riding Baldwin area in the 70's

kiddirt · Jan 11, 2011

hi all,
just thinking back of the riding i used to do in the 70's in this area.

anybody here ride this area in the 70's ?

we used to take off from Hespieria and head up to the old Husqvarna shop in Pecock, then head over to Lincoln Bridge, and back to Hesperia all in a day riding a 1974 Suzuki TM125.
i don't know how we did it, with a whopping 4'' of travel.
guess it helped being 16 yrs old and not 53.

we used to sleep in that shop after he closed down.
i was once run over by a XR70 inside while still in my sleeping bag. :nod:

i really don't remember the trails being that whooped out, where they ? (of course being a teenager in the 70's i don't remember much) :nod:

anyone remember the old gas station north of Club 37, where the guy lived in the back. i loved that place.

man, the place was just crawling with dirt bikes back then.

love to hear about any other history of riding back then.

dave

morgan · Jan 11, 2011

I bought the pinball machine that was in the Wolf Lake hotel game room. Also remember riding my Yamaha LT2 and TT500 on the trails there.

Yam7M · Jan 11, 2011

My uncle owned the gas station at Wolf Lake on M37 for years. Is that the station that you're referring too? He had an apartment above the store/station. The stairway to get up there was in the back.

I remember the area pretty well. Peacock Ltd has been there for years, right? I still make a point to have a meal at Club 37 when going through there. My grandparents lived on Loon Lake in Irons. I didn't ride as a kid, but I remember watching out the window from Newaygo to US 10 for dirt bikes.

The Captain Fantastic machine is sweet!

kiddirt · Jan 11, 2011

the old gas station was north a few miles from Club 37, i think it might be gone even. it was just a old wood shack.

the old Peacock Husky dealer was NW of Club 37, not where it's at now.

09oneL · Jan 11, 2011

I too have spent good times in Baldwin - Salmon fishing the fly stretch since 1980. I spent many cold nites curled up on the river bank around a coleman lantern. I proposed to my wife on that river and some day when I am gone I will have my best fishing buddy deposit some of my ashes there.

I was riding in the 70's but, MX only - that is all I knew about at the time. I did race at the Jack Pine lodge on 27.

morgan · Jan 11, 2011

kiddirt said:
the old gas station was north a few miles from Club 37, i think it might be gone even. it was just a old wood shack.

Pretty sure I remember that----used to have a big Yamaha tuning fork logo painted on it if I recall correctly.

kiddirt · Jan 11, 2011

09oneL said:
I too have spent good times in Baldwin - Salmon fishing the fly stretch since 1980. I spent many cold nites curled up on the river bank around a coleman lantern. I proposed to my wife on that river and some day when I am gone I will have my best fishing buddy deposit some of my ashes there.

I was riding in the 70's but, MX only - that is all I knew about at the time. I did race at the Jack Pine lodge on 27.

that has to be a pretty sentimental place for you. me & ''significate other'' of 21 yrs have some places like that in woods like that too that we visit every year.

morgan; i don't remeber that tuning fork, thats cool that you do. that station had a mossy wooden shingle roof on it too.

sure wish we had digi cameras back then. :nod:

morgan · Jan 11, 2011

kiddirt said:
morgan; i don't remeber that tuning fork, thats cool that you do. that station had a mossy wooden shingle roof on it too.

sure wish we had digi cameras back then. :nod:

I think this is it here. Logo is gone now : http://maps.google.com/maps?client=...noid=u-kLaNMwbMAM1ZRgANubZA&cbp=12,83.47,,0,5

katoom125 · Jan 11, 2011

gas station

if not mistaken that gas station we all used to use was on the Northwest corner at 9mile and m-37 - no longer there - nothing there now.

Again I might be wrong but we always called it Katerback's (spelling might be wrong too) - I thought that it was 2 brothers that owned/ran the place - nice guys and very welcome for all the bike traffic - sometimes dozens in the lot at a time and a fairly long wait for the gas pump.

kiddirt · Jan 11, 2011

you got it katoom125, that was it, good memory.

we must have used the place when running Lincoln Hills trail.

katoom125 said:
if not mistaken that gas station we all used to use was on the Northwest corner at 9mile and m-37 - no longer there - nothing there now.

Again I might be wrong but we always called it Katerback's (spelling might be wrong too) - I thought that it was 2 brothers that owned/ran the place - nice guys and very welcome for all the bike traffic - sometimes dozens in the lot at a time and a fairly long wait for the gas pump.

Yam7M · Jan 12, 2011

this was my uncles gas station/small conv store...NE corner of Bartlet Rd and M37 @ Wolf Lake: http://maps.google.com/maps?client=...7&ll=44.006292,-85.837216&spn=0,0.001714&z=19

Note: I am not a techie....nor had I used to Google Satelite stuff before. Very cool.

