Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

reverse fact or ? An y how. it's so mething you wo n 't have to worry abo u t. Th er e is a smal l to o l kit canister with so me bas ic tools that seems more a ges ture than anyt hing else, It is tu cked co m p letely ou t of t he way ins ide th e fr am e but not that handy t o ope n . use an d close, It was nev er needed on the trail. A co uple of de ta il ite ms o n t he Enduro 25 0 " induced so me puzzlem en t and he ad -scra tchin g. The re is a wo rking co mpressio n release hoo ked up to t he cy lin der head and t he re are stou t fo ld ing passenger pegs welded to the f ra me in a posi tion th a t will acco m modate y o ur carr y -alo ng dw arf mech ani c bu t hardl y any body else . An educat ed guess is tha t the co m pression rele ase is fo r slo wing the mach ine on downhills an d rain -slick pavem ent o r t he co bblestone stree ts still co mmo n in Eur o pe t ha t ge t slic ker t han ee lsno t when we t. It reduces sp eed en ough to make a corner wit h out havin g to touch th e brakes bu t doesn't seem all t ha t necessary . The fold ing foo tpegs? Maybe they saw a J ap anese tra ilbike once but then reali zed th at foo tp egs o n the swinga rm weren't th e h o t se t-up . If you 're go ing to cam p aign th e b ike serio usly , 3 0 min utes with a hack saw will ligh t en th e Montesa by a co uple of pounds . . . unless you want to keep th e pegs fo r th at po rtabl e midget . The reason fo r go ing on ab o u t all these de tails is t hat t he essen tia l on es add up t o a hell of a good ri de on a mo t orcycle so so p hist icate d . ye t sim p le an d so refin ed. it p ro ved sto ne rel ia ble. If y ou're no t used t o th e genera l mo t o rcy cle co nfig uration and han dli ng engende red by lots of suspensio n tra vel at bo t h ends . th e ride takes so m e getting used t o. Sloppy co rnering doesn ' t make it . Nor does th e frame/suspensio n package encourage sliding. Yo u drive deep ly into a co m er, brake hard, poin t the front end in you r des ired di rection of t ra vel and use a lo t of th ro ttle comi ng out. Your bo dy is a co u p le of inc hes furthe r up in the air than o n the previou sly "standard " suspension set -ups and at fi rst it 's notice able . Adap ti ng t o th e ri de t akes o nly a few hours , however. Th e design seems to be ask ing you t o go very fast cros s-co un try. usin g subtle bod y lean an d the excellen t ste ering characterisitcs to avoi d o bsta cles the suspensi on ca n't eat u p (whic h are few ). and then sq u are it off sharp ly before setting o u t in ano ther straigh t-lin e di rection. Aft er an unplanned du rability te st , we regre t fu lly rep o rt the Mo ntesa also survives high-speed cr ash es in rock s virtually uns cathed and rest arts on t h- first kick. Which is be tter than mo st ride rs do. It does d rin k abo u t as m uch fu el as m ost riders do, h o weve r. Barely 50 m iles t o a tankfu l. Damage repo r t : After t hree competit ion even ts, so me rather spirited tra ili ng. and abou t 6 0 m iles on t he st reet. t he Mont esa was lea kin g a little th rough t he left for k seal. h ad some of th e tank st ripe ru bb ed o ff by leather knees (which m ay very well be an intended design fea tu re allo w ing you t o acquire tha t crusty veteran look as soon as possibl e ) and th e ligh ts were d im me r but st ill fu nc tion ed as per T wo Day an d Six Day s re q uire men ts . It sti ll star ted o n the first o r sec on d kick . Maint en ance co ns ist ed of rep lacing fo rk o il. lubin g t he swingarrn b ushings. changing cl utc h an d gea r oil (It was n' t ca lled fo r bu t gave us so me thi ng t o do .) and cleaning and lu bing the Joresa chain . It used t he original spark pl ug th e whole time. T he handlin g is as good as t he Y R (now Y. 75 ) motocross mach ine. T he po wer is avai lable in sign ifican t amoun ts , over a st artlingly broad RPM ran ge . Re liab ility and ex ec u t ion as a tw o day trial /endu ro mach ine are more than any bo dy ex pec te d : firs t class. You kno w what ? It loo ks like Mo ntesa has I anot her winner . But don 't co mplain if you have to wren ch o n the mach ine a little mo re than you 're used to or if y o u have to buy dam p ers m ore o ft en th an you have been. You m ay be justified in com plaining abo ut t he increased price of replacemen t parts but, rem em ber, at least part of "that increase is because th e parts reall y are of hi gh er quali ty o r lower weig ht o r made o f a mo re exo tic met al. Am erica, y o u see m to be as king fo r ra wo rk s bike . Mon t esa is giving o ne • t o yo u for abo u t $ 15 6 0. H FOR THE RIDER WHO DEMANDS THE VL TIMA TE IN A HI-PERFORMANCE SPORTCYCLEf!! We inco rpo ra te d eve ry th ing w e knew an d lea rn ed a fter 8 years of mak ing cha mpio ns h ip ca li ber En duro/T ri al C ycl es in to thi s new es t a nd m os t p ow erful P en ton Sportc y cle. Fea tu res like th e on ly tu n ea bl e s us pe nsio n on th e m a rk et. Six- S pee d T ra ns m is s io n. E x p ansi o n c ha m be r/ m u ff le r. End u ro /T rai l tun ed 352cc P en tu n/K'T'M eng ine. C hrom e M oly Fram e a nd th e fin est in co m po ne n ts mak e th e n ew P en ton M in t 40 0 th e ul t im a t e for th e d em a ndi ng rid er. A t yo u r Pe n ton Deal er s NOW! !!!! EAST: 370 9 W . Er ie A ve., Lo rain , Ohio 4405 3 CENTRAL: P. O . Box 2327, A m arillo . Texa s 79106 WES T: P. O. Box 2618 2. Sacr am ent o, Calif . 95827 ~clVe Save Save at ~~~~ fo r nearest locat io n phone: (213) 334-5195 dale brown suzuki 2441 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach (2 blocks southofWillow) Jointhe Dale Brown Discount Club Try usfor all hardto getSuzuki parts ALANDERS BULTACO KAWASAKI 1401 So . Beach, La Hab ra, CA 7 14-8 70 -999 0 or 2 13-94 3-61 16 ~"e all "~ ~~' \!;! •. '. ._..... .i e\S E.C. & WALKF ~'Q for info '~ 'f., l1'Ou conta ct : {o & NI Apach e Ltd . ~f\OIl 6 42 2 San Fer nando Road Glenda le, CA 91 20 1 (2 131 246-824 1 BAYAREA BULTACO Sales Se rvice :T~ r.)",,~\\\' III ~ 0 A ccesso ries ~ 1352 Centine la , W. L.A . ,-~~t t /. 213-826-7856 '-... ~ jiM FisltbAck's YAMAIIA.. [F@~J!fJ\1ro£ ~ (714) 822-2252 9008 Sierra Ave., Fontana, Ca. The Ra cers workS hO P~ E .C. & WAL K ER ~ 509 I nd ust ri al Ave. . B oynto n B ea Ch\ F L 1305) 73 7-69 7 or 73 2 -1890 D ealer Program Availa b le ....- b' . I eeps ya putt in; Car abela Hod Indian Maico MontesBPuch Stee aka ns "" Westminster SportCl~~! 7219Westminster AI/e.. Westminster. C (714)893 ·7057 A "t."-." lI~~_" ":::';, '~:' .", ': -_ .-,': \ } , ' :.,: ,. • •.ow N\o .. . ,... ~.~ . ." .'.....,

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