Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

AMA POLITICAL FRONTIERS PROGRAM GETS UNDERWAY OK, IF YOU WANT TO I would like to convert a 1968 Kaw asaki F·21·M m o to cross into an effec tive trials mount, if possible. I h op e you can answer a few questions and maybe make ~ few suggestions of y ou r own. Should I use the rota ry valve from th e '69 23 8 Sidewinder or is there a better ch oice? Should I stick with th e 26mm Mikuni carb or w o uld a 24mm be better ? Would y ou recommend usin g the Kawasak i Enduro ex haust or sho uld I fashion my own, using th e muffler section fr om a Sh erpa T ? ' Last but n ot least , mu st I m ount a h eavier fl ywheel o r can I get b y wit h th e sto ck on e ? TOM SCHILTZ North Canton, Ohio DearTom: S orne day, a motorcycle rider somewhere is going to buy a machin e that was b u ilt for the purpose the rid er int end s it for. What ever made you decide to make a trials bike out of a Green Streak, 111 never know, but it is akin to sho veling sand again st the tide. As you know, the F· 2 1·M is a flat-out racer, not designed for trials work. In fact that is an unders tatement; it is about as far from a trials rig as they could get it. While the change-over is possible, it would have to be pretty extensive to make a really decent trials machine. In the case of the rotary valve , if yours h as the steel rotary valve (I don't have any information when changes are , made) you are out of luck as the part number for the F-4 (Sid ewind er) steel rotary valve and the F-2 1-M (Green Streak) are the same (12001:0 10). This also applies to the carb ure to rs. They both use a 26mm and I believe the engine should be ab le to handle this without any problem. At , least I wouldn't change it until I was sure that it wouldn 't work. It might just be a difference o f ch anging the idle jet and the throttle slide to give yo u a little better response at the low end th at is needed fo r trials work. While t h e cylinder and head from your machine is the same as the Sidewinder, the piston is different and you will probably want to change this as well to give you a little more bottom end. When y ou say "Kawasaki Enduro exhaust", do y ou mean the pipe from a Sidewinder or from one of the new enduro-type models (F-5, F-6 , F·7, F-8 etc.)? For trials work, the F-4 exhaust system (p art No. 18001·050) would probably work out just as well as anything else and it would be "bolt-on" type of equipment. As far as the flywheel is concerned, you are more o r less confined to what you h ave as this is also the same as the F-4 . Whil e it has the "alternator" type of rotor instead of the large flywheel, this will p robably get y o u by unless you will go to the expense of extensive machine work to allow some other type of magneto assembly to b e mounted onto the engine. The F-21-M frame was not designed for trials work so it will no t have the ideal handling characteristics that are desired in a trials machine. If yo u have a frame shop in Ohio that is equivalent to Bu chanan's out here, t hey can probably tak e car e o f th at for y o u, but his is no job to b e tac k led by th e tyro. If you will study t h e mach ines of the t op t rials riders, yo u w ill see th at many o f th em have many perso nal touches that make the mach in e just t h e wa y that particular rid er likes it. One that is very im p ortant is the location o f the foo tpegs for the b est balance factor. T his is so mething that will have to b e experimen ted w ith to see w he re you feel is the right posit ion for yo u. In othe r words, where do yo u feel yo u have the greatest control o ver the machine? The same goes for the handlebars; w hile both of th ese will probably have little deviation fro m the u su al trials positions, an inch or two one way or the other can make the difference between being able to handle it and not feeling confident. After you have the machine set u p the way you lik e it, there is one mo re factor that is probably the mo st important and I believe any experienced trials rider will agree with me on this : practice all you can and every chance you get. This is one sport where practice really co un ts. Try to get your practice on as many different types of terrain as possib Ie because you never know that they will throw at yo u in a trials. Even if you don't get the machine set By Ro d Br eaker up the way yo u w ould like it , I am sure y-ou will h ave a b alI an yhow. Many people think that tr ials riding is a snap until they try it ; they then develop a lot of respect for the trials rider. I rode my first genuine gro wn-u p official SerA sanctioned tr ials in 1959 at the Wh it t ier Narrows. I had ju st come to California from back eas t with m y T riu mp h T iger Cub and I had been pretty successful in local club trials against T ri ump h and BSA 650's and Harley Sportste rs . They had one sec tion that went down a sandy hill , in to the river , made a tu rn, came back up the bank , went down into a d itch where th e sand was nothin g but powder a fo o t thick, and m ade a Ll-tum right in th e middle o f it and y o u had t o power o ut o f th e ditch as yo u were co ming o u t of the turn. I really fel t go od about that one, I had stayed in th e boundaries and o nly lost five p o in ts . (I might hasten to ad d that five points was the maxunum that I could l ose no matter what. A friend t hat had accompanied me later in formed me that I had "dabbed" a total of 23 ti mes in that o ne