Got an email from Gordon yesterday with a long series of vintage photos attached, photos of a group of guys out on their usual Sunday rides in Colorado, showing the kinds of places they went and what they did on the way. A quick look and you know these fellows had some fun in a wide variety of situations, but what struck me right away were the bikes they rode. In today’s world of specialized motorcycles for whatever kind of rider you happen to be or think you are, these guys just rode the one bike they had everywhere for everything, not giving a second thought to whether their bike was designed for it.
What did they ride? Some old BSAs, but mostly, Harley 74s. This was back in 1952, or thereabouts, no high tech suspensions, many hardtails, regular street tires or whatever came on the bike, they went practically anywhere they thought looked like fun.
It reminds me of when I was a kid on my bicycle, single speed, balloon tire, coaster brake and I rode that bike everywhere for everything. Take a long ride with some friends, riding on a trail in the woods, ride in mud or water, on road, off road, the same bike for all occasions. These guys approached riding the same way, it never occurred to them they couldn’t do something or go someplace because they didn’t have the “proper” motorcycle.
How many of us ride like that today? How many of us could? Look at your bike, is it a street legal track weapon or a fully loaded touring bike? Maybe it’s a fat tire custom or dedicated MX bike. Cafe racer, street tracker or whatever, would you or could you take it into all of the kinds of places these guys rode their big Harleys back in the early 50s?
Some modern bikes are capable of doing all of this, the adventure bikes like the big BMW GS series comes to mind or similar models, but they’re made to do that and have everything you might want and probably a lot more, though many of those BMWs have never braved the elements or ridden on a muddy trail. An early hardtail Harley 74? Those had none of the necessary features and yet, here’s photographic evidence you really don’t need any of that stuff anyway, … or maybe it’s just a state of mind. Universal motorcycle, adventure bike, maybe that’s really a feature of the rider and not the bike.
Great photos Gordon, Thanks!
jeff_williams says
Reminds me of the guy who used his R1 as an adventure ride. For me I ride a supermoto and I have no problem riding it wherever looks interesting at the moment.
FREEMAN says
I agree with you: it’s a feature of the motorcyclist, not the bike. I doubt any of these guys gave a crap about their tech specs or how much their bike hurt their back picking it up out of the mud in the middle of nowhere. I mean, look at that flying bike and rider! I think that says it all right there. These guys are all about riding and it shows.
Susokary says
Shame on me, but I’m one of those guys who think their bikes are too valuables (a brand new Nightster in my case) to take it for a trek in the mud through the forest, and take the risk of destroying its 1500 EUR exhaust for example by jumping over a trunk…
Not that I’m just looking at it in my garage, I travel a lot with it through various weather, but I have to admit that I wouldn’t venture to use it in such extreme conditions !
Greetings from France.
;]
Skizick says
I got this group of photos a couple weeks back and among them are K models being “parked” in a snow bank. That would date the photos in 52 or later. One has to admire these chaps for their willingness to have an adventure in spite of being ill equiped for the terrain or meteorological conditions. Cost? Fate of the hardware?What price Glory?!?!
Hawk says
Hey, thanks for posting these Paul. I hope that more scrap book fodder comes forward too.
BTW – Anyone notice the lack of helmets? I guess this was “pre head injury” days.
Fred X1 says
what you can’t see in those old photos are the lips of riders moving as they curse themselves for getting into that particular goddamm hairbrained pickle; wishing someone would invent a lighter bike and if so they’d bygod have one in a goddamm heartbeat.
powermatic says
And to think that all these years I thought Michael Parks riding his Sportster in hill climbs and MX races, depending on the episode, was a laugh riot. Apparently I don’t know shit, though I still doubt that a street Sporty would have won that hill climb. At any rate, these guys are the original Bronson, and to their credit, they probably weren’t hitting the road to ‘find answers’.
Great stuff.
jim says
Kinda make today’s “adventure” riders look like squids, don’t they? I doubt if they ever left one of those 700-pound hardtails in the woods because they couldn’t get it out. As for their lack of helmets, they probably weren’t going fast enough to sustain serious injury on most of those trails. Having the bike fall on them was the biggest danger they faced — or plummeting over a cliff like Wile E. Coyote.
My helmet’s off to these riders!
todd says
This reminds me of an old Cycle or Cycle World bit I have in my archives. It was early seventies and the topic was a dual-sport ride through Baja California. The mounts of choice were something like a 175 kawasaki trail bike, a CB350 with knobbies, etc… I guess Baja has changed so much that you now need a 1200 GS to get through it.
