Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/141009
ible the amount o' ents they 've made or in th e p ast Cl '" ~ " u, ~ w Z W ..J eUL."'~c= ~ oodies: Watch holder, speedometer, route sheet holder, and leather box for U > U This cable keeps brush from gett ing jammed between the foot controls and the brake. It's a unique Matador feature. spector's enduro. I could cure the That was eas y: I my buddies over " Help !" and paration o f th e ro ; a thorough arted kill button it and wired up lade type kill ould b e w ater o n a Baggy aro und p lace. T h e cam pl ash shield but ior to my time. exhaust header me s loose on ired it . T hen I ac hine lo o king ts. T here weren 't tifying. There s, ei ther. tel y en closed. I t ยท a bit slack but n and gre asy , co unt for a full an y enduro , and y own personal en t ion before an ain, after 1,000 lubrication. T h e sed chaincase to to overstate and e one of the fluen cing my features th at are T h e first was a as quit e d eep es t line and t o o k the wr o ng ledge into a hol e e. The water nder fi ns, to say y boots. I had inc would start d it d id. I was so over. No t only It it pulled t he h ole without I said b efore, a san d. The Ma tador w en t up like a champ. Occasionally, when a rider would be stopped in fr ont o f m e , I had to give a shove with my fo ot, but n ever did I have to really push . Wh en yo u d o have to give a shov e , t he low sadd le heigh t helps. There was a cha nc e for an interesting co mparison on t hi s ru n. My riding par tner wh o is about t he same skill level , or jus t a bi t better th an I am wa s rid ing wi th me . He was ridin g th e sam e ty p e of bike I normally rid e. Al tho ugh he generall y kep t up on th is run, on several occasio ns he wasn't ab le to , and was lat e t o checks t h at I hit on time. He was q uit e late at the finish and very b ushed, while I was relatively fresh. T his say s q u it e a bit fo r the Mat ad o r. The guy who doesn't get tired has a chance to w in . The speedometer d eserves so me special mention at th is po int , since it is a very importan t part of any end u ro effort . First o f a ll, u nlike t he m o re no rm al VDO a nd J apanese sp eed ome t ers , the speedo o n the Bul t aco is easy to res et. It has a long knob that you can grip and it t urns easi ly. If yo u transla te that feature in t o minutes, it could b e worth five points in a close enduro , o r th e d ifference between first and 20th pl ace! T h e speed o is driven off the fro nt wh eel , an other big ad vantage . Front wh eel drive is mu ch m ore acc urate and doesn' t en t ail h avin g y ou r speedo rebuilt if yo u change gea r rat ios, as in th e case wit h some gearbox-drive types. Lastly, the speedo h as a dece nt shock mount in g which means it has a reaso nab le life expectancy. It 's almost a trad it ion t o say t hat while th e Bul taco Matad or is a good wood s b ik e, it's ill-handling in the d esert. It see ms h igh t im e that this trad it io n was b lown o ut o f t he water (o r sand, if yo u prefer ) . The Bul is q uick-handling an d it's not the bike I'd choose str ictl y fo r desert ra cing . But it is mo re t han ad eq ua te at enduro sp eed s. A nd in some desert sit uatio ns it will flat run off and lea ve th e average d esert sled . In th ose canyo ns tha t make a hard tum every II feet, the Matador acts like it 's o n tr acks. Wh oop-d e-do os ta kes mo r e -effo rt but th ey're definitely ridable at any enduro speed. The o ther tradition holds that while th e Ma tad o r is a nice bike, it 's just too heavy . This is a bit st arry-eyed . If y o u want th in gs like d ecent fend ers, a go o d seat and a c ha in case, y ou must accept th e we ight. I no ticed the weight when I had to lo ad the bike in the truck, but no t when I wa s riding it . In fact, the su perior hand lin g made it feel lighter th an so me ligh tw eigh ts th at I've rid den. It weigh s 270 pounds with a half tank of gas , which I d idn't find o bj ectionable, b