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CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1974 BULTACO MK360 PURSANG By Tom White In the 1960s, Bultaco had been a successful brand in American scrambles and local motocross, but their stock rose when American upstart Jim Pomeroy shocked the motocross establishment by winning the 1973 Spanish 250 GP. News of the victory created a wave of excitement in America, where motocross was undergoing an explosive growth cycle. Bultaco was founded in 1958 by Francisco Xavier Bulto. Early models were plagued with excessive weight and power that few riders could tame. By 1974, the 36...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON:1971 HARLEY-DAVIDSON BAJA 100 By Tom White In the late 1960s, the market for small-bore two-stroke trail bikes was exploding. When Harley-Davidson realized that Hodaka was selling 10,000 bikes a year, they decided to jump into the 100cc trailbike market. Since Harley owned the Italian Aermacchi factory, they had them build an Italian Harley dirt bike. It was called the Harley Baja 100 and was hopelessly tall, short wheel-based, underpowered and ill-handling. But Harley didn’t give up on the Baja 100. They had their race team hire so...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1971 YANKEE 500 Z TWIN New York’s John Taylor was a mover and a shaker in the motorcycle industry in the late 1960s. He was the American importer for both Bultaco and Ossa. But, John had a dream. He wanted to build an American-made dirt bike that would be ISDT-ready. Taylor wanted a machine that would be “everything to everybody!” His dream bike would be a 500cc, two-stroke twin with lots of low-end torque and built solidly enough for hours of “no-sweat” riding in any weather on roads and trails. Taylor used his connections a...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1971 AMERICAN EAGLE 405 TALON: By Tom White American Eagle arrived on the U.S. motocross scene in 1967, but in truth, there was no American Eagle motorcycle factory. The American Eagle was a private-label bike built at Sprite Developments in Oldbury, England, by Frank Hipkin. Brits could buy the bike as the Sprite 405 Talon . Americans were offered the bike as the American Eagle 405 Talo n. Australians knew it as the Alron 405 , and Belgians thought it was the BVM 405 . All the bikes were identical, with the exception of the American...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1973 COOPER 250 ENDURO By Tom White Cooper was the brainchild of Frank Cooper, owner of Apache Limited, the U.S. Maico distributor in Burbank, California. Cooper saw a gap in the marketplace between the inexpensive Japanese dirt bikes and the expensive and often quirky European brands. He approached Moto Islo, a high-volume Mexian commuter bike manufacturer, to build a dirt bike that would fill this gap. Moto Islo is named for the initials of its creator, Isidro Lopez. The Mexican-built Cooper would hopefully handle like a Ma...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1967 BULTACO MK II 250 PURSANG BOAT TAIL By Tom White The MK II Pursang first appeared in the spring of 1967, and it would be a major change from the Rickman-inspired MK I Pursang. From the outside, the engine appeared similar, but the polished engine cases were expanded to house an all-new five-speed transmission, and the crankshaft was now supported by three main bearings. The MK II frame had a single downtube that split under the front of the engine. The wheelbase had been extended over 2 inches, and the bold red bodywork was distinctively ...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1971 RICKMAN ZUNDAPP 125 METISSE By Tom White British Grand Prix stars Don and Derek Rickman manufactured eponymous motorcycles from 1960 to 1975. Although the Rickman brothers originally focused on making Reynolds 531 frame kits for BSA, Triumph, Norton and Matchless engines, they knew that to sell motorcycles in large numbers they needed to make complete bikes. Sadly, the British motorcycle industry would not sell engines to the Rickmans, which forced them to go looking for foreign sources for engine packages. The Rickmans for...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1965 CZ TWIN-PIPE 250 By Tom White Adolf Hitler tried. So did the Russians. But nothing could stifle the Czechoslovakian spirit—a society that honored its engineers and technicians with a level of respect usually reserved for artists. It’s no wonder that the Czechs would build the best and most reliable motocross bike in the world by 1965. CZ’s motocross history started in the mid 1950’s with a 175cc bike that was easily modified to 250cc (although the company was founded in 1919 as a weapons manufacturer). The single cylind...