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fram e. We later tried o ut the sea t o n a Cerian is have a very high reput ation so
n ew Pu ch an d found it to be to o hard th e fir st th ing we che cked was if th e
an d stiff; lik e sitting o n a wo oden for ks had any oil in them . They did, bu t
bench . Evid ently the sea t is m ad e up of 'the oil lo ok ed som ewh a t thin and th er e
a stiff foam rubber that deteriorate s wasn 't th e righ t q uan tity in the fo rks .
qu i ck ly . Th e stoc k handl eb ar s an d Th e same for ks are used on a . lo t of
Magura levers felt very co m fo rtab le as o t he r bi kes, inclu d ing (he Puch 's m ain
co mpet itio n , Pen ton , so th e prob lem
was th e fo o tp eg locatio n. Nei ther the
side m ounted exhaust pip e o r t he kick had to be with th ese part icular forks .
H andling otherwise seem ed good,
st arter in te rfere d with o u r legs whe n
esp eci ally o ver a ro ugh su rface wh ere
, stan ding on th e p egs.
Starting th e Puch 17 5 -was pretty the bik e proved to be ver y predictabl e
easy once we figu re d o ut h ow to reach an d wou ld want to track s traight. In
under the carburetor sh roud t o use th e corne rs th e ' b ik e h an dl ed in a very
tickler button on the Bing in order to neutral manner. Power o n wo uld easify
choke th e engine . On ce we learned the . b rea k th e rear wh eel loose b ef ore th e
righ t am o un t of use on th e tickler it was
front, but th e stock Met zler tires, 3.00 x
fun trying to get th e engine to sta rt o n 2 1 o n fr ont and 3.50 x 18 rear, were
th e first kic k when co ld. When it was ex t remely wo rn and did lim it the
warm the en gine would always start on co rn e r i n g pow er co nside rab ly . We
the first kick. The kick starter lever hits would have preferred an even larger
on th e footpeg but by the tim e it does 4 .00 x 18 knobby on the rear be caus e
the engine is alread y running.
o f the 175's big bike size andJ'0wer. All
th e ' 73 m odels now hav e 4.0 rear tires .
Pull in o n the clutch and sn ic k d own
The fr ont and rear brak es were total
on the left side shifter to find fir st in
op p osites. The rear one was very good,
the five speed box . The clutch still
works perfectly after a ll those endures.
being progressive in feel right up t o
Get underway and wind o u t the en gin e
when you would want to lock it up to
lo nger than you would think ne cessary,
slide into a fast comer. The brake pedal
then keep on winding it ou t some more
was lo cated too h igh and it meant
before shifting into second. Do the same
removing a foot from th e peg to ge t at it
for third gear and on up. The
but it was all in the way o ur particul ar
transmission is beautiful. Shifting up or
bike wa s set up. The p edal can eas ily b e
down, it's impossible to miss a gear
moved d own further but ch ances of
change as they just seem to fall into snagging it o n so m ethin g would b e
place. The only bummer in the en tire
eas ier. From the size of the fro n t brake
box is neutral which is nearly impossible you 'd exp ec t some s top p ing power
to engage with the engine running.
there too, but it w as nothing more than
Power is typically European,
an ornament on our bike . Pulling hard
meaning that the faster you want to go
as we co uld on the fron t brake lever
the longer you have to ' wind the engine
would have no effect wh atsoever in
out between shifts . The power co m es on slowing th e bike from any speed. After
smooth and ste ad y from idle right on a hard seas o n o f use a new set of front
up . It has to be the widest powerband shoes would ce r tainly be in order. A
on an y small displacement m achine
little sanding to roughen up th e drum
we've ever ridden. Our 1972 engine was
would also help t o restore the original
rated by the factory at 23 hp , Onl y one braking p ower.
m emb er of our staff felt it was a little
After a full season of enduro riding
underpowe red. The ' 73 models are rated the 175 Puch has certain ly proven its elf.
at 30 hp . Most of us felt our bike was as Except fo r the worn front brake our
two other co mp lain ts with th e bike, th e
fast as any of t he Japan ese 250 en d uro
ma ch in es.. The fact that the Puch 125 small rear tire and the desire for a little
more power, have been taken ca re of o n
and 175 ar e su ch popular bikes in
the new models. Reliability was our
Europe for such events as the Six Days
Trial me an s that if y ou 're a good bike 's outstanding feature after a season
enough rider to be in co n ten t ion for the of en d uro riding and that alone is the
sec ret to winning. The fact th at it has
overall win at an enduro then th e 23 hp
model is more than adeq u ate . The good power and h andles really m akes it
newer 30 hp 175 makes the bike just n ice. The poor p er forman c e of the
that much more appealing for the less Ceriani forks on our particular bike had
to be due to ' bad preparation. The re is
experienced rider wh o w ould need m ore
only one other bike we would co nside r
p ower to get through a situation. "
The only thing th at r e ally to be in the same class as th e Puch and
dis app ointed us ab o u t our Puch was th e th at is the 17 5' Penton J ackpiner. At
handlin g and th e fault co uld b e t raced about S II 00 for b o th m ch in es t he
directly to poor prep ar ation o n th e choice between the two w ould have to
Cerian i front forks. Th ey ju st weren't be totally personal. In the 125 class we
w orking. There was n o dampening would h ave to choose th e 12 5 Puch
ac tio n wh atsoe ver, m aking th e sp rings above any . o f th e other p op ul ar Sach s
so soft that even th e smallest gro und powered bikes du e to th e much sup erio r
ripple would cause th em to b ottom. Puc h tr an smi ssi on and en gin e.
.
1973 Motocross 17 5 Puch sports 30 h P and a ne w exhaust system .
light ing and speedometer kit co nvert s It over to th e' Enduro mod el.
