BACK IN THE DAY

Where the photos are blurry but the memories are clear!

6Riding the deserts in the mid ’70s aboard my 1972 Honda SL125. It was bored out to 185cc with a stroker crank and cam to match. Lots of power, but the suspension left a lot to desire! That landing about jarred my teeth out! I’m in my 70s now, and I ride a 2007 Honda CRF450X with way better suspension!

Mike Durbin

A lot happened between that SL and CRF, eh, Mike?! – Ed.

This is a photo of my late grandfather taken in Alabama sometime in the 1930s (best guess). Unfortunately, I never got to meet him as he passed long before I was born. At least I know where my passion for motorcycles came from! If anyone can help identify the exact motorcycle model, I would be most grateful.

P.D. Platt

4In the first picture, taken in 1971 of me and my sons Matthew and Tim, I am on my first of four Huskies — a 1971 360 8-speed. The second picture is the same guys and the same location in 2022. The bike is my last Husky, a 1976 360 WR. I bought both new from Chuck Boehler Cycles in Jamestown, N.Y.; he gave much better deals than the local dealer here in Pittsburgh, Pa. I have restored my WR as an antique and it received National Senior Award at the AACA show in Hershey, Pa. I rode many enduros, hare scrambles and the Blackwater 100 on them, and never failed to finish an event!

Lanny Liggett

Malcolm would be proud, Lanny! – Ed.

Here I am in the Spring of 1971 with my future wife alongside my 1970 Honda CL175 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Thankfully, I still have the same wife but not the same bike. I do, however, have a fully-restored CL model in my garage to keep the memory alive!

David Hellard

What, not in the living room? What gives, David?! —Ed.

3My first street bike when I was 19 years old — a 1970 Triumph 650cc Bonneville. Today I have a 1999 Yamaha YZR-R1 and a 1986 Yamaha V-Max. Been riding 53 years. Learned on a Harley 250cc Sprint at age 14. The farm boys all had bikes.

Penny Jackson

6Same brothers, Dale, Myrle and yours truly (in Bates racing leathers) with the bike, 60 years apart. The bike is a 1959 Triumph TR6, used for scrambles in both Iowa and Minnesota. The leathers were a Christmas present from our dad and were a snug fit last time on, but we still managed. The motorcycle is still owned by my brother Dale. All three brothers are lifetime motorcyclists, and all are still riding.

Wayne S. Frank

This was my first motorcycle, which I purchased the day I turned 18 years old. It was a 1974 Yamaha DT360. I worked at a BSA/Yamaha dealership while in high school. The owner let us ride his dirt bikes in the New Jersey Meadowlands many years before I turned 18, as I couldn’t legally purchase a motorcycle until I turned 18. After the DT360 many more purchases followed. My current rides are a 1967 BSA 650 Lightning and a 1992 Yamaha TDM850.

Bert Sadonis

4This is me in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1971 on my first motorcycle, a 1955 AJS 350 that I bought for 20 pounds (about $25) with a cracked alloy cylinder head. Went to a shop in Edinburgh and bought a scrap cast-iron cylinder head from a 1954 AJS for 5 pounds ($7), bolted it on and it fired right up. My Dad helped me with the engine, and the bike was always a fun ride. I went to Cornwall on it and had many good times with it. At 72, I’m now back in the saddle on my 2013 Triumph Bonneville and am a regular Sunday rider.

Colin Gillan

This picture was taken of me on my 1941 Harley-Davidson Knucklehead in late summer of 1967 just before I was drafted into the Army in early spring of 1968. I was 18 years old. This was the first of the chopper type motorcycles in my neighborhood. I traded a pony I used to ride for the bike. When I got it, someone had installed the Hydra Glide front fork. I added the 21-inch front wheel with no front brakes, ape-hanger bars and the seats. It had a hand shift with suicide clutch. I sold the bike to my brother who, when he joined the army, sold it to our uncle. Our uncle parked the bike on his front porch and there it sat until someone stole it a few years later, and it was never recovered. It was a fun old bike to ride, needed a lot of mechanics, and overall, a little dangerous. Now, at 73 years old, I am an AMA Life Member and still riding, and the bikes are a lot safer.

Robert Dry