42-Year-Old Twinshock vs Modern Dirt Bike! 

You look really good out there on that bike. I rather see you than anyone else testing them. I've never seen a Cotton in the US, only heard of them . I used to race twin shock air cooled machines. You are a cool dude to show your passion for vintage mx bikes.

The 80's Husqvarnas had some the best twin shock suspensions ever put on a motocross bike. That's what you should compare the fc450 against.

Super rare ace. Pete Mathia was a works rider for Cotton i belive. Hard to believe this in direct competition with the YZ465 at the time. I had a Can-Am 400 with same motor & squashed balls. Many thanks for this great video Boys .

Interesting video. Thanks for producing it. It looked like shift shaft went through the starter shaft on that bike. Interesting. I remember in the 70s some of the English motors were configured so that when piston is TDC the connecting rod would be almost straight up giving the motor the ability to run backwards sometimes. A person wouldn't know it until he released the clutch and the bike would go backwards.

Hi Max, nice vid about this old veteran! Another commenter advised a leak test, I submit to that. Back in the day the Rotaxes, also used by other brands, had a reputation to be difficult to dial in smoothly, so anything to improve that should be taken. Another thing is the rear suspension: the springs should be loosened 1 or 2 notches, they are too tight, that is why it tried to kick you over the bars. Then, if it were my bike, I'd flatten the seat to improve handling and not putting you in the same spot all of the time. For the rest: please keep showing us these wonderful pieces of technical history from my late teen and early 20ies?! Thanks Max! Theo from NL.

There are a few videos that have pro riders on old bikes. Amazing how fast they go on antiquated technology. Its the rider not the bike.

You might try raising the clip on the jet needle, or going to smaller main jet to get rid of that bog. If you want to do it the lazy way, I reckon you could increase the oil mixture in the premix. 🇨🇦

Just picked up a 1984 husqvarna 250. Left kick. Dual shock. Liquid cooled. Super cool bike

Thanks for the vid and part social studies class with the historical side of this bikes life. Love reading about things I’ve never heard of. I guess it all boils down to an engineer / builder who believes they can build something better or of value for all to enjoy. It’s peoples like this we all need to respect and thank for without them and their determination, we’re not moving forward. Final thanks to this channel for the content and continued effort to bring us cool stuff.

The problem with big bore twos is it needs to be revved to have power but it has so much torque its hard to rev it much on small tracks without killing yourself. The KX 500 bogged less due to its power valves but it was still a problem you had to either go really fast or really slow it seemed. That and this bike may be running a little rich plus the old pipes like this was mid to top end. Not sure they make a fmf fatty for this .. Old gp tracks had few jumps whoops wasn't a thing more like dirt track racing. If this bike bogs on mid to top end then its jetting otherwise the nature of the beast. No two stroke should bog during the power band the pipe creates outside of it they all bog . Sweet piece of MX history thanks! Nice save btw my luck I would have wrecked that guys gem of a bike.

That Cotton 400 is a beautiful work of art. Over here in the 'Colonies' it would be a celebrity in the pits....

Great video max, you rode really well on the twin shock, probably gave your bones a good shaking, loving the classic vs modern to show improvements in suspension, braking, handling, still love that video you shot with the cameras angles showing suspension at work on track. top marks again for your videos max.

Great job as always - listening to the bog and lean pop when you chopped the throttle I gotta say it has an air leak. Unsolicited advise is for Alan to do or have done a leak down test - my bet is it is the mag side crank seal. That bike will run much better than it did on this test. Still a great and rare experience to share - Thanks

Basically a can-am , that needs a tune up Rotax motors usually don't bog down .

great video i am glad you popped your cherry on a real old school 2 stroke. now you can ride the real fun of a no power valve 2 stroke

😂😂😂crushed nuts! We’ve all been there! My first MX bike was a 1979 Kawasaki KX80A🔥❤️

Damn that was a great video🔥love the Cotton! Just excellence here🏆great job again Max! No idea how you keep finding these rare gems, but somehow keep it going. A big Thankyou to Allan for allowing it as well🫵just fantastic, no kidding!

Luv the leftside kick start! 👏💪🤙✌️🇨🇦

You unbelievably left out the mighty 580 CCM, a major fail on your part, Vic Eastwood was more than competitive especially on the starts.

Hi max 😀 welcome to vintage ☺️☺️😁 twinshock club buddy if it's classic it's fantastic 😊😊 great vlog ID love see u on old 79 twinshock Elsinore 250cc mate to such a cool sounding bike the old cotton is vroom brapp forever

Really enjoying the content mate , smashing it 👊🏼

This is what I'm talking about,twin shocks two strokes. But I am still hoping for a 1979 125cc bikes video because I have a 1979 CR125 Elsinore, hehe. As always,great informative video. Thanks and keep it up.

My neighborhood friend had an old Yamaha 100cc 2 stroke trail bike. It was dual shock, drum brake and was the envy of us all.

I'll take the twinshock any day! Great content as usual 👍

AJP?? I remember AJS, that used the Villiers Starmaker engine. It was very fast, and handled well.

My dad had a shed full of these in the early 90s racing them most weekends. Good times

Great footage and history ,i think that engine was a piston port engine and the problem is they normally have a flat spot midrange so it needed to be on the pipe a bit more .I am sure if you would of had Pete Mathia back on it even at his tender age he would of done it proud .the problem with Pete if he rode a donkey he would fly .