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1976 CCM 600MX By Tom White CCM (Clews Competition Machines) was founded in 1971 out of the collapse of BSA’s competition department. Alan Clews, founder of CCM, was a successful trials and scrambles rider in the late 1960s. He wanted a lighter, more nimble and modern motocross bike, like the BSA factory-engined 500cc works specials. When the BSA competition department went out of business, Clews saw his opportunity and purchased all the works parts and started building motocross bikes in his garage. As the BSA works ...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1971 AJS 250 STORMER By Tom White AJS is an acronym for Albert John Stevens, one of four sons that started producing AJS motorcycles in 1910. The Stevens brothers’ father financed the new company and then further aided by producing the engines that were used in the motorcycles. Throughout its existence, right up to the time it entered the motocross market, AJS produced its own engines. That was its claim to fame, and the non-AJS engine in the new Stormer motocross machine would be its downfall. By the early 1970's, the enti...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1974 YAMAHA YZ250A By Tom White The Yamaha DT-1 Enduro, introduced in 1968, was neither a very good street bike nor a good enduro bike, yet it was a perfect motorcycle for its time. With its factory GYT kit installed, power went from 21 to 30 horsepower and, thanks to its low price, the DT-1 was Yamaha’s entree into the competitive dirt bike market because it fueled Yamaha's interest in building hardcore dirt bikes. Buoyed by the DT-1’s success, Yamaha started dual development projects. The first was in America with the J...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1967 GREEVES CHALLENGER By Tom White Bert Greeves began making motorcycles in 1951 and produced his first racing motorcycle in 1954. Total production output in 1954 was 14 motorcycles, but Bert upped that to 17 in 1955, only to dip back to 13 in 1956. It’s not that Bert didn’t take motorcycles seriously, but his fortune had been earned making wheelchairs and invalid cars. Motorcycles were a hobby. But, they were soon to take on a more important role at the Essex, England, factory. Originally outfitted with a 197cc Villiers 20S...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1976 YAMAHA TT500 By Tom White By the mid-’70s, Yamaha was responding to market forces that indicated that the days of “polluting two-strokes” were limited. Yamaha decided to build a new four-stroke flagship for the dirt, one that would outclass the Honda XL350. The plan was to build a full-sized four-stroke single, similar to the British BSA singles in performance but with better reliability. It was code-named the YR400. Since Japan had a “tiered” driver’s license program that limited younger riders to 400cc, 400cc was ...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1969 GREEVES GRIFFON 380 By Tom White What happened in 1969 might have seemed inconsequential for other manufacturers, but when Greeves dropped their own trademark frame in favor of a conventional welded tube-frame design, a lot of their customers were skeptical. Many claimed that Bert Greeves had “caved in” by dropping his trademark aluminum I-Beam downtube and bolt-together frame in favor of a hand-brazed Reynolds 531 chromoly frame with a conventional front downtube. Even worse for the traditionalists, the leading-lin...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1971 DKW 125 By Tom White The German-built Sachs/DKW 125 was one of the first popular purpose-built 125 motocross bikes in America. When motocross exploded in the U.S. in the late 1960s, the choice of good, entry-level machines was limited to Hodaka Ace 90s, Kawasaki Green Streaks and a potpourri of oddball brands. European brands were the first choice of aspiring 125 class motocross racers, and for a brief window, the $748 DKW was at the top of the list with its rugged, motocross-inspired styling. The Sachs five-sp...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1976 AMMEX 250MX By Tom White Gary Jones won four consecutive 250 National Championships while racing for Yamaha, Honda and Can-Am. When he suffered a leg injury at Daytona and Can-Am bought out his contract, Gary and his dad Don took $70,000 and started their own motorcycle company. To this day, Jones remains the only professional motorcycle racer to invest his money into designing and building his own motorcycle instead of big houses and yachts. It was not an easy task, but at the time (1975), Cooper Motorcycles was g...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1985 YAMAHA YZ490 By Tom White The 1985 AMA 500cc National Championship would be the sixth and final championship for Broc Glover. Broc’s career included a remarkable 50 National wins in all three major classes. The 1985 AMA 500 title chase would prove to be one of the most difficult for Broc Glover, as he was hampered by a nagging wrist injury and a less-than-competitive motorcycle. Even before the AMA production rule was implemented, Yamaha began racing its production bikes, and Broc Glover had to race an off-the-showr...