Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Vise-grips often prevent DNFs. Tape keeps them shut. do in the field except check 'for loose connections, once you've gone through all the other steps outlined. Water in the cylinder is a real bummer. It happens when you fall in water deep enough to cover the exhaust pipe and engine of your downed bike, and the engine stalls. Or if you're stuck in a swamp , trying to dig out, when it tips over before you know it's starting to fall. Clearing the water out takes some time . Once you 've got it on land again, remove the sparkplug and tip the bike over, completely upside-down. Now, crank it over with the kick-start lever to pump the water through the top of the cylinder head. If there's still water in the pipe and you can't get it all out by tipping the bike, remove the pipe, drain it and crank the engine over some more to make sure the water and mud are gone. You might have to stand your bike on end to do this properly. With some luck it will run for you when you put everything back together. What about engine seizure? It usually means that's all for the day, but occasionally it frees right up after you stop and let it cool. Try starting it again. If it turns over and continues running, maybe no serious damage resulted and you can continue on , but not at such high rpm. The sound tells you a lot. Strange noises are bad news. You 'll probably know it if the cylinder's badly scored or a ring is broken. And if the engine ate a ring, hang it up and get a tow or a ride back to headquarters. Tran smissi on and drive Lots of things can cause your drive chain to jump off a sprocket , but the chances are minimal if it's adjusted properly and your bike has a tensioner. Sometimes when it comes off it starts a whole series of troubles that can bug you in several enduros. George and his Can-Am are a good example. The chain came off as he was bouncing over submerged logs in a swamp. Maybe a stick got in between the chain and rear sprocket; he doesn't know. Anyhow, it wrapped itself three layers deep around the countershaf( sprocket , breaking the case-protector loose and taking a big chunk out of the part of the side cover that goes over the sprocket. .Right there where he was stuck in the water, George removed the cover , freed the chain and put !lId:!alYil.!IIl:!I~I~." ''liIIll~·~ ~~Git. ~ "pip. "all while holding the bike vertical with his body or one hand. It took 45 minutes before he got the bike going again and drove out of the swamp, still within his hour. Trouble was , he'd forgotten to . replace the brea ther hose to the part of the case covering the electrics. At one of the water crossings later in the run his engine stopped and he couldn't get it started. But that wasn't the end of it . After the moisture and dust were eliminated from the CDI electrics, the bike ran fine, and he competed -in the Porcupine National a couple weeks later. Then in the next enduro George had to quit only six miles out when the CDI failed. One coil had deteriorated from the moisture that got in the day the chain jumped offJ But not all chain problems end up being that serious. Usually, you just put it back on the sprocket, adjust it right and tighten the axle nut. Unless a rear bearing is shattered, and you can't keep the sprocket in alignment , so the chain jumps again . O r a small rock gets carried forward with the chain and jams between it and the countershaft sprocket, stopping the engine so suddenly that gears are broken. Or a loose chain skips over the teeth on the countershaft sprocket until they eventually break and are worn down , or the countershaft nut comes loose , allowing the sprocket to spin and maybe st r ip the spline. They've all happened . If you 've got problems like these, you just do your best by tightening and adjusting, and if you have to drop out , at least you might be able to limp back to headquarters under your own power, avoiding any gears that are broken. One other common trouble related to the transmission which plagues some enduro riders, usually the inexperienced ones, is a badly slippIing clutch. It helps to adjust it before it gets serious. Once you 've run out of adjustment all you can do is ride with it. Obviously, some motorcycles, because of gearing or inherent clutch weaknesses that show u p under the stress of enduro, are more likely to have slippage than others. Busted cont rols The cables are the most vulnerable because they can be snagged by branches or kinked badly in a fall . It doesn't take you long to learn that spares are important and that the . .thrqtJle, cable i~ the .one: you .need, the

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