Old Timey Stuff From Motocross Action Magazine

[sammyseaman]

  http://motocrossactionmag.com/Main/News/JODYS-ANCIENT-ARTIFACTS-OF-AMERICAN-MOTOCROSS-Conc-3031.aspx

[DogBoy]

Super cool link. Thanks!

[Kneescrubber]

Ah yes. Back in the day when men were men and the bikes sucked.  

[misanthropist]

Man, what a cool read.


Sent from my brain using my hands

[buls4evr]

Ah yes. Back in the day when men were men and the bikes sucked.  

  But we did not think they sucked! They were state-0f -the art tech then! Remember we raced on pretty smooth grass tracks up here in the Midwest. Jumps.... were really just sudden rolls off from an uphill. The tracks were pretty high speed yet you did not rev the big bikes to the moon. A piston lasted quite a while if you did easy ring jobs. What would shock kids today would be the matter of prepping bikes when they were new!!!! They came completely apart right from the shop. We put good grease on everything. Change fork springs,shocks, fork oil and changed the nuts to ny-locks and stovers. You put on your favorite grips and bars and tires and a Twin-Air filter. You broke it in by running it around slowly for an hour then rode it like you stole it. One thing we really worked on was brakes. Smoothing and radiusing shoes became an art just to slow you down a little. Clutches had to be worked with.....assembled and disassembled to get them right and smooth. But you know we loved those old CZs, Huskys, Maicos, Buls. Few rode Jap bikes then until Elsinores came along BTW and they were not in the Open class. They were LITTLE bikes to us. Just a ltlle history for the young guys.
   One thing that modern bikes cannot match is the light overall weight that early MX bikes had. My 73 CZ 400 weighed 218 lbs..........

[mxvet57]

   One thing that modern bikes cannot match is the light overall weight that early MX bikes had. My 73 CZ 400 weighed 218 lbs..........

And that was before shit started to fall off it.  

[Paintman]

A yes the good old days when our spines were part of the suspension lol. My son was bitching one day about the ride on his CRF 450 so i put him on my XT500 for rest of the day lol never heard another word lol  

[black hills]

 
   One thing that modern bikes cannot match is the light overall weight that early MX bikes had. My 73 CZ 400 weighed 218 lbs..........

you may want to check the specs on the new stuff

[Kneescrubber]

A yes the good old days when our spines were part of the suspension lol. My son was bitching one day about the ride on his CRF 450 so i put him on my XT500 for rest of the day lol never heard another word lol  

 

[black hills]

A yes the good old days when our spines were part of the suspension lol. My son was bitching one day about the ride on his CRF 450 so i put him on my XT500 for rest of the day lol never heard another word lol  

you don't realize how bad the old stuff was until you ride something new and then go back

[buls4evr]

you may want to check the specs on the new stuff

  An actual weight on a scale ,ready to run with a gallon of gas..... Not the "dry weight lie" they foist off on you today. They just had a lot fewer parts on them mostly. Only trials bikes weigh less, perhaps a 200 KTM. Actual weight of the 4 strokes today likely average hi 220s on 250s and more for 450s.

[sammyseaman]

you don't realize how bad the old stuff was until you ride something new and then go back

Kinda like my '67 LeMans compared to my buddies (whatever year) BMW. Shit suspension, shit brakes, AM radio, no A/C, etc..... The Poncho is much more fun to drive, BTW  

[black hills]

  An actual weight on a scale ,ready to run with a gallon of gas..... Not the "dry weight lie" they foist off on you today. They just had a lot fewer parts on them mostly. Only trials bikes weigh less, perhaps a 200 KTM. Actual weight of the 4 strokes today likely average hi 220s on 250s and more for 450s.

I just googled it and it said dry weight was 233, thus my comment. If it is lighter than the new stuff that is great, I still wouldn't swap my 300 for it

[bomber]

I remember being very confused when I came back to the States and got my 441 out of mothballs . . . . .

Seeing the little people do ring jobs on their two-strokes between heats wsa odd, seeing the distance they covered in the stranger still, but watching them simply FLY past me . . . . .

Yeah -- bike are WAY better!

[buls4evr]

I just googled it and it said dry weight was 233, thus my comment. If it is lighter than the new stuff that is great, I still wouldn't swap my 300 for it

   I hear you there. I would not trade that lighter weight for todays bikes in any category. A CZ came with steel fenders and tank. Solid rigid footpegs and a monstrously heavy exhaust. That all came off when it was new. Even a heavy Jikov (jerk-off) carb was changed. I do not doubt they weighed 233 as they came. It was really easy to get 15 lbs off a bike then. We thought they were cool. They are NOT COOL compared to today. I was just reminiscing out-loud. AHHHH Progress.

[black hills]

   I hear you there. I would not trade that lighter weight for todays bikes in any category. A CZ came with steel fenders and tank. Solid rigid footpegs and a monstrously heavy exhaust. That all came off when it was new. Even a heavy Jikov (jerk-off) carb was changed. I do not doubt they weighed 233 as they came. It was really easy to get 15 lbs off a bike then. We thought they were cool. They are NOT COOL compared to today. I was just reminiscing out-loud. AHHHH Progress.

LOL.. the old days always seem better than they were.. Friend of a friend always wanted a '71 mustang, had one in high school, was a great car, loved it, best care ever, blah, blah,blah... Last year he found one and had it restored, somewhere upwards of $60K !!! drove it home and stopped by my friends shop:

"wow, looks nice!! how do you like it?"
"well, umm, actually it sucks!"
"WHAT?"
"yea, apparently it was a way shittier car than I remembered, my chevy half ton pickup is better than it at everything..."
"bummer"
"yea..."

Memories apparently are not too accurate, or we don't notice the modern improvements until we actually go back to the "good old stuff"

[sammyseaman]

LOL.. the old days always seem better than they were.. Friend of a friend always wanted a '71 mustang, had one in high school, was a great car, loved it, best care ever, blah, blah,blah... Last year he found one and had it restored, somewhere upwards of $60K !!! drove it home and stopped by my friends shop:

"wow, looks nice!! how do you like it?"
"well, umm, actually it sucks!"
"WHAT?"
"yea, apparently it was a way shittier car than I remembered, my chevy half ton pickup is better than it at everything..."
"bummer"
"yea..."

Memories apparently are not too accurate, or we don't notice the modern improvements until we actually go back to the "good old stuff"

Kinda like my '67 LeMans compared to my buddies (whatever year) BMW. Shit suspension, shit brakes, AM radio, no A/C, etc..... The Poncho is much more fun to drive, BTW  

Really depends, my friend  

[black hills]

Really depends, my friend  

very true.. depends what you are looking for, he remebered his car as a perfomance machine, which it no longer is....... Still may be fun if that is what you are looking for  Hell, I enjoy driving my old John Deere tractor sometimes, but if I actually had to do more than move a bale or two or push a little snow I would have a new one