Features
PRE-MIX GAS / OIL HOW TO
Two Stroke Fuel Ratios
RICK SIEMAN
Let’s see … your bike is running on the rich side, so you put less oil in the gas to lean it out. Wrong.
Or maybe your bike is running a bit too lean, so you figure that if you put more oil in the gas, ...(more)
OSSA IDENTIFICATION
What Year Is My Ossa? - Ossa Frame Number I.D. Chart
From Stilletos To Phantoms and In-Between
BY RICK SIEMAN
Marty Moates on a 250 Phantom
Ossa had short run, but set standards for light weight, power and handlin...(more)
An old friend of mine Bob lives in the Glassel Park suburb of Los Angeles, kind of the Tijuana of LA. Glassel Park has a high percentage of Mexican folk who brought their way of life along with them, and their chickens too.
Now chickens to me are good to eat, but I get my chickens from Ralphs su...(more)
Its wintertime, 2010, and El Mirage dry lake is locked down tight as a pickle barrel. The BLM rangers have the place run like a prison. But unknown to the BLM bulls is a dirt road I use to sneak into El Mirage from the East side of the lake. So I scrape the handivan over a rough neglected desert ...(more)
THE ULTIMATE VINTAGE MINI BIKE
1971 YAMAHA JT1 MINI ENDURO
BY RICK SIEMAN
Some of our readers have reminded us that they didn't grow up on Huskies, Bultacos and Maicos. Nope, many of them grew up on the bike you see here, the Yamaha JT1 Mini Enduro.
Hundreds of thousands of these lit...(more)
THE SOLAR HUSKY1970 HUSQVARNA 400 CROSS BUILT BY STEVE MCQUEEN’S SOLAR AUTOMOTIVEBy Rob Phillips as told to Rick Sieman
*** Husky restoration expert, Rob Phillips http://www.huskyrestoration.com, is no stranger to this site. However, the bike shown here is quite unusual ...(more)
Here's a shot of my newest ATV, it even has a cup holder. It is un-stopable. Now I've just got to stick a 490 Maico motor in it somewhere to get some MPH out of it, and a few roosts...
Oops, tide's commin' in...better head inland......(more)
WINNER OF THE 7-CD DIRT BIKE SET CONTEST
DA WINNER!
BY THE EDITORS
We had a contest of sorts here at our website and the idea of the contest was naming the most important bikes over a certain period of time. After looking at all the entries, we rather easily picked Dan Gawronski of San Ra...(more)
STEVE MCQUEEN RIDING AN ELSINORE
Back in late 1972, Steve McQueen did a commercial for Honda dirt bikes, specifically the Elsinore. The commercials were only shown and run in Japan and Japanese controlled territories. They were not allowed to be used in the United State
Here is one of the 2...(more)
In 1975 a Honda XL350, upgraded by Bill Bell and Long Beach Honda, won the Baja 500 open class in the capable hands of Al Baker and Gunnar Lindstrom (also know as the token Swedish magazine editor for Dirt Bike Magazine). Long Beach Honda had been at the center of Baja motorcycling from the begin...(more)
HOW TO SPOT AN ASSHOLE IMMEDIATELY
THERE ARE SIGNS YOU SHOULD KNOW
BY RICK SIEMAN
We’re told that we should not profile people all the time. Hold back on our first impressions. Don’t jump to conclusions. Don’t form opinions based on looks...(more)
Chances are, if you started riding motorcycles in the middle nineteen sixties to early nineteen seventies, at one time or another you were on a Honda 90. And why not? The Honda 90 cost about three hundred bucks new (in 1964), could hum along at 55 mph, and get 165 MPG doing it. The first 90&rsquo...(more)
Remember the Hodaka? That chrome-toaster gas tanked little dirt bike that won the hearts and minds of US dirt riders back in the early 1970’s? Sure you do. While the Hodaka was a reliable, un-complicated small motorcycle, its history is anything but. Raised from the ashes of the Yamaguchi m...(more)
Remember the Ossa, that oddball Spanish motorcycle with the four-leaf clover insignia? Started from humble beginnings as a manufacturer of movie projectors, in 1949 Ossa began producing motorcycles based on the design of a pre-war DKW 125. It seems every major motorcycle company from Harley David...(more)
Here's a story from Bob Brennan, who worked with E.C. Birt at Precision Cycles long ago when the Earth was young. It shows you how much mechanical know-how dirt riders use to have, in order to have a fast, reliable dirt bike. Now riders don't even clean their own air filters. Anyway, here's how i...(more)
Now don't get me wrong, I love motorcycles. From the lowest moped, the worst Chinese knock-off, to the most advanced touring rig, if it has two wheels and a motor, it’s got my vote.
