Editing Harley-Davidson SXT250

{{Infobox Motorcycle
|name             = [[Harley-Davidson]] SXT250
|image            = [[File:harley-davidson-sx-250.jpg|frameless|Harley-Davidson SXT250]]
|aka              = 
|manufacturer     = Harley-Davidson
|parent_company   =
|production       = 1975
|model_year       =
|predecessor      =
|successor        =
|class            =
|engine           = Two stroke, single cylinder
|bore_stroke      =
|compression      = 10.3:1
|top_speed        =
|power            =
|torque           =
|fuel_system      =
|ignition         =
|spark_plug       =
|battery          =
|transmission     = 5 Speed
|frame            =
|suspension       =Front: Oil [[damper]] Ceriant telescopic fork <br>
Rear: Pivoted fork and Betor dampers 3-way adjustment
|brakes           =Front: Single disc <br>Rear: Drum
|front_tire       = {{tire|3.00 -21}} 
|rear_tire   	  = {{tire|4.00 -18}} 
|rake_trail       =
|wheelbase        =
|length           =
|width            =
|height           =
|seat_height      =
|dry_weight       =
|wet_weight       = 129 kg / 294.4 lbs
|fuel_capacity    = 10.5 Litres / 2.7 US gal
|oil_capacity     =
|fuel_consumption =
|turning_radius   =
|related          =
|competition      =
}}



==Engine==
The engine was a Air cooled cooled Two stroke, single cylinder. The engine featured a 10.3:1 [[compression ratio]].  

==Chassis==
It came with a 3.00 -21 front [[tire]] and a 4.00 -18 rear tire. Stopping was achieved via Single disc in the front and a Drum in the rear. The front suspension was a  Oil damper Ceriant telescopic fork while the rear was equipped with a Pivoted fork and Betor dampers 3-way adjustment. The SXT250 was fitted with a 10.5 Litres / 2.7 US gal fuel tank.  
== Photos ==
[[File:harley-davidson-sx-250.jpg|600px|Harley-Davidson SXT250]]

== Overview ==


Aermacchi /

Harley Davidson

SXT 250
















Hoping to draw even larger groups of riders into the Harley-Davidson fold,
the Motor Company continued to explore the options offered by smaller, more
nimble machines. The SS-250 was a larger version of the earlier SS-175 and
was meant for use on the street. For those wanting on-and off-road
capabilities, the SX-250 was at their avail. The two-stroke motor displaced
250 cc, and rowed through a five-speed gearbox for maximum flexibility and
eager response. Not a huge hit in its first year, the SS-250 still filled
the needs of many riders.
Review
Suzuki GT250 vs CZ 471 vs Honda CB250
vs Ducati 250 vs Harley SS-250 vs Yamaha RD250
IT REALLY wasn't intended to turn out
this way. we reflected as the test hung rag geclly only halfway to
completion and tense 'phone calls from harassed importers began pointing out
that most of the bikes were already overdue for return. The rush of mail
after the six bike 125 cc Giant Test in the January issue had suggested that
a similar venture with 250s would be welcomed, so we set out to assemble up
to half - a  dozen quarter litre roadsters. But at that stage there was no
intention of billing the project as any kind of biggest and best in
motorcycle testing, as that kind of sanctimonious breast - beating is
generally better left to the Daily GetsMuch Worses of Fleet Street.
However, matters began to change
complexion once we drew up a list of potential victim machinery. For Giant
Testing purposes, bikes often fall into neat and obvious little groups of
twos and threes, viz. the Trident v Commando Brit bikes in last month's
issue, or the Suzuki v DkW Wankels in February. But in the 250 class, life
turned out to be not so easy for hack scribes seeking clean-cut solu tions.
The four Japanese factories obvi ously had to be included, for the simple
reason that a lot of people bu\ their 250s. either because they like them or
because thev think that's all there is.
MORE VARIETY
But it was felt that more variety was
needed, so onto the list was pencilled MZ, who really had to be included
after their unexpected success as value - for - money winners of the January
125 bash. But if the low priced MZ was to get in. so should the even cheaper
CZ. And a Ducati too, as these fuel-conscious four stroke singles are
apparently being snapped up faster than car factories are laying off
workers.
That made a total of seven bikes, and it
seemed a good time to call a halt. In any case, they represented every
manufacturer attempting lo sell 250 cc road bikes in quantity in the UK.
Note that on this occasion we'd avoided trail bikes or dual purpose street /
trailers, making 250s intended for pure road use the strictest parameter of
the test.
The next step was to send out letters or
'phone calls requesting the various bikes. It's at this stage of a Giant
Test intro that we usually lapse into slightly paranoid tirades against the
mypoic state of the motorcycle industry in the UK for frequent unwillingness
and/or inability to allow the public to sample their products via the
vicarious medium of road tests. So to give the trade the least possible
excuses for avoiding the shoot-out. the begging letters were despatched no
less than four months before the time you're reading this  in other
words, a clear two months before testing was due to commence. But as it
turned out. the expected wrestling match in procuring certain of the bikes
didn't materialise, and most of them were promised almost by return of post.
Then, with lest time rapidly approaching.
Harley stepped in to offer us the first British ride on the SS 250. the new
street version of their two-stroke single trail bike. Now' this is the point
at which things got really serious and heavy. We suddenly realised that we
had on our hands the most comprehensive motorcycle test ever attempted in
Britain. It may not be modest to say so. but it's a plain fact that Bike
holds all the records anyway, starting with the seven-bike trail test back
in Spring '72, followed by an eight-machine moped squirt in the summer of
'72, and the aforementioned 125 cc session earlier this year.
Now although this test includes the same
number of bikes as the moped buzz, it's obvious that full-blooded
motorcycles demand a lot more attention and riding time if meaningful
results and conclusions are to be drawn. So we felt justified, if only we
could keep the eight would-be suppliers up to their promises, in banging the
can about this being the biggest test session ever compiled in British
biking journalism.
Right, now the riders. A venture of this
magnitude was clearly too cumbersome for the mag's full-timers of Hay lock.
Mather and me to undertake alone. Fortunately, we're blessed with the
support of a number of capable, if eccentric, freelances (for evidence of
quixotic behaviour, check this and past issues for A History of Project
Bikes I Have Bodged / Forgotten About / Changed at the Last Minute, as
compiled by Martin '"Don't Worry 'bout a Thing" Harrison). So in they came.

