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Everyone’s A Winner
By Kent Taylor
In the 1970s, two-stroke enduros gave riders two motorcycles for the price of one. They were fun to ride, easy to maintain, and adequate for on- and off-road use. In October of 1973, Cycle News put two such machines to the test, pitting the Montesa King Scorpion 250 against the Yamaha DT 250 in a comparison battle. With markedly different approaches from these manufacturers, the staff soon discovered that one of these motorcycles was better suited for the street, while the other seemed more at home in the dirt.
These two motorcycles may have shared the same objective, but that might’ve been all they had in common. The Yamaha DT had been around since 1968, and it had matured into a stable and dependable mount. An upswept exhaust on a dirt bike was still something to be lauded back in the day, so Yamaha was already plus one in this comparison. The DT waited until it revved high into its rpm range to deliver its most torque, while mild, and trials tires helped it deliver a smoother ride on the asphalt.
Six thousand miles away, the Spanish were offering up a slightly different take on the concept of an enduro motorcycle, beginning with the downswept exhaust, “which leaves much of the expansion chamber exposed to rocks and logs,” according to CN, though a fiberglass skid plate offered some protection. Connected upstream from that pipe was an engine that “is basically identical to their motocross powerplant, with a smaller carburetor, longer piston skirt and lower compression, the only real differences.” The King Scorpion crawled on knobby tires, which likely translated into a rump-rattling road ride.
Both machines offered an oil injection system, again, a big deal for ’70s two-strokes. You might’ve guessed that the Yamaha was better outfitted with the modern niceties of that era, but if you did, you would be wrong. A chain tensioner, fork boots, folding footpegs and rubber-mounted instrumentation were all features found on the Montesa, not the Yamaha. The King Scorpion also came with a luggage rack. Aluminum Akront rims on the Montesa gave the bike more points with the staff, who noted that the Yamaha’s steel rims added “unsprung weight.” The Yamaha could ill afford the extra love handles, though the crew also pointed out that at 250 pounds each, both machines should probably start thinking about skipping dessert.
Suspension-wise, it was clear that the Japanese and the Spaniards had very different ideas about forks and shocks. In this case, there were no winners. “Neither machine was spot on in the suspension department; the Montesa was too soft at both ends under heavy going, and the Yamaha units were too stiff. A competition rider would have to experiment with fork oil and spring rates on either machine.”
On the showroom floor, there was one clear winner. The Yamaha DT 250 could be had for $920, while the Montesa King Scorpion was more than $300 higher at $1238 MSRP, which was a big gap. Speaking of showrooms, there were likely many more Yamaha dealers at that time as well. Yamaha DT 250 machines were as common as pop music, while the Montesa Scorpion was a deep cut on a bootleg album.
“In attempting to define the two machines,” CN wrote, “in terms of their relative merits and weaknesses, we concluded that the Montesa would make a more acceptable off-road machine, used only occasionally on the pavement byways, and that the Yamaha would be more efficient on the roads, with occasional medium-speed forays into the boonies.”
No one should’ve been surprised. In the early ’70s, Yamaha was not yet a force in motocross, but its two-stroke street machines were winning at Daytona. Montesa was an off-road marque, and its King Scorpion couldn’t run away from its true self. Every comparison should net a victor, but in this test, everyone’s a winner, baby (that’s the truth).CN
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