Dirt Bike History 101

[ChopSuey]

It is a little chunky looking isn't it? I couldn't believe it was a "dirt bike."

There weren't too many American made dirt bikes.

[TLtrials]

Originally Posted by ChopSuey

Cool pictures TLtrials! Do you know what model the Suzuki is (RH67 maybe)? Same for Lackey's bike RM250 - what year?

This was a 69 TM 250 on display, I found the photo of the write up.



The Lackey bike on display was one of the 500's from 82. I have some close ups of the Simons forks and carbon fiber chain guard he used in 1982.

[vintagemxr]

Originally Posted by dhaynes

Oooh ooh! I actually rode one of those back when dey wuz new! A friend of mine got one, he was kind of a horsepower freak.

Couple of Ossa (? or Bultaco?) jugs stuck on their own gearbox. Seat was flat, wide and hard. Felt really light, just like a Freightliner or a Kenworth. Bitchin' when it was sideways but otherwise... well it felt really light, just like a Freightliner...

Oh yeah, the brakes were pretty slick - the rear had much better feel than my Husky or Suzuki.

And it was really light, just like a Freightliner...

The engine was built by Ossa. Some claim it was just two Ossa singles sandwiched together, others say it was a new design. I've seen a couple of Yankees in person but never got to ride one. Lucky you! Right after I moved to AZ in 1981 I saw one sitting for sale outside an old bike shop. $700 was the asking price. Might as well have been $70,000; my pockets were pretty empty in those days.

Doug

[ChopSuey]

Originally Posted by Tollster

Wow guys, I got in on this thread too late, I am seeing flash backs and can still see those wrinkled up pages of Dirt Bike magazine with the new bike test, while I dreamed of sugar plump ferries, and Farah Facet on my bedroom ceiling!
Lets see...DeCoster, Mikola, Smith, Chandler, Bailey, Pomeroy, Howerton, Jonny O and numerous others.
Good to see their are so many aging "Dirt Squirts" still roosting!
I was riding a " 250 Redframe" in 6th grade, it was qite a step up from my Benelli 65 I had prior to that. At least when the points where set and it was running, CDI changed everything after that on my RM125C! My nieghbor had a Red Hurc and I recall what I think was a 6 speed tranny on it way back then. I recall the ISDT was in Blackwater WV...... Those where found memories, cutting the heal on my jungle boots at a 45 so I could hang a leg and not break an ankle, baseball catcher shin guards, and who could forget the K mart metal flake full face helmets, or the coined fraise, 25 dollar head, 25 dollar helmet.

1973 Hodaka Dirt Squirt


I though "Dirt Squirt" was slang, like baby boomers - lol!

[ChopSuey]

Originally Posted by vintagemxr

The engine was built by Ossa. Some claim it was just two Ossa singles sandwiched together, others say it was a new design. I've seen a couple of Yankees in person but never got to ride one. Lucky you! Right after I moved to AZ in 1981 I saw one sitting for sale outside an old bike shop. $700 was the asking price. Might as well have been $70,000; my pockets were pretty empty in those days.

Doug

They seem to be somewhat rare and collectible. Am I making you feel better?

Found this article on the Yankee
http://www.yankeetwin.com/cyclemag.html

[Strong Bad]

Originally Posted by vintagemxr

The engine was built by Ossa. Some claim it was just two Ossa singles sandwiched together, others say it was a new design. I've seen a couple of Yankees in person but never got to ride one. Lucky you! Right after I moved to AZ in 1981 I saw one sitting for sale outside an old bike shop. $700 was the asking price. Might as well have been $70,000; my pockets were pretty empty in those days.

Doug

The most interesting thing about the Yankee motor is that you can rotate the crank so that it fires as a twin or as a "twingle".

[nachtflug]

[xlcr]

Originally Posted by Strong Bad

The most interesting thing about the Yankee motor is that you can rotate the crank so that it fires as a twin or as a "twingle".

That and the shifter shaft protrudes from both sides of the gearbox to facilitate right-side shifting.

[nachtflug]

Originally Posted by ChopSuey
Cool pictures TLtrials! Do you know what model the Suzuki is (RH67 maybe)? Same for Lackey's bike RM250 - what year?

I couldn't find your original post, but back then the difference between the 250 and 500 classes was...different. Some guys rode both, some seemed to concentrate more on the 500 or open class. Lackey and DeCoster come to mind, along with maybe a lot of the euro's who rode the 500's for world championships and then came over and rode the Trans Ama. Wolsink, Van Velthoven, Noyce, even Karsmakers seemed to be always on a 500 on all his different teams. 500's had more prestige in an abstract way.

in my opinion...

[Sal Paradise]

Originally Posted by nachtflug

Originally Posted by ChopSuey
Cool pictures TLtrials! Do you know what model the Suzuki is (RH67 maybe)? Same for Lackey's bike RM250 - what year?

I couldn't find your original post, but back then the difference between the 250 and 500 classes was...different. Some guys rode both, some seemed to concentrate more on the 500 or open class. Lackey and DeCoster come to mind, along with maybe a lot of the euro's who rode the 500's for world championships and then came over and rode the Trans Ama. Wolsink, Van Velthoven, Noyce, even Karsmakers seemed to be always on a 500 on all his different teams. 500's had more prestige in an abstract way.

in my opinion...

Your absolutley right. 500's and 250's were widely accepted as the only classses that mattered, in europe at least. On the other side of the pond the 125 class was somewhat of a joke, its why very few were sold by euro manufacturers...

[vintagemxr]

Originally Posted by ChopSuey

They seem to be somewhat rare and collectible. Am I making you feel better?

Found this article on the Yankee
http://www.yankeetwin.com/cyclemag.html

I recall reading that article when it was new. The Yankee seemed impossibly big, couldn't imagine who would need a machine like that. Maybe it could have been the first adventure bike if anyone had thought of the concept back then.

I've owned a few bikes that are now slightly collectable ('74 BMW R90S, KLR650 ) and watched many more slip by (like the Yankee) that I knew would be collectable some day but couldn't or didn't buy when they were cheap. "coulda/woulda/shoulda" and all that. Had a nice collection of 6 or 7 Bultacos at one point and then came the divorce...

Heck, at this point I'd just be happy if I still had all the pictures I took back in ye olden times. Mostly all gone. I find on now and again stuck in the corner of an old box. sigh.

Doug

[ChopSuey]

Originally Posted by roadholder

Maybe time for something a little different...as trials is "dirt" too!

1973 Rickman 125 ISDE - hard to find pictures of these?

[xlcr]

Originally Posted by vintagemxr

I recall reading that article when it was new. The Yankee seemed impossibly big, couldn't imagine who would need a machine like that.

People who spend their weekends at the track.

[MotoMike]

Originally Posted by xlcr

That and the shifter shaft protrudes from both sides of the gearbox to facilitate right-side shifting.

My 71 DT-1F had the same feature.

[ChopSuey]

Originally Posted by xlcr

People who spend their weekends at the track.

Is that a Yankee?