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/141064
HERB UHL !!! " C> " Q. M .... ~ N c " .., ~ en w == Z W ..J U >- u Improving the breed in the hlill of UTAH Uhl preparing his Suzuk i fo r t he recent Tras k and Bad Roc k (SOT Qual if iers. The bi ke has, among other bits of trickery. a special fr ame, DKW front end , and a Kawasaki rear wheel. . b y Geoffrey Wood Herb Uh l o f Bo ise, Idaho is a creat o r of a rt. His art com es in the form of tw o wh eel s - due m ainly to hi s di ssatisfaction with the mass-produced bi kes that roll fro m th e manufactu re r's flo/'rs. T he pas t t~n years . Herb has des ign ed and p roduced many a special, some of which have rais ed th e ey ebrows o f his co mpe ti tors in the bi g mountain co u n try o f the great North wes~. During th e p ast de cad e Herb has slanted . his philos ophy of d esign more fo r the average club nder than "Joe Hotshoe". This has met with great success, and he has found a ready market for most of th e go odies he has ch o se n to produce. . The st o ry o f this en te rp ris in g bike de sign er began wa y back in th e middle 1950's when Herb de cided to lea ve th e flatlands of the mid-west and move to th e big mountains of Idaho. He opened up a sanitary little shop in Bois e, dealin g in Mai co and th en th e new Honda line. With th e 5 0cc Honda, Herb was a great success, and h e won several trips to Japan be cau se o f his hi gh sales figures. T he next st ep was to improve the breed. Herb saw a ready market for a trail version of th e tiny Honda 5 0cc model that coul d be used by rockbounds and nature lovers t o explore the deserts and hills of Idaho. He modified th e stre e t 50 with a huge rear spro cket, knobby 't ires, and some small parts and en de d up with th e "Herco Special". The id ea soon fe d its sel f b ack to th e fac t o ry , and Honda began to produce their firs t true tr ail model . After this in itial su ccess , Herb settle d down to managing a hi gh -volume d eal ership, which left little time for ex pe rim e n tation . After a few yea rs he de cided to unload the high-p ressure business and se t up a new smaller shop dealing in Suzuki, which left him more time to design some specials. Besides, Herb liked the two-stroke design, wh ic h about that time was beginning to b ecome c omp e ti tive. So Herb started to design some fla t t rac k models _ fo r th e new one-eighth mile flat track ra ces th e O wyhee Mo torcycle Club was sp onsoring. Being a rid er o f average ability , Herb had many pain ful ex pe riences about track racin g, mainl y in go ing over th e handleb ars. The reason for th e acrobatics wa s a bike that handled a little to o qu ickly, so Herb designed a bike th at used a longer wheelbase. His thinking was tha t a really skille d rider co uld h~~le the quickness o f th e rear wh eel under p ower slid ing techniques , but th at a less skille d rid er would find th e rear wheel co ming a ro und too fast to con tr ol. A lon ger wheelbase would slow the acti on do wn a bit. With th is p hi losophy , Herb wen t to wor k on his pipe-be nding m achin e. An 80cc Su zuki engi ne was used and received th e usu al Uh l tr eatme n t , b ut this was m at ed to a longe r 4 9 11, ' wheelb ase fra me th at used th e large to p t ube to hold th e o il sup ply. T he fra me weig h ed on ly 12 po unds, an d th e whole b ike The Green Demon . only scaled 1 10 p ounds. With an estim a te d 12 HP at 10 ,000 RPM o n tap , Herb's 15 ycar o ld bo y Bill reall y cleane d h ouse - winning 3 0 trop hies in 35 race s! A 11 5 pou nd sp ringer was also designe d fo r us e in IT rac es. .. By th en Herb was infatua te d with de sign wo rk , and his n ext p rojec t was a 25 0 cc X-6 model that used - • ..~~iI>_ ... _ One of Uhl's oil-bag frames . a new fram e to push th e wh eelbase out from 50 .6 inches to 5 5¥.." . No t many pe ople though t that a -twin -<:y lin d er tw o -stroke could ever be co mpe titive then , but in 1967 R ic k Cook won many flat track, sc ram b les , and motocross races In th e Northwest. • Next came th e "Green Demon" - a 250cc X-6 engined model that was to be the ultimate trail and stree t bike. Perhaps the most unusual thing about this bike was th at Herb m ade it a "twingle" , which, for those wh o h aven't heard , is a twin that is made to fire lik e a sin gle . Th is p rovided m ore ' traction th an a normal twin , and Herb lo we re d the re v range by d esigning an exhaust system th at put ou t its best at low and medium revs. . The next step was a special frame with a 52¥.... wheelbase and a 60 de gre e fork a ngle, m aking a stable bike th at still handled precisely fo r trail riding. The 2 4 7 pound weight seems rather h igh today, but remember that