Dirt Bike History 101

[Scootern29]

Originally Posted by Strong Bad

Larkin....Gnarly dude.

These were shared with me this morning, I had to pass them along here, hope they are old skool enough.

Cool shots SB. Charlie Curnutt says hello. I talked with him today.

[nachtflug]

[nachtflug]

Trampas Parker defying Gravity in the Cavity June 2012.

[Scootern29]

Originally Posted by nachtflug

Trampas Parker defying Gravity in the Cavity June 2012.

I had that shot for my screen saver for awhile. Awesome shot!!

[Strong Bad]

Originally Posted by Scootern29

Cool shots SB. Charlie Curnutt says hello. I talked with him today.

Nice! I haven't seen Charlie in years now, thanks!!!!

[OldTimeBiker]

Originally Posted by KansasBob

So Aldana is #3, and #16 is Gene Romero? #3 and #1 below?

No...In the BSA MX Team photo from the 70 or 71 Trans AMA series held in the Fall at the time, 4 of the riders pictured were from the UK. In addition to Jeff Smith there was John Banks, Dave Nichol and I can't remember the other. The 2 Americans were Chuck (Feets) Minert and David Aldana. David earned his living in Grand National dirt track and road racing. MX was a sideline.
In the photo with the 3 flat trackers what you have are the top three in points from the 1970 Grand National racing season together in 1971. In 1971 and ONLY 1971 the AMA experimented with giving numbers indicating where you finished in the prior season. That system was VERY unpopular and in '72 they went back to the traditional system.
The 3 riders pictured are David Aldana, Jim Rice (both BSA riders) and Gene Romero on his Triumph. In 1972 Jim Rice went back to #24, Gene Romero went back to his #3 and David was given #13. Neither Romero or Rice ever rode the Trans AMA MX series.

[GalacticGS]

An old Shamrocks H&H Poster from 1960...



Entry fee was a shopping $3...

[JohnE65c]

Entry fee was a shopping $3...

No credit cards back then. Jack says mailing your check is good enough.

[MotoMike]

I think the first desert race I ever rode (1977) was something like $7 to enter. I was 16 years old and took the headlight off of my DT1 that I used to ride to school and work. I went with two other guys, both were 16, using one of their dad's truck. We all had notes from our parents saying it was OK for us to race.

We drove from the San Fernando Valley to Lucerne Valley, probably 150 miles, three 16 yr old kids with no parents, no cell phones, and somehow we survived. Fuckin kids these days....

[cameron uk]

Keith Hickman was the 3rd member of the BSA Works team

[JeffS77]

Originally Posted by MotoMike

I think the first desert race I ever rode (1977) was something like $7 to enter. I was 16 years old and took the headlight off of my DT1 that I used to ride to school and work. I went with two other guys, both were 16, using one of their dad's truck. We all had notes from our parents saying it was OK for us to race.

We drove from the San Fernando Valley to Lucerne Valley, probably 150 miles, three 16 yr old kids with no parents, no cell phones, and somehow we survived. Fuckin kids these days....

if there was a "like" button I would have clicked it

[bk brkr baker]

High tech, that didn't catch on.

[Rusty Rocket]

Originally Posted by bk brkr baker

High tech, that didn't catch on.

I bet it caught on brush and rocks though.

I remember those. Also Diff=brake that tied the two brakes together to operate as one.

[dan-c]

Originally Posted by Rusty Rocket

I bet it caught on brush and rocks though.

I remember those. Also Diff=brake that tied the two brakes together to operate as one.

Don't know why those never caught on. Everyone back then knew using a front brake would get you killed.

[smauss]

Originally Posted by earling

I am late to this thread, but I think I can contribute to the "history" lesson.

I started practicing offroad in about 1972 when I got a Honda 50. I used to ride it at the Arnspiger's track on Brainard road, in the middle of cornfields, in Naperville, Ill, a few miles from where I lived. Kurt and Casey Arnspiger were up and coming motocross amateurs, both really talented (Kurt eventually turned pro on an Elsinore 250), and their engineer father used to mod out their bikes in the big garage overlooking their home made back yard track. They had some pretty radically altered Hodakas with Dad-designed pipes, longer swing arms, ported to the moon, god knows what else. By the time they let me store my bikes there and hang out they had graduated to a Rickman and a Monarch, both Sachs engined 125s, top of the line European stuff in those days, and both required HUGE amounts of setup. Which was all totally expected in those days. Wired spokes, ductaped airboxes, upgraded shocks, beefed up frames, on and on. Meanwhile I was out there jumping my Honda 50 (hard tail!) off of three foot drops, experiencing some truly hellacious wipe outs, and breaking the frame at one point. After a few in-betweens (Suzuki 90 with "hop up kit," Honda MT125 (dog)) I graduated to a 125 DKW with a leading link fork. That bike had an iron barrel Sachs engine, big chrome tank, amazing suspension, I laced up a set of Akront rims (hot setup at the time), shimmed the tranny one winter with home-made brass shims and a set of calipers, got a Dremel for christmas, ported the barrel, shaved the piston, etc etc. I was about 15 at the time. That bike handled great but wasn't a real barn burner even after the mods. After that came the Elsinore, which had just come out and set fire to the 125 class. I got one cheap from a buddy who went from that to a Bultaco Pursang for some reason (he was a total squid, rich kid). The Arspigers were kind enough to forward mount my shocks (the hot setup in 1974/5) and I started racing in 1974 at Elkhorn, wisconsin, and a few other midwestern tracks. My friend Jerry and I used to sleep overnight at the tracks in his Volvo in the reclining seats, which, at my present age, would literally kill me--let alone let me race two motos the next day. Youth. Unreal. Anyway, my buddy Jim had a 125 Maico that was always broken, but not a bad bike when running. I ran over his leg and tank when he wiped on an uphill once, WOT, weight back.... ruthless at that age. I typically got a 4th or 5th place start, then fell a lot, usually about 3x per 15 minute moto, but always came back to end up around mid pack. Weighed about 125. Total adrenalin. No earplugs. The tracks were much smoother, and more natural than most are now, wooded, no commercialism, no Red Bull, fire pits, privateers with funky vans, just the smell of Penzoil and Castrol wafting through the trees, sunny summer days, Maicos, CZs, Zundapps, Montesas, TMs, Elsinores...
Heaven, man.
And, whoever posted that you used to run those 125s flat out was correct. I only knew one throttle position. And you didn't touch the clutch. Second gear starts, throttle all the way open, stomp on the shifter. When in doubt, gas it. This was a difficult thing to un-learn whenI got a KTM450 EXC and tried to ride it in the woods 35 years later. Owee.

You rode at Turtle Park? How about Byron? Fun times.......