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/126404
. b ack into th e fork legs as t hey ext end . T he ends wer e taped to th e ba ck of th e number p la te . ou t of the way. Besides mo unting a leather too l ba g atop th e rea r fender , t hree othe r cha nges were made to the Can- Am befo re its firs t end uro t he handlebars were cut off to 32 inches. considered ideal for the tigh t woods and d ee p sa nd enco untered in Michiga n end uros, a quarter -turn quick throt tle . new grips and unbreaka ble clutch a nd fro nt brake levers replaced the stock items. and a la rge r rear sprocket was installed to get low gear down to a fas t wal k at idle . T he bike com es with a skid plate so th is important p iec e of engine protectio n d idn't need to be a dded . .. . - l-o Wayne Buckler ofN. Fort Meyers,Florida, pulled it off in the last round,but not without some heavy breathing froin Bob Carpenter,whohad already set an E.T. record of 9.13 seconds in his qualifying run. BothWayne and Bob were riding Kawasaki KZIOOOsYoucancheck one out at your local Kawasaki dealer. The onlydiff erence is that yourdealer's KZlOOO will be slightly slower.The rest is uptoyou. First enduro The bike's first a ll-ou t test came in the Lonesome Pine in the mountains o f so u t hweste rn Virgi n ia. a n d it flunked. Forty miles from th e start. back in the boonies, it ran out of gasl T he 1. 7 -gal . tank th at ca m e with this . Can-Am was dry. Lots of low-gears running in the early morning fog and rain-slicked. rocky hills had increased consumption wa y beyond normal for a 125 on the trail. A 2 .5 -gal. tank was installed before th e riext enduro. Throughout the firSt season sm all . changes were made as problems showed up . Even with a 125-pound rid er the shocks were bottoming too often so heavier springs were insta lled. The original foam a ir filt er. whi le satisfactory. was event ua lly replaced with a Twin -A ir treated with the spe cia l Twin -Ai r oil that keeps water from passing through to th e intake. When th e flimsy chain guide was mangled beyond straightening and th e ch a in wrapped its elf around the countershaft sprocket. it was replaced by a chain tensioner . The battery was removed to reduce weight and make room under the right number plate for a can of Cycle Spare, in cas e of a fla t tire . The front .rim got badly bent in a freak collision with another motorcycle so a lightweight DID alloy rim was laced on . By the start of its second year of competition this Can-Am had evolved from a street-trail bike into a hard-core enduro machine . It was already a veteran of three nationals and many state championship runs, and it sported a new softer seat, a folding shift lever and many replacements for the original repl acements . It had . become an enduro motorcycle tailored exactly to its rider , but th e total cost was approaching tha t of th e best box stock off-road bikes on the market . Machines like the Husqvarna WRs and the Penton/KTM Enduros, wh ich are sold race- ready. Kawasaki Don't letthe good timespass you by. KT M m ade better Or a re they? Wh ~ t was d one to a 1977 KTM 250 GP Cross Country to prepare it for competition gives a good id ea of wh at may be needed on eve n the best off-road cycle . The Dirt Factory in Concord , Calif. , set up t his KTM to be th e best enduro m achine around for t he predominantly dry , hard terrain of most western runs. Cost was a secondary consideration , and about $600 was spent shaping and increasing the reliability of an already ex pensive off- road motorcycle . Work started with the d isassembly of the basic b ike down to its fram e and whe els. To help in cre ase low and mid range and to make the engine eas ier to sta rt, the timing was retarded from " C h a m p ions h ip Enduro," copyright © 1977 by Steve Booth and Brian Palermo, is a va il ab le direct from the publisher , P aragon Publications, 3106 Sweetb r ier , La fayette, CA 94549 for $5 .95 pos tpaid. California residents add 6% sales tax, 0~ X rolling stone gathers momentum (9)u~~~t1ia Pomona Valley Kawasaki 1170W. Holt. Ontario. CA - 714-983-5988 714-623-1204 21