World's First Superbike

[funhouse]

Originally Posted by woodgrain

When that bike was at Johnny's, I think Steve Pierce was riding for them back then. Do you remember who was their rider of choice? Gord Kerrisdale in Vancouver, B.C, ended up with one of the factory bikes in the latter 70's . I saw him ride it at Westwood in Port Coquitlam. I don't think he knew what a piece of history he had. Rocky Phoenix from Seattle, on a very hopped R90/6 kicked his ass.

Woodgrain

Ron rode #83 to its second AMA National win at Laconia in '77 .. others rode it locally in '78 but it never won again...by the end of 78 it was sitting in Johnny's shop where I found it.....I've never heard of Gord but he didn't end up with one of the three bikes...the second bike went to the BMW dealer in Dallas and it was cut in half at Texas World Speedway when a crank let go at about a buck'30...there's nothing left of the original....the third bike went to San Jose BMW and they used the bike with Ritter riding to win Laconia in '78....this track favored the better handling Euro-twins as you can see. The San Jose bike got raced hard for years and there was nothing left of the Butler&Smith '76 Superbike by the end of '77. Gord may well have gotten what was left of the original in the late 70's but it could no longer be called a factory bike....pieces got farmed out or sold and many bikes were said to be "Pridmore's bike" or "McLaughlin's bike" and may well have had bits off one of the factory bikes but #83 is the only one of the three to survive....perhaps the single most interesting bike out there is an R90S Udo built in his spare time and is now in the possession of his son.....it has the short Carillo rods, the Koni monoshock, shortened barrels, wide rims, the works....very tasty looking and the real deal...seen occasionally on the street as well..Bruce

[funhouse]

This is a photo of the R90S Udo Gietl built after the Superbike era .. hey, gotta' do something with the spare bits you have left over.......

[funhouse]

better pix of the last of the BMW Superbikes......the anti-dive front end on the bike John Long rode in the late 70's to great successes.....

[Valleyrider]

Originally Posted by funhouse

Ron rode #83 to its second AMA National win at Laconia in '77 .. others rode it locally in '78 but it never won again...by the end of 78 it was sitting in Johnny's shop where I found it.....I've never heard of Gord but he didn't end up with one of the three bikes...the second bike went to the BMW dealer in Dallas and it was cut in half at Texas World Speedway when a crank let go at about a buck'30...there's nothing left of the original....the third bike went to San Jose BMW and they used the bike with Ritter riding to win Laconia in '78....this track favored the better handling Euro-twins as you can see. The San Jose bike got raced hard for years and there was nothing left of the Butler&Smith '76 Superbike by the end of '77. Gord may well have gotten what was left of the original in the late 70's but it could no longer be called a factory bike....pieces got farmed out or sold and many bikes were said to be "Pridmore's bike" or "McLaughlin's bike" and may well have had bits off one of the factory bikes but #83 is the only one of the three to survive....perhaps the single most interesting bike out there is an R90S Udo built in his spare time and is now in the possession of his son.....it has the short Carillo rods, the Koni monoshock, shortened barrels, wide rims, the works....very tasty looking and the real deal...seen occasionally on the street as well..Bruce

Great pictures and story Bruce! Was this the bike that Cook Neilson and Ron Pierce rode at the 1975 Ontario 6 hour? Harry Klinzman rode the San Jose bike to a win in the AMA race at Laconia or was that an R100S? Lot's of years ago...
Thanks for the memories.
Willie

P.S. I bought a '77 R100S a couple years back. It had the Johnny's medalian on the stem nut. The front fender was also mounted backwards!!
May have been a Bakersfield thing!!

[Valleyrider]

Johnny's Medalian

[funhouse]

Originally Posted by ookii_inkei

Great pictures and story Bruce! Was this the bike that Cook Neilson and Ron Pierce rode at the 1975 Ontario 6 hour? Harry Klinzman rode the San Jose bike to a win in the AMA race at Laconia or was that an R100S? Lot's of years ago...
Thanks for the memories.
Willie

P.S. I bought a '77 R100S a couple years back. It had the Johnny's medalian on the stem nut. The front fender was also mounted backwards!!
May have been a Bakersfield thing!!

