Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Rolf Tibblin writes about body building. bike preparation. riding technique. desert rac-ng & nutrition 00 ... <:J ~ o .... u o you can read about for two do lars. Send $2.00 for Rolf's guide, decals and co mp lete information on the traini ng tel.H~;~varna InternationaI Training Center 933 Souin Santa Fe = 2. Vista Cali fornIa 92083 phone 1t 4 72 4·80 91 IS WORTH A 1000 WORDS •••••••••• ~ TOP QUALITY ~ AT COMPETITIVE PRICES • PERFORMANCE • RELIABILITY • HANDLING The Motorsport CO. 18651 V all ey ~ r"~'. ~ 18 Blvd.. Bloomington . CA 92 316 714-877-01 51 THE ULTIMATE IN PERFORMANCE-HANDLING AT COMPETITIVE PRICES Pa ulso n 's 6111 l 00th 51. S.W.. Tacoma. WA 98499 206 -588 -1873 Can-Am's 31 Horses Continued from page 7 yourself and invest in a n ice Me tzeler , or Baru m , o r Trelleborg or something else that ho o ks up within a few minu t es of the ti me you'd like it to. You shoul d be able to get a good deal o n one of those in 4.00 X 18 d imensions. The front wheel, shod with similar product, wanted to wash out in almost every corner and. at least once , succeeded. The rider was always correcting for it. and it was ncces~ary to get right u p o n the gas ca p to lo ad up th e fro n t en d enough to execute those supersharp turns the 28.5 degrees wo uld indicate you could do . Just when you'd gotten on your line , the fronl. ti~e wo ul dn' t slide, plow, track, or drift: it wo ul d slip o ut in a very disconcerting man ne r. Iteplace this fro nt t ire even befor e it wears out unless a Trel le bo rg do es ap pear on yo ur Ca n-Am . Maybe try a littl e more ra ke in th e steering head, to o , if t hat d o esn 't fix the was h-au I proble m. O the rwise, the Can-Am 250 had very good turning manners. It will cut 180s wi th amazing accuracy a nd co nt ro l or square off just fine . In marked contrast 10 t he un certain front end, you alwa ys knew where t he rear end was and whal -it was doing. II gave very good feedback, would hang out just as far as you laid it to via the throttle and was very predi ctable in corners and st ra igh ts. It was one of the most surp rise-free co n ven tio nal rear ends en count ered, Traditionally, we should say the long swingarm helps. It probably does. So do the S&W springs and dampers. They' are at their best in this sharp ' cornering business. The Can -Am has a very "differenl" feel (we almost sa id bizarre] that takes so me adapting to. Since th ere 's not mu ch lo w end response with the no rmal amount of throttle t wist , you te nd 10 pic k a gear lower b ut wh en you do th a t, th e rear wh eel spins. So you p ick a hi gher gear, take a new gr ip o n the th rot tle and gas it up in t o th e sna ppy kind o f power yo u were lo o kin g fo r b u t th en th at 's ' ta ken m o re t im e th an yo u r habitual riding reflexes had been co un ting o n , so you m a ybe muff the turn or an y gain in advantage o n th e uphill, or whatever. Refer back to simple solution B) above. Go ing in fourth or fifth gear, y o u ca n get into a tank-slapper situation quickl y on a bumpy track as the front end sta rts to get light, However, the front en d ne ver feels light any o th er time exce~t wh en it 's slipping awa y in a co rn e r. It is not a bike for bl ock-long wheelies by squids, t h a n k God. In seem ing co n trad icti o n to th e last sen te nc es , performance in whoop-de-docs is pretty darn good. You can re ally mo ve alo ng if yo u keep yo ur weigh t back and yo u r arms st rai gh t to keep th e fro n t end fro m twi tching. Th e suspensio n a nd lo ng-ish swingarm work well to keep the machine s traigh t over th e bumps. The "feel" of the bik e still isn't very light but it d oes feel solid a nd won 't p low in t o every th ird b ump. Agai n . it se e ms like tim e passes wh ile yo u ge t up to th at considerable t op spe ed. As one ex pert rider p u t it, "The power isn 't .' righ t now ' but it does have a 10 1 of it. " So the Can-Am MX-I is very fast, appropriately q ui et ;- fo r t he m o st part well-e ngi neered a nd well -buil l, has lots o f ho rse powe r - only some of wh ich is usable so me of the time by m o st would -be o wner-racers with . stock gearing too high for the powerband the engine produces and. .. See what we mean? T he semi-colon personality of the machine comes to mind agai n. O n a selected course, it can be raced co m pe ti tively, to win, just as it comes o u t o f the cra te . But yo u pro ba b ly won't de cide to race it tha t way if you buy o ne for co m peti tio n or eve n fo r fas t play-riding. BUI the Can-Am is b uilt in Nort h America a nd the factory is very responsive 10 suggested design chan ges. and they did honestly win firs I an d third spots in U.S . 