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/126624
(A bove) Jumps were no problem after a trip to Scott's Scooter Service. (Top right) Answer Products spark arrester helped looks and breathing. Answer bars were added also. (Below right) Carl Reed putthe f inished PE through its paces for us. (Below ) Harry Klemm. of Klemm Research, easily found more power in the little engine. The polished and modified ports are seen on the right. Modified and milled head on the left. changed too radically in the last few years. We have heard rumblings about the new Kawasaki small-bore being quite different, but the PE will remain largely the same. If you already have a Suzuki, or like' the way they work and plan to buy one, check out the possibilities of improving one. We felt that the PE was an excellent place for a project. While we were quite impressed with the bike, there were a few areas we wanted to change to make the bike work better By Karel Kramer for us. We were plagued with flat tires throughout the impression, and while we don 't know whether that was a problem with the rider hitting things he should be missing or a too thin tire carcass, we were sure that Metzeler tires had worked and lasted well for us in the past. A call to O'Neal Distributing, the west coast Metzeler occasion the P E outscored all importer, netted us a 3.00x2 1 MOlOririon , the KDXI75 , are very good cross for the front,' the same size as of the 250cc cla ssers, but not moun t s an d also very close in terms . stock. In the ·rear we mounted a the 200cc class. The 250cc class of enduro competence. The combi4.50x 18 Multicross. T he Mu lticross has a variety of bikes in both nation of close to 125cc MX weight is a new compound Metzeler that is . . and frame size, plus a little extra su pposed to last lo nger and give a avors, E uropean an d nsmg sun flavo ye t the 200s - a much more limited (in grunt from the slightly larger engine, little traction improvement. P rices brand mix and power) class, score as make the 200-classers very attractive. on the tires were $55.95 for the front well. It appears the 200cc class is Wh en the bikes in a class are that and $75.95 forthe rear. Since the tires more competitive than the larger close, it makes life easier to pad the on the PE were already wasted, they classes. With the smaller engine there odds in your favor by making your will not be included in the final cost is less power to make up for mistakes. bike a little better. Another reason to breakdown. Tires are almost as evap'~~s_o: ~~~ P~l ~5_~ _~,-! i:t~ !".a~~ .~?J?.P.e: _... ~~.ify. ~ ~ 75 !s. that ~h ey. ~~~: .n5J.t _. " ?~a.t~,:e. 5J.n m ? ~o.r~r~l.e~ a s petrol. , Suzuki PE175 hop-up EX,tra propellant 'f or a little yellow rocket After a th orou gh ri n ging out , our test P E 175 p roved to be a durable and competi tive little enduro mount. It finished respectably in a number of woods and desert enduros. O n one 12 O 'N ea l a lso provided a pa ir o f lever fen der s that will be used when brush riding is anticipated. The lever fenders will slide over a pair of chromoly OW bend handlebars from Answer Products. A badly bent handlebar can cause the loss o f many costly points in an en duro, and any course that allows no pre-riding has ample opportunities for falls . Next on the list of mods was a slightly warmer engine. We chose twostroke wiz Harry Klemm from Klemm Research to handle the hop-up chores. There are many ways to get two-stroke horsepower. Klemm 's philosophy in engine building is to make the engine put out the most power it can at the lowest possible rpm. He pulled the top end of the P E and measured the port timing a nd pro nounced the en gine very mildly tuned. We asked for mo re power throughout the rev ra nge. After some discussion we opted for a mild port job, although Harry says the engine could easi ly p rod uce much mor e power wi th out losin g tractabi lity. His p rice for the m ild porting is the same for a higher performance engine. A larger carburetor and aftermarket pipe are not necessary. The head was "cc'ed," then milled for more compression. The intake and exhaust timing was increased and the transfers leveled. - •W.ith .ttl,e. c:pgjl1~ .9?lVpl.e ~c:~, ~~N: