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THE SUSPENSION SCENE
Most of us felt that the Tecate's front forks
were too softly sprung. The machine sometimes
seemed to dive into the turn, and it had a
rough time soaking up sharp bumps. Lowering
the forks helped. Reactions were mixed on
the rear suspender. Some riders felt it worked
fine, while others thought it needed some
work.
Diving in the turns was also noticed on the
Tri-Z, as well as some chattering on the straights.
The Yamaha's forks absorbed the bumps and
whoops with no problems. As for the rear suspension,
most felt the monoshock worked fine.
And now for the king of suspension, the '86
Honda 250R. There were absolutely no snivels
from anyone on either the front or the rear
boingers. We noticed nearly all the suspension
travel getting used though the whoops and
off jumps, and yet there was no hint of bottoming.
THE BALLOT, PLEASE
As we stated earlier in this story, we're
going to look at these bikes from two different
viewpoints, the rec rider and racer. For those
of you in-betweeners, well, you'll just have
to decide for yourself.
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Bouncin' buzz bombs! The Tri-Z and Tecate
received more suspension travel for '86, making
this year's battle for King of Suspension
quite close.
If the Kawasaki got a good launch in the drags;
it was 'bye-bye" to the Honda and Yamaha.
More often than not, though, the Honda shot
out of the hole first, making it very hard for
the Tecate to catch up In the higher gears.
Our test crew loved the Honda's suspension and
noted that the full range of travel was easily
used, even though there was no hint of bottoming
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The winner of the
Rec Bike Award goes to. . the Honda
250R! Considering the strong, controllable
motor, excellent suspension and great
handling traits, the good old tried-and-true
red machine was tough to beat. Right
behind the Honda comes the Yamaha Tri-Z,
the easiest of the three bikes to get
to know. Improvements over last year
helped considerably. Though there's
nothing significantly wrong with the
Tecate (as you will soon find out),
we felt the other two bikes were better
choices for the average recreational/trail
rider.
And the winner of
the Race Bike Award goes to. . the Kawasaki
Tecate! This tight, light, fast bike
will win races, and it doesn't require
a whole lot of effort to get the Kawasaki
race-ready. Most everyone could sense
the precise, tight handling characteristics
of this race-bred machine, and they
loved it! On the Kawasaki's heels comes
the Honda. With some high-performance
mods more power can be milked from the
mill, and its fantastic suspension can
handle the roughest of tracks. Finally,
the Tri-Z brings up the rear in the
race awards. Though we've seen some
pretty fast '85s show up at the race
track, it does take more work to get
a Tri-Z race-ready.
SUMMING UP
Essentially, we've ridden the fork boots
off three of the best-performing ATVs
on the market today~ and we came back
smiling! With the right rider and enough
cash, race wins can be grabbed on any
of the machines. As an added bonus,
Kawasaki and Yamaha racers have thousands
of dollars in contingencies up for grabs
at major ATV races this season. And
for all you rec riders who purchase
one of these hyper-wheelers-hey, don't
blow the doors off your buddies too
badly!
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(Scanned
from the April 1986 Issue of 3&4 Wheel Action)
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