Old-School Motocross on my modified 1975 Hodaka. The stock rear suspension only had about 3" of travel, while the Grand Prix bikes were running 6". I decided to modfy my bike for 7.5" of travel, so I cut the back of the bike off, and built a new back section and modified the stock shocks by adding a remote reservior. My father walked in after I cut the back of the bike off and was pissed. He told me "Son, engineers designed that motorcycle and if it could be made better, they would have done it". Dad was really mad and yelled at me. I was crushed. but I had to go on. What else could I do. I was near tears, though.
The next morning (race day) all my buddies laughed their asses off. I felt pretty low. When we got to the track, everyone on the team needed a larger countershaft sprocket. We were one sprocket short and everyone got one but me. Later that day, I won my first race ever. Still have the trophy. It was the most important lesson I ever learned in life - to believe in myself. I've never doubted my ability to do what I believed I could do, no matter what other people said.
Later, almost all the motocross bikes were designed just like my Hodaka. When Hodaka saw the pictures, they were shocked, and sent me a pair of Hodaka cuff links. Cuff links?
Later, I modified the bike again. Taller bikes did not handle as well in the turns, so 7" was thought to be the maximum travel you could have. But I realized that if I had more travel, and let the bike sag 5 or 6", it might follow holes better. I took some really short CZ air shocks, cut the frame again, and bumped the travel to 13" - and it worked perfectly. Today, all production motocross bikes have about 13" of travel with 4" of sag. I should have patented that. Live and learn. Wish I had pictures of that version of the bike.
© Copyright 2008 Ken Elliott