New Ideas In Restoratives And Shifters

New Ideas In Restoratives and Shifters

CYCLE WORLD hears about many new products each month. We choose the ones we think would be of the most interest to our readers. We obtain a sample we can test and proceed with an evaluation that is just as thorough as the one we give the bikes we test. We can't test everything, but if you have a preference drop us a line and we 'll do our best to obtain the product and pass on our test information.

WET ENERGY THIRST QUENCHER

This stuff ain't soda pop. the makers say and the makers are right. The little packet in the picture and the strange mixture in the plastic jug are a new idea in restoratives, which is not to say the drink is for entertainment.

Working up a sweat in motocross or tennis or any form of exercise means getting thirsty. Water was for centuries the best cure, while soft drinks, tea, beer, etc. were what people drank because flavored water works almost as well as plain water and is more fun.

Science came up with mixtures better than water. Technical details aside, the new drinks use various natural chemicals and sugars and duplicate your internal chemistry, which means you get back your natural fluid balance at maximum speed. The first people to come up w ith such a drink gave it a pleasant flavor and sell it in cans and bottles.

Wet Energy is the same chemical idea, minus water. It comes in a package and you mix it yourself, by quart or gallon. It’s more trouble, but the cost per drink is less and you can carry the little envelopes easily, then mix the drink at the campsite or in the pits.

We tried Wet Energy in two sets of circumstances: in the office, while not thirsty, and after riding, when we were thirsty. We can't vouch for or judge any of the scientific facts, i.e. we don't know that it restores chemical balance and has substances that are good for you.

We can say that when tasted in the office it was drinkable but not tasty. Bland, with a touch of salt.

For the punchline, we can also say that when you are thirsty Wet Energy works.

The powder is supposed to be on sale at most bike shops.

SHIF-T GEAR LEVER

Good gear engineering lever is a modification here. The Shif-T of the standard gear lever, in that the Shif-T has two pegs. You shift up by pulling up on the top peg and shift down by pushing down on the bottom peg. The bottom peg has rubber and the top is protected by a tidy leather patch so you won't scratch your boot. Neat.

The production is as good. The shifter is aluminum, carefully dressed and polished. The splines are properly cut and the unit slips right onto the stock shift rod.

The theory has some merit. With the shifter bracketing your foot, your foot doesn't have to bracket the shifter. Instead of sliding your toe sideways each time you want to change the direction of the shifting. that is, up or down, you merely pull up or push down. Nor is it difficult to get your foot into place after stopping in traffic, the flaw that worried us when first we tried this idea.

Fine, so far. In practice, not so good. An experienced rider gets used to pivoting his shifting foot, so the Shif-T fills a need we may not have. It's an answer for a question few riders ask. Next, two separate pegs means you must pull higher for upshifts and push lower for downshifts. There’s a longer up-and-down motion in place of the sideways pivot.

We tried the Shift-T on the Honda CB400F which was being tested at the time the shifter arrived. The new' lever is shorter than the stock Honda lever and getting into gear was more difficult with the ShiftT. There are several models, and perhaps we had the wrong one.

In any case, the Shift-T seemed to us to be a well designed and constructed accessory w hich doesn’t offer any significant improvement over the stock part it replaces. Gain a little, lose a little, is more the case. If it sounds as if not pivoting your foot would be a benefit, at least the shifter is well made.

The Shif-T comes from L&R Products, 1800 Lave Ave. Long Beach, Calif. 90815. Price is SI5.95 and there are six sizes, for all popular models from the Big Four. 151