But when the back-room decisions of an officially sanctioned race organization, the manufacturers and God k...(more)
BEATING THE HEAT
SUMMERTIME VINTAGE BIKE PRACTICE IN ARIZONA
BY RICK SIEMAN
Summertime in Arizona can be pure murder. Temperatures of 100° are normal and this weekend, for example, the monitor tagged out at 110+. So if you want to go riding your dirt bike, get u...(more)
(Editors note: We have a new addition at Superhunky.com, that famous, elusive and enigmatic knower of all things two-stroke, tuner and fabricator E.C. Birt. E.C. comes to us with a lifetime of experience on two stroke design and theory, so E.C. will have his own forum just as soon as we prod the ...(more)
STEVE McQUEEN PICTORIAL
A CLOSER LOOK AT ONE OF THE GREATS
BY RICK SIEMAN
Recently we got an e-mail from a reader that made us think. It went like this:
Hey SH
After having seen the movie On Any Sunday about a million times, my favorite rider is still Steve McQueen. Th...(more)
DANNY “MAGOO” CHANDLER
1959 – 2010 A LEGEND PASSES ON
RICK SIEMAN
I met Danny Chandler when I was in charge of Dirt Bike Magazine. Paul Clipper and I were out were out on a photo session with a new Maico and we contacted the distr...(more)
One of the all time favorite dual purpose bikes was the 500cc Triumph Trophy Scrambler, designation T100C. Looking every bit like a scaled-down 650 twin, the 500cc bike shared few parts with the larger machines, and was aimed at the new rider. This is the unitized version (transmission and crankc...(more)
Way before the two-stroke dirt-bike revolution of the early nineteen sixties, HD produced a motorcycle based on the venerable wartime RT125 DKW, a gift from Germany for war reparation. These bikes were aimed at the younger set, and made great paperboy sleds, messenger bikes and cool school transp...(more)
I know, you’re thinking “oh jeez, he’s gonna roast this bike” but not this time. The Honda SL350 was a bike that defied all odds. By 1969 the formula of a street-scrambler didn't cut it anymore, so in 1969 Honda responded with a new design of its beloved 350 twin, the SL35...(more)
Stephen, vintage guy and speaker of the truth
After an exemplary day at a vintage MX event, I couldn't help but notice as we gathered for the dispensing of trophies at the end of the day. A large number of the fellows walking to the Ramada either had a limp or a mis-aligned shoulder or ...(more)
ASSAULT ON THE DOLLAR, PHASE II
The phase two plan on the assault on the US Dollar is starting. The Obama Administration is forcing China to value its currency higher, which means the US Dollar gets devalued once again. And how does China run the value of its currency up...(more)
The Phantom Duck of the Desert is back. Look for an article from the famous Louis McKey to grace the electronic pages here at Superhunky.com soon.
And the Sahara Club is back too, just when we need it the most. They feared Louis & Rick before, time to do it again....(more)
THE VMX FILES
YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW
By Rick Sieman
Recently, they had the US OPEN OF MOTOCROSS on the television. It was hyped-up for weeks before the event. All kinds of PR was run about how it was to be held in Las Vegas. Even though I'm not a Supercross fan, it was p...(more)
Didier on the "Le Monstre"
Didier Pierre Soupape was born in 1868 in the Alsace region of France, to a middle class family of mechanics who were employed at the local gas works. As a young boy Didier would go to work with his father, and stare with wonderment at the complex gas distributio...(more)
GIVE THE CORRECT ANSWER AND WIN A SEVEN CD SET OF THE GLORY DAYS OF DIRT BIKE MAGAZINE, 1971 to 1974.
