Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

1975 Suzuki XR14 the gro unds th at th ese ca n ca use pai n and hu rt if not perfectly prepared and prope rl y set up . With Nige l Everett in cha rg e of the Wilson bikes , though , there 's no such conc erns : now my only p roblem was to figure out how to contend with what I ex pected would be a very sudde n power delivery, typi cal of rotary -v alve race eng in es - and on treade d tires to boot. I ne edn 't hav e worried . T o be gin with , the Suzuki is ext rem ely easy to fire up , as befi ts a bike bu il t in t he pu sh -st art GP era, when I'm sure the XR 14 ri ders would have been one of th e fir st to hit the front . T hree steps, drop the clutch , catc h it on th e thr ot tle and pum p t he ga s li k e mad to make it pi c k up - th en h op aboa rd (ta ki ng ca re t o cla m ber well over the high-set seat) , and tak e off. A lmost literally. Wheeli es are all too easy and spectac ula r - from a pu sh sta rt on a bike this pow erf ul. Sn u g g l e aboar d, and di sc over you 're sifting in side the bike rather. tha n perched atop it, with the wide fai rin g dictated by the rotary -valve config uration giving good protection fo r knees and body, surmounted by a fairly tall sc reen that is easy to tuck behind. T he fo otpegs are qu it e hig hs et , but w hi le t he fat e xpa n sion chambers on ei th er side of the seat d on 't get in your wa y whe n t uc k ed aboard , th ey do make it hard to hang off undu ly going roun d turn s, perhaps lead ing to t he distincti v e, upri ght, kn e e - o ut rat h er t h an kn ee -d o wn , Sheen e riding posture. Hav ing clambered aboa rd yo u are now m aking friends with th e Suzuk i' s real trum p ca rd, that am azing eng ine. Comp ared to wha t else was aro und at the tim e, the XR 14/RG500 was clearl y a b ig ste p fo rward , especiall y in terms of it s ex p l o sive acceleration that wo uld have ta ken riders unused to su ch p ow er a wh ile to c o me to term s with, and exploit. Below 8000 rpm th er e 's effe ct iv el y no u sab l e power, so th e tr ick is to wind it up on the cl ut ch to co ax it in to th e powerb and exi t in g a slowe r co rn er - b ut only once you' ve made the turn and hav e the b ike m ore or less upright then hold on tight as the ta ch need le bu ild s number s prett y fas t , a n d y o u ' ve h it t h e 1 1,2 0 0 r p m p ow er peak . There's precious little overrev , so ra ther than fall o ff th e p ipe you need to change up , via the right-foot one -u p ge ar cha nge conversi on that Sheene fitted to all his bik es. T hou gh slightl y no tchy , the gearsh ift is qu ite fast and ve ry precise , so yo u can j ust flu tter t h e ex ha u st n o t e an oc t ave c ha n g i n g up t hro ug h t h e t o p four gea rs in th e six -spee d clu st er, whic h are all very close togeth er to kee p the Suzu k i on th e move . But yo u nee d to str etc h the revs to k eep the engine on th e bo il in th e bottom two cha nges , becau se if yo u don 't, th e wide ga p in ratios will let you fall out of th e power band and bog the engine . Whe n that ha ppens , it's bett er to change down a gear if you can and get the engine singi ng ag ain rather than c lutch it , because that gets it back on the pipe quicker. Y OU H A V E TO T A K E Y OU R COURAG E IN BOTH HAN OS ANO .JU S T LET THE SUZUKI LEAP AN O LURCH ABO UT. However, when you do , the Suzu ki 's acceleration is aw e-insp iring by the sta ndards of th e era , and prett y im pressive even today . It roc k et s out of a t u rn like the tri o of Montl he ry chica nes with the front wh eel pawing the air in third gear, with th e rau co us en g ine no t e r a sp in g i n y o u r ea r earp lug s are definitely a goo d t h ing wh en riding this bike. And th ough the fork s feel really wooden and flim sy , th e r ear su sp ens io n 's l ay- do w n shocks , set at a 45-degr ee ang le, are reason abl y co m p liant - eno ug h to let you fi re the XR14 up out of a turn on a b i t of a n an g le , t h ou g h not too SUZUK I XR 14 SOO - SPECIFICATIONS ..Wa te r-cooled. rota ry valve . square -four two -stroke ENGINE .. .... .....56 x 50.5mm DIMENSIONS ......... . . ,497C c CAPACITY ....... 101 hp at I 1.200 rpm OUTPUT .8:1 COMPRESSION RATIO . . .(4) 34mm magn esium-body Mik uni CARBURETI ON .. . . . . . . . . . .Nippodenso CD I IGNITION .....6-speed GEARBOX . .... ... .Multiplate dry CLUTCH .. ....... .. Tubula r-steel. double -cradle CHASSIS SUSPENSION .. .35mm Kayaba fork FRO NT REAR Fabricated aluminum swingarm with (2) Hagon shocks RAKE/TRAIL . . .29 degreesll25mm WHEELBASE . . 139 5mm WEIGHT 297 pounds with oil /w ater. no fue l BRAKES . FRONT . . . . .... (2) 290mm Suzuki steel discs with two- piston Tokic o ca lipe rs REAR . . . . . . .