Accurately Outfitted
ACCURATELY OUTFITTED
YOU MIGHT CALL IT gilding a lily, but owners of Yamaha 80 Trailmasters can add more equipment to their machines than any motorcycle maker ever dreamed of. We took an 80 Yamaha, called Accurate Accessories Co. in Lynwood, Calif., asked them to send over everything they make for it, and stood back to wait for the avalanche we expected to follow. They sent: two packages of large and small elastic carrying straps, handlebars, two rifle carriers (one right, one left), a buddy seat, two pack racks (different types), three engine shields (one with a “brush bar,” one with a down tube, and one just plain old bash plate), a buddy grip, a sissy bar (we’ll explain later), and one alloy rotary valve disc with altered induction timing. The hardest decision for us was which to install; the bike on this page actually mounts only a part of their products.
Add to this the very latest U.S. Forest Service approved, production spark arrester from Jack Krizman, designer and manufacturer of the newly announced and production approved 500cc arresters, and you have a lightweight with just about everything imaginable to offer the camper/fisherman type trail bike rider. Accurate assures us their products are not limited to Yamaha accessories alone, but they specialize in equipment for them.
Performance is improved with the rotary valve disc, but it is by no means essential since the Yamaha performs quite well without alteration. Still, it’s kind of nice to have. Roughing it presents no additional hazards when the good looking plated accessories are in place, though the rifle carrier feels a bit strange at times. The buddy seat might come in handy for some, since the standard seating is provided for
the rider only. We chose the engine plate with the down tubes primarily because we liked the looks of it, and we were a bit concerned that the model with the brush bar could easily take a firm grip on a passing shrub.
As with most “bolt-on” accessories, installation is very easy and only the simplest of tools are required. The sissy bar we left off might be useful to some for hanging onto; we preferred to affix the buddy bar. We found the buddy bar useful for taking a firm grip on the stern of the bike, and lifting it over things and stuff. Our sophisticated trail bike was brightened considerably with Accurate’s jewelry, and a very useful little motorcycle was just that much more useful. Accurate will be happy to supply similar gilding to anyone, complete with instructions, and, we expect, words of caution about overdoing it.
