Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

LD Ranch: Neat Place for Motocross By Rod Bre aker SAVE THAT PAINT It seems th at a t o ne time o r ano th er every rider h as oc casion to drill a ho le in his fend er fo r o ne reason o r anothe r, and it usuall y co mes right af te r he h as just had a swingin g p aint j ob p ut o n it. Nothing will bring te ars to the eyes of a grown man quicker than seeing the drill b it slip ping o u t of the center-pun ch and cascad ing across th e curve d fende r de stro yin g everything in its path . A go od id ea when drilling an y su rface is to wrap it with a co up le o f layers of masking tape o r ins u lat ing ta p e, bu t remem ber if i t is a fresh ly p ain ted surface you will have to use a masking tape that is not too adhesive o r y ou may find y oursel f lifting the paint alo ng with the tape when yo u are finish ed . This -tape is available, in most h ardware stores, it -h as th e appearan ce of being corruga ted. I don 't know wh at it is called , so meone gave me a roll so I have never h ad occasi on to purchase one . LUBE T HOSE CABLE NIPPLES Mo st ride rs I fin d take cable replacement as a matter o f routine purchase, somewhat akin to buying gas or oil fo r the ma ch ine. Wh at th ey do n ot tak e in to accou nt is the fact th at th e cab le almost alway s breaks in th e sam e spot, right at the handle next to. th e nip ple. The ca ble is made of stw, th e p u ll on it is st raigh t, it is almost im possib le to break it as it was in tended to be used. In fact, the ca ble should alm ost outlast the motorcy cle . R igh t off you w ill say "Do n ' t tell m e it is impossible to b reak it. I have rep laced th ree c1utch cables already and th is h as been a couple of dollars every tim e." The b asic idea behin d th is co lum n is t o h elp you with your pro~lem~ ~ d to . save you money if we: can. I said It was almost im p ossibl e t o break it as it was intended to be u sed , by th is I me an that t o break it y o u mu st first destro y it ~ strength so me how . T his is done very easily by th e same meth od yo u used when you we re a small chil d and yo u h ad a pi ece o f w....: that you wan ted to break but didn't have any t o ols so yo u kept bending it and straighten in g it until you we ak ened it and it broke. This undesirable re sult can be avoided on the motorcycle by simply lu b rica ting the nipp le in the lever. When this be comes dry , it ca n no t tum in th e lever as the lever is p ulled and when it can no t turn it must b end th e cable and when the cable bends, it we akens and th us you soon hav e a broken cab le . Next tim e y ou h ave a broken ca b le , if y ou will inspect the nipple you will find it h as be en galling wh ere it rides on the leve r. If you h ave already broken a few cables vou will fin d th at the nipple h ole in th e lever h as co me eggsh ap ed . If you will lubricate this n ipple weekly as well as ev ery time y ou ride in the rain and ev ery time y ou wash yo ur machine, you will find th at y ou r broken cable problems have been reduced to a minimum if not eliminated altogether. CLEANLINESS IN THE FIELD Here is an ide a p assed on t o me by j oh n Bu ck ner, one of the USA's top ro ad ra cers and 1966 ACA 25 0cc class ro ad ra cer ch am pion. fa ther was a ne w sre el j ohn's cameraman b efore his re tirement and j ohn h it up on th e idea of ta king a couple o f empty film tins with him each time he goes to th e races. These fil m tins are ab o u t IS in ches ac ross and when opened up provide y ou with two tray s about one-half inch deep. . If you sh ould have to tear down your ma ch ine a t the tr ack or while out tr ail riding, they ar e handy for putting the' p ar ts in as th ey no t o n ly keep th em clean b ut a lso keep them from becoming lost. These can be p urchased at most film shops and it is h an d y to have one with yo ur tool b ox whenever you go o u t in the dirt whether yo u are racing or ju st play in g. I re alize th at most o f the problems occur away from y