What do you ride?

409gang

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
Wow I am sad to hear this, he knew more about antique motorcycles than probably anyone else. My brother bought a motorcycle from him in 1998 and he said when he was there he had to help Dale push some old antique bike down the street to try and get it running. He said he was the nicest guy you could ever imagine. RIP Dale
 

dakota tom

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
20210205_154931.jpgWhen the factory only built ATC 90s this was built.
Winter project for a few days winter of 1975 at the Honda dealer I worked at.
CR 250 frame. XL 250 engine and front end with the rear wheel laced to the front hub. MT 250 gas tank. CR 125 intake manifold. SL 350 header pipe. All salvage or warranty parts. Some stuff is a bit crude but I was 18 when I put it together.
The Honda service rep spotted it and rode it around a few hours.
A couple of weeks later he called and asked if he could bring someone to ride it.
He showed up with two R&D guys from California. They rode and studied it for about six hours then had to leave to catch the flight home.
They said there was talk of building a prototype sport atc but they didnt know if anyone would be interested in one but someone was interested enough to build one.
 

dakota tom

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
It was the shops machine. I didn't own it. I couldn't get a price out of my boss to buy it. I think they got afraid of a product liability lawsuit if someone got hurt. It was parked in the warehouse when I quit there in 1984.
My past employers were getting a divorce and sold the dealership.
The new shop owner sold it to a friend of one of their employees. I know him but not a close friend.
He lost a young son by an accident. He had given his son rides on the three wheeler. He didn't want the unit around after that and contacted me. I bought it and rode it just a few times about 25 years ago. Needs some rear fenders. I wanted to add some oddessy rear fenders but thr boss didnt want to put any more money in it. I will probably do it someday.
The XL 250 that got parted was less than a week old with about 175 miles on it. Car pulled out in front of the owner. He wasn't hurt and came to the shop for another one the same day.
Hit and miss engines, long time hobby. I have over 100 up to 12 HP. Some are grandparents engines and great uncles engines.
 
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