Use it, don't use it..

[TooFastTim]

Mont test form Cycle Guide June '75

[Big John]

Good work Tim. It's a little hard to read but I know how good and how much fun they are to ride.I took mine out with a few mates on modern bikes recently (WR 450s) on some single tracks out the back of Maffra. ( if anybody has ridden in the Sale Maffra enduro they will know what the tracks are like) The tougher the going the better she went. My mates couldn't believe that a 35 year old bike could be so quick through the bush.

[Lozza]

Interesting it measured just 16HP at the wheel 

[mx250]

Interesting it measured just 16HP at the wheel 

Yeah, honesty in advertising, 16 Real Spanish Stud Stallion horse power .

Thanks for posting Tim, an interesting read. If I get my bitza together it should have similar characteristis  8)except more power and better rear suspension ,.

[TooFastTim]

I've got another test of same. I'll scan it tonight. *Warning* the test is by Dave Lee Minton. What he knows about off-road bikes is dangerous

[Lozza]

Might be Andalucian prancing stallions but there is still only 16 of them Just means there is a lot of scope for tuning

[TooFastTim]

Might be Andalucian prancing stallions but there is still only 16 of them Just means there is a lot of scope for tuning

Why would you do that? If it's enough it's enough. Or, to quote Rolls Royce, sufficient.

[JC]

Interesting it measured just 16HP at the wheel 

For some reason, Cycle Guide's dyno runs at the time almost always read way lower than other dyno runs by other magazines, eg May 74 CG for VR got 20Hp max. Every other dyno test published back then read 30HP (eg on the Webco dyno). Perhaps they just strapped the bikes to the dyno w std knobbies (& lots of slippage/friction-loss), while others dyno'd off countershaft sprocket - I don't know

But you can add maybe 40-50% to that 16HP. It apparently used the same barrell as the VA (not the VR), but diff (strangled) pipe, longer skirt piston, heavier flywheel & wider ratio transmission. They were very competitive. (I have the top end off one.)

When CG dyno'd the VA 250 (9/76) it only registerd 25HP yet they said it "unquestionably ranks among the 2 or 3 fastest 250 berm-killers we've ever tested" & they raved about its power.

[TooFastTim]

[Lozza]

Tim Tim Tim , ever heard the axiom's " too much HP is NEVER enough", or "rather be looking at it than for it"

Different brands of dyno's always have a different output reading, inertia dyno's are notoriously inaccurate and water brake/eddy current dyno's far better. Very useful tools though, as in the end the ultimate peak HP figure isn't the be all it's (as the yanks say) 'area under the curve' that is all important. It still the 250 doesn't have much area under the curve.......................................................

[TooFastTim]

"Put down Nascar monthly and step away..." 

Having spent loadsa years riding trials and enduros on (Gasp!) 125s I suppose I spent a large portion of my life proving that axiom wrong. 

(hope I didn't sound too serious.)

[Big John]

The motor on this bike is basically a VR with a King Scorpion gearbox,extra flywheel weight and a Amal carb instead of the Bing. The HP isn't as high as the MX bikes of the day but it has torque right through the rev range.