My Aunt and Uncle ran that place from Late 60's through the late 80's....

katoom125 · Jan 12, 2011

Yam7M said:
this was my uncles gas station/small conv store...NE corner of Bartlet Rd and M37 @ Wolf Lake:

My Aunt and Uncle ran that place from Late 60's through the late 80's....

the only time that we used the wolf lake gas station was when running the little "O" loop (or heading north from there) - it was a fair piece off the trail (couple of miles at least) past the horse stables and around the lake. we would have to stop the bikes for the horses (often with some cute young girl on the horse) so as to not spook the horse and toss the little girl on her head

kiddirt · Jan 12, 2011

remember when you could ride both sides of hwy 37 , the east side was great, you could ride it all the way to Baldwin.

it's funny how we go up and ride a loop for the day now, back then we used to ride 3 or 4 of them at once, all on 4'' of suspension.

i still can't remember much for whoops. there was a few sandy sections that where whooped, and thats all i can remember.

Fred T · Jan 13, 2011

no quads back then

kiddirt · Jan 13, 2011

Fred T said:
no quads back then

good point. :nod:

katoom125 · Jan 14, 2011

Fred T said:
no quads back then

that and I also read an article that suggested today's longer travel suspension is also responsible for the deeper whoops - I have no idea if that is true - besides, I'd much rather blame the quads - maybe they don't make the whoops deeper but they certainly can destroy a decent single track.

70 marlin · Jan 20, 2011

morgan said:
I bought the pinball machine that was in the Wolf Lake hotel game room. Also remember riding my Yamaha LT2 and TT500 on the trails there.

morgan you really know how to live a Captain Fantastic pin ball machine, a poster of speed racers mach 1 the only thing missing fooshball table! By the way is that pin ball machine a five ball quarter machine?

morgan · Jan 20, 2011

70 marlin said:
morgan you really know how to live a Captain Fantastic pin ball machine, a poster of speed racers mach 1 the only thing missing fooshball table! By the way is that pin ball machine a five ball quarter machine?

No doubt---go go go speed racer! And yeah, you get 5 balls per play---but I think it can be changed to 3. Things kinda cool---everytime I look at it I think of Wolf Lake and the job I had loading it next to my bike on the trailer.

24mph,m/l · Jan 21, 2011

Baldwin/Peacock

You've no doubt heard of the law of Unintended Conseqeunces (not to mention Catch-22 and Be Careful What You Wish For). Yes, long travel suspension causes whoops/makes whoops easier to ride.
I had a cottage on Wolf Lake in the 70's. I bought a Husky from the original owners of Peacock Limited (it really was in Peacock,not on M-37).
What was the name of the bar on M-55 west of 37 near the Manistee River ? So crowded on Sat nites you couldn't find a place to park, on Monday the bartender was often the only person in the place.
How about the Flea Roast/Ox market in Irons ?
The gas stations had a pre-mix pump because snowmobiles didn't have oil injection.
Man, am I ever dating myself. But then, when your Social Security check makes your bike payment........

70 marlin · Jan 21, 2011

Morgan please parden my typos this is my first post from my idiot phone the keys are so small!!! Thanks for the reply. you gents that had the pleasure to live & survive that time in history have my kudos!!! As for pin ball machine if you ever need any space in that room give me a pm, I've a man cave that it would fig nicley into.. ps I'd also like a old 5 cent one arm bandit or bar!

kiddirt · Jan 21, 2011

hey, good post and memory.
i remember seeing a pre-mix pump somewhere, i forgot all about those.

about the whoops.
it seems like with grooming, all your doing is getting more loose dirt to pile the whoops bigger.

you can't pack sand. maybe, for the first couple of bikes if the sand is wet....

24mph said:
You've no doubt heard of the law of Unintended Conseqeunces (not to mention Catch-22 and Be Careful What You Wish For). Yes, long travel suspension causes whoops/makes whoops easier to ride.
I had a cottage on Wolf Lake in the 70's. I bought a Husky from the original owners of Peacock Limited (it really was in Peacock,not on M-37).
What was the name of the bar on M-55 west of 37 near the Manistee River ? So crowded on Sat nites you couldn't find a place to park, on Monday the bartender was often the only person in the place.
How about the Flea Roast/Ox market in Irons ?
The gas stations had a pre-mix pump because snowmobiles didn't have oil injection.
Man, am I ever dating myself. But then, when your Social Security check makes your bike payment........

kiddirt · Jan 22, 2011

i just threw away a Peacock Limited jersey this last summer becuase it was to small, and i've been saving it for over 30 plus years.
wish i wouldn't have now.

my brother still has his.

riding Baldwin area in the 70's

24mph,m/l

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