What was king in the 80's?

[Rich Rohrich]

Indeed. It's age. Memory gets a year and few cc's off.

LOL :) It's that air cooled brain. :whoa:

 

[john3_16]

For the most part Honda was the bike to have....

 

[CaptainObvious]

For the most part Honda was the bike to have....

Unless of course you were on a Yamaha, Kawasaki or Suzuki.

 

[green250mx]

Yesss SCATMAN knows whats up. Honda came strong with the Elsinore in the late to mid 80's, and he is right on with the facts on the 91 KX because that has been my resto. for the past few years, some minor suspension upgrades and after a re-sleave and punch 30 over and a hang port job my baby is a monster on the track and sounds deep as all hell.

 

[scatman]

Yesss SCATMAN knows whats up. Honda came strong with the Elsinore in the late to mid 80's, and he is right on with the facts on the 91 KX because that has been my resto. for the past few years, some minor suspension upgrades and after a re-sleave and punch 30 over and a hang port job my baby is a monster on the track and sounds deep as all hell.

Yeah...almost all of my friends rode green in the early 90's. I was the outcast on the red bike. As for what bike would be competetive from the 80's racing against bikes of today...any of the mid to late 80's bikes. All of the bikes took turns winning at the races. Honda seemed to win the magazine shootouts, but as we all know ...on the track any bike could win. I would go 1987 CR250 if I had to choose.

 

[yarbonwick]

Just found a reprint of the 82 shootout. Suzuki was in fact the best that year. The post wouldn't let me paste the link?? Spamkiller :bang: Go to google and type in "motocross shootout 1982". The 3rd entry titled Misc Motorcycle History has the complete shootout.

I have a counter claim. That was for the 125 class. For the 250cc glass, Australia DIRT BIKE circa 1982 wrote: As for the rest of the bike, it needs a lot of help to see it through a 45 minute moto or a season of play racing. First, you must Loctite EVERYTHING. Every single thing, If you don't, the RM will fall to bits underneath you. Ours did; engine mounts came loose repeatedly, the radiator brackets broke, bolts in the rear guard fell out all the time, nuts fell off, it vibrated. We weren't impressed.

On the other hand, the YZ was a model of reliability. Nothing was even tightened, nothing fell off. The silencer only adds to the impression of good, solid engineering in the YZ. Our RM had about two hours more engine time on it than the YZ,

That's not a lot. The YZ wins. Simple as that.

Remember these faces:

http://www.nhmotox.com/pdf/info/The Future-cg-1981.pdf

 

[kingbrian]

Not in the 80's.

Maybe, just maybe, it's a 1980 Husky. Check out this story.

http://www.motoring.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=918&fArticleId=302482

until june i had a 1982 husky xc250 that looked exactly like that and leeme tell that thing moved the power band was scary when it hit and the suspension was shocking. no pun intended. then i rode it till the rod bearings went and the piston mashed the head a few times and i considered it ruined and sold it fer 200 bucks.

 

[Okiewan]

Australia DIRT BIKE circa 1982 wrote

but because it's Australia, in the States, we have to turn it upside down, making the YZ finish on the bottom, Suzuki on top.

Sup Officer Yarbo!

 

[john3_16]

Unless of course you were on a Yamaha, Kawasaki or Suzuki.

Going by mag shootout wins not what I owned....I owned a Yamaha and Kawaski back then...Honda had a pretty good run from the mid 80's to early 90's.

 

[jps2194]

I have a counter claim. That was for the 125 class. For the 250cc glass, Australia DIRT BIKE circa 1982 wrote: As for the rest of the bike, it needs a lot of help to see it through a 45 minute moto or a season of play racing. First, you must Loctite EVERYTHING.

I personally owned the 1982 RM 125 and never had anything go wrong with it. I rode it hard and fast and never had anything fall off?? I had the bike for 7 years and nothing ever broke on it. :)

 

[dirt bike dave]

A friend of mine had an '82 490 Maico. It will be a long, cold day in Hell before that motor is not competetive. Great bike. I would love to ride that one again.

I think a few years ago Australian dirt bike did a comparison of a twin shock Maico 490 to a much more modern Honda CR500. If I recall correctly it was a pretty even match.

FWIW, many guys loved the air cooled motor on the eraly '80's Honda CR480.

