Dresda ror m en .•• si"tti"ng up on ti B [ l · · B / H / J ' te arcc ona c ass -winnut g 650 at rams ate t

Degens~ 650 Dresda after the Bareelona 24 Hour TRf UMPH en gin es ha ve n eve r agre ed with me : eith er they

or I suffer fr om acut e <lislik e of th e o th er part y aft er a brief acquaintan cesh ip . Being of a kind and forgiving natur e I h ave usually p ut down the mi sbe ha viou r to po or preparation , or Friday N ight Assemb ly di sease. A few days ago I was offered th e opportunity to try a reaJly well-pr epared Triumph en gi ne in Dav e De gens' Dr esda ma chine. Thi s Dr esda was th e one that had ju st won th e Barce lon a 24-hour ra ce runnin" in the p:ototype cla ss. ' "

Ju st befor e go ing off to Montju ch Park th e offer was made: " Hav e a go on our bike after we ' ve (hope full y) won at Bar ce ­lona. " Nex t tim e I will sus pend di sbeli ef. The y did. Ian Go dd ard and Dav e D ege ns br oug ht th e Dr esda home af ter well over a th ousand mil es of ra cin g spee ds on the Light and twisty tra ck.

La st yea r th ey too k a faster machin e, hut fail ed to fini sh . Thi s tim e a sli ghtl y so fter tun e was u ser] , and th e whole ma ch ine et up fo r rid er comfo rt and fuel eco nomy. Greater ground

d ea rance wa s found by usin g a siames ed exhau st system that mat ched up well with th e Dr esda C"ams filled lo th e machine. W h en I rode th e bike th e en gine see med very willin g, and Dege n , -is goin g to fit mega ph ones fo r th e Bol d 'O r to make h elt er use of thi s abilit y to rev . T he engin e pr eparation indu cled a l ot o f polis hin g and acc urat e l,alan cing. The c' rank is poli shed all over and th e extra ra re spen t on gellin g th e ba lanr-e fa ctor spot on redm· ed vih ration to a very low l eve l. fn fad , I did not

390 Motorcycle Sporl , October 1970

think ab out v ib:alion until I go t off th e m achine af ter 25 minu tes cir culating Brand s Hat ch. Vibrate it did -a Jl ma chine s do to some exten t- but for a verth- al twin it was exceptiona l, and here I am not app lyin g racin g stan dard s but a strin gent road rid er 's view. Thi s mu st ha ve bee n a rea l boo n a ft er th e first 12 hour s.

At Bar celon a a sin gle carbur e llor head wa s fill ed lo th e 650 pow erplant, but litt l e differene e was found when a tw111-carbure llo r head was tr ied. A littl e m or e a t the top end. a littl e less pullin g power, but grea ter fuel eon sumption. Fu el con­sumption wa s a key fa ctor, and very nearly 60 111.p.g. was obta ined in th e race. T he co mpr ess ion ra ti o wa, lowered to 8: 1, du e in part to th e poo r fu el ava ilabl e in Spain . and in part for reliab ilit y. Th e carburettor s we re 32 mm Coneentr ics, and the u sual close- ratio gea r-clu ster was fitt ed. The ro mp et iti on selec tor sprin gs mad e their pr ese nce kn own by spirit ed res istance to m y toe, but certainl y did th eir j ob. A four- sprin g clu tC"h m odifi ca tion was fill ed , with an extra lll ate .

J gniti on coils for both plu gs were fitted in an ex:,ose d po siti on al th e fro nt of th e crank <"ase and lib e rall y tr eate d with waterproofing compound. Auto li te 10mm C"entrall y posi ti oned plu gs were used , and the ignit ion ad vanre wa s locked at full advan ce po siti on . The combustio n cham be r had be en smoo th ed and shap ed a l iu le, an d the T ro ph y twin- carb. head fitt ed for my ri de ha d had simila r trea tm ent.

On ce th e Dr esd, t was th e Dr csd a Trit on , when 11 u;;ccl the

No r ton fr a m e . :'\ow Deg en s lrns produced a li ght er and m ore co mpa c t fr ame of his own cle,-il!n, an d thi s wa s th e bas is of th e Bar celo n a ma.-l1i nc. Th e main diff ere nce-apart from the l owe r wei ght of th e n ew frame - is a mark edly shorter wh ee lb ase, of 52in.

