old dirt bike memories

[eldubb440]

when and where I grew up, every kid had a serious dirt bike........I'm talking mid to late 70's........ I remember the Honda CR's and Yamaha YZ's were new to the scene...... the Suzuki RM's and Kawasaki KX's were barely established but coming on hard........ Euro bikes were the thing, I had a friend with a Bultaco and another friend with a Husqvarna....... there was a family who raced Ossa's......

now guys collect/restore old dirtbikes ......... who knew? ...... we used to beat 'em to death at the local gravel pits......... learned alot about wrenching and tools ...... way cooler than video games imo

I worked snack bar at a skating rink and saved enough to buy a used 76 Maico 250, must have been in 1979..... I was 14......... bike was way too big for me but I grew into it, lucky I didn't get seriously hurt..... it was a bad mo-fo......... this pic i found on google is pretty much exact (other than being clean), I know I have a pic of the actual bike in a box somewhere ......

I know I'm not the only one :headbang:

 

[Duda]

Very nice bike, I grew up on Husqvarna's had a 74 450, 76 250, a 1980 390, Ct70 1970 yr, Pentons, Cz, Hodakas, Maicos, Bultacos were all popular where we rode, I still have a 1999 Ktm 300mxc that I retired from riding in 2003. I loved dirt bikes, cars trucks and beer.

 

[HawkRod]

I grew up riding dirt bikes around my area too. I had a pretty cool "mini bike" that had full front and rear shocks and was a full size bike, but it was driven by a 5 horse Briggs engine. Basically everything about it was like a full size dirt bike except the drive train. I wish I had a picture readily available, it is probably buried somewhere...

Then I moved to a 100cc enduro type Honda. It really wasn't a full dirt bike, but we made it one as well as we could. It was a piece, but it ran and we had a lot of fun with it...

 

[Duda]

How about these

 

[eldubb440]

ah yes........ the "Bel-Ray" oil sticker on the gas tank of the Honda........... had one on my front fender, I think everyone did

 

[72Fourspeed]

Had a 125 Hodaka Wombat in high school. One just like it in the garage now. Much cheaper than Mopars to restore, other than rechroming the entire gas tank !

 

[mmissile]

First dirt was identical to this. 1972 TS185 Sierra. First the 21" conversion...strip off the oil injection and lights/gauges/weight....then the factory 175 race kit.....then frame and suspension....new fenders and plates....

 

[eldubb440]

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Had a 125 Hodaka Wombat in high school. One just like it in the garage now. Much cheaper than Mopars to restore, other than tech romping the entire gas tank !

had a Hodaka 125 before the Maico :icon_salut:

 

[themechanic]

We had a minibike powered by Briggs and Stratton, a Benelli enduro, and a Capriolo street bike.

 

[Meep-Meep]

I love old dirt bikes!! Learned to ride on a (74 I think) XR75. Some point after that I got a 79 RM125 then a 76 TT500 that I still own! Bought that from the original owner in 1984 for $450.00. And for the totally unique I ran across this 67-ish Ducati 250 Scrambler. My latest bike is a 02 Yamaha WR426. Yep, had to have the 426.

 

[72Fourspeed]

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had a Hodaka 125 before the Maico :icon_salut:

man, that spell check sucks. How does rechroming become "tech romping" ? LOL ! My riding buddy had a Maico. 250 Radial about that era. Maico breako,too expensive for a kid to keep up.

 

[Jackpot50]

Had a 1974 Rickman with a Montessa 250 down sweap pipe Best bike I ever had would run for ever and fast.

 

[Goldencommando]

Just picked this one up as a project.

 

[eldubb440]

My riding buddy had a Maico. 250 Radial about that era. Maico breako,too expensive for a kid to keep up.

hell yeah, being a west german bike you might think it was a porsche.......... I remember saving money for a kick start shaft and a kicker........ was real pricey........ I tore the splines up cause the bolt came loose, that's how ya learn i suppose; of course we tried to weld it first......... then there was that exhaust pipe, broke the baffle off several times...... no way i was springing for a new pipe, it would break first time ya lay the bike down....... it was a loud bitch with no baffle, yikes

 

[747mopar]

Cool to see there's more bike guys on here. I grew up on bikes my first being a 1987 Kawasaki KDX 80 followed by many but once I got into motorcross racing I was mostly a Kawasaki KX 250 guy (had more than y share of them). Unfortunately it took it's toll on my back and I can no longer do it without misery but boy do I miss it.

 

[67Satty]

Of all the dirt bikes I've owned, this is the one I wish I would've kept. 1970 Husqvarna 400 Cross, the same year and model Steve McQueen rode in On Any Sunday. I used to vintage motocross race this thing. It was really cantankerous and hard to start but it handled really sweet. I should never have sold it. I should have kept it until I had the money to restore it.

 

[64BEL]

A bunch of us in our neighborhood had these in the mid '70s. They were fun to race around on. 3 speed manual transmission with no clutch. Then, of course, there were the YZs, RMs, CRs, and other great dirt bikes back then, too.

 

[Propwash]

Awesome seeing these old bikes, thanks for sharing! My first bike was an '76 AMF Harley Davidson 250. Learned a lot on that bike...crashed a lot on that bike too! Had a couple other bikes over the years, but by far my favorite was my '89 Yamaha YZ250. Wish I still had it.

Anyways, thanks for the memories!

 

[64BEL]

Funny, just this past Sunday I was just showing my daughter some old pictures I came across from some concerts and when I went to a big name motocross race in the '70s. Can anyone name this rider? Hint: He was the king in the '70s.

 

[ZR9B]

Rodger DE coster was my idol ....up until the 80s the best I could do was a bike with dirt bike handle bars. had a ton of mini bikes but no bike till 82 or so....78 PE 175.. bought it as a basket case for $25 .