ut if y o u 're a light weight fr eak , wh at ca n I say? Bu y a Raleigh . T h ere w er e a few th ings t h at I fo und highly o bjecti o nable . Prime offend er was th e Sp anish A mal carburetor. It this isn' t instant j unk, it 'll d o u nti l th e real t hing comes alo ng. It 's prone to leak o u ts ide an d inside (m aking the engine damn ed h ard t o start) . It h as no choke . Adj us t ing t h e idl e d oesn't take a tuner; it takes a magician. Fortuna tely , o nce the engi ne is started an d ru nning above an idl e , th e carb wo rks well, but wh en I was in school 5 0% meant yo u flunked and th at 's the mark I give th e Amal. My recommendation? Give a Matador a Mikuni for Mother's Day. T he Matador has been named the Se is D eis becaus e th at's the in -th in g this year and they 've even add ed a cou ple Six Da ys t ouches. T he air bottle is one and so is th e lea t her box o n top th e gas tank . So is th e practice of put t in g sh eet met al screws through t he A kro nt rim s to k eep th e t ire fro m turning ins ide t he rim . In d oing so they eli mi nated th e tra d it io nal security b o lts , wh ich to m y way of th inking is poor ju d gmen t; Wh en Six Days riders get a fla t , th ey fix it; wh en enduro riders get a flat , th ey rid e in on it. Ex cept th at they wo n 't with sheet metal screws in the rims because t he t ire will come off the rim when it's flat a nd then the wheel will break up. For the end uro rider, security b olts are a mu ch better answer. T h ey allo w yo u to run at four pounds pressure , wh ich is occasionally d esir able, to o . All to ld , the !\Iat ad or is a fantas tic machine. Its ho rse power this ' year has been jumped to 28 and the power band is unbelievably wide. It's o ne of t he best handling bikes I've ever ridden, with handling ra nging fro m good to superb over every type of surfac e I could find. T h e gear ratios are well ch ose n and the gear b o x seems to be t ough . Shifting without th e clutch, necessary in some situations, was accomp lishe d without pain. T h e cl utc h pull is very light and th e clutch seem immune to fad e. The rid ing position I fou nd to b e a comp ro mise b etween co m forta ble sitting a nd standi ng and d uring th e en duro I found my self spending ab o ut 5 0% of the t im e in each position. The p egs are good units and high enough so you don't have to worry m u ch abou t hitting rocks w it h y o ur feet . T he Mat ado r co mes with a built -in silencer and lights , but it's no t sufficient to get it licensed in California , which p o ses a problem. At leas t two end uro s have required lic ensed, recently st re et -legal machines. Licensing th e Bul ta c o would reall y take some d o ing. T h is is n ot only Bul t ac o 's prob lem ; mo st of th e go od endu ro ma ch in es are in the same b oat and even th e no t -so-go od o ne s have o nly a ten uo us grasp of legality. With a b it of luc k and a sleepy bureaucrat y o u could lic ense a sno wmo b ile for the freeway , but yo ur righ t to use an expensive end u ro b ike sho uld n 't depend on lu ck. On th e o th er h and, if Bultaco (a nd th e o thers) m ade th e bikes street legal, they 'd b e gu tless, ov erp rice d, j u nk-laden monstrosit ies , u nfit for th e t rai l. That's no so lutio n either. It 's go ing to req uir e so me t hought. In the meantime , whi le th e m an u facturers and the lo b b yists are tackli ng that kn otty gem, it's wise to thin k ab o ut h ow you, p er sonally, are go ing to t ac kle th e p ro bl em o f getting legal enough t o ru n th e end ures th at are co m ing up . T he Matador does have a n eat lit tle spark arrester and wi thin th e n ext few weeks the bikes will com e fitted with it. I do n't think a perfect b ike has ever been made, but it see ms t o me th at th e Bultac o Mat ador has o ne o f th e least o bject ionabl e sets of faul ts t hat I've enco untered, which jus t could lead me to p u t my m oney wh ere m y mouth is in th e near fut u re. ~ . --I .....