Post by BluesRider on Jan 8, 2009 1:45:11 GMT -5
I was cleaning out some old emails,and found this correspondence I had with one of the members of TRN I had several months ago.I thought you dirt bike guys might find some of it interesting:
Paul,
I saw your tutorial on installing the mini speedo on your Scrambler.Great instructions! I'll eventually do the gauges as well,but right now I'm interested in the bars.I've looked high and low for bars like those for my Scrambler,and I can't find them anywhere.Where did you get yours? I have some like them on my old Triumph 500 twin desert sled,but no way am I going to cannibalize it.
Thanks,
Bruce
*****************************************************
Hi Bruce,
I just did a search for "Handlebars" on eBay and found them. The person selling them said they were for an old DT-1 Yamaha. I just did a quick look a few minutes ago and there are at least three that look similar on there now.
Did you used to race desert in SoCal??? I did back in the late 60' early 70's .....
Paul
******************************************************
Thanks for the info Paul.I do check ebay from time to time,but just haven't found the right ones yet.I'll go there directly and check again.And yes,those bars do look like Dit-1 bars.I was hoping you'd write me back and say"You idiot!Haven't you found this website yet?" and direct me to somewhere I could get some brand new ones.Oh well.
Sounds like you ran in some of those point to point smoke bomb start races where everybody lined up,then had a huge drag race to the smoke before the first turn.What a blast! No,unfortunately the tree huggers had put an end to that type of start by the time I started racing,in 1974.At least, here in Arizona.
They broke our classes down into beginner,novice, intermediate,amateur,expert,and pro. Then into engine size classes .125,250 and Open,then further into age classes,like Veteran,and Old timer. So there were never more than about a dozen bikes starting at any one time.Sometimes they would consolidate really small classes.They would start the fast guys first,then the next class down every 30 seconds.
The races were usually about a hundred miles,and you might have to do 10 laps,or 2 laps,or something in between, depending on the length of the course.On the shorter courses,us mere mortals would get passed by the experts at least a couple of times.The open experts around here almost all rode Maico 450s and 501s. I know Maico never really had much of a rep as a desert bike,but they worked very well in our dry,rocky terrain.I still have vivid memories of being passed by those guys doing about 110,barely touching the ground,and spitting boulders at me from those big 510 Barums!
I can see how the reference to my desert sled might have misled you.I built that bike up in the late 80's,because I didn't have all the parts to make it original,and because I always loved the big twin desert machines.It has Betor forks off my old Pursang,and Curnutt (remember those?) shocks. Sadly,it hasn't been ridden in years,and is currently in pretty poor condition.But that doesn't mean I'm going to start taking parts off it.
I started racing on a used '72 Bultaco Pursang.It was pretty fast,and handled great,but by this time the long travel revolution had hit.After I seized it good and hard in one of the interminable sand washes that our AZ races seemed to consist about 80 percent of,I moved up to a '76 Husky 360.I was pretty successful on the Husky,actually winning my class a couple of times,and moving up a couple of classes.I broke the frame on the Husky in late '77,and bought a new 1978 YZ400.The YZ was fast,but I never really got the suspension sorted out,and it felt top heavy compared to the twin shock bikes,like the Huskys and Maicos.It got stolen when it was about 8 months old,and that ended my racing career.I bought a BMW street bike,and spent the next two years bumming around the U.S. and Mexico.
Sorry this was so long,but you got me reminiscing......
Cheers, Bruce
*****************************************************
Hi again,
Do a search for "handlebar motocross" or "handlebar scrambler" and see what you get ... that should narrow it down.
Barstow to Vegas was always the big one .... in '71 I believe there were about 3500 entered in the race. They started the Expert and Amateur class together first, then the Novices. I think the Novice line was about 3000 bikes, two miles long!!! .... lot's of great memories on this end, too.
Yes I remember Curnutt shocks. I drove to Fullerton to pick them up for my '69 DT1 and Charles Curnutt gave me a tour of the place. Best shocks at the time besides Girling but they always squeaked something horribly. All of them if I remember correctly. I also had a '71 Maico 400. Ungodly amounts of torque back then, probably 40hp to the rear wheel. Handled great but was really too low for serious desert racing ... started racing motocross in '72 ... had a '73 Elsinore 250 that was difficult not to win races on. That was the last dirt bike I owned ....
Started riding dirt on a Honda 50 (didn't everyone back then). Had a Hodaka Steen's special in '67 and a Bridgestone 100 in '68. The big boy's had the Rickman Metisse Triumph 650's ... everyone drooled over them. Larry Berquist (360 Pursang) and JN Roberts (400 Husky) were my idols though. JN never rushed in to the checkpoints or ever seemed in that much of a hurry ... but I rmember watching him comimg from a distance off at one of our club's races (100's MC) and could understand why he won every time he raced. Very, very fast in the open sections. Never saw anyone with that much talent. Burquist was fast but it did not come as naturally to him. Met Steve McQueen several times. Ran across his son Chad once on a Yamaha Mini Enduro in '71 in the North Cajon Pass area of the desert and told us he was lost and looking for his dad. We did not know at the time he was Steve's son. After about 30 minutes of looking where he told us he thought they were camped a guy on a Husky 400 was waving us down. Turned out to be Steve ... he invited us for some beers ... great time. I could go on for hours .....
I am in New Zealand right now on business. If I get some time I am going to visit the Triumph dealer in Auckland before returning home. Getting a good collection of Triumph t-shirts from around the world!!
Good luck on the bars .... be patient. Found some for an Elsinore about the same time as the one's I ended up buying, but the Elsinore bars were a little lower than I wanted for the Triumph. Saw a lot of Suzuki 400 bars at the same time, too.
