1960: My 2 Wheel Motor Bike History

[ScooterWes]

Back in the 60s, my older 11 year old, brother had a Suzuki 55cc 3 speed motorcycle with a centrifugal clutch. It had a stamped steel step thru frame similar to a moped without pedals. I age 8, had a Benelli moped. We used to buy bikes in the bushel baskets from people who broke them, tried to fix them and could not get them back together. So for $5 or $10 we would by the wheels, frame and a motor in a bushel basket. Having come from a family of wrenches, my great grandfather a steam engineer and my grandfather and father machinist; it was just a small challenge to get them going again. I remember begging my mother for a quarter to by gas for my moped. I could ride the dirt trails through the woods to Butts gas station and buy a gallon of gas. The underside of gas cap was a measuring cup to portion the amount of oil to gas. After I bought gas, Mr. Butts would fill my gas cap with a measure of used oil and I would be on my way.



My mother had an 8mm camera for making “Home Movies”. One day my older brother and I stole the camera from the closet. We went to a field put a helmet on our 4 year old brother and put him on the Suzuki. His feet could not reach the pegs but his arms were long enough to reach the handle bars. We showed him the throttle and gave him a push. He was off, by himself, riding around like a kid in a candy store and of course we had to film it. He could not ride a bicycle yet but he could ride a motorcycle. When finished, he came back toward us and slowed. My older brother would grabbed the bike to keep him from falling. The helmet was nearly as big as he was. We returned the camera back to the closet without my mother’s knowledge. A couple of weeks later my mother took the roll of film to Reads Drugs store for developing. A week after she got it back and decided to have a movie night you cannot image the screams and outrage of my mother having seen her 4 year old baby riding a motorcycle. I guess we didn’t think about that when filming and glad 8mm film reels were only 3 minutes long. Over the years I converted the 8mm to VHS and then to DVD. I am going to have to see if I can find that piece.



At age 11, I bought a Suzuki 120 from Buzz for $20. Buzz had broken his leg in 18 places in a motorcycle wreck and refused to have it taken. He could barely walk but loved to ride. The Suzuki had 4 speed gear box, All 4 down. Buzz had twisted the shift level toe peg to point up and put a 2 foot long pipe on it. He would get on the bike and wrestle his bad foot onto the rear foot peg and shift gears by bumping the pipe with his knee. To down shift he reached down and pulled the pipe shifter back up like a suicide shifter. I heated the shift level and straightened it out. It was a great bike for the dirt trails around my home.

[milly]

Nice read Scooter Wes, I started in the late 60's when about 8or10. First one was a bsa dandy 50cc which my dad didn't use anymore. I cannot remember if I got it going or not. Then many cheap old British bikes as the Japanese were more popular at the time. Then when people had worn out their Japanese bikes had many cheap ones to spanner on and use. Then many cheap Chinese ones after people gave up on them.
My most memorable ones are a panther model 120 650cc single I toured Europe on, a lambretta cento that could be even overtaken by anything other than pedestrians, a bsa c15 which I used for years and a amf Harley Davidson 250 2t single. Italian engine cagiva I think and handled perfectly got frame rot on them though but a lump of wood cured the day till I got a new frame. Only thing that killed it was the crown of the piston coming off. Now I have my Vespa clone lml 4 speed 2t a Chinese 50 and a huoniao 125 motorbike copy of Honda cm125 now upgraded to 150

[bluegoatwoods]

Yeah, the original post is a nice read and so is the first reply.

I started at 10 years old in 1970 on a Yamaha Enduro 90. A good bike. Within a few years I'd also lucked onto a 1968 Honda 305 Scrambler. It was a bit too big for me and it was hard to start and keep running. As a result I really didn't like that bike very much plus I developed the notion that I didn't like Hondas. I've learned that I was wrong, of course. Also the fact that that particular bike didn't please me surely isn't proof that that model was bad. More likely that particular bike was getting worn out.

Among later bikes I've had, there's nothing really remarkable.

But I do remember Suzukis of the era that you've mentioned. I don't think I remember that moped-style one. But I do remember small Suzukis of the early 60s. They tended to be a bit funny looking.

[ScooterWes]

Where I grew up as a kid, we lived near a gravel pit. The gravel pit was place where sand and gravel were dug to make building materials. It was pretty much abandon then and I spent hours climbing rusting steam operated shovels and dozers. The gravel pit was patrolled by the “Jeep Man”, a guard driving a jeep that would try to keep trespassers away. It was almost funny to be chased by the “Jeep Man” when riding a motorcycle in the gravel pit because he would come after us and we would just take off into ditches, hills and banks where the jeep could not go. At one side of the pit was a large hill and people would come from miles around to try to get their motorcycles up that hill. They would make all of these modifications to their bikes to tackle the hill and mostly fail. They would get half way up the hill, spin out and slide back down. My older brother would go to the hill and watch these contraptions for a while and then get in-line and wait his turn to tackle the hill on a 55cc Suzuki. To get up to speed, he would start out by making a couple of large circles at the base of the hill. He would then hit the hill and bounce the bike side to side onto the firm dirt surfaces and get over the top. It was amazing to watch as these custom machine builders had not figured out that a light maneuverable bike with a skilled rider was the key to climbing the hill.

A photo of a 55cc Suzuki is attached… Forgive me as I ramble. I am now an old fart and have not ridden a bike in 40 or more years. I had forgotten how much fun it is and these childhood images come back when I ride my scooter. Now I am happy to go 35 mph. and stay vertical.

[bluegoatwoods]

Dec 19, 2017 6:39:50 GMT -5 ScooterWes said:

Where I grew up as a kid, we lived near .........

A photo of a 55cc Suzuki is attached… Forgive me as I ramble. I am now an.......
............Now I am happy to go 35 mph. and stay vertical.

No, no, no. You misunderstand: that 'rambling' is exactly what we want. Riding stories.  Heck, you'll find this place is even pretty tolerant of people (like me) who can take a while to get to the point.  Keep them memories coming.

Now the Suzuki pic you've included. That's something I recognize. Though I would have assumed it was a Honda Super Cub at a glance. I couldn't tell you whether or not I've ever seen the Suzuki variant in person.

[collinsd84]

Wow! what wonderful stories? Keep them coming...

I'm younger and feel like I missed out on a lot.

Was old enough to ride a moped in the 1980's.
They were still relatively cheap, but my family didn't have the money.

Finally got a Kymco ZX50 for my 40th birthday at my insistence. It nearly cost me my marriage.
I had to fulfill my childhood dream much at my wife's dismay. Glad I did.

It seems everything is expensive now. Machines are more complicated, and so many legal restrictions on them.
I ramble...Enjoy the stories.

[drmech]

Memories; I had a 1965 Honda 50 also a Honda 305 dream.This was in 1971,I was 19 years old.

[stepthrutuner]

This is a pic of my first ride, a Honda S65. Top speed 56 mph. When the clutch was cold it could lift the front wheel in the first three gears out of four. Delivering newspapers was my excuse for getting it. It cost $324 which I suppose my mother paid for with some inheritance from her deceased dad. Since I was only 14 and knew nothing of engines the valves didn't get adjusted and I burned an exhaust valve. This, of course, caused poor running, but if I feathered the throttle just right the gas dynamics at high rpm became such that it would rev out past it's normal limit and increase top speed and power past 60 mph. I badly broke my rt. tibia with serious wounds in the front and back of my lower leg in May.

Later in Sept. riding two up behind my friend on his Yamaha Catalina 250 2t I broke both the same tibia as well as the fibula and also the femur of the left leg. That year I spent 76 days in two hospitals with an additional two months in a body cast.

[bluegoatwoods]

Jan 4, 2018 19:45:16 GMT -5 stepthrutuner said:

This is a pic of my first ride, a Honda S65. Top speed 56 mph. When the clutch was cold it could lift the front wheel in the first three gears out of four. Delivering newspapers was my excuse for getting it. It cost $324 which I suppose my mother paid for with some inheritance from her deceased dad. Since I was only 14 and knew nothing of engines the valves didn't get adjusted and I burned an exhaust valve. This, of course, caused poor running, but if I feathered the throttle just right the gas dynamics at high rpm became such that it would rev out past it's normal limit and increase top speed and power past 60 mph. I badly broke my rt. tibia with serious wounds in the front and back of my lower leg in May.

Later in Sept. riding two up behind my friend on his Yamaha Catalina 250 2t I broke both the same tibia as well as the fibula and also the femur of the left leg. That year I spent 76 days in two hospitals with an additional two months in a body cast.

Both of those seem kinda familiar. I suppose I saw those models running around way back when. But maybe didn't become too familiar.

I also recall being about five or six years old when a guy who later was my brother-in-law for a while came to pick up my older sister for a date. I recall him wearing a leather jacket and having helmets for himself and my sister. I was a bit too young to even understand different brands, I think.

But my older brother once told me that the bike in question was a Royal-Enfield.  This would have been, probably, 1966. About the time that young Yankees were starting to buy Triumphs in large numbers.

This guy gets himself an Enfield? Sounds like something I would have done.