Dirt Bike History 101

[Valleyrider]

Originally Posted by Valleyrider

Malcolm and Andrew Smith, John Dowd, and Darrel Schultz among others, will be competing at the snowbike races in McCall Idaho next Saturday Feb 7 2009.

http://mccallwintercarnival.com/proj...-zero-race.php

If your in the area, might be amusing to watch!!

Found some shots from the race on flickr. Not sure who is who. Photo credit to the owner of the flickr account!! Wish I could have been there!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/albertp...th/3260956245/
Knowing Malcolm, he would be right in the middle of the mix!!

[307T]

My Pursang in '76 at Fremont rough scrambles and in 2003, just before I sold it to someone who wanted to restore it. He got a great deal.

[MudWalker]

I miss this one.

[Motoduc1]

Originally Posted by 307T

My Pursang in '76 at Fremont rough scrambles and in 2003, just before I sold it to someone who wanted to restore it. He got a great deal.

That CZ is giving its pilot the business for cuttin' the course!

[Bud Tugly]

IMO the development of fast, lightweight, good-handling European 2-strokes in the mid-60's may have been the single biggest revolution in off-road motorcycling. Up to that point if you wanted to ride or race on dirt you were pretty much restricted to modifying a British twin or single.

The British sleds pretty much disappeared from most serious dirt competition by the late 1960's and true motocross took off. That paved the way for the Japanese to jump into the game by the early 1970's, and then innovations went wild.

It's been steady development since then, but the revolution of the 1960's turned the world on it's ear in just a few short years.

[roadholder]

Originally Posted by Bud Tugly

I was so impressed by those little Bultaco's that my first dirt bike was a 1965 Bultaco 175 Campera. These and similar models from Ossa and Montesa predated the Yamaha DT-1 by a couple of years, and I always figured the Yamaha enduro line was pretty much just a copy of them.

Yes, despite often getting credit for creating a new tend, the Japanese makers more accurately "popularized" them... by bringing the concept forward to the masses through lower cost, reliability, quality or what have you. Decades later Yamaha would again get credit for the revival of the MX thumper, something actually done a couple years earlier by Husqvarna/Husaberg who won the first major MX titles on thumpers in 30 years. But it was the Yamaha you would see at the local track.

[Motoduc1]

My older brother owned a Bultaco Lobito. When we looked at the owner's manual, there was a correction by the previous owner. Under jetting, the manual stated "if your Bultaco runs richly..." and he had crossed out the word "richly" and wrote in "sell it."

[Gordy]

Originally Posted by Motoduc1

My older brother owned a Bultaco Lobito. When we looked at the owner's manual, there was a correction by the previous owner. Under jetting, the manual stated "if your Bultaco runs richly..." and he had crossed out the word "richly" and wrote in "sell it."

good one!

[Bud Tugly]

I ran my '65 Bultaco Campera in a bunch of local enduros and well over 10,000 miles of very rugged dirt riding before selling it in 1972. It was totally reliable without a bit of trouble except it needed frequent spark plug changes and the front fork seals always weeped a bit of oil. My biggest complaint was that the headlight was inadequate for anything faster than about 40mph at night.

Wish I had never sold it.

[Valleyrider]

Definitely "Old Skool". Just found this on the Roadracerx website.
Great read!!
Dennis and I worked together at Yamaha Int. back in the mid '70s

http://roadracerx.com/article.php?article_id=1200

[Trailing Jack]

Burleson tribute in Daytona.
From "Cycle News" website:
http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/of...02/18/Burleson

[MotoMike]

Originally Posted by Valleyrider

Definitely "Old Skool". Just found this on the Roadracerx website.
Great read!!
Dennis and I worked together at Yamaha Int. back in the mid '70s

http://roadracerx.com/article.php?article_id=1200

I have no idea what they are trying to say here...

"In 1965, smoke from the fires burning in the Watts riots drifted over the track. Through the ’70s, the pall came from the herb being burned right in the stands."

[Visian]

this was what it looked like right out of the box. wish i thought to take a pic of the other side, with the can of "zsssh" mounted.

here's what it looked like after some minor thrashing. the leaky gas cap anihlated the stickers on the tank. i had taken the fenders off when new and replaces with petty mudders. years later, my mom threw out the aluminum originals. she thought i didn't want them any more.




ian

[Visian]

Originally Posted by Trailing Jack

Burleson tribute in Daytona.
From "Cycle News" website:
http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/of...02/18/Burleson

trans-ama in orlando, back in the day.

[Valleyrider]

Originally Posted by MotoMike

I have no idea what they are trying to say here...

"In 1965, smoke from the fires burning in the Watts riots drifted over the track. Through the ’70s, the pall came from the herb being burned right in the stands."

I don't know either, I wore my hair long.....