Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

good s tuff's a lready on the road bike, So Ceitl's m en use th e same squaretube steel ch as si s as th e road bike shorn o f a few unnecessary lugs here and th er e a n d th e sides ta nd, as well as the stock swin g arm-they tr ied m ak ing special o nes, but th e sta ndard o ne was better ! Th e P ro - L in k rea r suspe nsio n em p loys a specia l Showa u ni t de sig n ed for the ra cin g In tercep to r a nd based o n th eir desi gn fo r the RS500 CP bike, Natu rall y. it's adj us ta ble in both directions as we ll as fo r ride height and spri ng preload. Th e front forks sim ilarly a re based o n Showa's CP design , measu r ing 4 1,3m m in d iameter, exce pt these are much lon g er to sui t th e tall er road cha ssis, Aga in , th ey're two-wa y adj us ta ble a nd a re fitted with hydraul ic a nti-di ve with ex terna l sp r ing adj uster , co u p le d with a fo r k br ace in corporating th e mudguard m ounting and ca refu lly shimm ed up so as not to load up the suspe nsion , Steerin g head angle is 27° - s tee per than 0;1 the road bike bv 2,2°, T he 16" froiu w heel carries m assive tw in 3 10m m d iamet er di scs, m ade from m eoni te a fter it was foun d that st eel o nes warped too quickly due to insufficient co o ling a t high speed w hen fi tted to th e narrow di amet er wheel. The rear st eel di sc has been progressively reduced in size to onl y 190m m : th e riders claim to ha rd ly need to u se it. Front ca lipers a re th e exce llent twin-piston Nissins as fitted to th e CP bik es. which have differentiall y-sized pi stons: th e leading o nes (i .e. th o se that m eet ' th e wheel fir st in th e direction in whi ch it rotates) are o f 27mm di amet er , whil e the trailing o nes a re larger a t 34mm. Combined with o blo ng brake pads, this reduces th e effect o f gas build-up from th e di ssipati on o f th e p ads' material, as well as p romoting more even wear o f th e pads th ernsel ves, Wheels are extruded a lloy Cornstartype bolted-up wheel s wirhrnagn esiu m hubs; wh eelbase is sta ndard, a t 58.5" . " We tried ca rbo n- fiber wh eels ," sa ys Ceitl, " b u t we rea llv don 't need t~em ..The minimum weight for Superbike I S 390 Ibs., we ge nera lly wei gh 398-400 wit h wa ter and o il but no ga s, and so we're ver y close, We ca n be lo wer ye t, bu t since for m o st o f th e seas o n we h ad a co ns id er a ble horsepower advan tag e, it wasn ' t worthwhil e." H ow mu ch h o r sepow er ? T'hat we shou ld n ' t d iscu ss, but a 101. " More th an 120 . g iven th at Oshiro -san 's cha rts showed th e 850 to be prod uci ng 132? " Yes! " O K tha n ks, Udo! On ce Mik e a nd Ph il h ad bu mped the engine into li fe. the distinctive laz y-sound in g fla t b u r ble of the 90° V4 began ec ho ing across the Moj av e Desert. On a h al 90° da y i t d id n ' t tak e long for th e wat er temp ga uge to hi t the 195° m ark co nsi de red o p ti m um for ra cing: 204° is bad ne ws though , but unlike the RS850R I would tr y a couple of week s lat er in much cooler co nditions, id ling th e en g ine didn 't seem to ca use th e needl e to sta rt climbing off the cl ock. Sitting o n th e bike you 'd swea r you wer e on a ro adster, even down to the dashfu l of instruments in front of you: th e speed o is disconnected, th ough . Flat, onepiece ba rs bo lt to th e top of the special yokes , co n trastin g with the street bik e's a dj ustable clip-ons (or bolto ns, act ua lly). In fact S pe ncer us ed th e bi ke a t Da yt ona w it h C BllOOR clip-e ns fitted, but Mer kel prefers m ore leverag e a nd had them cha ng ed a fte r h e took th e bike over. T he sta ndard steel fu el tan k is retained. by order of the AMA , comp lete with loc ka ble filler cap. which ca used some excitement at David Ald ana 's fuel stop in the Daytona 100-miler when he fo rg o t he was supposed to unlock it.with_the keyl ....... ....... A storm is about to engulf the forests, the deserts and the motocross tracks of America, And Can-Am has unleashed it With six powerful new dirt bikes that are faster, lighter, stronger, and better handling than anything we've ever offered. Our new ASEs are 175 and 250 air-cooled, single shock enduro bikes. Our new MX-ers incl ude muchlightened 125 and 250 liquid cooled bikes, an even-more-powerful 500, and our Sonic MX that's now 562cc of 4-stroke thunder, All six new Can-Ams offer Marzocchi Piffero forks, Quad Link progressive reaction rear suspension with White Power damper unit d the outstanding power and reliability of our Rotax engines.Choose your class. See your Can-Am dealer. And unleash a storm of your own. ~can-am

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