Classic Dirt Bike — Autumn 2017

Alittlebitofgrooved

plastickeepstherider’s

toeonthebrake.

Frontforksareslimmed

downasfarastheycan

beandstillstandupto

thejob,thoughinGPsthe

teamfoundsomeplastic

tubehelpedprotectthem

fromdamage.

Springskeep

therearofthe

pipefromflexing

toomuchyet

allowadegreeof

movementinthe

systemtostopit

fracturing.

Ifmetal,

evenalloy,

isdeemed

tooheavytry

plasticforthe

spacers.

Beautifullycrafted

rearbrakepedal

usestheclutch

coverasastop.

Thoughthealloytankresemblesthe

earlierversion,ithasabettermethodof

holdingitinplacethanabungeecord.

Developments

includea

lowerframe

tokeepwhat

engineweight

thereisaslow

aspossible.

reason theFIM introduced aminimum weight

forGPbikes.Hints that it maybetoo lightfor

safety maywellhavemaskedthe inability of

otherfactories to meet thechallenge andfor

1973 Suzukihad to drasticallyadd weight to

bikesalready builtfor that season.

Before that though,their star manRoger de

Coster picked up another worldchampionship

winontheir lightweightmachine. Lookingover

thebikeitisclear someone hasreallythought

abouthow to carefullyremove weightfrom

almosteveryaspectofitand no part was

deemed toounimportanttoreceiveattention.

Butthat isn’tthe only consideration foraGP

machine, it hastobeeasytoworkontoo in

case there’saspill on thetrack andthings

needtobereplacedquickly.Itdoesn’t require

much efforttochangethings butitdoesmean

thefactory listenedtothose in thepaddock.

Nowthen, this isn’tthefirs t370 RN we’ve

featured as we had oneofthe three 1970

factorymachines in issue41ofCDB–what

d’youmean youmissed it... getontoour back

issues department,it’sagreattale–and the

similarity is obviousbetween thetwo bikes

yet thereare subtle differenceswhich mark

major changes.

Most obviousoftheseisthe revisedtank

mount whichdid away withthe aerolastic

bungeecordtoholditinplace.Whenthe

ownerofthisbikegot it as amostlycomplete

machinethere wasevidence it hadseena

hard life andeventhe engine hadbeenrun

looseinthe frame, whichaswellaselongating

themounting holes in thecases also wore

thematingfaces so therewas no waythe

motorwouldsit properly in theframe.The

frameitselfhad beenaltered withthe shock

mountingpoints movedassuspensionideas

changedduringthis volatileracingperiod. As

part of therebuild,the ownerClive Bussey

remadethe mounting points andrepaired the

casesasper period images.

That said,the insideofthe enginewasn’t

in bad condition at all, butClive did replace

For1972, de Costerwon six of the 12 rounds,HeikiMikkola won two as did Paul Friedrichs

and Jaak van Velthoven took one win. Hold on, that’sonly 11 roundsIhear you say, yes it

is, the Italianroundwascancelled.Seven wins went to Japanesefactories,four to European

makers. Belgiumwon seven GPs, East Germanytwo and Finlandtwo. Contrastthat with the

1973 serieswhende Costerwon two of the 10 GPs, WillyBauerwon three,AkeJonsson

won two with Gerrit Wolsink,Jaak van Velthoven and Jiri Stodulkatakingone each.

Some figures

377

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