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/141062
.. THE HARLEY-DAVIDSON CD CO 0- M l"- en ~ Vl ;;: w Z W ..J CJ >- CJ by Art Friedman " O kay ," sa id the rnanagin g' editor, "When you take b ack the Sprin t, th ey 'll give us an other bike to test." "A bi g on e?" I as ke d h op efully . " Nope." "Oh n o ! Not ano ther di rt b ik e !" moaned. "Yup. A Baja." uGroan. I started my mo tocross career on on e o f th o se tur key s. It d id n ' t have any power b efore it b ro ke it s rin gs, and thcy broke in th e second mo t o ." "Well.. .Maybe th ey've c hanged." "Fat chance . A n ybody can see th at all thcy've done is to ad d ligh t s. Lo o ks jus t the same o the rwise." "Yeah, well , th at's to ug h." I sw al lo we d it an d went off to ge t the Baja, grumblin g a bo ut w hat we had to go through to ge t to the b ikes we really wan ted to test. O h we ll, I decided , writing tests that b omb b ikes gives a publication c re di h ili ty. I put th e Baj a in th e bac k of the garage wher e it wouldn ' t get in the way of bikes that I n eeded to ge t o ut to ride . I didn 't intend to ride t he Baj a. I intended to try to forget it. Bu t th a t didn't accoun t f or th e zeal of the assistant editor. It o n ly took him a few days to find it and tak e it o ut a nd t ry to start it. "1 co u ld n ' t ge t it to start ," h e reported. I didn't bat an eye . " ProbabIy broke the rings,' I replied knowin gly. Then it sat fo r a while longer. S ay several wee ks: Th en one d ay I n eeded something to ride. A ctually, I had someting to ride. Wh a t I need ed. was something to take al ong and take pictures of so that th e company w ould p ay my expenses. T he o n ly un tested bike was the Baja. -'I'll just take it, t a ke so me stills of it , and then tell them it wouldn 't start ," I told my friends. But when the time ca me to tak e the pictures it was eas ie r to st art th an push . It lit o ff on the sec on d kick. "lImmm. Maybe he d idn 't kn ow ab o u t the trick li t tle c h o ke:' T he Dell'Orto has a choke that you pull up and turn t o dose, and tum back to allow it to sn ap back open. JJaja A Marvelous Beast is the Piglet So we t o o k turns flogging it around Esca pe Cou n try for a wh ile. The imp ressio ns started co rning . in. "S ure is tall" w as always first. "H an d les good o nce you lea rn how it slides," "B ars are to o n arro w," and "The p ip e ge ts in m y way," w ere the co mplain ts. No o ne men tion ed the p ower o r lac k of it fo r a while . Fin ally , afte r we h ad been w rin gin g the pi zza out o f it for about tw o hou rs , someone asked , "H o w bro ken in is it?" "Ul p . I th ink th ey said th at it w as b ra nd ne w. It's been sitting th e re for so lo ng that I forgot ;" " Oh .. .Well, it's ge tting faster, and th e tran s is ge tt ing smoother ." I t Was. It mi ssed a lot o f sh if ts early on , b ut afte r a w h ile it go t b e tte r. It sti ll like d a li tt le leisure in shi fti ng , e it her The Baja wa s verv -water proof . It neither sto pped running no r sto pped stop ping when it got wet . th ro u gh a slo we r sh if t or use o f the clu tch . If slip pe d a great d eal, the cl u tc h w o ul d heat a little an d ma ke neu tral findin g di ffi cult , b u t it was so methi ng tha t you could lea rn to live with. T hat day 's riding a t Escape Coun try b rough t no o the r co mp la ints. Mo stl y o ur com men ts were ju s t, HIt sure h an d les good ," a n d " I t's st ill ge tti ng fas ter." By n ow I had d ecided that the rin gs we re n 't go ing to b reak. T here wer e plen ty of things to like. The seat is comfo rtable if ta ll. The en d uro tr ea tm en t has b ro u gh t a muffl er th a t reall y mu ffl es. T he Baj a is very q u iet. T he lights a lways wo r ke d, b u t since the re w as n o battery or ho rn , it isn' t street legal in California . An d the re is groun d clearance up to Bago o zie . We eve n tually got aro un d to p h o t o gr aph in g it. "S ure is ta ll," so meo ne sa id agai n . I t is tal l. T aller than it see ms li k e it shou ld b e. Bu t the re's n othing w rong wi th t he han d ling. It mi gh t h an dl e b e tt e r i f low e red , but no o ne h ad any co mplai nts about it as is. Lots of gro u nd cleara nce is th e primary reason fo r th e al ti tude. Ther e is I I in ch es of space und er th e Baja . Bu t n o skid pl a t e. S ince the eng ine hangs from th e top of the fra me, the re ar e no fram e tubes to p ro te c t it either. S ince the re are no fram e tu bes , the first thing to go ka -pl o o ie aga ins t' a roc k (a tal) ro ck, min d yo u) will b e engine cases. En d uro an d d esert rid ers will w ant to change th a t. While we were ph otographing it, we p onder ed why it had ligh ts. " '1'0 mak e it e n d uro-li ke o r a night tr ailbi ke ," someone sugg es ted . "Or lo wer th e pri ce:' said some on e else . "Huh ?" "W ell you kn ow. They t ake the ligh t s o ff a bike , call it an MX, and se ll it for mo re. N ev er m ad e any sense to m e eithe r. tt This year th e Baja, like the rest of th e Italian H-D 's, h as b een arranged so that it sh i fts on the le ft an d brakes on the right. For many p e ople th at will make it 100 percent m ore d esirable .