Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

• \~- I I PRODUCT EV LUATION I A is in the strap pi ng . The Edge brace AUCTION featuring over ~~ II ~ 100 nNE MOTORCYCI fn March 3-4-5 ~I ~ ~ ~~ ~I 1~ Bike Week 1996 at.ts. Noon YoIusJIi County Falrgroun For FUlther Information Call Jam On Productions 9129 Hampton Overlook Capital Heights MD 20743 , 301·336-2100 U BROUCiffI' TO YOU BY: CYCLE NEWS, YA MAHA KAWASAK.I, DUNLOP, SUZUK.I DAYTONA lNTL SPEEDWAY EBe BRAKES; YOSHIMURA YOU SAY YOU CAN RIDE? PROVE IT. Unlicen ed ridersaccount for80% ofthe fatalities in some states. . So get your motorcycle operator licensetoday. And prove thatyou are a better rider. \¥J . Sf IIOTOIICYCl£ SAFElY FOUNDATIGIl Knee Brace I can remem ber clearl y the day tha t I ble w out m y anter ior cruciate ligament. It was a sw elt erin g-ho t day, a n d as a budd y o f m in e and I go t d ressed, I wat ched him strap a pair of CTi2 cu stom knee braces on hi s legs. "Those must reall y stink," I said. "I bet you ' re 50 hot in those things. I could never ride in braces." Approxi matel y 20 m inu tes lat e r, I fou nd myself lying on th e gro und a t the bo tto m of a steep d ro p-off ju mp . When I got up to walk to my bike, my left leg didn't seem to work right - my kn ee buckled inward and my lower leg bent in a very unnatural manner . After und ergoing p a tell a tend on gra ft surgery and bein g inform ed by my doctor th at I cou ldn't rid e for five months, I called CTi and got fitted for a CTi2 custom b race. Five weeks la ter, I started to ride again and ha ve been a firm believer in preventive knee bracing ev er since. Even my health y righ t kn ee is braced up . A few years after I got my Cti2 custom br ac es, In novation Sports developed an off-the-shelf brace, d ubb ed th e Ed ge. With the excep tion of the stra ps in the calf area, the br aces look almos t id entical to a cust om- fitt ed CTi2. The Ed ge fea tures a lightw e ight carbonfiber frame that is almost as sleek as a cus to m fra me, and the up p e r a nd lowe r Conform Cu ffs are claimed to ad apt to an y leg size and sha pe . Th e Edge ha s Inn ovation Sports' pa ten ted Ac cu t rac hing es, and co mes in fo u r sizes - sma ll thro ug h extra large. The en tire br ace weigh s just un de r one pound. Unlike the CTi2, however, a cu stom er can purch a se th e Edge Brace w itho u t a d octor 's prescip tion . With a prescri p tio n, h owe ver, ma ny insu ran ce com pa nies will cover, or at least he lp, with the cost . Curious to see how the Edg e Brace s t acke d u p agains t m y cu stom -fit CTi2s, I strapped on a medium-sized Edge Brace an d had at it. The most noticeable difference betw een the tw o than those fou nd on the CTi 2, but at the sa me tim e a re a bit bulk ier . Th e biggest ph ysical differen ce betw een the tw o braces a re the Conform Cu ffswhile a custom brace is molded aroun d you r th igh on top and around yo ur calf on the bottom, th e Edge Brace featu res tw o fle xibl e plast ic cu ffs th at can be tigh ten ed to th e prop er size. The to p Conform Cuff looks bulkier than a custom brace, bu t was actu ally no lar ger once adju s ted. Th e sa me, h owe ver, can't be said for the lower cuff, and I w as forced to adjust the top s trap on m y m otocr oss boots to their la rg es t po sitio n in orde r to accommodate the bul k. Surprisingly, it wa s almost impossible to tell the d ifferen ce between th e two br~ces once on th e bike. The Edge Brace YIelds the sa me feel of suppor t as a CTi2, a nd freedom of movement is eve ry bit as goo d . Often , the hard est th in g fo r n ew b race wearer s to get used to is the feel of the brace between their legs an d the motor cycle, and th e Edge Brace is no ha rd er to get used to than a cus tom unit. With the excep tion of the lower-strap bulk, the Edge Brace offers virtually the sa me feel, comfort a nd protection as the m ore expen sive CTi2 custom brace. The Edge Brace is av aila ble in sizes S-XL in left an d rig ht sides, and comes in teal or black. Each brace comes wi th it ' s ow n In no va tio n Spo rts tot e bag, and the brace itself and the Accutrac H ing es ca rr y lifetime w a rranties. A CTi Edg e Brace' costs $495, abo u t half the cost of a custom version . Wou