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/125996
ROAD ZEST A twin • In the tradition By Charles Clayton and guest testers - Most of the motorcycles that magazines test come straight from the tender tuning of the distributor's best wrenches. They are chosen fro m respective batches, carefully set up and even , in some cases, taken apart and im proved before being turned over to the testers. .. I I I I I I I I i. I I I I ! I 42 That is why the mach ine you read about in the te st scarcely seems to rese mble the real life mo torcycle th at test pe rsu aded yo u to b uy . "Oh, they all do th at, " yo ur dealer assu res yo u, when yo u bring it bac k on warranty t o co rr ec t a crab by clutch , o r a wo bble - and chan ces are, they all d o. Ex cept t he te st bike, o f co u rse. So , for o u r te st of th e redesign ed Ho nda 50 0 twin, formerl y the popular 4 50 twi n, we sh ort -circuited th e usual p ro cess an d obtained our t est bike from a regular cu st o m er. Mr . Rob ert Frost , a Los An geles li fe insurance sa le sman , paid $ 1,480 cash for the mo torcy cle from the Robertson Honda d ealer ship in Hollywood. It was set up like an y consumer might expect to receive his new SOOT; except that' it was tw o qu arts low o n o il, as Ro ger discovered to his dismay upon riding it home. The cash pri ce .incl ud ed an ac cessory crash bar with hi ghway pegs and a security ch ain and lock. Where else can m o n ey buy su ch instant gratification as in the m o t o rcy cle m arket? The SOOT is a beautiful artifact, with its flawless b rown m etallic paint and cordovan u p holstery. It ligh t s up like a Ch ristmas tree when yo u tu m the ignition key (lo ca ted co n ve n ien tly be tween the han dl ebar s, fo r a change) . The headlight, front turn lights and ta illight tu m on with the spark pl ugs an d the instruments gleam b rilli antly. Cats-eye lights o n the pa ne l blink yello w , blue , gree n , and red. A button on the right handlebar lever housing activat es the starter. and the m otor sings its q u iet song. The engine do es not vib rate , b u t it throbs rapidly like a love r 's heart , just telling yo u it lives to ride . The sh ap ely silen cers, with a ba lan ce fixture be t we en the heade r pipes, speak softly, an d t he faint clatter of double overhead ca ms carries a bi g st ick. The SOOT's gea rb o x , too, ne ed s more improvemen t at t he de sign en d . Honda engi neers sh ould stu d y the tr an smi ssions of suc h m ach in es as the T riu mph , No rton, Yam ah a. e tc . t o learn how smoot h , positi ve engageme n ts at any speed are made possib le. The T win's sh ift ing wasn't as . chancy as th e 197 2 500-4, b ut Honda hasn 't set its gea rbox sta ndards h igh e noug h yet. With p rac tic e , Honda riders learn to baby t he cl u tc h and p ro d uce smoo th st arts m ost of the t ime. Th e t rick is to engage the cl u tc h fully as so on as po ssible, at low throttle ope ning , an d then acc elerate fairly hard t o lose the lurch in a gre at surge of speed. Mu ch o f the problem ca n be tr aced to th e ast erisk-sh ape d rubber bis cuit th at cus h ions th e re ar hub agains t drive-train j o lts. With the transm ission in fir st gear and the rear wheel off the gro u nd, ro tate the rear tir e bac k a nd fo rt h. If an y di scernible slop in t he hub ca n be detected, replace th e cus hio n rubber s. It takes a special tool to do this, and de alers charge a bo u t $35 for th e fix. This won 't elimin ate Ho nd a lurch en tirel y , b u t it helps. N o ne of the tests we've re ad o f the SOOT tell of the excessive cl ut ch lag this m o d el displays whe n ge tting o ff th e m ark. Nearly every Honda has this pecu liar demon, but so mehow it's exorcised fr om th e test bi kes . This custo me r 's m oto rcycle. however, had a severe ca se o f "Honda lurch. " as we ca ll it. When the cl u tc h is eng age d and space is taken up between th e cl u tch pl at es, chai n links, gea r teeth, and ru b ber d rive Conservative styli ng sets off do uble overhead cam technology. Gaudy? A little. Convenient? You bet. c ushio ns, th ere is a gnash ing clatter d o wn below. The m ach ine hesitates as it beg ins to ro ll, th en there is a sudden, sn a tc hing enga gement. a lurch, an d aga in all is smooth un til the th ro ttl e is b acked o ff . Then there is a slighter lurch . b u t as long as the machine is n o t brought to a co m plet e stop , the sn at ch is tolerable between bursts of acce le ration and th rott le sh u toff. (Q uo th the deale r, "they all do that. " ) We cha nged o ff between the SOOT .and a 500-four on a 3 5 0-m ile trip thr ough th e race r-r o ads o f seve ra l national fo re sts o n our wa y to an d fr om the U.S. Moto rcycle J amboree in Tulare, California. The diffe rence between two a nd fo ur cy lin d ers was most ap paren t in the smoo thness of power. While the twin was co m fo rta ble enough to ride, you co uld feel each of its power strokes as a separa te throb ..:. not a vib ration, exactly . Changing to the fo ur was like rid in g a n elec tric dynamo by comparison. The exp losions blended into a seamless surge . Any resem bl a nce between the old 450K7 tw in and the SOOT is p u rely visu al. None of thc parts in terc ha nge between the two models, Ho nd a service rep s tell us. The 4 50 had a bo re of 70 m m . and a 5 7.8 mm. stroke. 'The 50 0 re ta ins the 70 mm. bore, but the st roke is in creased t o 64. 8. The 50 0 is abo u t I S pounds heavier than the 4 50 was . On a long ride the SOOT imp resse d us