Evan,
I think we've finally met at the crossroads! I'm sitting here in the office next to the garage and am looking at 5 KTM's, all patiently waiting to go out for a ride.
'03KTM 525SX (For the old body that still needs a shot of MX once in awhile. Absolutely the fastest bike I've ever ridden, including CR500's, and weighs less too.)
'02KTM 300EXC (When the track and desert are not on the agenda, but a nice dose of tight trail riding)
'02KTM 125SX (Son's bike)
'93 600 MXC LC4 with a Baja Designs kit (Great for doing wheelies on freeway onramps next to crotch-rockets! This bike is as reliable as a napkin, and has thousands of miles in Mexico with absolutely no DNF's))
'87 KTM 350 MXC (Yeah, it's old but it still looks new and runs like new)
KTM's are the CSX's of the bike world today!
Usually try to go out to a MX track about every other week or so, and am noticing that my two younger son's are starting to gain ground on their old man! This old body can't take the abuse that it used to many years ago.
Since some old names from the past are being thrown around, here's a few from my past too:
There used to be a place called Valley Cycle park out in Moorpark, CA that I used to race at. Bob Hannah's first big pro race took place there about (I believe) 1975. He rode an RM 250 Suzuki and smoked everybody. Very few knew him before then...many knew him after that. Suzuki blew it big time when they didn't hire him to a factory ride later that year.
Remember when the '73 TM 400 Suzuki's were taking a real beating in the Magazines about their poor handling and horrible engine? Well, Suzuki had Roger DeCoster ride a stone stock TM400 in the Open Pro class at Indian Dunes one day against all the local hot pros. He smoked them by almost a lap. I know, I saw it that day. Suzuki made the magazines eat their words after that.
I used to work at a place called Mid-Valley Cycles in Van Nuys, CA back in the mid/late 70's and we specialized in CZ's, Ossa's, and the new KTM/Penton's. We sponsored several national riders on Ossa's and KTM's at that time. Kenny Zahrt, Greg Robertson, and Marty Moates. I was fortunate enough to be Zahrts' and Moates' mechanic and pipe builder on the National's and at the Stadium races back in '75-'77. Both were top 20 national riders back then. Moates later went on to be the first American to win the USGP at Carlsbad. That track still exists just 20 minutes away from the house and still looks the same as it did when Adolf Weil and Gerrit Wolsink were winning USGP's in the early 70's!
Speaking of bikes with the (then) new suspension technology, most will say that the first to pioneer longer travel suspension on a production bike was Maico in '74, but remember AJS's? The 1972 model had moved up shocks and leading axle front forks, even before Yamaha factory bikes came out with the mono-shock in 1973. They had a whopping 6 inches of travel in the rear!
The 70's were the birth of true motocross in the US, and it was great to be there. It's sad to see it take a back seat to Supercross in popularity.
Bob