So you're saying my restoration videos are the equivalent of a beach vacation? Next video, I'll bring a beach chair and a cold drink! Thank you so much for watching!
Great memories of time on mine with my friends after school in the early 70s...the forks always leaked so i did buy comp forks that cost 100 dollars...we learnt how to bunny hop and spin on the front wheel ...180s in the air..huge jumps...long before flatland and freestyle came along...and the bike never let me down...thanks for the memories...cheers !
As a teen I was bought a 1975 Kent KMX 750 kinda like or the same you had. A few yrs later it was stolen from a friend. I tried finding another but no luck for a long time then skipping a few yrs later I saw on better one on eBay. It came with all the plastics and now I still have it. 👍
These old suspension bikes are just cool in every way! My friend had a Kent like yours. I have a Graco as well, similar but with a 22" front wheel. It was a gift from my parents on my 13th birthday. Still have all the parts and plan to restore it soon!
@@RadMattic yes indeed, at the time I own the 1st one I didn’t even know anything about them and thought it was the coolest thing ever. I rode it through the low train tracks cause it was confortable enough and cool. I have another frame and I’m tempting to put a 2 stroke 66cc motor to complete the image of the bike lol. We’ll see.
Fantastic work and you mentioned at the end that you want to ride it on a downhill track and that was probably the intended purpose of this fully suspended bike, no? And I saw in the magazines back then, and here on RU-vid now, some of those downhill tracks and they looked insane. In San Francisco in '79, I competed in an NBA race at a downhill track in a city park and it was fun tho' not particularly wild, at least not compared to the big air the riders were getting on tracks down south. And thanks for restoring and upgrading this Yamaha Moto-Bike and wow, one has to wonder why Yamaha and Kawasaki didn't build on their early success with successive lighter-weight models and even pro-class bikes. Still, kudos to both for their production bikes and promotion of the sport, especially Yamaha with that Gold Cup series, the stuff of dreams, kids racing their Sting-Rays on a track in a football stadium, incredible.
Thank you for the kind words and great story! Nothing is better than those old downhill BMX tracks for sure! You should go to DirtyFest in So Cal, or Frogtown in Nor Cal this year. You would love it!
I remember seeing a 1 or 2 page cartoon ad for this bike in 1976, in MXA (Motocross action magazine), when I was reading about Bob Hannah. Well, I'll be. 1:49 in the vid. That is Bob Hannah drawn in on the background of that ad. #39 in the 125cc Motocross Championship.
The color is just fine looking. Better with a tuff powded coat that is a shade of yellow off, than a perfect color match sprayed on that will eaisly chip and get scratched. How about a set of light weight wheels, modern light weight seat and post, and carbon handle bars to save some weight for vintage races. Save the orig parts for display. ll in all a cool restoration project.
Interesting that you should mention these upgrades! There has been so much interest in racing these old suspension bikes. Some of us have been upgrading and modifying our bikes and now, they have split the racing into "stock" and "modified" classes!
I am right down the road from you in St Joe. I have a 76 hanging from the ceiling in my shop. It is mostly intact minus the wheels. If you know anyone looking for one let me know. I got one for Christmas in 1974. I don't know if I can find the parts needed to restore it. Great video
Thanks! The cranks I used are 175mm. They are 1990's White Industries mountain bike cranks. They're actually a bit too long for the BB height, so I plan to switch them to 170 mm early 80's Dura Ace cranks, eventually!
What end advantage did you get by changing the gear ratio on the rear wheel? I had one for Christmas '76 and I remember it being very fast with the long crank arms and the orig gearing. To a ten year old kid this was a beast of a bike. [stolen from me in 1980, recovered later but vandalized].
Oh man, the stock gear on the back is huge! It's a 20 tooth cog! Switching it out for a 16 tooth was a must. With the 20, you will spin too much after the first few pedals out of the gate!
Now I'm not saying you are wrong but why do america and I believe numerous other countries have the front brake on the left if the handlebar and the rear on the right
those forks were heavy and bouncy but at leat they didnt fail after 2 seasons like nowdays. I wasted so much money on rear shocks on my ebike, that i would love to have something not so smooth but more robust.
Sounds like you’re looking for forks and shocks that can handle the rough and tumble of the trail-and maybe a few dance moves too! Who knew ebikes could be so high maintenance? 😄 Thanks for watching!
