RUST magazine: RUST 2018 Dakar Preview

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heritage w 60 www.rustsports.com
YAMAHA XT500 THE 1979 YAMAHA XT500 In the early 1970s there were no rally bikes, no adventure bikes. The Americans had enduros and desert racers. The Europeans simply had trail bikes. The XT500 accordingly responded to American demand, where dirt biking was booming and riders who’d enjoyed Yamaha’s cool reliable two-stroke DT trail bikes were wanting for something bigger. The XT was only Yamaha’s second four-stroke. Shiro Nakamura, leader of the XT engine project remembers: “When the off-road market started booming in the US, bikers remembered the advantages of the good old singles. Soon the sales guys started to request the development of a four-stroke for off-road. Honestly speaking, we engineers were quite reluctant in the beginning, since we knew about the difficulties of these big thumpers. As soon as they had a bit more power they turned out to be unreliable and they were shaking like hell. “I can confess that developing this first big single was a real nightmare. We tested many different configurations including DOHC and even cylinder head oil cooling, but the XT was supposed to be simple and reliable and eventually we turned away from all these complicated solutions. “In the end all our technical problems delayed the roll out by more than one year. But we had succeeded, the XT was now more reliable than a big single four-stroke had ever been! Although it was over-square with a bore and stroke of 87 x 84mm, (all British bikes were long stroke), we obtained the real character of a big thumper. The two-valve head gave a flat torque curve while the smaller flywheel allowed the engine to rev up as easily as we wanted. Dry sump and short stroke also allowed for better ground clearance and a more compact engine than former British bikes ever had.” The XT produced 32hp, in a package that weight 149kg (not light!), although it was simple in design. And Yamaha gave it traditional 21/18” wheels while the suspension was of the longer-travel type that was emerging. The competition-biased TT version was a hit in the US while the XT went big in Europe, especially in France, selling a reported 62,000 units there over its five-year lifespan. The bike was then ideally placed when the rally phenomenon took off. As well, with Yamaha having a well developed motocross range, with components that could crossover to the XT, it was possible to create a competitive rally with parts straight off the parts shelf. w www.rustsports.com 61
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DAKAR SPECIAL RUST’s GUIDE The ro
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RUST DAKAR PREVIEW 06 Editorial It
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EDITORIAL 6 www.rustsports.com
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GALLERY 8 www.rustsports.com
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Page 12 and 13: SAN RALLy 12 www.rustsports.com
Page 14 and 15: RALLY w January 6, 2018 will mark t
Page 16 and 17: RALLY w TO START: PERU In 2018, Per
Page 18 and 19: RALLY w 18 www.rustsports.com
Page 20 and 21: RALLY w 20 www.rustsports.com
Page 22 and 23: RALLY w A HEROES’ RETURN Those wh
Page 24 and 25: THE DAK RALLY w 3 2 40th edition co
Page 26: INSIGHT Sam Sunderland WHAT IT TAKE
Page 29 and 30: SAM SUNDERLAND RUST: IN 2017 YOU GO
Page 31 and 32: SAM SUNDERLAND RUST: HAS DAKAR GOT
Page 33 and 34: SAM SUNDERLAND advantage so quickly
Page 35 and 36: SAM SUNDERLAND IN DAKAR YOU CAN NEV
Page 37 and 38: DAKAR Racers Words: Georgia Wells I
Page 39 and 40: DAKAR Racers Sam Sunderland w www.r
Page 41 and 42: DAKAR Racers action for over a year
Page 43 and 44: DAKAR Racers ROCKSTAR Energy Husqva
Page 45 and 46: DAKAR Racers w www.rustsports.com 4
Page 47 and 48: DAKAR Racers MONSTER Energy Honda A
Page 49 and 50: DAKAR Racers Kevin Benavides Michae
Page 51 and 52: DAKAR Racers YAMALUBE Yamaha Over i
Page 53 and 54: DAKAR Racers Rodney Faggotter Adrie
Page 55 and 56: IT’S MAKING YOUR OWN ADVENTURE We
Page 57 and 58: YAMAHA XT500 w www.rustsports.com 5
Page 59: YAMAHA XT500 w www.rustsports.com 5
Page 63 and 64: YAMAHA XT500 Comte, placed runner-u
Page 65 and 66: YAMAHA XT500 course). It really is
Page 67 and 68: YAMAHA XT500 IN ALL IT WAS A PRIVIL
Page 69 and 70: Neveu and Auriol DUEL The Dakar has
Page 71 and 72: Neveu and Auriol SHOULDER PADS AND
Page 73 and 74: Neveu and Auriol Not Neveu, but his
Page 75 and 76: Neveu and Auriol couple of years, a
Page 77 and 78: Neveu and Auriol grace to apologise
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Page 82: www.rustsports.com @Rust_Sports /Ru
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