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: COTTON COBRA 250 By Tom White “Wastelands Become Cotton Fields” was just one of the catchy captions that the U.S. importer—Pabatco of Athena, Oregon—used to promote the English-built Cotton Cobras in the mid-1960s. This was the same Pabatco that would later achieve fame for designing the ubiquitous Hodaka. Cotton was founded in 1918 by Frank Willoughby Cotton and produced a street motorcycle that at the time was unique for its patented triangulated, steel tube frame. But it wasn’t until 1961, after Cotton had gone throu...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1966 WHITE TORNADO 250 By Tom White The White Motorcycle company didn’t stay in business very long, nor did they sell very many motorcycles back in the ’60s. Based on Broadway Street in Santa Ana, California, White Motorcycles private-labeled the Hungarian-built Pannonia 250 and brought it to the U.S. market as the White Tornado. The Tornado has a stamped-steel hanger frame. A spin-on aluminum air filter canister attaches to the right side of the stamped frame, and the hollow frame is used as the airbox. The chrome and black ...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1971 HODAKA 100 SUPER RAT By Tom White Introduced in America in 1964 by the worldwide distributor Pabatco (Pacific Basin Trading Co.), the Hodaka Ace 90 was an immediate success. A strange marriage between the Hodaka Company in Nagoya, Japan, and Pabatco in Athena, Oregon, combined the offroad know-how of the Americans and manufacturing expertise of the Japanese. Hodakas were fun, inexpensive dirt bikes that could be ridden hard and required very little maintenance. In 1968 the Ace 90 was bored to 100cc, and in 1969 the motocros...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1965 BSA BANTAM By Tom White When BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) introduced the “Made for USA” 1964 Trail Bronc, the ads professed the Bronc was “Ideal for those who want to go wilderness wandering, for hunting trips, or just exploring off the beaten track!” and included a picture of the machine loaded in the back of a station wagon. The ad said, “Fits in your station wagon or car trunk!” The Bantam was based on a proven, 175cc, two-stroke engine initially introduced in 1948. Though built in BSA’s Birmingham factory, the ...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1966 HUSQVARNA 360 VIKING By Tom White Two-strokes made their first impact in the 250 class, where the woefully underpowered four-strokes quickly succumbed to the light weight and snappy response of the 250 offerings of CZ, Greeves and Husqvarna. But the naysayers claimed that two-strokes would never dominate the 500 class, for three reasons: (1) The limited metallurgy of the day wasn’t conducive to two-stroke longevity (and a bigger piston only meant a shorter lifespan). (2) A 500cc four-st...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1972 CZ400 By Tom White Manufactured in Czechoslovakia (the first CZ bike was made in 1932), the 1971-1972 yellow tankers were very similar to other CZ’s of the era. The commissars at the Ceske-Zavodny factory only made modest upgrades through the years, but most CZ’s can be told apart by their distinctive gas tanks. Red gas tanks were used in the early ’70s, the yellow tank in 1971-72, the steel coffin tank in 1973, and the flat-silver coffin tank in 1974. The 1972 CZ 400 was really a close relative of the 1970 a...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1968 RICKMAN METISSE WESLAKE BSA B44 By Tom White Modern racers take the selection of race-ready motocross bikes for granted. This wasn't always so! In the early days of motocross, there was no such thing as a showroom stock motocross bike. If you wanted to race, you had to turn a road bike into a dirt bike. Motocrossers of the '50s and '60s would take a production-based Triumph, Cotton, BSA, Matchless, or Royal Enfield and strip it down. Then they added stronger rims, better suspension, knobby tires, and the result was a 350-pound motocro...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1974 HUSKY 250CR By Tom White 1973 would prove to be a landmark year in the development of the motocross motorcycle. Most significant was the introduction of Honda’s 250 Elsinore, which proved to be a very competitive and reliable machine right off the showroom floor. The European offerings from Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Spain couldn’t match the fit, finish and reliability, and their sales sunk quicker than the Titanic. Husqvarna, the leading European brand in motocross competition motorcycles, answered with a...