If these guys, in their adventure tour, rode DRZ400’s they would have gone through much faster and easier. There wouldn’t have been any photos, barely any memories, nothing to brag about, not nearly as much fun – after the fact.
People buy the BMW GS to give other people the impression that they do this sort of thing. There are probably countless more people who do these trips NOT on a GS.
-todd
Marvin says
Great pictures. It seems to me these guys understood that a motorcycle is just a machine, for me my machine has two functions. 1 Take me to work in all weathers. 2 Let me get out on or off road and have fun. If a machine becomes to precious to do either one of these things either because I can’t afford to fix any damage or don’t know how then for me it has failed to perform its intended task. My last bike was a vintage very low mileage immaculate BMW which made me scared even to mark the paint work with bungee straps, it has gone to a guy that enjoys that type of bike while I am much happier on my 1984 xt600 with little rust marks and bodges from previous owners that can be simply worked on and adapted to changing situations because there is no reason to try to keep it stock. While I understand the appeal of a classic the reality is I’m a big rough ape and not the right rider for these machines, the feeling of responsibility towards the bike spoilt my rides. These guys obviously saw their bikes as machines for fun not some sort of mobile shrine to style or technology and I am in complete agreement our bikes should serve us for the many different things we as individuals want to do and not the other way around.
John S says
Not sure I’d take a Nightster into the boonies, but I once had a Sportster Sport that I rode quite often on dirt roads. It worked surprisingly well even at 40 or 50 mph.
kim says
It’s not what you ride, it’s how you ride it.
In the 1970s friends of mine did several trips from Copenhagen down to Italy and back, on 150 cc MZ twostrokes. Those bikes had about 10 bhp, and topped out at about 65 mph. Going upwards in the alps they probably never used 4th gear. But nobody had told them it couldn’t or shouldn’t be done, and I don’t recall them complaining about lack of power when they returned from their adventures.
Yeti says
What we need to remember here is that when these pictures were taken these bikes were not “classics” or rare vintage machines to be handled with white gloves…They were average, every day transportation whose only mission was to take you where you wanted to go. Mission success!
Tim says
Cool!!
Interesting parallel. Here in sunny New Zealand it is the middle of winter, and the weather has been “Wintry”. Every June there is a motorcycle rally called the Brass Monkey, and insane people from all over congregate on a small town in the middle of nowhere. This year, one of the passes going north south had no snow on the north side, but a lot on the south, and a few guys had to stop. One on a mid-70’s Ducati, one on a ’47 Indian Chief. As the guy says, the roads would have been what the bike was built for. Others dont share that opinion:
Some cool pix and lively debate here:
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/124479-Brass-Monkeys
joe says
Guys back then where not bombarded daily by marketing images of what you should wear and what bike you must have for certain types of journeys or “lifestyle.” Now a lot of people ride to fit these “look at me” image.They copy what the media pushes.Look at the BMW GS after the video Long Way Down came out, sales went through the roof .Very few of these bike will ever make a big trip or go off road ,but there ar thousands getting around with enough kit to circumnavigate the globe. Look how Harley have used the Holliwood bad boy image to drive thier marketing. Years ago I used a 350 XL to travel vast distances with nothing more than a back pack, and never gave it a second thought. Now I am led to believe that I must purchase a massive duel purpose bike kitted out with enough equipment to test the springs of a small truck.It’s all about image.If you enjoy motorcycling you can use the average motorcycle to take you to the end of the earth, be it a 50cc or 1200cc.
Richard says
That guy jumping that hill with his Harley is just too much! Those were the real riders of the day. My hats off to those guys wherever they may be.
todd says
One thing to note; most of these types of roads have all been closed off to the public for some time now. Every once in a while I look at maps of the area I live (San Fran Bay Area) with countless trails scattered all over the woods and mountains. You ride out to where the pavement ends and there is a big locked gate with the words, “Protected Watershed No Trespassing”. Public lands my behind.
-todd
Neil says
These days we really are led to believe that you have to have a fully loaded GS to go anywhere – even a KTM Adventurer wouldn’t be sufficient according to some motorcycle press in the UK. Well thankfully Ted Simon didn’t have those worries when he rode around the world on his Meriden built Triumph Tiger road bike. A couple of years ago some guy rode across the Sahara on a Benelli road bike (not quite sure why!).
