101 ways to know your into vintage!

101 Ways & Thingies That Signal You’re Old – School Motocross.

1. You remember when they invented whoops.

2. You remember when the water-truck was a wooden cask hauled behind two musk oxen. Yes, oxen, dammit.

3. You’ve been thwacked by the surgical neoprene strand of a rubber-band start.

4. You well know the difference between a Combat –Wombat, a Pursang and a Cappra.

5. You begged your dad to “forward-mount” your Elsinore’s rear shocks.

6. Then you begged more for him to “lay ‘em down”.

7. You’re remember George Erl making more Husky parts than Husqvarna itself

8. You badly desired a DG radial head for your RM-125.

9. You knew ‘em as Pentons – before they were Katoomers.

10. You recall Team Tamm and L.O.P.

11. You idolized Marty Smith.

12. You knew Micky Dymond rode an offroad Husky pretty damn well. (Actually the prototype single shocker here in the states in 84 at the Unadilla Open Suport class race!......Saw it live....he won!)

13. You were stunned when you heard Gerrit Wolsink was a dentist.(Dentist? Isn’t that a car-body repairman?)

14. You never missed ABC’s Wide World Of Sports. In case they featured Carlsbad.

15. You remember when hot-dogs were the only “health-food” available at the track

16. You dreamt of manhandling a Maico 501

17. You remember JONES goggles and Carrera’s, too.

18. Ake Johnson and Jack Van Velthoven are household names to you.

19. You’ve pulled serious dirt out of your nose two days after a National.

20. You’ve camped at both Mount Morris and Unadilla and lived to tell of it.

21. You wished you’d never bought those Scott plastic boots. But you did.

22. You’ve owned a duckbill visor or two.

23. You’ve worn football pads in a motocross race.

24. You’ve worn race-gloves with pieces of tires attached to the fingers.

25. You remember when box-vans were “factory”.

26. You’re making stupid-money selling your old motocross stuff as “vintage” on Ebay.

27. You used to think Heikki Mikkola was the baddest dude on the planet. In fact, part of you thinks he still is………

28. You’ve pulled the lights and blinkers off an enduro bike to race motocross.

29. You recall seeing Jim Gianatsis’ name over every dirt-bike photo in the ‘70’s

30. Mr. Know-It-All both entertained you and pissed you off. (aint that true!)

31. And you know who Lovely Louella is and where Chicken Licks Raceway isn’t.

32. You once asked your dad if you could get a Bel-Ray tattoo.

33. Your mom ironed on a Champion spark-plug patch to your jean-jacket. (Oh yeah!)

34. You’ve written letters to companies begging for stickers (DC!)

35. You were there when tear-offs were invented.

36. You fondly recall the Wrangler Dash For Cash in Supercross races.

37. You owned at least one “Do It In The Dirt” shirt.

38. You tear up and get misty while recalling the sound of the start of a 500 National.

39. You blasted your Zeppelin on 8-tracks on the way to the races.

40. In later years, you rode home listening to the Eagles on these revolutionary cassettes.

41. You witnessed a Supercross in Pittsburgh.

42. You saved up forever for that DG water-cooled head and front-plate radiator dealio from DG.

43. You’re familiar with the “Flying W”, WFO and the GYDBT, amongst other terms.

44. You’ve purchased both Bassani and Hooker pipes for your Yamaha DT-250.

45. You installed a white fender-extender on your ’76 YZ-125. Just because.

46. You used to think it nutty to pay a buck- twenny-five for race-gas.

47. You recall MXA magazine having a ROY (Rider Of The Year) that was awarded a truck.

48. You’re familiar with front-falling gates, too.

49. And flag starts. Uh – huh.

50. Some tracks even had traffic-light starts ! Whaaaaa ?

51. You recall the van craze and it’s link to mx.

52. Rex Staten always kind of scared you a bit.

53. You still think of Mike LaRocco as “ that fast kid from Indiana”

54. You’ve ridden a bike or two up and into a pick-up truck bed.

55. You’ve also wadded it up performing this stunt.

56. You’ve raced the Open-Class. On a real Open-bike.

57. You remember the Harley –Davidson mx team.

58. You could never afford those FOX-Shox. But you desired them, badly.

59. You remember Bob Hannah’s Open-Bike fan-club at Unadilla. ( and treaded lightly around them unless with 25 friends)

60. You remember an AMA National in St. Pete, Florida.

61. You thought the Husky chrome tanks were extremely sexy. (And the 83 white tank even more sexy!)

62. You were pretty sure the Hodaka transmissions were made of plastic.

63. You always knew that, by the 90’s, Supercross would be live on TV on Saturday nights.

64. You used to bring your girlfriend and her dog to the races. That didn’t last.

65. You recall Cycle News East & West versions. “ We don’t care how the hell they do it in
California” – that was the East version’s battle cry. Odd times, indeed.

