Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

1··PRODucreVALUATION I The Grunge Brush hen the padeage containing our very own Grunge Brush first arrived, I spent a few minutes looking at the strange contraption before reading the accompanying directions. What could it be? A bionic toothbrush? A brush for people with dredJodcs? A personal hygiene tool for men only? No, it was none of the above. The Grunge Brush is designed specifically for cleaning motorcycle drive chains. The brush is made. of sturdy, red plastic and has six-way adjustable brush blodcs that W THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION The guys at Gaerne North America claim that the SX Evolution Boot was created to be the ultimate off-road boot. Handcrafted in Italy, the SX EvoLution is constructed of top-grai.n leather and features a floating buckle system that allows for a snug, secure ankle fit. The instep of the boot is made of a soft Nubuk leather that Gaeme says needs little or no break-in time. The sole has a dual compound that provides grip and feel in the front and rear, but is stiffer in the foot-peg area for support and durability. The SX Evolution comes in four color combinations in sizes 7-13 and cost $259.95. For more information, contact Gaeme North America, Dept. CN, 25030 W. Ave,. Stanford, Suite 130, Valencia, CA 91355, 805/257-6372. GOFASTERI According to Xtreme, the only signals that a rider can get from his mechanic without a good pit board are his position, providing that he's in better than 10th place, an encouraging wave, or maybe even a thumbs up. With an Xtreme Pit Board, however, you can receive unending levels of useful input. The Xtreme Pit Board costs $29.95, comes in black and yellow, and includes a dry-erase pen. For more information, contact Xtreme, Dept. CN, 2590 Jason Ct., Oceanside, CA 92056, 619/630-6370. BACK IN BLACK Harley-Davidson owners will be happy 10 hear that the Flanders Company now carries Black Powder-Coated Sun Rims for Hogs. Sun rims are 100 percent American made and built to meet DOT standards. The rims are constructed of 6061 T6 aircraft-quality aluminum, and also come in anodized silver, gold, red, blue and purple. Prices start at $136. For more information, contact the Flanders Company, Dept. CN, 340 S. Fair Oaks Ave., P.O. Box 93605, Pasadena, CA 911Q9c3605,818/792-7384. 100 percent. In stodc condition - the C-6 Glove was one of the most comfortable gloves we've ever worn. Usually, a new pair of gloves is a pain un til the palm padding breaks down and loses its bulky feel. are oil resistant and long lasting. Each brush block can be adjusted in or out, making it easy to make the chain cavity as large or as small as required. We used our Grunge Brush on a #520 motocross chain, so the brush needed to be set with the top and bottom bLodcs in their largest setting, and the side blodc in its smallest. After washing the motorcycle in our usual fashion, we coated the chain with an extra coat of degreaser and had at it with the Grunge Brush. We found that the brush works best when held around • _the chain just in front of the chain guide on the bottom of the swingarm. Spinning the rear wheel is the correct technique; only a fool would try to use the brush with the bike running and in gear. Incidentally, for the mentally handicapped, there is a warning label on the hand.le of the brush that reads, "Dp not use while motorcycle is running." Ah, what a wonderful world lawyers have created. The Grunge Brush did an incredible job of cleaning the mude off of our chain, and even allowed us to escape with no cut knuckles or chunks cif chain spoo in our eyes. (Be honest, how many of you have cleaned your chain with a normal wire brush and cut your knuckles, then had a tiny piece of greasy dirt zero in on your eyeball?) The Grunge Brush is one of those products - like the Pet Rock - that will leave you wondering, "Why d.idn't I think of that?" The Grunge Brush is a great product that deserves a place in any motorcycle rider's toolbox. The Grunge Brush comes in red only, and costs $9.95. For more information, contact Simple Solutions, Dept. CN, P.O. Box 61033, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, 408/738-3111. Donn Maeda JTe-6 Concept Glove nmost cases, a motocross glove is a motocross glove. As long as it's not too bulley, not too tight and not too ugly, a glove is usually considered good. Then came the IT C-6 Concept Glove. At first glance, we didn't think anything special about the C-6 Glove. Like we said, a glove's a glove. Within one or two laps around the trade, however, our impression changed I The IT C-6 Concept Glove features a neoprene cuff that has banded edges to keep out rocks, dust and debris, and a vinyl-reinforced Velcro closure. The fingers are constructed of lightweight mesh and Lycra spandex, and the palm area and thumb are made of non-textured Oarino!. The back of the glove has the traditional foam padding, but not an overabundance. The glove fits snugly and feels similar to a baseball