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/141059
Atechnical analysis and engineering history of the R125SD Rickman Enduro · co . > :ii ;@ w Z W ...J U >- U -by E.C. Dirt f~ame t hat was light enough or handled It was a Friday afternoon when I good enough to suit them they built went out to B.S.A.-Rickman Division in their own frames. Duarte, California to pick up a 125cc Did th~y know what they were Six Days fo r Resear ch and doing? Seems they did, as the records Developmen t. show they . ran up 40 straigh t wi ns in a I called John Huetter at Cycle News row. Including Don's victory in the and said, "J ohn, I have a new Six Days that I 'm going to take out to Indian renowned Motocross Des Nations. In 1967, Don won the British Grand Prix, Dunes and shake down. Do you want to and Derek won the European 75 0 MX co me along and give me a hand and Championship in 1968. wri te a tech article?" Before they knew it, every hero in "Well," John says, "I got off last week the coun try wan te d their frames, so and dis located my shoulder (Playing they started b uilding motorcycles to the hero so mewhere, I bet.) b ut we'll have a .sam e standards of quality and handling co uple of Cycle News representatives they put in their own winning bikes. there d oing a thin g on a 500cc Yamaha It d idn't co me easy for them. T hey an d I'll have them look you up ." ate a few poun ds of dirt, falling off just I arrived at Indian Dunes Sun day like you and I d o . Broke so me bones mo rn ing and unloaded the bike. After ' and a lo t of bi kes, but nothing that · is several attempts to start it, I decided I worth having comes easy. better get it tuned before they show up. T his year's .19 73 Rickmans, the 125 N ow I see why maybe some bikes that Six Days an d 125 Motocross, are red are very good get a bad report, because with the customary n ickel plated frame: they weren't ready to test before the - sex appeal. I th ink this bike has always n ews medium got the bike. been considered as one of the prettiest So, I say to m y sel f, a two-stroke will bikes on the market. But as you and I run if it's got spark, gas and know pretty red paint and a compression. I know it has compression nickel-plated frame doesn't make a because my foot is sore from kicking it. motorcycle. So next step 'see if it's got spark. Yep, This year's '73 Rickman has 48 pien ty of spark. So must be the car b ch an ges over last year's model. You say : that is causing all the problems . Starting "48 changes? Why so many ?" Well, the is handled with the pilot jet and on a Rickman Brothers are never co m p le tely Bing carb if the pilot is too small it can , happy with what they have. They take and will, be a bear to start. So up one the best that they can build and as soon step on th e pilot, first kick and it . as they start coming off the production started, one hot lap around the parking lin e they start the wheels moving to see lo t showed it was too fat on the main if there's any way of improving the bike jet so I dropped it one step. Se cond hot lap arou nd the lot. Runs good. Looks for the next line of bikes . like it's ready to go . How do they get information . on what the needed chan ges are ? Well, for After three co o l ones I decided that somewhere along the way the Cycle one they h ave a private racing program Newsies had gotten side-tracked and wh ere riders of all calib ers , whether weren 't going t o make it. (C'm on, E. C., you're a Novice . Amateur, Expert or give us a break ... Ed .} Superhero. Even you can go to your Well, I don 't know all the neat local dealer and ask how to join Team phrases that the trained reporters know Rickman . If you can prove your worth, how to say but if you've got nothing there just may be some he lp for yo u better to do, ride along with me a ways, fro m B.S .A .-Rickman Division through put up with my country bumpkin way your dealer. of writing and I'll try and fill you in on Also in D uarte , California an d a few Rickman Six Days details. Before Baltimore, Maryland, there is a whole I put up m y hard-earned bucks I like to team of service p eopl.. who do nothing know what I'm getting for my m on ey. else but develop the Rickman lin e. Don't you? I run a whole team of Rickmans with I'm goi ng to skip all the oohs and ahs picked Experts and Junior riders on of it; slides neat, and all that kind of them. My reports are sent to Ric k man stuff because I don't th ink that anyone and I keep in constant touch with the can describe on paper how a Rickman Rickmans to feed back the necessary handles. You have to ride one to believe information from the weekend's races. it. T he bike makes you get the feeling Good reports an d