ling promised m or e t ha n it deliver ed. The rear end still hopped an d the tank was a he rni a special . T hey were saving up for this year. T he new CZ 250 Mo tocross/ Desert b ike that we p icked up fro m Wal t Go lbow a t Ad dicks Cycles in (wher e else) Addicks , Texas , is a whole new ball game, Gone is t he cl unky, heavy ha nded feel of t he old b ikes and in its place is a feeling of quickness, pipiness , an d ligh tness that is totally un like any CZ we have ridden. While picking up t he bi ke w e took a little time to tal k wi th Walt, who is so mething o f a legend am ong CZ pilots. If it's trick an d if i t wor ks, Walt will have it in s tock or o n o rd er. We asked Walt if he had d one a ny t hing to the new bi ke an d he said th a t he had replaced t he fork springs as th e stockers were too stiff. He had also replaced the ' st oc k bli st er specials with Oury rubber grips, wired up a Magura kill bu t ton, put on a fuel filter, a nd redone the stock J ikov car b wi th a 120 main and a 40 pilot jet. The jet chan ges may b e SOP for any new CZ. We know of another dealer that can ' t get his 250 to run cleanly with the st ockers . By the way, this is the standard set up th at Walt does to every new CZ he sell s. So wh at 's new? Nothing radically , really, just some needed fine tuning. Like the rims, which are. now Akronts, but ar e the old style j ob b ers wi th the mud catc hers. Don't sweat it , you hate mud anyway. How a bo u t the seat? There was never anything bad about th e seat. Wrong. Wait until y ou try this one . It's thinn er, firmer, and c ushions your fan n y a lot better. Not o n ly that, it won't get in yo ur way because the foo t pe gs are higher and the y le t yo u ride high on the bik e so you ca n throw you wei ght aro un d a lo t fas ter. Yo u will ha ve to move y o ur bod to ge t the m ost o ut of t he bike because th e new frame geom etry in vite d q uic k changes of d ire cti on. The CZ sti ll slides well but now it wo n't wear yo u ou t if y ou like berm bl astin g. What else? Oh , yes, th e pipe , it 's new w ith a built in muffler and i t m akes a very di stinctive bbbbBBBBRRRAAAPPpppp so u nd . T ha t ear spli tting sound co mes fro m a fiddled eng ine th at sp o rts o nly a sing le plug in its ra dial he ad an d some p ortin g changes, b u t cran ks o ut 32 horses. I t wasn't much bu t it changed the wh ol e character of th e bike. The engine is no w a wi lling revve r , Go ne is t he grunting powe r of the old er models and in its place is a very power ful an d usabl e m id range. O .K., le t 's get the q uestion yo u've been as king in th e back of yo u r head up fron t . Will it beat, not edge , b ut beat a YZ or Elsinore to the fi rst turn or o n a straigh t ? No , it wo n't. Bu t w ai t. Don ' t go aw ay . There is m ore. a lot mo re to m o t ocross t han first turns and straights. The Elsie and YZ jockey can't use al l th eir p ower . T he ri der o f a new CZ can. Why ? Because h is rear wheel will be stabbing the earth wi th kn obs in stead of spi n ning wildly. Not onl y th at but he will be co nfi de n t and thinking about hi s next move while th e other riders are ge tting off o n their speedrush or trying to guide their gyrating mounts aro und ' the turn. What's that? You don't believe us? Why? Sorry, y o u 're wrong, the rear end does not hop ar o u nd like a bunny in heat. Even Bultaco riders didn 't notice any tenden cy for the rear end · to d o tr icks. That means the sh oc ks work. Tha t used to be the first thing every new CZ ow ner ch an ged . Off came th e st o ckers and on went the Konis. Not any more. If y ou feel y ou really need the m, the Konis are always th er e but it isn 't abso lu tel y ne cessar y . O.K. , the rear end wor ks so th at ta kes car e of the suspension ; af ter all , the new fork s have over an in ch m ore travel. Not quite. The ne w fo rks have a prob lem, o r a t least ours did. After c u ttin g off a few fast laps ou r hands were tin gling and ou r sh oulde rs fe lt lik e th ey needed a rub d own. Comin g off a j u m p o r fl ying in t o a drop o ff th e front end would sla m into the ground an d going ov er wash b oard straig hts a stran ge drib b ling effec t ca me in t o action. Weir d . We called Walt and aske d him what he put in th e fro n t slid ers and he sai d regular ATF. HHhhmmmmm. Ho w abo u t so me 30 weigh t flud? We cou ldn 't find an y in t own . So we checke d fur th er . and fo un d th at th e answer seems to be the size of the h ol e in the dampenin g rod. It's too sm all and needs to b e drilled out so m e . We also ch ec ked to see if the front axl e spacers were in right. Sometimes a spacer will be missing and when the axle nut is tightened down it causes the sliders to bind. The fron t forks were the only problem we encountered with the new CZ. The first thing that CZ owners used to replace were the shocks and the second thing was the Jikov carb known far and wide .b y another name that starts with a J. The carb on our bike worked perfectly giving first kick starts from the very first. The jet chan ges we mentioned earlier seem to be the ho t set up as our bike used th e same plug the entire time we had the bike. There were a lot of other little th in gs we liked abou t th e CZ. Su ch as n yl on lock nuts a ll over th e bike, sturdier chain adj ustme n t m ethod, a pl astic fron t fen de r , su pe r clean brak e arm an d chain gu ide , plus a n optional works repli ca al loy tank avai lable at extra c ost. But th e main thing th at st ruc k everyo ne tha t rode the b ike was the changes th at have co me over CZ . G on e are th e clanging no ises, and bo in ger rear end . In i ts pl a ce is a racer 's d re am an d an acc essory salesman 's nightmare . A bike th at ' s right (excep t fo r th e fro n t forks, which can be easily fi xed ) fr om the s tart. • The CZ is still a super slider. Dennis Cox makes another bid for factory ride. New rear shocks. chain guide and brake arm. No slip five speed shift. Alloy brake pedal and Jikov carbo Aircraft locknuts abound on the bike. CZ specifications Tire front Tire: rear _ Suspension, front Suspension, rear 2.75 X 21" · 4 .25 X 18" telescopic. tra~el ~OOmm swinging ar~ ~~~~h. : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : .: : : : : : : : : : :~~ .. ~~:~~~~: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::5i.~:: Road clearance Dry weight Fuel tan k ca pac it y 7 220 pounds ' 2.5 gallons 19

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