Th e fir s t im pr e,-,-ion of th e Dr cs du when aboa rd it was of a ve r y l on g r idin ;,: po s itio n . Ia n Godda rd is tall , and i t was clear th at the bik e wa ~ ~ct up mor e to suit hi s size th an De gens' short e r ~1a1u,e. F ortuna te ly I am reasona bl y large myself and fi11e,I th e rid in g po s iti o n fa irl y we ll. The bike felt low and li gh t and th e >'<Teen of the fairi ng was high enough to hav e l e t me tu; ·k mv ~elf awav had I wanted to . There was a sligh t chip out o f th e. ,,T ee n. 1;i:1de w h en Dcgcn s dropp ed th e ma chin e on th e Bo l d "Or cire uit , wlt ieh h e v is ited on th e way ba ck from Bar ce lo na.

The ma.-l1in e wa s in ve r y mu ch the sam e co ndition in whi ch it fini s hed th e 2-l-ho ur ,-' rac·e, th e onl y rea l change be in g the refittin g of a 1win -c-:ir hu re1tor he ad. Th e sin gle ca rbur e ttor h ead had b ee n r em oved to allow a careful in spec t ion of the com ­pon en ts u se d for the 2-l -ho u r rac e, and the twin -carb. head had b ee n tri ed out p r evio u sly on the sam e en gin e. Both h eads gave 7,200 r. p.m. in top wh en tr ied befor e th e ra ce , but th e sin gle carbur e tt or h ead ha d a li tt le mo re bottom end , wa s a littl e less fu s~y, and made th e ma c·hine tha t lillle bit less tiring to rid e . A ft er 20 h ou r ;; 01· so the riJ cr ;; c.:an use all the help 111111 they can get.

The ge n era l level of tun e wa s rath er le ss s1>ccta cul ar than Drcsda would pr o du ce for a spo r ts r oad ma chin e, but far mo re suitabl e for t h e marat h on race.

T h e op en ex h a u st pip e wo uld hard ly ha ve been in pla ce on a r oa d bik e but even so , with ca reful thro tt le control, it wou ld pr obabl y h ave n ot b ee n ill egal!

Th e t he m e of co m for t ancl smoothnes s and reliability was obv iou sl y a winning fo rmul a. La st year at Bnr celon a Dec:;ens wa s lappin g at about I m 58s, an d in sp it e of m any breakdowns h eld a hi gh po s iti on un til r e tir ement: this year, with the softer tune, hi s lap Limes were on l y a cou pl e of ,seco nd s slowe r , li tt le trouble wa s enc o unt ered , and th ey won. By the lime thi s appea rs in print th e B ol d ' Or w ill h ave be en run, but even so I will make th e ( r as h ) fo r eca s t tha t th e Dr esda will be in the fir st tw o or th1·ec the1·e. P er h aps the appa lli ng petro l that ha s bee n know n to appear the r e wi ll suit the 8: I Dre sda set-up be tt er th an ot h e r , h otter , ma chin e r y.

Th e co nt al"l poin ts ar e l eft open, and we took care to get th em bot h se t t o open w h en th e en gin e wa s n ot r unning. No ignition sw it ch. As I sa t as trid e the hla ck hik e, l ooki n g at th e K robe r r evm e tc r , it sce m e<l improbab le th at the ki cks tar ter wou ld be en ou gh t o ge t the b ea st goi n g. Howe ve r , th e ki ck star t work ed a s reliably a s that on an y V cloce tt c ( I ],~ave i t to reader s-a nd th e ir ow n p e rs onal prej udices- lo det ermine whethe r th is impli es hm ·d o r ea sy s tm·t in g) .

Dr escla mccltanic warms up tlie 650 i ri tltc p addock

I had raced at Brands H atch , where the ride too k place, onl y a mo nth or so prev iou sly on my CB750 Honda. I t was on K81 tyre s for the firs t tim e, and afte r a few laps to get used to the circ uit as scaled down by the swift four, I had a great Lime on ii. By th e end of the day I had (m indful of the rid e home on the same ma chine ) star ted to get down to it in my le tha rgi c manner. Th e brak es on the Honda are far from poo r , an d the acce lera t ion is not un competit ive: i t is , however, a str ictly oul · of-th e-crate model and had none of tl1e carefu l att ention that had bee n lav ished on the Dresda.

