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(Above) The new exhaust pipe is unpa inted . (Below ) The water pum p and
hoses are susceptible to damage since the pipe routes to the right.
Th e Twin-Link 2 levers and Ohlins shock are all new for 1985. The rear
suspension is one of the best on the track . Swi!lgarm is aluminum.
Once on the track , the frus tra tion
of kicks tarti ng va n ish es a nd is rep laced by more p leasurable th oughts.
L ike th e mo tor. Last year 's engine was
very pipey - th is yea r th e 250's
pow er ba nd is more managea ble . orr
the bot tom , th ere is a tad m o re grun t,
and it revs o u t a Ii ule longer on top. It
isn ' t as stron g in th e middle bu t th e
overall impressi on is stilI . .. fast.
Not quite as fas t as th e Yamaha
YZ250, or th e Kawasaki KX250. bu t
the M-Star ho lds its own ground
quite ni cel y aga ins t th e res t.
To get th e most ou t of th e eng ine,
i t is best to keep th e bik e in the m iddle of th e pow erband, or n ea r to pped
o u t. If i t ge ts revved o ut too far,
th ough, the power drops o ff even
though the bike wi lI keep revvin g.
Tha t mak es the rider think he's going
faster th an h e realI y is. Th is motor
has the a bil ities to win ra ces.
T he cl utch is a l mos t impossi ble to
use, and doesn ' t work very wel l. The
clu tch lever is very hard to pulI in (it
takes at least two fi ngers) and the
cl u tch doesn ' t disengage until the
lever is a lmost touching th e grips wh ere it h its th e res t of th e rider 's
fingers ho ld in g o nto th e bars. So the
rider m ust use alI fou r fingers to p ulI
in th e lever a nd can' t hol d on as welI
over th e bum p s.
Aft er a bo u t an hour o n th e bike,
the cI u tch started to drag and feel
mush y. L ucki ly, there is jus t enough
lo w end to reduce th e need to u se th e
clutch while on th e tra ck. H owever
th ere were plenty of times when we
would have preferre d to Ian rhe clutch, . .
r f {;';'!!~ }
but i t would ta ke too m uc h time to
release grip a nd u se four fin gers to do
it . So we wa i ted for wheelspin to
bring rpm ba ck u p. And bo th th e
cI u tch a nd front brake lever s are too
far from bar. which a lso makes th in gs
more difficult.
Sh ift ing, though , wa s no th i ng less
th an fla wl ess. We never ex pe rienced
a ny problems with m issed sh ifts or
j u m pin g out of gear. The shi ft lever
has a lo nger th row th an th e Japanese
bikes, but it didn 't gi ve use a ny problems; th e lever is eas y to find a nd has
a good , posi tive feel. T he ra tios are
very close, so situations whe re th e
rider isn ' t q uite sure wh eth er or n o t
to sh ift up a no ther gear becomes a
Iittle easier - each gea r p icks up
exactly w he re th e ot her leav es of f.
First gea r is low enoug h to be use fu l
in se mi -tig ht turns, which especially
h el ps beca use th e rider ca n' t co u n t on
th e cI ut ch to ba il him o u t o f th e
to ug h stu ff.
Although th e M-Star ca me jelled
spo t on, gas p oured out of th e overflo w vent tubes bo th during riding
a n d a t id le. That delayed throt tle
response while rid in g and co u ld ca use
a DN F in race situ a tions . A faulty
float va lve was th e ca use of th e trouble.
Th e n ew di sc fro n t brake just
do esn't have enough power, an d no
matter h ow ha rd the lever is pulled
in , th e fron t wh eel will never co me to
a co mplete sto p; accord ing to M-St ar
sp o kesman, th at 's because th e Magura ma ster cylinde r isn' t u p to sn u ff.
M-Sta r even offers updated brak e pa ds.
T o op, th ings, Q ff~ jhe , fJQnt , brake"
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sq ueaks h ideo usly whe n it is ligh tly
, a p p lied w h en ridin g or even j u st
load in g i nt o or un loading from a
truck .
T he rea r brak e. o n th e o the r hand,
performs q u ite welI - it 's strong, has
a p ositive feel and do esn 't lock up,
a lthough th e back end cha tters and
ho p s arou nd a bi t over the bumps
when braking from h igh speeds. The
brake pe da l is o ne o f th e few parts
th at still co mes from th e stone age;
it's non -cl eat ed an d h as no hol es for
mud a nd wa ter to esca pe , so boot
traction is a t a mi n im um .
'
T he M-Star 's suspension is i ts
strongest featu re - the back end is
o ne oft he best aro u nd a n d co u ld be
considered as the best for th e Beginner,
Novice or Intermedia te level ride r.
For th e Pro s, though , th e Ohlins
shock co u ld u se some minor va lving
a dj us tme nts for q uicke r damping
response, but for just a bo u t everybod y else, th e rear sus pe nsion is excellent. O ver smalI or large bumps, th e
rear ri des a lmos t like a Ca d illac - i t's
ver y plush . Most bikes hand le ei the r
large o r sma ll bumps well, but the
M-St ar handles both eq ua lly welI .
After a few laps on ou r lest track , th e
shock got so ho t th a t th e reservoir
co u ld n' t be to uc h ed by h and , but the
shock's perfor ma nce was virtuall y
unchanged ; th at 's a sig n o f h ighqua lity shock oi l.
The back en d never swa ps on very
ro ugh straigh ts, an d the rear tire stays
close to th e grou nd cons ta ntly. It
wo u ld ta ke a go od-size bump or a
la rge drop-off to gel the back end to,
, J ) 1 • ) [ ( ,' 1' )' .. . ~ 'j : \ II \ I ~ r T
bo ttom, an d even w he n i t did. th ere
isn' t a h ard bump or vio lent jolt th e tire just ki sses th e underside o f the
fen der.
Up front, th e M-Star fork a lso
wo r ks ver y well, a lt houg h so metimes
th e front end will sha ke whi le braking ove r bu mps - n o thing seri o us .
Landing from steep drop-offs d id n 't
faze th e fork - it just soa ked up th e
impact smoothly, and bottoming was
very rare. The fork sea ls sta rte d to
leak soon after we rode th e bike;
accord ing to M-Sta r, th e fork legs are
groun d a li ttle too ro ugh a n d ca use
the sea ls to wear o u t prema turely.
The oi l sea ps ou t enough to dribbl e
do wn th e back of the for k leg an d
ma ke a mess; o nce it starts leak ing ,
though , it doesn 't seem to ge t any
\ VO Tse.
Even th oug h it's called a n M-S ta r,
it still tu rn s lik e a Ma ico - precisely.
. Na iling th e inside o r th e ou tside o f a
turn is no problem o n the M-Star - it
wi lI go w h ere i t's p o inted and does so
quick ly a nd pred icta bly . It even loves
to be sla m med into ber m s w it h the
throttle wid e o pen a nd won 't tend to
hi gh -sid e over th e berm with th e rider's weigh t forwa rd or o n th e middle
of th e sea t.
T he sea t is fa irl y fi rm and narrow
a nd mat es very smooth ly with the
pl a stic tank , maki ng slid ing to th e
front a nd to th e rear of th e bik e a
co m fo rta ble transit ion. Desp ite having 13.5 inc hes of rear wh eel travel
th e M-Sta r feel s low to sit on , w h ile
th e hand leb ar posi tio n is a li tt le
highen than on-most bikes; iL fe el s a
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