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1973 KAWASAKI F11M 250 By Tom White By 1973, the Japanese manufacturers realized that warmed-over trail bikes wouldn’t cut it in the growing American motocross market. Though Kawasaki had been one of the first to introduce a 250cc motocrosser (the F21M 238cc Scrambler in 1968) it was best suited to smooth scrambles tracks. So, in 1971, Kawasaki followed it up with the 350cc Big Horn Scrambler, a physically larger and much heavier machine that would prove to be a “dust collector” in dealer showrooms. In America, Kawasaki hired...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1973 HONDA CR250M ELSINORE By Tom White Announced in October of 1972 and on sale in the USA in March of 1973, the Elsinore was preceded by minimal hype but nevertheless generated great excitement. After all, it was Honda’s first two-stroke and first production motocrosser. The Elsinore, named after the famous Elsinore Grand Prix, was the lightest production motocrosser in the world, employing the latest available technology and high-tech materials. Compared to the European offerings, the Elsinore was vastly superior in user-frien...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1969 HUSQVARNA 250 CROSS By Tom White Torsten Hallman won four 250cc World Championships on Husqvarnas and played a huge part in the growth of motocross in America. At Edison Dye’s request, Hallman competed in a fall series in America in 1966 that showcased the Husqvarna motorcycle and the talents of a World Champion. Competing against the best American riders, Hallman won all 21 motos at seven venues that year. By 1967, the series became the Inter-Am. Other European riders like Roger DeCoster, Joel Robert, Bengt Aberg and Dave...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1972 YAMAHA DT2MX 250 By Tom White Up until 1972, Yamaha’s AT1s (125s), DT1s (250s) and RT1s (360s) were little more than stripped street bikes—enhanced with GYT (Genuine Yamaha Tuning) kit components. Nothing had been done to resolve the mediocre street-oriented chassis. Not to mention that the MX line came standard with forks and shocks right off street-going models. The 1972 DT2MX was the first Yamaha model designed strictly for the motocross market. The DT2MX came standard with reed valve induction, a CDI ignition with b...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1968 SUZUKI TM250 By Tom White Suzuki’s first venture into motocross started in 1964 with an experimental twin-cylinder, road-race-inspired works machine that appeared at several 250 GPs. Suzuki had dominated 50cc and 125cc road racing in 1963 and felt they were ready to test the waters in motocross. Suzuki sent one of their road racers and two engineers to race the machine at select 250cc GPs. The results were disastrous, but Suzuki came back in 1965 with a single-cylinder model to test alongside an improved twin-cylind...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1964 DOT DEMON 250 SCRAMBLER By Tom White The DOT company was founded by Harry Reed in Manchester, England, and built the company’s first motorcycle in 1906. The name “DOT” was said to stand for “Devoid of Trouble” and is included in later models’ fuel tank logos. DOT made everything from street bikes to three-wheel utility vehicles, but when the motocross boom started in the 1960s, DOT pushed hard to be a player in what was then known in Britain as “Scrambles.” Plus, DOT specialized in two-stroke engines. By the late 1950s and ear...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1981 HONDA CR250R By Tom White 1981 was an interesting year for Honda. They went all “Star Wars” on the cosmetics, plus they water-cooled the CR125 and CR250, introduced the ill-fated CR450, and unveiled the most stupid front number plate in motocross history. The 1981 Honda CR250 tried to bring as much exotic works bike technology to the production line as possible. It was the first-ever water-cooled 250cc production bike. Borrowing works technology, the 1981 CR250 shared the works bike’s long-stroke engine design, cent...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1973 PUCH 125GS By Tom White The Austrian company, Puch, was founded as a bicycle manufacturer in 1903 by Johann Puch. By 1952, the company was building motor scooters, and in 1957, they started exporting the Puch 500 motorcycle to America. It was sold under the name “Allstate” by Sears and Roebuck. In the early 1970s, California entrepreneur Ted Lapadakis became the importer for the all-new Puch 125/175cc machines, which were purpose-built for motocross and enduro. The Puchs were excellent motorcycles, though t...