batting glove - there's no extra bulle between or on top of the fingers. The feel provided through the gloves is one of the most noticeable differences between the C-6 and other gloves; at times it felt as if there was nothing between our fingers and the levers. Though the palm padding is minimal we never had a problem with blisters, even when we fell in the mud and got the gloves wet. Ever notice that Team Noleen/Sizzler/Yamaha rider Larry Ward wears IT gloves, in spite of h.is Xtreme clothing contract? We used to wonder why, but now we know. . IT C-6 Concept Gloves come in four color combinations in sizes S-XL. They cost $36.95. For more information, contact IT USA, Dept. CN, 515 Olay Valley Rd., Chula Vista, CA 91911-6059,619/4212660. Donn Maeda Dan's Speedspray elieve it or not, evaluating products for Cycle News or any other publication for that malter, isn't as fun as . you might think. Yes, it's pretty cool that we get our hands on some pretty nifty stuff, but the problem is that we get bombarded from all sides by so many companies - many of which are smaller or not widely known - who want us to try their products in the hope that we will print something in the newspaper and thus give them their "props" in the form of editorial comment. And while history has shown that no editor in any magazine has ever completely trashed a product in print, whether the evaluation is good or bad is often imrruiterial; these small companies always seem to be able to pull something positive from an evaluation of their product for marketing purposes. Simply put, we're not too naive to realize that a product evaluation in Cycle News can go a long way. Well, Dan Moynihan of Dan's RC Stuff certainly falls mto the aforementioned category. Moynihan has been actively pushing for US to take a look at his Dan's Speedspray Anti-Static All Purpose Oeaner for the better pari of six months, B and he has religiously foUowed up with clodework phone calls to see if we h.ad actually tried the stuff ou t. The problem was that when he finally got around to sending us a can or two, we thought that we were the victims of some kind of jo·ke. Let's just say that Dan's Speedspray didn't feature the most attractive packaging of all the cleaning products on the market today, and the bright orange can with the proprietor's gaping profile on the label did little to kindle our enthu iasm for the product. How good could it really be? Dan's Speedspray languished in the CN offices for more than a week, but the day came when we needed to give a test vehicle a quick cleanu p before sending it bade to the manufacturer, and we simpy had nothing else to use, so the Speedspray was called into action. It was then that we relearned the old adage, "you can't judge a book by its cover." The CFC-free Speedspray was developed to clean and polish a wide variety of surlaces, but wh.ere most prod ucts ju_st clean a surface, Dan's Speedspray also removes static from the item on which it is applied to prevent the buildup of new dust and grime. Moynihan warns that the product is not a restorer, but aside from that, the sky's the limit. The best part of using Speedspray is spraying it on the surface of the object to be cleaned. The product applies as a fine foam and then audibly crackles like popcorn as it goes to work eliminating the static buildup on the surface. Using a soft cloth (paper towels are not recommended because they may scratch a fine surface), you simply wipe the surface, then flip the rag and buff off the Speedspray, leaving behind a satiny, anti-static finish that will prevent the surface from getting dirty for quite a while. The more we tried Speedspray, 'the more we liked it. We were surprised at how easily the stuff cleaned the painted surfaces and absolutely laid waste to the brake dust that permeates the wheels of our streetbikes, keeping them clean for a longer period of time than we'd experienced with other cleaners. One of our motocross testers found that Speedspray easily removed the two-stroke oil sludge that dropped on the swingarm by the muffler and also removed fuel slop discoloration from the soft-plastic fender and tank. A few more hints: We found the spray to be competent at cleaning our lexan goggle lenses, keeping them dustfree; and we successfully cleaned a grimy yellow seat on one of our bikes without suffering the accompanying "slippage" that we've dealt with when using other cleaners. All this from a product that is claimed to be owne-safe. So despite all those pesky ph.one calls, Moynihan was right. Dan's Speedspray is pretty good stuff, and many of our staff members have continued to use the product. Now if Moynihan would just get his mug off the can, he ought to sell a trudeload of it. Dan's Speedspray is available in 13ounce cans for $7.95. For more information, contact Dan's RC Stuff, Dept. CN, 9525 Cozycroft, Unit C, Chatsworth, CA 91311,818/700-69U. Scott Rousseau II') 0'\ 0'\ ,.-.l 0\ N J-< Q) S ~ o z 31

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