ASK THE MXPERTS: WHO MADE THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL ALUMINUM FRAME?

On Feb 24, 2011 Last updated Mar 23, 2014

Dear MXA,
Who made the first successful aluminum frame? Was it Honda in 1997 or someone else?

1977 Hagon.

Greeves aluminum down tube from the 1950s.

Almost 60 years ago there was a motocross bike with an aluminum frame (at least one-half of the frame was aluminum). The 1953 Greeves used a cast aluminum head tube and down tube in their Villiers-powered motocross bikes. But, the first, all-aluminum, monocoque, motocross bike was the British-built Hagon that Vic Eastwood raced in 1977. It used a Yamaha TT500 or XT500 engine.