They Called Them Superbikes...

Well then I hope you've poked around here. Tons of WERA photos from the 70's-90's.

http://www.theriderfiles.com/

This is a nice thread!

I remember seeing Wes Cooley at Daytona around his peak.

Poor Wes was walking with a cane and the worst limp.

I read somewhere Wes is in Nursing now as a career, how ironic.

There actually aren't any frame tubes at all below the motor.I know this because I happen to own this particular frame.All of the bracing is in the backbone tubes and around the TZ750 steering neck.I do not race the bike,but under very fast road conditions the frame is very stiff,especially compared to an " in the day" stock or even moderately braced frame as I have owned and ridden both forms of wobbly goblin.

This is a very interesting build story that I will go into later at length when time permits.A friend just sent me the link to the photo in the forum and I just recently joined the community.

Look forward to hearing more from you...welcome!

Great thread!

I missed all this growing up because I was just too young, but getting into bikes I have had a chance to research all of it and have fallen in love with this era of racing.

So much so that this was my daily driver for about four years here in LA.....









I sold it last year to the head of product development for Honda North America.... the guy nearly pooped himself when he saw it in person. He was from Japan and apparently they dont have 1100's over there.

Its still the nicest 1100F I have ever seen. I do miss it, but it had a horrible clutch..... it really was the Achilles heel of the bike. Very quick, and very fun to ride.

keep the pics and stories coming!!

Beautiful bike. Bought one just like it '83. Took my first long trip on it two weeks after I got it. S.W Okla. to N.W. Arkansas. Down Highway 7 to Hot Springs and back to Okla. on the Talimena Scenic Route. Somewhere in S.E. Okla. I hit a herd of goats at 75 mph. and totaled my bike. Made the 1st & last payment with the insurance check.

A guy came by in an old truck after about 30 mins. He told me I should have known about the goats, as they always crossed the road there each day about that time. :huh

bump as in start!!

Bump



Ok, not all superbikes here, TZ750 (greg smrz) leads CB1100F (larry shorts)


how bout some old BOT racing (Dr John's Team Moto Guzzi)






the end ... for now at least!!

Still goin'round over here. And bloody quickly! That's Wayne Gardner

More pics for us old guys please.

i think im going to buy a tissot watch,,,,,,,,,,,haha anyways there was a bike i believe held the track record at willow springs the terminator in the mid 80's. i think the guys name was earl a real nice guy. anyone have any picts of this bike or era for us old guys

Earl Roloff was his name and he used to pilot most things around Willow Springs rapidly. The bike was a 1986-87 Kawasaki ZX1000 I think.

Fond memories.

How about of this video footage Willow in 86. I don't see Earl, but he must be in there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY2Wb_nDB80

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjzFwWR6VfM

This guy Eric Kondo, has a ton of photos from the beginning of his racing (81, 82?) up through the end when he was riding nationals and a USGP (87-89) on his public FB page. Lots of photos on there of him riding with guys like Sadowski, Filice, etc.


This is the carousel at Sears Point.

I know this is a little modern, but how about this shot of Don Canet on his '89 or '90 GSXR 7-11 formula USA bike. The 7-11 is not the sponsor, but refers to the fact that this is a GSX-R 750 chassis with a GSX-R 1100 motor stuffed in it. Oh, and that's not what made it fast. It also ran on the track using Nitrous!

Commonwealth Racing , Cafferty framed Honda V-twin from a dirt tracker enlargered closer to 1000cc and raced in BOTT.



Rino Leoni's Bevel twin Ducati in a Harris frame for BOTT.



Dr. John working on his BOTT racer with the first set of Guzzi cam in head 4-valve heads in the U.S.A.



Bit fuzzy shot of Don Tilley's Buell framed BOTT racer.



Start of the Superbike race in Daytona. '79 or '80., or maybe '81 ?

I used to live 30 minutes from that track and have run a whole lot of laps around it

Guess what they call this turn,, yup the House Turn I'm leading the Supertwins race here


I had to add some vintage to stay on topic.


I'll scan some pictures from the 80's up there, oh the great memories of Laconia.....

thanks for posting videos of willow and yes i saw the terminator. this place rocks dllama

1 -Dave Emde? 2-Eddie Lawson wet or dry bikes. 3-Harry K.

I remember seeing these bikes (or ones just like them) on the track. Look closely at the front brakes. The calipers were attached to carriers that pivoted near the wheel axle. Behind the calipers there were struts that went up and attached to the bottom triple clamp.
When the rider grabbed the front brake lever, the caliper carrier was forced upwards by the rotor rotation. This would in turn push upwards on the triple clamp and keep the fork from diving.
Primitive but effective anti-dive.

Who rode these Beemers?