I just wanted to give a shout out to my buddy Paul Andratis from Delhi, ON. In the last 2 Off Road Ontario XC races, he rode his 86 Husky 430 Auto to a 2nd and on Sunday a 1st place in the Vet A class. Guys just shook their heads when he blew past them on a 25yr old bike. Congrats Paul!
dunno if it's the same out there, but the guys that race vintage bikes on the hare scramble circuit here are all ex pros and super fast. As in the lap time between the AA/pro isn't leaps and bounds faster than the fastest dood on a 30-40 year old bike. Guys that are fast are fast on anything. I do notice they have totally pimped out suspension, so they likely handle as good or better than anything made today. The motor is a solid old 2 stroke and the brakes are never used anyways so really what advantage does a new bike offer other than liquid cooling.
The suspension will have to be dialed in to a high standard and after that its just carry that speed with you ... -- Same here, fast when young, they are still fast when older ..My case, slow when young and I've only progressed slightly and at age 55, time is running out on my speedy days
Awesome! I have a similar story from last weekend, sort of a pride-damager! I was run down by a young (and fast!) man on a 84 Husky xc250. He was running low RPM's and really powering smoothly through the long ruts and sloppy conditions. I cheered him on when he finally snuffed me!! I have stillshots of the bike, and GoPro of him roosting my pride (JK)! I'll post a separate thread.
Ok, got the photos up. The object of this little exercise was not so much to ride a vintage dirt bike against modern bikes, but rather to showcase that 28 year old Automatic transmission was ahead of it's time and that it is still every bit as fun to ride now as it was in 1986. Back in the day the only thing lacking were the brakes, so I put on more current (1998) forks and wheels with modern? disc brakes. The rear is actuated by the left hand, so my feet have nothing to control. All controls are on the bars, the only rider input is throttle, front brake and rear brake. It is always in the right gear. For those not familiar with the Auto, once "drive" is selected on the transmission, the bike will be at rest at an idle. Just gas it and the first of three centrifugal clutches-think chainsaw- drives the bike forward until the rear wheel speed is enough to open the second clutch then again the third clutch, its a 3-speed. The gear chosen is totally dependent on rear wheel speed and is tunable to a degree. The beauty of the system shines when coming down from full speed (it is geared for a decent top speed for off-road). Then comes a super tight 90 deree corner into a single track tight trail, you can go super deep before braking then brake as hard as you like, lock the rear end a bit to bring it around for the turn. Once slowed down enough and pointing in the right direction, pin the throttle and you are automatically in the proper gear gear to roost down the trail. Just think, your mind is taken off of all the mechanical aspects of the transmission. You can't stall it and you're always in the right gear. Leaves only the important things of racing to concentrate on: reading the terrain, braking points, passing other riders, etc. As you can probably tell I am somewhat passionate about the Auto. Paul.
Paul, lots of folks are adding the almost same idea with the modern auto clutches from rekluse for example. Nice report keep on beating em!!
Paul, I can't to get my dad ( Steve Tustin ) 86 430 going again so I can for a rip on it!! I've got it all torn done to the frame so it can be repainted and looking good lol. I'm hoping to put a 2010 tc250 front end on it and the rest will pretty much stay stock. Question... where did you get your clutches from, I can't find any anywhere!!
Is that Jake or Zack? Those forks unfortunately are not a bolt on item, You'll have to find adapter bearings or machine a new streering stem. As far as clutches go, call Lang's OffRoad, he can still get them. At least they were available a year ago. Best of luck. Paul. P.S. Did you ever sell the Husky 125?
It's Zack. If I doesn't fit I'm sure my dad will be able to make to something up for it to work same with clutches if Robby doesn't have any. Yep it's still for sale.... You interested?
I presume the nope is in reference to the clutch parts?? bummer... You can also try: http://stores.ebay.com/TriTrophy There not shown on the website, you will have to contact the seller, expect to pay in the $500 range if they are even available. Do you still have the 125 and 144 barrels for your bike? Paul.
Sorry the "nope" was for your question if I had sold my husky yet. Which is a "no" it's still for sale Yep I still have both, the 144 is on it right now and the 125 jug is still pretty new if I'm not mistaken. I put the 144 on as soon as I got it from scott Zack.
That's a sweet bike. I would like to find one to ride the new Bomber(20+yrs old) class that FTR will be doing next year. Gotta start looking around.....