Harrison himself, the unrelated
Williamses. Mark and Barney, and Graham Sanderson, who deserved something
more pokey to ride in return for past support in compiling moped and 125 cc
sessions. Plus Pete Ward, who was once gullible enough to ride to the
Elephant Rally for Bike and who now races vintage grass track machines, but
there, we all make mistakes some time in life and those are just some of
his!a few minor breakdowns occurring, some bikes not being run in at the
time of collection, and the lengthy business of having to cart all eight to
the test strip, and taking them back again if for some reason they'd
malfunctioned the first time, it became obvious that we'd bitten off more
than we could digest easily.
That's why we were forced to hang on to
the bikes for a long while, and we can only hope it didn't cause that much
inconvenience to suppliers  we'll find out the next time we ask 'em for
machinery.
Meanwhile, in the following pages
there'll hopefully be pertinent information for anyone owning or
contemplating the purchase of a 250 cc motorcycle, and wholesome
entertainment for those who can't afford one or wouldn't even bother to spit
dirt at one with the rear Metzeler of their R90S.
Mike Nicks
CZ 471
WHAT YOU SEE is most definitely what you
get with the CZ. Don't be fooled into thinking that because it's a
two-stroke twin just like the Yamaha and the Suzuki, you're buying into some
kind of secret society bargain that'll put a smirk on your face every time
you go riding with your Jap mounted buddies. The truth is. the smile will
fade when they disappear over a faraway hill and you're still waiting for
the CZ to peak in third gear.
However, that's not to say that Commie
biking is all shattered illusions, merely to point out that the £200
difference between the CZ and the Japanese products is a pretty accurate
reflection of their respective values, and the kind of biking fun you'll get
from them. In any case, Skoda GB are honest enough to maiket the CZs as low
cost commuter machines, so there's no reason for potential buyers to expect
anything more.
Budget biking in the case of the 471
consists of the aforesaid twin-cylinder motor cradled in a single loop
frame, and driving through a four speed gearbox. It must be almost unique
these days in being a twin with only a single carburettor (a 24-mm Jikov).
although that's entirely in keeping with the CZ's prosaic style. Lubrication
is by messy old oil - in - the - fuel, and electrics are only six volt.
Items you don't expect to find on a three
hundred quid 250 include alloy rims and a fully enclosed rear chain, the
latter making it easy to keep things clean. But the handlebar switches are
as shoddy as on any Italian bike, and the one on the right controlling the
indicators works in the confusing up and down plane. The dip and the horn
button are on the left. A two-tone paint job is evidence of CZ's attempts to
get on terms with the decadent West, which makes it even more of a shame
that they should have chosen sickly shades of either green or brown.
Overall, the CZ's appearance is, shall we say, ruggedly sturdy.
As the motor puts out a modest 17
horsepower, it's hardly surprising that the Japanese and Italian
competition, and even its MZ Commie bedmate, will leave the CZ well behind
in the performance stakes.
That's an observation rather than a
complaint, however, as when one cocks a limb over something that's obviously
designed as a utility machine, the blood tends to cool and you even begin to
enjoy motoring at a more sedate pace, watching the landscape and the cities
you're passing rather than frantically trying to outbrakc a line of 47 Ford
Cortinas into the next roundabout. Suffice to say that the CZ has adequate
acceleration, and progress is assisted by the lulling lack of vibration at
medium engine speeds.
On the subject of roundabouts, and indeed
bends in general, I slowed down a lot for the first one on the CZ. allowing
for the worst just in case lousy handling went with the low price. But it
seemed to track well, and after swinging through the next two a little
deeper and harder, it became obvious that CZ put into their road bikes what
they've learnt from their famed dirt bikes that clean up every year in the
International Six Days Trials.
A pity then, that the brakes on the 471
were so feeble in contrast. A stopping distance of 176 feet from 60 mph
comes perilously close to earning the kind of abuse we heaped on the Russian
two-strokes we had the misfortune to lest last year, both of which were so
disgustingly under braked that they were potentially lethal in Western
Traffic conditions. It's a mystery really, as I don't recall previous test
CZs being that bad in stopping qualities, and the 471 does have the benefit
of a twin-leading shoe front anchor.
While they need belter brakes, what CZ
ought to junk is that appalling arrange ment of the clutch being operated by
both the clutch and gear levers. The clutch lever only has to be worked if
you're engaging gear at rest, pressure on the gear level doing the work
automatically during on the - move changes. But really, all it achieves is
to fuzz up even further an already long and clunky gearbox action.
Really earning its keep, the gear level
also doubles as the kickstart once you tap it lightly in the direction of
the crankcase. allowing it to be swung up and back for action. You then find
that the CZ is one of the. easiest two-strokes lo start, always burbling to
life within two or three swings even after days of inactivity.
A steady flow of approving readers'
letters would seem to indicate that most CZ owners don't get stuck by the
roadside too often, which made it more surprising when the lest bike started
wheezing asthmati-cally one day. A knackered head gasket was speedily
repaired while I attended the press opening of Skoda's big new distribution
and service plant at King's Lynn for their tractors, cars and bikes, which
served to indicate that they are serious indeed about selling their products
in the UK. Would-be owners need have no fears about being left with obsolete
and unrepairable machines on their hands in future years.
With the gasket job done, it was back to
finishing off the running in session before taking the bike to the test
strip for performance tests. But time was running out too, so we had to lake
'er up there still with only 800 miles on the clock. By most two-stroke
standards that's a reasonable mileage, but CZs seem to need longish running
in periods, and the test bike more or less told us so when the motor seized
up with an anguished yelp just as I was doing my Kenny Roberts bit up the
strip and only 50 yards from the speed trap. So. although we had
acceleration figures by that time, you'll see in the Checkout panels only an
estimated figure of 75 mph for the bike's top wack. This seems realistic for
a bike with a cruising speed of around 55 to 60 mph.
A pity she locked up. though, because an
event like that always seems to end a test on a sour note, even though it
was in a way our own fault through not having the lime to do more
preliminary miles with the motor. Still, by that stage I'd already decided
that £308 was about as much as one can be asked to pay for a bike with lousy
brakes and a bad joke for a gearbox.
Mike Nick
Ducati 250 MkIII
IT'S A FINE day and a cheerful
whistling floats from the door of the bike shop. The sunlight glints on the
well greased hair of the boss as he makes his morning inspection of the
assembled machinery, checking tyre pressures with practised kicks. Enter a
kid just turned 17. Nuts on bikes, his FSlE is propped against the wall
outside, its barrel glowing cherry red.
With the expert eye of a youth who's digested all the road tests, he
examines the rows of gleaming machines, firing questions at the man like he
was leading the case for the prosecution. "What'll it do?" "Is it right they
don't 'andle?'" " 'Ou much a week?"
Now for the purpose of this
story. Mr. Brylcreem turns out to be the kid's fairy godfather, forming his
opinion and guiding his choice with the expertise and wisdom of 20 years in
the trade. "Jap crap." "Yer can't get no spares." and "Sold." dispenses with
Honda. Suzuki and MZ. So the pair reach the end of the row, and there
proudly displaying its £519 inc. VAT price tag is a Ducati Mk 3. For a few
moments the kid's future is poised on a knife edge. It's only got one
cylinder, and no winkers, no disc brake, and no flash paint job. and it
looks little. At this point the fairy godfather waves his wand, seems it's
special offer week and if the kid signs now he'll get an extra thirty bob
trade-in on his FSIE. The spell is cast, the kid buys the Ducati. A few
months later he's back for the Desmo SS 750.
Now the point of this fable is
that 1 really think it could happen  naive kid in danger of ignoring the