Yes, enter the seven CD sweepstakes and have your chance to win a seven CD set of the greatest years of Dirt-Bike Magazine. Get the famous two-stroke oil shootout, gas ...(more)
The Terma
Terma Motorcycleta SA de Cv was founded in 1919 by Ernestazio Terma and Ricardo Matos in Ciudad de Este Paraguay, to produce affordable small displacement motorcycles. After securing a small business loan from his Uncle, ...(more)
THE LAST REAL ENDURO
THE 1973 RT3 YAMAHA
The last real enduro built by Yamaha came out in 1973, and while upgraded with a 21” front wheel, reed valves and a gussied up paint scheme, it was still true to the original Yamaha Enduro ...(more)
The 1971 Ducati Desmo RT450
Did you know that Ducati once made a big, snorting 450 cee cee dirt bike that stuck terror into the hearts of riders and parts men alike? Yes, the RT450 Desmo was Ducati’s foray into the world of open class MX machinery, and while on...(more)
In 1970 Harley needed a new dirt track motor. From 1954 to 1967, Harley mounted riders had won the AMA Grand National flat track series twelve out of thirteen times. That was done on the KR flathead 750, the formula of that time being 750cc side valve, or 500cc overhead valve. The KR model would sti...(more)
1971 DT1MX Yamaha The 1971 DT1MX Yamaha was the last of a breed that started in 1967-68, with the first Yamaha DT1 250 Enduro. Never remembered for good handling qualities, the DT1 did have reliability and strength that made it a natural for dirt biking. This fact was not lost on the go-fast crowd, ...(more)
The BSA 441 Victor, or Victim, depending on who you are, was introduced in 1966 to capitalize on the BSA that Jeff Smith won two back-to-back world championships on. Smith’s Victor was factory trick, with such items as:
7" rear brake
20" front wheel
Reynolds 531 tube frame
Wet weight ...(more)
Looking through the classifieds in CRAIGS LIST can be a pleasant way to waste some time and if everything works out, you can get a few laughs at the same time. For example:
1985 HONDA 200X … SORTA
It was an ‘85 Honda 200X at first, but now it’s powered by a Honda CB500 moto...(more)
First off, we’re going to skip rigid framed bikes, as they don’t count in the evolution of off-road motorcycle suspension. Sure, people rode rigid framed bikes in the dirt, because that’s all they had. But they don’t count, because no suspension is just that, no suspension. T...(more)
Sadly the MZ Motorcycle factory, which had been producing motorcycles since 1922 closed its doors on December 12th 2009, announced MZ’s Malaysian owners early last month. MZ stood for Motorcycle Works Zschopau, from the town in the Ore Mountains of Germany where the company was based. MZ gener...(more)
Before the Yamaha DT1 came out around 1967-68, there were dozens of motorcycle manufacturers who tried to cash in on the dirt bike craze by clamping high-pipes, cross-braced handlebars and trials tires on portly ill-designed street bikes.These motorcycles were so dangerous both on and off of the dir...(more)
Quick, what has six speeds, and twelve neutrals? If you’ve been around dirt bikes for any amount of time, you’ll know that answer: Anything with a DKW motor in it. The 125 that started it all, the 1949 RT125 (Harley Hummer, BSA Bantam, Yamaha RY125, etc.)The Sachs/DKW/Hercules transmissi...(more)
Another lesser-known motorcycle, the Spanish Sanglas, was founded in 1942 by the Sanglas brothers, Matin & Javier. This took place right after the Spanish Civil War, when Spanish built motor vehicles were scarce, and demand for new machinery was high. Sanglas Motorcycleta SA Barcelona produced sever...(more)
Another fabled British make was the D.O.T. or “Devoid of Trouble” as the name would have you believe. Most of the time mistaken for Cotton, the D.O.T. was yet another cottage motorcycle manufacturer that sourced its motors from other manufacturers, this time Villiers. The last time I was...(more)
WEIRD BIKES
STRANGE RIDES FROM THE PAST
BY RICK SIEMAN
One day I was going through a bunch of really old magazines and literature with a friend. He kept saying things like: "Whoa! What's that? I never heard of it." Or: "Man, that is one strange-looking bike!" Or: "Jeez, that is incred...(more)
By Shawn as told to Rick Sieman
Author's Full name witheld upon request
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Many of us have a dirt bike or two in the garage and if it’s an old bike, chances are we have a Bill Of Sale for it, and not much more. Let’s face it, if you buy an old bike that’s been s...(more)
Remember when ... the starting line at desert races was full every Sunday? Early 70s in the Mojave.