66. You knew Can-Am’s had rotary valves and no head gaskets and still hauled ass!

67. You knew Ricky’s boss had worked in the sport pretty seriously prior to getting into big-rig management.

68. You not only owned a 175, you actually raced the 175 class !

69. You still have your JOFA mouthpiece.

70. You called your pants “leathers” – even if they weren’t.

71. You always wore a kidney-belt. You just did.

72. You’ve seen a Maico 490 Sand-Spider shred the knobs off.

73. You knew who “Super-Hunky” was.

74. You’re familiar with terms like “Full-Floater”, “Unitrak”, “Monoshock” and groovy.

75. You remember the DATSUN USGP Of Motocross

76. Debruzer was some kind of handlebar pad endorsed by “De-MAN”, right?

77. Tommy Benolkin’s name rings a bell with you.

78. You knew what product "Electro" manufactured.

79. You were there when Darrell Schultz won Daytona on his Chris Haines prepped CR250.

80. You knew Steve Wise was a motorcycling Mr. Do-It-All.

81. You loved watching Jimmy Ellis at the Atlanta Supercross By Wrangler on his Honda.

82. You liked those Dunlop K190’s, you really did.

83. For many years it was only Metzelers for you though.

84. You did give Trelleborg’s a brief try.

85. And Hi-Point’s Red-Dot tires. (Hannah endorsed !)

86. You were at that 1982 Loretta Lynn’s by Kawasaki. 25 classes total.

87. You’ve actually left a motocross race in a Ford Pinto towing a 3 rail Holsclaw trailer, by golly.

88. You’ve heard of both Bauers: Willi and Steve.

89. You had subscriptions to Modern Cycle & Popular Cycling.

90. You’ve heard the term “Maico-Breako” a time or two.

91. You would have given your left buttock for a pair of those “hi-zoot” Simons forks !

92. You’ve seen white KTM’s with red-frames.

93. You actually owned a bike-cover for your machine at one point. No, really, you did.

94. You always wanted to put a 44mm Mikuni carburetor on something. Anything. Unless you were a fortunate few to get the Husky CR500 "Silver Streak"

95. You knew Josh Hansen’s dad raced a bit.

96. You bought a roost-boost bottle for your bike. Supposedly it straightened out the powerband or something.

97. You worked that Impact-driver like nobody’s business. No Phillips-stripping for you, my brother.

98. The name Torsten Hallman was familiar to you, just like you knew well the Gunnar-Gasser throttle. Hell, everybody did.

99. You’ve broke more than one chain in a day. And you always carried extra master-links, you had to.

100. You knew, that if you only had five-bucks to get home on, you could get four burgers from Mickey-D’s and five gallons of gas for your Econoline van. True.

101. Back then, a rhythm – section was a drummer and a bass player.


Enjoy

Joe

Man this made my day. I've forwarded it to all my old racing buds and everyone has gotten a huge kick out of it.

LMAO at #96 - and I just had a discussion over beers last week about what kind of upside down forks Brad Lackey used to run - it must've been what they mention in #91.

Thanks for a great post!

oh, Thanks alot....it's always nice to be reminded I AM vintage.

Among a few of many things above........Had Hooker header on my 1st and only Yamaha, wore Hallman boots, Carrera goggles (same pair both dirt biking & skiing), and still use/hear the term "leathers" frequently.
Remember the GYBDT going to the Idaho Jackrabbit 100 desert race (& have the Dirt Bike mag issue that featured that race.... in '72?).
No only know Combat-Wombat and Pursang (loud & scary), but have ridden them.......when new, and 175 Pentons.
Not sure, but may even still have a couple Led Zeppin 8-track, along Black Sabbath Paraniod (w/'Iron Man', that young whipper snappers may know now)...for sure have both on LP.

#102- You can remember EXACTLY what your first ride was like (Honda QA-50).
#103- You bought a Hodaka Super Rat for $473 out the door and put white "skunk" tape on your helmet be cause it was "euro".
#104- You hid the latest Dirt Bike issue in your folder during study hall and secretly wished you were in SoCal.
#105- You watched guys like Jimmy Ellis and Charlie Iott at NESC races and thought "I'll never make it out of the Novice class alive".
#106- You lived Sachs' 6 speeds/7neutrals.
#107- You were SOOOOOOOOO stoked when you bought real JT leathers with all the $ you had saved up that you never checked to make sure they had the logo on the butt.
#108- You drooled over the Penzoil ad with Team Husqvarna and wondered if your hair would ever look like Billy/Bob Grossi's.
#109- You cried only two times: the first was when your dad made you sell the bike because your grades dropped and the second was many, many years later when your mom sent you a box of all your old Dirt Bike mags (with the JT ads filled out but never mailed in).