I mentio n th e Honda as it was so close ly com parab le wit h thi s excellentl y-prepared Triumph- engined bi ke. 1 wou ld have

Motorcycle Sport, October 1970 391

DEGENS' 650 DRESDA alternated machine s, Honda and Dre sda , had Hond a not failed mi serably to produ ce some necessary engine parts r equir ed as a result of Nick Mayo' s TT pra ctice crash on 1 June. In fact, I still await th e parts two and a half month s lat er .. . perhap s I should ha ve got a home- built mod el: I could th en hav e hammer ed on the factory door ...

After riding the Dr esd a for 20 laps or so I came to th e con­clu sion that it was about as fast as th e Honda: 7,100-or was it 7,400 ?-a n yway, the gearing char t indi ca ted about 118 m .p. h . as th e b est spee d on th e grandstand straight .. . th e same as tJ1e CB750.

The acce leration was deceptive du e to the la ck of vibrati on a very pleasa nt nov elt y for a verti cal twin in m y hand s. Thank ; ~o t_be Honda I ha ve got very used to ignorin g these subj ectiv e md1 cator s of spee d , and bett er attun ed to simply estimatin g p erforman ce from th e absolut e scale of how fast th e scenery goes past. At mo st point s on the short club circuit th ere was not a lot in it ; the only real point of differ ence was the climb up to Druids Bend, wh ere the Dr esda felt rath er short on steam by CB 750 rating.

Whil e the se are fair compari sons I would · h I . . · · , pomt out l at wa~ not rid~ng ~ y own m achine and so was takin g it good and qw et ly at little if at all under the 70 second s ma k Tl · "Id "d" · r , 115 ml n m g is not a very strin gen t test, to say the least especiall y as I would estimate that_ in good hand s the Dr esda 'should lap at under 59. second s. It 1s not slow, either, and when I found th at th: massive front brake was ju st mildly warm after some deter­mm ed attempts to hea t it up , I was impr essed.

Thi s brake is worthy of detailed descr 1· t" l I I d l

p 10n : rare y 1avc u se su e 1 a con tro llable brak e with so mucl I · d b 1 power. t 1s ma e

y JC Automotive, who ha ve close connections with Dr esda an d h as n o fewer than eight shoe s It i·s a tw' "d d f ' . } } d " ' IIl•Sl C our smg e- ea. 1?g sho e arrangement with very neutral self -servo chara cten sh cs.

T!i e drum s are of a hi gh-grad e iron cast int o El ek tron br ake cas h~ gs_- The temp erature stab ilit y i s remarkable and the ventilalJon does not appe t I . · ' h ar O P ay a very important pan in th e

ea t .transfer as ~coo~s seem unn ecessary, and a few hole s do th e Job. Operal!on is by b 1 b . d . a a ance ar with two actua tion ro s on eac !i sid e. These rod s are simply spok es and th e thread s provide a fine adjustment Ea cl1 s· d f th 1 1 • • d d . ' I C O e W IC C I S m epen ently ac tuated and the tw bl b l b h ' 0 ca es are operat ed by a

a an ce ar at t ~ h and lebar leve r . Although only four ad ju st-m ent s were r eqmr ed thr oug hout the 24 I I d "d all l° · !Our r ace, I not re y ik e the rod ac tu ation, and was n ot surpri sed to see a hc t_ter arra~.gement on a 500 Dr esda racer in the Putn ey sh o . Thi s machme had each p air of sho es conn ected by a cabl e a:d tlm_s th e brake b al an ce bar on each side of the wheel had only a sm gle pulle y on each side of the pivot axis d ti ll . f ) 1 · , an ms a pair s o s 1oes are a ways in self-align ed adju stment .

I ga ther ed .that th e rod arrang eme nt was a resulL of customer r eq uests, wl11ch seems stTange as it is an . f . . . m enor arran gement reqmrmg mor : w~rk to k eep in corr ect adju stment. As alwa s the mot orcycl 1st is a conserva tive at heart and ft " / ' wh at seems to be "o bviou s! " I • . o nnes pr e ers ti · l b Y t ie nght solution rathe r than

ie snn p e ut unu sual pie ce of ni ce Cn"'ineer in"' In action th e brake had such a smooth : nd re .,. . .

I I 1 . spons1vc action t lat can t 1mk of no br ake that I would ll f

I rea Y pre er. Unfor. tun ate y, at ab out £100, I don ' t think that I shall h 1 . th e fr ont wheel o11 m y four to fit a JC ·1• , 1 . elc iangmg

· h . · -1 s mu c I c 1eaper to tw111 t c d1~c and suffer th e heavy pre ssur e required to get the best out of 1t. It would hav e bee n most in stru ctive 10 have run th e Dre sel.a a t Snett erto n where I could h ave obtained a for better b asis for assessi ng th e brak e's performance.

