Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The front suspension sits on the right hand side of the engine with it s low er end mounted on the rear of the sidecover above the clutch. The top end is connected to the u pper end of the front rocker arm. The middle of the rocker arm is connected to the top swingarm and it s low er end to a short connecting rod that is anchored in the side plate just above the front swingarm pivot. The rear swingarm i s a h uge cast magnesium unit pivoting on t he side plates on ly 30mm behind the final drive sprocket. Although bifocated to go either side of the engine like the front swingarms it only extends down the left side of the rear wheel. The rea r wheel bea rings are held in a huge aluminum eccentric captive in the end of the swingarm . As in previous Elfs the sprocket. on the left side of the arm. and the carbon disc. on the right. remain in place when the rear wheel is rem oved. mal floa t valve a rran ge me n t. Wi th th e gas tank under th e eng ine there is no room for th e lower cylin der exha us t to wrap it self back a n d forth. It still run s under th e engine, in a chan ne l through th e gas tank , but th en up th e back of th e eng ine a nd in front of th e rear tire to exit with th e other two pipes beneath the sea t. With so little room under the engin e and with th e inaccessibility of the lower pipe no ATAC box is used on that cylinder. Many adj us tments can be made to th e Elf's suspension linka ges. the effect o f the rear br ak e anc horage on th e sus pe ns io n, a n d so forth . The front suspension can be cha nged co m pl etely by th ro win g aw ay th e two swin ga rms a nd mounting a single unit between th e two positions. The pivot points are a lready th ere a nd th e sin g le a rm would tak e most o f th eir braking and co rnering load s, but unless th e designer wa s to accept a trem endous ch a nge in steeri ng geom etry as th e suspens ion m oved th en a sma ller swi ngarm wou ld have to p ivot The rad iator is very slim but tall and slopes back at 45 degrees. It runs up from the front cylinder heads beneath the dummy steering head up to what on most machines would be the gas ta nk. Onthe Elf the gas tank is underneath so the f iberglass bulge in the one-piece fa iring and seat is j ust t o make the rider feel more at home and allow a channel for the cooling air which comes in over the front w hee l and passes through the radiator and out over the back wheel. On the right hand side t he plate is sp lit up and down f rom the hole on t he sideplate where the ignition t r iggers are on t he end of the cran k . To the rear of t hat t he magnesium casting repl aces the cl utch backing plate which is also t he gea rbox cover an d is held on by the sta ndard 6mm and 8mm screws. . so mewhere near th e front cylinder h ead m ounts so th at it s forward end co u ld ho ld th e top steering rose joint. Th e tests at Mugello sa w progress a nd Christian Leliard wa s quicker on th e E1£ than on the NS500 Honda he n ormall y rides but as th e EI£ team boss Serge Rosset pointed o u t th e bike wa s not co nsidered rea dy to be raced in Au stria. " We were pleased with th e progress but although we co u ld n ot dose wi th the suspe nsio n th e final adj ustme nt defeated us and we will have to make some modification before testin g again." Leliard, wh o looked very smooth a nd fast on th e machine was similarly optimistic. " It is going well and it feel stable but I want to achieve a better speed through the corners without us ing such a great 'a ngle of lean and that is wha t we a re working on at th e moment. I hope that I can race th e bike in Yu gosl avia ." • 27

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