 

[Micahdawg]

I really took notice of the dirtbike world around the mid 80s. And back then, one thing seemed to ring clear with me. RM was always a step behind. YZ was generally a good all-around bike. KX got honors for being the flat out fastest, but Honda was always noted for all around best bike. And it seemed to stay like this through the mid 90's. At least from what I've read.

I don't think I'm good enough of a rider to notice the magazine critiques though. I'd probably be equally dangerous on any of those bikes :)

Micah

 

[BonChance13]

not to be a PITA,but '90 was the first year of Kawi's perimeter frame,I had the 125.I hate to say it but Honda's were always the best especially during the mid to late '80's.I remember both strut companies(Suzi/Kawi) going away from those designs during the mid '80's because of cost and complexity.The '86 Suzuki's had dreadful rear suspension,everybody said the prior year models were way better.Remember the adjustable strut on the Kawi's? Anyway,Micah's pretty much nailed it.

 

[motometal]

Put in my vote for the 1982 RM125. Mine was probably 3rd hand when I bought it, I beat the crap out of it and never had it apart (and quite honestly I don't even remember cleaning the air filter). It ripped, great suspension, light weight. Sold it to a friend, after he was done with it he parked it in our barn, handlebars so bent back on both sides they were like the handles on a wheelbarrow, grips almost completely gone, knobs almost non-existent, plastic very sad. Still no motor maintenance, it ran like a top and still would easilly wheelie in the first three gears, or more if you cheated a bit. It wouldn't surprise me if that bike is still out there some where and still runs.

The 1987 CR125 was also a "breakthrough" bike although it had some motor problems. 1988 was "refined", motor problems solved and red instead of orange, some say this bike was still competitive into the mid 90s yada yada.

The early 90s KXs were mentioned...did anyone else remember/notice how MXA and the other magazines made such a big deal of the perimeter frame when they came out, but later totally dogged those bikes as ill handlers due to that frame? Sorta reminds me of the early YZ400s...greatest thing since sliced bread when they are new but then when the 426 came out they couldn't stop talking about how poor the 400s were.

Regarding monoshock, yes Yamaha had it way before the others but I don't think it worked any better, probably worked worse than the single shocked bikes.

 

[COMBEN]

what about the PE's, IT's, KDX's 'n XR's?

wow, what thread...this takes me back to '80/81 when we all had Yamaha RD-250F's, X7 250 Suzuki's and lame 'wet dream' 250 Honda's...then some super cool guy turned up with a IT-250 and smoked the best of us...my X7 with expansion chamber's!


.......just to flip this around some more, what was the best enduro back then, I sure like the look of the PE's :cool:

 

[+30]

81 490

Heck yeah, 81 Maico 490!!! ----
I spent many hours behind the evil rear tire of that bike, pops rode the maico, me on my minis.
Eye Candy www.maicomoe.com

 

[kx125412]

Me and my dad recently got an '82 RM 125 running after it was in the back of some guys truck for years and years. My dad insists on running wal-mart oil through it because it all comes out of the the same pipe, and running the cheapest gas too. After we get all the other parts so its able to move, i'll have to get into a fight with him about buying good premix and gas. But anyways hope she rips when its done. And hopefull it doesnt blow up after the first day.

 

[jps2194]

Me and my dad recently got an '82 RM 125 running after it was in the back of some guys truck for years and years.

How about a pic of this bike for 'ol times sake? It's been 21 years since I sold my '82 RM125 and it's hard to remember exactly what it looked like.

 

[kx125412]

Well right now its cut in half (the swingarm and shock are taken apart) we need to put new bushings in, we need new cables, the gas tank, carb and airbox arent on. Its a mess right now but once its all together i'll post a picture. Or you could just go on bikepics and theres a few pictures.

And if you do a search theres a guy who just got his 82' rm, and he made a thread with pictures and stuff.

 

[kamchuka]

full floater, thats what kicked yamahas a$$ with that goofy triangle thing they called a mono. i dont thing they have changed much since then. well, to my eye of course, im sure valving and geometry blah blah. what was hondas? monocross, anyways nice to think about it again, i've forgotten how plush it is lately. i still have a pic of me about 15' in the air on a 82 yz490, just doesnt seem right now. haha