Legendary bikes...

[Armitage Shanks]

Ok, If you had to start up a Dirt Bike museum, what Bikes would you have in it...real Bikes that have made an impression and may be worth hanging on to in the future ? I'm gonna start with the CR250, Yam TT600, XR600 ....mmmm how about the XL250, trail Bikes are included too. CR500 , YZ490 ?

[noobi]

what about the 98' YZ400f
first motocross four stroke to be competitive against the two strokes

[spookytooth]

tt500 and xr 500 prolink

[Armitage Shanks]

Good additions, and how about the first DR350 from 1990, and the KDX200 what a bike, can you still buy them ?

Almost forgot the mighty CR500 and KX500 not to mention the YZ490

[Rupe]

...real Bikes that have made an impression and may be worth hanging on to in the future ?

Bummer Hummer, with luxuary exhuast.

[Armitage Shanks]

Two more for the Museum, Honda 1979 XL250S and XL500S, both had the 23" front wheel....

[MVnut]

Or going back a bit further (but still Jappas) Yamaha RT360 and SC500

[laserracer]

Suzuki TM250 and TM400

[dino3310]

1981 dr500
tt500
xr500

[Armitage Shanks]

MVnut, good call and it'd be nice to see the 74' Green tank DT360A along with the DT400D monoshock, how about the DT400B yellow tank twin shock and the big Suzuki TS400 Apache sitting next to the the F9 kawasaki Bighorn 350 ?

My Museum's getting bigger ...

[B0000M]

id say a significant bike is 98YZF for its first 4 stroke mxer thing, 97 CR250 for the introduction of alloy frames, first big wheel 80 - yamaha?, first 250 4 stroke mxer yamaha?

[Motu]

what about the 98' YZ400f
first motocross four stroke to be competitive against the two strokes

The Husky TC510 was the first lightweight 4 stroke to go against the 2 strokes and win.....Yamaha was a follower.

For me it has to be all the big air cooled 2 strokes,all were ground breakers one way or another.Then the hand built British specials....and the B50 BSA.

[secondfield]

1984 KDX 250 for sure.

Plus a 1987 YZ490

[humai]

I nominate the early 70s silver tank Honda XL250 Motorsport for the all time most important bike in Kiwi dirtbiking history.


what about the 98' YZ400f
first motocross four stroke to be competitive against the two strokes

I'd have to agree with that choice too! :laugh:

[motorbyclist]

what about the 98' YZ400f
first motocross four stroke to be competitive against the two strokes

and she still is :Punk:


that and the XR200 for sheer reliability, versatility and the number of riders to learn on them


can't forget the PW50 and PW80!

[Fryin Finn]

Yamaha DT1 and Hodaka 100 because these bikes basically started the dirt bike revolution

[Danger]

Well you gotta have the first YZ water coolers with the radiator up on the front number plate and their safety seat.
And there seemed to be a big number of the IT200's around in their day, must have been something about those little bikes that the 200EXC seems to have filled now.

[oldskool]

The PE175C and the IT175 should find a spot in there somewhere...I can still hear them fighting it out up in the clouds. Oh and the IT490 for it's killer powerband.

For 4strokes definately the TT500 and XR500R.

[B0000M]

PE250 , XR100 , Z50 with the ape hanger bars and steel tank

[CRM]

and she still is :Punk:


that and the XR200 for sheer reliability, versatility and the number of riders to learn on them


can't forget the PW50 and PW80!

or for us old people - the XL175:Punk:

[cheese]

Yeah my old IT175 was a beast back in the day.

[barty5]

My old TT350(new at the time) was good in its day had a couple of them

[oldskool]

My old XL250 Motorsport was bullet proof. It leaked oil from every seal, had a leg breaking kickstart, weighed a ton of chrome on it, handled like a pig in dirt, yet took me to school reliably every day, rain or shine, even with a back wheel buckled so badly the bead was coming off, bent bars and a broken clutch lever. Legendary bike.

[barty5]

and she still is :Punk:


that and the XR200 for sheer reliability, versatility and the number of riders to learn on them


can't forget the PW50 and PW80!

As long as your not thinking of the old twin carb (hand grenades) had one of those went well for a while.

