Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Trail/Enduro Larry (Enduro Scene) Langley gives the goodies the ultimat e test-bolting them to his XL 350 and then crashing . . . 00 Webco route chart holder Fun 'N ' Fast skid plate Preston Petty integral taillight fender Whe n t hese fenders first ca me out we wondered how m an y rid ers would shell o ut twenty bucks for a fende r. At t he recent Sha mrocks ISDT Qualifier I would estimate 60 % of t he riders were using them. Why? T he fender lo o ks bitch en for o ne thing and the bui lt in taill igh t is just about un brea ka ble, I fo und th is out in a super get -off in which the bike land ed o n the fender two or t hree ti mes. It mounts a little different than the regular fe nder in that the sides h ave to be mounted in a spread position if yo u are running a wide rear tire. The taillight doesn't protrude much either which prevents catc hin g y o ur leg as y ou swing it over mounting or dismounting your scoot. My stop ligh t still works aft er a qua lifier and a national enduro so it appears to be insulated from vibratio n also . Preston co ntinues to amaze me . At y our loca l dealer. Fun ' N' Fast's steel ski d plate provides good protection for my XL- 350 Honda. However. the m o un t in g leaves a li ttle t o be desired. It is bolted on with one bo lt (engine mo unt) an d has t wo supports which slide ove r the bottom frame t ubes. Alt hough the on e bolt mo unting does m a ke it easy to get the skid plate on and off, the first ro ck yo u hit loosens it up enough to vibrate and ra ttle. This will fatigue the mo unting bracket and it will break. Stuffing some foa m ru bber betwee n the engine an d skid p late will keep t he skid plate from rattling an d breaking the bracket. The side plates are wide enough to protect t he mag side cases of the Honda which ar e very soft. Web co 's alum in um route ch ar t holder has been aro un d as long as I have been involved in end uro riding. It 's sti ll prety p retty goo d. It m ounts to the handlebar with two overs ide hose clamps. A plexiglass cover is flush mounted to the bo x whi ch keeps dust an d water out. The only problem is after awh ile the st ee l rollers wear out the aluminum box. This can be cured by drilling out the ho les an d inserting rubber gromments for bush ings . I've even seen b rass b ush ings used. The ro lle rs hold eno ugh tape fo r a good long enduro . It hel d my whole ro ute char t for th e 1 17 mi le Red Gar t er Enduro and I write m y schedule up every m inute . A vailable through your local dea ler. Tools Give us yo ur ti red, yo ur bent, your dinged -up wheels-we'll straighten you right out. By Lan e Campbell. Super Six spoke wrench revisited Uni fold ing wheel rack Inter-Am aluminum handlebars When you think of alumi n um you don't th in k of it being supe r st rong n orm ally , bu t Inter-Am clai ms their bars are 40% stronger th an co nventio na l ch rome -moly bars. Well I' m no t an engineer and certain ly d on 't have access to testin g equipm ent so I have to depend on good o ld seat of th e pants testing. The same crash th at tested t he durability of th e Pres ton Petty fender also served to chec k out t he claims of t he Int er-Am fo lks. T he bars did not bend which surprised m e all to hell. Not only t ha t b ut they flex whi ch helps keep y o ur arms from tiring. I hav e a set o f what they call a "universal" bend which I found most co m fo rtabl e. Yo u must r ound the ed ges of the clamps t o prevent the bars from breaking at the clamp. A n umber of top en duro ri ders are using t he bars and all th at I ta lked t o had nothing bu t good to say ab out them. Inter-Am Bik e Supplies, Inc., 751 Mo nroe Way, Placentia, CA 926 70. (714) 993-2603. threads in a universal fitting. It works, in fact yo u can use it tire off or t ire on , but the set-up o n it is kind of tedious . If you 're using th is st and in a sh ope to make money , it's too t edious. A smooth, ra ther than t hreaded, rod in a different type of clamp would be far qu icker. At $74 ret ail , the stand's a lit tl