The Dresda h and les ex tr eme ly well and th e steeri ng is

392 Moto rcycle Sport , Octob,er 1976

preci se. I was partieularl y impre s~,·d w1111 tn e wa y that the suspen sion had been se t up , as it was n ea r p erfec t for my 12~ s ton e. The stea dy a nd stahl e fee l throu gh th e chan ge of surfa ce at the b o1tom of th e Druid s dr op and th e un even surfa ce a t the end of bottom strai ght was su r h th a t I had to r cm i11d myself firmly that it was Dcge ns' ma chin e and n ot m y ow n to really slin g ar ound . T he r ev limit s th a t f am µ:iven for any m achin e ar e alway s kept, hut when I ask ed what r evs to use I wa s merely inf or med that I cou ld u~e any thin µ: that I could ge t ! Not wishin g lo le t thi s out , I used 6.500 a,; a n orm al limit and ran it up to 7,200- all I co uld ea s il y )!Ct- for a sin gle try nt top speed. Severa l hundr ed r.p .m. were left to com e with n rather swifter run thr oug h Cleu rwa ys . The middl e of th e rev ra nge had pl ent y of torq ue, cn oui:h to mak e it qu ite imm aterial which gea r was in u se, th ough if th e r evs wer e he ld b e tween 5,000 and 6,500 th ere wa s a sli ght ad vanta ge. The clo se -ratio four- speed gea rbox was well suitetl to th e way th at th e en gine was se t up , and although th e Dr c~,la was still on a r a ther un suit ab le gear in g I fe lt no n ee d fo r an ex tra gea r at th e sedat e rate at whi ch I wa s trav elJin g.

The low r.p .m . of th e Triumph c nµin c- I ' m b eco min g used to 8,500 on 750s now-ke pt m e fr om ig norin g th e revmeter in th e reco mm end ed m ann er . A Kroher e lec troni c m eter was fitted and I detected a ce rtain slu ggi slm css in it. Krobcr s are ve ry ni ce in strum ent s b ut can suddenly go wron g. In fact, th e Gus Ku lm team u sed to u se th em but ha ve sin ce given up due to their un certain r eliabilit y 011 th e ir m ac h in es, and th e thin gs that th ey do to th e i gniti o n sys tem wh e n the y do indeed go wron g. On th e Dr esda it wo uld he diffi cult lo fit any other kind of r evmeter as th e hea d s tock and the fairing pr eclude a me cha ni cally-driv en in strum ent.

A car type of hea dlamp is fitt ed in the fairin g and ha s given no tr ouble . Perhap s a wider u se of th e,e sc aled-beam unit s should be tri ed : 2,i h our s of h ard riding wh e n fitted to a verti cal twin is a tough tes t. The tyr es used are K81 Dunlo ps and the l ack of wear ove r the Barcelona enduran ce ra ce is another tribut e to modern tyr es. Le ss than half of th e tr ead was worn away. Th e TTIOO-a s Dunl op wou ld lik e us now to call the K81-is a real advance in road-going tyre s, and if thi s were to h e th e only b enefi t that th e ordinary motor cyc li st ever gain s from racin g it wou ld he wonh it. The 1·ontra st between thi s mod er n tyr e and even tho ,e o f five or s ix years ago is eas il y appar ent, and the K81 is well up to th e Dr escln performance.

This min or show of roadable e quipm ent mi ght eas ily to be thought lo be the only ,·onn ec tion that th e D res da h as with normal ma chin ery . Th is is n ot really tru e. In th e int eres ts of reliability, smoothne ss and economy th e powerplant in the Bar celona bik e is rath er l ess shar ply tun ed than som e pr epa red for r oad-goi ng Dr esdas.

As a road-going sport s m achin e the Dre sd a would b e su pe1·b: the li ght weight, fine brakin g and .good lrnndlin g are soo n to be complem ent ed by a thr ee -cylind er Triumph en gine. Severnl of the se pot ent ma chine s ar e now b eing co n stru cted, so perhap s th e Bol d'Or may be th e la st race of th e 650 Dr es da.

The frame, the m ajor factor in the fine handling and li ght weight of the Dr esda , is sold at £125. The kit is pr etty com· pr ehen sivc and includ es Girlin g rear- su spe n sio n unit s, exhau st pip es, megaphones, oil tank and glass -fibre fu el tank.

