Messages

1696

General Two Stroke Talk / Vintage Racing

« on: November 23, 2009, 03:12:50 PM »

I was a little hesitant to make this thread, given that we already have a lot of two-post-threads, and something on this topic might further make the 4T guys think we're all a bunch of grey-bearded men born in 1955, but I thought it would be interesting nonetheless.

Who among us competes in vintage MX racing?  I don't, personally, but I show up occasionally when races are held in the VDR series at Woodland, WA.  It looks like a really fun sport and there are some guys who are insanely fast on their machines.  One particular such guy was aboard a 400 CZ at Woodland last time I was there and just flying, with power-slides and the whole bit.

On a sort-of related note, I've been reading a book called "Monkey Butt!" by Rick "Super Hunky" Sieman.  It chronicles the old days of motorcycle-journalism with magazines like Dirt Bike and MXA right when they were getting started.  The book is really funny and has a lot of interesting history on the war over public land use that's been going on for the last 30 years or so.  If you're interested in older bikes, it's definitely something to check out!

1697

General Two Stroke Talk / Re: What is your idea of a good rule change?

« on: November 23, 2009, 03:04:42 PM »

Equal displacement, straight-up.  Here's the room you have to work with.  If you can make a better mouse trap, you're going to trap more mice.  I would be fine with allowing superchargers on the four-strokes, if that's what they think they needs.  On the other side of it, though, there's no reason I can see why a two-stroke with DFI couldn't have one, too.  If the extra weight slows the bike down, it won't win.  So long as the marques race what they sell and stick to equal-displacement, I think it should be open and free from there.

1698

General Two Stroke Talk / Re: History of the Two Stroke Engine

« on: November 21, 2009, 12:56:19 AM »

I think this is a good topic to post a series of videos uploaded by one of my online friends on YouTube.  He's a fairly big vintage two-stroke guy; he's got three 490 Maicos (a pair of '82s and an '83) as well as an '86 CR500 and a few other bikes in varying states of repair, including a KTM 495 project.

Part I:
Legends of Dirt Bike History (HD)

1699

General Two Stroke Talk / Re: What's your ride?

« on: November 21, 2009, 12:41:59 AM »

I've got two rides.



My primary steed is the 1982 Husky 250CR.  My neighbor used to own this bike and it ran horribly.  He had to rev it to the moon or else it would die, there was not really that much in the way of power and it looked like a 400 year old sofa.  Then, my dad and I bought it from him for $800, fixed it up with a proper CR gas tank (a purple one from a 360) and we had a fairly decent bike.  This is my first 250, and it became my regular every-day bike when I was about 14 or 15.  There were problems, though.  The front suspension felt like it was made of granite, the seat still had a tear in it, and it liked to sputter when given more than 1/2 throttle.  So, during the winter of '08 we removed the packing in the silencer, bought a new seat cover, replaced the useless front wheel bearings, put the proper amount of oil in the forks, and painted the tank a new color.  We wanted something that would stand up well to gasoline, but still stand out from the crowd of older Huskies.  What we found was brake caliper paint, like the stuff you'd put on your Porsche 911 GT2 or something, and we chose yellow.  The result is a truly brilliant 250.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h119/JETZcorp/DSC02104.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h119/JETZcorp/DSC02105.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h119/JETZcorp/DSC02203.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h119/JETZcorp/Husky250.jpg <-- Before tank, seat, etc.



My next bike, I like even more.  I don't ride this one nearly as much, only once or twice a year, but it's such a treat whenever I take it out.  She's a 1967 Kawasaki 120, and it's still running the original piston.  And don't think the 120 is a museum piece that's only been ridden lightly.  This bike has seen more off-road miles than an Abrams Tank, and still runs strong.  I rode this as my regular every-ride bike for at least half a decade, putting on at least 100 miles per weekend, every weekend.  Let's see a CRF150 do that 40 years from now.  When I say it runs strong, I don't mean that it's got surprising power for such an old machine.  No.  The torque that this bike wields is downright scary sometimes.  On the 250, there's not really much of anything I can do with the clutch or throttle to get the front-end up, but not so on the 120.  If you want to loft the front wheel over some log, all you need is to give the 1/8-twist throttle a zap and it will respond like 490 Maico.  When I was using it regularly, I would ride next to my cousin on his Hodaka Ace 100, and would often have to wait for him whenever we got to an up-hill of any sort, even though I had 4 gears and he had 5.  When we do our annual 4th of July ride, my dad takes his '72 Yamaha 100MX, and he says riding that next to the 120 is like riding a normal 125 against a 250 (sound familiar?)  This bike is, by the way, not even close to stock.  It's got a hand-made straight-pipe with a stinger and no silencing to speak of, so it can only be ridden in areas where no one is there to hear it crackle (which would be possible 10 miles away.)  The forks are probably from a '76 or so Suzuki, and the shocks are forward-mounted Girlings.  It also happens to be the easiest-starting engine of any sort on the planet.  Given proper choke, it will start first-kick after sitting in the garage for 2 years (yes, that's a true story.)

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h119/JETZcorp/DSC02360.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h119/JETZcorp/DSC02366.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h119/JETZcorp/DSC02383.jpg <-- Notice the forks use 95% of travel.
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h119/JETZcorp/DSC02385.jpg <-- The shocks use about 130%  
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h119/JETZcorp/Bikes.jpg <-- Slightly lower than the Husky.

And, I just couldn't resist posting this.

From left-to-right, these are:
Cousin Mark's 1980 Husky 250CR
Uncle Scott's 1981 Husky 430XC
My 1982 Husky 250CR
Dad's 1979 Husky 390CR (I grew up with this bike)
Cousin Andy's 1980-ish Husky 250OR