anyone still ride vintage dirtbikes as their main bike?

[tuske427]

Just curious to hear some stories of folks out there who ride a 25year old bike or older as their everyday dirt bike. (I don't mean occasionally taking one out for a vintage event or bike show) but uses it as their main dirtbike...

I'm interested to hear what you ride and where.

I have a 1980 Husqvarna 250CR with '81 forks (increased diameter to 40mm) and I just installed a 412cc engine . It's a 390cr that has been bored and stroked and runs on race gas. While that part is expensive, I'm loving the extra power! (no, nothing wrong with the 250, it runs fine, I just want to have some fun with it)

[MagicRat]

There are vintage shows for dirt bikes??
Up here in Canada, dirt bikes seem to last a bit longer because it's so flippin' cold for half the year no one rides them much.

I ride a Can-Am 400 MX-6 B (with the aluminum swing arm)
Many late '70's and early 80's bikes have remarkably effective suspension systems and give up little to newer bikes with more sophisticated systems.

As for water cooling?? Absolutely not necessary for trail use. A big air cooled single does the job very well, especially my 400 which out-powers just about everything, except for a certain CR500 I rode a while ago.

For years, I also rode a Honda XR 185 (1979, bought new)
This was a great little bike. I rode it until the engine was completely worn out. It was light, manoeverable and compact, but the suspension components were a little light-weight for my 220 lb fat ass.

A few years ago, I came across a $300, '87 XR 200 that had thrown a rod, but otherwise had a perfect engine. I used the '79 engine in the '87 frame, bored out the cylinder to 200cc, used a new piston, rings and the head and cam from the blown-up 200 motor.
So, now I have much better suspension and a bit more power; its a really nice bike to ride.
I noticed the new XR200's are virtually identical to my '87.

Finally, I still ride my first bike occasionally, a '74 Suzuki TM75. I learned to ride it 30 years ago. My son (due in March) will likely learn on it too, in about 7 or 8 years or so.
Hmmm.....learning to ride on the old man's 38 year old bike, cool eh?

[tuske427]

Sweet!

I used to live in upstate NY around Rochester, so I understand the term cold. I don't miss it, though. I'm loving the Los Angelese weather.

Yeah, I laugh a my neighbors who have to replace engine parts due to water corrosion. apparantly, someone forgot to use distilled water as the aluminum casings are all rotted away after so many years. My husky is air cooled and it works fine, even in the summer heat up in the mountians.

The one thing, though, I was humbled on my last outing is the suspension. I paid good money to have my ohlins re-valved with better springs and internals, yet it's such a rough ride compared to some of the newer bikes I tried out.

That, and I need to modify my carb so it will idle. (the carb does not have an idle set screw) It's not easy trying to go through the trails that we ride with an engine that doesn't idle. I end up locking the back wheel as I struggle to keep the engine going and use the front brake...

[MagicRat]

I agree, it sems the modern rear suspensions work a bit better, even though they are a bit gimmicky imo.
It must be nice to be able to ride all year round. However, off roading on snowmobiles for half the year makes for an interesting change.

[tuske427]

Yeah, I grew up in upstate NY, where I grew up with old snowmobiles. in the 80's and early 90's you could pick up an old sled for a hundred bucks or so. The first sled my family bought was a '69 ski doo tnt 399. What a beast.. then I had a moto ski spirit 250, a 1973 John Deere JDX 4, a 1969 Ski Whiz (had a JLO Rockwell 400), a 1973 Arctic Cat Panther 440, and my dad had a '73 Moto Ski Futura that I installed a half a dozen different engines including a BSE, Ski Roule 440 engine (forget the engine make) and a few Arctic Cat Kawasaki's...

I do miss the snowmobiling out here. I suppose I could go up into the mountains, but it's much easier to park/ move/ transport a dirtbike and, like you said, it's usable all year out here. Not to mention where I ride is much closer than any snowmobiling area.

Back to the dirt bikes, I just picked up a 2000 husqvarna 250WR on xmas eve. It has RG3 worked suspension, and an FMF pipe. We'll see how that one works out.

[MagicRat]

Nice Husky.....
All those old snowmobiles are familiar to me.
I also had a '73 Moto Ski 440 short track, with the stock BSE engine.
It was narrow, tippy and evil handling, but it was really quite fast. My friends all had much more modern mis size sleds, they would pull ahead on the turns, but I would always catch up on the straights.
Just hang the throttle wide open (with the huge honking carb thoughtfully pointing right at my crotch) and hang on.
I also rode several '67 and 68 Moto Skis, long track single cylinder machines that were slow and tippy, but NEVER got stuck. They were so long and light, they could cross any snow, no matter how light and fluffy. I also rode a '71 TNT 399, which was heavy and slow, and a '73 Ski Roule (as I recall, it was one of the very first machines equipped with sliders instead of bougie wheels. )
I still have a '76 Ski doo Olympic, and recently sold my '81 Blizzard 9500. I am looking for another cheaper older machine these days.

[tuske427]

Wow, those are very similiar machines! If I recall correctly, Arctic Cat was a slider pioneer too. I had a neighbor growing up who had a '69 Arctic Cat panther. It had a Sachs Wankel engine. I think it was a 303cc displacement. It was a tank. That baby had sliders..

I always enjoyed riding my dad's moto ski- mainly because it had good suspension in the back and a thick foam seat. It made for a comfy ride, but the steering was difficult. for a kid, it was hard to turn unless you were moving at a good pace. I think many of those old sleds didn't handle well. Other friends of mine once had a 1970 Moto ski. I think it was a 400. It was orange. If I remember it had a JLO rockwell engine. That thing didn't steer or handle at all. Just went straight. (straight into my dad's sled once, and dented the belly pan) Those are the stories you never forget.

