Feed Back
FEED BACK
Readers, as well as those involved in the motorcycle industry, are invited to have their say about motorcycles they own or have owned. Anything is fair game: performance, handling, reliability, service, parts availability, lovability, you name it. Suggestions: be objective, be fair, no wildly emotional but illfounded invectives; include useful facts like mileage on odometer, time owned, model year, special equipment and accessories bought, etc.
CDI, BUT NOT SEE/DEE
The letter from Mr. K. E. Blush in the Feedback department of your July issue of CYCLE WORLD has prompted this testimony of concurrence and further observation.
An excellent evaluation of the Judson Cycle/See/Dee appeared in the November ’73 copy of Chopper magazine, which I would like to summarize and then add to with my own experience.
As with Mr. Blush’s unit, and my own, the See/Dee unit installed and tested by the editors of that other magazine produced no thrilling response that the advertisements promised. They, however, were able to verify with an oscilloscope that there was no difference in the ignition waveform with the See/Dee unit in the circuit or with it disconnected! Their analysis was that the Judson Cycle/See/Dee is “a unit that fulfills no purpose that we could discover, and is seemingly designed and marketed to take advantage of the growing high-performance field. Product Summary: Well-made unit, adequate instructions. Warrantied. In our opinion, completely worthless. Our tests show it accomplishes exactly what a piece of wire does—it conducts current, without modifying it in any way. NOT ACCEPTABLE.”
My own experience is the same as Mr. Blush’s: the unit does not provide “firepower at the plug to match the ignition requirements of the engine,” or “keep the engine in tune and operating at peak efficiency.” These lies are comeons designed to lighten the load in your wallet.
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The unit does, however, keep the points from burning as frequently as they would without the unit installed, by decreasing the voltage across them and reducing the arcing that eventually destroys them. The replacement points on my 1970 Honda 750 lasted nearly twice as long with the See/Dee as the original set did without the See/Dee. The price of Honda points being what it is, this was not an inconsiderable savings. To obtain the advantage requires one to ride the same motorcycle for three or four years, though, so many riders would not begin to break even on the exchange. The Judson Cycle/See/ Dee is therefore a mighty ripoff that casts doubt on the many fine capacitive discharge ignition products on the market.
Thank you for the opportunity to express this opinion. I hope it will aid others who might be making a judgment toward buying the Judson unit.
William Douglas Arlington, Texas
BEGINNER'S BIKE
I am 13 years old and last year my father bought me a Honda ST90. We looked at Harleys, Suzukis, Yamahas, Kawasakis and many others to find the right bike for me. We picked the Honda ST90 because it had an automatic clutch, it was easy to handle, the size was right, it had a four-stroke engine, and it was quiet.
I’ve had the bike for a little over a year now and at the end of last summer entered a few races. I’ve found that a manual clutch is necessary in order to win. With the automatic clutch starts are slow and the engine screams when going up steep hills in first gear. The back blinkers stick out too far and get banged up and cracked from spills I take. The mirrors get loose and fall off from rough riding. The hand brake has been broken four times and the back wheel loses traction in deep sand.
Two months after I got my Honda my father bought an XL125. I started riding it this spring and found out that riding with a clutch provides more power, speed and faster starts.
The ST taught me how to ride in the dirt. It is rugged and sturdily built ... all 190 lb. of it. It will also take a new rider’s punishment. I’ve taken many spills and the bike came out banged up, but nothing I couldn’t fix myself. The ST will take you on the road or trail—wherever you want to go. After one or two years you will want a bike with a clutch though.
Adam Kravitz Irvington, N.J.
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COMMUTER SPECIAL
There is a lot of discussion now about “commuter” motorcycles in CYCLE WORLD, other bike magazines, and among bikers in general. Let me tell you my story.
I have had eight motorcycles in the last nine years, and my current bike, a 1973 TS400 Suzuki, is the best one I’ve ever had and is the most solid purchase I’ve ever made.
I am 6 ft. 3 in., weigh 220 lb., and like to be comfortable. The big Suzuki Single has three to five inches more wheelbase than most of the 250/500 street bikes. It weighs 50 to 150 pounds less than the field of these “mediumsized” cycles. Atop the comfortable seat, hands on the MX bars, I am a ballet dancer compared to the loaded, squat road hog street Twins on any road with corners.
At 8500 miles I haven’t broken a chain or worn out the standard trials tires, because the power comes on smooth and the bike is light. Changing both sprockets for a higher gearing has given me 50 to 65 mpg, top speed over 80, and legal limit cruising at 4000 rpm.
My Suzuki is a combination of BSA Gold Star and Jawa. It’s exciting to ride and as reliable as a concrete block. It has fouled exactly one plug.
If you’ve ever cleaned the oil filter on a four-stroke Twin, fiddled with adjusting two carbs, checked two plugs or set dual points, it’s easy to love. One plug, one carb, no points, no filter. The kind of technology I want is the kind I’ve got . . . refined simplicity!
