(ab ove) Chain guide is an inte gral
part of the full floating rear brake
stay. (be low) Fork stop shows
quality workmanship and .we lds.
zoes to Never-Never Land
didn't flail about. Yet the senses were fooled as the
bike held its own in several mini duels with competitive
two-strokes. Everything felt correct about the geometry
and handling. The front end would stick and the rear
would dig in and drive. The hard burnt California dirt
was amenable to the power impulses. It was the best
four-stroke dirt bike we had ever tested.
Until we hit the rough stuff that is. The suspension
didn 't wo rk for motocross, as it had been prepared for
casual woods work. The 110 lb. Girtings folded up on
landing giving more than the specified seven and onehalf inches of travel. To magnify the problem the
Betor forks were too soft resul tin g in a low-rider attit ude over every jump. The mo re we rode the worse
they got until the bike began to ground out over the
.J
jumps, dragging the engine and pipe and puckering
~ every orifice on the tester's body.
~
This is a dial-you r-own suspension mach ine and
o we were dialed in wrong. A little stiffening of the
Z
forks and a heavier set of shock springs set the bike
~ up fine fo r MX po undi ng, but then the en d uro
[j fanatics felt it was too stiff.
- and a heck of a good MXer for the man who wants to
