BACK IN THE DAY

6This is a photo of my dad in 1972. His favorite hobby has always been riding his motorcycles, and over the years he’s owned many different types, from scooters to big touring bikes. One of his favorites was this Husqvarna 400, which he rode in the woods behind our house in Rhode Island. At 92 he still loves to talk about his riding adventures. I hope you will be able to publish this in Back In The Day. He still reads American Motorcyclist regularly, and it would be a great surprise for him to see it.

Cheryl White Pearson

I really enjoy your Back in the Day section, especially being an old rider. It definitely brings back memories. This is my first ride in the Spring of 1974. My dad said if I paid half, he would pay the other half for my first bike. It came down to the Yamaha YZ80 or the Suzuki TM75. I chose the Suzuki because that’s what Roger DeCoster rode at that time. I’m still riding 48 years later and back on a Suzuki, a DRZ400S. That TM was one tough little bike. We never had a problem with it.

Jeff Phillips

We think Roger would be proud, Jeff! —Ed.

I recently achieved the 25-year AMA Charter Life status and love the Back in the Day throwback section! It inspired me, and I had to dig through boxes of old pics to come up with a few that I hope will make the cut. I grew up in a little river town outside of St. Louis called Washington, Mo., and had go-karts, four wheelers, and my first dirt bike — a Suzuki 100 (couldn’t find a pic, dang it). Here’s my 1981 Kawasaki LTD 440. It was the first street bike I bought when I was 16 in 1986. I actually had it on layaway at the local bike shop (J&W Cycles) because it was $800 and they didn’t want to finance it. I would drive over every week and pay as much cash as I could. When I finally paid it off and went to get it, they couldn’t sell it to me because I wasn’t 18, so I had to “work” on my mom for a few weeks to get her to go sign the title for me. Thanks for all you do for motorcyclists...much appreciated!

Mark Shanks

Me on my 1983 Honda 650 Nighthawk. It was a ritual for us to smoke the rear tire before getting a new one mounted. Ahhh, the good ol’ days…

Chris Baumhauer

That’s me with my brand-new 125 Yamaha Enduro. It was a 1970 model and we’d just unloaded it from my dad’s pickup. I flipped burgers at McDonalds all summer to buy it, just in time for the start of my senior year in high school. I only had a permit, so I could not ride at night, but in California you could ride alone all day on a motorcycle without having a licensed adult along. This made a motorcycle a much better freedom machine than a car as far as I was concerned. I rode this bike everywhere — school, work, dirt trails, you name it!

Jeff Bertrand

Yep, “freedom machine” pretty much nails it, Jeff! —Ed.