Blasts From The Past
Remember when... the best riders in the world were on CZs, wore Martini jerseys, pudding-bowl helmets and the b...(more)
NUT AND BOLT TORQUE CHART
HOW AND WHY TO TIGHTEN IT DOWN
BY RICK SIEMAN
I keep getting a large number of requests for how much to torque down various nuts and bolts on various bikes. Rather than spend endless hours going through my hundreds (nay, thousands) of manuals, here&rsq...(more)
Ah, spring time, when a man’s fancy turns to love. Back in the spring of 1973 my riding buddy Rick had finally wore out his 1969 CT1 Yamaha, and was looking for love in the want ads of Cycle News. Rick wanted an open class machine that he could feel at home on, after all those years of eating ...(more)
THE AERMACCHI-HARLEY DAVIDSON SPRINT CR/CRTT
In 1961 Harley Davidson started importing Aermacchi 250cc bikes in hopes of making a dent in the small bore market that was growing in the USA at the time. Remember, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki had already started making in-roads on t...(more)
If you were just driving down the street, you might pass this place up. It has a modest sized sign up that proclaims: THE MOTORCYCLE ACCESSORY SHOP and the phone number. Let's say you needed a fresh spark plug and maybe an extra tube, so you pull in, park in the lot and head for the entrance.
W...(more)
We all remember our first motorcycle. We remember when we got it, how much it cost, and what it sounded like. Even what color it was. And we also remember certain idiosyncrasies that made it “interesting” to own and ride. In my case, it was a 1973 Jawa Trail 90, my first dual-purpos...(more)
The 1966 RH66 Suzuki 250 MX
Contrary to popular thinking, the first Japanese built single-purpose MX bike was not produced by Yamaha, but was produced by Suzuki as a works bike, and identified as the RH66 of 1966. 1966 RH66 250cc MX
In 1965, Suzuki sent an engineer, and a road race bike to Europe...(more)
Even though I had a single rail dirt bike rack that hooked into a square receiver trailer hitch, testing two bikes demanded a trailer that would carry them. There was a two-fold problem: the trailer had to be small enough to put in a garage and light enough to be moved around by one person. Did I...(more)
SPARK PLUG TECH
How to Read Spark Plugs
by: Rick Sieman
No matter what kind of b...(more)
(Important: It's should be noted that the writer is not a lawyer, and has never even played one on TV. The information presented here is based on general advice from real attorneys he has known over the years. And since most of this advice was gathered in the Southern California area, you should cer...(more)
Download PDF...(more)
INDUSTRIAL SABOTAGE, GERMAN-STYLE
WHAT KILLED MAICO?
PART II OF A TWISTED TALE OF BITTER FAMILY FEUDS, DIRTY TRICKS AND FACTORY BOOBY-TRAPS
AND WHILE ALL THIS WAS GOING ON...Behind the scenes, the Wilhelm Maisch family drove the final nail home in the coffin. While the Otto Maisch fa...(more)
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May. 2000
MEET THE PRESS
RICK SIEMAN INTERVIEWS ALGORE
BY RICK "SUPER HUNKY" SIEMAN
CLINTON'S BUTT-BOY GETS GRILLED BY THE HUNK
Editor's note: When first approached by the...(more)
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(1) Small bits of carbon tend to build up in the area around the ring land. All of this section should be thoroughly cleaned of all debris.
We do all of the basic stuff, timing, plugs and that sort, but how often do you look inside of the motor of that bike with more than a few years...(more)
If you raced desert any time in the last half century or so, chances are you saw riders in checkered helmets and jumpers mixing it up in every class.
Their markings are distinctive: a black and white checkerboard pattern, like that on the winning flag at the finish of a race. The checkered pattern ...(more)
It's no secret to CityBike readers that I became smitten with off-road riding over 8 years ago. That love affair literally changed my life. I stopped smoking because of it. I'm in better physical condition because of it, too.
I'll never forget the day I rode back into the pit area at the Pacifica M...(more)
Editor's notes: As with most circumstances of public outrage, the furor fades with time and people tend to forget. Let me encapsulate: EA Sports, the makers of various video games for kids, released game called Freekstyle, which was no big deal. It was just in bad taste, which is no crime.
However,...(more)
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Face it. Grips don’t last very long. It’s their nature. They’re made of soft rubber or vinyl, and whenever the bike falls down, the grip takes a lot of punishment. Or let’s say you just want to change bars and save a pair of grips. How do you get them off without ruining them...(more)
Bikes have personalities - no argument about that. Some bikes have a tendency to wash out, or lose the front end in the corners, while others have a front end that "bites" and is very precise. This is not to say that either one of these traits is superior to the other, but rather, points out a genui...(more)
Starting production with a single bike which nothing more than a motor stuffed in a bicycle frame, Honda went on to become the world leader.