CLOSE-UP LOOK AT DAVE MILLER CONCEPTS (DMC) YAMAHA OW100 MOTOCROSS BIKE This is not a vintage bike...it is a vintage race bike. It is designed for racing, not admiring. The MXA wrecking crew ran into Dave Miller of DMC and Miller Mano fame at Glen Helen’s REM motocross races last weekend. Dave was out at REM to break-in and test run his latest project, which he calls a Yamaha OW100. The core bike was a 1983 YZ100-K Model. We asked Dave to tell us everything there is to know about this trick little project racer. Former 125 Pro Dave Miller brought his Yamaha YZ100 to a local...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1962 HUSQVARNA 500 FOUR-STROKE By Tom White In the early years of European motocross, Sweden’s Husqvarna did not compete in Grand Prix motocross. That would change by the late 1950s, when the company came under pressure to compete in the premier class—the 500cc World Championships. Even though Husqvarna did not make a purpose-built motocross bike, the sport was so popular in Sweden that many teenagers were modifying the street-going 175cc Silverpilen models for specialized motocross use. The door opened for Husqvarna in 1960 with the...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1974 MONTESA 250VR VEHKONNEN REPLICA By Tom White Montesa was formed in 1944 by Pedro Permanyer and Francisco Bulto (who later formed Bultaco). They built their first batch of machines based on the very successful Motobecanes of the day. By 1951, their 125cc machines were entered in the ISDT, one being ridden by Señor Bulto himself. In 1963, American entrepreneur Kim Kimball, in association with film star Steve McQueen, began importing the Montesa Impala 175cc Scrambler for the American market. The small operation that started in Kimball's...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1963 YAMAHA 250 ASCOT SCRAMBLER By Tom White Southern California’s Ascot Park was the hotbed of flat-track racing in the western United States in the 1960s and 1970s. AMA rules required first-year professional riders to compete on 250cc machines until they made enough advancement points to move up to the Amateur class. Amateurs and Experts rode machines up to 750cc (four-stroke twins or 500cc four-stroke singles). The top prospects in the 250 Novice class often showed up with twin-cylinder Yamaha TD1 engines in custom frames built by ...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1975 CZ 250 FALTA REPLICA By Tom White In 1975 there were a host of Japanese entries into the highly competitive motocross market. Czechoslovakian brand CZ responded with a machine that closely resembled the "works" bike that Jaroslav Falta had "almost" won the 1974 250cc World Championship with. He “almost won” because at the final round of the 1974 250cc World Championship in Wohlen, Switzerland, Russian KTM rider Gennady Moiseev held a slim 16-point lead over Falta. In what appeared to be a plot, Russian riders Pavel Rulev, V...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1969 CZ 360 TYPE 969/01 By Tom White 1969 CZ 360 TYPE 969/01 East German Paul Friedrichs won three consecutive 500cc World Motocross Championships (1966-1968) on a CZ 360. With a record like that, any serious American motocrosser of the era would have been drawn to the Type 969/01 like a moth to a flame. In almost every way, the CZ production bike resembled the factory machine, and that included problem areas like the dual-plug ignition (that jumped timing easily), Jikov carb (that flooded easily) and propensity towards heavy ...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1968 MAICO MC125 MOTOCROSS: By Tom White Maico’s claim to fame was Open class motocross bikes. Although they did okay in the 250 GP’s, it was the Open class where they shone—all of which makes the 1968 Maico MC125 more interesting. Very few of the rotary-valve MC125 Motocross bikes were produced, although Maico did use the same basic engine in its popular MD125 road racer. How could one of the lightest, best handling and most powerful 125's on the market not be a sales success? Bad timing and high pricing! Released in early 1967, ...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1971 MONARK 125MX B y Tom White “Out-of-the-box winner”—that is exactly how Monark marketed their motocross machines. The 21-horsepower, six-speed, 54mm x 54mm Sachs 6B engine came with a Motoplat transistorized ignition and a 27mm Bing carb. A chromoly frame, Ceriani forks and Girling shocks were just some of the high-quality components used in this fabulous machine. Monark was known as Cykelfabriken Monark AB until 1927 and Monark Crescentbolagen (MCB) after that. Monark built its first motorcycle in 1908. By 1959 they...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1959 ESO 500 SCRAMBLER: By Tom White ESO motorcycles were designed by engineer Jaroslav Simandl and built in the Czechoslovakian Jawa/CZ factory. Though the engine was originally designed by Simandl for speedway (and was an exact copy of a British JAP), Simandl designed the S45 motocross engine (named for its actual horsepower output) on the then-new unit construction concept in 1957. Three ESO motors were available: 250cc, 350cc, and 500cc. All were dry sump (using an external oil tank) and fitted with four-speed transmission...