Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Personal Watercraft Illustrated editor Jeff Hain assists Dan Gunter with the White Brothers WR420 by pointing to where the noise is cominl! from. (Right) Chillin' at Fort Pi ute on the start of day two. Canyon, a neat little area that is easily identified by the two 40- to 5O-foot-high walls that act as the "gate" for the alluvial fan of earth on the downhill side. The f1a t portipn then turned back into wash, which led uS to a crossgrained power-line road, where we headed east toward Ludlow and Needles. TIle road was a blast, putting us on a fast track that was littered with several small and large ruts to keep it interesting. Then the road gave way to another road that ran us right through a series of lava beds just east of Ludlow, a twisty two-track with some sharp rises that offered plenty of good air if you chose to stay on the gas. Watch out for that lava, though. 1£ we had missed a turn, we would have been torn to shreds in the batting of an eyelash. From there, the road opened up into a faster twotrack road that would take us the last 15 miles toward Ludlow and our first gas stop. At this point, everyone was having a ball. Our dual-sport specials all seemed to be well-prepared and running flawlessly, so much so that "Free-bird" (the nickname that the eN editorial staff has assigned to new guy Freeman out of respect for his great love of Lynyrd Skynyrd music) wicked the Husky wide open and disappeared from sight, electing to run out front and sharpen his desert-racing skills. Unfortunately, he came back in sight at one of the railroad crossings just about 10 miles out of Ludlow, the oil that covered his' riding gear signaling the possibility of bad, bad things. Oh, well, part of desert racing is being prepared, understanding your machine and making the necessary repairs so that you can press onward. So some of us helped, but most of us _watched the mile-long freight trains rumble past on the rickety tracks about 15 feet away while Freeman removed bodywork that was built when he was 24 in order to get to an engine that was built when he was 17. Rousseau passed the time 1:?y modifying a couple of quarters with the assistance of a diesel locomotive or two. With the assistance of friend and ace grease monkey Dan Gunter, who had decided to come along for the ride without ever fathoming that it would be too much like work, Freeman ascertained that the oil was blowing out the breather. A loose, slip-fit hose fitting appeared to be the culprit and, after scoring it a bit to help tighten it up, the rebuild process began. Some of us went on ahead to the Ludlow gas stop and started filling up in order to speed the process. The tactic proved to be insignificant, as a few of the stragglers ran out of gas on the way to the station. Early 00. it became apparent that there were defiRiteI¥ two schools of thought regarding the construction of the ideal dual-sport DIOIIDt. Some jast want to go for a kmg desert cruise, while others would prefer their dual spot IeB to be little more than thinly disguised racers, capable of tackling a point~ race such as the grueling Vegasto-Reno. Enter Fineline Motorsports. The Huntington Beach, California-based company specializes in the construction 9f radical dual-sport fare, such as the '98 Yamaha YZ400F provided for our Mojave pilgrimmage. While the YZ400F might appear to need little more than a lighting kit and a license plate in order to be ready for the road, the folks at Fineline spent a great deal of time and effort to outfit the bike for its intended use. Our Y-Zed was beefed up with the addition of an AFAM chain and sprockets, Scott's steering stabilizer, BRP triple clamp, RenthaJ handlebars, White Brothers skid plate, Acerbis handguards, Berg Industries .carbon-fiber fork guards and a Pro-Tec kickstarter. Suspension mods were also a priority, as Fineline used stiffer-rate Eibach springs as part of a complete suspension package. Enginewise, the sole equipment change came in the fonn of White Brothers' revolutionary new E-Series pipe and muffler/spark-arrestor combo. The Fineline Motorsports machine was then brought up to street-legal status with the addition of the only non-Baja Designs dual-sport kit in our lineup. The bike was equipped with a DSC (formerly Drive Industries) dual-sport kit, which included a rather trick (though fragile-looking) "brain box" control unit that housed the battery and aJJ the necessary switches to operate the accessories, and Flip-Lites folding turnsignal brackets by Evans First Trails. An Acerbis mirror proved to be more than adequate for tllat requirement, and a White Brothers graphics-laden IMS 3.4-gaJJon tank extended the bike's useful range to well beyond that of a long moto. So howd it run? Well. Damn well. But we still have some reservations. Our bike came with Fineline's custom valving for a 230-pound rider racing the Vegas-to-Reno hare & hound. As such, it was most beneficial to a rider who was willing to tllink in race mode at all times. Not that the Yamaha was ineffective at slower speeds, but even with its taller 15/50 gearing, the bike was extremely frenetic in its be1lavior, especiaJJy on the street, where the brieking motor wa unnerving - kind of like running a pro stock dragster on the street. But rip out into the desert in attack mode, head down and Once there, Hoyer found another oil leak, this one on the FineJine YZ400F that he had been riding at that point. The drool appeared to be miniscule, coming from a small pinhole cover on the YZ's high-zoot, billet ignition cover. We looked it over and decided to ignore it as insignificant. Just the same, we didn't leave the station before topping off both the YZF and the Husky's oil supplies. The next leg of the journey took us back under 1-40 on a wide-open northeasterly Jeep road toward Kelbaker Road and into the East Mojave Scenic Area. The high-speed portion seemed to run for days before we were forced to actually "ride" again as the going got sandy near the Kelso Dunes. Jones continued to run a t the point, trying to maintain a pace that would get us back to somwhere near our schedule, but Rousseau ruined that when he stalled the big Baja XR on a sandy downhill slope. The rest of the pack whizzed past, with the exception of Hain, who hung back and decided to wait untiJRousseau got going again. Poor fool. After Rousseau nearly collapsed while trying to relight the XR, Hain gave it a try... and nearly collapsed. The two took turns nearly collapsing and trying to restart the bike for the better part of a half-hour before finaJJy getting it going and steaming another three miles ana crossing Kelbaker road just in time to see "Ro!,d Warrior" Jones unearthing. some hidden gas cans tha t he, had stashed while prerunning the route. : Like a ticked-off schoolmaster, h reminded us that we were not makin progress. We had only made 40 mil since Ludlow, and our lunch stop i Lanfair was another 40 miles away. The Lanfair lunch rush began with a twisty switchback pole-line road that would take us just sou th of Mitchell Caverns. Some of us later came to caJJ it "Rewind Road" because every tinle you came around the next bend, you would run into an identical-looking set of switchbacks and an uphill, followed by a right turn and a downhill into a section that miriored the one just negotiated. It was real Alice in Wonderland-type stuff. Eventually the terrain opened up and we made Lanfair, stopping at the Lanfair General Store for burgers and fuel. It was 4:30 p.m., and K.J. estimated that we were a solid 90 minutes behio~ schedule; not to worry, however, as w aJJ had excellent lighting systems - or we thought. A quick backtrack of the 2-rnile asphalt section that we had used to get to lunch placed the group on another twisty road that put us on another power-line road pointing northeast butt off the seat, and we quickly learned that the Fineline Motorsports YZ was a desert scalpel, able to carve any corner and tackle the rough going without punishing the rider. A precision instrument, indeed. But, like the race bike that it is, the machine was due for a bit of maintenance when our 300-plus-mile trip was over. The biggest disappointment came from the dainty, folding rear signals, which joined the desert on a permanent basis at some point on the first day. And the jury is still out on the reliability of the DSC box, though we have to admit that it didn't fail us. . So tllere you have it. Are you a dual-sport rider or a dual-sport racer? Say yes to the former, and there are other bikes in our group that will probably suit you better. Say yes to the latter, and Fineline Motorsports can provide you with just tlle tool -to carve tlle heart of the desert wide open. Fineline Motorsports • 7522 Slater Avenue. # 1 04 • Huntington Beach. CA 92647 • 714/84-CYCLE

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