Part I: The 12Scc's
By J im Gianatsis
Advancements in motocross technology over
these last few seasons have been somewhat progressive in their development of established and
proven ideas without any major -revisions to
what has proven co mpetitive.
We've seen a few new in nova tions, things like 23-inch front
wheel assemblies and 17-inch
rear wheel assemblies. But they haven't
proven to be an advantage for all
displacement size bikes under all track
conditions, yet ; the established 21 inch front /IS-inch rear wheel assem blies remain the standard .
Some innovations hav e proven to be
an advantage , but are too elaborate or
complicated. These new ideas haven't
readily established themselves. One
reason is that a competitive motocross
bik e needs to remain light and
reliab le. The new designs include the
Preston Petty ful l-floating front brake
a nd , particu larly for J 25cc bikes,
watercooling .
12
One area where advancement
cont in ues at an exci ting pace is in
suspension design . Each new season
finds us with an in crease in the
amount of suspension travel where,
just the season before , riders were
claiming it co uldn't get any longer and
the bikes still remain ridab le. Last
year's limit of 12 inches on some of the
factory works bikes has already been
exceeded and this season the factory
Suzuki bikes are running 13.5 inches
of rear wheel travel. And just in case
you think it might stop there,
diminutive Gaston Rahier was seen
this past winter testing a Suzuki RN400-78 with 15 inches of travel in the
suspension both front and rearl
While the Japanese manufacturers
continue to be the dominant force in
motocross technology, particularly in
the 125cc class , two little American
companies are proving we can do
things right when we set our mind to
it.
Steve Simons and Moto-X Fox turn
out the world's best suspension
components from their little garage
shops in Northern California . You
know t hey'r e good when they turn up
on some of the world's best factory
bikes like the RC works Hondas. And
it's with suspension components like
those from Simons and Fox. along
with good 01' American backya rd
engineering that we can turn our
production bikes into machines just as
competitive as those ridden by the
factory stars,