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1962 BSA 500 CATALINA SCRAMBLER By Tom White The BSA Catalina Scrambler was the perfect machine for a rider like AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Chuck “Feets” Minert. Minert excelled in all types of motorcycle racing, from speedway to trials to scrambles, and later in motocross. Minert raced for the BSA factory team, and the most important win of his career came in the 1956 Catalina Grand Prix. Almost 1000 riders raced on Catalina Island. The win was so prestigious that after Feets Minert’s victory, BSA named the 1959 Gold Star DBD34 the...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1967 MONTESA 250 LACROSSE: By Tom White Montesa was formed in 1944 by Pedro Permanyer and Francisco Bulto (who later formed Bultaco). In 1963, American entrepreneur Kim Kimball, in association with film star Steve McQueen, began importing the Montesa Impala 175cc Cross (which was called the “Scrambler”) to the USA. The small operation that started in Kimball's garage would grow to the point where they had 350 dealers in the United States. “Viva Montesa” had become a reality. Race car driver Dan Gurney joined Montesa Motors, and F...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1974 HUSQVARNA 125CR By Tom White The Husqvarna 125CR was produced from 1972 until 1985. It was often hard to tell one model year from another, and our test bike sports 1974 engine numbers on a 1973 frame. Even more confusing, the gas tank logos changed in font and color between 1973 and 1974. Still, at the time of its release, the Husqvarna 125CR was the most expensive 125 motocross bike a rider could buy. Unfortunately for Husky, it was released at almost the same time as the first Yamaha YZ125 (and only preceded the Hond...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1968 BULTACO 360 EL BANDIDO: By Tom White By the late 1960’s, many of the European motocross manufacturers had started building larger-bore two-stroke machines to compete in the premier 500cc class. The British four-stroke machines were no longer omnipotent in motocross, and the Czechoslovakian CZ brand had been first to capitalize on the booming two-stroke market with the twin-port CZ360. Factory CZ rider Paul Friedrichs rewarded them with 500cc World Motocross Championships in 1966, ’67 and ’68. The Spanish Bultaco factory intro...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1952 FB MONDIAL 200 By Tom White The FB Mondial Motociclistica was founded by Count Giuseppe Boselli in 1948 in Arcore, Italy. Prior to WWII, FB Mondial manufactured motorized tricycles and delivery vans. The name Mondial is French for “world,” while the FB is an acronym for Fratelli Boselli, Italian for Boselli Brothers. There were four Boselli brothers (Carlo, Ettore, Giuseppe and Luigi). Guiseppe, a racing fan, talked his brothers into building a 125cc dual-overhead-cam road race bike in 1948. Amazingly, one year later ...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1973 MAICO 400: By Tom White German Wilhelm Maisch started making motorcycles in 1935 under the name Maico. Unfortunately, the company was soon swept into World War II and began building aircraft parts for Hitler's Luftwaffe. After the war, under terms of the surrender, Nazi party members were barred from majority ownership of German companies. To get past this law, Wilhelm, a party member, enlisted his brother Otto, who hadn't become a Nazi, to take over majority ownership of Maico. By 1973, the Maico 400 and 440 mode...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1966 MATCHLESS 500 G85CS: By Tom White By 1966 the writing was on the wall for the heavy British four-stroke scramblers. Competition motorcycles from CZ, Husqvarna, Bultaco and Greeves were winning the majority of championship events in both motocross and scrambles in Europe. Matchless would try and change that with an all-new model designated the G85CS (Competition Scrambler). The Matchless G85 had a duplex chassis that borrowed much of its design from the Rickman brothers. The forks were a lightweight design that had been used...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1968 YAMAHA 250 DT1 By Tom White Motocross mania swept America in 1968, and the Baby Boomers were searching for a cheap, effective and high-tech entry into the sport. Introduced at the 1967 Tokyo Motorcycle show, the Yamaha DT1 was just what the Boomers were looking for. Priced at $580, $400 less than the Husqvarna 250, the DT1 offered a level of reliability that the Swedes could only dream of. In addition, Yamaha offered a GYT kit (Genuine Yamaha Tuning) to increase the power from 21 to 30 horsepower. Yamaha hired profess...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1975 HARLEY-DAVIDSON MX-250 By Tom White Harley-Davidson's first entree into motocross was a byproduct of the marriage of Harley, Aermacchi and AFM. When parent company AFM asked Harley to enter the growing motocross market, Aermacchi was a reliable source of two-stroke engines. At the 1974 Omaha 250 National, Sonny DeFeo debuted the first Harley-Davidson MX-250. Only 65 of these bikes would ever leave the Milwaukee factory. The 242cc Aermacchi-built engine was housed in a chromoly frame, built by Champion, and the whole package h...