Attention Commuters: The two-
stroke Single trail bike may be the best street bike around, for more than two years my Suzuki 400 has been and is!
Nelson 0. Cleavenger Riva, Md.
NOW THAT'S ENTHUSIASM
I would like to compliment you on your fine magazine, and this column is one of the reasons I have decided to subscribe to CYCLE WORLD. I only subscribe to exceptional magazines, and thus you rank with two of the finest in the country, Popular Science and Popular Electronics.
And now to the subject of this letter, a 1970 Yamaha 175. I doubt that many will believe my story, but I assure you that it’s all true. The bike just celebrated its fifth birthday and its fortythousandth mile (that’s right, 40,000)! No kidding! The bike still starts second kick, cold and first kick, hot, just like five years ago. The Yamaha is stone stock, with the exception of a Bassani pipe, and is every bit as fast as anything in its class.
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Ready for some more unbelievable facts? In the 37,000 miles that I have owned the Yamaha, I have fouled three spark plugs. The first one, in March 1973, was due to some very poor quality, heavily leaded gas. The last two, which fouled recently, I blame on poor quality two-stroke oil. (I found sludge at the bottom of the cans, and this is a nationally known brand!). Now all my oil spends at least a week in a glass bottle before it is used.
In those 40,000 miles, only four parts have broken without provocation from an accident (excluding cables and light bulbs). At 7000 miles a ring broke, destroying the piston and requiring a bore to first oversize. At 10,000 miles the muffler vibrated apart and was replaced by the Bassani. At 14,000 miles the fifth gear pinion broke, causing loss of third gear. And at 25,000 miles the kickstart gear behind the clutch broke, which was replaced with the 1971 gear set, larger and stronger than the original.
The only chronic problem I have been unable to cure is a leaky float bowl on the otherwise troublefree carburetor. The usual parts have worn out and been replaced (pistons, rings, chains, sprockets, etc.), but the clutch is the weak link in the chain. It seems to slip no matter what is done to it. The slip is not bad, but it is irritating to know it’s there.
There are very few design flaws in the engine (the clutch actuating mechanism is easily damaged if the chain comes off, the points are hard to get to, and the intake noise is excessive), and it can be completely rebuilt with very few tools. The only other major flaws that interfere with my type of riding (play biking) are the front and rear suspension. A set of used Konis fixed the rear, but I am still suffering with the front.
A word about front fenders. I fail to see the necessity of a high front fender, other than the unsprung weight problem. Here in Mobile we have one of the highest rainfall rates in the country, and, consequently, a LOT of mud. The front wheel has only locked up once, due to mud between the wheel and fork tube. The stock low fender causes no problems and keeps me cleaner than a high fender.
I would like to pass on a few improvements I have found. After replacing several sets of front fork seals, I discovered that two seals in each leg cured the problem completely. The seals can be purchased from Suzuki for about half the price Yamaha charges. If you have access to a well-equipped machine shop, then a Honda CL100 rear sprocket (about $4.25), can be adapted to replace the $16 Yamaha sprocket. Also, the combination of a Champion Gold Paladium spark plug, quality twostroke oil, and unleaded gasoline is unbeatable in my Yamaha. I bought my first Champion in January 1973, used it for 16 months and 12,000 miles, and replaced it from force of habit. It now functions as a spare plug, and I can detect no difference in performance between the old and new plugs.
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There are other advantages to the Yamaha other than its fantastic reliability. The local Yamaha shop stocks 95 percent of the parts I have needed over the years, which is nice because I’d rather ride than wait for parts. The Yamaha is very easy to ride, and with it I’ve had the pleasure of introducing about 20 people to motorcycling.
I’ll probably put 10 or 15,000 more miles on the Yamaha, then I may restore it to its original shape and put it in my living room. My next bike? A Yamaha, of course!
Pat Coleman Mobile, Ala.
WILL ALWAYS BUY A BUL
After having been a Yamaha owner for years, I recently purchased a 1974 Bultaco 250 Alpina. Of course, I can not say enough about the Bui; however, the circumstances surrounding the purchase are something I must comment on.
A friend of mine called me one day to tell me about a Bultaco dealer who had closed his dealership. The finance company that was holding the floor plan was offering several bikes for sale at greatly reduced prices. Sure enough, I was able to purchase a brand new Bui for about half the retail price. The speedometer was missing, but I thought who could complain, at the price I bought the Bul for, I could afford to purchase a speedometer. I wrote Bultaco International, Virginia Beach, Virginia, and asked them to send me a speedometer C.O.D. I briefly told them the circumstances. They sent the speedometer all right . . . free and postage paid, along with a price catalog, special books, etc. 1 couldn’t believe it. But that’s not all. They forgot to send the cable, so I wrote them again, and asked them to send the cable C.O.D. It, too, came free and postage paid. I was overwhelmed, needless to say.
As long as they build motorcycles, I will own a Bultaco, if for no other reason than for this excellent experi ence.
Robert D. Bray Franklin, Tenn.
