Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

this case, either. In the Bilstein, this diameter increase results in an in ternal capacity increase of nearly 70 % (according to one slightly warped slide rule). That is a sizeab le increase in performance margin of the internals. Shaft th ickness remains the same at ap p ro x imately 7/1 6 in ch . But the re al zinge r on the new "Big Bod y " Bils teins is the use of a He im j o in t at t he lo we r shoc k m ountin g eye. (Lower , because Bilstein recommends runnin g th eir dam pe rs heavy end up o n b ikes .] The Heim join t is a ball which con tai ns th e m ounting ey e ye t is built to swi vel freely in a soc ke t o f dissimilar m etal. The actu al swivel arc is limited practicall y by th e stronger steel eye for th e bolt its elf. Lo o kin g at the photo will give yo u an id ea of wh at it looks like in real life . This speci al application of a ball j o int co m pe nsa tes for a lot of those lo ads n ot dir ected longitudinally along the shock and takes care of most of the bad effec t s o f swingarm flex as you and m achine go bouncing ove r the b umps. In com pariso n to th e Marzocchi gas shock we talked ab out in Cycle News West a few issues ba ck, t he new Bilstein is ligh ter b y a co nside ra ble amoun t and curren tl y more expensive . Cost of eithe r damper is go ing to depend a lot on how the Italian lira and Deutsc h mark me asure up to the go od o le American dollar. American distrib utor, International Cycle Ho use , m ad e a set Of the Mk II B ilsteins avai la ble, mated t o the ex cellent Ken Ro ss sp ri n gs wh ic h ' virtually eli m inate coil bind in any shock m ounting p osition. They were m ounted and put to th e track test in both l o w er a n d upper sh oc k · m ount -move d·forw ard app li cations. We ex p ec ted to be impressed wi t h the new Bilst ein and we w ere. But it sho uld co me as no surp rise to you t hat gas-fluid Bilste ins ar e- a good damp er. There were, however , some tr aits an d tra deoffs inher ent in the Bilstein th at we weren 't totally prepared for. We're te m p te d to cal l it an expert's damper be cause wh at i t seem s to do best is keep t he rear wheel hooked up to th e track su rface. There is a feeling of vert ical bounci ng at the rear wheel more pronounced th an wit h some other shocks b u t th ere is vir tu ally no sideways defl ecti on th at re ach es th e frame and rider. The II eim j o ints seem to work as int ended. Th is lack o f fle x is particularly not iceabl e in squaring fla t corn ers, wh ere con tro l of the rear feels as precise as co n tro l o f the front. The rear end do es bounce m o re in the vertical plane while m ain tai nin g that improved traction. So mehow the feeli ng to the rider is ' sm oother than the occasi o nal whump en coun tered with o th e r dampe rs and see m s less fatiguing: you ca n go faster co m fo rta b ly lo n ger . The adv an tage will be reflected in lower lap times and, if yo u 're good enough, co n siste n tl y lower lap tim es toward the end of a long race . But they don't really feel plush - th ey fee l p o sitive. Those are only so me o f th e reason s fo r st yling th e Bilstei n an expert's sh o ck. You don 't reall y n eed a mat ch ed se t o f these ye llow wu nderdam pers (o r any o t he r gas shock) u n less yo u ra ce m o tos of 30 minu tes o r more on lon g travel suspe nsion - o r cro ss-eo un try even ts th at are equally abusive to your suspensio n . That furth er restric t s th e need for th e sh o ck t o ex perts and serio us o nes, a t th at. No do u b t you 11 want a p air, anyway. The ne w, improved Bilsteins a re, at minimum, new and impro ved. They are also a well-proved damper. They do seem to mate to some m otorcycle ch assis and geo me tries better than th ey do to others. The better handling y o u r bike's fram e is to st art with, the better it will go with Bilsteins moun ted to it. That's logi cal . Matching the correct rate springs is essen tial , They can ' t "fade" as we understand the m ean in g of it. The Bilstei n wi th the increased volume and the Heim jo in t may be the " be t te r mo usetrap. " The re a r e a lr eady a growin g cre w of co mpe titio n riders who are co nvinc ed o f th at. Others, equally competent, have been d isillusioned or are still lookin g. Wha t it seems to me an is that gas shocks are so good that, un less a freak break does occur, they 're too goo d to believe. For Immediate Delivery Phone 216 • 232-9030 THE L.ESTER TIRE & WHEEL CO., 26881 Cannon Rd., Bedford His., Ohio 44146 A dill ision of Lester Industri es Inc. IIFYOU'RE NOI ADVERTISING IN CYCLE NEWS... YOU'RE LIIHO BIISI EI! AIR FORKS OR SPRINGS A.IR FORK KITS I, for Beta r, Cer ian l , CZ . Honda, HuSky. Mal ec. & Yamaha. Su pe r smooth ride f o r improved dampening . no ;~I:tb~r~ir8.~g~lngS to sack o ut. Price s The Front End Kit that works either way or y our Money Back I Designed for RAC ING over ro ugh terrain . Will give you a ride second to none ' BULTACOOWNERS Left hand $16 .95. cn rom e·moly shift levers Rear Fronteras & ch ain tenslo ners for $17.9 5 & ' P u rs angs $19.9 5. Betar S" fork trav e l ki t $ 5 .9 5 . Heavy dut y air filter, clutch & shifting sprin gs $7 .5 0. z-cvcre f loat f or all square body Ama l carb s gives be tt er gas m il eage. cle ane r carburet lon at h i ghe r a lt it U de $4.9 5. GP frame conversio n, al so fo rw ard mou nt and lay down swl ngar m,mod lfi catl ons - all w e ld ing he ll-arce d to late st sp ecs. For fr ee Bultaco catalo g send 5 0( p ostage to: + Steve Scott's Machine Works PO Box 8 71 . Arleta , CA 91331.) 2 1 3~ I Bultaco 250 Bultaco 360 Bultaco 250 Bultaco 360 Hodaka 100 Hodaka 125 Frontera .$1147 Frontera .$1220 Pursanq ..$1147 Pursang . .$1302 Dirt Squirt $499 Wombat . $599 c::;;~ CYCLE CENTER 1300 E. Edinger Santa Ana, CA 9 2705 No modifications, just bolt in the new units. 8" of travel - Kits for : CZ red or black frame ; Yamaha Small leg 125/175 MX. Yamaha Endu ro. . MX, . YZ and Monoshock. ; Kawasaki KX 125, KX 250 . KX 450, new KX 250/400; Suzu ki' 250/400 & RM '73 - ' 75; Bete rs. Dealer or Direct Send fo r Free Literature TERRY INDUSTRIES P.o. Box 1321, Hesper ia. CA 92 34 5 714-244-3139 15

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