Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Malcolm Smit h's Gore-Tex enduro jacket and Rant s The Yamaha TZ250 V -tw in showed up at the Br itish Grand Prix in 1985, but it was too late to chall eng e the effort of Honda. Keeping the wet out By Kit Palmer (Co n ti n ued from page 14) co 30 important were th e new cylinde rs a nd heads, because th ey in clude a cha m ber tha t a llows Ya~aha to alter th e exha u st vo lume like Honda does with th eir AT AC. Th e Yamaha cha m ber is 'i n the h ead, so. in th at way it is mor e like th e Suzuki sys tem, But Yam aha has retained th e guillotine-valv e that gi ves th em variabl e port height. Yamaha did n ot employ th e exha ust cham ber fo r their cha m pions h ip a tte m p t a n d th e p assages were blocked o ff. so it rem a ins a devel opment o ption. Af ter thei r su ccess wi th th e cran kcase reed -va lve-ind ucti on engine in 1984, Yamaha deci de d th at it s 250s woul d a lso us e the sa me sys tem a n d went a bo ut mod ifyin g th e pa rallel twin 250cc by raisin g th e cylinder base hei ght to a llow room for reedva lve box es to fit u nd ern eath . Th e new engi ne was no t a n im me dia te succ ess, to sa y th e least. a nd even before th e priva teers had raced th em . th e factory kne w that th e reed va lves were too sma ll. Martin Wimmer a n d Ca rlos Lavad o were issu ed modified en gines wh ich , thanks to so me u nref in ed cu tti ng. weld ing a nd fillin g . accepted la rger reed va lves. Wimmer found th e engi ne usefu l. parti cul arl y a fter H elm ut Fa th had worked o n it . bu t L avados was al m ost a lway s em barr assi ng ly slow . T h e fram es a lso look ed rath er o ld fa sh io ned . being ma de fro m tu bu lar steel . wh en most o f th e co m pet itio n had been cra fted in a lu m in um . T he fra mes were ch a nged a t Avsen in late Jun e. wit h the a rr iva l o f new twin -spar frames cl osel y resem bling those used o n th e 500c(', but wi th cas t eng in e m ount in g blocks ra th er tha n th ose ma ch in ed fro m so lid , Th is strong ly sugge sted th a t they were the fo reru n ne rs o f prod uct io n un its a nd thi s ha s since turn ed o ut to be true. T he re had lo ng been ru mo rs o f a V-t win engi n e th ou gh . and the ru m o rs added tha t it was a rocketsh ip, Wh y did Yamah a n ot p rodu ce it as the cha mp io ns h ip was being stea dilv lost to V-twin Honda domination ? It seems th at Yam aha h esit at ed to sen d th e 250cc class into th e sa me fac ro rv • ".~ . O ver a year ago, Malcolm Smith Products revo lutionized the enduro world by introducing the first Gore-Tex en d u ro jacket, w h ich they claimed was wind- and waterproof, yet breath able. No other enduro jacket ma n ufacturer cla imed such performa nce from a riding jacket. a nd th e Mal- The rear suspension of Spencer' s NSR500. develo pm ent spi ra l th at ha d mad e the 500cc class so expensive a nd exclu sive. H onda too k that initia tive a nd bv th e tim e Yamaha rea lized th a t th ere was no go ing back , it was too lat e for an 1985 cha m p io n sh ip effo rt. T hey p rodu ced two bi kes in tim e for Silvers to ne. As Wi mm er was injured , bo th went to La vad o , who stol e po le po si tion hu t crash ed a nd was not 100% fi t fo r the race. H e m ight well have won o n th e bi ke in Sweden . bu t a min o r mechan ica l p rob lem slowed it. Th e Ya ma ha is as close to the 0\\'81 as the H onda 250 is to its 500cc rela ti ve a nd is in every respect . (frame. eng ine a nd su spe n sio n ) a sma ller brother. T he re never wa s a straight fig ht between th e two V-rwi n s a nd whi le the Yama ha showed g rea t p ro mise. it may yet suffe r fro m ha vin g those two cra n ks co m pa red with the H o nda 's one. T he H onda cra n k o n lv has th ree bea ri ng s: th e Yam aha ha s two cra n ks a nd a tot al o f four bea rings. It a lso has an extra p rim ary drive gear an d it is d iffi cu lt to see wh ere these disa dvan tages are offs et. Perh aps Yam aha ca n mak e superior cyli nders and pipes. We wi ll hav e to sec'. O ne thin g is cert a in : Yamaha ha s a bit of work to do to wrest bo th cha m p io nsh ips fro m H onda : ~ • ~ \. I; • , , • • I . .. 