rumentation was pretty good for
O.
glo ves , o r m aybe a tightly packed
windbreaker.
T he oil tank breather tube was
ro uted so th at a fine mist of o il fell o n
the drive chain just before it ran over
the coun tershaft sp roc ket. T he chain
nev er d ried o ut during the test.
A little plastic co nt ainer behind the
battery held t h ree spare plugs all in a
row . The battery h o lde r needed a little
padding, ' as th e movement of the
battery case against , t he surrounding
bra ckets wore away some p lastic (and
th e lev el marks on one side) quickl y . In
10,000 miles or so it co u ld be co m e a
probl em .
T h e wide eng ine cas es bulge to
accom mo da te the points on o ne side
and the gener at o r ' o n th e o ther and
serve d to kee p the rider 's feet d ry and
safe from puddle sp lashes getting past
t he neatl y designed (loo k, rna, no struts)
fron t fender while riding on wet street s.
Tires
an d
acc e p t a ble
ground
fo r
clearan ce
the
were
performan ce
The powerplant had plenty of cylinders
but d idn' t match the numbers with
performance.
capabilities of the bike when used on
the street.
The inst ruments and co ntro ls were:
good. There were no flaws in the scarab
- green paint.
The SIB is not the fastest o r q uickest
in its class (it's slower than the defunct
Kawasaki AZ rotary valve twin) , won't
stop as quickly as its co m p et it ors, costs
o nly a t iny bit less, b ut it offers more
cylinders. It needs new shocks, but
suffers no other glaring co m m ut ing use
fau lts. Lacking a lit tl e st ea m (relative to
th e Yamaha ROZ50 ) and fade- free
b ra k e s , it still delivers enough
performance t o get so me o ne wh ere h e
wants to go the way he w ants to ge t
there reasonably safel y wit h reaso n ab le
econ om y and little hassle. It 's a
reason ab le, pract ical , unflashy, bland ,
but co mpetent moto rcy cle. Besides
bei ng the year of the eco nomy car, th is
may be the year of the reaso nable ,
pract i ca l , unflashy, bla nd, b ut
co m p etent bike.
•
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