Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ At last writing, we had entered it in fitted a 3 8mm Mikuni and roughl y The bike wasn 't hurt. Steve went out Cafe and 500 GP at a CMC Willow meet , jetted it in on th e co u nt ry roads behind in 500 GP and got a fif th. Again, though only to seize in practice . A comb ina ti o n his house . T he in take colla r o n th e we 'd jetted another step leaner and of fact ors had done us in, mostly out of 38mm ca rb had to be trimmed ba ck picked up some top end, we still weren't fast enough. Lap times were running ignoranc e. With the timing set properly, about a half-inch so the stock rubber much richer je tting and two st ages colder in ta ke h om wo u ld fit without kin kin g. aro u nd 1: 55-56, while the fas t guys plug, we wen t to a W/ ER A meet at We still use the -stoc k oil-foam air were in t he low I :4 0s. The not-so-fast wer e bl owing by Steve and m e on the Phoenix ' Fast Track International to try cleaner, but expect to replace it with a downhill back stra ight. bu t [ as to app roac h pe rfe ct ion from the safe K&N as soo n as supplies are avail abl e . side , for a ch an ge. disti nctly pu lling pe ople in the Care As a backup (again under sage advice We also carried alo ng ten gallo ns of from other ra cers ) we cu t and rewelded clas s on th e uphill front straigh t before I avgas, on a fuel en gineer 's th e stock MX pipe to fit aro u n d th e go t o ff. Disappointing. Teach m e to stay . up right. re commendat ion . Avgas is not th at rearsets .so we co uld throw it on in a much highe r octane than wh at yo u ma y p inch . Dunlop K81s replaced the st ock Retrospect get at th e pump. But it is more tires. Phase o ne o f th e 400 's racing ca reer is consistant, fro m pump to pump , brand Saturday at Willo w th e y gave us to brand, regi on to region. be cau se it pract ice plus lots o f three-lap sprints. over. We're into trying it o ut in a stree t has to mee t a more strin gen t set of We starte d ou t with the st oc k 34mm legal mod e (subjec t for a future repo rt ) inspection co n t rols. (Pu mp gas mu st car b and th e st ock pipe. Lap times while Steve, the rest of th e clu b and I meet or ex ceed a given o ct ane rat ing, began to co me down, from a sh ak y 2: 13 digest ou r e xperienc es so far. T he bike d oesn't lack for mi d-ran ge , and little else.] By co ntrast, yo u ne ver to a m or e co nfi den t 2:04, but we wer e know what you 're getting o ut of th e still gett ing blown off d own Willow's even with th e 38mm carb and (lately ) pump - no t even th e bran d , as Fed eral back straight. We added the 38 Mikuni ; two millimeters shaved o ff th e p ist on oil allocation scheme s have even th e an d Ste ve broke two minutes . Fas ter, skir t . The MX pipe is too lo ng a tuned majors sharing each othe r's gas at th e and we were all grin s, bu t st ill n ot fast length fo r road racing, an d the Pre cision wholesale level. Nor is pump gas all eno ug h. We wer e topping out too early , p ipe is still a largel y unknown quan tity gaso line . In so me regions of th e . gea red to o low. A quick trip into (t ho ugh we 've suc cessfu lly moved th e co u n try , it may co n tain up to 40% Lan caster on a buddy's street bike sti nge r to its rig h tfu l place and fitted a aromatics - ben zene , to luene, xyl ene: co nfi rme d th e worst : there was no taller Sky way we ld -o n silenc er)". The wobble · and relate d co mp o unds - t o boost t he gearing availabl e for the TM400 . (We've mention ed ea rlier disappeared when we o ct ane ratin g o f low -octane petro leum sin ce gone to Circl e Industries to get 36 laced on a Sun allo y front rim th at was b ase st oc ks. Par an oid? Mayb e, but we and 32 tooth rear sprocke ts - 39 is t he wide r th an t he stoc k ste e l o ne it didn 't seize . smalle st avai lab le fro m st o ck and a replaced. No w that t he pe gs are up Instead, we took a rath er de tuned 17·tooth co u nt er is the biggest th at will wher e we do n't drag our fee t , the han dling is impecca b le. Suzuki sing le, spen t mo st o f Saturday fit th e cases]. T he modified !\IXer bra kes hard and practice co ming back down on m ain je t In Sunday's heats, Steve go t tappe d is capa ble o f good sizes, an d det ermined th at th e fo o tpegs, in th e rear wh en anot he r rider tr ied deep , and though re located , - wer e still too low . unsuccessfull y to o ut brake him from co n tr ollable brak in g even wh en cran ke d Also . the sid e-ble ed pip e. wh ile a neat the inside in tu m one. He went o ff well o ver. In really skittish off-camber -d idea in th eo ry , W S b urning he ll out of mo tocr ossin g, bu t managed to stay down hill si tua t io ns , the rear end wa n ted to p ogo a bi t o n braking, but st iffe r our right heels wh ile co n t rib u ting uprigh t. On th e restart (t hey redflagged darned little to the bike's performan ce. it when t he ot he r guy crashe d) , Steve sho c k flu id (S AE 20) mad e that go Thou gh th e bike's handli ng was holeshot the entire mo b of T Zs an d held aWdy. Con trary to p opular op in io n , basicall y so u nd , we were getting fas t them to the top of the hill, wh ere they we 've never had t rou ble keeping the (b rave?) enoug h to p ush the stock street began to blow by him one by one . His fro n t end do wn , jus