Reuniting with an Old Friend. What was your first motorized experience?

[Martini_Up]

Those are just too pretty. I don't think you ever rode them?

Those aren't mine. I searched the net for pictures of what I used to have and just posted them up. My Lil'Indian was given to me by my older brother. It's seat was almost gone when I acquired it. The SL70 was given to me by my uncle and it was nice but not like that picture nice. And by the time I was done, it was well used. I took off all the lights trying to get it more dirt bike looking and then just parked it when I got my MX125, then a CR80, then a CR125 (rocket!!!), then XL250, then.........

 

[DeanMk]

Martini,

What are you currently riding?



Dean

 

[Pete F]

Mine was a tossup between a Yamaha 80 Step-through similar to this but red and a 1950 Chevrolet Pickup. Got the bike from my Uncle and it had a carpeted tray on the back for his dog. Learned to ride in the Nevada desert. Drove back to Washington with the bike stuffed in between the seats of my Parent's van. It was a blast to ride.

 

[Jamie6.5]

Mine was a tossup between a Yamaha 80 Step-through similar to this but red and a 1950 Chevrolet Pickup. Got the bike from my Uncle and it had a carpeted tray on the back for his dog. Learned to ride in the Nevada desert. Drove back to Washington with the bike stuffed in between the seats of my Parent's van. It was a blast to ride.
View attachment 367303

Wow, a leading-link front suspension too.

Classic!

 

[Pete F]

I take it you're referring to motorcycles in particular, because motorized vehicle could be a car, a motorcycle, an airplane....really any thing that can transport stuff and is powered by some kind of motor.
So for me, it was when I was a teenager.
My brother, who was in the service in those days, had a Honda TL125 and he shipped it home in 3 boxes when he was getting ready to transfer from Yokota to McChord.
This would've been about 1978.
No place to really ride it, fortunately my parents had a big yard, so I just putted around there.

View attachment 367293


Dean
P.S. - I asked my mom how we got home from the hospital after I was born and she said a friend picked her up (my Dad wasn't home when I was born), but she doesn't remember what kind of car it was.

Hey Dean - North Kitsap High School?

 

[Pete F]

Wow, a leading-link front suspension too.

Classic!

It had off road tires and did pretty good on logging roads and trails.

 

[orygun]

Wow, a leading-link front suspension too.

Classic!

When I was a kid I had a toy trailer that went with other "Tonka" toys (think it was Buddy L) that came with two motorcycles, one red, one yellow. Of course I called them Hondas thinking that was a generic term for motorcycle, but in reality they were the Yamaha step thru like Pete F posted. Apparently I liked Yamerhammers before I knew it!

 

[Pandaz3]

Ford '9N' or '2N' tractor (Nearly identical to me, but there must have been some nuance...lights maybe) It was easy but gutless. I wanted to drive the little John Deere 'LA' tractor my dad had just bought. When he wasn't looking, I hooked up the hay wagon took it out and loaded it four high (best I could do by myself at 12) and brought it in by the barn. I had to park on a small but steep incline to open the gate, when I restarted that little 'LA' it reared up on its hind legs, at least two feet off the ground. It must have looked more dramatic than I felt it deserved, as I got it under control, but Dad came running and hollering, so even though I told him I would back up and give it a running start, he said no he'd do it. No pulling heavy load with the LA for me.
He traded the gutless 9N for a 8N and while they looked the same the 8n had a four speed instead of a three speed. Made a difference.
I ran over several bales in a '37 Chevy pickup, but one I got my driver license at 14 I got to drive our '58 Ford F-350 dualie flatbed. (Yellow & White, Custom Cab, chrome grill and bumper. 272 V8) kind of like this for the 350



This is a 8N and the 9N looked the same to me



As you can see the 'LA had more engine than tractor.

 

[Martini_Up]

Martini,

What are you currently riding?



Dean

TTR 250, Rincon 650 and a old 600 Powder Special (snowmobile).

I'm looking, off and on, for a WR 400 or similar enduro / dual sport.

 

[DeanMk]

TTR 250, Rincon 650 and a old 600 Powder Special (snowmobile).

I'm looking, off and on, for a WR 400 or similar enduro / dual sport.

Nice collection.
Not sure if this is close to you, but there's a guy in Bremerton got a WR400 for sale.....
1999 Yamaha WR400F, Bremerton WA - - Cycletrader.com


Dean

 

[Skier]

My first experience was with a 1963 Honda C-100 (cub or supercub?). It looked like this, but black:



My parents bought it for my birthday around age 14-16. They bought it from a diesel mechanic that lived across the street from us. He had it for a while, and it didn't run, but he wasn't sure why, so my parents got it for $35. When my parents weren't at home one day, my friend and I pulled it out and pushed it up and down our street, popping it in gear to see if we could get it to start. It didn't, but it it didn't sound terribly broken. We took out the spark plug, and it looked kind of dirty, so we walked up to the auto parts store, bought a match, brought it home and it fired right up. Played a little with it that day and loved it. Eventually, I drove it back and forth to high school all the time and all over the place, especially after a friend bought an Elite 250 scooter. Tons of fun both on and off road.

