2005 KTM 525 EXC Racing:
Following are random pics of me and my bikes over the years. For more Dual Sport pics you can also go here:
Update 03-02-09:
Resting at Idaho Point (6500 ft elevation) along the
ID/ MT border, north of I-90. The rocks start at about 5500 feet and get worse
as you climb.
Update 04/18/08:
Early spring ride in the soggy farm country west of
Spokane. Having ridden cleanly through the deep ford without getting splashed, I
had to wade back in to assist Norris, whose KLR650 conked out in mid-stream. Here
I am emptying a very wet Sidi boot.
Same ride an hour later. I attempted to ride the
sloped bank beside the snow, but miscalculated and the bank became vertical,
dumping me into 18 inches of dense snow pack. Thank you fellow WIRMs for the
push out.
Update 01/01/08:
Late spring riding in the mountains usually ends up
with at least one deep snow bank. We made it through this one, with some sweat.
When good friends run out of juice in the wilds of
Idaho, you refuel them. Bob takes on gas while Cris steadies the "EXC Valdez."
Update 05/04/06:
Tooling along a "summer road" in the Spokane
farmland.
In April "Summer Road" means snow and mud. Going up
the north side of Mount Spokane.
After the muck and ice, and I never fell even once.
Looking out toward the mountains in NW Washington
around Colville.
An abandoned farm out on the high farmland west of
Spokane
Durt Road revisited, 9 months later.
Man, my new TekVest makes me look squat!
Update 09/27/05
20 Miles west of Spokane on a little used Durt Road.
Large, Hi Rez Images from KTM's Picture Archive:
KTMTalk: "The Absolute BEST KTM Resource on the Planet"
ThumperTalk: "Straight Talk About 4-Strokes"
My last bike, sold in 1990 and I didn't ride
again until 2005.
1973 Rokon 340 RT I:
The Rokon was a wonderful, weird bike, MUCH maligned by those who never rode one. The 340 Sachs snowmobile engine was rated at 36 bhp and had lots of midrange torque. Combined with the torque converter belt drive automatic transmission, the bike was very fast in a straight line, and easy to flog on open single track. It was a handful in technical woods terrain, and unhappy crossing deep water due to nearly 100% belt slippage. The RT I came stock with cast magnesium wheels, Tillotson pumper carb, and front and rear disc brakes - this was 1973, remember, and that was very exotic at the time. The mag wheels were unforgiving in the dirt and were eliminated in favor of traditional spoked wheels in the RT II model of 1976. The pumper carb was a VERY bad idea - it allowed the engine to continue running on its side, but because it had no float bowl, it was prone to vapor locking in mud holes, requiring the rider to apply whatever fluid he had handy to cool it down. If he had no water, he had to pee on the bike (been there, done that!) The pumper carb went into the trash in favor of a conventional Mikuni. The RT I was a little porky at "about" 270 pounds dry. The RTII shaved about 10 pounds of that and added a neatly tucked down pipe protected by two steel frame rails, lay-down gas shocks, and longer travel fork.
Both bikes were pull start only - because they had auto clutches, they never needed restarting unless you were refueling or the bike suffered from a long horizontal laydown. There are tales of Rokons becoming missiles in the pits when an unknowing passerby or sound check official would casually blip the throttle of a running bike.
1968 Norton Commando 750 "Box Bike":
Just after assembly
Final form with Dunstall bits.
My second Norton - this one appeared in about 6 cardboard boxes at the motorcycle shop I was working at. The owner was experiencing an unusual vibration, and he had totally stripped the bike to its component parts, then had given up. I bought the bits for $300 and reassembled the bike with Dunstall clip-on bars and rear-sets, a fork and front brake from a Kawasaki 750 2 stroke, and a mini fairing. The vibration? Loose rear spokes!
1971 Norton Commando 750 Roadster
My first Norton, the hottest street bike available in 1971. The Norton Girls captured my teen-aged imagination and I loved the bike dearly. It finally threw a connecting rod without warning 700 miles from home and that brought my infatuation down to earth.
My first "real motorcycle, I drove it 35,000 miles without a mechanical problem.
Other bikes I have owned - sadly I have no presentable pics:
1972 MZ 250 Six Days: Porky, top heavy, hard to start and prone to fouling, poorly suspended, high strung, and very hard to ride - it flat wore me out every time I sat on it. The Rokon was a revelation after this bike!
1965 Ducati 125: My first vehicle. I learned to ride at aged 15 and 9 months and remember how I could fill the 3 gallon tank for a buck. The electrical system was so poorly shielded that the bike would quit whenever I rode through a deep puddle. The bike topped out at 53 mph, due to the Peasant Grade 6:1 compression ratio. If I had known that I could have doubled the power for the price of a piston, I would have jumped at the chance. It was as slow as the Yamahas and Hondas my friends rode, but at least it looked like a real motorcycle.
Here are some photos of other riders that I took years ago - photography was my second hobby and I was constantly struggling with, "Do I ride or do I shoot?"
An early '70s CZ 250 MX - one of the hot bikes of the
time. Note the minimal suspension travel ....
A 1976 Rokon RT II Cobra MX. I sent the pic to Rokon in Keene NH and they
used it on their company letterhead for a while. This is the very bike that spit
me off and broke my collarbone - it belonged to the shop owner and was set up
way too stiff for my light body. It was lighter and waaay more powerful than the
enduro bikes.
A Rokon RT I navigates a Tennessee creek.
Page updated 03-02-09
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