Ducati unless someone who knows better is on hand to tell him to look deeper
than surface flash and glitter on other products. When I picked up the Duke
I suddenly remembered there were a lot of pleasant things in motorcycling
I'd forgotten about, so for todav's teenager the situation is pretty serious
because if he starts on an overweight Japanese 250 he's never likely to
realise that there is a choice of alternative forms of biking.
First of all. the Ducati feels
like a real motorcycle when you come to start it. There's real compression
that threatens to break your ankle if it kicks back, though the test bike
never did. and when it does start (usually after two or three kicks) it
sounds like a proper bike, too. When it's warm you can close the throttle
and it'll tick over with a gentle thump from the exhaust and the rev counter
showing nil.
So it sounds good and it looks
good.
But how does it feel? Initially it's kind of funny if you've been riding
Japanese bikes. The suspension feels really bad. and after about ten minutes
you've got a pain in your back which lasts until you get off the bike. The
vibration is considerable and it gets worse as you go faster, with the usual
destructive effect on light bulbs.
With a bike like the Ducati.
though, it seems petty to moan about minor failings because once you get on
it and find that favourite stretch of windy road, it's a real dream.
Flicking through S-bends. going up and down that sweet five-speed box. I
realised that this is genuine fun biking. I
did tilings on the Mk III I thought I'd grown out of; I went round corners
too fast, I left my braking too late, in fact on occasions I thoroughly
frightened myself, but not once did the bike hint that things had been
pushed too far. Now I'm not the sort of tester who wears away crankcases on
corners, but I reckon you'd have to do something prcttv dumb to drop the Mk
III.
The hard suspension means you
feel every bump and dip in the road, yet it was almost a pleasure to meet a
bump halfway round a bend and well cranked over. Your backside might leave
the saddle, the rear wheel might step out a bit. but that was it, no snaking
or weaving for the next 500 yards, just line it up for the next bend.
For those not familiar with
Ducatis. the Mk 3 model has an overhead cam engine with the valves closed by
springs in the normal manner, unlike the Desmo jobs where the valves are
opened and closed mechanically. Either way you get lots of revs: 8.000 rpm
is recommended peak buzzing point for the Mk. III. The 250 Desmo. which
costs £599. goes to 8,500 rpm.
Essentially, the Ducati is a
pokey motor in a lightweight chassis that steers and brakes really well. But
for what it is it's not cheap  and some things about the bike are almost
trashy, particularly the six-volt lighting system, the usual junk Italian
switches, and the weird forward siting of the footrests that need to be
replaced with rear-sets.
Some aspects of the Ducati
marketing organisation also give cause for concern. Certain of the bikes
appear to arrive in this country incorrectly geared. The 450 Desmo tested in
April was originally badly undergeared before the fault was corrected, and
the importers also had to gear up the 250 test bike before we received it.
Then it wouldn't rev in top gear. Ever helpful Mick Walker at Wisbech found
the bike had been fitted with an incorrect plug and was wildly under-jetted.
Hmm. But having got that problem sorted out the motor really buzzed, and in
the hands of the wily editor himself the Duke turned out to be the fastest
of all eight bikes tested.
Peter Ward
Harley Davidson SS-250
IT*S ALL very well bragging
about racing successes when advertising motorcycles, but acclaiming one's
new single-cylinder roadster as the hottest thing ever to grace tarmac
simply on the basis of some rather limited racing fortunes is a little,
well, rash. Nevertheless that's exactly what the British division of AMF
Harley-Davidson are doing with their new quarter litre bolide name of
SS-250. and it fell to me to contribute to this Giant Test fantasy aboard
those very same wheels.
This is the first Italian built
Harley I've ridden and it was just like I imagined an Italian built Harley
would be  more Italian than Harley. Which isn't at all a bad thing I s'pose.
But the typically annoying peculiarities found in most Italian bikes haven't
been eradicated by American design, which I find disappointing.
Take my favourite beef:
electrics (actually my favourite beef is sirloin, but enough of that).
Italian manufacturers CEV have produced an alternative to the mediocre tin
snuff boxes that most Italian 'cycle builders frivolously refer to as
switches. My hopes were raised when I saw them on the SS-250, but in use
they proved just as cumbersome and ineffectual as their forefathers. So why
bother redesigning them, eh? Specifically, the horn button only worked if
your thumb hit it fairly and squarely from a 90-dcgree angle, the headlamp
flasher didn't and virtually none of the individual switches could be
flicked or pressed without a fumble. Bad show chaps.
But enough of this introductory
bitching, you want to know how the damn thing goes, right? Well it does.
Quite nicely. Unfortunately Harley-Davidson had in lime honoured tradition
provided a road tesi bike which wasn't run in (and the lady secretary who
showed me lo AMF's basement garage wondered why some magazines returned lest
bikes thai appeared to be in "obviously second-hand condition". Well. well,
well...
So the bike was lighter than
Bike's accountant when it came to generous throttle opening. With just over
100 miles on the speedo I was unable to coax anything out of the
conventionally ported 2-stroke above six grand except a little indignant
misfiring. I was also unhappy about the bike's starting abilities, which
were decidedly lacking when cold. The Harley uses a 32-mm Dell 'Orto which
is fitted with a strictly on-or-off choke arrangement a la the Morini I
tested last month.
Students of advertising copy
will know that the SS-250 comes complete with chrome bore, oil injection and
an integral oil reservoir in the top tube of its twin downtube frame. If you
want to know anything more like what sort of main bearings or crankshaft it
has. how often it should be serviced or anything else mildly technical,
before you buy this machine, then you'd better go out and steal one. strip
it down and work it out. Because the London HQ of AMF H-D may not be able to
tell you. In fact all they were interested in when I 'phoned up to enquire
about such trivia was when they were going to get it back. And this was the
day after I picked it up! See penultimate paragraphs for evil suspicions
thereof.
I was also unexcited about
erratic firing which, in my naivety, I believed CD ignition was s'posed to
eliminate. This proffered itself most readily at the lower end of the rev
range. However, the thing accelerated briskly enough whilst I had it. and
the Peterborough boys managed lo coax some very respectable times out of it
through the traps (after Nicks had rushed it around the East Midlands for a
day to knacker it, er, I mean loosen it up a bit).
In fact, the 80 mph top end was
recorded from just one run through the lights, in deference to the meagre
400 miles still on the clock at that stage. The top clout of a fully run-in
SS must be in the mid eighties, and this, together with very sharp
acceleration times (partly a result of the SS being lightest of the bikes on
test, at just 267 lb) makes it most definitely a Quick One.
The handling was also a good
deal. The SS-250 is set up like a trail bike and indeed it shares its frame
with trail bike counterparts, so at first I was a little nervous about
slinging it hard into bends. Familiarity bred confidence however, much of
which must be down to the grippy Pirelli MT boots which did their thing come
rain or shine (remember sunshine?) Shocks V forks courtesy of Betor aided
and abetted no doubt, but the price paid for the Harley's love affair with
the tarmac was a ride that bordered on the harsh side of firm. The
generously sized and padded seat partially compensated for this, though.
Gearbox and drive train married
a positive stop five-speeder with helical geared primary drive, and I found
the ratios a
mite closely spaced as I kept crying out for a sixth cog, even in town
traffic. However they slotted into place quite snappily. which was just as
well for after 20 minutes stop-start riding one's wrist became numbed from
wrestling with the exceedingly stiff multi-plate clutch ... scarcely had the
strength to close my handbag after a day's riding, dearie. No-no number
three, I'm afraid.
And straight on to no-no number
four, inaccessibility to vital organs and lack of tool kit and a place to
store it. Sec. the seat is bolted on. as is the nearside side panel, and
