Curious about your thoughts...

[Verismo]

They have changed a lot indeed since my first 60s era two stroke, oil injected Suzuki with two rear sprockets and a short length of chain (maybe 4 links) in the tool kit. You would remove those links and switch to the small rear sprocket for on road. Put them back in and go to the big rear sprocket for off road. Seems like the top speed was 38 on the big sprocket and forty something on the small one. Paid for the bike with my grass mowing earnings and a loan from my Dad. Will never forget that first biker tattoo when the skin from my forearm stuck to the hot header pipe I was trying to put back on. I watched that patch of skin stuck to that pipe turn brown and burn while I was nursing the part of my arm it used to live on. My thoughts were "burning skin stinks and I love this shit". And I still do.

And stories like that are exactly why I love forums like this. Too cool. Also, I didn't know anything about the on/off road sprocket change. That's really neat. Did you use that very often, or was it just one of those things that you kept in your back pocket for when you might want it?

Jason

[Frye]

And stories like that are exactly why I love forums like this. Too cool. Also, I didn't know anything about the on/off road sprocket change. That's really neat. Did you use that very often, or was it just one of those things that you kept in your back pocket for when you might want it?

Jason

It mostly stayed on the big sprocket since I was years too young to drive on the roads although I rode on local roads to get to trails and neighborhood dirt tracks. That was before lawsuits ruined the world. In the late 60's/early 70's every vacant field was or could be a dirt track, every woods had bicycle and motorcycle trails, every railroad track could be ridden beside and every strip pit was a swimming hole surrounded by trails and full of fish for the taking. Many of those vacant fields and back woods dirt tracks would be surrounded by partying kids sprawled out on the hoods of cars and trucks on the weekends watching the races and crashes on those homemade tracks. And of course, if you knew where to go you'd sometimes find hundreds of people hillclimbing and watching hillclimbing on abandoned coalmining property. There were some bad accidents and occasional deaths (mostly rolled jeeps) hillclimbing but the thrill level was off the charts and there were some real characters that lived for it. The motorcycles were all two strokes of course, the air was full of the smell and smoke of them. No lengthened swingarms, just dual purpose, or off road, or striped road bikes or even seemingly homemade bikes. Saw a Rupp minibike a time or two with a Hodaka SuperRat motor and a crazy ass big dirt bike with a carburetor from a giant loggers type chain saw. That bike could tumble and flip all the way back down a hill (roughly a 60 yard tumble) and the motor would still be running. I guess they weren't all two strokes. Harley 350 sprints did pretty good out there too although they were big. Those were good times. Nearly everybody went home limping at the end of the day but it didn't matter.
My favorite thing to do on dirt bikes back then was motorcycle tag. It was played in the dark in grown up fields. If you were "it" you had to touch another bike with your bike to make them it. No helmets, usually tank tops or T shirts and no headlights allowed. Crashing the other guy was allowed and encouraged. And of course there were patches of briers in those fields that you could shred yourself in getting away from faster bikes. I once got stuck in one with the briers wrapped around myself and my bike so tightly I couldn't fall over and couldn't get off my bike. The other guys eventually heard me shouting and pulled me out backwards. It was a hot summer night, I was bleeding everywhere and all the torn skin was filled with burning sweat. The guys that pulled me out were in the same shape. Then we started up the scooters and got back to enjoying balls to the walls mayhem. Damn those were good times.

[Verismo]

It mostly stayed on the big sprocket since I was years too young to drive on the roads although I rode on local roads to get to trails and neighborhood dirt tracks. That was before lawsuits ruined the world. In the late 60's/early 70's every vacant field was or could be a dirt track, every woods had bicycle and motorcycle trails, every railroad track could be ridden beside and every strip pit was a swimming hole surrounded by trails and full of fish for the taking. Many of those vacant fields and back woods dirt tracks would be surrounded by partying kids sprawled out on the hoods of cars and trucks on the weekends watching the races and crashes on those homemade tracks. And of course, if you knew where to go you'd sometimes find hundreds of people hillclimbing and watching hillclimbing on abandoned coalmining property. There were some bad accidents and occasional deaths (mostly rolled jeeps) hillclimbing but the thrill level was off the charts and there were some real characters that lived for it. The motorcycles were all two strokes of course, the air was full of the smell and smoke of them. No lengthened swingarms, just dual purpose, or off road, or striped road bikes or even seemingly homemade bikes. Saw a Rupp minibike a time or two with a Hodaka SuperRat motor and a crazy ass big dirt bike with a carburetor from a giant loggers type chain saw. That bike could tumble and flip all the way back down a hill (roughly a 60 yard tumble) and the motor would still be running. I guess they weren't all two strokes. Harley 350 sprints did pretty good out there too although they were big. Those were good times. Nearly everybody went home limping at the end of the day but it didn't matter.
My favorite thing to do on dirt bikes back then was motorcycle tag. It was played in the dark in grown up fields. If you were "it" you had to touch another bike with your bike to make them it. No helmets, usually tank tops or T shirts and no headlights allowed. Crashing the other guy was allowed and encouraged. And of course there were patches of briers in those fields that you could shred yourself in getting away from faster bikes. I once got stuck in one with the briers wrapped around myself and my bike so tightly I couldn't fall over and couldn't get off my bike. The other guys eventually heard me shouting and pulled me out backwards. It was a hot summer night, I was bleeding everywhere and all the torn skin was filled with burning sweat. The guys that pulled me out were in the same shape. The we started up the scooters and got back to enjoying balls to the walls mayhem. Damn those were good times.

Man, this was a pleasure to read, Frye. Thanks for taking the time to write it. And the line,"Those were good times. Nearly everybody went home limping at the end of the day but it didn't matter." .. describes a lot of my life, too.

Jason

[red dog]

five of my friends have been killed on motorcycles………I have witnessed two motorcycle fatalities since purchasing my 2013 f6b …another close friend was in an accident three years ago in Death Valley….severed his friends leg…..he died in the helicopter in route to the hospital…..numerous friends have suffered very serious injuries…a guy from the Norton club who rides with us occasionally, crashed on the freeway last year he is now partially paralyzed in a rest home….motor cycles are extremely dangerous…..when I was a kid I asked my dad why he quit riding '' I don't want to leave you kids orphaned'' was his response……I have two friends who are both missing a leg from the knee down….married with children ????? do your wife and kids a favor son ,stay away from motorcycles………..later on, red dog

[maxrider]

I like this quote:

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” “Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.” “You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.”