[scott411]

early TM suzuki dirtbike, the early Elsinore, the first Yamaha Mono Shock YZ, KX60 would have to be in there,
KDX200 for sure, prob a 89 one (fir4st watercooled)
XR200 with out doubt,
PE175,
KX500 and CR500 from teh mid eighty's,
98 YZ400 first jap 4 stroke mx bike,
1st CRF450 (02 i think)
01 YZ250F, first 250f, prob have the first KXF/RMZ and CRF im there,
08 RMZ450, 1st fuel injected mx bike
07 KTM450Sx, 1st electric start only mx bike
TC610 early 90's the first four stroke to win a world mx title (500) in 20 plus years,
prob have last CR250 2t (06), and also the last KX and RM250 (08)

[Armitage Shanks]

Have we mentioned the YZ360A and B ? ....and Chinese Bikes are excluded of course, they're rubbish

[theblacksmith]

Suzuki TS250
Yamaha IT's - first monoshock rear suspension wasnt it?
And those little Yamaha TY 80 trial bikes - man could they climb shit! White tank with red stripe.Low saddle 4 speed.

[MVnut]

Are we doing Europeans yet ?? ...Maico 490:first:

[trustme]

GOV 132 , Won't mean a thing to you whipper snappers.

[Armitage Shanks]

Gaucho, Duster,Sierra, Savage and Apache ..correct me if I'm wrong but the TS range from Suzuki....Kawasaki had one Indian that was the Bighorn 350

[NordieBoy]

1979 XR250z.
The first of the XR's.

[Fryin Finn]

I've got the piston from the first XR250 and one from my WR 450 and KLX 450 - but never changed any pistons in my strokers.

[NighthawkNZ]

Ok, If you had to start up a Dirt Bike museum, what Bikes would you have in it...real Bikes that have made an impression and may be worth hanging on to in the future ? I'm gonna start with the CR250, Yam TT600, XR600 ....mmmm how about the XL250, trail Bikes are included too. CR500 , YZ490 ?

How big of a museum are you going to start... are you going to inclue dual purpose of just MX...

Museum would have them all....

[Armitage Shanks]

Both mate....problem is we talk about these bikes but...do we have them to drape the corridors ?

[oldskool]

Yep, I've owned the TT500, XR500R, XR250R, PE175C, and the PE175X, they are all legends, I've never had anything but legends and I currently ride the XR200R. Another legend. Don't see any reason to change. All these current bikes haven't got anything legendary on them, just newer and poofier, else the basics are the same. If something groundbreaking gets released well that's another legend in the making then.

[Pedrostt500]

Ok here are my choices,
BSA Cub
40s Army Indian,
Cotton Trail
Suzuki TS 250 early 70s
Yamaha DT 250 early 70s
Honda XL 250 sport
kawasaki KT 250,
Suzuki sp 370
one of the italian built Harley Davidson Trail bikes,
Suzuki TM 400
" PE 400, 250, 175
" DR 400 T and an S
um where do we stop.
Check out http//:www.vmx.livewire.gen.nz
Plenty of cool pics of old trail and MX bikes.

[noobi]

the new husaberg FE450 and 570 and groundbreaking with the slanted engine, i dont know about legendary tho

[idleidolidyll]

Ducati Cucciolo in a BSA frame; the beginning of a legend

[idleidolidyll]

the new husaberg FE450 and 570 and groundbreaking with the slanted engine, i dont know about legendary tho

yeah, pretty aint they?

i got impatient and bought the 690smc

maybe next year

[oldskool]

Ok here are my choices,
BSA Cub
40s Army Indian,
Cotton Trail
Suzuki TS 250 early 70s
Yamaha DT 250 early 70s
Honda XL 250 sport
kawasaki KT 250,
Suzuki sp 370
one of the italian built Harley Davidson Trail bikes,
Suzuki TM 400
" PE 400, 250, 175
" DR 400 T and an S
um where do we stop.
Sounds like a wish list rather than speaking from personal experience. BTW the DR's sucked in that era, they handled like dogs and always came out second best to the XR's. The Kwaka KT 250 was an unreliable dog as well, always bogging down before hitting the powerband, um er what powerband?. The Yammy DT250 wasn't even in the running as a worthy legend. Scramblers only really started as a sport in the early 70's so don't know why the post war horses are even in the list.

[motorbyclist]

Both mate....problem is we talk about these bikes but...do we have them to drape the corridors ?

as long as there's a hilly paddock out the back for "comparison rides":niceone:

[NordieBoy]

as long as there's a hilly paddock out the back for "comparison rides":niceone:

<img src=http://www.photostorage.nelson.geek.nz/sports/motorsport/dirt/20070204%20Golden%20Bay%20-%20Old%20Thumpers/slides/20070204-122518.jpg>

<img src=http://www.photostorage.nelson.geek.nz/sports/motorsport/dirt/20070204%20Golden%20Bay%20-%20Old%20Thumpers/slides/20070204-122516.jpg>

[spookytooth]

the scrariest bike i ever had pull my arms out of there sockets was a Yz 490. Bloody thing had a on-off switch not a throtel

[Pedrostt500]

Sounds like a wish list rather than speaking from personal experience. BTW the DR's sucked in that era, they handled like dogs and always came out second best to the XR's. The Kwaka KT 250 was an unreliable dog as well, always bogging down before hitting the powerband, um er what powerband?. The Yammy DT250 wasn't even in the running as a worthy legend. Scramblers only really started as a sport in the early 70's so don't know why the post war horses are even in the list.