neither can be removed to reveal battery, wiring etc.. without a wrench. And
she don't come with any wrenches. As a token gesture you can remove the
plastic panel on the offside to get at the air filter, but that's all.
Sorry lo be bitchy AMF (but I'm
told your Baja 90 is a gas and I love your V-twins, by way of compensation)
but to put tiny single leading shoe drum brakes on a bike you claim to be a
world beater, in the roadster stakes seriously challenges my credibility 
54 inches of drum front V rear is all you get kids, and it ain't enough. At
low speeds it'll slop without drama, but grabbing anchor in a hurry from,
say, 60 em-pee-aitch is strictly a brown trouser affair.
For a town bike the SS-250 has
promise, great promise, that it never quite lived up to. In my hands anyway.
As this was a test bike designed to impress cynical 'cycle hacks. I'm afraid
aclual punters may have to put up with even less fulfilment. However I've
heard it said in the trade that importers don't give a damn about what the
press says anyway. If by some remote chance that should be the case, then I
thought the bike was a disgustingly prepared travesty of what a test bike
should be and Harley-Davidson deserve to go the same way as the importers of
WSK,
Bridgestone and all those other
gentlemen who were only interested in shifting the largest number of
motorcycles for the biggest possible financial reward in the shortest
possible lime and screw the consequences. Me? I'm going to give H-D the
benefit of the doubt and say better luck next time.
Mark Williams
Honda CB250
IN THE INTERESTS of fair,
unbiased and sober(??) journalism I feel I must declare a minute interest in
the vast Honda Motor Company, namely that I own one of their delightful CB
125"s. However. I assure readers of this glossy toilet paper that this fact
will have no bearing whatever on the underwritten epistle which, in the
manner of most Bike tests, will be down-to-earth, occasionally cynical and
maybe even mildly amusing.
For your £540 you will get a
machine which will be labelled mild tempered by Honda fans and downright
gutless by those who continue to swear at Japanese engineering. The
businesslike appearance of the hefty G5 with its racey upswept silencers,
front disc and powerful looking motor, somewhat belies the machine's
mediocre display in the performance stakes. But there is a logical
explanation. Honda earn several dimes flogging two-wheeled exotica to
down-town American college kids and at the moment President Ford is in the
process of sweeping pollution, and particularly exhaust fumes, into his
environmental dustbin, which has led to a tighlening-up of pollution laws.
Restrictions on exhaust gas have
led to reductions in performance, for the time being at least, and so the
once quick K4's have developed into the much slower but more refined G5's.
Anyway, less of the science and let's get kitted-up and go for a spin.
This machine took some riding,
especially in the early part of our association when the rear shocks were
set on the softest of five positions. It was mentally and physically
exhausting slipping in and out of six gears, picking a way through bumpy
corners and praying to the Heavens that the still rather hopeless Japanese
tyres wouldn't give up their task in protest at a normal day's work. The
bike would buck and leap ov'er bumps, wallow and skip and generally sap
every ounce of confidence.
These protests at cornering were
pretty well remedied when the rear units were set at the stiff end of the
scale. This transformed the handling into a bike that was happy, but still
not overjoyed, about negotiating bends.
An electric starter dispenses with all that frenzied kicking, and the motor
would fire up after three or four touches of the button with the right
thumb. No sweat.
After a minute or two the engine would settle down into an almost BMW-like
tick-over (honest) but a brisk movement with the right hand soon shattered
any illusion that I was riding a Bavarian beauty when the rev-counter needle
spun quickly clockWise to the accompaniment of that now traditional Honda
Sound. Didn't like the handlebars much. Too wide, like riding a bloody
scrambler, but more o' that later.
Selecting first gear was often a
noisy affair that was soon put into order when things had hotted up. One
improvement over earlier models is that you don't have to give the G5 quite
as many beans. Despite the be-careful mark at 9,200 rpm it will pull quite
happily from around three grand and there seems little to be gained by
buzzing the motor over eight thou. The last 1,200 revs merely prompt
reactions of "Cor" and "Coo" from tartan-scarfed youths. Acceleration is
little more than mundane, but just enough to keep the rider interested and
enough to put miles between you and the inevitable 35 mph Sunday afternoon
clot of four-wheeled crawlers on twisty roads. It's no good grabbing
handfuls of throttle, either, when the same result can be achieved by using
a modicum of revs. However, speeding over 75 mph requires much stoking of
fires but somehow I got the feeling that this is really a 70 mph machine
which, despite lack of umph in the upper reaches of the speedo, performs 70
mph duties one or two up without fuss.
Two bodies on board did seem to
take its toll on petrol consumption, and one 70 mph two-up run accounted for
one gallon in 45 miles. But just to prove that Bike testers are not always
throttle bending psychopaths, a sane one-up run using between six and 74.
thousand revs achieved the highly respectable figure of 68 miles for one's
74 pen'orth. The bike averaged 63 mpg throughout the 500-mile test.
Snicking through six gears is a
novelty at first but gets rather laborious after the first hundred miles.
Top is really a back-wind overdrive, although on odd occasions the motor
would hold and even increase revs  for a few miles at least. Handlebars
are just too wide and consequently the rider is formed into a human
parachute. Wind pressure is unpleasant at first and exhausting after 20
miles in moderate breezes. Controls provide no hassle but main beam in the
illumination stakes fails to reach expectations. It's virtually the same as
dip but condensed into a smaller area, penetrating the darkness only
marginally better than dip. Both settings are safe for 60 mph.
Braking at the front end is
excellent, with the well-mannered disc exuding confidence. Tentative use of
the rear drum, which soon locks under a heavy boot, is the order of the day,
but when used in unison it was quickly goodbye 70 mph and hello railway
gates.
Vibration is always in the background with an ever-present tingle in the
footrests both front and rear. Nothing to worry about, but I imagine it
would increase significantly if regular servicing was neglected. For the
technically minded, the latest models feature mods to rocker arms and cam
chain tensioncr.
You must admit that the G5 is a "nice" motorbike, even my mum wanted to hop
on the pillion, but potential buyers should not expect too much. Remember,
the more lively CB 360 is only sixty quid more.
Graham Sanderson
Kawasaki S1
MY STREET seems to have a fatal
attraction for loony bikers. It has a sharp bend at the bottom with plenty
of adverse camber, broken glass and the occasional abandoned mattress, so
you crawl around at a snail's pace until wham  300 yards of straight
road strewn with cars, coaches, kids on tricycles, sniffing dogs and little
old ladies with shopping baskets on wheels. It's the nearest thing to a drag
strip quarter this side of Hackney  or so the casual passer-by would
imagine.
'Course I know different,
because every once in a while one or more of these loonies squeals to a tyre
shredding halt right outside my front door to take in the latest machine
propping up the fence. Doubtless some of them think I'm an eccentric bike
freak who buys a new cycle every other week, but those who know The Truth
hang around prodding tyres, bouncing on dual seats, until I poke me nose
around the door.
Naturally, word of the up-coming
eight bike extravaganza spread through this neighbourhood biking fraternity
like wildfire, so I got plenty of gratuitous advice when they heard (all
right, I boasted) that I was going to get the Kawasaki.
Fast? You bet: fastest 250 on
the street. Burns rubber in every gear. Mind you. wouldn't like to run one
with the price of petrol these days  they won't be selling many now, just
you see.
Hmmm ... yet something somewhere
wasn't quite right, as a quick burst on the Yamaha just prior to my
collecting the Kawasaki found me a rather disappointed young man as I tooled
the triple down the road from Davick's Long Eaton showroom. The Yam's pokey
powerband had given me a taste for that sudden surge of speed as the tacho
swung past five grand  but the Kawasaki has no such characteristic.