As some of you guys have already said, you’ll probably have just as much of an adventure and possibly more fun on your basic ride everyday workhorse. The pictures would look more impressive too!
F0ul says
Its all taken out of context!
I used to ride my 12 speed racer in the woods before mountain bikes existed – its the same thing!
In 50 years time, people will wonder why nobody rode bikes which were bespoke and fitted? How could you possibly ride a bike which wasn’t set up for your measurements? We laugh at the concept now, but your grandkids will be deadly serious!
– Its the same thing!
Land says
How does that saying go?
“All motorcycles are dirtbikes. Some are just better at it than others.”;-)
And I fully agree that adventure is a matter of the rider, not the bike.
Maybe Wayne Weber, who is pictured on his Harley 74 in these photos, will chime in. There are some more recent pics on the web of him having adventures, but on smaller, lighter, more focused bikes.
Chris
tim says
I have shamelessly stolen the pic of the guy in the air on his HD. Its my wallpaper pic on my work PC and its there to remind me why I have to get up and go to work in the first place. Just saying.
Dan says
Great story. Back in 1980 I rode my ’74 yamaha RD350A from New Jersey to California and back. It was an adventure….ran out of gas a few times, ran out of 2 stroke oil, replaced head gaskets in the hotel parking lot. Everybody thought I was crazy but I always thought of those guys in the 20’s, 30’s &40’s going cross-country and they did it!
fast eddie says
Well said ,LAND as soon as all so called ” riders” realize this the better off “our ”
sport will be . How is a bike focused ?
D Man says
Oh Man! Did you hit it! I have so wanted to develop the ultimate all-arounder. So many bikes are so close to handling a little of everything. Specialization has replaced the lost art of making something that is not perfect for the job, work. There is an art to manhandling a 500lb bike off road. Like you said, it’s about ADVENTURE. Practically anyone can manage the Rubicon Trail on a KTM 250 XC-Whatever but who is adventurous enough to do it on something like a 750 Nighthawk with semi-knobs? Personally, I ride a 300lb DS bike and have more fun/adventure on and off the road than most of my buddies. Swiss Army Bike.
Check out http://terramostro.com/ for maybe the ultimate adventure bike!
Walt says
There were some alternatives for the boondocks. British bikes, of course, and in the late 1940s the Mustang cycle appeared. Not a high tech wonder, but its light weight gave it an advantage over heavier machines in rough going. From the Mustang Club website:
“The result was the Model 2, which became available in the fall of 1947. It featured a single cylinder, 320cc side-valve engine, a three-speed Burman transmission, a tubular front fork, a solid rear suspension, disc wheels and 4.00×12 tires. Mustangs also placed well in the lightweight division at the Catalina Island Grand Prix, ridden by Fulton, Jim Phillips, Tom Bizzari and Ed Kretz, Jr.”
Walt
Steve the producer Johann says
Great pics and great memories of what things were like. Ever watch Dukes of Hazard? made in the late 70’s early 80’s all the jumps were real and yes they had to rebuild a lot of undercarages but no CGI no trick photos these guys drove like mad men in the mud and dirt roads with full size cars.
I grew up near the trails/woods in the 60’s and 70’s and like Paul I too had a single speed bike I rode everywhere. I jumped over ditches like my hero Evil K the stunt rider and mashed a number of forks which I replaced or rebuilt along with the many rims. As for bikes my 78 Yamaha 650 speacial made it along the dirt roads and various steep inclines back in the 80’s when I rode it.
Dave Barr took his 93 H-D sport arround the world and covered every type of road and non road condition even as a paraplegic. Take a look at the One wild Ride video by the guys out of India they did this stuff on Royal Enfields.
I took my old 1800 Mazda 71 while still in high school and went jeeping all the time and never had a problem spent hours driving logging roads up near Mnt Baker (before they closed them off) and had plenty of fun sliding along near clifs much like these in the photos.
Keep these photos coming. Oh and look up hill climbing at sturgis and remind yourself that they used what they rode in on.
Peter says
Nice pictures from a better time.And of course it just shows it like it really is!
A Harley Davidson are built to handle anything!!
M.A.D says
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=330726
Converted to dual sport.
One of my favorite on going threads on ADVRider.com
randy says
Fun pics. Notice these guys look kind of … tough? I’d say the average male these days is a little soft and timid for this high altitude mud and snow bike flog stuff.
I take my 2003 Sportster pretty much wherever I want. It certainly is better in deep sand than the F650GSPD and R1150GS I used to own.