Personally…I really really love the look of this MX bike! It looks fantastic & looks as if it’s a formidable old 2-stroke🔥💪great video as always! Thankyou😊

Very cool. I would love to ride that bike. Super trick for the 70's. But not even in the same ballpark as the FC.

Cool bike! My first dirt bike was a twin shock drum braked beast, 1979 (iirc) xl500r that i got for free because it had been sitting many years, learned basics on it and moved up to modern bikes, never road it on the track. I did have an early drum braked yz125 that i road on the track, once! On one lap i give it the beans to clear the table top and the drums (probs poorly adjusted by me or just worn out!) failed to slow me enough for next corner and i launched of the berm! Parked it and bought a 97 kx125 not long after, this would have been 1999 i think. Good memories.

Lovely bike, sounds beautiful! 👍

Hey I swear that engine is made by bombardier. Comes from a 1980 canam mx6 400. A canadian manufacturer. Check it out.

I don't know what kind of induction this engine has but I loved the sound it makes. If it only revved a litlle faster. Thanks for sharing.

In 1968 a friend had a 250 cc Cotton he raced in the desert. The first and only Cotton I have everv seen.

Lawrence Spence (from Northern Ireland) raced the Cotton on the GPs back in the late 70s. The engine looks like the same Bombardier motor that Can-Am was using at the time. I'm sure they were good bikes for normal local riders, but by 1980 a plain old Yamaha YZ400 was an excellent bike, easy to find, not very expensive, and you could get parts anywhere. It was nice of the Brits to try and keep up, but there's no way they could compete with the Japanese.

I never realised cottons were made as recently as that, if I’d have guessed I’d have thought they were gone by the late 60’s

Next should be Maico 490 vs KTM 450 ;-)

Lean pop at 11:06😬 i didnt think that the suspension is so good! But the front seems really soft... some more infos about the bike would have been great! What forks, brakes...

Find an old mx or yz 400. They were the hidden gem of open class 2 strokes. Mine will run bar to bar with a newer built crf480 in a drag race.

Awesome vid Max!!!! Super cool

I would guess that this Cotton is a Cotton in name only . My buds and I rode Greeves in Montana in the 1960, and we snickered at that one poor lad with his Villers powered Cotton.

Loved both my rm 125 2000 model and my 2010 rm 250 both 2 smokers more than my 2015 crf 450 4s

Should of had more footage of the old boy on it :) cool vid tho and history lesson

Beautiful machine a real motorcycle now they put the front shocker upside down 🤣 laydown shockers were the go on the rear. What a beast 👍😁😁

My old man had a DOT COTTON Fancy a bike being named that🤣😛🤣

Cool video MAX Never even heard of the COTTON brand, and I am old enough to have been around. Drum brakes, duel shocks, brings back memories. Had an old TM or RM SUZUKI like that. Was in the 70s or early 80s.Forgot yous friends name but thank him for the use of his bike. Keeps it looking nice, class act. Is the front heavy or did the bog drop your front end on that double double? Or was it your body position being forward?. I remember these big bologne, it was usually because your carb float would bounce and close off gas flow thru that jet. Cool video thanks Max

Depending on the size of your Gonads, you may want to try a 1986 CCM MX 500.

Being American I’ve never heard of cotton Mx but at a first glance I thought it was a rebadged can am especially since it had a total engine

I'm just wondering how Max would get on riding my 1972 Bultaco Pursang 250 with right-hand side gear change!

Love this channel and thanks for the mention..........I'm famous...lol

So good

4bangers tend to need a long pull and for you to stay on the gas in between gears, 2 bangers rip through those gears and stay high in revs barely heard you shift! Riding 2 bangers that way will keep you close to power band through all gears!

It’s just an Armstrong frame with a rotax motor. Aka can-am.

AJP as a great British brand , what is he talking about?

I remember those weird bikes back then and it's strange to think that the british dominated the motocross. I'm 57.

Your track needs a bloody good grading, a few hours in the machinery will sort it out, nice🦢 max 👊✊️✊️💨💨💨💨

Nicelooking collar bone snapper.

tu roule doucement le 450 pour donné meilleur image au 400 2 temps?

That is a cool old piece I like the 80s and 90s 2t bikes even late 70s I can't stand electric start aluminum perimeter frames and 4 strokes and I despise 19" rear tires I'm on the fence about hydraulic clutches I don't like fuel injection I like to fix my own stuff and all that makes it harder than its worth for me I don't race or do jumps and stunts just woods desert and trails I do like to climb hills tho

My brothers mate raced one..it was fast...

That's one awesome bike

AJP or AJS mate? :)

Dave Bickers never got a world championship. He won 2 European titles. And it’s AJS.

Suuuuuper filmik.

sorry Matt but bradshaw should if ridden the bike

Rotax engines are about as indestructible as a mechanical device can be.. While twinshocks can be just okay, they cant hold a candle to even the earliest monoshock type suspension. And drum brakes just plain suck.

The Cotton did well.

bike rate

coton made golf clubs

Can you tell me what suspension would fit on okay X125G Reg please I’ve been trying to find one thank you if you can help me please message me back thank you

Give it to BRADSHAW.

you just can't stop with the over theatrical movements of the arms, eh ?

Go one level further and look at an EMC. Even rarer than that.

you cannot ride this bike half assed the float rattles staving fuel

Cotton is a regrettable name for a MX bike.

your guy on the 2 stroke dont know how to ride it wtf kinda comparison is that

Definitely don't make them like they uster that's for sure

It really depends on the rider not the bike Ronnie Mac could get on that old two-stroke and beat that four-stroke