Sure it was fast enough once
under way, and cruising over long distances it was as tireless as a big
capacity tourer, but coming off the line was not the heady experience I had
expected.
At the time 1 thought it must be me; perhaps -the Kawasaki was on the pipe
from the word go, churning smoothly right round to the red line. Not having
the two bikes to run side by side I was relying on brief road riding
impressions and such things can be deceptive, but the speed trap confirmed
that the Kawasaki was down on acceleration. As for fuel consumption  well
you've probably guessed by now. Figures down in the mid twenties appear to
be a thing of the past. Try as I might, the worst I could manage was a
gnat's whisker under forty and that was through rush hour London, locked in
the eternal life or death struggle with the four-wheeled meanies who glue
their accelerator pedals permanently to the floor.
There had to be some
explanation, but I couldn't find one. According to the publicity blurb the
only major change for '75 is the colour scheme. There's a new rider's
handbook clip under the seat and a spare spark plug holder for three plugs.
And one key now works all three steering, seat and fuel locks. Obviously
nobody's giving away any secrets.
So whatever happened to the
98mph top wack recorded on our test session back in 1973? Gone the way of
all good things I don't doubt. The 250 S1 is now "a luxury you can afford";
it's only the big triples, the 500 and the 750. that get the "handle with
care" treatment. The press release reads like an apology, brimming with
toadies like "connoisseur's choice", "discerning riders" and "ultimate in
sopii.stication". "Kawasaki", it says, "have an established reputation for
not making unnecessary changes." Funny, but that's not quite the reputation
that springs immediately to my mind.
Myths, legends and old wives' tales apart, what do you get for your money?
Looking at the current 250
line-up the SI is undoubtedly good value. It weighs quite a bit more" than
you'd expect for a machine of its size, which must lend something to its
glued - to - the - road handling, and the brakes  a drum front anchor being
something of a rarity these days  are more than adequate. I'm not too happy
with the way the centre exhaust crosses beneath the motor to the offside,
though. It's nothing to do with the looks, but Jap bikes are sods to clean
and the SI is no exception. The front wheel flings all manner of road grot
onto the pipe and the only way to get it off is to grovel around underneath.
A good dose of rock salt and you can kiss your chrome goodbye.
There's no electric starter; so
who needs it with a bike you can turn over by hand? One unique feature when
firing up is the choke lever mounted on the underside of the left handlebar
grip. It's spring loaded so you have to hold it on when kicking from cold
and keep holding it until the motor warms through. Obviously it prevents you
shuddering to a halt two minutes down the road with a flooded engine that's
going to be a bitch to re-start. By the same token you don't have to fumble
madly for a stray lever to save a dying fire, but I'm one of those people
with a strange aversion to things that snap shut the moment you let go.
The seat tail compartment has
become something of a Kawasaki trademark, a neat touch to the machine's
styling as well as a functional hidey-hole for stroker lube, the tool kit
that comes as part of the set and has its own securing strap, and anything
else you care to lob aboard.
Just what will motivate the motorcycle buying public in the future is every
manufacturer's nightmare. Back in '73 it was speed at all costs; now it
looks as though we'll be getting around economically but with style. That at
least seems to be the way Kawasaki are thinking. But I still think it's a
pity the S1 had to be tamed so noticeably, because while many future owners
may never wind the throttle even halfway to the stop, that edge on
performance is a sad loss for those who would have liked to use it.
Phil Mat
MZ TS250
NEVER MIND the speed my boy,
just feel the quality. The MZ 250 Sports may nOt be the most exciting bike
in our line up. cither on looks or performance, but you can't help being
impressed by how well it's made.
Without doubt, the East German
two-stroke single comes out on lop for quality of construction. Its
paintwork and smooth shiny cast alloy makes Japanese machinery costing £200
or more look cheap, ond ihc durability of its chrome puts the Italian
contenders to shame.
Let's take a close look at the
long list of goodies you gel for a pretty miserly price of £351 inc VAT. For
starters there's alloy wheel rims (the cheaper CZ is the only other bike
similarly equipped), neat alloy hubs enclosing some of the best brakes I've
encountered on a lightweight, rubber mounted engine, fully enclosed chain,
locking petrol cap, comprehensive tool kit (including a First Aid outfit,
would you believe!)  the list goes on and on. Take a look at the way
it's all held together too  none of yer pigeon crap welding on this bike.
Having told you about fantastic
workmanship, it's a shame the MZ's a little bit of a let-down when it comes
lo the riding. Trouble is. it looks so well made that you come to expect
more from it than you should from a pretty basic economy bike. But the
handling leaves something to be desired. It ain't quite frightening
"lively" is the politest description I can think of, trying hard to suppress
the obscenities. Soggy suspension and vague steering gives the bike all the
cornering precision of a lump of jelly.
The other blemish is the gear
change rather than the idiosyncratic engine speed clutch which road testers
have bitched about for years. MZ seem oblivious to the criticism and MZ
