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1968 Montgomery Ward Riverside 360 Motorcycle Road Test - 3-Page Vintage Article
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Description
1968 Montgomery Ward Riverside 360 Motorcycle Road Test - 3-Page Vintage ArticleOriginal, vintage magazine article.
Page Size: Approx 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
CYCLE ROAD TEST
WARD RIVERSIDE 360
This mail-order, bar-sinister son of Rickman’s Metisse
is more trail-travelling plunker than scrambler;
but who ever said there was anything wrong with that?
Montgomery Ward, the mercantile
giant of rural America, is nothing
if not adaptable. Now that the isolated
farming community is fairly completely
a thing of the past, Ward’s business has
been substantially transferred to subur-
ban shopping centers and business is
better than ever. You see them every-
where, surrounded by car-parks and
filled with customers.
But that does not mean the traditional
mail-order business is being neglected.
We don't think the “Monkey-Ward"
catalogue still lists false-teeth and eye-
glasses. but the lonesome-polecat far-
mer or rancher can still order anything
from a post-hole auger to a pre-fabrica-
ted cow shed and have it delivered, sight
unseen, to his doorstep (or thereabouts.)
And the farmer’s son (who may be an-
other George Roeder in the making)
can order himself a genuine Ward motor-
cycle.
We have a couple or three farmers’
sons on the staff, so it was nostalgia as
well as simple curiosity that moved us
to order one of Ward's Wonders for our
very own. We sent off for it, and in due
course an REA truck came to our shop
and delivered a large crate containing
one (1) semi-assembled Ward 360 mo-
torcycle. Ward's advertising calls it
the “Mojave" (pronounced, mo-hah-
vee, you folks who are not familiar with
California's southern desert) but the
name-plate says “Riverside." No mat-
ter, it all seems to be the same thing—
the only differences being between the
street-model and the “scrambler" (the
latter having a high-pipe exhaust system).
So you rip the lid off the crate, un-
bolt the packing braces, knock out one
end of the crate, and drag your River-
side (or whatever) motorcycle into the
open. Also extract from the crate the
boxes containing the front wheel, rear
shocks, handlebars, muffler, front fen-
der and steering damper—and the tool
kit. The tools provided are to be used
in assembling the bike, and for keeping
it in fine fettle after it has been assem-
bled and is running. They are nice tools,
incidentally; far better than are usually
provided with a motorcycle.
Bolting everything together is a half-
hour job for anyone moderately handy
with wrenches. You don't have to know
anything about motorcycles; an instruc-
tion book provided in the package gives
a step-by-step plan for assembly, com-
plete with photos, drawings and what-
have-you. And these detailed instruc-
tions for assembly are followed by equal-
ly detailed instructions for riding the
thing. The latter presupposes (or so it
seems) that the purchaser knows how
to ride a bicycle—but nothing else.
Assembled, and ready to run, Ward’s
Riverside 360 is quite a nice looking
bike. Its design and styling are very
much in the Rickman-Metisse mold,
and while this does not make the bike
ver}' original, it does give it a built-in
appeal. Of course, this Italian-built
copy lacks the super-clean finish of the
Metisse (as in the use of silver paint
where the Metisse is nickle plated) but
then it is not nearly as expensive.
Being constructed along "‘Rickman”
lines, the Riverside has most of the
elements for good handling, and in fact
it does handle rather well. Its balance
is good, and the steering is right, and
the frame is rigid enough to, keep the
wheels aimed properly. The forks pro-
vide plenty of travel, and look like those
famous Ceriani telescopies that have be-
come a sine qua non for high-perfor-
mance scramblers, although they are
actually “Super Idraulica" forks made
by Marzocchi. We think they are good
forks, but the springs fitted in them for
use on the Riverside are too stiff to let
them work. This error is compounded
at the rear wheel, where the shocks have
too-soft springs. A change in springs,
front and rear, should correct this little
problem. And when you change the
springs, you should also buy a set of
Ceriani external dust seals for the fork
sliders. The seals on Marzocchi’s Super
Idraulicas do not fit tightly enough to
seal against anything much smaller
than mice and pea-gravel.
Good location of seat, handlebars
and footpegs does a lot to make riding
pleasant, and the Riverside scores well
in this regard. The bars are too narrow
for serious dirt-banging, but just right
for general motorcycling tomfoolery.
If you want to carry a passenger, you
can, because the seat has the size and
shape required for comfortable two-up
riding, and there are separate pegs for
the passenger. The extra pegs fold neatly
out of the way when not needed, and as
these pegs are carried at the ends of
bolt-on extensions, you can remove all
traces of two-up equipment should you
want to do some serious off-road riding.
The rider's pegs also fold, at an AMA-
legal 45-degrees, but we didn’t like them
much. The “peg" is actually a short
length of steel tubing, slightly flattened,
and just sawed-off at the end without
anything to keep the rubber peg-cover
from slipping off—which it does almost
immediately. But you can fix this by
flairing the end of the tube, after which
it is hard to shove the rubber cover into
place but at least once in place it stays
in place.
Nor did we care for the gear-shift
arrangement, which has a typically-
Italian rocker treadle (so you shouldn't
scuff the toe of your shoe) mounted
too high above the footpeg. This re-
quires anyone with normal feet to lift
a foot right up from the peg every time
they want to make a shift. But it is not
to worry: you can bend a droop into the
lever that brings it right down within
easy toe-reach, and the problem is
solved.
While you have your hammer handy
(the one used to “adjust” the shift lever)
you should deepen the clearance dent in
the splash-shield in front of the rear
tire. The dent isn’t deep enough, as stan-
dard, and the tire rubs there at times.
Wrap a 4.00-18 knobby around the rear
rim and you will likely have full-time
rubbing.
Apart from that splash-shield, the
bike’s various bits of sheet metal are
all well-made and well thought-out. The
tank (like everything else, a steel press-
ing) is low and tidy, with stylish knee-
notches. It is held on the frame by a
single bolt and a spring-clip, and it is a
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARY RENAUD
moment’s work to snatch the tank from
the frame. A few more moments are
needed to remove the 6 bolts holding
the seat/rear-fender, and another 6 hold-
ing the triangular side panels. This done,
you will have easy access to anything
on the bike.
Those black oval number-plates are
more than just a styling ploy. The black
oval on the bike’s left side is also a door
for the tool-roll compartment—which
can be removed by unwinding a single
knob. It’s a good touch.
But you will need a lot of help when
it is time to start the engine, because you
may well have to push the bike before
things begin to happen. It isn’t impos-
sible to kick-start Ward’s Riverside 360
—but it’s impressively difficult.
Why? We’re not entirely sure, but it
probably has to do with the fact that
the engine, like Topsey, “just growed.”
This unit is familiar to the Italians as a
175cc Benelli of placid temperament
and moderately ancient linage. But for
its duties in the Ward Riverside, more
was needed, and as there is a lot of noise
these days about “360s", it was stroked
up to 356.3cc.
That’s a lot of stroke, and it's a lot
more than the kick-start arrangment
was designed to handle. So, even though
the compression-ratio is a mild 9:1, it is
difficult to whip the engine over fast
enough to nudge it into life. A compres-
sion-release would help a lot, but none is
fitted. Again, you could quite easily in-
stall one yourself. Just a little finger to
hold the exhaust valve a few thou' away
from its seat would do the trick: bits from
the BSA Victor should adapt fairly
readily.
One difficulty you will not have is
with the engine biting back as you try...
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