-40%

1968 Montgomery Ward Riverside 360 Motorcycle Road Test - 3-Page Vintage Article

$ 7.6

Availability: 46 in stock
  • Condition: Original, vintage magazine article. Condition: Good

    Description

    1968 Montgomery Ward Riverside 360 Motorcycle Road Test - 3-Page Vintage Article
    Original, 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...
    16595