ld you race w ithout a helmet? Of course not. In our opinion , a set of k nee b r aces are th e seco n d -mos t important piece of safety equipmen t tha t shou ld be in a rid er ' s ge a r ba g. Too pricey, you say? Well, how abou t that $300 helme t and $300 p ain t job? And let's not eve n ge t into the cost of a good pat ella tendon gra ft su rgery... For more information, contact Inn ova tion Sports, Dep t. CN, 7 Chrysler , Irvine, CA 92718, 714 / 859-4407. Donn Maeda .Thumper, Unplugged T o so me ea rs there isn ' t anyt hi ng bett er th an a cl ean-running, uncorked thumper . And to those sa me ea rs there isn 't an yt hing wo rse than the stra ngled chuff emi tted from the silencer w it h whi ch th e fact o ry du tifull y equ ips the stock bike. Yep, EPA-friendly stock baffles ca n m ake that four-stroke single wh eeze w orse than an ou t-of-shape asthmatic with a pu nctu red lung. Cycle News has its resid en t thumper devotees, but eve n we realize tha t ru nning totally un corked isn' t an op tion in these legislative da ys. Su re, you can do it, but yo u' ll mak e few friends alon g th e trail and even few er on the street if yo u' re running a d ual sport bike. No reason to d raw u ndu e atte n tion from the local aut ho rities, I always say. What can you do? If you're spo rting a clean-runn ing, uncorked cred it card, maybe a full pipe is th e thing for you. But if you are like the rest of us (that's broke), th e answer mi gh t be the new Wh ite Brothers Hot Tip baffle replacem ent. Full exha us t sys te m s can cost several hundred do llars, which mak es the $69.95 H ot Tip a w all et-triendl y alternative. Ava ilabl e for Kawasa k i' s KLX250 an d 650, as well as H o nd a' s XR200, 250, 600, an d 650L, we elect ed to try the baffle for the 1996 XR650L. Inst allation wa s stra igh tfo rward, at least as far as' th e baffle was conce rne d - you don 't even need to tak e the pipe off th e bike. On th e Honda, th e stock baffle insert is held in place by tw o bolts and tw o tack welds th at must be cut or ground o ff. Once yo u cut the welds, just slide the old baffle out and slide the sta inl ess-ste el H o t Tip in , be in g s ure t o a lig n th e b olt h ol es . Replace the bolts and you' re on you r wa y. Well, not quite - th is is w here things were less straightforward. Carburetion in the 650L is fairly lean to begin wi th, . and the ad d it ion of th e freer -flowing Hot Tip o nly makes matters wo rse. There isn' t a clip adjustment to raise or lower the fuel-meterin g needle, so the use of sh ims is nece ssary, White Broth e rs recomm en d s t ha t the need le be raised app roxim ately 0.028 in. We used tw o #10 ma chin e -screw w a s h er s (abo u t two cen ts each a t a ha rdwar e store ) a nd got rough ly 0.030 in., b ut ende d up using only one of the washers, si nce th e bu lk o f ou r riding wa s bain g d on e a t a lti tud e in th e lo ca l m ountain s. Instruction s are includ ed , a n d, in a ll, it too k a bo u t two h ours before we were back on the road . With only the ad d ition of the baffle yo u can 't expect a h uge difference in performance. And at low rpm, in fact, th ere see med to be no cha nge at all in t h e p ow e r . As t he r p m inc rea sed, tho ugh, there was a stronger pull that las te d longer before power fell o ff. Throttle resp on se throu gh ou t th e rev range w as m ar kedl y bett er a nd go ne was the unplea sant popping on overrun. Some of the cris pness su rely must be attributed to th e ch ange in needle p o si t io n , but the to p -e n d p ower increase wouldn' t be there wi thout the Hot Tip . The change in so u nd quantity was m ini m al ', o nly a sligh t increase. The rea l change was in sou nd quality. We' d recom mend the Hot Tip on the basis of th is alone. It ' s a ni ce si ng le-cyl inder thu mp, mute d e nou gh to qualify as "stea lth perform an ce," as Whit e Brothers calls it, without killin g the so ul ful sou nd of a big-bore sing le. The Ho t .Tip performs as claimed , while bein g kind to both yo ur ears an d you r wallet. Fo r m o r e in fo r matio n, contac t White Brother s, Dept. CN, 24845 Corb it Place, Yorba Li nda , CA 92687, 714 /692-3404. Mark Ho yer

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