My '73 Panther was by far the fastest sled I had. By today's standards it's nothing, but for an old sled it moved. I had to fabricate a cooling duct to get cold air to the engine- it had a problem with overheating until I did that. I also always remember those Arctic cats always having an aluminum backbone, too. My John Deere JDX4 was a steel one (and all rusted), my Moto Ski spirit was also steel. I also liked how Arctic Cat had the fuel tank in back. I think it helped with weight distribution and gave a little traction.

[MagicRat]

I have suggested on the AF in General sub forum that a snowmobile section would be welcome.(or else the riders can hijack the Deusenberg forum!

I remember those rear mounted tanks. I thought its a useful feature, but maybe not the safest in a crash.

Also, those Rockwell engines!! I had forgotten, but my friends dad had one years ago, it was a 400, too, I think.

The 1968 Motoskis I rode had single cylinder Hirth engines (317 cc and a 292cc) on big rubber mounts. They shook around like crazy on the rubber at low speeds.

A lot of the old machines used the bogie wheel system in place of sliders. They were excellent in rough terrain, for durabulity but had a rough ride. Essentially you got 18 wheels hitting each bump instead of one slider assembly.
However, they never needed snow for slider lube and never got as branch or stone stuck in the slider, chewing it up......

I could go down a paved road on one, going from one trail to another. I had someone sit on the back of the seat and we could get the skis off the pavement and go down the road (as you say, just in a straight line)

Even into the late 1980's, my brother's company (they did a lot of winter surveying in northern Canada) used then-new Ski-Doo Elan sleds.
Those commercial Elans were straight out of 1969, with a long track, bogies, etc, (even though Ski-Doos recreational sleds were light years ahead in technology by then. )

Those sleds used bogies because they were so much better in deep woods than sliders, where there simply are no trails, and you have to drive over fallen trees, bushes rocks etc all day.

I rode my bogie tracked Motoskis on private land, where there were no trails. They were great at zipping through the fluffy deep snow, where theyre were no bumps anyways, so suspension did not matter.
Whenever I try that with a modern sled, I end up getting stuck, the tracks were too short and the machine was too heavy.

Still, a bogie machine on a well-used trail is brutal. No wonder the guys on the old sleds are always standing up!

[tuske427]

I agree a sled section would be fun. I love those old sled designs. Some were very unique- ever see the Bolens models? These I believe were front engine/ front track driven with a pivot in the middle and the rider(s) sat on a trailing seat with skis under it. Other sleds looked like boats. full aerodynamic fiberglass bodies...

You're probably right about the tank not being safe in the back. it is exposed there for sure. Fortunately, between the Arctic cat (had the T1A44S1B Kawasaki 440cc engine) and my Massey Fergusun Ski Whiz (also had a JLO Rockwell 400cc with electric start), I was never rear ended.

Most of my sledding experience was with the Bogies. Very limited suspension travel, but yeah, they would conform over bumps and provide great traction. "Independant suspension" if you will... It was my dad's Moto Ski Futura and my Arctic cat that had sliders. and I remember the Futura getting stuck more than once because the track would spin over a surface and not get traction. It also did not have a cleated track. It had rubber bars. At least my Panther had cleats.

I don't remember any of my bogie sleds having cleats either.

There were a lot of sled engine makes. My sleds alone had Rotax, BSE, Kawasaki, JLO Rockwell, Kohler to name a few (Hated the Kohler, it never ran more than 15 minutes without konking out)

Others I believe were Hirth (like you mentioned) OMC, Sachs, Homelite, Harley Davidson, CCW, Polaris, Yamaha, and probably 20 others I'm not thinking of...

[MagicRat]

Somewhere in my files is a paperback guide to smowmobiling, published in about 1970, which is full of pics of sleds I have never seen, and must have been made only for a few years, at most.

It seems that so many manufacturers of other things, like recreational products, farm equipment, outboards, chain saws, motorcycles etc were building sleds only for a short time, mostly it seems, in the 1960's, and into the early '70's.

Their reasoning to make sleds makes sense, to some extent.

IMO most of the manufacturers already had strong dealership networks (marine, farm equipment, bikes etc) which had weak sales in the winter. The snowmobile line would give them something to sell in the fall/winter.
Also, they get instant distribution of a new product line without having to set up an expensivfe dealer network.

Also, many of their customers would be rural, outdoorsy types who would be good candidates to take up the newfangled sport.

It makes sense from a manufacturing point of view, too. Back then, many manufacturing plants were under-used in the summer. They would make lawnmowers, motorbikes, tractors; whatever, in the winter months in preparation for spring sales. Then in the summer they would make sleds.

This was precisely the reason why Bombarier (Ski Doo) started making Can-Am dirt bikes.

I have wondered why so many manufacturers got out of making sleds. I suspect that the research and development costs to keep up with the competition became too expensive to justify the effort.
Also, perhaps once the extablished customers had already bought their sled, they did not buy another for several years, so perhaps new sales became harder to get.

[tuske427]

That all makes sense to me. After all, the snowmobile companies surviving today make watercrafts in their snowmobile "off seasons". a modern variant on your thoughts.

I always enjoyed seeing those "kits" for sleds that would turn them into summer toys. They would have wheels that would replace the skis (or bolt right onto them), as well as in the back, though the track would still turn.. Of course, these were all for bogie wheeled suspensions which didn't require the lubrication of snow like the sliders did. I think some sleds came with these options available straight from the manufacturer.

There are some good websites with images of sleds of many makes and models. It's always nea tto see and learn about ones I never knew existed. Some have complete fiberglass canopies, housings, etc to enclose the rider.