Engine mountin gs and h ead steady are also part of the kit . The kit for th e Triumph thr ee -cyJind er engine s will soon be availabl e, and after riding the 650 Dr esda I would b e very ke en to sampl e the result s, I hav e hi.gh hop es that th e weight of th e ma ssive thr ee will have bee n 1·ea lly cut down. Afte1· tr yin g thi s well -prepared Tl"iumph- eng in ed marhine, ve ry much as it finished th e Barcelona race, I feel that I hav e a fair id ea of how a Triumph engine ra n behave wh en pai.d more a tt enti on thnn th e factory seem to be p1·epared to give . M. R. W.

THE RALLY KICK Continued from p agl' 389

Out of th e hairpin ancl on t o the s tart and fini sh s tr a ight, the hoar y R ocket was chuntering pl easan tly into three· figur e spe ed, when th e tr ebl e-lunged Nipponese came alongside; a larg e hand s tret ch ed out ancl cha n ge d into top. Oh, woe, Eng land .

Relativ e po sition s throughout the r est of the tu ss le r ema in e d unchanged, witl1 the Codger in about tw elfth pla ce, though toward th e la s t lap, th e lea din g hun ch seeme d to be drawing in exo rabl y clo se r .

C. H. ruefully opine s that had th e Kawasaki had so m ewh at b ette r ro ad­holdin g and t y r es, h e wou ld ha ve h ad diffi cult y in k eep in g honour s even.

A pres le di ce, the co mp etitor s, or Tather rall y is t s, mill ed in the paddock -comparing experiences, gear r a tio s, tyr es and unp leas ant noi ses from engines .and all the r est of the st rang e co n­glomeration of thin gs that moto r cyc lists compar e. This, how ever, was a rath er diff er ent di sc u ss ion , it b ein g conducted in a weird m e dl ey of Engli sh, Fr ench, .and German th a t would hav e given an interpr e t er ni ghtmar es for life.

Wanderin g off to watch th e suc cess ive heat s, C. H. was pleased to see a BSA Spitfire ridden by a Dutcluunn-no, not the flying gentleman-thoroughly troun ce the 750 c.c. Honda 4 bein g ridden by a bod who obvi ou sly meant bu sine ss [P.A. H. wa s glad, t oo; he' s an un­repentant x enoph ob e.]

Whil e loading-up th e Ro cket for th e return run, C. H. chanced upon an acqua intance fr o m Irel and's Shamro ck Rall y. The pair decid ed to rid e ba ck to Ostcnd together, an opportune dec ision , as lat er events w er e to prov e .

With sc ar ce ly more than 10 miles wid er th e ir belt s, th e pair w er e waved down by the imploring Briti sh owner of a big R oy al Enfield; A clo se inspection suggest ed t hat the co mbin ation of a heavil y -lade n machin e and th e vile B elgian road surfa ce had wrought dele· ter ious effec t s on the RE's r ear wheel b earing s , for the sla ck at th e spindl e was littl e sh ort of hair -rai sing .

After pau se for co11s id era t ion, C. H .'s Ir ish ally load ed all th e RE' s bagga ge into hi s sid eca r , whil e C. H. took on the strand ed pillion passenger. Th e cort cge

th en made it s way to Ostend at a leisur ely cant er. Thi s, says the Codger , wa s all very well , hut hi s pa ssenger was built lik e th e l\1iehelin man, although better fiUed, so th at the Rocket's front wheel only touched down every hundred y ard s or so.

C. H. is now filing a claim for the B elgian mono-wheeling rccord- 120 miles, all told.

Th ey arri ved at Bru gge, 15 miles from the port , well ahead of schedule, and a halt for fodder was agreed upon. How­eve r, so protract ed were the baked meats of this sa turnalia that it was ouly with bar e minutes to spare that the y caught the ferry.

On board, C. H. was approached b y a pl easan t blonde youn g lady, who earnes tl y enquir ed wheth er th ey had been to the Lion Rall y. This was more than a little surprising, for the Belgian event was of r elativ ely minor importance. She explained , however, that a whole half-hour had b een allotted to the Rally on Bel gian television that very afternoon, which h ad included several shots of English machin es and rid ers comp eting in th eir r espective events. It would app ea r th at she had seen th e programm e en tir ely by acciden t in Brusse ls, and had found it so absorbing th at she could no t forb ear makin g further enquiri es.

