Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

!Top left) Nothing but the best up front: 3.00 x 21 Metzeler around a shoulderless Akront. housed by massive nine-inch travel Ceria nis. (Center) The GS2S0 af i'est low. lean and compact. !Top right) The thick Falk fenders and firm saddle add to the list of impressive features. 62 Impression: Sachs/Hercules GS2S0 Outstanding features, reliability and budg By Mike Klinger When a car dealer lists standard equipment, a person might receive a AM radio or a spare tire or even a heater. Well ,when it comes to standard equipment on motorcycles, Sachs/Hercules has the edge over all its competitors. Pictu re these items as standard: Cer iani lead ing-axle from forks . _ ' Marzocchi nitrogen-filled gas 28 shocks, VDO speedometer. Magura power levers , Akront shoulderless rims, Falk extra thick fenders , Metzeler ISDT tires , Motoplat COl , and the list goes on and on . The Sachs/Hercules machines are precision built in West -Germany with ISDT -p ro ven featu res to co m memorate the medal winning performance in 1977 by Mike Rosso. T he "Limi ted Edition" seven -speed series ISDT Commem ora tive machine co mes to you in fou r fla vors; GS I25, GSI75, GS250 and th e GS350. There is not much di ffe re nce in the four models whe n they a re standing sideby-sid e . T he only thing that-gives away each model is t he brightly co lored gas ta nks and the leading axle front forks on the three b igger bore machines. The bore/stroke specifications run from a 54 x 54mm on the GSI25 to a 71 x 61mm on the GS250 and 73 x 61mm on the GS350 . Note that th e bore on the GS350 is only 2mm larger t~an the GS250. Also , the ~ngine displacement on the 350 model IS only 8cc more t~a~ the 250 model. The reason for this IS that the GS350 can be run in the 350 ISDT class or in the Open class at one of the local events. But, is a 253cc Sachs/Hercules competitive against a 390 Husqvarna in the Open class of an enduro? You be the judge of that. The single cylinder, two -stroke, aircooled , seven-speed power plant is full of mustard . All four models incorporate the identical gear ratios from a 3. I 7: 1 first gear to a 0 .834: I seventh gear . On the GS250, the enormous ra d ial fin ned engine receives its juice from a 36mm Bing carb whic h sits at a slight tilt so that the exhaust pipe may fit tighter in on the machine. The a ir travels via a Twin Air t ha t is ru bberb and -m ou nt ed to the air box . Plastic, screw -mou nted side covers house the entire air system. Horsepower is factory rated at 32 brake ponies at a high 8000 rpms . The 125 and 175cc edition got even higher revs at 9200 on the 125 and 8500 on the 175 . Enough talking, let's take the machine for a thrashing. W e received a GS250 seven -speed edition straight from the crate, nothing done except lacq uer bei ng put on the decals to resist wearing. The first impression was what to do with seven speeds? Go 100 miles per hour, shift all day, or cruise in third or fourth so you don't get over your headl Before we get into seventh gear, let's talk about starting this machine. At a cold start, the 36mm Bing needs to be tickled for three to five seconds before plunging down on the left -side mounted kicksrarter. Once the engine is warmed up, the choke, located on the handlebars by the throtrle , must be opened up completely. When we first encountered this lillie jewel, common sense tells you to turn the handle clockwise to choke the machine. Wrong! Once the engine is warm , twist the assembly so the cable is tight and the bike is ready for action. Once on the saddle, the rider gets the feeling of finally being in co ntrol of a pure enduro machine. The Ceria nis soak up every obstacle encountered and the gas Marzocchis worked fine in the vertical settings. T his was our first outing so we were a lilli e cautious during the brea k-in period. Once the engine was hea ted u p we dialed it on for some high speed fir e roading. The best we could turn was a sixth gear 70 mph before we had to shut down due to lack of straight dirt road . Seventh gear was unthinkablcl After on ly 23 m iles of some break-in motoring about, we were present ed with a flat rea r tire, lost ta nk bolt and no front brake. After close inspection. some changes had to be made. We now got our first real look at the quickchange rear wheel. Dismounting the rear tire was as simple as pie. Hold the axle with a large p hillips screwdriver and unscrew the right side bolt. The axle then pulls out and the wheel assembly is pulled free from the machine. The sprocket stays connected , the chain does not have to be removed nor does the brake rod have to be fidd led with. Everything is stationary. A one-inch bushing is removed on the left side of the hub which allows the entire wheel to be pulled free of the rubber sprocket cushions. Further inspection revealed that the rea r Akront was drilled for only one rim 'loc k a nd we tore the stem right off the tube by sp inning the rim in t he tire. The problem with the front brake was that for the long travel Ceria nis to be used , an alternate cab le stay ha d to be employed to ge t the rig ht action on th e brake arm. The stay on our test bike d id not work a t a ll. Our remedy was to wheel the adjusting screw and nut a ll the way down and ta ke the bra ke arm off to give the right tension on the cable. Once the minor adjustments were made, the bike ran like a clock. These limited edition models sport some real ISDT features . A 35 /35 wall

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