Later, after I went in the Air Force, my parent bought and shipped to me, a slightly larger version, a 1969 Honda CM91, which looks basically the same as this one:



, but without the chainguard. In fact, neither of mine had the chainguard, and both had oversize rear sprockets when I got them.

I road this one around while in the Air Force, rebuilt the top end, new clutch, new speedometer, etc.

Interesting enough, though they both look very similar, they had a number of differences.:

Carb: 50 had a down draft, 90 had a side draft
Valves: 50 had push rods, 90 had overhead cam
Electrical: 50 had a single half-wave selenium rectifier, 90 had a a full wave bridge rectifier, also, there was something different about the alternators, but I forget exactly what... It seems like one had a center that spun magnets inside of stationary outer coils and the other had center mounted coils, and the magnets spun around them, or something like that. I'd have to look... Been a while. ;-)

I still have them both in my garage, and would have taken a picture of my actual bikes, but they're semi-buried. They should both run, in theory, but haven't run them in years. Last I remember, the 90 doesn't idle great (never really did), and the 50 has a carb seal that is leaking a bit. If/when I move to a larger house with a shop and more space to work, I'll probably spend a little time on them, to get them running nicely again.

I also have an old shop manual that covers both bikes, including wiring diagrams, and also at least one microfish that parts diagrams. :-D

My wife would prefer I sell them, but just don't see myself ever wanting to do that. hehe

 

[DeanMk]

No chain guard and oversized sprocket sounds like both were modified with a Trail 90 rear wheel and sprocket.
Was the rear tire wider than the front?
I'm pretty sure they should both be the same size.


Dean

 

[Skier]

Front and rear tire sizes were the same, but the rear on one of them was a knobby. The sprockets (which I still have) were a bolt on, that went over the original sprocket, moving from something like a 40 tooth to a 72, I think, and was held in place by 4 bolts with washers.

 

[DeanMk]

Oh, how interesting.
Do you know if that sprocket was a mod you could get from the factory, or an aftermarket item?


Elvis

 

[jbett98]

To switch from low to high speed on early Honda's.you had to switch the sprocket and chain, but in 1968 Honda redesigned the transmission and all you had to do is throw a lever located under the foot shift lever.

 

[Mikej]

Front and rear tire sizes were the same, but the rear on one of them was a knobby. The sprockets (which I still have) were a bolt on, that went over the original sprocket, moving from something like a 40 tooth to a 72, I think, and was held in place by 4 bolts with washers.

Oh, how interesting.
Do you know if that sprocket was a mod you could get from the factory, or an aftermarket item?


Elvis

That was a factory thing on the Trail 55 and Trail 90. The larger ring sprocket was held to a plate behind the smaller sprocket by four bolts. There was a tool kit below the seat in the panel where the key was. When the time came to change it to "Low" range you'd remove the link in the chain and drop it. Remove the four bolts holding the large ring sprocket to the plate and position it over the teeth in the small sprocket and put the bolts/nuts/washers through the teeth of the smaller sprocket matched up with the half holes in the larger ring sprocket and tighten well. The swing arm had plastic plugs in the tube cross cross brace. Inside that tube was and extra piece the you would add to the drive chain so it would be long enough to go around that now larger sprocket. As I recall it was quit a pain to on the trail. The tool kit wasn't the best. I think we just did them at home, before we took them out to ride the trails. I think it was '67 when they came up with the internal high/low change that used a wrench, and a year or so later it was made it so you could change it with your fingers. mine was the '67, I always carried a 12mm wrench.

The frames would be identical on the models shown and the trail bikes I would imagine No reason someone couldn't get the trail bike rear wheel, pull off the chain guard and switch wheels.

 

[Skier]

Oh, how interesting.
Do you know if that sprocket was a mod you could get from the factory, or an aftermarket item?


Elvis

I don't know, I never looked into it. Interesting that both of mine were modified like that. I suspected it was aftermarket, but just don't know. I try and remember to take a picture of one of them and share it on here. I took them off because I was primarily riding them on the street, and it dropped their top speed from around 45-50MPH (50cc) and 55-60MPH (90cc) to about 35MPH on both. The definitely climbed hills better with those sprockets though. With those removed, the gas mileage was great. It seems like it was something like 150MPG on the 50 and 110 MPG on the 90. I think the factory specs were closer to 200MPG and 150MPG, but I'll have to look those up to be sure.

 

[Skier]

To switch from low to high speed on early Honda's.you had to switch the sprocket and chain, but in 1968 Honda redesigned the transmission and all you had to do is throw a lever located under the foot shift lever.

Yeah, but that was only on certain model, typically the officially "trail" versions, I think (or maybe it was an option you could pay extra for on other bikes). I had a Honda 1973 (or maybe 79) 110cc Three-wheeler and it had that option, but my 1969 CM-91 (mentioned above) didn't have it.

 

[JeremyK]

A Montgomery Wards lawn mower...

 

[Jamie6.5]

A Montgomery Wards lawn mower...

Come to think of it,...
And it wasn't a riding mower either.
Hell, it wasn't even self propelled!