Go back and read the original question, Scramblers with long reach suspension only started around 1973, even what was considered as long reach suspension of the mid 70s to the mid 80s is quiet short by todays standards.
The army Indians of the WW2 era were where alot of the off road racers of the late 40s and early 50s learned their craft, so they are relivant to the story of modern off road riding, yep the Suzuki DR 400 of the late 70s early 80s was a dog in comparison to the honda XL and XR and Yamaha TT and XT of the era, but they along with the SP 370 were Suzukis step into the 4 stroke of road bikes and the DR initial has been around for the last 30 yrs, the Yamaha DT kicked of the IT series and also the YZ, if memory serves me there was also an MX Yamaha scrambler, of the early 70s, even the Mighty old mountain Goat built by motor holdings in wanganui is worth a mention not that it started any great MX breed but because it was the start of the modern farm bikes.
its offten that the first of a particular range was abit of a dog of a bike, but it is the evolution that the bike takes to become the Grey hound of today.
there probably is a book in the Evolution of the off road bike, but you would realy have to start around WW1 to tell the full story.

[pete376403]

Yamaha DT1 250 is widely accepted as the first practical street/trail bike. (With emphasis on practical)

[pete376403]

, if memory serves me there was also an MX Yamaha scrambler, of the early 70s, .

Yamaha SC500 - evil beast even by the evilbeast standards of the day. Was sold as a scrambler rather than a motocrosser. There was one far sale in a bike shop in Upper Hutt from almost the day they opened till the time they went under - no one was brave enough to buy it

[Armitage Shanks]

Pete376 problem with the SC500 was it was based on a heavy DT frame and a similar motor, albeit larger CC's. Difficulty riders had with the big SC were it's lack of handling due to spindly forks and no suspension also the kickback due to poor engine design. I think they were based on the RT3's from '73, I was lucky to have owned and raced a YZ360B 1974 which had a lot lighter, monocross ( semi affective) rear suspension , a lot shorter and narrower and put out a bucketload more power than a big fat SC ever did. It also cost a LOT more than an SC500, were more difficuly to maintain and I still have problems with why the SC500 has such a legendary bike...in my mind akin to a '73 XL350 with the lights off.

[Moki]

the new husaberg FE450 and 570 and groundbreaking with the slanted engine, i dont know about legendary tho

No, but the FE501 is and definitely deserves a mention :headbang:

[laserracer]

BSA Rickman Metesse /650http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k159/laserracer_2006/rickman_metisse_mk3_bsa_sm.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k159/laserracer_2006/rickman_metisse_mk4_bsa_sm.jpg

[Edbear]

Are we doing Europeans yet ?? ...Maico 490:first:

Yeah, I was going to mention the Maico 501... A beast!

[xr-rider]

i'd say the kdx200 and the twin carb xrs

[MXNUT]

Huskvana CR390, the only automatic transmission MX bike !!!!!

[NordieBoy]

Huskvana CR390, the only automatic transmission MX bike !!!!!

Suzuki (I think) were using one in the Japanese champs a few years ago. Kick was on the left and went forward.

[TLDV8]

what about the 98' YZ400f
first motocross four stroke to be competitive against the two strokes

As a production bike against 250's,maybe...fwiw.

Jacky Martens won the 1993 World 500cc championship on Husqvarna 610,4 strokes had not featured for over 20 years prior to that.

As far as dirt bike history some regard Husqvarna as starting the true two stroke era back in 1962.
The 1965 250 almost started European spec MX in the USA.
The two stroke revolution had begun for production bikes to the public,that included dual purpose Husqvarna 250/360cc,road legal,8 speed/dual range bikes predating anything from Japan.

*
*
A Japanese production MX bike that really made a mark,easy,the 1975/76 Suzuki RM125S. (first model,not including the M model which did not come to NZ. (iirc)
The S had better porting and a 34mm VM Mikuni/piston port/5 speed.

.

[DELLORTO]

a drz400 for sure!!!! for being such a fat ass!!!:Punk:

[Rmxer]

TS185ER
KDX200
RMX250

and hopefully soon to add a KTM300exc