riders go on crunching through the gears and kangarooing from the traffic
lights. The clutch is mounted on the left hand end of the crankshaft, just
outboard of Ihc main bearing, and is supported by an outrigger bearing
behind that circular plate in the engine casing. Being directly mounted on
the crankshaft it spins about 2j limes as fast as a conven tional clutch
mounted on the gearbox mainshaft. and this results in the action being much
fiercer, and makes smooth, noiseless gcarchanging impossible.
The clutch lever is light to use, bul it's very much an all-or-nothing
action which takes a lot of getting used to before you can take ofT
smoothly.
Although the single cylinder,
petroil lubricated motor is very conventional in design, it looks modern in
comparison with most other Communist bikes with neat polished casings and
wide finned alloy barrel and head.
The motor's got the performance
to match it's sharp looks loo. Power output quoted among the amazingly
comprehensive facts and figures in the owner's handbook is 21 bhp at 5,200
to 5,500 rpm, enough to propel the MZ at speeds up to almost 80 mph in test
conditions. Peak power is developed at relatively low revs, and the motor
noticeably runs out of urge at the top end of the range. Unfortunately there
isn't a great deal of torque low down either, and a fifth gear is badly
needed at times when you want optimum acceleration for overtaking.
Rubber mountings insulate engine
vibration from the frame, and the bike is remarkably smooth for a single
much smoother than the Harley, for example. The motor hangs by the cylinder
head from a large block of rubber boiled to the massive spine tube of the
backbone-type frame.
The frame design could be partly
responsible for the doubtful handling  it certainly doesn't look a very
rigid construction. It also contributes to the bike's weird appearance. The
styling looks ungainly and strange to western eyes due to a lack of
proportion between major components. Tiny 16 inch wheels only help to
accentuate the spindly forks and massive humpbacked fuel tank.
The headlamp too. is enormous,
while the lack of frame downtubes leaves an obtrusive emptiness between the
engine and front wheel. It's a shame, because the quality of the finish is
superb and the chrome had a deep shine which looked like new. despite the
fact that our test bike was several months old.
Getting back to the endearing
points of the bike, which certainly do outweigh the doubtful aspects,
everything does its job remarkably well. The brakes are one example of this
efficiency ■ despite their modest appearance those single leading shoe
drums made the MZ the fastest stopping of the 250s, apart from the Suzuki
with its massive front disc. Lights, although only 6 volt, are perfectly
adequate with a powerful 45/40 watt headlamp.
It always seems to be the case
that the cheaper the bike, the better the toolkit, and the MZ's tools,
stored in a locking compartment under the well padded seat, were of good
quality and comprehensive. Not only that, there was a First Aid kit too,
tucked away behind the side panel, with sticking plasters, safety pins and
bandages  and instructions printed in German! In fact the bike is
remarkably well equipped at the price which includes indicators and even a
rear view mirror, although instruments and switches are pretty sparse.
So if inclination or miserliness confines you to the dreary commuter riding
ranks you couldn't do better than the MZ. In value for money it must beat
all-comers, for although not the cheapest of the budget bikes it does allow
you some comfort and refinement  and a lot of quality. But for anyone
looking for something a little exciting it seems a waste to have all that
beautiful workmanship lavished on a simple economy bike.
BIIIHaylock
Suzuki GT250
I MAY BE wrong, but I've never
thought of Suzuki as being anything but ordinary in their approach to bikes.
Of the Japanese that is. A certain lack-lustre, un petit peu ennuyeux, the
machina plebis (for those of you who like to feel educated  ede stercus).
Anyway, they try a lot. with three cylinders, odd numbers of cubes and all
that "'Ram Air" stuff, but never quite seem to make it all come right like
the other lads. Generally up to around 500 cc. if it's four-stroke it's
Honda, go fast a Yam. go faster and get scared it's a Kawasaki ... but what
do you do with a Suzuki?
Well first of all you have to
own one for a while. They do seem to grow on you  no yarroo. pow, instant
wheel ies and 100 mph cruising to get you all excited, just a kind of
gradual feeling that maybe it's not such a bad bike. That's about how it
felt with the 380 and 550 we had a while back, and this 250 was the same. If
a 250 can be anything but dull that is.
As the first thing to do with a
new bike is look at it, I'll start by suggesting that Suzuki sack their
present design department for a kick-off. I can't think of a single proper
road Suzuki that has any element of taste, whether classy or mean, right
down to the pin stripe. And apart from its shape and lines, things like the
silencers, that look as though they were designed for something else and had
to have an extra hole in the mounting bracket to fit the 250, do not help.
What are they playing at with those bits of bent alloy round the cylinder
heads? It can't possibly do anything but look disgusting, and if it docs,
there's something mighty wrong with a two-stroke twin that only matches the
top speed of a 1953 BSA CI I.
No. I reckon it's those
designers again, like they imagine they've come up with what every
motorcyclist needs; not tractability, torque or good handling but ... Ram
Air. Smart. They really do some amazing stunts on the whole; pretty soon

