Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126023
z.'1' .' 19 8, and went aetunct In ' 1950. This wa s one 0 f the motorcycles that they had in their stable, and I bought it from the man that owned the co mp any. How long did it take you to restore it? We completely restored it in three weeks. Fini shed it ye sterday; st arted it up. All it needs are th e tank decals and it 's done. Was it really bad off when you bought it? This o ne wasn 't as bad as most of th em. It had been inside all the ye ar s. There was no ru st o n it at all. Bu t there were a lot o f parts missin g. So mebody had started to take it apart, t he n lost t he parts. I found most of th e parts back in Kansas ; and the o ther stu ff that we didn 't find we mad e. We don't start o n th ese p roj ects until we ha ve a complete bike . We do our o wn leather work an d p olishing. Dutch does th e paint and t he machine work . Anyth ing d ifficu lt in restoring an old motorcycle? Well the mo st difficu lt part about it is doing the th ings th at yo u don't like to do . Like stretch in g and mounting tires. Those tires (on the Yal e) are 26 inch tires on 28 inch wheels. That 's one of those jobs you just don't like to do . Moulding leat h er for the seat - I li ke th at . Body work and sanding, I do n't mind doing t hat at all. Lacing wheels I like to do. Stringin g cables through the handleb ars , hooking up th e co n tro ls - I hate to do it. We b oth hate to do it. It's for the pl easure an d fun tha t we do ; these things. Everybody th inks we 're a little b it eccen tr ic and nuts; bu t th at 's the pl easure . You get some o ld p iece o f j unk tha t's all rusted away, an d you th ink it could nev er be fixe d . We go ah ead and make it like new aga in. The second it starts and you go for a ride o n it , it 's ju st li ke giving birt h to so methi ng. As soon as I put th e tank decals o n it (t he Yale he h ad just built ), ma ybe take o ne more la p around this place, then put it awa y in the she d an d start on ano the r o ne . Th e rom ance is ov er as soon as they ru n and I ride th em. Wha t do they do after y ou pu t them away? Just sit there . Until what? Forever. You used to ride and race moto rcy cles; now you do stunt work and you restore antique mo torcycles. Ap parently, you are co ntent. Is there anyt hing that y o u m ight ha ve wanted to do over again? turned into an SX 350 every time it was in the dirt? No. We used a Sp ortster all t he ti me . But if we did a jump or something like that, we used a Sprint. It was ligh ter , and you could jump it . In t he original show, we used a CZ for the hillclimbing sequence. Stuntwork is just a way to m ake a living. Most of the stuff that you do is through some kind of trickery, anyway. It isn't always w hat you see that's being do ne. How do you pick up old bikes? People co me around and interview me fo r some motorcycle paper, and th e articl e goes out th at I'm interested in old motorcycles. Readers get in. touch with me if they h appen to have some old motorcycles. Th at's the way it works. Do you restore them and sell the m to people? No . We just do our own stuff. We will do restoratio ns for people if they wa nt to p ay what it 's worth. Our work, we thin k, is the best, and it takes a long time. Th is Ya le you have here, where did you pick it up? This motorcycle came fro m a motion pict ure rental company that went into Not a thing. I had probab ly the happiest days of my li fe when I was racing motorc ycles. There comes a time when yo u get to o old to do th at, or just pl ain b ored wi th it . When I was racing motorcycl es the last two or three ye ars , I raced o u t of habit. I' d been at it so long, I didn 't know what else to do. I didn 't de ci de or any th in g when I quit. It j us t happen ed. I did the same t hing I always did, but I just never went ba ck. The next Sunday ca me by, there was a race , an d I di dn't ge t an d go . The ne x t Sund ay came by; another race : and. I didn 't go . That's the wa y it happened. My m otorcycl e sat aro und in my st ore for eight or nin e months. A guy came in one day , wanted to b uy it, and I sold it to him. And th at was th e end of th at . As a matter o f fact, since the da y I quit raci ng motorcycles, I haven't been to a race. I'm not familiar with the n ew machines. If there ' was a whole trailer load of works motocross bikes sitting across the street , I wouldn 't bother to walk over and loo k at them . Roger DeCoster lives with me when he's in this cou n try. He 's h ad his works Suzukis down in my garage and I've never even looked at them. I move them over to walk by. I co uld go to the races, bu t my kids go. Wha t do you plan for your immediate future? I in ten d to restore about another 100 motorcycles, and I think that'll last me a wh ile. I don't intend changing any thing. I'm not going to get bored with old motorcycles. I've he ld on to them too lo ng. I could race them for 20 years and not get fed up with that. I'm sure this ought to go on for ano th er 30 or 40 years if I live that long. • 39