250 m oto cr oss ra ti ngs wi th a n un t ried bike in it s fir st year o n the com petition ci rcuit. And it shoul d las t a co uple of seasons wi th o u t major repairs bUI it d id pop o ut of gear fro m lime 10 time. Well , we're very glad there is a Ca n-A m 250 J.IX· I b UI with just a little m ore refine ment it co uld be a t ru ly excellen t motocross machine . better than mo st a nyth ing stock, bu t • that migh t raise the cost; ; ; : : ; : Specifications Wheelbase 53 .5 - 54.5" 20" Swingarm length _ _.. _ seat height wl170 lb . rider _ _. . 33 .5" Ground clearance : Handlebar width 6.5" 34" Suspension Front - 6" Betor fo rks Rear - 3.5" S&W Dampers w/88 lb. springs Rear wheel travel 5. 5.. Wheels/tires .... • Akront rims w/Yok o hama 3_00 x 21 (F) & 4.00 x 18 (R) Displacement 24 7cc T ype Two-stroke rotary valve Bo re x st roke 74 x S7.5mm Filt rat ion '. . . . ..• . . Oiled Filtron to still air bo x Ignition Bosch electron~c Carburet ion .. ... . • . Bing 32mm concentnc Lubrication Pump-d riven oil (JO wt .I from reservoir in frame Oil ea pa ci tv Fuel capaci tv _ .. ... . . . . . • . _ 1.1 qt . 1.8 U.s. gal. _ Frame Price Double downtube, single backbone, full cradle $1395 .00 o VI .J UJ " ::; =-..:....-~:....._---'., Ac cord in g to our sou rces, this is Phil Bu rn s on a Honda in a 125 Novice Div. I m oto. Must be that gettin g d a rk an d dirty in AZ d o es something to a guy . Th e 125 Ex pe rts of t wo years ago woul d be ha rd pr essed 10 keep up wit h tonigh t's Beginners h er e at T ucso n MX Par k. Th ese guys are beginners in name only, an d wo uld be cherrypic kers except they all go so fast that there is no o ne 10 be taken advan tage o f. In th e second race of the 125 Begi n ner Divisio n II class, a young rider wh o has tried very hard for a long time finally came into his own . Ric hard Doyle (li o n ) grabbed the lead off the line only to be passed by Gary Davis (Han) a nd Tom Owen on the firs t uphill straight. Then Owen went wide in one downhill o ff -camber turn , and Doyle slipped inside to take over second p lace. T h is was the same position he go t ove rall with Davis taking to p honors an d O wen s garnering third. Some tracks use a starting gate. Some use a rub be r band. Sometimes gates d on ' t go d own all the wa y, and rubber bands give nas t y b u rns an d b rea k -niP uses a light, an ide a that migrated from t he drag stri p , and it wo rks neat. • Results in the Results Section. Rolf returns. but Yorba wins By Alan Shepherd Getting dark and dirty in Tucson By Kent Nico lls TUCSON, A R I., S EPT. 14 Night mot ocross is the best th ing ever to racers in Southern Arizona'ssweltering summert im e. Ron Th o mp so n gets dr amatic at the De Anza hillcIimb Sep tember 8. Resu lts in t he Resul ts Sectio n. CARLSBAD, CAL., SEPT. 22 Former World Champ Ro lf rublin pounded his American home stomping grounds in the CMC 500 Pros at Carlsbad today and took fifth on a fact ory Hus ky . The master still sho wed some of the tricks he learned long before we Yanks ever heard o f the sport. Top ping h is class was Mike Yorba on his Wheelsmith Maico, without winning a sing le moto. Two seconds were en ough as first rna to winner Wayne Boyer (Ch e) sp illed while leading the second and faded to seven th for third o vera ll. Jim Wilson (CZ), who topped the class las t week, was second with a pa ir o f th irds. Second mota winner Jim Co oke (Kaw) had h is problems early with an eighth in the first race to end up fourth, just ahead of Tibblin 's five -four showing. . Rex Staten (Han) swept the 250 Pros but it looked like it might go another w ay. Jeff Vidic (Mai) built a n immediat e lead in the first moto only to retire for the d ay. Seems his breakfast wanted so m e rel axing. Then, Rich Grafton (Yam ), back from a well deserved vacation in Reno, Nevada after his Snake River showi ng, took over only to have his gearbo x go to lunch . . Wilh ' those two out of action, the way was clear for Slaten. But. in the second mota, Marty Moates, on a disguised Honda (rid in g with hi s old Ric kman shirt on) pushed ha rd for the early st ages a nd rh en se ttled ba ck for a sec o nd eas y second, a nd second overall. Rich Pinnick st ash ed away two thirds for third. •

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