#110 the smell of hot exhaust pipe and crankcases from riding your bike in snow (because it's feb and you're in new england and just read the newest db issue about the carlsbad gp and just had to slide like decoster thru mechanics corner)

Joe,
In referencing #87 - I didn't think anybody but me knew what a "Holsclaw" trailer was. I still have my first and only trailer I bought used from a buddy of mine in 1976 for a $100.00. A 3-rail Holsclaw. Been to the west and east coasts and all over the State of Texas with not one problem ever. Great list - brings back a flood of memories! Thanks!

#111 Jimmy to Roger "You're so bad you need three #1s!"
#112 You disconnected your TM 125/250s CCI and ran pre-mix 'cuz that's what Roger did

113. You know what a tickle button is.
114. You owned a Buco helmet. In solid orange.
115. FMF meant Flying Machine Factory.
116. The term "Pit Tootsie" was politically correct.
117. A 'down pipe' was a performance 'upgrade'.
118. You've rebuilt Curnutt shocks between motos.
119. You had a Briggs & Stratton mini bike... but you really wanted a Tecumseh.
120. You pretended you knew what WFO meant... but you weren't really sure.

69. You still have your JOFA mouthpiece.
Threw it out and bought a really trick Bell Moto III when I broke my jaw in Southwick!

You know the slang name for the gas tap on a Montessa.

I "found" a chrome Buco back in the day....it was chrome and had a rebel flag decal (yes decal...not sticker....stickers were space age stuff back then!) on it
Wearing it scared the hell out of people back then.

Joe

My plastic Scott boots were the bomb or should i say bitchen.

No break in time and i felt bionic.my tech 10`s are close but no cigar.

Great thread for the 50-60 crowd,being 51 some i didnt catch 100% but i did have a jofa and Carrera goggles though and for sure pitched my oil injection on my 74 TM 125.

Awh....Can-Am motorcycles. I never owned one but always liked them They are missed.

The TM 125 had oil injection? Mine was long gone when I had it in the mid to late 70s.

you wore full bore boats , you rode a husky because it didnt have philps head screws holding it together! you learned that a 1974 husqvarna 125 sc is the worst beginer trail bike in the world!when you went to a rmec enduro, 8 0ut of 10 bikes were huskys.

Scott boots! Moto III and M. Rinaldi/AXO with Jofa pads. My 175 was an IT that I raced in the '80 Cherry Creek National. The 44mm Mikuni is on a Silver Streak that my Local Dealer (Utah Sportcycle) Had "prepped" for the desert, they set up about a half dozen of them with 6spd. trannies. Vision Blurring fast! The power is like a light swith, with a return spring that matches the clutch pull, I have "Popeye" fore arms. Every friend that I let ride it, flipped it instantly! I had like three new rear fenders the first month I owned it. No one asks any more, I don't understand why? Trelleborgs were stock, they lasted a very short time, I would have loved to try a set of spiked ones in the snow around here. Thanks for the post, Remo Larry R is still the man!

you rode a handme down Husky 8 speed, and had the clutch adjustment down pat...
you own more dirtbikes then most motorcycle shops, and all but 2 are over 30 years old.
your more then 30 years old..
your boots are more then 30 years old.
you have a jersy that says Husky to win,..and its over 30 years old.
your ride air cooled twin shock huskys at rampart range..just cuz its cool..then remember when you rode every weekend on a 79 250 WR and it was a bad ass bike compared to Jap POS,s of the day...and rode the crap out of the thing..
you wore out a 79 Husky 250 WR, and rebuilt the engine in your kitchen, and used a pizza box of the center gasket.
you rode a real Husky, cuz it was the best fkn enduro bike money could buy, and not cuz it was cheap...cuz it cost more then any bike on the market..
you couldnt wait to get a Husky 390 Auto, then found out what a POS they were, and still rode 3 more autos, hopping they would finally get it right....they did, and stopped making them..damnit.
installed 4 tires a year on a Husky auto...hell you had to they ate em for lunch.
you barfed after eating chili and doing shots of of schnaps at the sprucewood, then tried to push your 390 Auto through the snow, then smelled the fumes...uuurp sluurp, good thing i had an open face helmet.
your rode a midnight enduro with a POS yellow headlight on a 6 volt Husky.,to find out how freaking dark it gets when you kill it in the middle of the nite.,
you tried to keep a 32 MPH speed average in drark tember, with back busters and a VDO speedo that the needle bonces all over...
last but not least...you drop 2 points in a 100 mile enduro after getting a flat front tire 2 miles in, and ride 50 miles on time, only to do a over the bars 200 yards from the gas check...they just dont make em like the 78 to 80 huskys...rode em hard, and they always got me back to the truck..sometimes dragging parts, tires, chains...but they always rode back..
i love being old school...and love old Huskys... real men rode them...and real men start motorcycles on the left side..