Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Terrycable TireChanger Product Evaluation The evolutionof tire chan in W hen man fir st sta r ted changing dirt bik e tires, he probab ly went about it by p lacing the wh ee l on th e g ro u n d a n d wrestling with the knobby, bloodying his kn uckles and cu rsing the cru de, primitive tir e irons ev ery tim e the w he el flipped up a n d hit him in th e face. Before lon g , so meo ne fi gur ed ou t th a t he co u ld catc h the bloo d running off his knu ckles and face and o n to the ga rage floor by placing th e wheel on a bu cket. Coi nciden tally, it a lso ma de cha ng ing the tir e easier and quicker. As tim e we n t on a nd th e full-face h el m et was inve nted , ma n d iscovered th at h e could prevent laceration s to the face by wearing his helmet during tir e changes. Tha nks to mu ch bloods he d an d many years, better tire-changing too ls have been fa bricated, a nd teeth a nd flesh are no longer lost due to mounting fresh meat. Terrycable recent ly intro duced the second generation of their already ea sy-to-use tire changer. The new tire changer is powder-coated just like the old unit, has bolt holes to mount on a piece of wood for stability just like the old unit and loo ks almost identical to the original design , but two new features have evolved out of the old model. The new unit co mes equipped with a removable wheel s to p , whi ch allows you to spin th e wheel a ro u nd the tir e cha nger. T he old unit ca me with th e piece welded and was p laced th er e so y o u could are tw o sc hools of tir e chang ing, Terrycable m ade th e piece re m o vab le to please everyone . Th e second change is in the slot that is provided to pop the tire int o the rim lock using a tire iro n. The old slot only worked with certain typ es of tire irons, but th e n ew s lo t is wider , a ng le d, ope ned and can be used with any tire iro n imagi na ble. Afte r usi ng th e new ti re cha nger, we decid ed that ~1C s pin t h e new ti re o nto the rim without the rim movi ng . However, tire changing is so metimes a touchy subject, a nd some people prefer to spin the wheel while they are changing the tire . Because there c ha nge was fo r th e b e tt e r. W e use d Terrycabl e's Easy Grip plas tic- ha nd le d tire iro ns as well , a nd found th e jo b to be even ea sie r . Th e p lastic han d le fits in your hands quite nice ly and makes it easier to m anhandl e the thin, spoon-shaped iron into the rim. Th e Easy Grip i ron is ev en small enough to fit in a fan ny pack if need be, and still is long enough to offer good levera ge. Whil e using the new Terrycable tire change r and tire irons, we nev er pinched a tube, no blood was shed and we d idn't eve n need to wear our fullface helmet. Matt Freeman "O Road Champions"'98 ff The Good Book he followi ng statemen t will m ost likely not go over too we ll wit h severa l of our read er s a nd half of the guys in the Cycle N,"Ws office , but I'm sick and tir ed of wa lk ing into a boo k sto re at the mall or strolling down the book isle a t Cos t Co. a nd seei ng b ig , th ic k coffee table bo o ks o n I'la rl eyDavid sons, Ind ia ns, Tr iumphs or No rtons. Sometimes I' ll find a nice fat boo k entitled, The Encyclopedia of Motorcycles, and the n when I open it there are only like, two dirt bikes , one of w hich is a Mugen Honda from the Reaga n administra tion , an d the other a Trail 90. I like motorcycles of all kinds, but when it comes down to it, I'm an off- roa d ju nkie. O h, well. To each his own, and that's why Dario Agrati's 1998 ad dition of "Off Road Champions" found its way int o my office shortly after the UPS man d ropped it off. Finally, a mo torcycle coffee table book that I can relate to. Dari o Agrati is an Italian ph otographer a nd journali st w ho has spe n t th e las t few ye ars covering the FIM World End uro cha mpionships, the ISDE, Rally Dak ar , Eu ropea n mot