Amazing! I am so glad I found this video, it brings back so many memories, good and bad. In 1980 my older brother was killed , and left behind a freshly overhauled 1974 Husky wr250. Two years later, when I was 12 the honda atc 90 I was riding was having trouble keeping up with my best freinds brand new, insanely fast , mono shock, first year for liquid cooling YZ 80.... One day after doing my chores I went to get my atc out and noticed the sun gleaming off the huskys chrome gastank in the corner of the barn. I had sat on the bike before and played with it enough to figure out the primer on the bing carburator leaked gas if you pumped it 3 times. I had never thought about riding it untill that day . I was only 12 and probobly 4 feet tall and 60 lbs soaking wet...I was no where near able to touch the ground or kick start it. Thank God we lived in a farm house on top of a huge hill. It took me hrs pushing it back up the hill, and three times before I got the correct gear, pumps on the primer, and 60 lb seat bounce on the back tire before it fired the first time. I was never more terrified , and more ready to make my best freind and his brand new yz 80 eat gravel..And he did, in the straights and across the feilds...In the corners he had me still. It was a great summer, as long as I had two or three freinds to help push start the bike I was living large. My favorite thing to do was sit on the gastank, and in third gear, starting in the grass, tach it up and dump the clutch , melting the tire all the way across the local church parking lot. One day I found out that the concrete sidewalk offered much more traction than the asphalt parking lot. The broken nose and two black eyes I got proved an open face helmet offers little protection from rapidly rising handlebars , number plate, and triple clamp... I can still remember the pain I felt and the tears running down my face as I darted down the sidewalk to grab the clutch and pick up the big husky before it stalled and I had to push it all the way home. I didn't make it. I swear every neighbor must have been out side as I pushed the big beast a mile back to my house because I couldn't start it. I told my mom the black eyes were from falling out of a tree. The last time I rode that bike a freind and I were busted riding it mandom leaving the local swimming hole in nothing but cutoff shorts. I tried to outrun the cop but misjudged my speed and skidded past the trail I was trying to get to. That cop was SO pissed at two sixty lb kids riding that big bike.. He kept asking what wrecker service do I want? I didn't understand he was talking about impounding the bike, I remember thinking...how does this guy know I ordered 13 albums for a penny and have no intention of buying more?...I just sent my penny in a picked out my albums, the RECORD company hadn't even sent them yet....After a few minutes the cop calmed down, got our parents info, and made us promise to push the bike all the way home. We agreed, and push started the bike as soon as he drove off... I got grounded and the next day the husky had a chain and padlock thru the wheels. It was back to the atc 90 for awhile, untill my other , older brother bought some sort of 60's yamaha two stroke road bike with the shifter and clutch on the left handle bar. It was waiting in the barn everyday after school. While he was working to save money for plates and insurence I was cruising the hood, because every 13 year old kid knows you don't need plates and insurence if you don't even have a license... You just need gas ,oil, and enough curiosity to figure out how to shift that goofy bike.... Thank you so much for reminding me of things I havn't thought in 30 plus years!
