Ksk Minicafe
KSK MINICAFE
Henry N. Manney III
How many times have you heard from spectators lining the fences "Boy if I had wonna those trick road racers I'd show Kenny Roberts where to get off." But who has 45 hun for a trick road racer? Other spectators may have doubts about doing 175 round the banking at Daytona . . . well, the clever Nipponese in the person of KSK Enterprise KK of Tokyo have looked after us again. The KSK Minicafé can be furnished as a kit, keeping the price down, and furthermore running in the 25cc class as it does is hardly capable as yet of speeds above the ton.
What you get for your x thousand yen, assuming the bike is purchased in a d.i.y. fashion like a Christmas toy, is a nice stainless frame, wheels, tires, front forks, engine of course, handlebars, tank, fairing and the rest of the tiny bits that go to make up the complete motorcycle plus, I think, four wrenches of the proper size. Nothing exotic like a hydraulic press or water-wheel powered surface grinder is needed although a hammer might just come in handy. All the little pieces will provide a rewarding evening's entertainment with the additional bonus that assembly can be done on a nice clean dining-room table instead of in some dank garage already cluttered up with the usual assortment of disassembled dirt bikes. The manufacturers gave us a charming hand-written folio entitled "Product Process" as a guide; it is just as well to have one of these in English as the original may well be in fretwork. Many bikers will shy away from all this effort but it pays rewards in their knowing, literally, every nut and bolt by its first name.
Section One of the instructions has to do with assembling the wheels (every motorcycle needs them) which not only are the latest trendy cast ones but also, to facilitate mounting the 300 x 4 tube-type Bridgestones, a split rim type held by three bolts. Loctite is recommended and pressures are from 0.8 to 1.5 KG/sq.cm (11.4 to 21.3 psi) depending on the weight of the driver or course conditions. The rear wheel is only tricky in that tire pressure must be adjusted before fitting the gigantic rear sprocket, which is more like a hubcap with teeth, really. Sprocket bolts should also be Loctited as one fell out on ours.
The handlebar (sic) presents no problem in its Bultaco-type clamps either as the bar is perfectly straight, while mounting the controls is simplicity itself as the "accelerate tube" goes on the right end, brake on the left and another dummy grip to finish things off. The bar is clamped to the front
forks with two U bolts; likewise the forks are attached to the frame with another bolt which should be tightened until the handlebar will not turn, then backed off three flats. Wheels should then be put on loosely in order to roll the bike around, not forgetting the rear disc brake. The engine goes into the frame with three bolts (time to order more Loctite), the accelerator cable connected to the carburetor, chain is threaded onto the miniscule clutch sprocket (better do this before the engine is all the way in) and rear sprocket, then adjust the rear wheel to give a play of 10mm of the chain and tighten down. There is no monkey motion with clutch cables as the clutch is centrifugal and likewise there is no jouncing up and down on the swing arm adjusting the chain as there isn't any swing arm, nor for that matter telescopic front forks. The tires, as on Harleys up to quite recently, provide the suspension.
The constructor then locks the Shimano disc brake assembly to the frame, does the necessary with the wire to the hand control, checks to make sure that the caliper is open when it is supposed to be open and shut when it is supposed to be shut (no bleeding of lines, however) and perhaps even puts a small squirt of oil in the caliper linkage. Next comes the fairing, supplied in red, blue or yellow, but which in any case cannot be installed with the front wheel on. followed by the tank, about which the directions are a little vague whether it is actually painted already or not. An assortment of racing decals is included. All that remains is fitting the fuel hose from tank to carb and then filling the tank, a task which one irreverent spectator suggested might be better done by eyedropper although a regular perfume funnel will do. The filler itself is screw-type and projecting as it does, provides one sort of danger to male riders and a quite different one to the fair sex. Although with the space available it is difficult to see how a flush filler could be fitted, a modification is sadly needed. One operation remaining is to slide on the footpeg rubbers which, handily enough, are already bevelled on the bottom side to act as double duty of lean indicators and kickstands.
