Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• • raor lnalre ...... - By Charles Clayton. Lane Campbell and guest riders l-< Those Harley-Davidson Italians really know how to t ease th e t est press. They brough t out thernain course aft er most of u s had tasted dessert an d here they s rv« us an a t tractive helping 0 1" Ameri can -p ro ce ss past a, \I ith Japanese sau ce, the new, 19 75 , SX2 50, Before we dig in , let us defi ne the kinds o f bi kes we've te sted ' 0 far , There a re tw o d istin ct categories 1.)J apanese st reet/trail m odels an d 2.) Eu ropean end uro mo torcy cle s. 11,e edito rs of ~ Iodem Cycle m agazin e refer to some of the fo rm er as " 1'00-1'00 bi kes," no t to be ta ken seriously on o r o ff the dirt . Japanese street /trai l models a re disti nguished by thei r lo w cost , gre at featu re s and virtual u ncon tr oll a bility o ff-road at fast trail ridi n g speeds. Real endu ro cycles, all fro m Europe, Mex ico an d Scandinavia, are c ha ra c te ri ze d by ex tre mely go od ha n dling a t racin g speeds (6 0-80 m ph ) in th e di n. and h igh cost. Leave , it t o It aly, th en. wh ich ", geograp hi call y locat ed between th em , to co m bine th e best o f both worlds an d marke t a m otorcy cle through its pare n t-eo mpany dealers he re tha t handles good, as a European sh ould, ye t has al l the features o f the Japanese, and yet co sts o n ly as m uch as a 1'0 0-1'00 bi ke . The Itali an-built Barley-Davidson SX 250 is in a class by itself, which we will call e nduro/st reet. Un t il we ha d a go od , long ride in th e di rt with it , we would ha ve guessed it was t o o good of a street bi ke to be an y use o ff-the-road. It is pretty, with its orange fenders and tan k an d silve r allo y a nd chro m e. The s t y l i ng is con tem pora ry and con se rva tive . T u rn in dic ator st alks are sho rte r than the law allo ws, in a rude I ta l ia n gest u re 'at moribund bu reaucracy , so th ey d o n' t ge t in the rider's way . Aside from that, and a little-too-Ioud silencer, the SX250 is scrupulously stree t legal, with a b ig, l 2-vo lt battery an d the best an d b righ tes t ligh t s in the business. Wiring, eve n in to th e tac h o m e te r and specdo ligh ts . is first rate, waterproof and sho uld last a long time - definitely different than European electrics, where factories seem to think ligh ts are a nuisance. The heavy-duty hand of H-D is seen in the ca bles, as well, which are hefty enough fo r a Sp ortster, and the heavy gauge spokes and rim locks in both wheels. The SX has oil injection (carried cleverly in the top frame tube) so you do n't have to premix its gas. It has a quic k change rear hub, a fork lo ck, primary kic k-start ing - even a neutral light. The c ontrols and co m pone n ts, from t he Marzocchi forks to th e 3 2m m Del 'Orto ca r bu re to r are fir st- class eq uip men t . You wouldn 't have t o change much to m ake the " Essex " dirt -worthy . We11 ge t to th at in a minute. After some 70 miles of life on the road, we were prepared to con clu d e that the SX was a pretty da m good street bike . A little too loud, but fun to ride, ~ t h only one or two annoyances, which we could live with or change without much trouble . The worst is the kickstarter, obviously pirated off a road bike, which sticks out where our right ankle should be t\l cJt;ar a pip'e \ybir h ~ nbt\ 'inl~Y." . ....,..J~J> .'t• • ••J:" ... ~~4..' '? j,' • l The choke is a stubby tab on the left side o f th e carburet or. To use it (and it must be used to start every time the m ot 0 r cools. be low operating temperature) you have to fis h with a naked finger in a dark cranny between th e ca rb and th e ex ha ust pipe. It is im po ssib le to operate the ch o ke while ridi ng with out ge tting a nasty bum . For so me reason, the fo otpegs an d kickstart are shea t hed in ru b ber. T o protect again st disease, perhaps? And the lice nse plate stic ks up lik e a cleaver ; t he taillight, ho wev er , does n ot. There was no hesitation starti ng, eve n when left out all night in th e co ld , windy desert. Before th e p ipe gets h ot , release the cho ke and she is rea dy to ride . The engine makes m o st o f its 23 horsepowe r