My 2nd bike was an 88 kx80 littlewheel. That thing ripped. After high school I went to 4 wheels and never looked back but would love to find that bike someday.
I had a 89 Suzuki ds 80 as a 13 year old, a kid I knew had a 87 yz 80. We swapped bikes one day just to try out each other's bike, I remember how big & fast that thing was compared to my little ds. I didn't want to give it back to him.
Thanks Tony, good look back. I love them all. My first bike was a xr 80. Good learners bike. Then an 83 rm 80, I loved that thing so fast liquid cooled single shock oh man. Than a brief ownership of a 84 kx 80. It was a rough bike and in poor condition and blew up after 2 days. Got a 88 yz 80 for a steal after that, and it was mint, all original. Loved that bike. Set me up for my 97 Cr 125 then Cr 250 after that. Cheers for the good work mate 👍
Very cool video. I'm currently restoring my first bike I had as a kid, which is a 1984 kx80. Hope someday to see a review of that machine as from what I've read they were ahead of the competition. Thanks for the great vids!
AGAIN....AWESOME vid Tony, I myself have shared your channel with over 88 people now,. so far ALL here absolutely love your videos! We are in lockdown atm in Australia.where you cant go outside...so your channels being passed right across the Aussie motocross industry down here keeping many people occupied whilst locked up at home. If and when we would love to see 1985 Kawasaki range review and maybe something on Supercross throughout the 1980s? Keep up the awesome videos, we down here are sharing your vids bigtime! Cheers ! 🍺🍻👍👍👍
the KTM MX80 sure looked trick there was a kid who raced one in our area back in the 80's would be interesting to see how it stacked up against the other 80's in '87
Coming from that era, J can tell you DIRT RIDER was the lamest of all of the magazines. My first 2 stroke was a 1983 CR 80. God ,I loved that bike. In 83,KX was the top of the 4, although any of em would rip your face off if you were a novice rider. Also,the difference between the four if them was modest enough that the rider was the biggest factor of whether you won or not.
I recall hopping off of my 91 KX125 to ride my buddies 89 CR80 and thinking lots of power but too small compared to what I was used to to be able to make it haul without devoting a bunch of time to get used to the small size.
I had an 87 YZ. I blew it up at Hollister Hills. My dad bored it to a 105 and ported it. It was a rocket ship! I could pull 250’s on the TT track. After I blew it up it blew me up by destroying my knee when I high sided on the sweeper. 80’s are rad!
Early December 1986 I took a ton of the money I saved from my paper routes d went with my neighbor to Bettencourts Honda and bought a brand new 1987 Honda CR80R, it was my birthday after Xmas and they threw in a bell Moto 4 helmet. I was turning 12. Bike was amazing and I still have it
Tony, I wish I could keep them all without getting a divorce. I would have kept 1976 xr75, 1991 kx125, 1996 cr250, 2001 cr250. The 2001 was probably the best incarnation of the cr. I started racing in 1991 on the brand new kx125 and at 175 and almost 6’, the bike wasn’t enough. Toasted a clutch almost every moto, the next season I switched to Cr250’s and rode them exclusively until 2003. But the 02-03 cr sucked, I switched to yz450 after that, kept a 250f for a while too
@Alex Supertramp no problem. I never took for granted that my parents let me ride/race dirt bikes. My dad said i could have any dirt bike i wanted as long as I paid for it. I bought a two year old 88 kx250 at 14 years for $1350 after working on a farm the summer before to save up the money. Yep it was way to much bike but I don't think my dad minded that when he rode it. Now I'm 46 and i haven't even started my 2002 kx125 in probably 8 years. Just no time anymore. Glad to hear about your sweet purchases.
I always thought the kx looked the coolest but my dad wouldn’t let me spend an extra 100 bucks for it. Had to settle for a brand new 85 cr80. What a dependable bike. Rode it two years never even removed the spark plug once. Always started first kick. Solid machine. Typical Honda. Paid 949.00 brand new. I remember the kx was exactly 1050.00. Lol
In 1987 I was 19 yrs old and rode the KX 125. I wanted a CR 125 but unless preordered on the East Coast (I’m in Jersey ) you were out of luck. But I was able to buy my gf the 87 CR 80. She looped it out on her first ride and was scared to death of it. Needless to say we broke up and I sold it as a brand new bike which it was... The saddest part was that I never even took it for a lil run being 6’3” I just wasn’t interested. Now I wish I had ridden it.
Bye the way, I had an 85 KX and within one cap on my new Rm 80 86 model I was going quicker on the RM than the KX eeven while just running the RM in. By the time I got the hang of the RM is so much quicker than the KX. All the shootouts said KX was best but I RM was so much better
The ATAC was added to the CR80R in 1984 and removed with the redesign in 1986. It never worked all that well on the 80 and was only used in 1984 and 1985.
I always loved the shootouts, especially when mcgrath was on his run, 500 class shootout still existed, can you do mid 90s 500cc? Kawi gets little respect for bieng the king 500 for so long
I had a 1979 kx 80 the first year it had 5 speed transmission 17 inch front week out of all the 80s it was a little bigger then YZ80 RM CR the kx had a lot of bottom end and midrange power I would always get the hole shot but in the top gears the other 80s had that 6 gear I remember it like yesterday it had 15 hp and my parents paid $ 749 also it was air cold I was 14 just learning to ride I looped it out and broke the rear finder had to wait for month new one from Japan wow I can’t believe how much horsepower the new 85s are making 27 hp unbelievable tech.
why are shootouts on modern line ups so hard to find? I have been looking at some used 85 bikes for my son and have been hard pressed to find shootouts to see how the different models compare.
I’m curious Tony, if you have a copy of a 1979 or 1980 magazine (MXA?) featuring an interview with Eric Kehoe as a mini rider? If I recall correctly he was a Yamaha support rider and the article described how he was learning to port his own cylinders….a day in the life, etc. I have been searching online, but there doesn’t seem to be much about the mini riders from that time. Kehoe, Chris Heisser, Brian Meyerscough….etc.
I love 2 stroke bikes but the piston and rings are always break that's the only bad thing that makes you go for the 4 stroke I wish it was different but it is what it is
