Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

o • -< o Jim Gianatsis and Jeff Harrison rm Z m s en l> ~ '" !" cD -.J W -e " .. <0 w, ~I A seasoned veteran, other than the tired saddle the Puch was an extremely comfortable bike to ride whether sitting or standing. Choosing a good enduro bike seems to be a difficult venture for many people. Every manufacturer has at least one bike in their line up that they try to pass off as an uEnduro.:' In some cases they used to be nothing more than a street bike with trials tires and an upswept exhaust system. Nowadays the manufacturers have gotten somewhat smarter and are actually disguising their bikes to look like real enduro machines. With so many enduro type bikes now out on the market it makes picking the real ones a lot tougher. In the case of the Japanese bikes this is especially true. Reading various road tests on the bikes you are interested in in order'tohelp you form your own impressions doesn't always solve the problem. Reading a road test or trail test for that matter, on a brand new enduro bike won't tell you how that bike is going to last up through one of those tough two day events or even an entire season of enduros, The 175 Puch Enduro which we tested was a 1972 model and the veteran of an entire season of enduros. The bike was loaned to us by Tucker Sport Cycle. located just down the street from our Eastern office, and was still in stock condition. Everything on the bike was original, including the engine which was still on its standard bore. What really had us impressed about the bike was that nothing had broken or bent during that time. A closer look at the bike revealed why it was so tough. The thing is built like a tank, everything being stronger looking than what would seem necessary. The frame itself is a bolt together affair ala erector set, which in itself wouldn't seem very strong; it has large diameter tubing and enough additional brackets, gussets, braces and welds to make it really heavy duty. It makes for a somewhat heavy frame but it sure is strong. Instead of a skid plate, additional tubing is welded onto the bottom portion of the frame to protect the engine. The 2.5 gallon fuel tank is made of a very thick fiberglass which looks and feels much like nylon plastic and has to be the most indestructable thing around. Workmanship on the tank, as well as the entire bike itself, is really beautiful. The expansion chamber looks like heavy duty sewer piping but you'll never have to worry abou tit springing a leak. The chrome muffler device on the end of the expansion chamber is just plain ugly. It was still there though, doing its job of keeping engine noise so subdued a woodchuck couldn't complain. It didn 't leak at the clamp mounting like most bolt on silencers do. The 1973 models do have a newly designed chamber and silencer combo that are a little more attractive than the old one bu t still ungainly enough to look like a Peter Max original. Suspension components are not manufactured by Puch but are selected from what is considered to be the best available. The rear shocks are Girlings wi th progressive 60/90 pound springs and the front forks are telescopic Ceriani. Girlings have a reputation for wearing ou t quic kly bu t these still dampened well. The forks were another matter that we soon found out about when we rode the bike. More about them later. The steel wheel rims were still round and looked indestructable, They have strengthening lips just like on alloys. They have a tendency to pick up a little mud but you'll never have to worry about flattening them if you have to run low tire pressures. Other goodies worth mentioning are the air filter and the ignition system components located underneath the seat in a watertight still air box. The box itself is further protected by a shroud which also encases the 27mm Bing center float carburetor. The bike had never failed to finish an enduro due to drowning out in water. The air filter element is paper and should be replaced with a Filtron type foam element which is better. The ignition system is a Bosch pointless transister setup. The point being that it has no points which is really quite a point in itself when you consider it to be the major reason for the engine never failing to fire in almost a year of operation. Riding the bike is a very comfortable proposition except for one thing, and that's the seat. Use had caused the foam padding to break down or deteriorate to a point where when we sat on the bike our bottoms sank right down to where we felt like we were sitting on the

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