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| Both Photos From Here |
The Cycle back issue I ordered arrived Monday. Dad's Ads sent it out pretty much PDQ. Other than the musty smell, it's in good shape and the article on the Superbike was just what I was looking for. There are also a couple of other articles about the big Kawasakis in the magazine, along with an article about Kenny Roberts. And as if that's not enough, in '78 they were still featuring dirt bikes in the magazine which means there was one of Ed Hertfelder's Duct Tapes columns in the issue. That used to be the first thing I read when the new issue arrived, but I digress.
Since the article was in the November issue, it was probably written up a few months earlier and was a pretty accurate description of what was being raced during the middle of the '78 season. The wheels were Morris Mags, with a WM7 in the rear. Dunlop tires. Extensive frame modifications, including moving the shock mounts forward, a new neck with tapered roller bearings in the front and ream fit engine mounting plates and bolts. The front brake calipers were from the KR 750 racer. The rotors were Hunt aluminum discs that had some type of plasma sprayed coating. Stock 26 mm carbs that were extensively modified. Lots of neat tricks that required hours and hours of development time. Engine was rated at 130 horsepower.
The bike was tuned/built by Pierre DesRoche and originally sponsored by Racecrafters, as seen in the top photo with Pridmore tucking the front end. I assume that the bottom photo is from 1977, judging from the paint job and the lack of oil cooler on the duck tail. Doesn't really matter. I've got the magazine and the info I was looking for. It ties up a couple of loose ends that were bugging me. No reason now not to get after it.
2 comments:
That top photo is scary. It's amazing they could corner like that. It also looks like Reg ate a lot of pancakes. I'm sure you are seeing the frame geometries going the opposite direction of the dragbike stuff you are used to.
I took a corner like that once. Instead of lifting the bike up with my knee and the throttle, I went sliding down the street on my buttons. As for Reg's eating habits, I ate dinner with him at the AHRMA banquet in DeLand one time. That's when I was starting to work on the Norton sidecar outfit. He said to let him know if I needed advice or info and he'd help me out. Nice guy.
AS for the frame geometries and such, I feel a blog post coming on.
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