Anyone grow up on dirt bikes ?

EZ Rider

EZ Rider

New member
Joined
Dec 26, 2023
Location
Central Coast
Moto(s)
2004 HD Sportster
Name
Ace
Junior High, Bonanza with a Briggs & Stratton, then a Rupp black widow, then a bonanza with the Hodaka, and a Yamaha DT 250 MX, then I went to college. There I had an R5 Yamaha.
Then the list gets real.
 
I actually started on street bikes but a friend got me into dirt. I found dirt riding was a blast so stuck with it a long time. It really helped with my skills and was a good background for when I started road racing

Mad
 
Started on my friend Honda 50 at 9. Then a Yamaha Mini Enduro... then rode his bros Hodaka 90... then big jump to a CZ250 at 14. Loud as a mofo!!!

Started street at 15-1/2 and sold the dirt bike at 17 before college. After school right back to dirt bikes. RM 250 and off to the racing fun. 2 RM 250's later I went road racing.

I grew up a dirty boy playing in the Palo Alto Baylands, Santa Clara Police Athletic league tracks in SV and then Santa Clara. Some Holister and Carnagie thrown in too.

Thursday nights at Baylands was my first race and the early 20's.. along with a bunch of local tracks were the bomb. :ride
 
CT 90 pushrod motor
CL 90 overhead motor, eventually morfed into a Van Tech frame & front end, enduros, scrambles, short track
The guys I rode with were Baylands racers, most had 40" Triumph/BSA, when young, now with kids, building Honda 90's to DT 175 as real popular.
Tiger Cubs then became my racers for short track.
 
Butch said:
Junior High, Bonanza with a Briggs & Stratton, then a Rupp black widow, then a bonanza with the Hodaka, and a Yamaha DT 250 MX, then I went to college. There I had an R5 Yamaha.
Then the list gets real.
Click to expand...

Ha! I also started on a Rupp mini bike. Was probably 12. Then a Yamaha LT2. Gave up dirt bikes when I turned 16 and got my first street bike an RD250.

Then in collage I met a bunch of hardcore enduro riders while attending Cal Poly SLO. I found a little Yamaha 90 enduro for cheap so that I could ride with the group. I actually kept up on the crappy 90, but after two rides I destroyed that bike and everyone suggested I find a better bike. I then found an IT175 and rode that for several years.

My first job after graduation was working for GKDI, a subcontractor for Yamaha US. We were treated like Yamaha employees and I was able to pickup a barely used YZ125 at the yearly Yamaha employee sale. The bike was thought to be a Damon Bradshaw practice bike. I rode that bike for about 10 years.

I'll never forget being out on a solo ride at Gorman. I met up with a group of riders near the bottom of Miller Jeep trail. They all asked where I was headed.... then quickly warned the a "125" would never make it up Miller Jeep Trail. Little did they know that I'd been up that trail several times on my YZ. I knew that bike like the back of my hand and had no problems getting it up steep technical trails.

These days (now in my early 60s) I ride with my daughter when she's home. Her on a YZ125 and me on a WR250.


Looking back, it all started with that Rupp mini bike. My dad bought it from my uncle while we were on a road trip to Minnesota. During the week of driving coming back, I kept looking at it in the back of our van while thinking what dumb thing for my dad to buy. Little did I know how much it would influence my life!

:ride

20190101_102716 by andbike, on Flickr
 
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Yep...technically a DS though, but it saw plenty of dirt! :laughing

423159766_10228997154687375_8434956738430500946_n.jpg
 
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Butch said:
Junior High, Bonanza with a Briggs & Stratton, then a Rupp black widow, then a bonanza with the Hodaka, and a Yamaha DT 250 MX, then I went to college. There I had an R5 Yamaha.
Then the list gets real.
Click to expand...

My local auto parts store has a collection of Rupps, including a Black Widow, as displays on top of all of the shelves, they are perfect. As I wait there in line for parts I lust for them and wonder if there was anything I wouldn't do for one when I was a kid.
 
^^^Thanks for all the neat beginning stories of our youth !

Thats what I was thinking , a lot of us entered motorcycling as kids on dirt bikes .

I started in the '70s on a direct drive mini bike where you had to lift the rear seat-tire off the ground & run & then drop down on the seat to push start it ....& then keep it on the pipe to avoid stalling out .

I just saw this new video of a stadium MX star & it looks like what our parents reaction would be to us doing a stunt ....
https://twitter.com/HumansNoContext/status/1751607580537880648
 
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I started riding dirt on a honda trail 90 back in the 60's. First "real" dirt bike as a 76 Maico 440. Had multiple other dirt bikes for a few years of play riding then started racing mx in 83 on a cr480 (at Sears Point:cool). I raced for 20 yrs then got in to trackdays/road racing for 20 yrs. but never stopped ring dirt!:thumbup
 
budman said:
Started on my friend Honda 50 at 9. Then a Yamaha Mini Enduro... then rode his bros Hodaka 90... then big jump to a CZ250 at 14. Loud as a mofo!!!

Started street at 15-1/2 and sold the dirt bike at 17 before college. After school right back to dirt bikes. RM 250 and off to the racing fun. 2 RM 250's later I went road racing.

I grew up a dirty boy playing in the Palo Alto Baylands, Santa Clara Police Athletic league tracks in SV and then Santa Clara. Some Holister and Carnagie thrown in too.

Thursday nights at Baylands was my first race and the early 20's.. along with a bunch of local tracks were the bomb. :ride
Click to expand...
I used to race the PAL track at Santa Clara...did my first double jump there (it was really small compared to todays jumps!):laughing
 
I still remember my first double as a butt pucker moment. Then... easy peasy.

Scary ass sets in Watsonville... when wet. Awesome when not.
 
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