Started racing on a Honda XR 75 & ended up the Honda Elsinore 125 & 250 bikes . I’d could have rode the wheels off that thing, many years ago.
Then I found out girls like boats more & the view was much better.
didn’t have a rice burner myself. what I did get back in 1973 was a old norton
650 for 4 Crager mags wheels and tires. no title, but a lot of fun.
rode it around for a while before going in the army. false plate, and phony inspection sticker. never found out what happen to it when I came back home
always figured my dad gave it away to someone. I think the bike was 67 or 68
not sure. did a lot of swapping and trading back then
My friend had a Suzuki 500. Badass was the best description. It left him laying in the dirt for a few hours before someone came along to get him to the hospital. He just knew he could clear two hills with one jump.
OK, it was ’65, I was eight and a buddy and I bought a broken east euro dirt bike. I remember manufacturing replacement parts out of barstock with files.
Can’t believe I’m not dead, or that dad didn’t find out and kill me. It’s a shame kids today miss out on this kind of childhood.
I had a CR250 for a while. Also fast as fuck.
PS, had a movable exhaust port which gave a power band like a 4 stroke at lower RPM, but still psycho over 5000.
Hen I was a teenager I went with my friend to pick up his new CR 250 that his dad bought him I would not ride it for fear of death
Was the Yamaha a 490 ? Been there
Had a 490. 4 speed trany sucked. Fouled a lot of plugs with it too.
My one and only episode was on a smaller dirt bike someone had assembled with their own three hands. I wound it up to forty or so on the road then let it slow down and made a u turn and headed back to the gravel parking lot of the drive in. Don’t know how fast I was going when I got to the parking lot, but thats when I found out the brakes weren’t hooked up yet. I think I wore the soles off my boots trying to stop that thing.
I had a RZ350 street café 2-stroke. If you dumped the stock catalectic converter exhaust to put a performance exhaust on and re-jetted the carbs it would wake up the engine. It had to be driven at 5k rpm or higher to be in the power band. If you shifted at the 9500 rpm redline the front tire would come up in every gear. It spanked a lot of 650/750 4 stroke street bikes.
Had a 1987 CR 500, ported and polished by Pro Circuit. Clocked doing 125 in the San Felipe wash, Ocotillo Wells. The sound of a 2 Stroke big bore was amazing.
YZ 250 & 125
Could ride forever on the back wheel.
I bet today being half crippled, I could still jump over maybe a dozen Johnos’.
I had a Yamaha 500 Enduro. I used to weigh around 240 and that beast would haul me like crazy. In my old age I’m only 225 and I sold it before I killed myself.
Had a Honda Elite 150. Thought I was living dangerously doing 55-60 down the street…
Great little commuter scooter!
70-75 mpg
I can see you on that and rhheeeee when ya hit 60…. Now, jump on a Yamaha RT 360 and balls to the wall 110 mph on a single lung dirt bike on the freeway (don’t lane change with dirt tread tires over bot dots)… then get back to me.
Why do you think I’m still alive?
Crazy I may be, stoopid I’m NOT.
Know your limits.
I am still alive too, and limits? I don’t need no stinking limits… I can’t tell ya how many times I was bucked off of my RT 360 flat out trail riding and moto racing.
I’ve been hearing from various unreliable sources that KTM is the newest bad boy on the block. If I were to go in search of my balls though… I’d probably do it on a Husquavarna. Maybe BMW.
Hey… if anyone sees my liver… please let me know.
Always was a 4-stroke man (ok, kid). Worked up thru the XR-75, XR-100, XR-200, XR-350, etc. and then switched to street bikes. I’ve landed jumps upside down with the bike on top, I’ve flipped into a patch of cactus and pulled out thorns for days, I’ve hit a javelina, I’ve tried a Harley (ugg, never again), I’ve evacuated during a hurricane on a fricking Suzuki, and now I’m up to a CB-1100 in my old age. One of these days I might grow up, but after 6 decades of trying I’m not sure it’s worth the effort anymore.
Was the XR street legal, Don? I was like you – I went with the XL enduro lines but I was not as crazy as you or the esteemed gentleman in the article…
XR’s as built were strictly dirt bikes while the XL’s were dual-purpose and could be street legal if registered. The XR’s didn’t have headlights, taillights, etc. But, people have taken the XL stuff and put on XR’s to make them street legal-ish enough to pass inspection. I think the XR’s were tuned up a bit over the XL’s, but both could get you in trouble pretty fast 🙂 At least that’s the way I remember.