t th e opposi te tires wh ich we 'd can nibalize d fro m th e fin al went pretty mu ch the sa me way, deliberate fo rward weigh t bias screw s up same GT 38 0 th at "donated" t he fro nt as d id min e. We both ea rned mid -pac k the braking. As it is, t he ane mic -looking MX rear bra ke is all th e rear en d will fou r t hs. end. Still, by the end of th at firs t t wo day Day to n a week inte rvened before the ever n ee d. In all o ther respec ts, th e bike has we ekend, we 'd bo th tr ophied - Steve as nex t race, CI\IC/Willow ; I wen t o ut of first 250 GP Novice . me as third 4 10 town, and a bunc h of club membe rs go t most of the desir able a ttri bu tes of a Cafe. You see, under W/ ERA ru les , a toget he r to work o n th e bike. To o man y single ; go od ground cle arance . quick single can run " d o wn " o ne clas s from its heads. They go t t he pe gs roughly trans ient responses and excelle nt " out act ual displacemen t ( an d so can an y relocated a second tim e . put a 4. 25 /85 'o f the ho le" drive. On a short kind of four stroke) . At this poin t . it wa s Dunlop o n th e rear (rep lacing a 4. 10) sc ratche r's track, it is pure joy to ride. still no m at ch for a TZ250, but St eve and reve rsed th e for k legs so the di sc The frus t ra tio n of bein g an nihi la te d st ayed up whil e o the rs crashe d or blew ca lipe rs woul d trail. The gearbo x also o n top end , we still ho pe to cure up. Same held true for me in Cafe , go t over filled , so fir st time out it with out sac rific ing on n oise . That's except mo re fast guys st ayed on their co ve red the rear tire . Scary, but no going to take mo re trial-and -error, some wheels. We were both holding our own harm d one. From now on , no more th an boo t leg dyno time and severa l on braking an d mid-r an ge acc elera ti on, two p eople wo r k on the bike at once . p ipe /muffler co mb inat io ns. but skating aro un d badly on the The 4 .2 5 / 85 ti re didn't seem to wo rk The engine is still internally st o ck Bridgesto ne ti res an d getting b lown with the 4 . [0 x 19 fro nt, as we acquired (except as no ted previously ) and the ' away on top end. a wobble that wasn 't there before . In ma chine is st ill no mi nally street legal, With on ly a week to prepare for the my race (Cafe) I lo cked up the rear tho ugh a trifle lo uder th an the 80d b at next W/ERA run at Willow, we had no whee l br aking, wen t off touri ng the 50 feet th a t new st reet bikes mu st meet . time to me ss with the pegs . While the trackside with a killed engine and fell The oil inject ion is retain ed for on-ro ad bike was stored at Ste ve's place, he do wn j us t before 1 g'?t it sto pped. co nve nie nc e. Anyone cou ld do wh at"we 've done so far with an old MXer (no t nece ssaril y a Suzuki) and some scrounged parts. In fact, the real impact of o u r project bike is not what we've done ou rsel ves, but wh at others m ight be mot ivated to do . Steve has this For in stance, BSA /El sinore (yup , a 500 thumper in a 25 0 Elsi chassis) that he ran in last ye ar 's Four Stroke MX. No w his yo unger brother, reali zing th at the fro nt end off h is 3 50 Honda will fit straight acro ss, is cast ing lascivious eyes at th e beast as a potential CMC or W/ ERA Four Stroke GP mount. In Colorad o the re's a reall y sano Montesa VR-based roadracer running loose. And clo ser to a 'w el l-kn o wn desert race home, promoter, wi th a wis tful eye , co nside rs co nve rting his 4 10 X L in to a road racer so he ca n go racin g aga in wi tho ut screwing up h is knees. Fo r tir ed dirt bi kes and tired dirt riders, it's like a sec ond lease o n life . .. Update Our Un likely Duckling is one race and one piston o lder than when th is cha p ter began . Box score : o ne first , one sec o nd and three thirds in a very busy W/ E RA race weekend. The above-me n tione d pipe work an d bootleg d yn o tim e p aid o ff in us eable horsepower, and indicated wh er e we could find still more. Obv iously su bje cts for a la te r re po r t. We h ave on o ur h ands a reasonabl y practical street b ike wh ich also happens co mpet iti ve to be a reasonabl y short-ci rcu it road racer - create d fro m off-shel f parts with a triflin g bi t of gru n t-labor m achine sho p w ork. What are we talking about in mon e y ? An o ut-of-fashion MXer you can pick up fo r 54 00 an ywhere . At mo st, 5 100 wo rt h of ca fe fib reg lass. A fro n t end you can buy at swap meets for 575 to 5 125 de p en din g o n ho w . hard you hagg le. A 560 pair of shocks. A pipe yo u can bui ld with $25 worth of materials. A b u nc h of odds-and-ends th at m ay ni ckel-and-dim e yo u to th e tune o f 5 100 additional. A 570 set o f tires and a 52 0 - $25 silencer. And back to th e swap meets for elec tr ics yo u 've not been ab le to salvage o r scrounge. No matt er how you add it UP 1 it co mes o u t to a useable . enjoyab le motorcycle for under $ 10 00 . If "Brack et Road Racin g" ac tually ge ts off th e grou nd, we predict that th ese things will be co ming out of the woodwork in swarms . Bec ause even if a co nverte d MXer still wo n't be at th e Klin zmanns and th e Baeders on their T Z25 0s or th e Ti gerts and Clou ghs o n th eir supe rt uned RD 350 s; y o u'll be having too much fun to not ice. '37

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