in 1968 the art o f light sing les was not y et d eveloped. Th e X-6, with its six spe ed b ox, would tool down th e free wa y at 60 MPH , ye t it was cap ab le of a su rp rising pe rformance out in the boonie s. During th ese years Herh compe te d with success in th e off-road events all ove r the North west - winning h is share and p lacing well in just abo u t every thing he entered. Pe rhaps th e significa nt thi ng abo ut Uh l was n o t th at he won so me of th e North wes t 's tou ghest events, bu t rathe r that he was nearl y always riding o ne of hi s home-buil t crea tio ns t o test o u t hi s . th eori es in t he ro ugh . Some wo rked and so me didn 't, but all the time Herb was ge tti ng sm ar te r. By 19 69 He rb h ad ex pande d hi s deale rsh ip to in clud e DK W, Bu lt aco , H usqvarna, Sachs, j awa , CZ , an d often other special m odels just bec au se he wan ted to see ho w th ey would per fo rm . He rb h as always had an unsatiabl e cu rio sity , an d anything ne w just had to b e tried. . In 19 6 9 , afte r p ro vin g himsel f in No rthwestern eve nts, Herb was offered a wo rks ride in t he IS DT b y D KW. T hi s wa s th e fir st time d eve nt Uh l ha d ever rid d en in, an d h e surprised eve n hi mself b y winning a "S ilver" . What was even m ore rewardin g 10 He rb was Bill's "G old". T his is belie ved to be th e on ly time a fa ther-son co m bin atio n has achiev ed such a feat in th e hi st ory o f th e event. Herb also rode a DKW 125 in th e 1970 Spanish ISD T, but all kin ds o f p robl ems kept him o u t o f th e m edal class b y on ly 12 min utes. Bill , o f co urse, is now a membe r of the works Pen ton team. For the past five years Herb has not been such an active co mpe ti to r; he has c oncentrated o n his growing 1!, busines s and hi s devel opment work. He still d o es enjoy com pe ting in th e two-day type o f trials, th ough , and wh en we talked to him before writing this he was preparing h is Suz u ki Special fo r th e Tras k and Bad R o ck Q u alifiers in Oregon . His perform an ce, now in the hold man" class, is sti ll co mpe titive , as m an y o f his yo unger co mp e ti t ors h ave di sco ve red! Recen t d evel opmen ts from the Uh l shop include a 125 cc CZ moto cros ser th at h as m o re muscle. Herb reasons th at th e 250 cran kc ase use d on the CZ 125 d oes no t have sufficient pumping pressure , so he h as de signed a se t of rings for the ins id e o f th e cran kc ase .th a t goes with skimmed flywh eels to improve pumpin g effi cie ncy. The modifications really work, and Herb is now ge tti ng a com pe ti tive performance fro m his CZ 125. Ano th er way-o ut idea is hi s " submarine ", S pe cial fram e- tu be intake for the DKW carburetor all ows th e little D eek t o just about go all the way under water be fo re th e sp ar k is snuff ed o u t . Creeks co me d eep in Idaho ! . There is also a great d eal o f work d one in hi s shop on reed valves, special frames , research into steering geometry and making bikes handle . Many p arts go to customer~ all o ver th e country. T he ess ence of Uhl 's philosophy is represented in hi s cu rren t Suzuki 17 5 ISDT b ik e, which is really a portable e xpe ri m e n t that is cons t an tly being ch anged . The frame has been lengthen ed , th e fro n t en d is fro m a DKW, th e rear wheel is fr om a 35 0 Kawa saki (due to its ligh tn ess) , and many sm all parts that m o st ob servers wo uld never see. Herb admi ts th at his special is n ot as . com p e ti tive as a pure·sang Euro pe an Six Day bike, but then it is a great deal more co m pe ti tive than an ything co m in g out of Japan! It is the satisfaction of home-built modifications that seems to please Herb; he realizes a t this stage o f th e game he is not going to blow off the younger gen era ti on . T h is p ast sp ring Herb m o ved into hi s n ew shep , a T his successful X ~ special was ridden by Bill Cook to many wi ns th rougho ut th e N orth west . Uh l succeeded in gettin g the high horsepow er tw in to handl e. q uain t pl ace o n the west en d o f to wn. A f te r m an y years of waiting h e n ow has a d eve lopme n t shop al l to him sel f, t o create good ies fo r h imself, his frie nds , and cust o me rs all ove r the co u n try . T he Uh l sho p is also th e dirt bik e head qu art e rs for Idaho, and Herh tries to stoc k t he fin es t a rray of goodies and parts available . On the walls ar e some troph ies and the ISDT m edals. and t he whole pl ace just ex udes th e spirit o f the sp ort. Herb Uhl, kn own lo call y as the "Bearded Bar on", h as become a lege nd in his o wn time, and we have th e feeling that th ere a re man y mo re ch ap te rs to c o me fro m th is ar tist of metal in the h ills o f Id ah o.