Better bouncers
for your Honda
two smoker
By Jeff Peck
A short tim e ago Cycle Ne ws did an article o n a fork kit for Maicos which
inc rease d travel to eigh t inches . No w Bo b Ot tow has ta ke n wha t he learn ed
th er e and put it to wo rk on 125 Ho n das . We foun d o u t th at Mike Bell was
running a set o n his race r and decided to go lo o k at it .
At firs t glance it lo o ks as t hough someone had just added a lit tl e oil cooler
onto the botto m of each of the fo rk legs. The diff erence is on the inside with
t he addition of extra dampening rod and ex tra slider. Using this simple
fo rmula Bob h as increased the travel in the front end, from seven to eight
inches, one fu ll inch . This extra dista nce has been accomplished by adding
more overall length and not by jamming spacers in to an already cramped space.
For rider in sigh t in to how we ll the kit actua lly wo rks we con sulted Mike
Bell, cu rrent holder of the number one plate in the CMC 125 Pro class . After
racing bi kes both with a kit and without, he to ld us that there was defini tely a
diffe rence in the way the bike ha ndles. One of the biggest areas of
impro veme n t was hanclling in th e rough sec tio ns wh ere th e ride seemed to'
smoo th o ut quite a bit. Mike also felt that the steering was greatly improved
an d as for bo ttoming out he had not been ab le to find the bottom even off of
big jump s like the o ne at Irwin dale .
'
If yo u are wo nde ring h ow to get your paws o ne o ne of these neat litt le kits,
Lo ng Beach Ho nda and Wh eel smith Engineering will be han dling the
installation. The go ing price will be $49 .95 ins ta lled. Let me stress installed.
Th ere is so me m achin ing that h as to be do ne and. the ca ps h ave to be wel ded
onto th e fo rk legs. To insure .your h ap piness wit h the kit let th em han dle th e
install at ion. If you have th e urge to do it yo urself th e kit can be purchased o ver
th e co un ter for $ 24 .9 5. For m o re informatio n co n tact : Lo ng Beac h Honda,
5 115 Atlan tic Avenue, Long Beach, California. (2 13) 423-1433.
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