and-race Japanese bikes such as the Elsinore , before Yamaha YZ ’ s , Kawasaki KX ’ s , and Suzuki TM ’ s ( that ’ s pre-RM ) came on the market , people were buying “ Enduro ” models , and going crazy with them . And , the XL ’ s got caught up in that whole wild effort to make modestlyperforming bikes into seriouslyperforming bikes .
Oh , yes . That was the era of build-your-own . Aftermarket frames , lengthened swingarms , engine mods , trick pipes galore , strip everything off that doesn ’ t absolutely have to be there . Everybody and anybody were building and selling trick parts . Some worked , some didn ’ t . But that didn ’ t slow guys down from trying . How many people actually did all this ? Quite a few evidently , given the number of ads for aftermarket parts in that issue of Dirt Bike . How about on the home-front , though ? Well , at the time , we were just broke high school kids , riding around back in the old strip mines , and certainly didn ’ t have the pop for a different frame , for cryin ’ out loud . We were lucky to be able to mount up knobby tires on the rear and front !
With respect to personal experience , Bob was not into dual-sporting back in the day . Nope , he was a racer right from the start , and was all about competition motorcycles . I did in fact ride this type of machine back then , but my bike of choice was a Yamaha DT1 – mostly because my brother-in-law had one , and sold it to me , cheap . Many , many years later I stumbled across a ’ 73 XL250 – identical to the ’ 72 model . Wasn ’ t really looking for one , but I could not pass up the deal . Bike was all original , complete , intact , ran great , and came with a title . Bike needed nothing , and I am still riding it in basically the same condition it was when I bought it . What kind of riding ? Genuine dual-sport stuff . For many years I helped conduct a great DS ride here in Ohio , which we called The Reliability Run . Vintage bikes were a big part of the RR , and to help assure the course was vintage friendly , I would typically utilize bikes such as the XL to lay out the course . I would also loan the bike out to friends , with which to ride the event .
Additionally , I twice took the bike on extended dual-sport rides . Bob and I and some other friends , annually travel somewhere in the country , and do week-long rides . We ’ ve done sections of the Trans America Trail , for example , plus some other routes . Once , I took my XL , just for fun , and it ran great ! Another time , right on the eve of our departure for one of these rides , I crashed my modern DS bike hard enough to put it out of action , and what with the XL sitting at home in the barn , all ready to go , it was once again pulled out and gassed up . That ride consisted of a week-long , 900-mile loop
ON THE PEGS // PAGE 58