1 co lm Smith jacket became an instant success because it actua lly met that ' p romise. But many riders complained it was too hea vy for warm-weather riding. That 's wh y Malc olm Smith now offers a seco nd Gore-Tex en d u ro ja cke t.. one that's lig h ter, as well as th e fir stever Go re-Tex pants. T he new jacket is unl ined a nd doesn 't have th e belt, Neoprene cu ffs a nd co llar, or tw o lo wer front pockets tha t are fo und o n th e orig ina l GoreT ex jacket. I t does, h o wever . retain two Velcro-closure upper front pock ets. It 's breath abl e, fu ll y win d- a n d wa ter proof, a nd ha s a vent runnin g acro ss the back : the vent system allows coolin g ai r to enter th e front of th e jacket a nd exha ust th rough the rear. The fu ll-length. double-action, heavyduty n ylon zi p pe r allows th e lower portio n o f th e jacket to be un zipped fo r bett er ven tila tio n in wa rm weather, wh ile bein g less rest rict ive to the rider. A. Velcr o-secured flap co vers th e zipper. whil e th e Velcr o-closed cuffs a re des ig ned a little different ly fo r a bet ter fi t. T h e new C o re-Tex ridin g pa nt s are. like th e jacket . fu lly win d- a nd wa terproof and brea thable. T he heavydut y n ylon zipper fly a lso ha s a Velcro- closed flap to keep wat er o u t. Even th ough th e Gore-T ex mat eri a l doesn 't stre tch . th e leg sid e panel s h ave elas tic an d are o verla p pe d by a , slighrl v-o versize panel o f th e G or eT ex m a ter ia l. ena bli ng just eno ug h stretch for a sn ug fit. i'vIa lcolm Smit h himself introduced th e new jack et a nd pre-producti on pa nrs to the press severa l months ago. ;ll a t hr.ee-dav lra il- idelL)l'odul'" -eva l. . . , • ••• "" .It uation session through the Rock ies. I cam e back from the ride impressed with both th e jacket and pants. T he jacket was lig h t eno ug h to keep me from sweating too m uch , and, combined with a fairl y thick cotton jersey, I n ever got uncomfortably co ld even whi le rid in g through snow at 14.000 feet eleva tio n. Th e onl y rain we encou n tered was light, and my body staye d co m p letely dr y. Wh en first worn . both th e jacke t a nd pa nt s are ver y stiff, but after a few rides and a co u p le o f wa sh ings, th ey loosen to a co m fo rta ble fit. Since th en , I'v e worn th e Malco lm Sm i th G ore-T ex o u tfi t twi ce, once in a n end uro durin g extreme ly co ld weath er (incl ud ing snow ). and a t th e Ba rst ow -to-Vega s desert race. Both tim es I never becam e too co ld o r o verhea ted . So fa r, bo th th e pants a nd jacket are holdin g up ver y well and are showi ng no sig ns o f excess ive wear. T he new Mal colm Smith lig h twe ig h t C or e-Tex jacket was use I by many U.S . Troph y a n d Juni or World Tea m m ot orcycle riders in th e recent Intern at ional Six Da ys En du ro (l SD E) in Spain. The jacke t. a nd th e pants, are th e h ot set-up for the serio us (o r not so serio us) end uro or hare scra m bl es rider, as well as th e weekend p lay rider w ho' ll ride rai n o r shine. T he G ore-Tex p ants won ' t be avai la ble to ' -the p ub lic for a few more weeks an d th e pr ice h as not yet been fin alized . but th e cos t fo r th e new C ore-Tex jacket (wh ich is a vaila ble) is S I09.00. T he ja cket is ava ila ble in sol id red o r a red / blue co lo r co m bination , Th e pants will co rne in so lid red or so lid blue with th e w h i te Ma lcolm Smith sig na ture logo down th e legs. Th ey a re av ail a ble through dea lers or from Ma lcolm Smith Products, Dept: CN , 850 Marlborough. Ri ver sid e. CA 92507, 714/ 686-1006.

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