Middle of the Mojave Desert
kneeslider says
M.A.D., there are some very nice bikes in that thread.
Gene says
Um, there’s a picture in my gym of a guy running a marathon in the 1920’s or 30’s in what we would call dress shoes. Just because the did it that way before, I wouldn’t do it that way now.
I’d like to see the pictures of the bikes in the garage after that little trip.
I’m just saying.
Tad Imbrie says
Way back in the day, I used to take my stock ’71 Honda CB750 off-road all the time. Woods, mud, snow, railroad tracks, hill-climbs, desert. Okay, maybe I bottomed out on the pipes a few times, but no worries.
Butcher says
That’s the way I ride my Victory Kingpin. Last year I rode the dirt road to (the California ghost town called) Bodie, and I learned that by putting one foot on a passenger floorboard and the other foot on the forward floorboard, that I could stand up and ride it like a dirt bike!
No pictures of that day, but check these out from another trip last month:
http://picasaweb.google.com/107100811447543451617/Pictures#5475717526327729858
http://picasaweb.google.com/107100811447543451617/Pictures#5475717552771768850
todd says
I took my Seca on a gravel road and steep hills for a few miles the other day. Boy, what a pig and I realized how much the rear brake sucks too. I have no problem doing this on my XR650 or the Trail 90 but I was crapping my pants at anything more than 20 mph on the Seca.
-todd
jrollo says
Riding a motorcycle has always been about adventure. The trailer types sometimes forget that.
Ramadancer says
My Allstate Highlander, Cushman Eagle, Vespa 150, Honda 150 Benly, and all manner of two-wheeled fun that others rode, on the roads of the 60’s, hesitated not to venture off the pavement. It’s where the fun really began. Those air-cooled pistons probably came very close to seizing quite often in the heat of Texas summers.
The hope was that all dirt road crud would wash off and the bent/damaged/destroyed pieces could be replaced, and sometimes they were, after they rode you back home, or back to the farm, where pavement never existed.
Chain lube and oil changes? Never gave it a thought, it might have “spoiled the high”
fireworks says
Is it just me or do those bikes look of a more managable size than current big twins? Also, were bikes cheap back in the 1950’s? I just can’t see anybody doing that back then if Harley’s cost then what they do now. You only treat things like that when they have little value and parts are cheap.
Runnin' Blue says
Eh, I’m broke so I’m riding an oldie, a 1980 Honda CX500D “Twisted Twin” with 42,000 miles on it (In Germany they call them the “sewage pump” I think). I ride on dirt roads pretty regularly and wouldn’t hesitate to ride any place I see those bikes except maybe the side of the mountain on the goat trail.. For that kind of riding I’d probably upgrade to a bit more aggressive tire, right now I’m on Metzeler Marathons which are a bit smooth for dirt riding.
Something to keep in mind about the bikes is that the average wage when adjusted for inflation has remained nearly constant since about 1972 and yet motorcycles have become much more expensive, even adjusted for inflation.
I too had an RD 350 and rode it all over the place in the late 70’s, a great bike that never let me down and with some Koni shocks, bronze swingarm bushings, tricked out forks and a set of Dunlop TT100’s I could lean it till my elbows nearly dragged in the twisties.. I rode that sucker back and forth to work in a rock quarry for a while that was down some truck chewed dirt roads too. Rode it to Daytona for Bike Week in ’78 with my wife on the back and had a blast there..
scott silvers says
I used to think that my 1984 GPz750 Kaw was a pretty decent two-tracker. I remember a kid on a yz80 saw me playing round doing some drifts in a flat sandy area, and came over asking “Hey Mister – what kinda dirt bike is THAT!?!”….
To which I replied “Yeah! It’s the new KX750!!!”……
Which is kinda why my only bike now is a Suzuki V-strom 650, kitted up w/ skid plate, bars, etc…it’s way better in the dirt than my old KX750!
I love do it all bikes!
Rusk says
These images originally appeared on ADVrider several years ago. They were released to the web by Wes Weber, son of Warren Weber. That’s motorcyclist number 3, in the first photo.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29723
Werewolf says
Rides like that still happen today. It is really not about the bikes but a state of mind.
Here are some Ducatis on gravel. First ever streetbikes (and Ducatis) to reach this town in the Philippines, ever.
http://ducati.com.ph/forum/index.php?topic=2619.0
I was the rider of the yellow bike.