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/141014
'" ." co e, A TIEN. TRAil AN DENDURO RIDERS • 3 Days O J 12th, 13th, 14th nly an. The fad Dry has air dropped Ihls machine 10 us on ils way 10 California 10 be roadlesled by Ihe cycle magazines. SOO CC, 260 Ibs weI, 2 cycle, 2 cylinder, s-see, 100 + mile" an hour, disc brake on rear. Irip veo. st reet legal. Irador pU lling power, American made. Indiana's exclusive dealer. D 'S CYClE SHO AVE P \ ~ / (an outlaw article on the muchlyanticipated Yankee 500 twin) '" ., , ('t" , f I By H. G. Hardy - This ad ran about two weeks in the bi ke sectio n of Cap it al Cit y , Indiana 's lo cal gazette proclaim ing th e existenc e of Yankee 's five-yea r plan, which folks th o ugh t was j ust a prototy pe t hat ap peared in '68 . It is real, and th ere are strings to this reality. No informa tion and/or photos taken at this time, of the Ya nkee 500 Twin, w ere allowed to be brandis hed about by the cycle press until Cycle World magazin e (who had dibs on the story for three years!) hit the newssta nds. Any machin e that hasn't that certain, uh, "mystiq ue" isn't really worth the bother, and to help th e point along, no informa tion came with the Yankee ,, \ , I ,":: flagsh ip save the topp ing -up instruct ions. The engine h ouses two Plonker h eads at 16 hp each, b ut with t he help of a 360 degree s crank it fires off sim ultaneo usly as a single 500 job; two small-2 4mm dual-ne edl e IR Z carbs are used here with d ual co mpressi on re lease, aI1 this atop a six-sp eed box. The exhaust s, whic h I u nderstand will be changed, are ro uted into a rectangul ar expansi on chambe r sandwic hed betwee n the bash plate and engine bottom , then exit on either side at the rear of the box into J &R silencer s pointin g skywar d . The engine unit is painted black and the glass work is matte-g ra y on this pre-pro duction model. T he huge and massive Betor forks and satin a lloy steering head impress ed, duly, m ore than a few, as the elusi ve Fu ll Bore tires, (3.15-21 front, 4.20·18 rear) wi th larger-t han-life tube structur e, and not the leas t , the Mo topla t electrica l sys t em. On first sigh t the Yankee see m s a bit intimid ating, with the heads peeking up at you around the tank, and with 3 10 Ibs., one is h ard put visualizi ng o neself waltzi ng t h r ou gh t he clo se-k nit woodla nds and "strangler mud" known to the Northea stern and Mid-we stern states. Just the thing fo r the desert , I'd say . The image of t he bi ke changes to th at of "widow -maker" as the district manage r t alks o f running the fire trails at 90 mph. Word is: Forget the weight. Balance and torque (above one mph), no problem . Bu t th en, how, despite we ight, to co nvinc e co nsumers the Yankee can beat the socks off a 5 -speed 400 /450 Husky? I hear this will be re solved at Berkshi re. R iding th e 5 0 0 twin here was a discoura ging impossi bility for all b u t a few who were on hand when the bike cam e , in the wee hours of the night. The next d a y, and until the Yankee left the Mid-wes t, we saw rain . snow and average tempera tures the lowest since the 1800's. Maybe it was j ust as well; the legal dirt is 50 miles awa y. So , in the confine s of the shop a demons tratio n proved the Yankee twin 2-stroke does have the to rq ue of a cement truck ; at a tickle off id le it pushed across the floor, in third gear with the front b rake lo cked ! T o use the Yankee around here to its potenti al, yo u had better know what y o u're doing, 'c ause ain' t no th ing go n na save yo u from dem trees. Th e Yankee 5 0 0 T wi n is a machin e, it was sa id, for all seas o n ; not unlike the Mat chless ; i. e. , it looks good with clip -e ns , larger carbs and ro ad raci n g tires. Bu t no one h as ex plained that front d rum and rear disk arrange men t! Sitting astride the Yankee co nj ures up dreams of reeling in J.N . o n the wa y to the first bomb, while a uthoriti es whisper sweet exo ticisms abo ut being u nder $1500 . When? Well, like the guy said, "Some have waited five years, mo ney in hand. So w hat's a few lousy months?" N r0- o> . N ~ s ~ w Z W ..J U >- U