( I ) 250mm Suzuki ventilated steel disc with two -piston Toki co caliper WHEELS /TIRES FRONT . . .... 110/ 80 - 18 A von AM 22 on 3.25 -inc h Campagnolo cast alloy wheel REAR . . . 150/7 0 - 18 Avo n AM23 on 3.50-inc h Campag nolo cast allo w wheel TOP SPEED . . .175 mph YEAR OF CONSTRUCTION 1975 .....Chris Wilson. England OWNER 34 MAY 31 , 2000' eye I e n e _ s m uch on such sk inny tires, even with the ace g ri p o f th e A v on rubber . With i t s 101 hp at th e rear whee l on a b i ke weigh ing 297 pound s rewriting the bo ok on po wer to weight ra tios of t he e ra , it ' s i m p r e s si v e eve n t oda y - th ough yo u can feel th e frame flex ing and t wi sti n g ben eat h y ou as you get hard on the gas . " N o t hi n g w a s eve r stron g eno u g h h andl i n g w ise on the RG500 ," say s Sheen e. "Fram e, fork s and swi ngarm all needed beef in g up - th e Japa nes e sho uld ha ve sta rted wo rking on b e am f ra me s an d b i g g er fo rk s l ong b efor e they did ." But they did n 't , and the result i s a co mpro m ise which , provided yo u ride it in the' way it was desi gned to be used , as a poi nt -and squ irt machine, doe s it s job ok ay. Th e twin- shock rear en d is pretty st iff: th ough damping is not bad by the st andards of such a layout, it still bounces ov er bumps pretty horrifically , especi ally o n the co nc re t e Mo ntlhery bankings. Th ere you ha ve to tak e yo ur courag e in both ha nds and j ust let the Suzuk i leap and lurch about, fl appi ng the bars occasiona lly in your ha nds for an insta nt , but all stra ngely eno ugh without getting out of hand - uncann il y , it j ust sorts itself out , and all th e qu icker if you k eep it wou nd on. Still, handling is adequate ra the r th an ex ce ptional , leaving yo u t o take ad vantag e of that hundred p lus horsepow er to brake long and deep into th e ap ex of a turn , the n turn the bi ke around and fir e it up out. How ever , r id ing th e bik e in this wa y o n a crow de d track is a n acq uired skill that pl ace s a pr emium on luck - especially with slo wer bac kma rk er s c ro w din g yo u in turns , or wandering ove r th e tra ck and getting in the way of a much fast er bike. The reason is th e huge progress in braking perf orm ance m ade over the past 25 ye ars sin ce the Suzuk i was built , and especially brakes like these tha t were made in Ja pan . O r ig in all y , th e ' 7 5 XR 14 wa s fitted with sma ller, light er plasma -spra yed alloy discs in order to try to reduce th e gyrosco pic effec t of the br a k es o n t h e st e e r i n g , but Sheene didn' t like these and opted for th ese bigge r 290 mm sta in less st ee l dis cs , bolted rigidly to the carrie rs and g r ipp e d b y tw o -pist on T ok i c o calipers. Even by the standards of th e drum brak es th ese had su p pl ante d , th eir p er fo rman c e i s pa t h et ic , and frankly dange ro us. There's abso lute ly no bite, and on ly n om in al st o p p ing p ow er - t hou gh at l east t hey don 't fad e , b e ca us e th ey n ev er w or k ed prop erl y in the fi rst place. The predominantly stainless steel disc brakes were poor even when c:ompared to drum brakes of the day. A good th ing about them Is that they didn't fade, bec:ause they c:ouldn't possibly get any worse than they already were! "Th e bra k es w er e ho rrend ou s ," agrees Ogbourne. "T hey look ed ve ry n ic e an d n ev er rus t ed - but that ' s .because th ey had a high perc entag e of sta inl ess steel in th em , wh ic h apart fro m having no bit e also reflec ted th e heat bac k straight into the pads . T he prob lem w as that they cou ldn 't and m a yb e st i ll c a n ' t m ak e th e ri g h t gra de of c ast iro n in J ap an , and o f cou rse using Br embos or Lo ckh eed s at th e time was a Not Mad e Here no no . It was easi ly the wo rst feat ure on th e bike." I coul dn' t agree m or e - in which c ase, to stop fro m speed you can 't ride it li k e a two -strok e and do all y ou r br ak ing lat e and ha rd, zap ping down through the gearbo x all in one go as you slow for th e tu rn . Here , on the Suzu k i, you ha ve to use th e surp ris ing d egree of engi ne brak ing in the lower gears to stop , using lots of re v s on t he o ver r u n in t he lowes t three ratios, and standing on the rea. sonabl y effective 270mm ventilated rear dis c, wh ic h weighs quite a b it m ore than eit h er of th e fr o nt di scs , sa ys Ni g el, at le ast do es m ak e t he bike st op a littl e bett er. Phew! A nd of course, wh en that hap pens yo u don 't want sl o w er r iders in fr on t o f y o u , be c au se yo u ha v e no marg in fo r error. Bette r to plan ahead and try to th ink your way pas t th em , if yo u can. In one of m y b attle s wi th other

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