Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

,'P O C BIKE Vintage Iro R JE T. n1974 Honda CR250 Elsinore on time for LACR fro m my home in Laguna Beach. I was b eg inning to respect the long hours that my co lleagues put in, jumping from airplane to airplane while en route to some corner of the country to cover an event. Even th is "gravy" assignmen t was wearing me down. To complica te matters, I'd never been to LACR, and d idn' t even know where it was. Rememb ering the dateline that I'd seen on the pages of our Events section, and tru stin g that it was correct, I exceeded the maximum speed limit all the wa y to Palmdal e. Any chance at practice had already gone out the window. Somehow, I found the place less (Above) Vintage Iron "Works" pipe broadens the powerband, making the bike easier to ride. It's also quieter than the stock pipe. Replica side panels clean up the bike's appearance. than 20 m in utes bef or e my rac e was sched uled to sta rt. Fortunately for me, Thome and Terry "Vintage Guru" Pratt had elected to ride the event as well, and they saw me coming. Without even being told , the guys ran over and helped me jerk the pristine Elsinor e out of th e bed of my tr uck, Thome running his gaze ove r the bike with the sa tisfied gr in of proud father smeared across his face. In the next 20 minu tes, I man aged to sign up, phot o th e bike, rem ov e the sidesta nd (pe r AHRM A rul es) and get into my riding gear. Thome fueled the bike while I thr ew on my chest protecto r. I nea rl y screwed myself in to th e gro und chasing one of the straps that got tucked up under the bac k. But I digress. Firing th e bike and trying a couple of practice starts re veal ed so me of th e goo d things that the Vintage Iron crew ha d incorpo rated in to t he re build. Whereas the stocke r tended to hit hard right off the bottom (keep in mind that we're not speaking in mo de m te rm s) and then begged to be shifted, the mod ified motor reacted only slightly weaker off the bottom before barking clea nly int o the midrange and revving-out on the top end much further and with more a u t ho r ity. The upd ated powerband allows the rider to concentrate more on AGold Star hen it comes to collecting, restoring and racing old bikes, the question "How much is enough?" is obviously something not often asked by those with 'vintage fever. Case in point is Cycle News National Accounts Manager Terry Pratt. Before and atler shots show t he tremendous amount of labor that went Into With no less than three Triumph twins, a BSA twin th e completion of Terry Pratt 's 1954 BB34 Gold Star. The sma ll-finned, long and two CZs, some not yet completed, Pratt already rod motor predated the more famous DBD34 Gold Stars buill from 1955-62. had enough projects to keep himself busy, but a phone caII from an old friend looking to sell a 1954 BSA Gold Star - one of the most high ly sought-after classic bikes today - was all it took to put them on the back burner. "This bike belonged to a high schoo l buddy from my hometown in the high desert," Pratt said. "I actually rode it in 1972. At the time it was his daily desert bike." Ten years went by, but Pratt kept in touch with the friend . When vintage racing began to take off, Pratt came looking for the bike. It was still there . "I told him that if he ever wanted to sell it, I'd buy it because I wanted to make a vintage racer out of it," Pratt said. "But he'd say, 'Oh no, I'm going to fix it up and ride it some"more .' But, just a year ago, I got the call that he was going to sell it. I was there the next weekend." The bike was in less than pristine cond ition having been unceremoniously stored under a shed with " The only thing that we reused were the fork tubes, no walls for eight years. But Pratt was not dissuaded, and after swingarm, engine and the gas tank. Matt had to fabricate things a mutually agreed upon price, he trucked the Gold Star away. "I took it home and put a new carb on it, replaced the gas like the engine plates, exhaust pipe, footpegs and brake pedal," and oil, and after about a half-hour I was able to get it to run," Pratt said. "We also had to find things like another frame and Pratt said. "I rode it around in my yard forabout 15 minutes, center-mount oil tank." Pratt says he's satisfied with the way the bike turned out, then Iparked 'and dismantled it." " Pratt then phoned Matt Hilgenberg of Speed and Sport to and he has rema ined faithful to his intended use forthe assist with the project. Hilgenberg started by completely machine - racing it at AHRMA vintage motocross events whenrebuilding the engine along with a spare BSA Scrambles gear- ever he can. "It's not a restored bike, it's a racebike:There are lots of parts box that Pratt had lying around. What followed was a seemingly endless process of parts scavenging, fabrication and restora- on it that are collectible, but overall it's just made up of lots of tion to the tune of about $6200 until Pratt finally possessed a bits and pieces," Pratt said. "I didn't build it as an investment. completed Gold Star. It's just a bonus f~r me that it doesn't depreciate in value." W a ... .... ,-l CIl 5b ;:j <: 40

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