I suppose we'll have the spiffing digital gear indicator that's on the 750
fitted to the 125 trail bikes. Ah well, it's not Suzuki GB's fault, and it's
those poor sods that have to sell the bikes, not argue about design.
So. whatever your opinions, here
stands another 250 that has to be judged against the others so that you can
make up your minds whether to buy it or not. I wouldn't have the Suzuki
because I didn't like the way it looks, though it's still a reasonably good
bike if you like spending that kind of money on toys.
Starting the Suzuki is no problem. Once you've climbed on the bike and then
olT it again, because the kickstart's on the left, it always starts within
three kicks. The motor itself is about the smoothest running two-stroke twin
I can remember, not very noisy and feeling something like a quiet Kawasaki.

At the rear of the engine is
another piece of extraneous equipment, the six-speed gearbox. Mechanically,
that was the only part of the bike I fell out of favour with. Apart from
sixth being useless, had the ratio's been widened on five gears like any
sensible design, far more use could'vc been made of the nice little engine,
including more top end. Well, that is what L plate riders want isn't it. if
this area's anything to go by (and I'll shoot the
next pack of whining FSl-Es who buzz my window on their way round the block
for the forty-seventh time).
Because of the sixth gear (it's
only use was on a flat road cruising around fifty at half throttle), the
other five are so close it got to be a real drag. There's a lot of fun in
rushing into corners and changing down and then screaming out again, but
although we had the bike for a month, the number of times I set me and the
bike up for a hasty exit, only to find I was in a gear too high and would
get thrown off balance got extremely boring. Thrown off balance? Must be a
lead into cycle parts and handling.
Suspension wise, the bike's very
comfortable to ride. All the controls suit a five foot seven rider and it
was quite a pleasure to be be in or out of town 'long as the road was
straight. Not that it was that bad through corners, but it did pitch around
a bit on fast bumpy curves. Nothing like as bad as a Honda mind, the Suzuki
at least stays on line.
Once that was established, I
found it really easy to lay into corners by just tensing the muscles of one
thigh. Had the same system with a schoolgirl last summer.
If the handling was so reasonable then, how, you may ask, did I fall off it
twice in one day? Same reason everybody falls off 250 Suzukis, that's how.
Pissing tyres that arc made of nylon. I spoke to several guys who had the"
same problem including the owner of a messenger firm who had six bikes
crashed at least three times each before changing to rubber, so it ain't
just me. Maybe the first smack was deserved, definitely not the second, and
the third was only narrowly avoided by getting opposite lock and kicking the
swine back upright.
The really dumb thing was that I
kept going down with a conscience and holding on to the bike, so it never
got damaged but I wore through a pair of Levi's, a denim jacket, one shoe
and sock and an elbow, knee and foot. Lovely, that's eighteen quid more than
the test is worth.
Despite these little setbacks the Suzuki was quite a nice bike. "Was,"
because on the last day of the test it expired in a mysterious way that you
may not believe. It was the first really warm day that we had and being only
a moment away from the North Circular, what better way to spend the
afternoon than rushing past Sunday motorists? North London's a handy place
to live for that sort of thing, and the customary blind up the MI to the
first service area  a mere mile away from the North Circ  seemed like a
good idea. However, on the return, just past Henley's corner and on the hill
to East Finchley. the motor died. After a few pointless kicks I looked up
the "Get you home" hints in a Motorcycle Mechanics that happened to be
laying in the grass and thought, "Ahh, check the spark."
I took off the plug cap and
wedged the HT lead somewhere, not being stupid enough to hold it and get
dragged to my knees by eight million volts like last time, and kicked.
Nothing. Kicking a few more times and looking down for the elusive spark, my
helmet knocked the horn button. Brum, brum went the right cylinder, crackle
went the HT lead, aaarrgh! went the horn  that's right, it jammed on.
Cackling into the wind I set off
 horn blasting, old ladies scattering, cars in front swerving off the road,
what a scene. Three miles later the engine died again. End of test, because
then it just wouldn't run again and Suzuki's had to rescue it.
Martin Ha
Yamaha RD250
MY INITIAL feelings about the
Yam were not good, mainly because I happen to hold a personal bias against
small machines and all two-strokes. So from the point of view of objective
road testing, it was probably fitting that I ended up with the RD. as it
shares with the Kawasaki triple a reputation as the hot street 250 for the
kid who knows what's what in biking and would sooner not ride at all than
punt round on a Russian two-stroke. At least I wasn't going lo go all wobbly
at the knees at the prospect of handling the RD chores.
Sure enough, getting astride it
the first time it felt like a smelly, shrill fairy cycle. The twin mirrors
that come as standard had somehow been removed along the line, so I couldn't
keep a good eye out for the cops, and I swear I'd have died of shame if one
had arrested me in the first ten miles.
But after an hour or two of
riding the RD began to evolve as a highly respectable device indeed. It's
rather plain to look at  the Kawasaki is better styled by far. as are
the Harley and the Duke. But like a plain girl in her best kit, it's neatly
trimmed out  not too much chrome, the motor nicely finished in alloy
and black, a functional instrument housing, and a clean look about the front
forks and mudguard.
And, lo and behold, a disc brake at the front end.
That I found really superb, for
the simple reason that one of my first bikes was a relation of the 250, the
old 200, and that had a little drum brake that was about as much use as
dragging your heels up the road. The disc is just great, and on the day of
the photo session when the whole eight of us were barrelling round London,
it seemed to stop the RD as well as anything else managed.
Some 250s can be as exciting in
terms of performance as a lukewarm, rice pudding, but the Yam is an
exception, as one might expect. It pulls away well, and then
at 5,500 rpm the power comes in with a real mini-bang^ enough to lift the
front wheel if you've slipped the clutch a little first. It runs out of revs
quickly, so that for zippy round-town work you're constantly hunting up and
down through the gears, but that's no great hardship, as the box is very
sweet, and I never once missed a shift or found a false neutral.
The handling can best be
described as "uneasy". Although quite good, it never provoked perfect trust,
and the bike had a habit of breaking into a soggy weave on fast sweepers, a
curious sensation for a 250. It's probably nothing that thicker oil in the
front forks and Konis on the back wouldn't cure, (if that don't work, try a
new frame). Round town, though, the RD's fine, able to change direction
quickly to get round the No. 15 bus and still avoid the beer lorry coming
the other way ten yards oil'.
If you've gathered by now that
the RD is a thoroughly good, zippy bike, with the kind of performance and
handling that tempts you to toss it about a bit through the traffic, then
you're quite right. It is all
of those things, and if it wasn't for one horrible, glaring error on the
part of Yamaha (and all Jap factories, come to that) it would be a really
good bike. The error is the tyre chosen for the machine  the Bridgestone
Nylon.
Having said this. I can hear the
chorus arising from tight-fisted geezers all over the nation. 'Knockin'
Bridgestones again are they? Nuffink wrong wiv 'em mate.'  Satisfied of
Bognor. All I can say. Satisfied, is that you must ride like a toad, and you
don't go out in the wet. These tyres are really lethal.
It wouldn't be so bad if they
only put them on commuter style machines, although maybe that's cruel
enough, but to fit them to a bike like the RD 250 is lunacy. The Yam is
going to be bought because of its performance qualities, and mostly by young
lads of 17, so that they've got something respectable to ride while they're
passing their tests.
Almost without exception, these
kids will act for a while like loonies, till they get to learn what biking's
about. And with a bike fitted with Bridgestone Nylon tyres, they'll not only
drop it first time they brake hard in the wet, they'll also stand a good
chance of losing it in the dry the first time they try braking late and deep
for a corner, and tossing it in. If they pick a left hander, the beer
lorry'll probably get them. If a right hander, the kerb will. Either way,