Ron Pierce won in '77 at Laconia on the bike I bought from him in '79.....and I can't imagine Cook ever rode a BMW.......I'll ask Schilling when he gets back from Ducati Weekend tomorrow.......? (and I can't imagine any of the three Butler&Smith bikes would last a Six Hour enduro.....)

[Valleyrider]

Originally Posted by funhouse

Ron Pierce won in '77 at Laconia on the bike I bought from him in '79.....and I can't imagine Cook ever rode a BMW.......I'll ask Schilling when he gets back from Ducati Weekend tomorrow.......? (and I can't imagine any of the three Butler&Smith bikes would last a Six Hour enduro.....)

Sorry, went back and checked the old Motorcycle Weekly, I was wrong. Pat Egan and Ron Pierce were teamed up on a BMW. Cook rode with Reg Pridmore on another BMW. The race was won by Martin Carney and Roger Hagie (Kawasaki employees) on a box stock Z1. Dale McCreary and I won the 350 class on a Fairway Yamaha sponsored RD350 (my avatar) and finished 8th overall.
Say Hi to Phil for me,
Willie

[funhouse]

Originally Posted by ookii_inkei

Sorry, went back and checked the old Motorcycle Weekly, I was wrong. Pat Egan and Ron Pierce were teamed up on a BMW. Cook rode with Reg Pridmore on another BMW. The race was won by Martin Carney and Roger Hagie (Kawasaki employees) on a box stock Z1. Dale McCreary and I won the 350 class on a Fairway Yamaha sponsored RD350 (my avatar) and finished 8th overall.
Say Hi to Phil for me,
Willie

You must have known Dick Fuller if you were a 350ist'a at that time! Dick taught me how to ride....or rather, taught me how poorly I ride...I was on a new CB750F with the mandatory 400F bars and he was on a rat CB125.....cleaned my clock from the top of 33 down the hill to Ojai.....I've been humble ever since.....Bruce

[Valleyrider]

Originally Posted by funhouse

You must have known Dick Fuller if you were a 350ist'a at that time! Dick taught me how to ride....or rather, taught me how poorly I ride...I was on a new CB750F with the mandatory 400F bars and he was on a rat CB125.....cleaned my clock from the top of 33 down the hill to Ojai.....I've been humble ever since.....Bruce

Hey Bruce, Yeah I knew Dick. I rode the 350 one time. I rode 250's most of the time. Cook knew me as Bob Roberts. I had to use an alias. Company I worked for did not want me racing.
Willie

[Renner]

bump for a cool thread

[Hawk Medicine]

Thanks!

That was a nice read!

[d mc gee]

I touched 83 at VMD in 04 when nobody was looking. Just saying......

[supershaft]

Originally Posted by El Hombre

I saw the article in Cycle World a couple of years ago about you and this bike. With the race poster on the wall.

You should get in touch with Ken Augustine up in Marin county. That was his bike to wrench on. He told me some interesting stories about what they did and how he would do it better today.

Bike's back in Munich, isn't it?

Where did you find a Michelin PZ-2 front tire?

I haven't thought of Kenny Augustine in so long. I suspect I have gotten Augustine's and Axtell's name mixed up a few times telling stories. Is Augustine still porting heads? I hope so!!

[supershaft]

Originally Posted by funhouse

better pix of the last of the BMW Superbikes......the anti-dive front end on the bike John Long rode in the late 70's to great successes.....

Full floating front brakes. Hardly anyone full floats them even on the back anymore. I can see why on street bikes but I don't get it not floating dirt bike rear brakes?

Did you bring that bike by San Jose BMW in the late '90's?

[Lornce]

Pussy.