e steep fo r t he wee kend wa rrior (though for wha t shops are getting t o t rue wh eels t hese days, it wouldn 't take m any cras hes t o pay back). Fr o m t he shop's standpoin t, t he rig is really not set up fo r fast , hi gh-pro d uct ivi ty wor k. It d oes its intended job, though how well it does it dep ends on what y ou ask of it. Shop ar ound, and if y ou fin d the Rowe unit 's price is justified by y our needs, then it 's a tool you'll get a lifetime's use fro m. This fo lding rac k is very versatile in th at it fol ds down when no t in use. It has held up a heavy Ho n da without fail ure . Mo unting is fai rly easy but I would recom me nd usi ng so me long bolts to mo un t it wit h instead of the sheet metal screws which come with th e rack. Uni, In c•• 135 2 2 Newhope St reet, Garden Grov e, CA 92643. (714) 530-6101 . . Uni Pod filter This filt er differs from the normal foam ty pe filter marketed by Uni and others in th at it h as a built in flange for mounting. This makes it last lon ger than the un flange d fo am filters because it does no t tear an d rip aro und the hose clamp. The Pod filter co mes with a spring inside t o maintain shape. This m akes the filter harder t o clean , b ut n ot much . Rowe Products'wheel truing stand In the same packet with the improved spoke wrench was this item, which goes together like an ove rsize Erector set. T he two neatly webbed, rigid legs bolt to a less-t han-rigid base p late whic h is, in tum, ste adied by a pair of cross straps. Unless it 's solidly bolted do wn to a heavy , rigi d wo r k surface o r clamped in a monster vise, this baseplate becomes t he weak link in the lash up. Standing by itsel f, the baseplate allo ws the legs to sp read un der a heavy chuck ing lo ad (an d if y o u have a heavy wheel, it takes a heavy load to get it to center up on th e conical centers), in turn co cking th e ce n t ers (see photo). Besides, with the wheel ch uc ked in , you can wa ggle it abo ut with j ust your hand. So m uch for acc ura cy , unless you get t hat basep late do gged down. Still, th e stand is co m pac t enoug h you co uld throw it in your van to t a ke care o f in- fie ld eme rgencies, using your own axle resting in the V-notch es on t op of t he legs. T he wh ee l t urns on t he axle as it would in the bike. and the wh ol e set-up even seems mo re rigid than when it 's ch uc ke d b etween cen t ers. Indication of high and low spots is by a relatively so ft , bendable pointer made from a th readed rod, held by its lt wasn't lo ng ago that we tested o ne of Rowe Products ' spoke wrenches to destruction ("Spoke Wrench, Broke Wrench" e N Feb ruary 25, p. 15) when it went "ping" while wr enching a particularly un co op era tive n ipple. Shortly t he reafter, the com pany pre z hi mself called , offering the n ew , improved Sup er Six t o test. How improved? To understand t hat, you've go t to understan d how it's made. Th is wrench is die cast, not fo rged, fro m a heat-treatable alloy. TIle final strength of th e pr oduct is co ntrolled by th e heat trea tment, t h e object being to wal k a thin line be tween t o o soft and too har d . Too soft, it breaks. To o har d, it tears up al umin um spoke nipples. Taking that idea in to numbers , t he original wrench (th e o ne we broke) wa s treated t o withstand 155 in chpounds at the spoke nipple. Alumin um nipples st art to round o ff at the c orners when torqued over 180 .nch-pounds. Our test convinced the manufacturer th at m any people decide their wheels are tig ht enough just about the ti me they are rounding off nipples. So the heat-treat has been re-specified; the wrench will n o w take 225 inch-pounds. The extra padding is a safety factor agains t ham-handedness. We stacked t he improved Super Six up against the u ltimate test, a horribly warped Harley rim with which a fellow editor had centerpunched an Ossa. The wrench wo n. 'Tis better to depend on the m echan ic 's d iscretion to avo id tearing up nipples than it is for ' th e wrench to go "ping. " 7

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