our car o r tru ck where yo u are lu ck y to even have a screwdriver bu t if you are lu ck y enough to get back t o your to o l b o x , th is is a handy it em. Y DS·2 OWNERS: SA V E THAT AIR CLEANER ! On the subject of air cleaners, here is a tip for owners of Yamaha YDS-2 motorcycles. Due to the radical port timing o n th ese h igh p er forman ce ma chines an d th e fac t th at the air cleaner is a ttached d irectly onto th e ca rb ure to r, when the rider " pours th e coals to it " there is a ten de ncy for a mi xture fog ' to c o me ou t of the ca rb ure to r. A fter a while the air cleaner becomes qu ite fou led wi th o il an d d irt . Wh ile thi s ele me n t h as the appearance of being of pap er filte r design , it is NOT a th ro w away elemen t, which is ex plaine d in th at rider's handbo o k th at fo r so me reason , is never c onsu lte d by th e ride r. All th at has to b e d on e is to w ash it out in st raight petrol or napth a, (Do no t use an ything with an o il b ase. ) Dry it out an d reuse it. Many a rid er h as shelled o u t hard earned money fo r this exp en sive little ite m b efore findin g out to his d ismay that they are washable. As I stated before thi s is one of th e things wh ich is included in th e co m p rehens ive Owners' and Rider s' Handbook which nev er see ms to ge t read but instead is thrown into a drawer in th e dresser and forgotten. I will have to admit th at th e J ap anese h andbooks leave a lo t to be desired , bu t still an evening spen t rea d ing throu gh yours m ay save y ou money at a later d ate . Close in o n LO's MX action. By Ken t Nic ho ls SPR IN GDA LE, UT., May 28 , 19 72 Any self-resp ecting racer driving up scenic Zion Can yo n says to h im self, " Gee, th is w o uld be a nea t p lace for a mo tocross." T he CMC an d Mike Drews th ou gh t the same th ing and talked Mik e' s fath er in to letting th em turn a mo untain meadow on h is LD Fl y-in ran ch in t o an MX course . On Sat urd ay peo p le were in various stages o f setting up camp. Some were rej e t ting fo r the alti tu de, bu t m ost were thro w ing fris b ees, p lay in g horseshoes, or glo m m ing the sce nery . T he first ray of Sunday's ligh t signaled th e beginning or' practic e. As the d ay pro gressed , it became ap p are n t th at du st would be a problem . The Drews cam e to th e rescu e with a p air of w ater trucks. T he super race of th e day was the 250 Sr. go. It w as won wi th fan tas t ic grac e and speed by Ma rty T rip es; but not with out bein g puch ed h ard by some rapi d Senio rs. Las Vegan jack j ohnson made ano th er cle an swe ep in the Open Sr. ra ce . This is J ack 's third win in a row, th e o thers wer e firs t overalls in desert races. Accord ing t o Mi ke Drew s, h e and the CMC plan ano the r race a t LD Ranch in the fall . You should pl an o n goi ng. SUPER BO US SALES $3.95 $9.95 Monarch Front Fenders, Plastic Monarch High Fenders, With Bracket Green MX Gloves, Genuine Leather With Rubber Guards . . : • . . . • .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4 .99 ( Ii~ it 5'p~~ ~~~o'~~;)' NGK Std. Spark Plugs 59c Compression Release, One Way . Monarch Tire Sealer $9.95 .. ... ......... .. . .. . .. ....... ..... ..... . ... . ......... ........ 99c Torco 0 iI 79c Q t . Bardahl . ... . . . ... ... ...... . . . . .. . . .. . . .. . • . • • . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . •. .. . . 50c Pt. MX Black Handlebars .. .. .... . .. . • . .. •. .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . $9.95 Posters .. .... ... . ... . . . . .. . . . . .. .... .... . ... . .. . ... . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. .99c SPECIA HODAKA SUPER RAT YAMAHA 250 STREET 3 DAYS ONLY LONG BEACH YA MA HA +ta:.- + tax & lic. June 7th thru 10th o 3580 E. Pacific Coast Hwy. Long Beach, Calif. 90804 (213) 597 -3317 9-6 :30 M· F, Sat. 9-6 $499.00 $665.00 o c o 2 w a: PAC IF IC COAST HWY A T HE RTON ;!? " g 0.. .... '" '" M " :l .., e '" ;: w 2 w -' o >o

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