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/141048
N '" .'" .. f e, r ... M Cl ~ (OJ . :2 ~ w Z W ..J U >- U Great handling and a ti re tha t pract ically has k nobs on top mean t hat th e V R 250 lean_ right over: s - b y Dav e Sch oonmaker Photos by Randy Diet zel Tom Culp , and Sch oonmaker Rejo ice all ye moto crossers, for 19 73 is offering you oppo rtunit ies you never dream ed p ossibl e. Th er e is a veri tab le pl eth ora of very funct io n al mo to cross mach in es being o ffe red to th e buying public. There's the Honda Elsinore two-stroke , a new five -sp eed 250 CZ, so on to be available Kawasaki prototype replicas machines, a new Puch; soon, a Hodaka, and then there are the melange of bikes whic h have been aro und for some time. Th ere is o ne new motocross machine in this batch that is unique - the Montesa Cappra Vehkon en Repli ca 250. Yessir, this is the o ne genuine 'Yorks' rep lica machine y o u can buy. It is an exact co py o f the m achine that Vehkon en rode t o a fo urt h in th e 197 2 250 World GP standings. It is such an exact copy of Kahlevi's machine th at th e bars, and nearly all co n tro l layout, see m to be pl aced for a rider o f V ehk on en' s s i z e ( 6 '3 ") . As a co nsequence , wh ether o r not y ou want one may dep end somewh at on h o w lik e Vehkonen in size yo u are . Or then again , y o u migh t ask how sim ilar t o Vehkonen y ou want t o b e. If you wouldn 't be to o unhapp y with a fourth in World 25 0 GP , th en maybe. .. - EXT ERNALS ' . So , what do you ge t fro m Montesa in a Ve kh one n Rep lica ? T here is st ill th e basic hear t of th e Cappra in the VR 250, b ut th e d ep artu res are numerous. Vis ually th e VR strikes the eye first with it s engi ne . It h as new fla t black cl u tch an d magn et o covers. T h e result of the narrow co verings o n eac h side is an engi ne wh ich is thre e in ches thinner than las t year 's Cappra. T he engine tu cks neatly down lo w between any rider's feet. It 's very narrow. The next thing striking abo ut the engine is th at it carries the funnies t lo o kin g Amal carbu re to r seen ye t. Hrnm, that's fu n ny, it even says " Bing " on th e side . It's a bi g o ne, too. Th en yo u begin to get th e idea; thi s b ik e was b uilt to be righ t, n o c o m p ro mises are It wouldn't even take an E xpert to do th is k ind of antics. allo we d. T he Bin g is the 34 m m nu mber and w or k s ex c e l le ntly. T hro ttle respon se is co mp arab le to any carb an ywh er e an d th e me t erin g is spot o n . Th is thing rea lly is a G P bi ke. Every Eu ro pe an 250 Gr and Prix mach in e (CZ , Hu sq vam a, Mai co and, n ow, Montesa) uses the 34 m m Bin g. Th er e's a tickl er on th e side wh ich is all th at is n eces sary to get things go ing . You 've pr obabl y be en wondering how the en gine go t narrower o n the righ t side if th ere's a magneto to ge t in the way . T he n ew Mon tesa gets a midg e t Motoplat ele ctron ic ignition that's hot o ff th e presses. It 's smal ler than an y flywheel magneto system we 've see n. It supplied a fine spark an d plug fo ulin g was never a problem . However, the Montesa " m unc h-a-woo d ru ff key-blahs" lived on along with the new bike . Our test model only broke the flywheel loose o nce in many , many hours of riding, but when it did it was a good thi ng we h ad a Rickman ow ner along. He just " happened" to have a few ex tra key s alo ng ( 10 o r 12) an d a few mi n u te s wrenching re medied the situation, But surely there is so me way to keep flywheels where th ey ar e supposed to be ? Well, I'll b e d oggoned! The Montesa shifts o n th e left. Now who would have th ought... It sh ifts legally for th e U.S. market (fo r 1974 ) and boy , d oe s it shift nice. Everyone wh o got on th e b ike had so me thi ng good to say about th e transmission. It was as good a b ox as any motocrosser ridden, with per fe ct sp ace d throws. Mayb e the re wa s an extra neu tral in the re so me where , but, th en again , my bo ot wa s co vered with mud. There's a clutch lever up o n the ' handlebar somewhere that seemed to w ork O .K ., but n o one co uld re me m ber using it too mu ch. INT ERNALS The insides of th e en gine tell a story. Th e p ort area is incre d ib le. But wh oa, n o t to o man y o f those p or ts see m t o be int ake or exhaust. Th ere are transfer p or ts everywhe re, T he re are tw o n ormal o nes of incred ib le size and the n th ere ar e two m ore hiding in bad: wh ere th ere sh o uld b e in ta ke p orts. Th e in takes co me o ut o n eac h side o f th e rear transfer s. \Vith a siarnesed exhaust po rt the total goe s u p t o eigh t, Th e piston even get s a hol e for good measure. Montesa was on top o f ' two stroke. design in th e beginning and for th e p resent it seems that they've decided to put an accent 'on ge tting things into the co mbustion chambe r rather than in to th e cr ankcase. Wh at th ey have co me up wi th is a motorcy cle with insigni fican t flywh eel effect an d a powerb an d so predic tabl e an d smoo th th at thev've bl ended t he . best of two worlds. It is pos sible to "smooth track" it aro un d th e insi de of co m ers or to d o -g u r -w r enching wheel-spin ni ng berm shots o n th e outsid e lin e. Eit her way , th e p o werb and , and/ or lack of flywh eel , will work for you . Di al on- a Iittl ~ or dial o n a lot. On th e top end , th e Montesa will ru n with any s toc k 25 0 m oto cros ser, but might ta ke a little work in the intake an d exhaus t are as t o shred turf with so me of th e terrib le fast tr ick me anies