talking of bikes, recall hodaka super rats?
I bought a couple of Huskys from Malcomb Smith in the early 70’s & yes I have quite a list of injuries too. On any Sunday did for desert racing what Endless Summer did for surfing. I used to race district 37 desert races in the so. cal desert. I gave it up after breaking too many bones and losing too much skin, surfing is so much friendlier to the body. And Herb, I grew up in Bell too and went to Bell High, class of 68. There were some real quality surfers that went through that high school.
ya!
had a few open desert buds that rode hodakas.
the first super rats were state of the art,
i had a chance at buying a 78 yamaha 2 stroke 490cc with the 560 kit,,,open desert bike.
got on it and figured out that it was a bike that would have killed me.fun to ride but in the open desert it was too much bike for me.
herb
i graduated bell in 75.
went to c.w. nimitz jr. high in h.p. as well.
small world.
"kokua"aka mike williams graduated from h.p. in or around 68.
jeff neu the surf film maker graduated with me in 75.
back in those days there was alot of open ground in california............especially in my old home town of imperial beach.
we'd ride the l.a. riverbed(forgot the name..... bekins?) for weekday practice.the local hero was david york or pat hubbs back in my days.............pat ended up going pro and got some good results including a few supercrosses.
skunk...........68 grad..........you graduated with my cousin bill main.
wow,what a trip
herb
Rod Sorensen who had Agua Surfboards in Lucadia was a Bell alum, and the Hawk bros. went there too. Not a bad place in the 60’s although I wouldn’t want to live there now…
i still know people that live there.
it's not a friendly place anymore............that's foresure.
check my edited version of my last post.
nice to know you c.s.
herb
Geez.... you guys are makin feel young! Anyone here ride nowdays? I ride here in Pensacola , FL area with my kids. Don't really ride that often and rarely race but we have 5 different tracks within about a 3 hours drive. We have a Honda CRF450 and CRF250. The new four strokes are freakin' awesome! If you're at a gas station with bikes on the trailer you can pretty much expect some "older" guy to come up and ask about the bikes and then tell you about the Bultaco , Hodaka, etc. he had back in the day. Apparently in the 70's there was a dirt bike in just about every garage.
don't ride anymore.....i knew when to stop.......
......kept surfin.......heck surfin' is a luxury...................
still skateboard a bit..........nothing like i use to,but still kickin it.
bikes of today are the best............i still keep my eyes open..............outer and inner.
herb
Raced Motocross from 76-81… Then kids,wife and all that forsed to stop.First went surfing in 83. Then surfing stand up Jet skis in the 90’s…
Got devorced and started racing MC again in 200, did some local suppercross type stuff but was unhappy with the short 15 minute moto’s… Switched to 2 hour long Hare Scrambles and had some great races. Quit in 05 to go “boat racing” (outboard hydroplanes).
Almost got killed in 2010 in a boat racing crash.Now I mostly just surf and race a boat once or twice a year. Althogh, I do have a street bike (Suzuki SV 1000) for carving northern californias HWY1, I still crave a dirt bike now and then.
Has anyone else got into downhill biking?
I've been doing it for about 10 years now. First started as an alternative to the overcrowded surf conditions: something I can do whenever I want without worrying about the wind, wave and crowd conditions.
This vid epitomises what downhill is for me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D975RZ4fm5M
Malcolm Smith !!!..thats the dude !..that grin , when he’s on a bike sais it all…
I never went full on moto-cross …preferred the enduro bikes , probably because they were road worthy and could serve as pretty cool day to day transport…although I jumped on a mates Maico for a blast one time…he said be extremely carefull with the powerband…I hit the throttle and the bike dissappeared without me on it…luckily no major injury but a jarred back for a month…I remember the Suzuki PE 250 as the best I had…would enjoy getting into trials bikes after reading this thread…those guys have great skills…
Fun subject Herb.
I have a mint condition VHS Tape of “On Any Sunday”, signed for me by Mert. Still gotta get it to Malcom and Bruce for signatures.
I started riding in the early 60’s. My first real bike was a Yamaha 80, 1963 I think. Hopped it up and it would do upwards of 75 mph. But the high RPMs that it could now spin would blow the magneto all the time. Then Surfing took up more of my time.
Later when I worked at Hobies, I bought a Suzuki 185 that I rode back and forth from my house in Newport Beach, often via the back trails in Laguna etc. Necessary to beat the traffic in the summer. Then took a break again untill Steve Walden showed up in Hawaii and got me riding again in the mid 70’s. That was on a Baby Blue Yamaha TY250, 1977 model I think. Later I moved up to an SWM 320 in maybe. Then took a long break and went riding mountain bikes. Later on got a Gas Gas 300 Pro but now I ride a Scorpa 250 Long Ride.
Dirt Bike Riding is way fun and a great release from the stresses inherant in the whacky surfboard business!
[img_assist|nid=1070126|title=Bill Trials Riding|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=430|height=640]
back in the 60’s up 'til about '70-71 use to be able to ride the hills above ventura. actually had 'scrambles" in them hills. no mas. last bike i rode was a faster than hell kawasaki 360 enduro back in the mid 80’s.
Yeah, end of my moto career in '83, I was racing Open on a RM500 Suzuki, 250 on a '83RM, and 125's on a '83RM. I'd race two bikes per event, usually 3 different classes, one of which would be VetExpert, because it was actually safe...usually on a 250.
Any class, 250, was totally berserk and dangerous.
125 riders were fast, crazy riding, but avoided contact mostly.
Open riders of all classes avoided contact, and stay in their lines.
Mos of my buds from the early '80's still have their last motocross bikes, usually not riden since the early '80's.
had i not jumped over the hood of a car i would have been t-boned by it and big time dead. that did it for me. would have been my fault, so i said, f this, i’m getting a little too stupid, so time to hang it up…
ya i heard you rode bill,
was wonderin' if you were goin to fess up.
my last bike was a 78 rm 250.....................
.......................then all kinds of things happen ..........my surfshop rainbow bridge,speed skateboarding.......etc,etc,etc...
and here i am !
but i still have the memories................man..........it's all going by so fast.
thanks for sharing bill.
you take care my friend..............may god hold you close.
herb
lee,
i still have a pair of those gold,nylon lined,black leather moto cross pants, with the white, side stripes and the red,white,and blue, thigh stripes.............lol................still intact and i still fit in them !
herb
believe it or not back in the later 70s before mt. biking,my dad or buds use to drive me up the back side of the san gabriel mt's (after shooting or hunting).i had a custom spitfire bike, built by me,and rode down the entire backside of the mt. on that bike ! no lie !!!! i could see lancaster from the top/at the start ...........lol.
if you went over the ridge towards l.a. the path leveled off at puddinstone lake.