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/126055
P OPle ten d to misunderstand factory racing ma chines, and t hey do so in a vari et y of ways. First :there's the would-be professional ride r. He, as often as not, thinks that factory prototypes were des igned in heaven by The Great MXer in the Sky. To h im, the bikes appear nea r pe rfect and seem to be the ultimate mea ns of carrying ride rs (wh o a re probably no t really m uch better than he is) th rough . 45 -minutes of ecstacy and int o the winner's c ircle. So unds f u nny whe n you put it down in print b ut strangely enough , t hat particu lar fa ntasy is one th at's vigorously supported by the agenc ies that advertise t he product ion models of their pa rt icula r brand. They 'd like very much for you to th ink that by purcha sing their b ike you too will be a winner. By mak ing that co mpa rison , we ' re bro ugh t to another attitude , the " we sell wh at we race " claims from man ufact urers. Again, it's a bunc h of B.S. f ro m t he ad m en, but yo u 'd be surprised how many knowledgeable fac t ory t ea m employees become outraged when someone questions it s validity . Nobody actua lly sells yvhat they race , although their next year's prod uct usually bears some resem bla nce to it. In fact, it's the factory 's exper ime ntat ion that makes t he consumer's bike as good as it is. Fact ory racers are noth ing more than test bed s f or ide as th at seem great in theory . Eng ineers come up with tho usands of absolute ly br illian t schemes on how t o ach ieve opt imum handl ing and power characteristics. Some of-those Id eas ma ke it int o blueprint form, and some of the blueprints actua lly become expe rime nta l parts. The n t he u np roven parts, or in so me cases complete cycles , are handed to the rac ing team. Th e tuners and riders are expected to do two th ings with these parts. T hey 're supposed to prove that the eng inee rs were right (even when they 're sometimes not) , and they ' re supposed to loo k good in fr ont ,of t he public (win) so that everyone will rush out and by t he p rod uct ion model. When yo u th ink about it, that 's a hell of a job. T h ings don't always go well , as we all know from watch ing races. But, win or lose , reports have to go back to the factory where corrections ca n be made. Or oftentimes the tuner h imse lf does the work or f inds a vendor to fabricate the improved part. It's a yea r-long trial and error program , backed by some of the best riders and mechanics in the world, that eventually either proves or disp roves the eng ineers' or iginal concepts. The amount of money spent is staggering. What do they get in return? If th ings wo rked as hoped , they get some good P.R ., and their knowledge of how to build your next bike is improved. . What do you get in return? For virtually ze ro invest ment , you get a motorcycle that's NOT like those unproven prototypes. You get the polished fina l res ult of a full year's effort to produce the best bike available. Next t ime you're in the pits, don 't forget to say thanks to the guys who made it happen . Honda , The newest, most radical, mo st m y sterious and certainl y th e reddest bike in th e pits is Honda 's new RC400. At least, they think it's an RC400 - nobody seem ed to know much about it, whe th er th rough cho ice (when a pr ess person approached) or th e actual lack of information . I t's unden iab ly red . The entire mo to r ; cases, cylinder and he ad are covered with crimson heat resistant p ain t. It was, they ad mitted. mo re, for shock effect than practicali ty . But that doesn't ma tter. Within two weeks every priva teer Hon da will h ave a re d motor. "I've' heard 480cc, 450cc an d 400cc," Pierre Karsmakers replied when we asked the actual displacement, " So , it's somewhere between 400 and 480 . I'd tell you if I knew:' The entirely new and d ifferent cycle features completely new EVERYTIDNG . On e of its tri cker traits is in the timing cover. Timing can be set without rem oving the side cover; the cover itself is rotated. The forks use external springs with preload adjusters simi lar to those used on standard rear shocks. Pierre uses a special set of long Koni shocks with remote accumulators on his bike. The standard Honda units have built-in accumu lators. Suspension travel spe cs were not available, but it 's the longest looking set -up ' on the National circu it. Suzuki "We think they're like the ones they're using in Europe," Saku , Suzuki's Team Manager resp onded to the q uestion, " but we don't know for sure.." . "What 's new o n the m ?" we wondered , Uthey don 't loo k much di fferent:' " New rubb er boots," Saku said, referring to the new for k boots, b ut that's all th e inscrutable T M wo uld say. Looks and grins from others in th e Su zuki pits str on gly suggested th at nei ther Saku no r anyo ne else who knew was at liberty to discu ss th e innards of the new RN370s. Following practice, however, all the for k legs were changed back to the older, proven units. One set had faile d; ru mor had it that a circlip had co me loose and jammed the works, so all were changed for the race. The big Suzukis actually displace 372cc, and j udging from the way they sna pped Tony D's arms straight co ming out of the turns, they're snappy devils. . .The new fork tubes have fairly soft internal springs plus air. Balancing the two seems to be Su zuk i's answer to ideal progressive sus pension. The rear units are Kayaba. ., Yamaha 36 In refreshing contrast to the secretive makes-ya-feel-Iike -a-spy nature of inquiring about the Su zu kis and Hon das , Team Ya maha seemed h appy to discu ss th e bikes. Either Bob Hannah's super tuner Bill Buchka d idn' t feel that there was an d anger of spilling super factory secrets, or there weren't any . Secret or not , it's a very trick sco oter. . Hannah 's OW26 features a 396cc , mo tor with an offset car buretor to accomm odate the new airbox. The filter, similar to a Husky's is o n th e right side o f the bike, and the carb is angled off to the left where it at taches to a ru bber boot with a right angle b end in it directin g it bac k into the air bo x. The carburetor itself is a 38m m Mik uni, The Yamaha has mo re susp ension tra vel on the rear than it do es up front: 10 inches compa red to 9 1/2 . Thermost atically controlled valving in th e monoshock theoretically keep s the damping rate co nstant even afte r the oil gets ho t. The fo rks are Kay abas; springs, no t air. A large r flyw heel than last year makes the m otor m ore tractabl e while a ne w floating rear b rake slows the machin e more smoothly in the wh oops. The frame, also new for '7 6, is chrome moly tubing th at 's neatl y he li-arced toge ther.