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/125863
Product evaluation Electra-Shift Long Term Product Evaluation By John Ulrich We've had o ur Backco un t ry Riding Jacket for five months now. We've worn it wh ile riding in enduros (its intended purpose), while covering races (the pock ets hold lots o f film and came ra gea r), whil e riding to sch o ol o n surface streets, and while riding to work on By Chuck Clayton tha n 50 MPH o n the st reet (o r an ywhere else, fo r th a t ma tter). At speeds like tha t, the rai n drops and splashes from other vehicles just drive right through the jacke t and lining. Since we wear ours with a down parka, we haven't gotten wet yet, bu t we've spen t plenty of time drying ou t soggy down parkas. After twenty miles, an y th ing under the Back country jacket gets pretty wet. We ce r tainl y wouldn't want to ride at 75 MPH from Rock Springs t o Cheyenne, Wyoming in the rain (as we on ce did) while wearing a Backcountry jacket if any thi ng better was avai lab le. freewa ys. We'v e cr ashed in it, swe ated in it, washed it , oil ed it (acciden tal ly) , and fallen into mudholes wi th it. As an end uro jacket, it works well . It is the best j acket we've see n fo r this applicati on, with sturd y ma te rial and con structio n, and pl enty o f pressure f a s te ners, sn aps, and zip pe rs Cor adjustment t o any air n ow while riding: you can vent it t o suit yo ur desired riding temperature . However, (e ve ry t h ing seem s to have a " however" attached to it). afte r several washings and plenty of sweat, it does. not make a very good raincoat fo r riding in heavy rai n at speeds greater It was designed by D-37 number three enduro rider, Dick Knap p an d Backcoun try owner, Don Gillen as an enduro jacket. In that application, it is great and holds up well. Maybe we asked too much by tryi ng to use it on t he street as a rai ncoat, but it was advertised as " waterproof." A fter so me wearing and wash ing, it isn ' t, and above fif ty you 'll k now it rig ht off. , Un til automatic transrrnss ron s for road m ot orcy cles become availab le, th e prototype Electra-Sh ift is t he next best thing. Heart of th e gadge t 15 a new inven t ion - an ele ctric so lenoi d cy linder that drives a rod in o r out with 12 \4 lbs . torque o ver a l'.4" travel. T he so leno id is ac tiva ted by a pair o f pushbuttons to shift up or down , jus t as you r fo ot would. T he rod is con nec ted to the standard sh ift pedal by a simpl e fittin g. T he clu tch may be operat ed man ually in th e usual fash ion . T he prototype we test ed occasionally mi ssed a shift, but th is w as attributed to a faulty gearbo x in th e 750 Suzuk tha t it was fitted to . When all th e bugs are worked o u t , the Electra-Sh ift should prove a boon to handicapped riders as well as th e full-dre ss en th usias t wh o wants a cycle with "every thing." It . is an other A tlantis Product , Department Annti-Manual, 201 4 Cher ry Ave. , Lon g Beach, Calif. (2 13) 438-8559 . Produc tion price will be under $ I 0 0 retail. Yeti Suit By Ch uck Clay ton " Yeti" is th e name of the Ab ominabl e Snowman. Man ufact urer Ray Hembree chose that nam e for his cycle rider's co veralls bec ause, he grins, " the Abominable Snowman wo u ldn ' t be so abo mi nable if he wo re a suit like th is. " What m ak es the Yet i Su it be tter than yo ur average , gard en variety jum psuit is the lining. Mad e of thin, to ugh , space-age pl asti c - t he same stuff was use d t o line the lat er astrona uts ' space sui ts - th is lining keeps the cold wind out and one's b ody hea t in . At the same time , it is wa terp ro o f (no t just "repellant," but waterp roo f) , an d slippery , like Tenon , so that yo ur clothes don't bunch up under th e Yeti ga rm ent. And warm• .. ! Yo u can ride to work on 