DTR Exposure on The Motocross Vault
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For those unfamiliar with The Motocross Vault on Facebook and YouTube, it's run by a guy named Tony Blazier in the US who was a club level MX racer in the 90s and writes mostly about this era of MX bikes and racing in his spare time. His reviews of bikes go back to the 70s and are always 100% accurate, which makes a welcome change from the Bloke Down the Pub we've all probably met at our local "bike night" at some point who "doesn't like trial bikes" but claims he once owned an RM250 which was apparently "a '98" despite the fact it was twin-shock/drum brakes/air-cooled:
http://pulpmx.com/category/classic_steel/
I've also been able to watch virtually every AMA Supercross race from 1988 to around 2001 in chronological order thanks to Tony's YouTube channel; a great help in my quest to live life without a TV/TV Licence, thereby retaining my sanity.
The other day I commented on his FB page that I sold the '89 RM125 I had in 1991 to buy my 1st DTR at 17 and described it (perhaps somewhat generously) as "a kind of 125cc WR200 made for the European youth market". The next day a picture of the DTR was up on the page even though it was never sold in the US, which led to a healthy discussion about the difference between trail/dualsport bikes and MX bikes:
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I think this is very encouraging because people have short memories, and it's easy to forget why we've been lucky enough have bikes like the DT125R, KMX125 etc. In the 1st instance they were meant to be road-going replicas of the MX bikes raced at world championship level; the DTR was released in 1988 with styling taken directly from the ground-breaking (then) '88 YZ250. The Kawasaki KDX125SR looked identical to the 1st-generation perimeter-framed 1990 KX125/250 which still look modern today (in fact it even shared some of the plastics and some engine parts were interchangeable with the 1990 KX125). When I got my 1st DTR every single one of my mates owned TZR125s, RG125s etc and I wasn't impressed with them at all; I thought they were very cheaply put together compared to the beefy, high quality suspension of 125cc trail bikes of the day. IMO the 2RK TZR was an awful engine compared to the DTR with a weedy clutch, low compression (every time someone let me have a go on one I thought it had blown up) and step-thru-style front sprocket attachment which ensures the output shaft is knackered if you buy one to restore today. Equally they'd never seen anything like the DTR, it was a real motorbike which could accelerate faster than most cars on the road, riding position/ visibility that made sense in rush-hour traffic and possessed functional off-road capability. In fact one of them endlessly pestered me to sell him mine which I eventually did (regrettably) to fund a TDR250 engine rebuild.
Check out the MX Vault YouTube channel as well. Any time I want an hour or so of entertainment without endless adverts I'd much rather watch Jeremy McGrath thoroughly evaluating the structural integrity of a CR250 chassis in front of 50,000 fans 30 years ago than attempting to tolerate the latest rehash of "Celebrity Toilet Brains Cooking Politically Correct Pigswill on Ice". Enjoy:
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@HOTSHOT-III I like watching this geezer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ582De2JYs
He restores and collects classic two strokes and runs a shop in American. I think he too is former MX Champion, albeit a long time ago.
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@Calum "You are now about to witness the strength of big bore power." Ha ha yes, Ken Kaplan is ace but I didn't know he made this and borrowed some lyrics from NWA lol.
I've watched some of his motivational vids as well, he's very honest about having to give up MX through injury and go into computers to pay the bills before opening his bike shop/museum. Would love to visit the New England Motorcycle Museum sometime, they probably have the best collection of CR500s in America!
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@HOTSHOT-III Yeah absolutely! I just like his appreciation for classic bikes.