A HUMBLE START
If the name Honda doesn't ring a bell with you, chances are you spent the last 20 years or so working in a cave sorting mushrooms for ...(more)
"Holly and the Harley" (excerpted from Monkey Butt)
Every April we sat around and racked our skulls to do a different April Fools' story. One year, I came up with the idea of getting a huge Harley full-dresser and testing it like it was an enduro bike.
We called Jim for some feedback: "Hey, Hollyw...(more)
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ATK, the American-based company, has been around for a long time now. And for much of that time, they used Rotax engines of one sort or another ...(more)
The exotic Kramer-twin-monoshock Maico at rest against the owner's van.
Editor's Note: The year was 1975 and suspension travel was just at the start of the long travel revolution. In 1974, the longest travel any production bike had was about four inches. Yamaha came out with their monoshock d...(more)
Noisy Bike? On a Tight Budget? Read This!
Most of the bikes out there in the real world are not new machines. Not by a long shot. In actual fact, many of them are really old bikes not worth more than a few hundred bucks, tops.This doesn't make them bad. Heck, if you washed cars and cut lawns in you...(more)
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Bikes have changed dramatically over the last three decades. Back then, we rode very crude two strokes and cranky old British four strokes, and many of those bikes were very hard to start.
Nowadays, we have very sophisticated two strokes with all sorts of trick exhaust ports, and four strokes that ...(more)
We found this long piece of steel for our tool. Drill a hole through the Center and install a bolt. Very simple and very strong.
If you're playing around with vintage bikes, you're going to run into some puzzling moments when it comes time to figure out what springs to u...(more)
I'd like to share some of the little tricks I picked up over the years. Also, some of these do-it-yourself tools might come in handy some time in the future. At the very least, you will become a little bit smarter if you read this.
Some of those first tips and tricks learned read lik...(more)
Sooner or later, you're going to be on one end of a tow rope. Here's how to do it right.
I don't care who you are, or how good yo...(more)
You are 41 years old and have a beer gut like Yogi Bear. Your conditioning is less than ideal. When you were a hot Intermediate, you weighed 160-pounds. You now weigh 215 and have a 38-inch waistline.
Congratulations, you are now a Vet. Or, even worse, an Old Timer. But cheer up. You get to ride on...(more)
You're out with your friends, having a great trail ride through some really cool woods. Or maybe competing in an enduro. Nice stuff … dappled sunlight through the trees … temperature just about right … plenty of traction … and then you have to cross that shallow stream on...(more)
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Pick the Top Ten Worst Dirt Bikes of All Time? Wow! Where does one start? Surely not with the current crop of dirt bikes. You would be hard-pres...(more)
May 2002 - I receive a steady stream of inquiries from across the nation-and the world about how to go trail riding in Baja. The inquiry usually goes something like this:
"Me and my buddy have been talking about this for sometime, and now we want to do it. We've always wanted to go trail riding in ...(more)
April, 2002 - About 20 years ago, I strapped on a helmet cam and took a lap around a motocross course for a local TV station. The thing was about the size of a loaf of bread and weighed about eight pounds. Plus, I had to carry another six pounds of batteries and hardware in a belt-pack.
...(more)
August 2001 -- The idea for this valuable tech article came via Off-Road.Com ex-staffer, Andi Vogt. We've dug this one up from the ORC archives of many years ago to reintroduce it into some era other than the dinasaur age.
Anyhow, Andi received the following email and passed it on Rick's way:
Th...(more)
The Desert Vipers get the banner ready before the start of the Saturday Pro Race.
Every year, the Desert Vipers put on a Grand Prix that draws massive crowds of spectators, and a whole bunch of racers. Each year, it's been part of the District 37 (SoCal) AMA Grand Prix Series, but this year...(more)
Lacing and truing wheels has been a semi-mystery for quite some time, because people are just scared by what they don’t know. All of the mysteries that surround wheel secrets are nothing more than tips and aids that people who do these jobs have formed.
Most guys can struggle by with their w...(more)
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CLINTON'S BUTT-BOY GETS GRILLED BY THE HUNK
Editor's note: When first approached by the Off-Road.com staff for an interview, the Al Gore staffers told us there was no chance at all that the Vice President would consent to an interview, especially with Rick "Super Hunky" Sieman, a man of notoriety w...(more)
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Some of the streets in the town of Adelanto are blocked off from normal traffic flow and converted into part of a race track during the first weekend of February each year. Cool! Click here for the BIG picture!
A real Grand Prix should have a little bit of everything thrown in to challenge ...(more)