section. I h ad walked my machine th ro ugh). I then sat an d watched Bill Brokaw clean th e same section on his Ma tchl ess an d mak e it look easy. . This sh ow ed me what practice cou ld do , but as crude as I was , I reall y enjoyed it and I am sure you w ill , too. ROD WHAT KINDA SPEED I've got a 1972 Yamaha 3 50. It's got 2,000 miles o n it an d it s all brok en in. Where can I go f or speed equip ment f or it ? S ome friends of min e say this pla ce called Whee/smith, Inc. in Santa'Ana has ex pansion chamber, et c. for all bik es. Is this true ? If so; where are th ey ? GREG GURNETT Huntington B each , Calif. Dear Greg: _ First off, you haven 't been too descriptive when y o u talk ab o u t speed equipment. Do y ou mean all -out speed or just hop it up for street use? Of co urse, if y our idea of speed equipment is just a pair of expansion ch amber, there are quite a few companies th at will be glad to help you out. I am not familiar with Wheelsmith, Inc. If , checking with the telephone operato r has produced no results, I might suggest checking the classified advertising in Cycle News, because everybody th at is anybody advertises in Cycle News. (You tell 'em, tiger/...Ed.) For straight bolt-on eq u ipme nt, your best bet is your local Yamaha dealer. While he may not be able to get you the goodies from Yamah a, aU th e independent manufacturers who decide t o make something fo r a Yamaha so m eh ow wind up with a list of Yamaha dealers to send their brochures to. You might contact Bob Rustan at Rustan Motors in Midway City who would b e yo ur closest dealer or Orange County Cycle in Santa Ana or Aw ard Mo t o rs in Costa Mes a. There reall y hasn't b ee n a who le gang of speed equip ment des igned for this model t o m y knowledge , but as I said, y ou didn't say whether y o u in t end t o go in to full-bore racing o r just sto p ligh t racing. If y o u ar e contemplat in g road racing (u nless you made a mi stake when you pu t do wn 350, y o u have the twin-cylinder mo del an d b elieve me, a mo t ocrosser it's n ot) , your lo cal dealer mi gh t b e able to pry a few sp eed secrets o ut o f Ya maha In ternational to pass on to you that migh t help yo u ou t. O f co urse, if you j ust w ant it to go a little fas ter on the street and are contemplating expansion chambers for st reet us e, keep in mi nd the popular saying "more sound , less ground". A set of noisy pipes could give you less gro und in the form of a small cubicle at the local Bastille. You migh t check out to see if Hooker makes a pipe for your model. They are right on the ecology ,scene with their built-in noise suppressors that not only quiet down the two-strokes, but the element is easily changed when it gets loaded up with dirt and oil. Not only that, but word has it that the Hooker pipe is bolt-on horsepower. Another fine pipe manufacturer located in Orange County is Bassani. While there may be a number of manufacturers making components for yo ur machine, yo u will have t o purchase th em th ro ugh a re co gn ized dealer o r ac cesso ry store as most manufac turers ' will not sell directly t o the public as a t oken o f good faith to th eir dealers . One m o re sys tem that may work is t h e fact th at a Yamaha sp eed eq u ip ment manufacturer will see this article and contact you; Wh at ever h appens, R.O,R. ROD WE TRUST YOU, ROD I have b een reading yo ur column f or so me time n ow and I k no w th at y ou will give me a straight answer. If I wri te to th e editor, h e just answ ers whatever will sell mo re pap ers, or th e ad manager w ill answ er with wh atever ge ts him more ads, bu t I know th at y ou have no ulterior motives. B esid es, everyone kn ows th at Matc hless ow n ers are Pure of Heart . , What I wan t t o ask , last w eek , in the "Voices" co lumn, th ere was a letter fr om the 01' Poop verifying the existence of b oth you and Papa Wealey. I kn ow that y ou are the real thing, but there is something ab ou t Karl Wealey that has been bothering m e, and th is is the reaso n I am ask ing you about it. I have a sn eaking susp icio n that Karl 'Papa' Wealey and th e 01' Poop are one and th e same and I want you to confirm or d en y this f or m e. I also read Papa s column each w eek and I would hate t o think that th e 01' Poop got to m e again. Y our faithful believing fan . HOGGRYDER Lo w er Central Badlands Great Kan sas Desert Kansas ; N ew Mexico Dear Hogg : Yo u integrity is safe. Karl and 0 1' Poop ar e separate, alive and w ell. Digging fu rt h er into your question, I find they were both born in /Farg o , North Dakota which may account for the similarity in appearance. As the 0 1' Poop has b een around for some time, he knows many people in the in d ustry and as such , he gets a lo t of inside in formation that h e passes on to his old friend, Karl. I imagin e that this d u plicatio n of knowledge is what prompted you to h ave y o ur suspicions, but lay your fears to rest. You can contin u e to worship ' Pap a' Wealey without fear of "one-upmanship" from the 01' Poop. In cas e you are wondering, Clutch Cargo and Bat Gwana are real people as well, for some reason, people have a tendency to disbelieve in people unless thy h ave a name like Smith or J ones or Brown or something like that. There was even a movie ac tor named R ip Torn, he had a hard time making people b elieve it was his real name. ROD Feb r u a r y 26 t he Am e ri c an Mo torcycle A ssociation co nd ucted it s first wo rksho p in a