40~degree m ornings in jus t sh irtsleeves and light trousers und er the Yeti Sui t an d arri ve as snuggly warm as you were before t he alarm clock bro ugh t you o u t from under the blankets. On longer, colder rides, a sweater or a light jacket is all you need underneath . T he only drawback, as usual w ith tru ly waterproof garments, is tha t perspiration tends to accumul ate in the sleeves (which have elastic wrist closures), giving a clammy feeling arou nd the elbows whe n worn over a short-sleeved shirt, Features we like d : The slick way the sui t slips o n and off, even over bulk y jackets and high-heeled boots; the zippered slas h that al lows yo u to ge t at your pan ts p ocket, (b ut it could use one in the seat , too, for ac cess to the hip poc ket wh ere most men carry their wallets); the way the Yeti Suit allows you to arrive at your d estina tion, pe el it off an d emerge clean an d pre t ty as a n ew butterfl y; how easy is it to wash - just toss it in the machine and hang it up to d rip dry , wrinkle-fr ee, Best o f all, we like the price , curr en tl y on ly $29 .95 . I figure it saves me that m uch in clean in g bi lls in one win te r month. Wi th the white-col lar trend toward mo torcy cles as economical transportation, it would appear that t he Yeti-Suit is an idea whose time has come. It is manu fac t ur ed and d ist ribu t ed by Atlantis Pro ducts, Departmen t Anti-Abomi nab le, 20 14 Ch erry Ave., Long Beach , Calif. (2 13 ) 438-8559 . Yo u can h ave any co lo r you wan t as long as it's bl ue or orange, with white sidestripes. Sizes are small, medium, large or extra large. Applied Design Electronic Odometer By John Ulrich T his electro nic odometer is easily used o n any dirt bike. It comes pre-cali bra ted for a spec ific machine. T he own er mo unts a small magnet on the spoke flange of the fro n t hub , and a pi c k up unit on th e stati on ary brake ba cki ng plate. Installation according to instru c tions is somew ha t o f a bother, so we simply bent the pick-up bracket to fit, ro ughed up the surfaces, and used epoxy glue and d uct tape to se cu re it. A ft er the epo xy dri ed, o ff ca me the duct tap e and the p ickup was on to s ta y. The small magnet is supposed t o m oun t by drilling an d ta p p ing a hol e in th e spoke flange , but the aluminum scre w th at th e magnet is a ttached to b roke when tig htened up . Epoxy held it o n in pl ace of th e screw . T he odomete r survived th e worst par t of th e Gre enhorn end uro , and is fairly waterpro of for woods use - it will keep running until it is sub me rged completely . Ra in does not affect it. }'our C size dry cells pow er it 26 h ours o r 1,0 0 0 m iles, wh ichever com es fir st. It costs $89.95 , which is chea p er th an tryin g to con vert a rear·wheel o r tran sm issio n speedometer drive bike t o a mech ani cal fro n t wh eel drive odometer set u p . Yo u have to build your ow n mounting brack et . Rea do uts are not adj us tab le by ten th s. In st ead o f d ial ing forw ar d o r back a ten th if the sp eed om et er used to lay out a given en d uro co urse differs from yo urs , you must make time adj ustm en ts. For e xa m ple, ins tea d o f di alin g forward one tenth every five miles , y ou might have to men t all y ad d 15 seco nds to y o ur rou te sheet time every five mile s as a co rre c tio n fact or. It 's be tter th an a rear wh eel drive set up, and it does wh at it is su pposed to with m in im um tr ouble. Applied Design Co ., Box 942 , Pal o A lt o , CA 94301, 41 5 /326-7449 . Pseudo scientific-like silencer evaluati on Just th e other d ay we were sitting aro und , and one o f th e boys says, "Hey there,J o hn , let's do on e o f th em scien tific-type tests." So , picking up the gaun tle t, I said, " OK." Now it just so happened tha t we had some silen cers lying