Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Remove th e rear-view mirrors. II' s a ni ce touch to have little - rubber -p lugs to put in the holes where they mount. T ires. Passing tech onl y requires that the bike have "safe" tires, but because tires a re so critica l to perfor man ce, we will say a few words on th e subject. Usin g stock tir es in nearl ynew con dition is a ll right for a race or two , but yo u shoul d soo n sp ring .for so me hi gh-performance. soft-compound tir es. These tires sh ou ld not be used very much o n th e stree t. The rear tire, especially , will develop a flat spot in th e middle o f th e tire during street use, a nd many a problem of high-speed wobbles and abrupt tran sition to lea n has been cured by a new rea r tir e or one that has very few street m iles. . OK. The digression o n tir es is ended; back to gett ing through tech . H igh, wide handlebars are not th e hot set-up on a road race tra ck, and Production class rules allow any handl ebars yo u wish, so lo n g as they use th e sto ck mountings. If yo u change handlebars, you need to check cleara nce. Turn th em as Iar as rheywi ll go to th e left a nd right and check tha t th ere is at lea st one in ch of clearance betw een any part of the bars a nd th e gas ta nk on both sides. If not, adj ust th e handlebars until there is. If that does not solve th e problem, or adjusting the bars to provide clearance pulls your arms into th e cru iser mode, you might try bui lding up the stops to limit maximum turn angle, but cha ng ing th e bars (aga in) is probably a better idea. Check yo u r club rulebook on this, but you will probably have to mount a ca tch bottle for th e crankcase vent. modern motor cycles th e crankcase usually vent s into th e airbox, and the bottom of th e airbox ha s a dr ain. A small (eigh t-o u nce) can or plastic bottle ca n be attached with a la rg e radiator clamp or two to th e • fram e a t th e low er rear of the engine and th e dr ain tu be run into it. For tid ine ss, yo u can run the carbu reto r overflo w tubes in to the ca tch bottle too . T he ca tch bottle is supposed to be dra ined before every race, but don't be su rp rised if you never find any oil in' it. I suspect thi s device is a hol do ver from the days o f th e big racing singles and is reta in ed to look rac y. T he throttle must sna p closed wh en opened a nd released , so check that. If not , lube a nd adj us t it until it does. Lube the cha in, th en rem ove th e cen tersta nd . Th is is never ea sy a nd usua lly in volves loosening or removing th e exha us t system o n o ne side. Both sta nds must be rem oved for rac in g , but I usu all y leave th e sid estand on until just befor e tech . A necessit y a t the tr ack is a sturdy sta nd that a llows for working on the bike, to include lu bin g th e chain. A nifty solution is to hook up th e sto ck cen tersta nd temporarily by pushing undersi ze bolts th rough th e m ounting brackets, but th is won 't work on a ll bikes. The u biqu itous m ilk crat e is a com mon sol ution , or yo u ca n bu y a special stand. Finally, tech in spe ctors will look over th e ent ire bike to see that everyth in g is in good sha pe a nd properl y adj usted. You should do th e same, sta rt ing a t th e fro n t a nd checking every fastener and adjustmen t all the way to th e rear o f the bike. Don't forge t wheel spokes, if yo ur bike is so eq u ip ped; tech inspectors wi ll chec k them. We hope th is in format io n wi ll save yo u th e last minute panic on race day o f trying to get a n unprepared bik e th rough tech wh en yo u should be clea n ing you r Iacesh ield a nd thinking ca lm th oughts. Fast is sm ooth, smooth is fast. • - .... $-0 0.. < O n CONGRATULATIONS, mID [[IJ~illm OVERALL WINNER AMA/ISDE QUAUFIER SERIES, TELUCO PLAINS, TENNESSEE Ed is sett ing a fast pace aga in i n CrossCount ry racing th is year. In National Hare Scr am bles or ISOE Qual ifiers you 'lI find Ed an d many of the top Cross-Country stars relying on Hi -Point " Red Dot " t ires to deli ve r the victories. See yo ur Hi -Po in t Racin g Products dea ler a nd check o ut the co mp lete lin e of premium " Red Dot " knobbies . THE FINEST IN OFF-ROAD RACE GEAR IS AT YOUR HI-POINT DEALER'S, IHI-POINTI I . . RACING ... J HI-POINT RACING PRO DU CTS ~ ".enue. 3 709 West Erie i.orein. Ohio 44 053 2650 ·H M ercantile Dr.. Rancho Cordova. CA 95670 41

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