Paul
*****************************************************
That's it. I'd like to sit down,and have a few beers with this guy sometime.Bet he's got lots of good stories.
Cheers!
Bruce
Paul,
I saw your tutorial on installing the mini speedo on your Scrambler.Great instructions! I'll eventually do the gauges as well,but right now I'm interested in the bars.I've looked high and low for bars like those for my Scrambler,and I can't find them anywhere.Where did you get yours? I have some like them on my old Triumph 500 twin desert sled,but no way am I going to cannibalize it.
Thanks,
Bruce
*****************************************************
Hi Bruce,
I just did a search for "Handlebars" on eBay and found them. The person selling them said they were for an old DT-1 Yamaha. I just did a quick look a few minutes ago and there are at least three that look similar on there now.
Did you used to race desert in SoCal??? I did back in the late 60' early 70's .....
Paul
******************************************************
Thanks for the info Paul.I do check ebay from time to time,but just haven't found the right ones yet.I'll go there directly and check again.And yes,those bars do look like Dit-1 bars.I was hoping you'd write me back and say"You idiot!Haven't you found this website yet?" and direct me to somewhere I could get some brand new ones.Oh well.
Sounds like you ran in some of those point to point smoke bomb start races where everybody lined up,then had a huge drag race to the smoke before the first turn.What a blast! No,unfortunately the tree huggers had put an end to that type of start by the time I started racing,in 1974.At least, here in Arizona.
They broke our classes down into beginner,novice, intermediate,amateur,expert,and pro. Then into engine size classes .125,250 and Open,then further into age classes,like Veteran,and Old timer. So there were never more than about a dozen bikes starting at any one time.Sometimes they would consolidate really small classes.They would start the fast guys first,then the next class down every 30 seconds.
The races were usually about a hundred miles,and you might have to do 10 laps,or 2 laps,or something in between, depending on the length of the course.On the shorter courses,us mere mortals would get passed by the experts at least a couple of times.The open experts around here almost all rode Maico 450s and 501s. I know Maico never really had much of a rep as a desert bike,but they worked very well in our dry,rocky terrain.I still have vivid memories of being passed by those guys doing about 110,barely touching the ground,and spitting boulders at me from those big 510 Barums!
I can see how the reference to my desert sled might have misled you.I built that bike up in the late 80's,because I didn't have all the parts to make it original,and because I always loved the big twin desert machines.It has Betor forks off my old Pursang,and Curnutt (remember those?) shocks. Sadly,it hasn't been ridden in years,and is currently in pretty poor condition.But that doesn't mean I'm going to start taking parts off it.
I started racing on a used '72 Bultaco Pursang.It was pretty fast,and handled great,but by this time the long travel revolution had hit.After I seized it good and hard in one of the interminable sand washes that our AZ races seemed to consist about 80 percent of,I moved up to a '76 Husky 360.I was pretty successful on the Husky,actually winning my class a couple of times,and moving up a couple of classes.I broke the frame on the Husky in late '77,and bought a new 1978 YZ400.The YZ was fast,but I never really got the suspension sorted out,and it felt top heavy compared to the twin shock bikes,like the Huskys and Maicos.It got stolen when it was about 8 months old,and that ended my racing career.I bought a BMW street bike,and spent the next two years bumming around the U.S. and Mexico.
Sorry this was so long,but you got me reminiscing......
Cheers, Bruce
*****************************************************
Hi again,
Do a search for "handlebar motocross" or "handlebar scrambler" and see what you get ... that should narrow it down.
Barstow to Vegas was always the big one .... in '71 I believe there were about 3500 entered in the race. They started the Expert and Amateur class together first, then the Novices. I think the Novice line was about 3000 bikes, two miles long!!! .... lot's of great memories on this end, too.
Yes I remember Curnutt shocks. I drove to Fullerton to pick them up for my '69 DT1 and Charles Curnutt gave me a tour of the place. Best shocks at the time besides Girling but they always squeaked something horribly. All of them if I remember correctly. I also had a '71 Maico 400. Ungodly amounts of torque back then, probably 40hp to the rear wheel. Handled great but was really too low for serious desert racing ... started racing motocross in '72 ... had a '73 Elsinore 250 that was difficult not to win races on. That was the last dirt bike I owned ....
Started riding dirt on a Honda 50 (didn't everyone back then). Had a Hodaka Steen's special in '67 and a Bridgestone 100 in '68. The big boy's had the Rickman Metisse Triumph 650's ... everyone drooled over them. Larry Berquist (360 Pursang) and JN Roberts (400 Husky) were my idols though. JN never rushed in to the checkpoints or ever seemed in that much of a hurry ... but I rmember watching him comimg from a distance off at one of our club's races (100's MC) and could understand why he won every time he raced. Very, very fast in the open sections. Never saw anyone with that much talent. Burquist was fast but it did not come as naturally to him. Met Steve McQueen several times. Ran across his son Chad once on a Yamaha Mini Enduro in '71 in the North Cajon Pass area of the desert and told us he was lost and looking for his dad. We did not know at the time he was Steve's son. After about 30 minutes of looking where he told us he thought they were camped a guy on a Husky 400 was waving us down. Turned out to be Steve ... he invited us for some beers ... great time. I could go on for hours .....
I am in New Zealand right now on business. If I get some time I am going to visit the Triumph dealer in Auckland before returning home. Getting a good collection of Triumph t-shirts from around the world!!
Good luck on the bars .... be patient. Found some for an Elsinore about the same time as the one's I ended up buying, but the Elsinore bars were a little lower than I wanted for the Triumph. Saw a lot of Suzuki 400 bars at the same time, too.
Paul
*****************************************************
That's it. I'd like to sit down,and have a few beers with this guy sometime.Bet he's got lots of good stories.
Cheers!
Bruce