Started racing on a Honda XR 75 & ended up the Honda Elsinore 125 & 250 bikes . I’d could have rode the wheels off that thing, many years ago.
Then I found out girls like boats more & the view was much better.
didn’t have a rice burner myself. what I did get back in 1973 was a old norton
650 for 4 Crager mags wheels and tires. no title, but a lot of fun.
rode it around for a while before going in the army. false plate, and phony inspection sticker. never found out what happen to it when I came back home
always figured my dad gave it away to someone. I think the bike was 67 or 68
not sure. did a lot of swapping and trading back then
My friend had a Suzuki 500. Badass was the best description. It left him laying in the dirt for a few hours before someone came along to get him to the hospital. He just knew he could clear two hills with one jump.
OK, it was ’65, I was eight and a buddy and I bought a broken east euro dirt bike. I remember manufacturing replacement parts out of barstock with files.
Can’t believe I’m not dead, or that dad didn’t find out and kill me. It’s a shame kids today miss out on this kind of childhood.
I had a CR250 for a while. Also fast as fuck.
PS, had a movable exhaust port which gave a power band like a 4 stroke at lower RPM, but still psycho over 5000.
Hen I was a teenager I went with my friend to pick up his new CR 250 that his dad bought him I would not ride it for fear of death
Was the Yamaha a 490 ? Been there
Had a 490. 4 speed trany sucked. Fouled a lot of plugs with it too.
My one and only episode was on a smaller dirt bike someone had assembled with their own three hands. I wound it up to forty or so on the road then let it slow down and made a u turn and headed back to the gravel parking lot of the drive in. Don’t know how fast I was going when I got to the parking lot, but thats when I found out the brakes weren’t hooked up yet. I think I wore the soles off my boots trying to stop that thing.
I had a RZ350 street café 2-stroke. If you dumped the stock catalectic converter exhaust to put a performance exhaust on and re-jetted the carbs it would wake up the engine. It had to be driven at 5k rpm or higher to be in the power band. If you shifted at the 9500 rpm redline the front tire would come up in every gear. It spanked a lot of 650/750 4 stroke street bikes.
Had a 1987 CR 500, ported and polished by Pro Circuit. Clocked doing 125 in the San Felipe wash, Ocotillo Wells. The sound of a 2 Stroke big bore was amazing.
YZ 250 & 125
Could ride forever on the back wheel.
I bet today being half crippled, I could still jump over maybe a dozen Johnos’.
I had a Yamaha 500 Enduro. I used to weigh around 240 and that beast would haul me like crazy. In my old age I’m only 225 and I sold it before I killed myself.
Had a Honda Elite 150. Thought I was living dangerously doing 55-60 down the street…
Great little commuter scooter!
70-75 mpg
I can see you on that and rhheeeee when ya hit 60…. Now, jump on a Yamaha RT 360 and balls to the wall 110 mph on a single lung dirt bike on the freeway (don’t lane change with dirt tread tires over bot dots)… then get back to me.
Why do you think I’m still alive?
Crazy I may be, stoopid I’m NOT.
Know your limits.
I am still alive too, and limits? I don’t need no stinking limits… I can’t tell ya how many times I was bucked off of my RT 360 flat out trail riding and moto racing.
I’ve been hearing from various unreliable sources that KTM is the newest bad boy on the block. If I were to go in search of my balls though… I’d probably do it on a Husquavarna. Maybe BMW.
Hey… if anyone sees my liver… please let me know.
Always was a 4-stroke man (ok, kid). Worked up thru the XR-75, XR-100, XR-200, XR-350, etc. and then switched to street bikes. I’ve landed jumps upside down with the bike on top, I’ve flipped into a patch of cactus and pulled out thorns for days, I’ve hit a javelina, I’ve tried a Harley (ugg, never again), I’ve evacuated during a hurricane on a fricking Suzuki, and now I’m up to a CB-1100 in my old age. One of these days I might grow up, but after 6 decades of trying I’m not sure it’s worth the effort anymore.
Was the XR street legal, Don? I was like you – I went with the XL enduro lines but I was not as crazy as you or the esteemed gentleman in the article…
XR’s as built were strictly dirt bikes while the XL’s were dual-purpose and could be street legal if registered. The XR’s didn’t have headlights, taillights, etc. But, people have taken the XL stuff and put on XR’s to make them street legal-ish enough to pass inspection. I think the XR’s were tuned up a bit over the XL’s, but both could get you in trouble pretty fast 🙂 At least that’s the way I remember.