bad reports, they all you can't d o anything wrong. count. Things that I m ay build into a Maybe it's just because the Rickman bike for you also get back to Rickman that you can buy today was built for (Duarte) for their testing and approval . m o t o cross by real mo t ocross-t y pe Then from there on to Eng land to the people who know what the rider's need Rickman factory for more testing. If it's is. good, it winds up on the next new line Derek Rickman and Don Rickman, of Rickmans that are b uilt. Sorry, I've better known as t he Rickman Brothers , strayed off the test of our bike. made winning motocross races their The bike as I rode it took to wat er business, and sin ce they couldn't buy a like a duck, had bottom end pulling XR 75 HONDA REDHEAD RACI NG PROD UCTS High co mpression pisto n kit . Racing cams. Exh au st pipes . Va lve springs. Filtrons. Fork brace s. . CZ 250 400 in Orange Co u nty means BEST DEAL ® COMPET IT ION CYC LES ~ 525 N EI Cnmiuo RPdl, S(-I ;) C femen re. c, .. Most Powerful ... ... MAleO .. COOPER MOTORS ca Countershaft sprockets. CD en Rear whee l sprockets. Large car b uretors. Allen head screw kit. Lightened & polished valves. Crankshaft lightening. Porting & polishing. , Fork lightening. COME IN AND AS K ABO UT OUR XR 75 REDHEAD RAC ING MODEL . THIS MONTH'S SPEC IAL Unbreakable Plastic Fenders Front $2.95 Rear $3.95 all co lors Now giving a di scount to all AMC card hold ers WE MAIL ORDER SEND FOR F REE BROCHURE! O n A ll Ho nda Motorsports. HACIENDA HEIGHTS' HONDA 507 No. Azusa La Puente, Ca. 91744 (2131 968-6461 . if I get a Rickman is mine go ing to break too?" Well, all I can say is it's possible anything will break unless i t is buil t like a Sherman tank and weighs like a boat anch or bu t if you have a 1972 or 1973 Ric kman don't worry . abo ut it. The first Rickmans that we got in the U.S. were super light and were use d for so mething they weren't buil t to d o . They were origin ally built in England for what they cal l "Boy Racers." T here are a class of youngsters, up to 14, who don't go in for o ur crash an d burn type of riding. These frames had a tu bing of .088" 0.0. where the 1973 has an 0 .0 . of 1.000". A bout three years ago Derek Rickman was at Ascot to watch h is heavier but a necessary evil for o ur ty pe of usage. . T he engi ne choice for the Rickmans is the Zundapp 125cc engine. This engine is ex pe nsi ve for R ickm an to b uy, but it has proved its elf long ago as being one of the best small displacemen t engines built. Let's dig into the 125 Zundapp an d see what we have that m akes it tick plu s so me of th e improvements that have been made ove r the first ones th at came in our first Rickmans. . As yo u can see, the cylin der an d head which have always been sunburst style are much larger in the late '72 an d '73 engines . Also not" the arrangement of the fins on the new style cylinder is staggered. This was done so that the ~EXPERTS TR IUMPH SUZ UK I of POMONA 1049 W. Mission (714) 623443.1 FACTO RY OU TL ET FOR PREMIER HELMETS STREET ...., DESERT - MX DYNO·TUNING 17 1414922270 bikes in actio n. Jeff Wrigh t was up to his us ual perf o rm an ce, annih ilating the 125 Expert class an d Derek said, "Coming off those bloody crash w alls will break anything in h alf. Well, d uring that season Jeff Wright d id crack a frame tube and 1 had to repair it b ut since he won 90% of the races and earned No. 1 for the year pi u s High Point man , I guess one couldn't really . co mpl ain. But i t made a difference to the Rickman Bro th ers. T hey d on ' t want their name on something that's n ot good so the n ex t frames were mad e with 1.000" 0.0. How much heavier is this new frame compared to the older m odel light job? Well, it is about four pounds 1973 Rickman 6-Days 125. MONARK LARGEST STOCK t he torque that took me up hills that two of my racing 125cc bikes that I had out co uld hardly make because it was so rough that the riders couldn't keep the m on the pipe. The exhaust system on the Six Days is so q uiet that you can hardly hear the m o t o r with a helme t on . Of the changes that were made in this year's bike, some of them can ' be seen on the outside, like Be to r fo rks for one , -,swin g ann chain oiler, differen t brake system for the rear, 'a stee l tank instead of glass (it bends instead of breaking. ) an d many other lit tle things. T he m ost im portant parts of a b ike are the frame and engin e. Ah, fra me s. _You say, "My b u d dy bought a Ric kman three years ago and the frame bro ke. So Featuring CH E NDA LELEK Wo r k s Mechanic PREMIER YAMAHA Cus tom Porting and Engine Building 19721 BEACH BLVD . 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