fro m 5 ,500 RPM on up to beyon d 10 . so you have t o b uzz it a little to sta rt off quickly, then pick any of five close-se t gearspeeds with the switch-li ke, do wn- fo r-lo w shift that lets the engine ope ra t e abo ve 5 ,000 for q uic k acc ele ratio n' and darting through traffic. As the 5,000 to 5, 500 RPM th resh hold ,is crossed , there is a great kic k-in-the-pan ts thrill of power and th e fron t wheel wan ts to lift off. It is best to be p ointed in a d esired direction at these times, as st eering m ay not be correc ted without a firm shift of body weight over the handlebars. Our test bike had the late-model gea rbox, which is flawless. On the street, the SX250 is a lot of fun to ride - even the cops seem more tolerant of a noisy two -st ro ke th at says Harley-Davidson allover. Still in full stock, street fettle, minus only the rear view mirror, we took the 254-lb. (wet) SX into the forest a n d th e desert on one 80-mile loop plus some hillclimbing for the pictures. Some of us were surprised by how well the little dirt-hog handles . The others said, "it figures. It's go t all the good European stuff. " Nevertheless, we were favora bly impressed by the wa y it has all been brought together in this one motorcycle - sexy horsepower. Great (n o t The Best, but Great) European handling, American quality, at a Japanese price (about $1,130) in 197 5. Specifically, the SX, wit h o u r 180-2 10 lb. sq uid cre wme mbe rs astraddle, handled like a state-of-the-art European enduro 250 on hare-scrambles co u rses and trails. When yo u see whoop-dee-des ahead, you m ake sure the tach reads over 5,500 and just gassit ! The SX likes whoops as much as we do. It lands smoothly and pointed straight, whoop aft e r doo (skip pin g dee like Evel KnieveI). Massively shifting the rider's we ight over the front wheel makes it pe rform m o tocross turns with great ease, even with th e Yokohama trials tires pumped hard for rocks. The dirt bike monthlies won't believe it ! A Hog th at whips through the turns an d over the bumps like a jackrabbit? We wish we co uld report t hat t he fo rk seals di d n 't leak, but one of th em gushed its life out within 125 m iles. Let it be noted in all honesty that before the seal expired, one of our testers centerpunched an Ossa with the SX, gre atly increasing its trail. This slowed down the handling • , SPlIl<: 'WPaI ~ .b u t . .it , finished, the . lo op , "' els1r "as· agooa-enetJro"mbuil ·shottd.· 1 t ~ May be Harley-David so n d oesn't k no w h o w go od their Ital ian -built SX 250 is? Lo w p rice and hi gh q ual ity make it t he sle eper of the year. Chro me bo re kee ps we ight down, but rid e r has to work to keep front down . Whoop-de-doo handling was equal t o many current Eu ropea n bike s. .J .J W III 0. ::;: « u w Z S o1l z a I> « .J There is no mountain the SX can 't climb , as long as sh e is on the pipe. With a top spee d over 70 mph in the dirt, the SX is c ompe t itive against bikes costing hundreds more, which offer none of the street versatility which the SX co m es wi th. Most of those street items will get kn o c ke d off eve ntua lly if the bike is used much o ff the road, so we would store the battery, tumsignals, fenders and pegs in a safe place, making the bike lighter by so m e 20 pounds. We'd replace the footpegs an d be nd the starte r in closer to the bike, remo unt th e license somewhere sa fe r (or just get an ORV stic ker instead) and consider removing the oil injection system (we don't tr ust 'em). Then we would plan on eventually replaci ng the J apanese Sebac re ar snock "•••'~~Ilde.~ .ap~ ~.e.~0Vf'lone ~fo rk s,a1s ." at 'the !'irst opportumty. 'l11e st o ct:: nres u ~ u :::l l: u > III III a a I- t .....= -...;.;;;;......;,,;;:.....:....................:.;.;,- ..... gave pretty good traction all th ro ugh ou r test, so m ay be th ey can stay. One thing we wo uld never change is the big orange teardrop tank with it s m agic name on the side. We like the gearing as it is - a little high ' makes you ride fas t e r. In times like this, of inflation and declininl\ value fo r thF d ollar, ,we f •• ". .'• • ' ' II • ~Wj rc~nt~n~/ l~n.lp·ag~·Jf)· 23'

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