ocross and a slew of othe r foreign off-road events. Agrati's 13 x 10" "O ff Road C ha m pions" consists of 212 p a ges of a weso me, w ell -com po sed ph otogr aphs from 1998. He pays speci a l attention to the Wor ld Champio ns hi p End uro series, bu t also covers the most prestigiou s races in the wo rld. Alon g with the pho tog ra phs is a sma ll amo unt of text, wh ich is written in Italian and in En glish, but to be honest I looked at the photos in the book several T tim e s before I e ven dis cove red that be low th e It alian te xt, th e re was the Eng lish translat ion. That kind of goes to show just how good the photos are, and jus t how amazed I was to actually have a book this goo d in my han ds. "O ff Road Champions" is in c h rono logica l o rder, w ith th e Wo r ld En d u ro roun d s appea ring in th e fi rst half. Eac h ro u nd is covered w it h colorfu l pic tu res, captions and even portfolios of powerh o u s e riders like Italy's Giovanni Sala an d Gian Marco Rossi a nd Sweden's An de rs Eriksso n , a ll Wo rl d End uro cha m pions in their respectful classes. A fter ta k ing u s t h rou gh th e e n d u ro series, some candid shots an d eve n so me Fr en ch Su pe r Mota rd images, Agra ti ta kes u s to Rall y Dak ar , w h ic h u s e d to be know n as " Paris to Dakar." Some of th e best writi ng in th e boo k is a tribute to the grea t ra lly France's Stephane Peterh an s el , w ho h a s a h and fu l o f Ra ll y Dakar and ISDE wi ns under his kidnev belt. Th e rally portion of the boo k contains my fav orite quote: "A God descend ed to that uihite beach iohich sme lls of ocean, acco m pa nied by thunder: Stcphane Petcrhanscl." Oka y, it may be a bit dramatic, bu t it is a translation of Ital ia n script. Still, it ge ts to the heart of the m atter and if any off-roa d mo torcycle racer is of hol y caliber, it's Peterha nsel, withou t a doubt. ext u p , the Gilles Lalav Classic, ioughest th e end uro in the world. Ag rati captures the p restige on film of just finishi ng the g rueling race wi th his photos of gnarly and ter rain h undre ds of s pectato rs helpin g part icip ant s ca rry the ir bikes up mudd y hills. My favorite picture is in this section . It is of Laurent Cha rbonnel, Peter han sel, Cyril Esqui rol and Sala waiting in the dead of night to start the Gilles Lalay. It' s almost like bei ng there. Although no t cons idered an off-roa d event, Wo rld Cha mpion Motocross ph otos follow th e Gilles Lal a y pi ctori al. Ag ra ti celebra te s A lessio Ch iod i, Se bas tie n Torte lli and Joel Sm ets for Book Review thei r ' 98 Wo rld Moto cross ch a m p ions hips in th e 12Scc, 2S0cc and SOOcc divisions. American Supercro ss photos follow the FiM Grand Prix shots. The Austra lian ISDE bri ngs the book to a close, and I cou ld n't help but notice th at there are no photos of any Americans in the Six Days po rtion. In fact, the only Yankee pictures in the en tire book are that of rnot ocrossers, no t to menti on the grou p sho t of off-reader Pau l Krau se in Agrati's Rall y Dakar foo tage. Hop efull y in th e ' 99 addition of "O ff Road C ha m pio ns ," which is d u e o ut ve ry soon, there will be some photog rap hs of Americans par ticipat in g at the lSDE in Por tugal. Appa re ntly Ag ra ti also put together a '97 version of "O ff Road Cha mpio ns" an d I liked the ' 98 version so much, I can't wait to get my hands on it, as well as the '99 installment. Agrati's wo rk of art is a book I can proudly put out on my own coffee table and let my guests wonder w ho the hell Peterha nsel , Sala a nd Mi ka Ahola are. Matt Freeman G re a t photos of the grass tracks and te rrain tests of the wo rld . prin ted on q ua lity pap er in a well-laid-out hardback book. " • No American off -ro aders . " caught in action . Retail Price : $38 For more information contact: en ijkamp @aol.com or call 719 /686-1109 13

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