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1971 DUCATI 450 R/T DESMO: By Tom White Much as Soichiro Honda had done at the end of the Second World War, Ducati sprang to life by making a small bicycle engine to transport war-ravaged Italian citizens. The 1946 Cucciolo (little puppy) engine was sold in a box to be attached to a bicycle. Before WWII, Ducati had produced radio tubes and condensers, but with the Cucciolo's success, Ducati became a motorcycle manufacturer. Ducati’s breakout moment was when engineer Fabio Taglioni was hired. Taglioni's big idea was to control val...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1962 PARILLA WILDCAT SCRAMBLER By Tom White Most serious Italian motorcycle collectors concede that the Parilla is a cult collector bike. The Wildcat is a “high-cam,” 250cc dirt bike that came with the road race engine from the very expensive Grand Sports model. The Wildcat Scrambler was built strictly for the American market. Moto Parilla was founded in 1946 in Milan by Giovanni Parrilla. Giovanni created a full-bore, thoroughbred, 250cc overhead-cam racer that was soon rivaling Moto Guzzi for the checkered flag. In the years to fol...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1969 GREEVES GRIFFON 380 By Tom White What happened in 1969 might have seemed inconsequential for other manufacturers, but when Greeves dropped their own trademark frame in favor of a conventional welded tube-frame design, a lot of their customers were skeptical. Many claimed that Bert Greeves had “caved in” by dropping his trademark aluminum I-Beam downtube and bolt-together frame in favor of a hand-brazed Reynolds 531 chromoly frame with a conventional front downtube. Even worse for the traditionalists, the leading-link forks...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1960 HUSQVARNA 175 SILVERPILEN By Tom White When Husqvarna introduced the 175cc Silverpilen in 1955, Swedish young men were drawn to this lightweight and racy-looking machine. The black and red paint job, along with the generous use of lightweight alloy components, was a good base, and soon a healthy aftermarket for accessories developed. The 9.5 horsepower machine was the perfect starting point for many aspiring tuners. Gote Lindstrom was one of the young tuners who developed a reputation for his “hot rod” parts for the Silverpilen ...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1976 PUCH MC250 TWIN CARB By Tom White The Puch company was founded originally as a bicycle manufacturer by Austrian Johann Puch in 1903. By 1952 the company was building motor scooters, and in 1957 they started selling Puchs in the USA under the Allstate and Sears names. In the early 1970s, Californian Ted Lapadakis became the importer of the all-new Puch 125/175cc machines that were purpose-built for motocross and offroad. In a huge leap, Puch hired Belgium motocross rider Harry Everts to race the 1974 250 World Championship o...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1959 MONARK 500: By Tom White Sweden’s Monark is one of the rarest motocross machines of all-time. In 1954, they entered eight bikes in the International Six Days Trials and won eight gold medals. In 1959 Sten Lundin rode an Albin-powered Monark to the 500cc World Motocross Championship. From its birth in 1913 to its demise in 1975, Monark specialized in chassis and suspension development. The company relied on power from aftermarket engine suppliers Albin in Sweden, Sachs in Germany and Morini in Italy. It’s hard to kn...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1963 GREEVES STARMAKER: By Tom White By the end of the 1962 season, the Greeves-modified 34A Villiers engine used by the factory riders was showing its age. Greeves had increased the power by 25 percent over the original Villiers engine by using a new aluminum cylinder, larger carburetor and improved exhaust design. Unfortunately, transmission, clutch, and crankshaft problems were all too common. Out of frustration with the Villiers engine, Greeves started development on its own engine. Not wishing to lose the Greeves business...
CLASSIC MOTOCROSS IRON: 1965 RICKMAN BULTACO 250: By Tom White British brothers Don and Derek Rickman, as both Bultaco importers and top Grand Prix riders, helped forge the Spanish company’s growth in the early ’60s. In early 1963, Don Rickman became the only British finisher at the British 250 Grand Prix (he was third). Don’s triumph was achieved with a 196cc Bultaco engine tucked into a Rickman frame. Don’s 1963 GP bike would evolve into the 1965 250cc Petite Metisse. Unlike their popular frame kits for Triumph and BSA engines, the Petite Metisses we...