So I picked up a $100 project bike a couple days ago (YZ80C). Bike was in a *rough* neighborhood. The very nice (and very ‘rode hard, put up wet’) owner got to talking about his first bike: a $75 Ace 90 back in the day.
After racing the snot out of the bike (“it ran GREAT”), he finally blew it up. Pulled the top end and was amazed to find that the previous owner had fashioned a piston ring out of a coat hanger. A coat hanger! And it worked!
I’ve heard all kinds of funny, weird bike stories, but this one took the cake. I thought y'all might enjoy it.
Needless to say, I’ll be trying coat hangers on my race bikes…will report on the via the Resonator
Laurie
Laurie the answer and success of making the piston ring out of a coat hanger is to iron your pants first. I am sure I was not the first to use this mod. but it worked. Back to when I was about to quit racing as I prepared for the cross country race everyone said I or "WE" are going to beat you today my response was great. At the starting line my ace 90 would not start and Laurie my daughter was crying daddys motorcycle won't start. Well I got it running caught up passing 250+ on country roads, just as I got to the trail section I whiskered a spark plug. Well by the time this is taken care of I am last again. I am still sorry for how I got around some of those folks on that narrow trail " don't pass them on the low side". In a while the lead is mine again and I am glad that they are not going to beat me today --Then my front tire goes flat, I broke the bead filled the tire with every thing I could grab mostly bear grass, popped the tire back on and off I go to the finish line ahead of my class by at least a half hour. -----Clarence. ps many of the 250+ riders came and bought Super Rats
Thirty minutes before the start of the 1974 Daniel Boone Hare and Hound, a race official came around the pits and warned us that there was "water on the track." Now just what the heck does that mean? It had been raining in Kentucky for at least two days, and the creeks done rose, so they had to eliminate about two miles of "track" because it was under four or more feet of water. Of course, that left a half to a mile that was still on the course and still under water, but more or less passable with some holes having only three feet or so if you were not watching.
My Hodaka had a foam sock air filter, and no air box whatever. Things looked dire, so I reached for that universal fix for all woes, Duct Tape. After about a half of a role of tape, I had an air box that fed from under the seat in the rear, just about where my gear box vent terminated.
I started 400th out of 450 riders, and two and a half hours later finished 8th overall. Never missed a beat. Near the end, about 20 minutes from the finish, I tossed the chain and jammed it terminally under the side case. I had a screw driver but not an impact, and could not budge the chain. 15 minutes of struggle left me frustrated as a half dozen guys passed me. I got pissed, threw the bike down, and booted that side cover with everything I had. The damed thing popped loose, I restrung the chain, and put the side cover back on with -- Duct Tape of course, as that was all I had. The side cover screws were stripped.
Somewhere I have a Polaroid photo of that bike after the finish, and the only clean spots were where my knees rubbed the tank, and where the check point guys wiped off the mud to mark my number plate. It took me over a year to get all the tape off the bike. So, does Duct Tape count as a race mod?
Changing the subject a bit, but I had a YZ80C when I was a kid that I had to share with my 2 brothers. That thing ran circles around the neighbor kids XR75. After the YZ80 I got a 96 Dirt Squirt and although it probably wasn't as fast as the YZ it was the first bike I could call my very own.
Brian, I've pulled this bike apart over the last couple days (engine, suspension, etc). One word: Respect.
Really is a well made little bike - a shrunk racer, not just a slapped together kid's bike.
A fellow that rode one as a kid shared some great photos. No other bike could touch it. And clocked it at 76MPH at a race - yikes!
