For all you old Motocross fans

[eemsreno]

I want to thank everyone on here that has contributed old pictures and pictures of their family's riding and having fun.
Anyone else out there that has enjoyed this thread , please feel free to add pictures.

While on the old family pictures , I have a few more.
Emily was always a natural at riding and good style.

Eric on the other hand was cautious and not natural at it.
I didn't think he would ever be fast or race.

Boy was I wrong.
When he was about 12 I got him a KX80 and he never really liked it.
So I traded it for a TTR125 and he really started having fun riding.
Then when he was 15 I had to really twist his arm to get him to ride my YZ125 but when he did he never looked back.
I pushed him and pushed him until the day he passed me and motored away and my work was done. [My boy was faster than me]

I took this picture of him once and It got passed around in school and after that our family was forever hoodlums .

Eric IS FAST!

 

[fredz43]

Those are great, Steve. I LOVE that pic of Emily. That is a million dollar smile for sure.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Those are great, Steve. I LOVE that pic of Emily. That is a million dollar smile for sure.

::026::

Found a couple more. This from my daughter saying good-bye to her ATV. Pretty sure this was her last ride on it before it was sold.





Not a photo, but of all the videos I have ever made this has remained my all time favorite.
Learning to ride a motorcycle

eemsreno - Thanks for the thread. I've really enjoyed seeing all the other family photos that have been offered. Nothing in life is better than being a dad. It's fun to see how other dads were able to share their passion for riding with the family.

 

[fredz43]

Dirt Dad, that video is fantastic. I had an ear to ear smile for the entire length of it.

You are correct, being a dad is the best job in the word, especially if you can share your passion for riding. My youngest gave up riding and my wife, who has travelled 10's of thousands of miles with me on two wheels, can no longer do that. I am very fortunate that my oldest got back into riding about 5 years ago. He no longer rides dirt, but he loves exploring twisty back roads at a sporting pace, just as I have enjoyed that type of riding for many years. Already he is faster than me on those roads, but he is a safe, level headed rider. Even though he lives 700 miles from me in Biloxi, I am fortunate that he goes with me on a few adventures each year. Those are priceless and I really appreciate each one.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Dirt Dad, that video is fantastic. I had an ear to ear smile for the entire length of it.

Thanks, it was a great moment in life and I'm grateful my wife was rolling the video that day.

Congrats on still being able to ride with your son. I can appreciate why those rides would be so satisfying for a dad, and I'm sure your son as well. I do hope the two of you can continue that tradition for many years to come.

 

[eemsreno]

Dirt Dad
That Video brought back a lot of memory's .
I have run a lot of miles behind the Suzuki 50 ATV holding on to that tether.
Emily started riding it a week after she turn TWO.
Eric was pretty little too and he just would not keep off the jumps so I really had to watch him.

 

[eemsreno]

I found a bunch of old junk that you probably have no interest in.
I still have the owners manual to my 1972 HD Rapido 125.
What is really cool though [to me] is on the back page it says "SR+MH" that would be Michelle. 8 years before we were married.

Here is a receipt to them Pierre Karsmaker boots and the leather pants I was wearing.

Sorry for the showing you all the old junk ::025::

 

[eemsreno]

Here is just a little more.

This is just some of my races.

 

[yz454]

Man I,am sorry for you to have to ride the Rapido because after riding the 100 a friend had ,it was bad for enough .

 

[eemsreno]

yz454
You are looking at them old bikes from your eyes of today.I agree that to ride [race] them bikes today would borderline torture. I don't see how Fred does it. But back then we knew no better.

 

[Chuck B]

When kids (mid 70's) buddies and I would ride our bicycles up to the corner market. We'd spend time at the magazine rack and they would sneak looks at the girlie mags while I was drooling over the lastest motorcycles. I begged for a motorcycle but was not going to happen.

In 1984 I was in Hawaii selling suntan lotion on the beach. Saved enough to buy my first bike...1985 SP600. I bought it used and spent 20 min learning to operate in the sellers under ground parking in downtown Honolulu. How I made it I'll never know.

I moved to San Diego and picked up 83 XL600. While out playing in the dirt a Honda van pulls up. This guy gets out and starts doing just crazy stuff with the bike (jumps, wheelies, cliff jumps etc). I was spell bound. When he took a break I went over and talked with him. It was Rick Johnson. I made it my goal to race motocross.

Within 2yrs I was entering national events and doing pretty well. I spent the next 20yrs racing both dirt and road. I hung up my racing boots in 2011. Next month we are expecting our first kid....boy. I'm hoping to share two wheels with him but at my age it will have to be from the sidelines.

1986 Hollister Hills national on my mighty CR500.

Goofing around on the same bike...

My wife sees these old pix and can't believe how skinny I was. I state I'm only 25lbs heavier now... 195lbs! Give me a break!!! Lol

 

[yz454]

Know it was because there a lot of people racing around here then , so we had a lot of different bikes to ride . But this poor kids dad was all HD or nothing . He got hurt a lot trying to and ride with us , it didn't handle best, and it was always breaking something . That,s where I got my distaste for HD because I got to ride just about every new HD that came out . And working at a Honda shop at the time I had good comparisons .

 

[snakebitten]

Excellent post and story and pictures Chuck B!

And congrats on the SON!!!!!!
Nothing will ever compare. You are fixing to find out why you are even on this planet. lol (It was never really about you. You'll see)

 

[eemsreno]

Thanks Chuck B Great old pictures.

So I went out in the shop and dug around some more.
When you live in the same house since getting married 34 years ago and have never moved things kind of pile up. ;D

This is the program from that 1977 Trans AMA and a list of all the riders that day.

Sure some big names on there.

 

[yz454]

Theirs some old friends and team mates on those 2 lists .

 

[78YZ]

Those are great pictures. My single-best childhood memory was Christmas morning 1977 when my parents surprised me with a new 1978 YZ125E. I was 14 and on top of the world. A friend had a 1977 RM125 and, I have to admit, it made more useable power but... I was a Yamaha guy and still am. ;D Wish I had some pictures from back then. Unfortunately, my mom passed first and dad threw-out a big box of pictures he deemed clutter. :'(


I was a Bob Hannah fan and we used to walk miles to a drug store when the new edition of Dirt Bike came out. We would pool our money to buy the magazine, then huddle around it as we turned the pages. Life was good!

This was one of my all time great race bikes.
Before ever starting it I pulled the cylinder and sent it off to Calf. and had it all ported out.
Just blazing fast for its day.
1978 RM125

 

[~TABASCO~]

Awesome !!!

 

[10éréRider]

I was browsing and found this old thread and thought I would add a little to it.

Found some old pictures of my brother and I blasting around on his old Honda XL 100. My brother was born with Spina Bifida and only had the use of one leg. He could use the shifter but couldn't use the rear brake at all. He never let his disability get in the way of having fun. I would help him out when he couldn't maneuver the bike or if it fell over. In return I would get a turn too. We rode the wheels off that bike and it never complained.

Great memories!! He doesn't ride anymore but I will pick him up on the Tenere so he can enjoy that feeling we all crave!

10éréRider

 

[CentralCal]

Good times!
I have to find some pictures to post but they are in black and white.

 

[VRODE]

This thread brings back memories. My first Unadilla Trans-AMA, 1974. Back when the european factory riders had a van and one mechanic. Got autographs from Roger Decoster, Ake Jonsson, Heiki Mikkola, Pierre Karsmakers, Gerritt Wolsink, Hakan Anderson. Starstruck doesn't begin to describe it.