it's a bit hard to have to learn that roughly.
A bit of a slide that frightens
but doesn't bring down is a far better way of teaching. Good rubber allows
you the occasional slide and you can still get away with it.
If you think that I'm going on a bit, I'll illustrate. The day of the photo
session, I whipped it into a roundabout on the way there, with blurred
memories of chucking it into Charlie's going through my mind, and the whole
thing went away from under me. I managed to kick it up, but it's a damn good
job a roundabout's got four exits, because I didn't make the one I was going
for.
Out on the strip, the RD was
easily the quickest bike through the quarter, burning off the distance in
just 15.7 seconds. Now that's good for a 250, and to get it in perspective
it's in the bracket that much vaunted automobiles such as the Porsche
Carrera will manage.
At just over 90mph, the Yam
wasn't as fast flat out as we'd expected, particularly as an identical bike
hit exactly lOO.OOmph through the traps when we tested it back in the
Dec/Jan '74 issue. Maybe it just shows how identical bikes differ, but
splitting the difference between the two speeds obtained would indicate that
the average RD will hit the mid-90s with the rider prone on the tank, which
merely proves how much it's holding in reserve when you're cruising at
today's puny speed limits.
The Yamaha is comfortable and
well finished, but mainly it'll be bought because it's fast. It's a
two-stroke, so you'd better not mind about leaving a trail of blue fog
behind you. Ecology isn't a subject likely to worry its potential owners, so
this probably doesn't matter. Fuel consumption is average, I got 44mpg,
ridden hard. It isn't going to be ridden any other way. Just change the
bloody tyres first.
Barnaby W
Summary
WHEN ALL the miles had gone by,
the final speed trap session had been logged, and the last overdue bike sent
packing, it was time to think not only about what came out best and why. but
to assess also the delights that 250cc biking itself has to offer. It was
then that a feeling of something gone Bat began to surface.
For. with the possible exception
of the Kawasaki and the Yamaha, there wasn't one natural born stand-out
winner. All the eight had flaws, even if in some cases the failings were
only minor. But it did begin to seem as though whoever created these bikes
in the first place hadn't got their design parameters fully sorted, were not
quite sure what job they wanted their bike to do, or exactly who they wanted
to sell it to.
The Yamaha, for example, is the
ultimate hard charging 250cc street bike  so why hasn't the job been
finished with the quirky high speed handling smoothed out. and decent tyres
fitted to contain the power? Likewise, the MZ. with that amazingly refined
specification, is hardly a plodding economy bike. Yet the weirdo clutch and,
again, the suspect handling won't let it become the light 'n' lively sports
bike it could so easily be.
However, after all the ifs. buts
and second thoughts, it eventually became pretty clear that the Japanese are
still closest to finding the pulse beat of the 250cc street market. The four
Jap bikes are shiny, glossy and . . . well, it just looks like there's a
whole lot more motorcycle to them. And of the Japanese contenders, the
Kawasaki and the Yamaha arc clearly the best. So there you have our joint
winners of the great eight bike 250cc Giant Test.
A dead heal? Well, if Kawasaki
hadn't taken some of the fangs from the Si's performance, maybe we'd have
had no problem in finding an absolute winner. But although it's been slowed
down a bit, it's still the most sophisticated package in the 250 class, the
third cylinder doesn't cost you any extra in either price or fuel
consumption, and it handles.
Which the RD250 doesn't  at
least, not as well as that magnificent motor deserves. And it's this flaw,
plus the peaky characteristics of the motor, that keep the Yamaha from the
clear overall winner's spot.
Of the other two Japanese bikes, the Suzuki with that delightful motor as
mellow and pleasant as the Kawasaki triple, has a lot of potential that's
largely hidden by some of the more irrelevant points in its design mentioned
in full in the test. And the Honda was plain disappointing ... too bland,
loo soggy, despite that 90mph trap speed, abetted as it was by a brisk tail
wind. (In fact the entire speed trap business became slightly embarrassing
when we found, for a thousand and one reasons, that there was no way we
could get all eight bikes to the strip on the same day, and the wind
conditions just had to be different on each of the three separate sessions
we were forced to settle for.
All we can say is. note the
conditions listed for each bike in the Checkout panel, and make the
necessary allowances.)
Of the European bikes, the Ducati is good to have around because it's so
refreshingly different  or maybe we should say refreshingly traditional.
But against the Kawasaki, for example, it seems
awfully pricey for what you get. To a certain extent, this goes too for the
Harley. which will also be limited in its appeal by the fact it's set up
primarily as a town bike.
To prove that Bike's Giant Tests
are not just about power and speed, bear in mind that when we made the
humble MZ winner of the I25cc session earlier this year, it was against
Japanese twins a full ten mph faster. But in the 250 section, the Commie
bikes find the competition harder. We've already mentioned the 250 MZ's
confusing image  a pity, because it's the best built of all East European
brands, and it has to represent the best value for money in this test. But
biking's about riding pleasure even more than value, and on this count the
MZ falls down for reasons already explained. The CZ is likeable enough, but
somehow one feels that even three hundred quid ought to arouse something
more than tepid acceptance.
If you picked up this test
hoping that it would show up a neat handful of perfect lightweight
motorcycles that you could sift and choose from, we're sorry, but it hasn't
worked quite that way. There are good buys among the 250s, but what this
test really proved is that as a class, it's getting stale. Look, for
example, up the scale a bit at what's on offer in the 400cc range, which has
become a highly indivi-
dual class of its own these days. In there you've got the S3 Kawasaki
triple, and the new four-cylinder Honda with radical (for Japan) four - into
- one exhausts and a startling lack of surface tinsel. They're two
conceptually brilliant motorcycles, and you can find similar examples to
illustrate the point in almost every capacity class except the 250.
The consolation is that most of
the bikes in this test have been around a few-years now. and maybe new
designs, or more competent rehashes of the existing ones, are in the
pipeline. If that is the case, here's our humble advice to the manufacturers
on how to improve their products, although we're bright enough to know by
now that these words are unlikely to reach anyone's chief designer.
First. Japanese manufacturers
should stop plastering over their bikes smug little stickers urging almost
childishly inane safety advice on the biking public. Then they might find
time to follow their own guidelines and start with what should be the simple
job of making their lightweights handle predictably. Still more important,
they should fit to their bikes tyres that can live with some of the rather
fine engines they produce. If only it were possible to statistically
calculate how many motorcycle accidents might have been avoided over the
years but for Japanese rubber, the results could make chilling reading.
As for the Europeans, most of 'em already know how to make bikes go round
comers, but some are a little short in finishing off the design and styling
details of their products.
Quick-peeling chrome on Ihc
Harley's exhaust pipe, cruddy switches on almost all of them, agricultural
gear changes on the MZ and CZ  small points, but they can take a lot away
from a bike.
What's that you say, you'd sooner stay with your Ariel Arrow anyway .. .
Source Bike magazine

{|  class="wikitable"
|- 
!Make Model
|Aermacchi / Harley Davidson SXT 250
|- 
!Year
|1975
|- 
!Engine Type
|Two stroke, single cylinder
|- 
!Displacement
|242.6 cc / 14.8 cu-in
|- 
!Bore X Stroke
|72 x 59.6 mm
|- 
!Cooling System
|Air cooled
|- 
!Compression
|10.3:1
|- 
!Induction
|1x 32mm Dell'Orto carburetor
|- 
!Starting
|kick
|- 
!Max Power
|20 hp / 14.6 Kw @ 7000 rpm
|- 
!Max Torque
|
|- 
!Transmission
|5 Speed
|- 
!Final Drive
|Chain
|- 
!Front Suspension
|Oil damper Ceriant telescopic fork
|- 
!Rear Suspension
|Pivoted fork and Betor dampers 3-way adjustment
|- 
!Front Brakes
|Single disc
|- 
!Rear Brakes
|Drum
|- 
!Front Tire
|3.00 -21
|- 
!Rear Tire
|4.00 -18
|- 
!Wet Weight
|129 kg / 294.4 lbs
|- 
!Fuel Capacity
|10.5 Litres / 2.7 US gal

|}

[[Category:Harley-Davidson motorcycles]]