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/126645
(Cont inuedfrom pag e 2)) insure tha t th e filt er is p roperly seated in th e air box. After th e fir st rid e, Sanguinett i recommends th a t th e petcock be di sasse m bled an d cleaned because loose particles th a t are present from ma n ufac tu ri ng are trapped and can clog things up if not removed.K'TM reco mm ends that 495cc mo tors subjected to co ntin uous h igh revs have the reserve pi pe in the petcock removed to insure an adeq ua te fuel flo w. T he redesign ed clutch provides a light pull for a n Open class bike but drags j ust enough to ma ke fi nding n eutral a real hassle. We found revving the engine wh ile nudging the levet;" h el ped but th e best wa y was to Iind 'h eutral before co m ing to a sto p . Annoying at first but soon it became a habit and out of m ind. Looking at th e bike, th e front disc brake is an attention gett er . We had our reservations abo u t th e vulnera bility o f the di sc bu t so far Charlie has rep ort ed no problems. T h e disc does work a nd works well. T h e rear br ak e is good but th e fro n t is so much bett er it overshadowed th e rear. Brakin g is smooth a nd very powerfu l. Ch arl ie installed a pair of Pro-Cycle fork guards wh ich will h elp protect the disc from thrown roc ks a nd keep m uch off o f th e rotor. At $18.95 a pair, th ey are well worth it. The only other negative aspect of a dis c brake is in case of a broken bra ke lin e, it m eans more th an rep laci ng th e lin e. The en tire system m ust be replen ish ed with brake flu id and a ll air bled from th e line. Not exactl y a tra ilsid e project. While we d id n' t get a cha nce to test th e bike under adve rse weather con di tions , th e design of a di sc brake usually a llows it to work unde r wet conditions wh ile a norma l drum bra ke is useless. Nordisk a lloy rims are used front a nd rear a nd are of good q uality. Spokes seem to be beefy enough to do th e job but a regular schedu le o f tigh ti ng is necessar y. Tires are Metzeler; in the opi nion of so me , th e best in th e wo rld. A 3.00 x 2 1 is up front a nd a 4.50 x 18 in th e rea r. With th e power this bike p uts o ut, we wou ld like to see a big ger tir e, a t least a 5.00. You won' t get fu ll tire wear on this bi ke. When the rea r wears down , sa y 50%, tra ction decreases drama tica ll y. For self preservation, a rep lacem ent will be necessary. While th e motor is tamer than last year's, it is still " ga wd -awfu l" fast . The last thing yo u want is to ha ve the rear tir e sl ide and then gra b traction. You mayor ma y not be p oint ed in th e direction you wa nt to go . With fresh rubber, th e bike is sta ble and tractable. Le t's define tractable. For a 495cc m o tor desi gned to win races, it is tractable. Bu t it is very, very fast when th e th ro ttle is turned all the way o n. ANovice ride r might be very well off on a Yamaha IT 490, a very mild -t u ned big-bore motorcycle, or the KTM 420MXC. In a drag race, the 495 KTM will su ck the decal s o ff of the IT490. The KT M is mo re of a n ex perien ced rider's kin d of bike. It ca n be trail ridden , bu t it is a very expens ive trail bike. The 495 MX KTM is a m ul tip u rpose moto rcycle. It ca n be us ed for en d u ros, desert , hare scram bles, grand p rix a nd even motocross, keeping in m ind its lim itations. Its weight will certainly be felt on an MX track. It may not be as good as a pure MX bike but it is certain ly a lo t ch ea per th an buying and maintaining two bi kes . The bik e handles ex tremel y well in a strai gh t li ne , turns well , has excell ent brakes a nd seems to be very rel iable. The only problem we encountered wa s a tendency for the ki ckstarter to try and work its wa y loose. We liked th e bik e very much. - .. ~ TOReo OIL e Made Specifically For Your Motorcycle Ava ilable at your favor ite dealer in: 1Ovv/40. 2Ovv/ 50. 30.40, 50, 60, 70Mn. C(") - 00 ~ The Oil Authority ~ ="I N V Mfg . 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See Calendar of Events • DUNLOP SWEEPS FORMULA ONE & FORMULA TWO AT ELKHART LAKE, CAMEL PRO ROAD RACE Deus Ex Machina, an AMA F·2 and Superbike contingency sponsor, w ishes to congratulate all t he w inners at Elkhart Lake and rem inds you that Dunlop's contingency prog ram can payoff for your team . Contact Stanley Chan or Pete Dimeck for deta ils. Western Distributor: Mark Matzinger Racing . 619 /766·2939 M id-Western D istributor : Competition Cycle Parts - 617/339-2126 - ._ •- ~ A_ ~_~v ,,_~~ ~ .~ --- v, v ~ -.-~~ "-- .....'"'"i'-., , _ • { "'"'-~- ....... ... • _ ~- -. ::,,__ _--->- •• _ __--I 35