Resort to the data box will give all the magical details about the Tass (the Russians are into everything, aren't they?) 22cc two-stroke which is in a reasonably mild state of tune at the moment. The Japanese being what they are, you can be sure that multi cylinders are in the works as well as reed valves, pumper carbs, and perhaps even some really demon stickies in Jap-
anese as the play's the thing, isn't it? At the present time the idea is not to frighten off prospective customers with wild claims of horsepower but to rely upon the very low frontal area, ease of maintenance (no replacement fork seals, no replacement shocks, rob an engine from any lawnmower) and trouble-free running to build up a solid clientele. In fact the KSK is so fussless that even a child could ride it as well as 6 ft. 6 in. Merv Wright, ex-Suzuki team manager, who looked rather like one of those big woods spiders when a drop of water is let fall upon it; all knees sticking up in the air with this little body shuttling along below. Children also can start the engine (none of your leaping on the kickstarter), in fact small hands are an advantage reaching down between fairing and tank to turn the fuel tap plus twisting the strangler-type choke on the forwardmounted Uisuki-ga carburetor. Small hands then fish for the pull starter located approximately to the left of the saddle and give a mighty heave. More pulls may be in order (see Vucci's articles on two-stroke tuning) but no throttle is required once the carb is set up to idle about 800 rpm or so. Unlike most racing/cafe bikes, bump starting max nix. Occasionally the highly tuned engine may load up a bit wherein the drill is to lift the back of the bike off the ground with one hand (no racing jack needed) and tweak the throttle vigorously with the other. It goes without saying (but he's going to say it anyway . . . Ed.) that with a centrifugal clutch and the rear wheel on the ground a handful of throttle will result in the KSK's disappearing rapidly towards all that junk in the back of the garage. Anyway, when the engine sounds halfway awake the drill is to settle oneself carefully on the somewhat hard seat, ascertain that the fairing is clean although visibility forward is very good, and apply full throttle. The nature of the centrifugal clutch, as would be expected from a semi-competition one, is that it doesn't really care for part throttle and tends to dither about in that condition, especially with a heavyweight rider aboard. Therefore WFO is called for which means of course that the rider has to hang on a bit, aided by the hump on the rear of the body. Riding the KSK at speed is a bit tricky to be sure as the rather compact wheelbase and sensitive steering mean that the bike's reactions to overcontrolling may well be quicker than the rider's. The thought of a tankslapper with a 600mm wheelbase boggles the imagination. In practice, however, the KSK is very steady, the suspension (see tires) is surprisingly compliant and provided some attention is paid to angle of lean, most corners can be negotiated as fast as one cares to go. In view of the footpeg position, hanging out pays dividends but the KSK doesn't really care for pyrotechnics and/or wheelies coming out of corners. However the rider doesn't have far to fall. Tire wear was minimal and no problems are envisaged for Daytona and its dreaded banking.
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A Road Racing Bike For Kids of All Ages
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Our Mr. Ulrich took the bike up to the recent Sears Point road race, where many of the present stars tried it with a view towards perhaps changing their contracts next year, and also we took it out to one of Pat Manning's club races at Ontario Speedway with the idea of competing in the café class. Unfortunately Mr. Ulrich had a conflicting café ride on a test bike but the KSK did acquit itself well in practice. In such a vast place, the 22cc Tass naturally found it difficult to cope with the 750 Kazoos even with the aid of its low profile but tended to make up on the straights what it lost on the corners. Racing improves the breed: if KSK will come up with folding footpegs that rise automatically with the angle of lean, thus reducing wear on the knees, then the 25cc World Championship is in sight. With its low weight and facility in heavy traffic (under a Yamaha 750?? . . . Ed.) the sky is the limit! A new concept in roadracing has dawned.®
KSK MINICAFE
$550