aro un d , so we decided to do an evaluation o f silencers. Since one of the boys was going to have a pipe built for his 125 DKW End uro an y wa y , we de cide d to tes t the silen ce rs as ad d-o ns to h is pi pe. We crated up the whole co llection (bi ke , p ipes , silen cers, dogs, tools) an d load ed th e Cycle News van . Aw ay w e wen t off to T he Rotorcycle Shop in San Fernand o , California to have ace wrench , J o hn Mechanic , check out the sce ne on his tuning dyno. Th is i s s om e i m portant scien ti fic-type in for mation: BIK E: St o ck DKW End uro, serial number 9034 5 7 0, 125 / 6B , stock Bing carb , j etted 145 main j et, number fo ur needle jet, with app roximately 400 mi les on engine us in g Pen n zoil pre-m ix at 24 : I. (It 's got n um bers, so must be scie ntific.) EQUIPMENT : S tu ska Series 90 Bra ke Dy n o, 4W ' Masst ech Brake Tach, Sm it h Electro nic En gin e Tach, stock rear sprocket driving 16" sing le ro ll chain coupled to b ra ke. SILENC ERS : J&R Silencer; Skyway S il e n c e r ; Skyway Silencer/Spark A rrestor ; Murphy M uffler/Spark Arrestor. TEST MODES: A) With stock pipe; B) with mo d ified pipe (W ' removed from eac h end of he ader a t parallel poin ts, 1\4" o utside diameter stinger, 2'"," lon g wash er end op en ed to 17.5mm on dyno to d evel op broadest powerband ). _ FIGUR ES : All relative, not show ing true horsep ower as dyno is used for in-shop test ing only. However, power rela tio nsh ips are accurate to indicate gain or loss. Brake RPM X Torq ue Code = Theoretical HP . Torque Code X 5. 252 = Load in ft. / lb s. RPM TORQUE CODE Br ake Eng i ne RPM RPM Stock Pipe 3600 3200 2800 2400 2000 1600 3.5 4 .0 3.6 3.0 2.8 2 .0 9000 8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 Modified Modified Pipe Pipe w/J&R A lo ne Silencer 3.8 4 .1 3.6 3.2 2.8 2 .6 3.8 4 .2 3.6 3.3 2.6 2 .2 By J ohn Ulrich Skyway Sil encer Skyway Silencer/Sparli Arrestor Murphy M uHler/ Spark • Arrestor 3.8 4.2 3.6 3.2 2 .6 2.2 3.7 3 .4 3.9 3.4 3.5 3.2 2 .5 2.2 3.2 3.1 2.4 2.2 Resul ts QUIESTEST: Murphy Muffler, MO ST EX PENS IVE : M ur p hy Mufner. MO ST EFFECTIVE silencer/spar k a rr esto r com b inatio n in terms of working yet no t sap p ing much p ow er : Skywa y. BEST COMPROMIS E co nsiderin g silencing effectiveness, min imum power loss, and initial cost: Skyway Silenc er . . LEA ST M.AIN T ENANCE re q uired: Murph y Muffler. THE SI LE NC ER we decided to r un on our te st bike for everyt hing c ombi ne d , i ncl uding sea t-of-p ants testing: Sky way. WHAT WE WOU LD USE I F we di dn 't have a Sky wa y already and coul dn't get on e : J &R . WHAT WE WO ULD USE IF a S p a rk arre stor was requi red: Skywa y Silencer/Spark Arrestor. WHAT WE WOULD USE I F we had a Yamaha 50 0: Murp hy Mu ffl er, P E RS O N AL PRE FERENCE of silencers tests fo r th is part icular test bike/modified pip e : Sky way Silencer J &R Silencer Skyway Spark Arrestor/Silence r Murphy Spark Arrestor/Silencer. DIS C L A IME R of all foregoi ng eva luation: If a given pipe was designed and built for use with a specific sile ncer unit , it would work better than our method of building a pi pe and then strapping on a silen cer un it . F EEL : With the J&R and Skyway silencers. a noticeble in crease in po wer was felt whi le riding, compared to the stock oxw silencer (which fell off d ue to vibration cracks around the stinger) . Th e Skyway and Murph y Silen cer/Spark Arrestors both no t iceably de creased power where we most wanted it in th e powerband, co m pared to the st ock set -up. Bo th the Sk yw ays came with th e best m ounting set -ups . T he Murph y Muffler was ab o u t hal f th e size o f th e Sk yway. S UGG ESTI ONS : Use what wo rks for you - it 's ob vio us ly t he on ly way to go . G ROCE R Y LIST : On e loaf of brea d three tomatoes, one do zen eggs, e tc. • 29