Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125994
Maybe better than we deserve By John Huetter The question that used to be asked about almost any built-for competition motorcycle was "How much power does it have?" The frequency an d -~elevance of this q uest io n has been superseded by "How m uch does it weigh?" ; then "How much suspension travel is there?" and , most recently, "Yeah , but how close is it , really, t o the works bikes? " Until two year s ago , that last question wasn't at all co mmon because you knew that the factory riders rode some kind of bike that had the same name as the one you co uld buy at the dealer's but, often enough, that wa s all that was the same . Mon te sa was the one who changed that with one bold stroke : the 250cc VR motocrosser. But with that m ove: bringing ' what was probably the first true works replica motocrosser into mass pro du ction, Montesa opened a Pandora's box for the mse lves . When one manufacturer brough t a racing bike from th e Grand Prix tracks into the showrooms, all the others had to ge t theirs into production to st ay co mp etit ive on the track, and in sales. Heal th y co m pe tition? Yes. More ex pensive motorcycles? You bet. A great deal more bike th an most would-be buyer-riders really need? Almost cert ain ly. One result is that with the advent of the 1975 season , Montesa doesn't have the only bike around th at was on the GP tr acks the seaso n before. - It is t o th e . co n t in uin g credit of whoever's making t he decisions at Montesa-Esplugas (and, of course, a , continuing part of their racing tradition) that the latest edition of the Cappra 250, termed V-7 5, is an only subtly alt ered copy of the machine 50,000 people watched Raymo nd Boven ride to a first moto win in the Spanish 250 GP - ahead of 1973 World Champ Hakan Andersson and 1974 World Ch amp Gunnady Moiseev. Th at was in 1974. Bov en 's Montesa h ad can ti lever-m o un ted gas-oil dampers laid down t o provide six and a hal f inches, or more, o f rear axle travel. So does the Montesa V-7 5 y ou can buy this ye ar: the first production 250 to be available with th is style and type o f rear s us pe nsio n. Boven 's bike had Mon tes a-modified Bet or front fo r ks th at p rovided aro und eight inches o f t ra vel, de pending on the o il viscosity, spring rat e, et c. sele cted. So d oes the V-7 5 . Bove n's bike had (an d has) a small rotor Motoplat electronic ignition. So does the V-7 5. Boven 's bike had a 1.7 gal lo n low profile t ank, white nylon fenders, an enormous Twin Air foam filter behind pl astic side number plates, and a sligh tly modified V R frame . So does the V-75 . This is in 1975 . What the V-75 doesn't have is the miniature lower end of the wo rks bikes and the attendant developme nt problems, or the unique p lace in the motocross sales market enjoyed for so me t ime by the o ld YR. What it means to you, among ot her things, is that you can pay a bargain $1595 (list p rice) and find out what it was like to ride last year's wo rks bike. If you we re good enough to ne ed this year's wo rks bike, you'd be on it. This confluence of even ts may never happen again during the time you and I are riding dirt b ikes, but right now for a few seasons, the factory and production machines are as like ea ch other as t hey can be . Let's go back for a few p aragraphs to th at litany of " relevan t " questions t hat are used to determine the worth of a racer by most fo lk s. (Remember, most of what we think we know about motorcycles is not from our own p erso nal experience. It 's ho w much you wan t to believe th e words and interpretations of others.) exam p les than not th at turned 30 very real horsepower at the rear wheel. Even though dynos do lie, o r at least , mislead, the consistency of such a power bre akthrough on a production machine cannot ever be dismissed or underrated. Most ex amples of the V-75 develop rear wheel horsepower of 29 to 29 .5 . If you paid some attention to m atching the ports, th o ugh not alt ering them; putting you r jetting spot on, and all like that, 3 0 to 3 1. .!"'~ availab le right away. But the V- 75 has a nicer surprise fo r the rider. T hat h orsepower is spread out over still more RPM. One former p ro rider felt that the V- 75 had t he broadest powerband of any of the current 250 racers. . There '5 n o t much, if anything, co m in g out of the crate that can st ay with it in a drag ra ce to the first tum. Start from the gate in second gear an d keep shif'ting; . Use the nifty 80 -degree tum q uic k throttle (another it em lifted fro m the works bikes) to near max im um. It 's reall y t hat basic. Most riders on most co urses will be ab le to go fas ter with the stock pipe an d motor run ning 25 : I ratios of pre-mix than they will with fiddling o r mo d ification. The engine provides , enough go as it stands to win most any 25 0 class th is side of a National motocross. In actual experience, a standard V-7 5 will run with heavily breathed-on works 250s. It may n o t beat them, b ut it won't be disgraced. "How much power does it have?" "How much does it we igh?" Th e 1974 production run of 246cc engine Montesa moto crossers had more Well, in terms o f ab so lu te dry weig ht. the Montesa is the he avies t Spanish-b uil t 1975 Montesa Cappra V-75 ,. e: UJ lIUJ :::> J: C Z c! vi l- e: UJ m 0 e: u: -; l- e: UJ u, Ll. c! e: t-= i c! :; e: UJ :; :; N J > Cll III 0 0 J: I- 48 a.