Used Bikes & Spiders

Yes, indeed. Ol' Super hates YZ490's, and Kawasaki Pighorns (the ill-fated 1972 Champion framed project bike, remember?)

Actually, my '86 YZ490 was a pretty nice playbike. Was reliable as a claw hammer.

But of course, I had to jet it way too rich to keep it from seizing. Carried around pocketfulls of B8ES' all the time. It was hell when a plug went through the washer/dryer combo. The wife would go ape.

It had a license plate too. Airport Yamaha, in Inglewood put the wrong vehicle code on the title, and I got a plate, instead of a green sticker.

I geared it to the moon, put fake lights on it, and drove it on the street, knobbies and all, for about three years. In 1997, a big green Buick centerpunched me, ruined the bike, and my left knee.

They fixed my knee, but the 490's still in the back yard, bent like a banana. I'm thinking of fixing the frame, putting a down-pipe on it, and lowering the suspension. But it's just another project in a long line...

Hey, check this out:

http://www.off-road.com/dirtbike/columns/editorial/adelantocurse.html

Re: Maico Breako

Yes, the fabled Maico 760. Only made a few of 'em.

You can check out that story at off-road.com. Old S. Hunky is still at it.

He lives in Baja, I got to meet him at the Adelanto GP in 2002, really cool guy.

I bought an old CZ 250 a few years back, and as a bonus, got a foot locker full of pristine Dirt Bike Magazines, (some dating back to 1971) thrown in on the deal. I think that was the real reason I bought the CZ.

Those old mags are classics. Most dirt bikes were horrible back then, and DB use to rip them apart. Finally, I think companies like Carabella, AJS, etc. wouldn't give them test bikes anymore, what with all the bad press they got from Dirt Bike. The editors would have to go out and buy one, in order to test it!

Now that's scathing motorjournalism. Something you don't see from with brochure ad copy boys anmore.

Re: The Suzuki TM-400 Cyclone

It was very fast, kind of heavy, had an erratic powerband, no flywheel, the frame flexed, bad headshake, was cheap to buy ($850.00 new in 1971), and looked just like Roger DeCosters GP bike.

Like so many fish, the public bought them by the boatload. Soon you started seeing things like this in the advertisement section of Cycle News:

"1971 TM400 Cyclone. Like new. Never raced. Injury forces sale $500.00."

A whole aftermarket industry built up around the Cyclone, in some vain attempt to make it rideable. Nothing short of a new frame, shocks, forks, and a 4 pound flywheel worked.

It came in number one, in the "Ten worst Dirt Bikes Ever Made" list.

Punch "Suzuki Cyclone" in your search engine, you'll see...

Jeez, that must have been a fun ride. Those old Suzuki 380's were neat. Kind of looked like a jukebox though....neon green and purple, with chrome doo-dads everywhere. Didn't they have 4 exhaust pipes too?



I once rode from Virginia Beach VA to Washington DC on a CB100. In winter. That was a hoot.



Yes, the oil-pump quit on my 1972 Yamaha 250 Enduro (right before the big GP in Adelanto in Feb.) and did the same thing. Didn't hole a piston, but ruined the bore, and stuck the rings in the grooves. But I fixed it with Scotch-Brite and it's still running, after around 1000 miles (what piston slap?) Shows you how strong those old bikes were.



Now about your Suzuki Savage; I happen to be looking at, right at the moment, a May 1973 edition of Dirt Bike Magazine, that has a shoot-out between the Yamaha and Suzuki 250 enduros.



I can fax a copy to you, if you want. The scanner's busted.