On The Pegs June 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 6 | Page 119

On The Pegs VOL. 4 ISSUE 7 - July 2020 119
26mm OKO Carbeuretor with an elongated bore, UNI Air Filter, Stainless Head
Pipe, WES Exhaust System , Alloy Shock Mount Kit, Alloy Front Spindle, Alloy Rear
Spindle, Alloy Swing Arm Spindle, Front and Rear Alloy Inner Wheel, All Stainless
Steel fasteners, Alloy Swinging Arm, Frame Shock Mount Mods, Frame Welding
Clean Up, Polish Outside of Fork Springs, Polish Inside of Fork Tubes, Endless
Polishing and assembly, Still left to do is cylinder and head work. I can count the
bits and pieces on one hand without running out of fingers that haven’t been
modified, and or, replaced outright! Canada, The United States, Spain, Japan, England,
Scotland, Taiwan and the Netherlands! I have searched web-sites for many
answers that I needed. I asked questions from perfect strangers who were always
willing to help! And I have met some old souls around the planet that share the
same passion for the sport as I do. It turned out just as I had intended. I wanted
to make it superior in every way to the Factory Yamaha I rode as a kid in the 70’s.
And needless to say, it is a joy to ride. Hope you enjoy the photos, and feel free to
ask questions. I will gladly help, like others did for me...
Some will think I have bastardized the scooter. Some will think I didn’t take it far
enough by not building a complete one off frame etc.!!! I understand both views.
And will not criticize either. But I still sit and stare in amazement at what I have. I
had two TY 250’s gifted to me at 18 by Yamaha, built my own at 64. Wish they
would have let us ride what I just built, back then!
I rode with Bernie when he was 14 or 15. And he was scary good even back
then. I remember him hoping over an empty beer can in the pits. We all thought
“ that’s nice but hopping has no place in trials”. Funny, some of us still are saying
the same thing 45 years later!! In one of our recent con-versations, Bernie brought
up the fact that I was the first person he ever hopped over… Sounds like something
I would do after a few beers!! And glad to have helped springboard him
into trials history….
At the 1974 SSDT, I was teamed up with Peter Gaunt and Mick Andrews. Mick
rode the Cantilever scooter, I rode the 250 Mick rode in 73 and Peter was on a 250
as well. Mick provided me with a scooter due to the fact that Pete Schick, National
Racing Manager at Yamaha International (USA Im-porter), and I didn’t get along
well, and he refused to pay for me to come over to the 1974 SSDT. He also refused
to allow me take either of the scooters they had provided me to ride in the States.
I called Mick and he called Rod Gould, his boss at Yamaha in the Netherlands, and
they agreed to provide me a scooter to ride. Funny I stayed with Bill Stewart, the
US Yamaha trials team manager. He let me stay in his room, so it didn’t cost me
too much. And that’s how and why I was on the Yamaha Europe Team!!