an
off-camber
hillside.
The brakes balance o ut well for th e
dirt, though again , the lumpiness in the
idle will tend to snatch the re ar wh eel
dead o n downhills. We didn 't ge t a
ch ance to re ally chec k th e bike out in
water - in th is p arti cular comer o f the
desert, there wasn't any .
Th e trials- pa t tern tire s, wh ile required
fo r the d ual-p urp ose marke t, were
obviously not what this bike needs in
sand or mud, o r e ven in soils with so me
humus. On dry de sert " paveme n t" with
a lo ose crust , the y were so -so for
pl ay in g C1ass-C tracker. In fact, our
tester was ge tting th e weight shi ft and
throttle co n trol about dialed in,
sus taining some really neat power slides
with ever so little hint of crossup and
beginnin g to feel reall y. fin e. Th at 's
whe n a co-rider n otice d th at the fro nt
tire was fla t. Sigh.
What m o re can you say ? Are we
spoile d? The new Apa che was n 't all t hat
bad, it just wasn't an enthusiast's
mot o rcy cle. You so rt of s it down on
it and ride it Iike it wa s an old
high-pipes Triumph twin . It seems
for givin g en o ugh on eit he r pavement or
di rt , so stabl e at th e m oderate speeds it is
capable o f th at you can ' t do much
wron g with it. And even if it won 't duc k
an d weav e all th at quickly on ti ght tr ail,
it is heavy en o ugh to demolish all but
th e more m at ur e t rees in its path. It's
kin d o f a gross, heavy playbike fo r
gross, heavy riders , which m ay be
explains why our tester adapted to it so
easily .
Well, what the he ck, if it fits a certain
market and t he d etails are well-executed
(which they are) why knock it?
•
Specifications
Wheelbase
Ground clearance
56.1 in.
7.5 in.
Seat height
32.5 in.
Curb we ight
296 lb.
Weight dist ribut ion
133F/163R
Displacement • .. . .. • . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396cc
Bore x st roke
82 x 75mm
Compression rat io (corrected)
6.8 : 1
Carburetor .• . .• ...•.••. .... . . .VM32SC
Steer ing rake
30 dog.
Tra il
5 .6 in.
Fork travel (measu red ) . . . •.. ... . ...5.4 in.
Fue l capacity
2.4 gal.
25
