Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

th e low est rat ing in th e test for d irtworthiness. On the stree t the tires worked a s well as any o f th e others. T he sea ting pos ition a nd th e handlebar / seat/Iootpeg relat ionship a lso gained hi gh ma rks for street use , an d less for th e dirt . T he handlebars are a bit low for a stand ing posit ion. Alth ough th e Yamaha d idn 't have th e lowest sea t h eigh t, it was th e mach ine preferred by th e shortes t rider in OUT test. The Yamaha ge ts plus p oints for having sna il ca m cha in adjus tm ent. and for bei ng th e o n ly bike in ou r test to ha ve a chai n ten sioner, T he chai n didn 't need adj us tme nt through our 545-mile " big weekend." O th er p lu ses o n th e Yamaha in cl ude the easi ly-reada ble triprneter, a nd th e venti la ted front fender to aid en gine cooli ng. On th e n egat ive side, we burned out th e low beam portion of th e h eadlight bu lb. The Yamaha was th e on ly bike in ou r test to co me wi th ou t passenger pegs and a passen ger grab stra p on the sea t, a lt hough both are sold as opt io ns . The gra b straps on th e o the r m achines were q ui ckl y rem ov ed by o u r solo intent test crew; one task th e Yamaha rider d idn't have to bother with. On th e ot her hand , after a full day in th e saddle, the o ther riders wer e usin g th e pa ssen ger pegs to help th em gai n a di ffere nt sea tin g p osition . As for th e sea t itse lf, a few o f us wo u ld have app recia ted a lill ie more foam, but there were no major gr ipes. Whi le th e Yamaha was th e choice of few for serious tra ils, it was by a ll means fun on the fire roads. Wi th th e sl ippery tires and th e good frame, sl id ing was a b last. The hand lebars may be too lo w for the standing position, bu t th ev worked well wh ile th e rider was seated a nd were wide enough to o ffer good leverag e. And th e same fun was found out on th e tarmac, o n ly making th e tir es slide in th at ap p lica tion took more th an a lill ie wo rk a n d a h ealth y dose o f throule. The mid-range gru n t was a lso ap p rec ia ted, calling for less rowing a t th e sh ift lever than so me of th e o the r machines. The on ly th ing we ca n' t really co m me nt on is th e tool kit , since for so me reason, o u r test unit arri ved wi tho u t o ne. The frame-moun ted can nis ter it resid es in is tucked n icely a way behind th e left sid e p anel. This m ay be th e las t yea r for this versio n o f th e XT. Rumors from Japa n a re th at th e XT will receive a much -n eed ed technological update, sta rt ing wi th rising-rate rear sus pe nsion and a four-val ve m o tor. All ~o.e~her All four machines have much in common. yet all have th eir individual characteristi cs, Under the heading of what they have in co m mon, we n ot ed a few things. For sta rte rs, a ll fOUT m achines have £Iexible turn signa l stalks. We were su rp rised - co rr ectio n, a ma zed tha t afte r severa l ge t-offs in th e dirt , even a com p lete loop-out in th e stree t. th at we didn 't manage to da mage a single turn signa l. All bikes h ave fork locks . A kudo to H onda for integrat in g th eirs into th e ig nition modu le. T he Suzu ki gets a seco n d-place award for a lock that can be engaged whi le the rider is still sea ted on the m o torcycle. The Ka wa saki a nd Ya m a ha both have the locks mounted on the steer ing h ea d , and so me ma nipulation is req ui red to activate the loc k. The H onda and Suzuki a lso get bonus points for having two rearview mirrors in co n tras t to one eac h for th e Kawasaki and Yamaha. All machines suffer from the EPAmandated ca rbu retion, with th e Honda. Suzuki an d Yamaha having th e vapor recovery system. The Kawasaki, which doesn 't, su ffers in our eyes because the bike is not legal and not so ld in California . It was a lso the bike that su £fered th e most in th e co m parison o f wa rm -u p tim e. All three ofthe Cal ifornia-l egal mach in es had a bi g tendancy to backfire wh en . the throttle was backed o ff under a load , i.e ., usin g a lower gea r to maintai n en g ine br ak ing o n down hill s. Although none o f th e mach in es co u ld be ra ted as powerful, th e H onda got th e nod for best en gi ne. Th e torq ue ba n d was as flat a s a n in eyear-o ld Powder Puffer, with power from beginning to end . One tester felt th at it was a n illus io n; th e si x-speed gearbo x kept the engine humming a lo ng a t th e righ t speed to g ive th e feeling of th e best power a m o ng the four. Wh at ever the reason, th e maj ority of testers rat ed th e Honda as number o ne in th e horsepower category. Runn er-up in th e p ony sta kes was ge ne ra ll y co nsi dered to be th e Yamaha, due to th e low- a n d m id-range g ru n t, Th e Suzuki an d Kaw asak i were abou t eq ual, m ost felt . with some gi ving a n edge to the Suzu ki sim p ly for the smooth ness o f its effort. O ne tester arg ued for th e Kawa sak i, sayi ng a lt hough it d idn ' t feel as fa st as th e ot he rs, it had h eld its ow n in impromptu ro ll -on a nd drag races. Gas mileage for all fo u r units was righ t around 64 mpg for our wee kend trip, despite the forays into the dirt a nd the heavy th rot tle hands applied duri ng some of th e ca nyon ru ns . Get- ling ov er 70 miles to th e gallon would not be hard for a ny o f the se test m achines. Another cos t fa ctor is wh at one has to replace. With nearl y 1000 m iles on eac h of the bikes, a ll we've lost so fair is a Kawasaki taill ight lens -mot its fault) and one spo ke o u t of th e Suzuki 's rear wheel. The Yamaha 's headlight still works on high beam , so we h aven 't bo thered to try an d replace th e bulb. (O h, we did send for new levers on th e Kawa saki as well ; again, not its fault. Looping out of a showy wheelstand really d oesn ' t fall in the category of normal wea r a nd tear.) In suspe nsion an d handling , th e Honda again rated th e best, by reason o f good bal ance more than a ny th in g else. The Yamaha wa s overwhelm ed by rough terrain, the Suzuki 's fro nt end seem ed overwhelmed by its rear sus pens io n , a nd th e Kawasaki just wasn 't up to th e level of the H onda. However, th e Kaw asaki would proba bly be th e easiest of th e four motorcycles to make right, The Honda won because it has m ore-usable travel and the Pro-Link seems to be designed to work with a cert ai n amount of spring sack. The Suzuki, on th e o ther hand, finds th e sp ring sack p ut ting th e shock action right at th e stiff part of th e rising rat e. It sh ould al so be noted tha t oUT Pro MX er a lo ng for th e ride liked th e Suzuki 's rear suspens ion beca use it worked a t th e speeds he - not us - wanted to tra vel. T o rou nd th in gs o u t wi th a few bi ts an d pi eces, it was o ur opi n ion tha t th e Suzuki was the best-fin ish ed a nd most a uractive of th e four. Best tool kit honors were d ivided betwee n H onda and Ka wasaki, both of wh ich were well-placed on the bike a nd featured loc kin g ca ps . T he Suzuki was the o nly one of o ur quartet to ha ve a locking gas cap. 21

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