new nat ional Political Frontiers program, a service in t en ded t o d evelop and impro ve the polit ic al co nscio u sness of moto rcyclists th ro ug hou t the Un ited Stat es. The D etroit wo rksh op , drawing mo t orcyclists f rom three st ates , two A M A d istri c t c o ngressmen, and representatives fro m th e Detroit Area Asso ciated Clubs and th e Northwestern Ohio Motorcycle Clubs Asso ciat io n, was co nd uc te d b y AM A political consultant Bill Low who exp lored the basics of the electoral process . Low, h im self an avid motorcyclist, is o ne of the nation 's leading political stra tegists , h avin g organ ized and developed th e management system for t h e Republican National Committee in 1969. Beginning with an ex p lan ati o n of the p sychological makeup and motivation of the polit ician, Low offered the workshop p articipants a step-b y-step explan atio n of the p ro cess by which, candidates favora b ly inclin ed toward motorcy cling are identified and then supported and assisted in gain in g office. Ke y t o Low's p resentation, prepared wit h th e assistance o f AMA Legislative Dire ctor Chet Winter, w as the power of the ind ivid u al in affec t ing the outcome of ele ctions an d the relative ease with which intere sted cyclists can become involved in local politics. About t h e in iti al m eeting Winter states, " I am only mo re t ho ro ugh ly co nvin ced after the Detroit meeting that the Po litical Fro nt iers program may be th e most important proj ec t the AMA has ever embarked upon. We have begun a lo ng, slow process of education that can result in nat ional political power exercised b y motorcyclists o n a local leve l. " Workshops similar to the Detroit meeting will be conducted in Los A ngeles on April 7, San Francisco on April 9 , Portland on April 15, Pittsburgh on April 2 2, Hartford on April 23, Dallas on Ap ril 29 , St. Louis o n Ma y 6 , Chicago on May 7, and Atlanta on May 13. Information and reg istration material m ay be obtained by co n tact ing Chet Win t er, P.O . Box 141 , Westerville, Ohio 43081. '" ~ M . c, ... '" N /!1" '" ::; ~ w Z W ..J U >- U AMA JUGGLING ACT The A m e r ica n Motorcycle Association sanctioned $12,000 purse mile dirt track event, originally scheduled to run in Phoenix, Arizona on April 30, has been rescheduled to run in Colorado Sp rings, Colorado, on the sam e date. The 100-mile ro ad race in Loudon, New Hampshire, and the half mile dirt track in Louisville" Kentucky, were originally scheduled for June 4 and June 10 respectively. However, the two dates have been switched. The Louisville event will run Saturday n igh t , June 3 , and the Loudon road race will run Sunday, June II. FORT HOOD TO BE SITE OF 1973 TRIALS EVENT TO BE HOSTED BY AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE ASSOCIATION Russ March , Executive Director of the American Motorcycle Association, has announced that Fort Hood, Texas w ill b e the site for the 1973 In ternational Six Day s Trial, an event regarded as t h e wo rld olympics of motorcycling which has b een hosted b y Eu ro p ean co u ntries since 1913, but wh ich is comin g to the Un it ed States fo r the first t im e. March's anno u nceme nt came Mar ch 10 d uring a p ress breakfast sponsored CARNEGIE TO HOST PAC·AMA Car negie Cycle Par k , nestl ed in the Livermore hills, will host the Northern Cali fornia ru nn in g of t he Paci fic-AMA Motocross S eri es o n Su nday , Marc h 26, 1972. The series marks one of the most important stops for the U.S. professional motocross rac ers as the series is designed to q ualify the American riders for the upcoming summer international series and the very important and prestegio us fall T rans-AMA series. The nation's top performers will be in force at the Carnegie Pacific-AMA with the factories ace U.S. riders competing. Among the factories sending entries to Carnegie are Suzuki, Montesa, Jawa/CZ and AJS. Among the Carnegie entries is Pinole's Brad Lackey, wi nner of all three events in the first Pacfiic-AMA mota held in the Los Angeles area on March 12. by the AMA in Daytona Beach, Florida, upon the occasio n of th e annual 200 mi le motorcycle classic at Daytona International Speedway . The ISDT is a motorcycle endurance event in which n at io nal teams co m p et e ove r di ffic ul t te r ra i n , covering approximat ely 200 m ile s p er day fo r six consecutive days. The even t h as been dominated in rec ent years b y East German y and Czech oslovakia , though the U.S. te am mad e its b est sh owin g to date in 197 1 when the eve nt was hosted by E ng land o n th e Isle of Man. During 19 72 th e trial goes into Communist ter ritory where approximately 20 nations will co m pete in t he difficult Tatra mountains of Czechoslovakia. Regarding the approach ing 1973 eve nt March states, "This is both an ho nor and a great r esp onsib ilit y we have facing u s, and I am p leased that t he Departme nt of the Army h as shown such cooperation by allowing the American Motorcycle Association to use Fort Hood as the location of th is event. " , Fart Hood, located near Temple, Texas, includes more than 350 square miles of the unusually difficult terrain necessary for a good international trials event. In addition, the base and its surrounding communities provide ample living accommodations for the more than 1,000 European co mpetitors and support crews that will be arriving for this amateur event. \. . ,. .

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