Following on from what have you done with your bike today

[Asmith61]

Kingorry and nigel s

I was interested in your talk about trial/ trail riding.
Back in the day I rode moto cross.  and I did a couple of amateur trials. As well as trying Speedway and Grasstrack ( to big and heavy for both of them  ) still have a speedway Bike.
Sorry about the quality of these pictures they are pictures of old pictures.
Yamaha YZ 465.  Suzuki RM 250.  Yamaha YZ 250. Yamaha DT 175.
Cagiva WX 250.  Jawa 2 valve speedway bike.

[Asmith61]

More pics

[nigel s]

Nice set of bikes..getting good air there too...

I bet that Gagiva  ( look at the size of that rear shock  ) was a handful ....when it was running..... Mine had a Yam based engine ...and they managed to make even that unreliable....

Ho Hum

[MisterDavey]

Wow Mr Smith, looks like you had some serious fun.
Look at all those drum brakes.... Still, why would you want to stop whilst MX/trail riding..

[Asmith61]

nigel s thank you …. I also had a Suzuki RM 370. And a couple of Honda CR 250s. And a Suzuki LT 500 Quad ( I will try to find a picture )
The Cagiva….. nige …. well that was a great bike and surprisingly Reliable !!
I actually traded the Quad in for it at Julian Soper motorcycles in Southend, The clutch was stuck on the Cagiva so I said to Julian I will see if I can free it off, so I put it up agains the kerb and started it and the clutch freed off.
So the deal was done    the Cagiva had WP ( white power ) rear shock and WP upside down forks. I had parked it up for maybe 6 months Due to having a bad back ( and moto cross was not helping ) a few people had asked if I was selling it, I wasn’t interested in selling it, but in the end I sold it to a friend of a friend ( who was a nutter on a bike ) who blew it up 

MisterDavey  yes I did have some serious fun and as you say didn’t need brakes that much  having said that the drum brakes were surprisingly good 
I did actually do a trial on the Yamaha YZ 465 not the ideal bike to do it on, in fact on one section with the handlebars being so wide the clutch lever got stuck on a tree and it released sending me and the bike up into a tree with the front wheel stuck in a y shaped branch and me hanging off the back.  The Spotter & other people helped me down & made sure I was OK 👌 then they all pissed them selfs with laughter 

[MisterDavey]

That's hilarious, in a scary kind of way 

[2112]

Great pictures and memories 

My mate used to race a Maico 490 in the late 70's/early 80's, it was a genuinely terrifying thing to ride. It was the dictionary definition of 'a handfull' and on the few occaisions I rode it, I was always pleased to hand it back !

[Asmith61]

Cheers 2112   Yes I had heard the Maico 490 was a “ handfull “
The Yamaha YZ 465 was a bit like that,  but the YZ 490 by all accounts was also a handfull.

The Suzuki LT 500 Racing quad I had was great fun ( I changed the thumb throttle to a twist grip one which made it really lively to say the least  ) but I was a lot younger and stronger back then 

[2112]

I remember reading an article in 'Performance Bikes' many moons ago when someone had put a Honda Fireblade engine into a racing quad. The result, not surprisingly, was stupidly fast and barely controlable !

[Asmith61]

Yes I can imagine