Thi s revelation so astounded th e Codger that, he assures me, he omitted to ask for h er addr ess, a situati on which, source s inform your scrib e, would , und er normal circum stances, be unthinkabl e !

But, th en, as I said before, motorcyclists do bring out tl1c best in people. P .A. H.

MOTO-GUZZI 125 Conti ,rued from page 378

on e of the tapered rubb er footre st rub ­b ers. Onl y the hnndl ebnrs inhibited th e corn ering cap abilities of thi s mnchine for , in stead of the lei surely flick which one would have needed with small er bar s, a po sitiv e effort was needed . One surpri s­ing aspect of th e Guzzi was the steeri ng lock. No t the type that mak es the ma chin e thi ef-proof - it didn 't have one of tho se. The ma chin e could be turned in a circl e lhat would do ju sti ce to a trials bik e. About the only merit of tl1e lar ge bar s was that they encoura ged such activiti es.

between the red lines ... an exciting country of twisting byroads, steep hills, narrow lanes awaiting the adventurous ... . . . Ii g ht, p owe rf u I bikes running footloose, racing the wind dresda ... freedom for a few

The Guzzi was quite happ y to s~ttl e to 55/ 60 m.p.b. ind efinitel y, and ~bis was

I • d with the motor soundm g sur-ac _u_eve . d En"ine rattles pn smgly unhurn e · 0

• I. d d all tliat could be heard was varus 1e an Th the thud-thud-thud of the exhaus~. e addition of a pillion passen ger ma e ver{ littl e differenc e to perfonn anc~, . althofuthg

omplam1n"' o e the pa ssenger was soon c . "' . po s1Uon of the pillion r ests. V1bratton , that cur se of the riding clas.ses, ;i~ s

0:·

doubtedly pr esent , altl1ough it co 1

{ be felt if one gripped the p etro e ::~ with the kn ees . The shape of th . was such that thi s was not a natura_I po_s~ tion and it was relati vely easy to sit wit the kne es ju st off the tank . l

The speedom eter is one of th e Iea~t attractive feature s of the ma chi ne. t is a headlamp-mounted unit of the type o~e usually sees on mopeds and seemed q~te out of pla ce on thi s sportin g maclune . It was also given to flatter y·

The 25/ 25w headli ght was powerful enou"h for moder ate u se provided the

"' · · ll but suffer ed engine was spmmng we from a badly-spread beam. It seems a pity that the 7-amp-hour batt ery ?a s _not been put to better use, for it ~upplied J~St the parking li ght and h / t coil. The big­gest drawback to the light s was the way they fell with the revs? and. with th e engine ticking over the light di sappea red almo st compl etely. Th e horn was accept· able- but could ha ve been bett er.

Th e brake s were excell ent , a model of what brakes on a lightw eight should be. Assisted by the very good Pir elli tyre s, the machine could be stopp ed very rap idly , even in th e wet. Th e re~r brak e suffered from i ts rear adju stmg nut coming undone , due pr esum ably to vibra­tion. {Could be nasty ... ) A re asonabl e toolkit shar es space und er th e sea t with the batt ery. Thi s spa ce also acts as a " filter" for the air intake. No filter as such is fitted , and the arrangement u sed would seem only to serve to pr even t the in gress of the lar ge forei~n bodi es.

Fini shed in grey, with bla ck fr am e and red and bl ack tank , the 125 c.c. Moto­Guzzi Sport s endear ed it self to u s whil e it was in our po ssession . It was qui ck, reliable nnd fun to rid e. It al so had a heart as large as its cylind er barr el. In spite of being driv en with grea t enthu­siasm for almost all i ts stay with us it recorded 125 m.p. g. overa ll . Sellin g at £175, the Guzzi suffers only from a l ack of publicity. Whi ch is a pity for it is a very pleasant littl e ma chin e. B. P.

LUGGAGE -CARRYI NG pr oblems are r at her neatly solved by the newly designe d Carripak Mk II from Lewis Leathe rs. The pack , which fit s on th e tank top of most motorcycles , is 16in long, 11 ! in wide and lOin deep. It is large enough to t ake a spa ce-type helm et plu s other articles of motorcycle clothing for ease of carrying wh en on or off the bike .

Pri ce is £4 ! Os, post and pack ing Ss 6d, and orders !:hould be sent to Lewi s Leat hers, 124,, Great P ortl and Street , Loudou, WI A 2DL.

Motorcycle Sport , Octob er 1970 393